Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Trini Tuesday-





Trinidad is tropical so, as you'd imagine, the plant life is quite lush. To someone who grew up seeing everything go dormant in the winter even the dry season in Trinidad seems lush. Things in the tropics grow like crazy. Our yard had all sorts of fruit bearing trees and flowering plants and it amazed me. I have the black thumb of death when it comes to gardening so it was a lovely change to live somewhere that didn't have plants relying on skilled coaxing from me. Things more or less needed to be tamed instead. We had a hedge of hibiscus that started to get quite bushy and was threatening to consume the front wall and fence. We asked a friend how best to prune it and he offered to come do it for us. He showed up and worked hard and when he was done the bushes that had previously soared to 8 feet or more were now chopped down to just about waist level. Mr. Lime and I were standing there agape thinking surely these bushes would take years to recover from that sort of treatment. Our friend, who has been to the US a few times and had some idea of the differences in how our climates treat plant life laughed quite heartily and assured us that in a few months our bushes would need to be hacked mercilessly again. He was right. That bush I'm standing next to is one that had been lopped short just 6 months before the picture was taken. Hhhmm, oddly I had been a lot smaller 6 months before the picture was taken too....something about the tropics, I guess.



In addition to the hibiscus bushes we had cassava, various sorts of palm trees including a coconut palm, a lemon tree, the local version of a cherry tree (though the fruit was tasty it bore no resemblance to anything I'd call a cherry tree), a pomme cithere tree (this bears a sort of mango to pear shaped fruit with a very stringy pale flesh). And then there were the mango trees. For those of us from northern apple growing climates we are particular about what kind of apples we like to eat. Trinis, and I would suppose other tropical folks, are particular about the type of mango they want. In Trinidad, the Juli mango seems to be one of the favorites. Our trees were Juli mangoes. The neighborhood kids spent a lot of time at our house during Juli mango season! Given how many mangoes one tree produced and that we had 3 of them we told the kids to bring all their friends. We gave them away by the bagful and still had more than enough for ourselves. Diana loved getting sticky and gooey eating mangoes and I think she loved the tree because the fruit dangled right at her level as you can see.

Happy Trini Tuesday!

28 comments:

S said...

Oh what a cute picture of you and middle daughter in tummy!..orrrrr...was it daughter # one?

Anyway, its so fun when people I have known for ahile bust out the old pics! Too cute of a maternity dress, Lime!

There will never be a shot like that of me! Hah! (OK I will look for it, bur remember I only made it to 28 weeks...)

XXX Mwah!

Word veri: Suxum

Not saying nothing...

Marc said...

Awesome post! Thank you for sharing that. Sounds absolutely wonderful!

Marc said...

I love your new profile pic too. Looks great!

Logophile said...

Ooooo, I like the new profile pic too. Great shot!
Wild plant life and a pregnant Limey, love that pic and also your precious lil redhead. Fabulous pictures.
Cute sandals too!

lime said...

bare, that was #2 limelette in utero, thaks for the compliment on the dress, made it myself, tyvm, lol

marc, i was quite fond of the place, glad you like the pic. i changed it after someone made a specific request.

logo, thanks. those sandals were the only shoes that fit my poor swollen feet at that point, lol

Kelly said...

Ah, you look great! I have a peach tree now and am interested in seeing how it will grow.

jillie said...

I know how fast those hibiscus trees grow. I have a few of them although, I know they don't grow as fast as they do in the tropics. WHEW!

Wow...all of the luscious fruit...yummy! But I do know what you mean by having to give it away by the bags full. I have finally got my lemon tree pretty much bare of the "old" fruit, only about 50 left out of 300+ with the new blossoms ready to roll.

Great pictures too ;o)

DaMasta said...

Wow! You were all belly, ma! :D Lush plant life and children playing in the grass--what a loverly post :)

lime said...

myutopia, mmmmm hope the tree gives some delicious fruit

jillie, i wish lemon trees could grow in PA

damasta, thanks chica, glad you enjoyed

Sheri said...

love the pictures!Your new profile picture rocks. For some reason, when I first glanced at it, I thought you were scuba diving?!?

lecram sinun said...

Gooey mangos are the best!Mum would always slice them (long) and put them in the fridge. She loved sucking the flesh off the seed while Dad and I feasted on the rest.

Wonderful Trini post as always. Cheers!

BTExpress said...

I enjoy your stories. Thanks. Reminiscing is always fun for me.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if my plants will do as well in the tropics of Tejas???

lime said...

sheri, thanks!

lecram, i liked the long slices myself, but i was more a fan of the starch mango than the juli.

btexpress, aww thanks. i'm glad you do, i was afriad this post was a bit lame. nice to know you enjoyed.

seamus, you strike me as the type who could get a dead stick to bloom.

ttfootball said...

awwww! Look how huge you were in your cute house-dress hehe And it look like a leather slippers too very nice very nice.
Juli is the best!! and most especially bcuz they are the shortest mango trees ;-) how can u beat that?

lime said...

tt, yes gyul, i wearin meh leather push toes. an yuh tink i was big den, yuh shoulda seen meh fuh de next one who was 9 and a half pong! like i would burst!

jillie said...

Well Lime...the next time I have an expolosion...I'll be sure to send you some.

I've sent 3 shipments to my brother in KY. They're like heaven to them. My sis-in-law loves to bake and cook with them.

They also make GREAT airfreshner with fresh rosemary in a bowl ;o))

Love the new pic

CozyMama said...

look at you!! how cute.

G-Man said...

I can tell you this...
"Someone" loves it!!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post. Nice to have a little break and come let your descriptive imagery take me away to somewhere else. Lucky you...and you are a beautiful momma...love the lil' one's red hair...CUTE! Hope you are well. XO

lime said...

jillie, that would be great!

jodes, whole LOT of cute, lol

g-man, glad *someone* approves

chikken, thankee for the kind words. glad i could provide a welcome respite

cathy said...

Black fingers of death. That's me, I always forget to water my plants.
It's a good job the kids complain when they're hungry:)

AndyT13 said...

Just getting caught up here. That picture so clearly demonstrates the early years of the personality you describe Diana as having. She'll just get her own thankyouverymuch LOL!
I don't understand the retreat or the weirdness associated therewith, therefore I want more details. Good meme. Consider it stoled. It turns out that Oxycodone is a lot more like heroin that oxymoron. I'm F*CKIN HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\
Whoa!

tl said...

The only way to eat a ripe mango , is to sit naked in a bathtub.
When you are finished eating, you just hose yourself off. lol.

:)

Anonymous said...

"Black thumb of death..." now there is an expression that I have never heard before. I love it. Great pictures, too, and I love the new profile picture!

lime said...

cathy, lol, yes. i'm much better with people

andy, yes the picture really does show her doesn't it? oxycodone...oh lordy, my friend!

tl, you make an excellent point!

charles, it is the only thing to describe my utter lack of skill....

Cosima said...

Mmmm... I love mangos. I had one for dessert today. Here, we mostly get mangos from the Philippines. They are yellow on the in- and outside, and very fragrant.

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

I've never eaten a mango! I do understand about having a favorite apple though. I love tropical plants. I definitely live in the wrong place.