sun, rain, or...

Travellers of life

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Wed, 15 May 2013 01:51:00 +0000

Haven't written in a while - lots has been going on and my thoughts and experiences of how life works have been going on too...I've been spending time, investing time, I should say, and my energies into bringing the true Finola to the fore - the last 5 or so years especially, have been a serious road of personal growth and it has not been easy, but it has been a lot easier than the preceding 10 years where I realize now, I allowed myself to get lost somewhat - running here and there away from this and to that, never quite being able to get my voice to say what it needed to, far less be heard; never quite getting my ears to hear what they needed to, far less to be able to sing along with the sweet undertones of life. Living in dischord with myself and those around me. Thankfully, the upside of that has been learning how to live better - I chose mindfully and heartfully to walk away from that road on to a truer path.

Colours of a Dawning - psychedelic :-D

So, many times I've written about the rollercoaster of life and the ride and the fluid balance that I find I not only have mostly come to terms with, but actually grown to appreciate and enjoy, savour even - savour feeling, savour the challenge to ones self and senses, spirit and heart.

Riding Calm Waters

I've been learning more and more how to not just forgive (for they - truly - know not what they do), but to start to allow people to be human and faulted, stumbling and frail, forgetful, careless and blind and not to be angry about it, but to understand that I perhaps, sometimes, am lucky to be able to see more, do more, be more, but at other times will also still stumble, forget, not see and more. There is no perfect person.

I am fortunate to be able to see a bit better than before - and am so grateful I can enjoy the beauty of being at once, more at peace and more energized with life and myself and this I believe comes in quite large part through the choices I have made...

Recently, I've been focusing more on our choices - yes, I've written quite a bit about that before too, but it is ever more present a force in my life and those around me: we really do have the final say here on earth, as to what we choose - people and circumstances may influence us - in some cases, drastically and almost beyond our control, but in the end, it is a truly rare case when we are not able to choose where next to place each foot - make a bad situation worse, or step out of the mire and onto firmer land...

An unexpected place to rest?

A post on Facebook wrote about how our path is just that, ours, no-one elses... and I felt that strongly. Though we often also find ourselves sharing a path, and sometimes try to influence another's path too, in the end, we must accept responsibility for just our path, and take charge of our path as true to our heart as we can, and let others do the same - take their own responsibility and charge. Doesn't mean we can't 'be there' for people and them for us, but in the end we walk our path, they walk theirs. At least, that's what I feel, yeah, that's my path - is it yours?

Anyway, I wrote this earlier today:

Sometimes life can feel like the waters in a river, carrying us along, a bit out of our control, with circumstances and people like the multitude of things that affect the course of a river - the diversions and obstacles that cause the river to slow, stop, gush, rush forward, change direction this way or that - persuading us, pushing and pulling us despite ourselves...

But we are more than the water, we are travellers, we don’t have to just go where the flow takes us –natural, or on a path made by the influence of others in our river…we can pick up our canoe and go overland if we need to: whatever it takes to ply our course.

Cul de Sac River - Black and White

So all said and done, this is how I see life - not sure how you see life...do you think how I describe it makes sense to you or do you have lessons that you've learnt that I too could learn from?

Pure Gold

Vigie Beach St. Lucia

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:44:00 +0000

A walk along a beautiful beach, a stone's throw from the small airport, George FL Charles Airport: When you live on a small island, some days it can seem like there's not a lot to do to pass your time - you get 'small island fever' and wish to get out into the 'real world' ... but other days you are grateful for the genuine beauty that is at your feet, on your doorstep...and of course the warm weather that allows you to enjoy it barefoot.

barefoot

rasta

breaking

Rat Island

calm shallows

'Spring' blossoms

LIAT's Lucky Day

'Ball Up!' (what happens to you when one of these catches you :-)

Sea Almond leaves

Dancing

Beautiful Vigie Beach

Thanks for another lovely walk Ladies!

Still Alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:10:00 +0000

Haven't forgotten this blog - just been busy elsewhere and reassessing things, as we do from time to time.

So, part of what I've been doing is playing around a bit with photographing the natural world around me (more than I already did) sunsets, waves, sand and seas have been catching my eye a lot - so I put together a little photoblog today over at my work blog Island Effect - take a look see and you can always sign up for updates there if you like!

xo
F

Walking for the Kids - Pawasol Pou Ti Mamay sponsored walk

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Pawasol Pou Ti Mamay - Umbrella for the little kids - that's who I'll be walking for on Sunday 24th March - just 5 miles (8k for the metric people :-) around a beautiful part of Saint Lucia - would you like to sponsor me? Or would you like to walk and get sponsored? Drop me a comment either way and lets raise some money for this great little charity!

Pics from previous walks around the route

Dawn Breaks

Bended Tree

rains over St. Lucia Channel

Waves

succulents colour the hills

tough green leaves in the bright morning sun

Waves cut dramatic platforms

Trees open from shady paths to let in the light

Seas glisten in the early sun

The big pond just waking up to the morning breezes

and the little pond

pillars of cacti scatter across the hills

Wild Frangipani

Healthy Caribbean Pancake 'Recipe'

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:20:00 +0000

I woke up this morning thinking, "Well, I missed Pancake Tuesday, so I think I'll make healthy pancakes for me and my Dad this morning" ... they came out well, so I thought I should share my 'recipe' with you so you can make and enjoy them yourself...

In a bowl, pour in an amount of spelt flour...yes, that's enough...
Dash in a smaller amount of Sweet Potato Flour ... yeah,yeah! That's good!
Sprinkle Farine (Cassava) over that now...yup, enough!
Dash in some salt, a bigger dash of cinnamon and a kwas (little piece) of sugar and a biggish dash of baking powder...stir it all up and make sure you mash any lumps of baking powder

In another bowl beat an egg into some milk, then pour this into your flour mix until it's all combined and there's no lumps...add more milk until it looks about the consistency you remember your mother used to make...

