The flora and fauna of paradise

I’m still reflecting on the graces I received during the retreat and am taking time to process everything that happened but I wanted to share more photos of the retreat centre and its grounds. Here are my favourite photos of the beautiful plant and animal life that made the retreat centre such a special place.

This was my usual view for my first prayer of the day. It was so wonderful to be outside.

These flowers were fiery bright – I loved seeing them in the morning sun.

These trees with aerial roots were amazing.

I could see this tree out of my window. It became very special to me during the retreat.

When we arrived it was so dry and the earth was cracked like this everywhere in the property. When we left it had begun to rain so the cracks were beginning to close up.

My favourite place to pray in the late afternoon with the golden sun.

The yellow version of this beautiful flower.

I took this picture at the end of our retreat. You can see the grass is starting to turn green again.

A seed pod beginning to open. It was the size of a corn cob!

And here are the seeds embedded in a sort of cotton.

Another favourite place to pray in the late afternoon.

The sheep had free reign during the day to graze where they liked. They tended to follow a very particular route and timetable as they travelled the property. I usually saw this parade of sheep around 8:30am.

Our beloved “mini lamb”, or “lambie”. Also known by his given name, “Cha-Cha”. As a little lamb with fleece as white as snow, he was spoiled by everyone. He was later adorned with a little cross pendant, like a little monk.

A rear view of the two other lambs – they did not want to pose for a picture.

The nocturnal amphibian.

We couldn’t escape the roosters, even at the retreat centre – another noisy bunch.