The Girl who loved the Fire

As a child, I used to play a lot and I would make a game or toy out of anything. I was fascinated, enchanted by Fire. I just loved Fire so much, I could not get enough of it. Looking a the bright light it produced, and the warm it caused, and the different forms it took, and how gentle it moved with the wind, I could not stop liking Fire so much. I would play with Fire in my big yard in my Great-Grandma's home. If my relatives would put on a candle, I would play with it, until they would made me stop.

Stop they try to make me stop, many times... They would yell at me and tell me how dangerous it was. I was such a stubborn child that I could not stop playing with Fire. I loved looking at it. Growing up in the Dominican Republic, we had many black outs, it was the normal thing. When I was in the afternoon school time, I had to finish my homework in the evening and nighttime with candles because of the black outs. I loved it, darkness never scared me. I found dark evenings and nights made it more fun and interesting. No that I was doing much as a child, but I would play outside with the neighborhood kids and scared the heck out of each other. We even created our own movies with a shoebox, a few toys and a candle.

My fascination with fire ended one afternoon when I almost burned the house. I will never forget that day, what I did, and felt guilty for many,... many,... many years.

My aunt Nelly put on a candle, for good wishes and she went to the hospital to give birth. I went inside her room, saw the candle and did what I loved to do. I started to play with it. There was a roll of toilet paper nearby so I took a piece of that paper and put it on the candle. The paper started to nicely become Fire and consumed by the Fire, it touched my fingers and burned me. I moved my hand rapidly, threw the paper on the floor right next to the quilt that was covering her bed. The bed started to go on fire so fast! ... I run to the yard, I put on the hose and started to put water on the bed, but there was not enough water to put the Fire off, the water pressure was too low. The whole mattress started to burn completely, the smoke started to come out of the side of the house. My front neighbors saw the smoke and came into the house to find out that I was burning down the place. My Great-Grandma was sleeping, so she was very much unaware of what was going on.

The neighbors helped to put out the fire. The bed was completely burned. As I am typing this entry, I am lol at this. OMG ! I was a horrible child. Now I remember when this happened, It was in 1980. I was 5 years old.

When my aunt Nelly came back from the hospital with her newborn, she did not had a bed to sleep with. I felt so bad. My mom was going to beat me up but she couldn't because I run and hid in the yard. I would climb up the trees and stay there for a few hours so no one could get me. We had 3 Avocados tree, 1 Mango tree, 1 Orange tree and 1 lemon tree plus many others. My favorite trees to climb were the Avocado trees, they were the tallest ones.

So many days past by, and I did not get the beat down. I did felt pretty bad for many years. I stop playing with fire. As an adult, I send money to my aunt Nelly for all the pain and trouble I caused her. Today, I laugh at it. My aunt Nelly loves me. She used to care for me all the time as if she was my mother too.

Poochie: Orange Wing Amazon Bird

Poochie is an Orange Wing Amazon bird. He was born sometime in June 2010 in  Florida. His tag number is 3281. He came as a newborn by plane I guess to Pedro's store "Birds of Paradise".

I saw him as a newborn, he had very few feathers, he looked a bit weird without all of his feathers. One time in August of 2010, when he was 2 months old, I walked into the store and saw him. By now he was bigger with all his colorful feathers, I looked at him, he looked at me, eye to eye, he smiled, he sort of hypnotised me. I talked to him and he responded by giving me attention and his eyes flashed brightly orange colors. When I left the store, I was hooked on him. I could not stop thinking about him. I decided to buy him as a  birthday gift to myself and I did. He is the best thing I ever got for myself. I also felt like if I was saving him, I don't know from what, but he actually saved me...lol

I had him DNA tested and confirmed that he is a boy. Raising Poochie had been a great experience. I never knew that birds were so great and interesting. I didn't even know that I could be so gifted at taking care of a bird. I had learned a lot from him, more than what I thought. He also had made me a better person.

One of the most significant thing I learned from Poochie is to " Never be  Upset or Mad", no matter what my situation is. Poochie never gets mad, he is always happy and I mean, really happy ! He is always sweet, he loves attention, he loves being talked and sang to. His favorite songs are "ABC" and  Barney's song "I love you".

The only annoying behavior that he has is being very loud and noisy if I don't give him attention. Birds are like "forever little babies", they need to be loved and play with, they need everyday talk, affection and care, birds are social beings. When he is very noisy, I put a cover over his cage to calm him down, if talking and music doesn't work. Also, giving him a shower calms him down. I pour water on him and he loves it, he knows how to give himself a bath as well. Birds take on the emotions that are around so if I am loud he will be loud and scream also.

Please do not get a pet bird if you think that you will not have the time to take care of them and play with. Birds really need attention and play time. You can leave the radio music on all day or the TV if you have to go to work and leave your bird alone.

Poochie will talk only when he wants to. It took me 3 years to get him on video saying "I love you" he would talk and dance but would stop as soon as he knew I was recording. He is too smart...lol
You can see him doing all his things on my youtube channel www.youtube.com/lalistadeaura

Poochie has his own Facebook page by www.facebook.com/PoochieBird

 

I also had a Quaker Parrot.

He likes it when I pet his ear, it makes him yawn.

