Break in the Storm, Rincon Puerto Rico

For the past several days all of the Caribbean and some of Central America has been under the influence of an enormous front which stretched from Honduras, over the islands of the Caribbean and out into the Atlantic Ocean. There have been periods of intense rain, followed by a clearing... but the sky's have remained gray. This is remarkable as the usual pattern at this time of year is for showers in the afternoon and brilliant blue sky's in the morning and later afternoon.

Never mind, the guests at the Lemontree for this Memorial Day weekend enjoyed the break from the sun. Some just watched the sky show from their terraces and took their leisure. Others went on excursions to some of the small towns in the interior bringing back enormous baskets of mangoes and wonderful huge flowers. Like these Lobster Claws.



Today, the front has pushed on and the weather is back to its more predictable "tropical paradise" self.

Dia de Logros

This Saturday was a milestone. At the Francisco Lopez Cruz Foundation where Bella and I study music, it was Dia de Logros or Day of Accomplishments. Bella has reached the halfway point in her study of the Cuatro and I completed a third term of Bongo. On this day, students present a concert and Bella played with her Cuatro class a Puerto Rican favorite, Alma Boricua and the audience was singing and cheering along with the song. She also played with Taller Orchestra and they played these well known Puerto Rican songs Preciosa, Dime and Campinatas de Cristal. Pictured above, obviously in high spirits, Bella is tuning up and ready to go. She is wearing her very red shirt! Each instructor decides on a color of shirt and her cuatro class selected RED! The day lasted from about 2:00 p.m. until well after dark. After a summer of practicing on our own, formal classes begin again in late August.

A Moment In Time, Rincon, Puerto Rico

Last week the New York Times ran a wonderful interactive photographic project called "A Moment in Time." On Sunday at 15:00 GMT or 11A here in PR around the world photographers were invited to submit images of their place and circumstances. The photographs were placed on a fabulous rotating globe and sorted by topic, location and recommendation votes.

Here is the photograph I submitted:



It was taken with a telephoto-lens just down the beach from the Lemontree... as seen from our main courtyard. Sunday is a slow day here and the morning unfolded quietly. Down the beach are beach houses which have been in families for a couple of generations. A morning of family, calm and tranquility.

You can check out the image in the NYTimes here as well as read about the entire project.

At this time this image has been the most recommended in the Puerto Rico pile.

A Sunrise and Sunset in Rincon, Puerto Rico

Yesterday, I was up just after the sun rose, and as I customary do, I stepped out onto the terrace for a look around. This time of year the sunrise has moved from due East, over the mountains towards the Northeast and is partly blocked by the mountains. The scene was not particularly unusual, actually rather ordinary for a tropical sunrise. The day would be calm, at least until 2:00 pm when the rains would come... clearing off an hour or so later. I think it was just the ordinariness that attracted me. I had my 35mm lens mounted and just shot off a couple of frames.

Here is what I saw:



The day moved on and errands were run. We had a wonderful visit from our oldest son, freshly returned from the mainland, and brimming with stories and anecdotes. Just before dinner, I stepped out onto the terrace and saw the beginnings of sunset. The boaters heading for home and the pelicans looking for a last meal before they snugged down in a tree.

Here is the scene:



The sun sets now to the West/Northwest and so the light that you see looking due East is reflected light, with the light brighter higher up in the sky and shadows appearing towards the water.

It struck me that the two images, early morning and late afternoon were parallel scenes... with just the direction of the light separating them. In another blog I wrote that we tend to keep track of the passing of the day by the sun... certainly much more profoundly and meaningfully that we ever did in New York City.