Set the batter aside in the fridge to do whatever it is that it does in the fridge..whatever, it works better when it's had it time

Brush a light coating of oil into a pan and drop your pancakes to your desired size, into the pan - swirl them around to thin out if you want thin ones, flip them over as soon as the top of the batter is just drying out

Drizzle fresh lemon juice and honey over them and eat hot!

Enjoy!

As 2012 ends...

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:56:00 +0000

At the end of this year, I’m looking back and seeing that I’ve come a long way … I keep saying to people, I feel like I’ve become Me. But I’m also seeing I have a long way I can go yet too! Life has been amazing so far – lots of hard lessons, lots of unexpected joys, lots of challenges, lots of peaceful moments and lots of fun…and I’ve written posts about this and that along the way the last few years as I ‘discovered’ things…sometimes ‘advice’, sometimes just observations, sometimes questions…so, I thought about, and tried to write an end of year post that shared some of what I thought were good ‘takeaways’ for this year…couldn’t get it done – kept wandering off into sounding like a tacky free ebook on (dubious) Secrets to Having it ALL :-/

So, just gonna end the year by saying ‘Thank You’ to everyone who’s been and is a part of my life so far –and that goes for whether you were a part of the fun parts and the tough lessons or whatever you were - and by saying to the Universe…looking forward to the ride, the walk, the exploration, the experience of life yet to come.

Wishing everyone a great journey through life!

My favourity sunset of 2012

Boxing Day St. Lucia 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:57:00 +0000

There are ways to end a day...this is just one of them...a few of us sat at the water's edge today, bathed in the 'cold' December sea and mused about life...sure, St. Lucia has her issues... but there is, in almost reactive contrast to that, a beauty that undelies so much of life here ... once you see it, feel it, you are blessed.
We don't have a lot as a tiny island nation, but you spend time on this beach and you'll see people just being people...families, individuals, kids, grans, rich and poor, local, foreign, and recent imports... all together, enjoying life's simple pleasures.
Thanks to my friends for being who they are and for sharing a bit of this life with me.
For you, the readers - today's images of my home.
May your season bring joy and may it keep on knocking at your door for day after day after day...

Perfection

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Over the past few years in particular, I’ve read countless blog posts about, in some form or the other, ‘achieving happiness’… I’ve even written a few – and they have, no doubt about it, helped me find light, peace, joy, contentment, spirit of adventure and so much more in these past few years, but there has always been something just a little to ‘happy shiny people’ about a lot of it all and somewhere along the line, someone said the words that shed the light for me – it just isn’t normal to be ALL happy.

Clound on Fire with the beauty of the sunset

I’ve written a lot also about balance and that for me it’s a sort of fluid state that moves between a tear of joy and a tear of sadness and encompasses all the emotions in between – not ignoring the existence of the negative, but instead allowing that it exists in its place and not putting undue emphasis on it either – choosing to elevate the love, kindness, giving, happiness, gratitude so they can light the way, but not pretend there is no ‘other side’ or that there should not be.

Maybe I am missing the point – maybe it is true that one day humankind will evolve to a state where evil does not exist…perhaps…we will all live in bliss. It’d be wonderful, I am sure. But for now, I prefer to keep my head and heart firmly in the realm of the irony of life – how do you stick your ground, not run away and deal with the darker side of life that so many people involve themselves in, do this to be a force for positive change, but do it without (like the media circus that follows every US shooting) drawing the kind of focus to the ‘evil’ that just gives it more power?

I have been watching my young friend – one of my ‘children by another mother’ Swapna as she rails against the injustice to women in her home country of India – her name means ‘Dream’ … I am proud of her as she takes a public stance and speaks out about this taboo and effectively puts herself square in the firing line for her ‘friends’ to call her too ‘Westernized’ and tell her that she’s ‘losing her Indian-ness’. She is the new India, the better India – taking what is good and fighting a hard fight to get rid of what is bad.

I look at my home country Saint Lucia – what a name – the patron saint of Light…why is it that so much darkness persists within her shores? It is true as has been commented on by people over time – there is much ‘dark magic’ practiced here, such convoluted social ‘norms’ that destroy lives and relationships all over – every form of deviancy. But I am always inspired at the very same moment by the depth of love and goodness of some of our people even in the face of this reality…and yes, it exists in every country in the world, there is no pretending it doesn’t to some extent or the other – it is just that within our tiny confines of 234 sq miles and 170,000 people, we are so much closer to it every day – it permeates our lives in a way that is hard to escape. So kudos to those who are aware of this and yet find the inner strength to be what our island is name – Saints of the Light…

This, in my humblest opinion, my heart tells me, is human Perfection. Stand strong Lucia

Full Moon Setting in the Dawn over Rodney Bay Marina - a full juxtaposition of the beauty of nature and humankind

Island Effect Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:11:00 +0000

Been absent a bit, but been busy elsewhere - starting up my business blog over at Island Effect

I hope you'll take a look over there and see if you'd like to follow along there too - it'll focus on the development and consulting work I do, my creative products and writing for our local newspapers and so on...

hope to see you there and as usual...hope you'll comment and share your thoughts!

cheers

Thanksgiving Makes Me Think

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:02:00 +0000

So, reading all the Thanksgiving and Gratitude posts on Facebook this morning and thinking about the origins of celebrating this day I can't help but wish for a world where we all stop wanting to have more rights than others and where we recognize, as the 'first peoples' in the USA often did, that we do not own this earth, and our custodianship should be taken as a serious gift and valuable responsibility and that as modern humanity, we need to realize these gifts and responsibilities are shared equally amongst all peoples

Fifi's Sunset Spice Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:33:00 +0000

I bring tea to the beach each Sunday and one of our group, Faye, keeps asking for a caffiene-free tea...so Sunday past, I made a tea without caffiene and incorporating some ingredients that help sleep - lemongrass and rooibos tea

I was inspired by this tea which I hope to order and taste someday soon

Gypsy Fire Light Chai

Meanwhile - hope you enjoy making this at home

A warming, evening tea to help soothe you to a good night’s sleep

Place the following ingredients in a saucepan with about 2 cups of water, bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes

· 4 leaves lemongrass (about 15-18” long)

· ½ tsp cinnamon

· ¼ tsp cardamom

· ¼ tsp black pepper

· ¼ tsp nutmeg

· 3 cloves

· 1 inch fresh ginger lightly crushed

Pour off through a strainer into a flask or teapot with a teacosy

Add 2 more cups boiling water and 2 bags organic rooibos tea

Allow to draw for 5 more minutes, remove rooibos teabags, serve as is or add honey and/or milk to taste

I used rough ground spices except for the ginger and lemongrass which were both fresh and the cloves which were whole...experiment and see what you like - you could add cayenne pepper, soursop leaves, orange peel...

