Raining Down

In the space of a week how things can change. This time the serious dry season really seems to have been broken in Barbados, with heavy showers over the past 2 weeks. The plants have taken their cue from this change, none more so than the Mahogany trees encircling Spice of Life.

All of a sudden the mahogany leaves and pods have begun to fall like rain.  Every gust of wind brings hundreds of leaves down, you can hear them pattering onto the galvanised roof, they enter the house through any open space and spread throughout the rooms.

The leaves collect in sheltered spaces, like outside the laundry door...

Some trees are bare already, with only the empty pods on show, others have already sprouted new leaves.

The seeds pods lie on the ground, some still unbroken.

The seeds themselves are a master of nature's engineering, designed to drift far, they rotate in the breeze supported by long 'wings'.  As a child we would throw bunches up into the air to see them 'helicopter' down...

All this in a week.