published in Achieving Your Dreams, Beauty, Creativity, Gratitude, Intuition, Productivity, Travel, Writing by Maryanne | December 10, 2019 | No Comment
Bahamas Beauty Boosts Creativity
Tarpum Bay, Eluethera
“Perhaps this is the most important thing for me to take back from beach-living: simply the memory that each cycle of the tide is valid; each cycle of the wave is valid; each cycle of a relationship is valid.”
―
And, I would add, each phase of a writing project is valid
Because goodness knows, for some of my bigger projects there have been an awful LOT of phases. It’s all part of the process, I know, but there’s nothing quite like watching the crashing waves of a powerful ocean to remind one that the tide comes in and the tide goes out…day in, day out.
That, of course, is also the way work gets accomplished…day in and day out.
I was very blessed to be back in the beautiful Bahamas recently. The main purpose of my trip was to spend 5 nights at the home of the Bahamian writer, Sherelle Wallace, to give her feedback on & brainstorm ideas about her upcoming “Live With a Local” program (to be launched in late 2020).
The idea is that a female traveler (preferably a writer but not necessarily) stays at Sherelle’s home (for maximum of a week) for a small nightly fee. In exchange, the visitor gets to experience the life and home of a local Bahamian.
In other words, I was Sherelle’s guinea pig 🙂 and it was a pretty good gig!
Sherelle picked me up at the Rock Sound airport and the laughs started there. I would write in the mornings, then in the afternoons (when she wasn’t working at her other job) she would show me the beaches & sights of South Eluethera. Sherelle’s home is in Greencastle.
Here are a few shots from our time together:
MA & Sherelle enroute to what the locals refer to as “Shoe Beach” because of the ship full of shoes that sank off the coast
Stunning Shoe Beach (not a shoe in sight)
MA & Sherelle at Cape Eluethera
Kalik & conch fritters…who could ask for anything more?
Post dinner rest in hammock at Cape Eluethera
Birds of a feather…Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera
My cozy creativity zone…I was writing up a storm!
Some of the items for sale in Enchantment store (in her home)
If you are interested in learning more about the “Live with a Local” program, please e-mail Sherelle at enchantmentgiftshop@hotmail.com.
Pineapple Fields Forever
After parting ways with Sherelle, I moved to my old stomping grounds of Pineapple Fields (near Governors Harbour) where I wrote to my heart’s content for 4 days. I finished the next rewrite of my God’s Country screenplay (about the silent screen star, Nell Shipman) and got a new screenplay started. Yippee!
Here are some photos from my time at Pineapple Fields:
My PF writing zone 🙂
Wow.
My beloved Tippy’s beach
That’s it for now from this gypsy gazelle. Hope you are doing well and gearing up for a happy holiday season 🙂
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.
published in Children, Family, Inspiration, Photos, Travel by Maryanne | October 20, 2019 | 6 Comments
G’Day From Down Under
Wee Rosie
“There’s only one thing more precious than our time and that’s who we spend it on.”
– Leo Christopher
G’Day Mate…how ya goin’?
Ace, I hope! I am in Perth, Western Australia this week, visiting rellies: my niece, Kylie, her husband, Colm, and their two adorable ankle-biters, Liam (4) and Rosie (2). I am Liam & Rosie’s Great Auntie!
The Captain America shield just flew across the room, so I shall keep this blog short then return to the task at hand 🙂
This trip has been all about getting to know & playing with the sprogs…and that we have done spectacularly well, if I say so myself.
Here are a few snaps:
Super excited Liam at Rockingham beach…we both swam!
Rockingham beach
Moo-stache (Rosie’s nickname is Moo Goo or Moo for short)
Liam on tractor at the Crooked Carrot Cafe & Park
MA & Moo picnic in the park
And, just to keep my single-gal sanity in check, there has also been a daily solo escape to the lovely local beach:
Secret Harbour beach
Sometimes I even sneak off TWICE a day, to catch the sunset:
Love this shot of me & Ky at Dophin Quay (just seems like yesterday she was Rosie’s age):
And this is the beach at Dolphin Quay…wow!