Let us know if you like this recipe and what you come up with too!

Fifi

Thank You Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:04:00 +0000

So, once in a while I write about gratitude here...well, much in life, especially recent months, has given me cause to recognize how grateful I am and how much there is to be grateful for...and how valuable those two little words 'Thank You' are...

Yesterday I came home from grocery shopping and was suddenly inspired to create Thank You cards from some of those gajillions on sunset photos I so love taking: the thing is, something about sunsets, and especially the ones shared with friends, brings out that gratefulness in me...

Sample of one of the cards

So, the initial set are done - I'm hoping you like them and they inspire you to let someone in your life know that you're thankful for them

For me, it's been a tough year in business...so I'm gonna say straight out that I'd be thankful for your patronage of my Thank You cards :-) You can use them over and over - email to the special persons or print it out and hand it over...enjoy and please share the link and encourage your friends to check out the cards...

http://meylah.com/IslandEffect

THANK YOU :-D

xoxo

Fifi

another sample card

Paradise Life

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 01:19:00 +0000

Let's be honest...there are many, many challenges to living in 'Paradise' - a tiny island in the Caribbean, 27miles long and 14 miles wide at her biggest points, with just shy of a small town's population of 170,000...St. Lucia, my island home....but this is what makes it all worthwhile - enjoy, St. Lucia, Simply Beautiful
(Kudos to my friends, the scenery is great, the company ... the best)

cool sunset swim with friends

YaY!

Almost Full Moon rises in the East

warm waves crash blue in the twilight

Sandals Grande...beautiful setting but not beyond those posts us mere locals are not allowed on this beach :-(

Mt. Gimie - our highest peak, resting in the sunset sky


Night Lights

Relaxing, drinking tea in the short twilight

Sudden and Chronic Pain – Frozen Shoulder, Back Injuries, etc

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:32:00 +0000

I’ve realized I am not so keen to write about dealing with health challenges in this public forum, I prefer to post about nice things like the good aspects of living in beautiful Saint Lucia...

Beautiful St. Lucia with Mt Gimie (4 peaks on left) and Petit Piton (tiny triangle rt of cntr) clear on a sunny day

But as I think about it, discussing these same things amongst friends and acquaintances face to face and online, we all get good advice, ideas, support and, very importantly, feel less alone in coming to terms with sudden or chronic pain or physical mobility issues.

I’m 48 and am balancing a desire and need to keep fit – become fitter – with the reality of damage to my body in my late teens – torn muscles and back put out from my days of Karate when St. Lucia did not have the plethora of sports therapists and chiropractors etc that it does now, so basically, injuries went untreated; top that with recent years of inactivity and repetitive strain and, yes, bad posture…it’s a challenge.

Over the years I’ve come to know that my neck and spine have areas of compacted vertebrae and my hip is ‘stressed’ and lower back tends to pop outta line now and again – only once did it really go, and HELL no! That ain’t happening again! I know the signs and know how to prevent that, but many a day – especially when I was teaching a few years aback, I’d be walking like an 85 yr old for days on end…not nice.

About 15 months ago, during a particularly intense work period, my left shoulder seized up: I was pretty freaked out by it – suddenly I couldn’t put my hand on my hip (something as a West Indian, I naturally love to do :-) I couldn’t reach across my shoulder, couldn’t remove a t-shirt without serious pain and struggle…damn! I felt really OLD and worn out! Not what my mind had as a picture of me!

Since then, after seeing a doctor to check it was not something more serious (stroke) and confirming it was ‘Frozen Shoulder’ complicated by my other spine issues, I decided I didn’t like being like this and was going to find ways to get over it. So, here’s what I did

I started with Physio and got gentle exercises to help release the tension
I read up all I could find online – many places said, there’s nothing you can do for Frozen Shoulder – that’s crap – of course there is: Those that said there is, recommended dealing with ‘pressure points’ – getting energy flowing; gentle movement; avoiding repetitive strain and long-held stretching exercises to release the tension and get muscles and joints to relearn what they should be doing.
Asked in groups I belong to for others’ experiences; you’d be surprised how many people suffer similar things to anything you’re going through – ask, there’s a wealth of knowledge and advice at your fingertips.
Went to massage therapists (Ti Khan Health Clinic in St. Lucia – highly recommend them) and though painful, the results were so well worth it – for my lower back I wondered ‘Why, oh why did I not do this before?’
Had reflexology as well – I highly recommend a good reflexologist – it’s not a relaxing session, it damn well hurts like hell if you have issues to be dealt with, but you come out feeling a whole lot better.
I had Acupuncture too – again, a good acupuncturist, I believe, does help – you feel the effects if it’s done properly – it’s hard to describe, but your energy is flowing differently when you come out of a session.
Had Chiropractic sessions – these help a lot – adjusting the alignment of your spine, for me it helps. Some people are scared of it as it’s just plain counter-intuitive, having someone whip your neck and back round…maybe it’s too many murder TV series or something, but it does work for me. Basically, when your spine goes out, your muscles are in spasm because your spine’s out and neither can relax back into place without help: hence releasing both parties – one by massage, one by chiropracty.
And eventually, I went back to Yoga classes – during the period when my shoulder froze, I had not been going to classes as I was ‘in South’ and the classes were ‘up North’. Finding the type of yoga that suits you is key too – for me I’m not a major Iyengar fan – though done without too many props, it is the best for getting alignment for your body…but for others, they love it. I found a class that was part Iyengar part Vinyasa and I liked that one (Yoga on the Bay/Fresh Moves Yoga Studio, St. Lucia – highly recommended).
Most important with yoga or any exercise is to find a knowledgeable teacher who can and will pay attention to your health challenge and who can encourage you to push yourself while ensuring you don’t push too far – making you comfortable to progress at a pace that’s right for you.
At one point, I got a strong urge to learn to run…I’ve never been a runner…and I still am not, lol! But…I did try – and I was amazed at how far I got, and I now believe I could incorporate running as part of my fitness schedule, but I also realized I have to deal more gently with my hip before I could be able to run – on the road – without doing more damage than good. I walk now, at least try to get in a couple 3mile walks a week (don’t always get it done but I try!)

My running coach said to me, the reason I was so focused on wanting to run is that it’s a natural instinct of our body and mind – when you want to move forward, overcome…so it was good to go with that flow – and with the knowledge of the Yoga teaching, be comfortable reaching my body’s own level of achievement, not being let down that I didn’t suddenly become a 10k champ!

So, my progress is up and down – some days pain-free, many days not. Sometimes work brings back on the stress pains – some days life allows time to heal and grow stronger, but the most important thing I believe I’ve learnt from all of this is that you must, above all, know you CAN do something – don’t let people tell you you can’t; but at the same time understand you may only progress at a very slow pace – that’s ok.

There are other things I learnt:

NSAIDs are now believed to increase joint damage in the long run (I took loads of them for years for migraines – that’s another story, but briefly, what you eat and drink and your lifestyle can make a huge difference for migraines) But sometimes you need them to help reduce inflammation. Or…My first yoga teacher Jill Hagar swears by drinking a ‘tea’ of ginger and turmeric daily – it reduced inflammation for her in her hip so much that her doctors postponed planned surgery.
Generally, what you eat makes a lot of difference – certain foods increase inflammation – processed white wheat – that’s the bad one for many people but there are others, research, consult a natural health professional…but don’t replace bad foods with stress over what you can’t eat :-) I seriously believe sometimes the stress you might put yourself through over something you’re not supposed to eat can do more damage!
Stretch often and start softly and ease into deeper stretches and hoooolllldddd.
Breathe; Sit up; Keep breathing :-) Lower your shoulders, learn to find space in your spine
Learn to tell the difference between ‘ok’ pain and bad pain – stretching and healing your muscles will be painful but there is a limit of ‘good’ pain and it’s important to be able to tell.
Typing is a bitch. Take breaks – it’s typing that was the trigger for my shoulder –still is!
Swimming does not necessarily work for shoulder injuries – for me it triggers pain. Test out exercises and find what works for you – with guidance from trained professionals if you can
You CAN afford to get treatment – for me, self-employed, many a time I think “Where the hell am I going to find the money for Yoga class?” and worse when I need a few sessions at the therapist. But the reality is, if I want to actually be living life and I want to earn a living…I can’t say I can’t afford to invest in Yoga or therapy…what I can’t afford is to allow challenges of pain and mobility to stop me from living.

So, hope some of that helps some of you find a way forward and to enjoy life a bit more despite challenges; please do share if you have a story to tell, piece of advice or suggestion also!

Love Life; Live.

Beautiful St. Lucia, Sunday evening Sunset (with friends) at Pigeon Island...

Surrounded by People Who Just Want to Bring You Down

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 01:47:00 +0000

A former student of mine, now a writer for Jen Moun YouthMagazine, tagged me in this post on Facebook recently…it took me a few hours to figure out what I felt about the statement – my initial reaction was along the lines of ‘Cheeuupps, (a teeth-sucking expression of distaste we Caribbean people use with great emphasis) why are people so negative…don’t they realize that’s not a positive thing to say?” and I left it at that for a while, thinking “I’m not going to grace that with a response”.

But it kept tickling my mind…it made me think of the theory that I wholly believe in, that largely, aside from major situations where life is disastrous - and I mean along the lines of warzones, dire poverty, starvation, massive natural disaster and such - aside from being in one of those situations, we see what we choose to see – life is as we choose to experience it.

So my response to the post was (after the one comment that said ‘so true’)

“So untrue for me - my life is not filled with people who want to bring me down at all and it never has been and never will be”

To which Jen Moun Youth Magazine replied

“I think most young people have it the other way around.”

And I thought, ok, maybe it’s my maturity of years that allows me to see things differently…but I know even when I was as young as them I didn’t think like that. Does it necessarily have to be so for our current younger generation? I don’t think so, and this is what I said:

“Jen Moun - I think many young people think and act the other way around - not realizing they are creating the situation with their own actions...”

One person quoted

“Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are”

Over the days since, I’ve wondered is it even a younger generation thing? I don’t actually think so –I know quite a few people of my age, older even, who think this way – the world is out to keep them down…so, what is that about?

I spent some time today with another former student of mine, helping her with job applications – It was lovely to see her as I hadn’t for a while, and she’s been through a more than fair share of life challenges recently! One of the things I like about her is that she is able, and not afraid, to recognize where she has weaknesses, she listens to advice, tries to act on it, fails sometimes in achieving the level of maturity, peaceful spirit, confidence, etc that she may be aiming for…but she keeps trying… and keeps endeavouring to make improvements and adjustments.

