Wednesday, June 20, 2012


Years ago we bought a home, supposedly to retire in but because of the economy John, my husband, insisted we must let it go, I was on the fence about it. 

When without pressing,  the lender, low and behold, gave us a great deal I said to John, just before he left to do some food shopping,  “Think about all the possibilities open to us”. John came back and said, “We are moving to Hummingbird." That is the name of the street the house we were walking away from is on. I wondered what had John shopped for.



In less than a month, Hummingbird is the house we are going to live in, maybe for the rest of our lives, and that is a hard move. The place is farther away from our families; it already feels lonely. However, it is a community with so much to do that we hope our family and friends will love to visit.


What I loved about it when we first bought it still inspires me: the abundance of nature and trees and wonderful views. There I hope to write a lot and maybe even learn to paint and one day play an instrument. Is that too much to ask for in my golden years: I think not. 

Thinking about colors schemes and décor I said to the contractor that will do some renovating, and the painter, "I wanted a sort of Spanish/Moroccan/Asian style" (well it goes with my eclectic collection from years of finds and gifts).

Tonight, I could not sleep. Should be writing an article to submit - I was warned with termination for not submitting copy for over a month - nevertheless, here I am thinking about the home we are letting go. Looking around, packed boxes that soon will be taken with everything by a moving company meld in the darkness. In the darkness, it looks so empty of things but so full of the memories of events that flowed in and out in years: family gatherings, graduations, weddings, births and funerals.

To curtail my sadness I decide to give our Hummingbird home a name, connect with it. I love hummingbirds and started to look at pictures and files online. In doing a search I came upon a hummingbird from my native Nicaragua, the beautiful Guardabarranco Colibri. Our house is on a steep hill and Guardabarranco translates thus: “guarda” guard, save, or keep safe, and “barranco” is ravine. What a coincidence, the one thing that makes me nervous about the hummingbird house is that it is perched on a steep hill, that could be considered a ravine, and I find a name of a hummingbird that means keep the ravine safe. 

I don't even remember that hummingbird! We will name our new home "Casa del Guardabarranco Colibri". Of course, most will not be able to pronounce it and many will make fun of it... until they learn to love it. The Guardabarranco Colibri is Nicaragua's National bird and is plumed in colors I love.

Here is a photo of the Guradabarranco Colibri:









Curtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Nicaragua

Dame tu luz Nicaragua | By Nicaragua Channel

Dame tu luz Nicaragua | By Nicaragua Channel

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