That’s it, that’s all for now…have a good week & catch ya later!
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.
published in Beauty, Inspiration, Photos, Travel by Maryanne | August 20, 2019 | 2 Comments
Welcome to the Jungle – Ecuador Photo Blog #5
MA, Lynne & gang on the Nepo River in the Amazon basin, Ecuador
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
– Robert Swan
Finding the above quote for today’s blog sure got me thinking.
This is the fifth & final photo blog about our Ecuador adventure…
After the Galapagos, we returned to the mainland (Cumbaya, a suburb of Quito). I love this photo…I was buying a belt from a guy outside a market and this old fella was supervising the transaction:
Basílica del Voto Nacional, Quito, Ecuador
Then we headed to the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest. Our base was the ever so lovely La Casa del Suizo jungle lodge (I highly recommend it…the food was outstanding). From there, we did day trips as well as an overnight stay in a local community…right IN the rainforest (our hut was on stilts; the ants were HUGE).
Our mode of transportation was by boat on the Nepo River (a tributary of the Amazon River):
Amazon-sized leaves, primary forest
Yours truly ticking another item off the bucket list: hiking in the Amazon 🙂
Our community-stay in a local village…
Muddy trails
Margarite the matriarch
Goofing around with selfies (looking a little wild)
Goofing around with a blow gun
And look what we found on a tree in the village…if you look closely, you’ll see it is hundreds & hundreds of caterpillars:
Another thing we found in the village…two of our own group dubbed as princesses:
Lynne & Nancy were singled out (in a good way) by the local women for asking lots of questions
Back at the La Casa del Suizo, we heard an informative presentation by the sister (third from right, back row) of our Altropico guide, Sante. She works with OMASNE, an organization that raises awareness about mining development in Ecuador. Their hashtag is #Bosques Sin Mineria, which means Forests Without Mining.
Some of us in our OMASNE t-shirts
“Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”
– E.O. Wilson
We also visited a butterfly farm just down the road from our lodge…
Check out the GOLD cocoons!
After leaving the butterfly farm, we walked past a school and I popped my head in a classroom and snapped this pic:
Not to be outdone by Lynne’s princess-status, I received some recognition of my own on the tour as a DOUBLE WINNER of the Party Animal Award AND the Sung Hero Award. No wait…I think it was called the Unsung Hero Award – but by the time I was finished wearing it for a few days, they may have had to rename it…a humble Double Winner I am not.
And that’s a wrap! Our adventure was truly a trip of a lifetime and I am beyond grateful that I was able to go. Thank you for sharing in my photo journey…and if you have a hankering to go to Ecuador yourself, I highly recommend traveling with Experience International and Altropico. I have been blessed to travel to many places but these two organizations ensured my time in Ecuador was a truly unique (and fun!) experience that I will never forget.
Thank you Charlie & Sante…and Lynne, of course, for putting up with me. Rooming with a Double Winner cannot be easy 🙂
About Experience International Study Tours
Experience International (EI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization based in Bellingham, Washington. Incorporated in 1988, their mission is to embrace and create opportunities for international understanding and human resource development through technical and cultural exchange in a wide spectrum of disciplines including but not limited to agriculture and natural resources. EI also works with community and choral groups of all ages that travel and often sing to celebrate human diversity, peace, and social justice; to exchange and share with local groups and communities off the beaten track. Please click here for details.
About Altropico
Altropico is an organization committed to social and environmental causes in the binational region of Ecuador and Colombia. They collaborate with indigenous, afro-descendant and mestizo organizations, with programs and projects oriented to the good living of their populations. Please click here for further info.
Related Blogs by Maryanne
Great Galapagos – Is that a Giant Tortoise or What?!
Surviving Inti Raymi – Ecuador Photo Blog #3
Magical Moran – Ecuador Photo Blog #2
Walking the Line – Ecuador Photo Blog #1
Celebrate Good Times – Saying Goodbye to Sadie Pope
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.