He relaxes and sleep after playtime.

He like to grab objects near him, specially shiny ones like gold or metal colors.

Of course, I had to paint him. 7/2014.

I made him into a ceramic, he liked it, he was trying to lick it.

Kitty likes to drink from his water and he allows her to. I got kitty a few months after Poochie. They grew up in the same area and like each other. You can see the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37zszbzydSM&list=UU--upR0pkN4JtjlrbJe63SA

If a Baby could talk...

If a baby could talk,
If a baby could talk when he is born,
If a baby could look straight in his parents eyes,
If a parent could understand his baby's feelings,
If a baby could talk as soon as He is born,
He can not talk, He can only cry,...
He can only take the pain caused by being circumcised without his verbal consent,...
If a baby could talk,...
a baby will say "No please, no... do not expose me to that type of pain"
If only a baby could talk.

Aura 3.15.13

Spider Hunting

As a Child, I always loved nature, outdoors and animals. I was always exploring my backyard, the streets, the rivers, beaches and outdoors with my big brother and his friends.

I was very scared of Spiders. In my backyard, we had those spider holes full of big black Spiders. I used to kill them with my brother or alone for the fun of it and to prevent them from coming inside the home.

To kill a Spider, there is a process to do it successfully. First, you have to push a stick on the ground next to the spider hole, if the ground is too hard, you have to put a bit of water to make it soft and allow the stick to go about 4 inches deep grounded. Then, little by little and slowly, you pour water inside the spider hole, like a cup of water at the time, you pour a bit and pause, to see if the Spider is coming up. Don't you think that the spider is going to come out running like a crazy one,... no, no, no, Spiders are smart. They will crawl up to the top of the hole, you will be able to see their legs and body, but they will not come out most of the time, they stay inside at the top of the hole to breath air and not to drown. Once you see the Spider at the top inside of the hole, you hold the stick that is Inground and push it towards the spider hole, pushing up the ground, and sort of popping the Spider out of the hole in the whole motion. The Spider is most likely to jump at you and bite you, so you have to keep your distance and be ready to run. Your hunting partner and yourself, take all the stones that you must have ready to throw and squash the spider, if you miss, you can use the broom to stomp and kill it.  Be aware, some Spiders are going to be able to run away, after all, Spiders are smart and agile.

My great grandmother, Maria Pena, told me that her mother died of a Spider bite. So, when the Spiders that I was hunting would run away, I was always scared that they would come after me later on when I was sleeping and bite me. The days the Spiders got away, I had restless nights and nightmares, however, that did not stopped me from killing the Spiders in my yard.

Here is a video, of Spider Hunting in the Dominican Republic. I was just giving it a quick try, I did not had the stick next to the hole, so the Spider did not come out and lived:

http://youtu.be/r001ACyNdt8

www.youtube.com/lalistadeaura

Aura / Lalistadeaura

CPR and First Aid

I took the CPR & First Aid classes with my two sons. I believe that All parents Must know these skills and having their children know the skills as well, can be life saving techniques in case of an emergency, since the first few minutes of an injury/emergency are so critical and  knowing how to do the right thing on specific injuries, that can make a big difference.

I had taken these classes (2001 or 2002) for work purposes, and on that same year, I ended up saving my son who was chocking on french fries at home. This time, I took them, because I wanted to be updated in the skills and I really wanted my boys to know this as well. It was my first classes with my sons and I had the greatest time!. Mr. Jinx the instructor was Amazing ! ... I could not ask for anything better. When he spoke, we were able to understand all the material, he was great at grabbing my son's attention. We really enjoyed the classes, when we left, my sons were saying this class was Awesome ! How lucky I am! my children really love to learn new things ! ;)

Now, I have peace in my mind, knowing that me and my sons, will know what to do if someone is injured. 

Santo Domingo

Christopher Columbus Home. He did not lived here much of his time because he was traveling. His son Diego lived here. I can only imagine how much fun he had in this huge home that today is a museum.
















El Panteon Nacional

During my trip, I visitted la Zona Colonial where I took a walking tour of various historic places in Santo Domingo.

This is Independencia, where that statues of Juan Pablo Duarte, Sanchez y Mella. Los padres de la patria Dominicana.

El Punto Cero

El Punto Cero. It is Point Zero in the Santo Domingo D.R. all distance are meassure from this point. It is the begining of the island. It is located inside of La puerta de el Conde, Independencia.

Calle las Damas is the first street in Santo Domingo, D.R., this is what the tour guide told me. I hope he is right, lolol

It is located in the Zona Colonial, near El Pueto

Baby Deer in Pinebush, N.Y.

As I was walking in the forest with my family I spotted something brown. My first reaction was to get ready to run off, but curiosity was stronger than fear, and little by little I go close to it. What I really discovered was this beautiful baby Deer. It was so much of a baby, that when it saw me, it didn't even run. The baby deer stood there quietly and I was able to pet it and hold it. I was so full of emotions and happy that I wanted to take it home. "Are you crazy? You can get arrested!" that's what my husband said. I pet the deer and took pictures, then after a while the deer wanted to be free. So I had to let it free, and it went into the woods.

This is the Deer going into the woods: