Daisy's Book

So, I thought it only fair, to let you all know that my book will not be published until the end of the year. I've stumbled, clumsily across so many complications of late. There's so much more to publishing a book than just writing it. The writing of a book truly is the easiest part of the whole process. That being said, I don't think the problems with my book launch will particularly interest anyone, so I won't elaborate on it any further. I do, however, realize that this will be a huge disappointment to the millions of you out there counting the days until my book is released… just kidding… I wish! Meanwhile, as the finishing touches are applied for the publishing process to begin, I'm working about 20 hours a day on the second book. Needless to say, the consequences of this are the need for a larger pant size. Sitting for hours and hours do not favor a slim figure!

Thank God for my beautiful horses, without them I don't think I would leave the house.

I'm beginning to understand why so many writers become hermits. It's so easy to live in your writing. In my case, my book is non-fiction, so I'm basically living in my past, I'm not sure how healthy that is either, especially when I'm writing about so many of my dumb blunders at sea. A life at sea will test you in every way possible, I believe that I failed so many of those tests. Fortunately I'm able to laugh at myself, and make fun of much of my stupidity. However, I'm not slow at making fun of others either. People do some really dumb stuff on boats, there's little you can get away with, without witnesses when you're living the watery life! :o)

Happy Days :o)

Reptile's in Atlanta

What is one to do for entertainment in Atlanta on a day when the heat's soaring to over 100 degrees?  Well I would think that it's obvious really, take a drive outside the city with Nic and her friend Holly, to a Reptile exhibit, where there were a million heat lamps burning brightly in a room filled with hundreds of every kind of reptile and critter not to mention some of the scariest looking people, and the heat inside exceeded the heat outside…  I really didn't think that was possible.

The heat in the exhibit soared as more and more people came in,  and when I say it was hot, I really mean hot.  If we were slightly sweaty before we entered the exhibition, we were soaking when we left.

The experience was bittersweet for me, because I love gecko's, snakes, lizards etc, but I'm terrified of spiders, and there were lots and lots of them in the exhibit, thankfully for me (but not so much for the spiders) they were all safely contained,  but I have to add that I really don't like seeing anything in a cramped plastic box where it barely has room to move, even if it is a spider.

The exhibit had so many incredible gecko's, some of them were really friendly and cute, whereas some of them were freaking out poor things, there were some amazing and colorful snakes, from tiny little worm size things to huge 15 + foot long Boa's.

 People were walking around wearing their pet snakes around their necks like jewelry,  I wasn't impressed, I felt as though they were exploiting the defenceless creatures, and I couldn't help but feel so very sorry for them, but that's just me, I love all creatures, but I also believe that most would be happier being left in their natural environment instead of being draped around someone's neck.  Truthfully though I have to say I don't know what scared me the most the people or or the tarantulas?

Nic's friend Holly who has several vivariums and critter tanks, bought a beautiful little gecko, rescuing it ( I felt) from further exhibits and road trips.

Nic and I resisted the temptation to set up a vivarium ourselves, we both loved the Gecko's, but weren't sure we could deal with the insects required for feeding them.
Then we saw the beautiful little rain forest frogs, so colorful and so tiny, tiny, tiny, unbeliveably cute, no wonder Bob and I were never able to spot them in the jungles of Panama, no matter how hard we looked, they're about the size of my fingernail, you would almost need x-ray vision to spot them.  We also loved the baby bull frogs, so colorful, fat, and adorable,  we actually very nearly came home with some, but thankfully sensibility took hold and we left the exhibit empty handed.

It was a hot sweaty way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but a really fun and different one,  I'm so glad I went.  Holly's little gecko is now called Gunther, I'll see if I can post a picture of him…

Life in Atlanta is turning out very different to how I imagined it would, but I'm loving the change.

Panama Blue Butterfly

This is the amazing butterfly that I've been trying to photograph, I'm still trying...

White-Throated Capuchin (monkey)

I am so excited about these photographs, I just had to share them with you.  Bob and I had so much fun chasing (following)  these little guys through the jungle...

leaping from tree to tree.

And then there were the howlers:

you have to look closely  but this howler monkey is holding twins, two little babies, that's very rare.

The photographs were taken in the pouring rain, so they're a little foggy.

Rocking and Rolling with The Macaws

Friday January 6^th

Daisy was rocking and rolling so much all she needed was a set of drums. Strong winds seem to have taken over from the rain, but at least we have plenty of sunshine. This bay is definitely not a calm one, I was so giddy I could barely stand up; it was like being on a fairground ride but one that I couldn’t get off.  I spent most of the day lying down, every time I stood up I felt drunk, and NO I hadn’t been drinking.  Waves of nausea came and went as I attempted to maneuver my way around the boat; I couldn’t read because of the nausea, I was bordering on mindless boredom.

I managed with some effort to make a delicious Nicoise Salad for lunch, which we ate up on deck, but I had to return to my horizontal position as soon as I’d finished eating, even lying down I was constantly having to tense my body against the continuous movement, it’s not enjoyable at all, and I find myself dreaming of being back alongside at the marina, where everything is still.  Bob on the other hand is thoroughly enjoying his time here, and even getting lots of jobs done, he’s fixed all the hatches so we have no more leaks, and he’s spending hours relaxing and reading his book, something he rarely does.

One thing I’ve come to notice out here are the flocks of birds that congregate at dusk.  I first noticed it when we were at Bocas Marina, each night right around sunset the Egrets would gather in huge numbers, all in the same tree.  Then at Portobello I noticed them again; also the Pelicans had a particular tree on the waters edge which they would return to in large numbers each evening.  Tonight here in the bay Bob called me to come and look at a flock of birds flying overhead towards isle Grande, we watched through the binoculars and saw that they were the most magnificent Macaws, large and so brightly colored, blue, red orange, as dusk approached more joined the flock gathering in the trees around the little island, it was wonderful to watch.  I always thought birds like, Egrets, Pelicans and Macaws were mostly solitary, I’ve usually seen them flying or fishing alone, rarely have I seen them with more than one of their own kind, so to see them as a huge flock was enough (for a while at least) for me to forget my dizzy spells and nausea (state of mind again!).  Tomorrow we plan to go to the island around dusk and see if we can get a closer look, maybe I can get some photographs.

Panama Green Parrot
Photo by Heather Morgan