Hummingbird on Aloe Flower

With spring officially here  a few days ago, we see another sign of our St. John springtime, hummingbirds sucking the nectar of the aloe flower.

See hummingbird video

St. John Live Music Schedule Friday March 23

Aqua Bistro – Steve Sloan – 5:30 – 8:30 – 776-5336
Castaways – Mikey P – 9:00 – 777-3316
Cinnamon Bay – Eddie Bruce Drum Circle – 6:30 – 8:00
Cruz Bay Prime – James Cobb – 7:00 – 10:00 – 693 -8000
Driftwood Dave’s – John W Lee – 7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
Morgan’s Mango – Lauren – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – T-Bird – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Rhumblines – Erin Hart – 7:00 – 10:00
Spyglass – James – 5:00 – 8:00 -776-1100

See Weekly Schedule

St. John Springtime: Vanda Orchid

We’re slowly seeing the signs of spring here on St. John. Albeit not as dramatic as springtime in America, we do, contrary to what many believe, have definite seasons. Today, for example marks the day that America goes back on Daylight Time, making Eastern Standard Time (EST) equal to our Atlantic Standard Time (AST). The seawater has become warm enough not to be so shocking (for  baby like me anyway, but not warm enough for a baby like my friend Mario). More scientifically demonstrating the coming of a new season is the appearance of flowers on my mango tree and the aloes in bloom a buzz with bees and hummingbirds in the morning.

Mango Flowers	Aloe Flowers
Key Lime Flower	Christmas Palm Fruits

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Sunday, March 11

Aqua Bistro – Lauren – 3:30 – 6:30 – 776-5336
Beach Bar – The Blood Gypsies – 5:00 – 777-4220
Concordia – Bo – Sunday Brunch – 10:00 am
Driftwood Dave’s – Live Music – 1:00 – 4:00 – 777-4015
Miss Lucy’s – Samba Combo – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – 693-5354
Ocean Grill – David Laab – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Rhumblines – T-Bird – 7:00 – 10:00
Shipwreck Landing – Hot Club of Coral Bay – 7:00 – 10:00
Skinny Legs – Groove Thang – 6:00 -779-4982
Sun Dog Cafe – David Laab – 11:00 am- 2:00 pm – 244-9713
Westin Beach Bar – Rich Greengold  – 6:30 – 9:30 – 244-9713

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

lime flower

I though I might share some of the little things that made me smile this morning.

I noticed that my lime tree is in flower again. This is a local lime tree, not a grafted one. The limes have seeds and they turn yellow when ripe. They’re full of juice and are sweet in a limey sort of way. I planted this tree from a seed given to me by John Gibney, taken from a lime grown on my favorite lime tree. The tree flowers all over and almost all the flowers ripen turn into limes that fall to the ground when they get ripe. I would guess that each time it bears it gives at least 100 limes, probably more.

Now the lime tree is in flower once again and today as I walked by, I remembered something about the flowers. They’re special also. They have the most delicious aroma, like a beautiful perfume from an expensive perfume store.

Good T’ing! Made me smile.

aloe flower

I have a lot of aloes in the garden. I used to used them in shakes, but not so much recently. They’re good for sunburns or any kind of burn. Now they’re all in flower. The best thing about the aloe flower is that it attracts hummingbirds. My neighbors Adam and Jane have a hedge of aloes where I took this video on day when the aloes were in full bloom.

orchid

This is one of my favorite orchids. It’s not native to St. John. My guess is that it came fro El Yunque in Puerto Rico, but I’m not sure. It has been in bloom many times and each time it makes me smile.