Today she talked to me about a few people in her sphere that she’s having trouble figuring out how to ‘handle’ and we talked about working to rid your mind of negative thoughts and replace them with positive, constructive, or just plain old silly laughter thoughts…to be in charge of what’s in your sphere…manage who and what gets to spend your time and energy…choose what you invest your time and energy in focusing on…

There’s a quote I’ve mentionedbefore on this blog

Sunset skies lit up with colours

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky” Rabindranath Tagore

I’ve thought and thought about the meanings of that: I know it appeals to me because I am constantly in awe of the beauty and fiery power of sunsets…but that’s not all it is: I’ve thought of it as something a person would think in their elder years as they reach the sunset of their life – and yes, surely, it would be good to feel that way as you near your departure from this earth…

But it can mean so much more:

Those people who fill up your life, trying to bring you down – who put them there? Who gives them leave to linger? Who allows them to exist as problems rather than challenges? Why are they clouds that usher storm and drench your day? And why do people hold on to those darknesses, clouding their own sky so thickly that they eventually block out light?

So often we fall into the trap of giving precious time, valuable energy and thought, priceless emotion, illogical respect to those that vex our lives…we avoid confrontation with difficult people by acquiescing to their unreasonable demands on us, rising in anger to their unfair criticisms and slander of us, paying heed to their attempts to trip us up…why? And at what cost?

We, in our path we’ve worked so hard to fill with dark clouds, lose sight of those in our lives who are full of good energies, those who in their own little ways are there for us, day in and day out; we forget to talk about them incessantly to anyone who listens, dwell for hours and days on their kindness and value, omit to post our gratitude for them on Facebook and Twitter…We leave our skies empty of their colours and their light.

What about the many, many people who wish to give to us, lift us…and even those who just are neutral, passing people with whom you might share a smile or just a space for part of the day…why not notice them? Why not share a moment with them? A ‘Good morning’ given openly, not demanding any return –just a gift? What do we have to lose? Why are we so afraid to capture each and every colour? Try it, and don't let yourself be vexed if your warmness is not reciprocated, just be happy that you gave it and that you remained open ... see if your world does not become much more full of smiles, confidence, energy and the success you wish for.

I know I’m repeating myself, but you see what you see – if you choose to see colours of a sunset sky – a triumph at the end of a hard challenging day, then your life will be filled with colours, not storms.

There is so much to gain in facing challenges and daily adversity with an attitude that is open to success and open to the possibility that good will come – yes, there will be moments, days, weeks, even years that seem to be endless trails of challenge…but at the end of the day, we really do have the power to choose what our skies are filled with…

Choose Colours.

Turtles Hatching

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:59:00 +0000

A quick little post today to share something special with you:

Last night we took our beach chairs, my homemade rum syllabub, wine, cheese, french bread and ham and our happy selves off the the beach at sunset to say farewell to one of our bunch who's off to Canada for 3 months...

As we were winding down, the evening skies clouded over a bit and a few light - cooling - drops of rain started to fall; the night security at the Yacht Club behind where we'd sat, invited us to shelter under their thatched umbrella...so a few did...within minutes there were squeals and calls of 'Fifi, Faye, Colette, Debs!!! Come, Come see!!!!"

A nest of baby turles was hatching literally under their feet!

Of course, as is what happens in built up areas where turtles naturally nest, the hatchlings came out confused - mistaking the lights of the Yacht Club, Spinnakers restaurant and nearby Bay Gardens Beach Resort for the moon that would normally guide them to the sea - so after some frantic 'What do we do?!?' shouts, and a quick call to a Fisheries Dept staffer, we figured out, get a bucket and pop them in and get them to the sea

Well soon the whole beach was helping - securities, waiters, us, visitors...other Lucians who happened to be around - it was a fantastic scene as we walked up and down the beach searching with phone flashlights and keen eyes to find the stray babies - and boy, we had to actually toss some many of them as far in the sea as we could because they were so confused by the lights of the buildings on the beach, that they kept coming back out of the water...I'm pretty sure by the end of the evening they were all in the sea swimming for their lives...we retired to our homes, clothes soaked and sandy, feeling pretty blessed :-)

Life is good

turle hatchlings emerging underfoot at Reduit Beach St. Lucia

So tiny! Rescuing baby turtle hatchiling

Perfect little miniatures - baby turtle just hatched and unsure where to go

Walking St. Lucia

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:03:00 +0000

St. Lucia is a beautiful island, still. My home has changed very much over the 40+ years I've lived here but natural beauty can still be found at a glance, thank goodness for that! We are still a nature isle, though if we want to stay this way, we have lots of work to do on being better custodians of our heritage.

So, Saturday 6:30am, I went with a group of women, for a walk around my favourite teen summer haunt - the eastern coast of Cap Estate going into Cas en Bas.

Looking South from Cap Estate

The rolling windswept hills give way to a succession of coves: a tiny rock and shell covered arc between rocky hills, next to a yellow sand, wave pounded beach, next to a wave cut smooth rock platform.

First Glimpse of the East Coast with markers for 'development'

Rocky Coast and tiny islands in a calm Atlantic

Wave Cut Platform quiet today overlooking Comerette

Rolling Hills Looking North over Donkey Beach

Paths abound - a bit different to my teen years when you had to know where to look to find the tiny footpath entrance hidden by the surrounding bushes; today there are wider paths cut in the lead-up to the failed (thank goodness) planned development of a 2nd golf course by Raffles; this would have torn up the native cacti (only home of the barrel cactus in St. Lucia), wild frangipani, and all sorts of other native plants - shrubs with gnarled stems and bent over limbs borne down by the relentless Atlantic winds.

The ground is scattered with colourful stones, green and red jaspers and occasionally sparking quartz - I just pick up one tiny piece today. Horses graze quietly in the early morning sun and come to greet us as we walk by - tiny baby hermit crabs scuttle out of our way in the shady parts of the path and birds sing unseen from bushes here an there.

Friendly Horses

It's blazing hot though it's barely an hour or so past dawn and the area is surreal in its quietness; it's been an odd couple of weeks moving from August to September - the air has been still and this morning we can see the Atlantic Ocean is still too; no waves crash over the rocks.

