Hidden in Plain Sight; or More White Walls

Sometimes when you are unsure about life, just ask yourself, What Would Henry David Thoreau Do?

Heaven is beneath our feet, as well as over our heads.---Thoreau

If you aren't sure, the answer is he would say go enjoy nature.

(of course, if you aren't into nature, you can just go enjoy beer and make Ben Franklin happy)

Brussels=BEER

That's just what I did last weekend. Instead of school work (boo!!!), I worked on the yard. 

I finally ventured behind the fence. We live on the edge of a bluff over the Bay. I haven't bothered to see what's behind the fence until my mini adventure, when I found this: 

Those are coconut trees. How did I miss that there are coconut trees right by my house? They are hidden in plain sight. Maybe, one day, we'll have our own coconuts.

You really have to look down sometimes to see what's around you. Last weekend, I had a 2 ft Cuban racer snake slithering down the walkway towards my front door. It was my second encounter in a week with a Cuban racer at the new house. While walking on the beach, I have found so many strange and wonderful things---pieces of old pottery and sea glass (some with "Cuba" written on it), dozens of types of shells, old buttons and silverware and other strange things that are somehow connected to the US Navy or to Cuba. 

You also have to look up so you won't miss bats and birds, huge moths and even bigger tarantulas. Ever present turkey vultures. There is a pair of kestrels that have built a nest in a tree right outside my class door. I love to watch them bring back the bounty of their hunts (usually lizards). If you know where to look, you can find the nocturnal banana rats sleeping high in trees during the day. 

Much more obvious than the coconuts are the banyans. Oh, how I love them---even if they house nasty banana rats (one plowed through my potted plants---so they are most definitely on my hit-list). 

While I am working in the yard, I am tempted to dig holes and move plants around. I am also tempted to hang up some of the dozens and dozens of pictures we have framed, many of which we never put up in the limited wall space of our last house. 

I have a nice entranceway begging for pictures. It's so tempting, but. . . I am back to white wall mentality. 

We are waiting for the 2 weeks (or longer) for transfer announcements. If a move is not in the cards, pictures will go up, plants will be moved, and I will feel more at home. 

More waiting and waiting, trying not to obsess on the future and live in the present. If I haven't learned anything else here, it's to try to live more in the present and not listen to conjectures, rumors, and "what-ifs."  I've also learned to enjoy the simple hidden treasures of GTMO---coconuts and tarantulas, snakes and sea glass, banana rats and mangos. And the list goes on. . .