Pillar Cacti and Windswept Trees

Back up a big hill - the path we would have come down as kids, cleared now of most of the bush, we find a pond, man-made at the top: I feel like I've never been here before - same spot, but not the same place. But I'm glad that for now, and hopefully for ever to come, this unique part of St. Lucia still clings on to its beauty.

The Old Path to Donkey Beach, circa 1980

A new pond greets us at the top of the old path

Birds make their home in the new pond

Early Morning St. Lucia

See What We Can See...

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:25:00 +0000

So, it’s 10 to midnight and way, way….way past the time I should be sleeping – beauty sleep – these days in the ‘getting less young’ part of my life, it makes a big difference – staying up late emphatically equals feeling/looking like crap the next morning and wondering when it was that coffee stopped being so effective at waking up the senses…

Ah well, that’s just it – you have to take the price of whatever it is you are enjoying…if you are actually going to enjoy it – otherwise you’ll be one of those people perpetually stuck in the downward, painful cycle of rueing the ‘shortcomings’ of the life your dealt….focus on the good stuff; what it is/was/can be that you enjoy about your life, there-in lies the fulfilment.

Scarlet Flamboyant flowers carpet the rain-soaked road home

I know. I said I was going to take a hiatus from blogging and only post when I had an important event – but of course, as soon as I said that, I’ve had a slew of interesting events and also, people talking to me about my blogging…so here it is, 5 to midnight now, 3 nice vodka and tonics at the bar with my favourite name – Bambooze – chatting with a good friend Colette after a not overly impressive movie night seeing Total Rekall. Maybe it’s the ‘k’… sometimes the plain ol’ Jane is the real thing – Total Recall wins hands down!

So this last week the Universe decided I should have the opportunity to focus on appreciating things for just what they are – this lesson I got in a surprising number of ways today – correspondence with a long lost, lately recognized love; talking about talking with an interesting guy I’ve never met who lives in a compound in war torn Iraq; an old flame who despite my most diligent efforts to be open, I can’t see as anything but an empty vessel…prospect of members of my group of ‘Sunday Beach Crew’ leaving, finding a life elsewhere; working with a visiting old friend and colleague with whom I am undertaking a project to somewhat stay the loss of our traditional pottery craft…and it poured down today – in opportunities for reflection and literally, in that lovely heavy tropical rain that makes me want to just take any excuse to step outside and get drenched. And not least, the imminent departure of my sister and niece who are moving to England…it would be easy to dwell on the hardships, losses, challenges that could be, but it’s much more worthwhile, enjoyable, effective a use of time to focus on what is/has/can be good about it all

So driving home in the pouring rain, while wondering just how soaked I’d get now that I have to get out of the car and open and close our new gate, I was struck by the beauty of the black tarmac road, strewn with flowers – White Cedar and nearer home, the scarlet red of the Flambouyant trees that create brilliant shaded bridges over the road…we see what we see – nothing more, nothing less. What we get out of life depends entirely on what we are prepared to let life give us, whether we live in ‘luxury’ in ‘poverty’ or ‘confined’ to a place, be it small island or compound…that’s what I think; every one has its challenges and its gifts- our challenge is to see what we can see…

Glass Full...

Communications

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:27:00 +0000

Facebook, 5,6,7? Million users, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and literally countless others, messages flying across each other like little specks of dust in a windstorm; I don’t know if it’s just me, I doubt it, but I was an avid pursuer of the potential of the internet to reach far corners of the earth, make connections, network, do business, make new friends, find old, but I’m getting a bit weary of the HUGE mass of supposedly personal communication and the accompanying loss of real conversation…are you?

1,115 friends...hmmm...maybe just 'Like' my biz page http://facebook.com/Island.Effect

I value many things about the internet: we, on our little island, can reach markets we never did before; many who had no voice, can have their say; old friends can re-connect and share fun memories; I can study – informally, formally, I can share my work, share news when no-one else is…yes, there’s plenty to be grateful for in the age of the internet.

But

There is a lot of dust, dirt, noise, garbage, pollution out there too

Whether it’s Business Advisors who feel they need to tell you they ‘really care about you’ in order to get you to buy their $29.95/$159.95 or Hugely Discounted (just for the special few) $100 off the $999 price of their Guru Course, or (yes, self, possibly included), bloggers with their ‘ramblings’ Flickr-ites with their endless badly taken pictures of their ‘works of art’/crafts/travel pics/garden flowers, Pinteresters with their hoards of boards of scores of image after image after image….commenters stating the obvious ‘great post xyz-man – ur the best!’ or the less obvious not-so-quixotic anecdote of the amazingly similar/entirely contrary experience they had…

I don’t mean to be cynical – I’m guilty of much of the above…it’s just that I’m finding myself feeling a little dusty these days, outlook obscured by a persistent haze and thirsty for much more real communication. I think it shocked me how many working people told me recently – including one of my best friends from schooldays – that they just can’t face a computer screen after the countless emails they deal with all day at work. My sister is another one, I have a newer friend in the Middle East who’s another, an even older friend also who has just completely refused to ever get an email…now, I don’t advocate that, but…I do think we need to let the tide recede a bit, let some of the lost treasures of communication be recovered…don’t you think?

I just read an article on the collator UTNE Reader titled ‘Please Mr. Postman’; it particularly caught my attention because not only in the last weeks in particular, have I been assiduously going through my emails and unsubscribing from many I really can live without, but in the process, I’ve also noticed how few there are that are really letters to me…just me…far too few. The article is worth a read. I’ve also been clearing out stashes of old letters, cards, photos too – many of which I have now dumped…but many others of which I chose to keep and in the case of old photos, to share, on that big ol’ Facebook…much to the amusement and enjoyment of old friends…

But also, a couple weeks ago, in my routine twice weekly stop at the post office box to collect the mail/bills (you used to need to do it every day) I found a card addressed to me, from someone in Canada…a name I didn’t really recognize; I immediately assumed it was some pen-pal-nigerian-style scam thing, but still ripped it open to see, the tiny hint of excitement that it might just actually, maybe, possibly, be a real letter…. it was. From an older lady who’d been visiting one of my good friends – she’d handwritten a lovely little letter in a pretty floral card, saying how much she’d enjoyed her visit and meeting me.

Well. I was like a kid at Christmas…really! I laughed out loud at myself and I read the note at least twice.

There is just no feeling like receiving real correspondence – someone actually taking the time to write a personal letter to you. I disagree with the UTNE article in this, that I feel a good email is a good letter to receive also – there is no reason why we shouldn’t put the same effort into writing a good email as goes into a physical mail, and the immediacy can be wonderful too – being able to speak to someone ‘in the moment’ you are feeling/experiencing/wondering whatever it is…there’s great enjoyment in that too I think.

One of my old letters...

I think it’s sad that people are so worn out by the eye, neck and back straining slew of work emails and online ‘life’ that they can not find time or energy to read, far less savour the real communications in their personal inboxes…something is just plain wrong there – don’t you think?

Xoxo

Rambling Fifi

Bon Voyage....

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 13:59:00 +0000

To me that is...I've been working through a lot of re-organizing and re-prioritizing of my work and life in recent months...well, over the last year or so really!!! And I think I need to take a little hiatus from blogging for a while - I'll blog if anything important happens, or I have a great inspiration, but you probably won't see me each week...so I'd like to leave you with a bunch of flowers; some pics I took a couple weeks ago in my garden.

Those of you who are on facebook, you can find me there and my work page www.facebook.com/islandeffect - and on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/finola-prescott/
hope to see you!

xoxo
Fifi

Our Flambouyant tree casting a red carpet across the lawn

The Royal Flower of the Flambouyant

Golden bouquets of Ixora - pull the stamen to taste a drop of nectar

Crimson Ixora

Scarlet Ixora

June Rose/Crepe Myrtle - the bees love this plant

The beautiful Oleander - my Mum loved this flower - reminded her of Italy and the Med I think

Oleander 'roses'

White Poui - My Dad loves these

The White Poui again

Pride of Barbados - tip to my Bajan side

An unidentified one - anyone?

And another unidentified one...tiny yellow flower shower

The Hidden Meaning of Things...

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:29:00 +0000

A midweek thought...

Photo, thought, phrase all belong to Finola Prescott - please Pin or otherwise use only with FULL credit given - only non-commercial use allowed...thanks...now go BITCH about it :-D

Hmmm...since I posted this...it's become cleat that it's a bit too subtle for quite a few people and they haven't gotten the acronym...so I did another one...there's no point if ppl not getting the thing that's supposed to make them smile eh?

same as above applies - pls do share if you think it's funny or you like it, but give credit n non-commercial only

Be Prepared - what's different since Hurricane Tomas?

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 14:40:00 +0000

As we move into the Hurricane season you can tell people are more alert than they would’ve been a few years ago…people are subscribed to NOAA on Facebook, SLUNEMO on Yahoo groups and the government gets on with clearing drains, rebuilding the roads Tomas left in shambles.

Just one of the homes destroyed

It’ll be 2 years this October to our wake-up call to the real dangers of hurricanes: waking up to find whole communities carried heartlessly away by unstoppable torrents of mud and the 50 foot trees they carried with them. 11 People died. Some have not been found.

The initial search for Sabinus & Eugnia Thomas and family at Colombette, Soufriere

It’s easy to let time pass…hard to accept that it’s the second hurricane season since Tomas…and still, many roads have not been fixed, water supplies are still strained each time it rains heavily…Some areas though, you’d hardly think they had been touched, but they were, and if you look closely, vegetation is all young, rocks are still strewn. Others, you feel like they’re just a disaster waiting to happen and you hope the engineers have made them slip-safe. But there’s nothing like the walls on mountains that I saw years ago in Japan – those were slip-safe; with rock and pipes all together to contain and drain.

See progress a little earlier in 2012 reported by HTS

What have we learned in these years? We perhaps learnt some things from Haiti’s massive earthquake, the tsunamis of Indonesia and Japan, our own hurricane and its 23 inches of rain…but I wonder if we’ve learnt enough?

So here are a few links to things that might help

Advice from NOAA

CDEMA

RED CROSS

Some Solar lighting options

Solar flashlight radios

Water purification -

survivalist

for the DIY ppl (technical)

solar – not a portable thing but interesting for the possibilities / concept

Stay safe everyone!

Happy Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Birthdays … the day we celebrate that we came into being, got our chance to live a life here on Earth…

Always alternative...a sort of healthy cake :-D and non-alcohol champers for brekky!

As kids we can’t wait for each year’s special day – growing up is sooooo big a thing – not wanting to be a little child – wanting to be a teenager, an adult…blissfully unaware of what that really means :-D

I don’t actually remember much about my birthdays growing up – I remember one of my twin sisters’ own – a ride on the Juland(sp) – a 3 or more master, down the coast of St. Lucia – we spent a lot of the time in the nets at the prow –riding high on the coastal swells and youthful joy!

As time goes by, most of us still find excitement in celebrating our birthday though we are less and less inclined to celebrate our getting older!!! Why is that though really? I look at myself and think I’m pretty much the happiest I think I’ve been in my life – yup, lots of ‘cares’ but also lots of wisdom, peace, strength…and a love of having fun that isn’t aging at all!!!

So, is it just the laughter lines, crinkles and umm, slightly less than perky body tone? Methinks so…ah well – that’s the hard fact for being a woman for sure – we are too judged by how youthful (or not) we still look, instead of how super-duper women we’ve become after all those years!

So a few years ago, it dawned on me that for all this fuss over ‘getting older’ and not wanting people to know ‘how old’ you are…why don’t we celebrate the last day of our younger age then? If it’s so darned important not to be too old??? OK, so what really appealed to me was just another excuse to have a celebration!!!

Me and my Girls - Celebrating the last day of the current age :-D

Lulu + 2 At Jambe de Bois, Pigeon Island, St. Lucia

So now I celebrate the last day of the current age – haven’t coined a name for it yet…ideas??? And then wake up and celebrate the amazing fact that I am alive, kickin’ and have endless possibilities and adventures ahead in this amazing world of ours!

Happy Birthday to me and all others who celebrate today…and to all others for whenever your day is too!

Free Writing and To Think Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:03:00 +0000

Recently I read an interesting little post across of Rajesh Setty’s blog– he wrote about doing a ‘To Think List’; asking how many of us stop to note things we have on our mind, things that we should spend some time thinking about…it’s an interesting question.

I ‘think’ all the time – I have one of those minds that is constantly streaming with thoughts…not necessarily organized thoughts or even useful thoughts a lot of the time! I daydream when sipping my tea on the balcony or avoiding cleaning up my studio but I also I revel in opportunities to figure things out…and to mull over thoughts of why things are the way they are and could they be better…

So it’s worth thinking about - what if I gave this unstoppable urge to think, a chance to be more focused, more productive and what if I made a place for some of the best random creative thoughts and great ideas to reside safely until such time as I am able or ready to use them? I think that would be a good thing, n’est pas?

A Place to Think

Rajesh says he uses his ‘To Think List’ to write down things he wants to think about ” when he sets aside time for himself” but he also talks about how good thinking can lead to better actions and so, to a better quality of life – that’s where I would like my ‘To Think List’ to work for me first I believe.

Sorting it all Out

I do a variety of things – as I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago – and they don’t necessarily flow well together, so finding time to complete all that I want (or need) to do is a challenge and I know for sure that it is made worse when my thinking is scattered – I’m being scatter-brained. So for me, a To Think List might start off by being a way to make me remember what to think about before I get to my To Do List each morning, or also, at the end of the day, maybe as I sip my tea on the balcony, to round off the day giving some credit to what went well and to what remains to be considered: what patterns of thought led to good, efficient and productive actions and what led me off track in a way that was not going to be useful. Of course, it should include those trains of creative thought that I could not give time to right away, but that need to be on the kind of list Rajesh talks about – for thinking over when I have time to myself.

Burning Up the Calories

And over in the Creative Something blog, they’re talking about ‘free writing’ to release the pressure on the brain – thinking burns up calories apparently – and so if we are involved in a lot of thinking, we get tired as our body uses up its energy stores…yeah, that sounds right – when the pressures on to complete a report or something – it’s tiring! (of course I don’t lose weight cos I fuel up with chocolate, coffee and other comfort foods!)

Maximizing What You Get

But think about combining a little free writing – letting your pen follow the flow of your creative thoughts and random insights or queries that pop into your head, followed by a more organized sort out in your ‘To Think List’… that could yield a lot of useful material: how many times have you wished you could remember that GREAT idea you had just yesterday…

What do You do?

Some people keep a notebook around – physical or electronic – whichever lets you get it down fastest – but using those thoughts afterwards is where we can reap the fruits isn’t it?

What do you do – are you a disorganized thinker like me (planning to reform) or do you have a great system that you’ll share with us?

Time for Yourself

Space, The Final Frontier

noreply@blogger.com (Finola Prescott) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 18:41:00 +0000

Space – the Final Frontier! How many of us in St. Lucia, the Caribbean, the world, grew up watching Star Trek, with Captain Kirk dashing around the Universe at warp speed, exploring where no man has gone before? Well, we, humans, remain pretty well grounded here on Earth still, despite Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Farscape and countless others trying to leading our imaginations far beyond where any scientist or space programme has so far managed to take us. Even Apollo and all the Shuttles couldn’t take us beyond our immediate neighbourhood.

Out there...

Ah well, sci-fi series and exploration of our universe are not what I set out to talk about today….

Space – the Final Frontier…I want to explore some other equally intriguing issues….like: Why is there never enough space in a day to fit in all the things I want to do? Why do spaces (like my studio) get filled up so easily and emptied so, um, difficultly!?!

Do we humans do justice to the spaces we occupy? Office space; public space; green space; free space; your space; my space…our space?

Space can be a state of mind and heart, or it can be something more tangible, or both…isn’t it interesting how we make a space ours or conversely, how we never quite feel we fit into a space – why is it that some spaces fit us better than others? Why is it that some spaces elude our ability to control them, keep them in order and so erode our peace…and others by the very wildness of their nature, untamability, create a peace in us and a sense of place that we can hardly explain?

We all have a space that is ‘ours’… Some people invade ‘our’ space, some people fill up a space in us, some crowd our space, some, when they leave, leave an empty space in us. Some know exactly when to ‘give us space’ or to fill in a space…others, well, they don’t!

My Space?

In general, we make space in our lives for the things that we want to…tho they may not always be what we ought to :-) And then, there are also things, perhaps even people, we should probably all clear out of our space too, and others, that even though we may not always want to, we should make space for…embrace more.

I was supposed to clean up my space today…my studio is a mess…again…it is too small, has too few shelves, it’s too hot, too dark…too able to hide my things from me… and after every event I attend – like the recent OPSR EXPO 2012 and St. Lucia Jazz…well, it’s always hard to fit stuff back in after you’ve created new stuff – guess I need to get more of it out of here quicker – sell it to the shops :-D

But then there were other things to do today – beekeeping practical lessons on Sunday mornings, editing those pics n videos, blogging, lunch – local tilapia, sweetpotato chips n red peppers….that all takes time!!!

But yes, I will have to get my space back in shape – my brain just doesn’t work as well when my work space is in chaos! But conquering the space…now that always gives a sense of calm – there is something to be said for the feeling you get when you have your space in order. Space – the Final Frontier….to be conquered just as soon as I’ve baked the banana cake, made the flask of tea, gone to the beach to lime with my friends on our Sunday Unwind Lime, looked at those pesky (but necessary) draft letters, hung out the laundry…tomorrow then… early, before work…promise.

Fifi

Untamed Space