Older Mermaids on the other hand...

Just wanna have FUN. Mermaids are essentially geared to having FUN. Having no floors to sweep, or trash to take out, they have a lot MORE time to play than Mumu Mamas who have to provide food and comfort. This is the way it was and is. "Cavorting" is an natural..for a Mermaid of any age!

Taking the Plunge

Occasionally when a particulary driven Mumu Mama feels like her life is near the end just because she has accomplished all she set out to do and wonders, "what is left for me to do?"..........Well! THAT is the time to "take the plunge"! Just JUMP! Once in a while... the Gracious Lady having taken "The Plunge" into unknown waters finds her way back to the surface AND back to the place she knows as HOME. She finds she has gained a brand new outlook and most often, she has a new directive. That is something that sometimes occurs when one is fighting one thing, that the other (better) thing comes to mind. Nothing like a turmoil to seperate out the important things!

Mumu Mama Meli

Mumu Mamas' babies were swaddled, swung, and toted by sling or bareback. There were always more Mamas than babies, so the Mamas shared duties with pleasure and ALL of the Mamas were, (of course) called " Mama". They were all sisters after all, if not by the exact same blood, they were tied by heartstrings and an openess, a *freedom* of mind. All of the Mamas became one in the way a child sees things. Can't have too many loving Mamas in this world. But there is always ONE more special, as it should be.

Mermaids of a Different Tail

Mermaids are a different tail er.. tale. Mermaids are as family oriented as the Mumu Mamas in their early life, while they hold close in familia(r) pods to protect the young. They are however the very opposite in the manner of seclusion. Whereas the Mumu Mamas are bound by the edge of land and see only a vast sea beyond, Mermaids see a whole other world beneathe the waves, a world with no boundaries. Perhaps *attached* but not *actually* bound by any land itself, AND having been given the great gift of speed, with ease and grace through most any water they are able to travel great distances and visit other cultures at will. In "middle life" the age of bearing offspring is most *usually* a curious age, when the call to travel beckons. "Rose" Mermaid as painted here, travelled all the way to the Mediterranean and returned preggers, while portraying a definate "movie star" attitude. Rose will take her ease now and play in her assumably safe familiar waters until her child is born.

The Mermaid Reggie has a raport with fish in general...

She is not exactly able to *command* them, as for instance to appear in a school in a particular channel. However, once in hand, a fish can, if she or he wants to a present a level of communication to express distress or utter contentment, and Reggie can decipher this.

TICKLED PINK !

And she said "I laughed so hard tears ran down my leg!"

Sailor Girl washed up on the Island

Sailor Girl was compelled to leave a boat where "things" were very wrong. Dolphins nudged her along to Mermaids Cay where (fortunately for her!) mermaids brought her back from only half drowned. On the Island (for now), she is content to stay on Mermaids Cay to dig for clams and dive for oysters for sustenance.  Because Sailor Girl is gentle she is ignored for the most part. When you have a lot to sort out, being ignored can be a good thing. At least while the weather is fair.

Fishgirl

On this Island everyone works to her capacity. Everyone contributes. It just works out that those who like to work with veggies compliment those who like to fish, some like to wash laundry, some like to fish, some like to gather mollusks, some like to fish. Some like to pick fruit, some like to fish! It's ALL good!

The younguns are sent down from the mountains and valleys...to learn to catch fish. Having learned their 3 P's early on, Planting Protecting and Picking, fishing fulfills their food requirements.

Character development?...."Charlamagne"

Charlamagne is sipping the local spirits, a pina colada while doing the twist. ("if she seems a little blurry it's because I was having what she was having",)

Fishing is a good way to relax, celebrate a day off 'tween chores! (painting sold)

Mumu Mama fighting BIG fish. And *that's* whats for dinner!

There are many ways to enjoy your life, Take that from your Mumu Mamas!

One way to enjoy exhileration is by casting a net into the sea and bringing forth food for a very LARGE family. Naturally any sea turtles that gather off the Island's shore would be released but every bit of fish would be eaten or used in a fertilizing way, sorry Charlie!

There is a time to Howl at the Moon!

It is in the season between planting and replanting, when the valley is lush with food stuffs, flowers whose beauty is beyond imagination stand tall and seeds have been gathered to dry. On the Island of the *WE* such a time is brief. There are no long iced in winters here but most certainly there is a pause, a cause for celebration. In this "twixtortween" season (which coincides with sailors and seekers wanting to be elsewhere), like magic the veil of mist lifts and drifts away from the mountains. To feel the blush of the full moon on a person's flesh would possibly encourage a howl, a song, a celebration. And this is how it was.........

Mumu Mama Marci

A Celebration is never far away. There is much to celebrate here on the Island. To celebrate upon is a clear day, good fishing, a good crop of pineapples for instance~ and here by the way, is the recipe for the Pineapple Bomb~
1 pt. malibu
1 pt. bacardi black
1 pt pineapple juice with a cherry on top

This makes for high spirits on or off the Island.

Some "Mercats" find LOVE the BEST way,

accidently

Some "Mercats" Love their friend enough to "put up with" unwanted attention.

Thoughtless Heroics

Mermaids who help guide sea turtle hatchlings to sea with love and trickery.

There is nothing wrong with building sandcastles at any age! It is NEVER time wasted.

Sometimes the best idea is to *drift* and let the waves take you where you need to go.

Jessica, gets bored waiting for adventure. She is young and dreamy yet.

And most of the men she meets are sharks.

Island Mermaids

The Island Mermaids lived and guarded this very remarkable Island and as far as I know they still do. Sometimes in the order of protection they *may have * averted boats by various and complcated means. Some are very vigorous in their endeavors, even to thwart the dreaded pirate, some once were more vigorous but are now in the change of life and so much more able to appreciate the little things. When one has a big family, everything gets done that needs to be done by those who want to get things done. It is the Love and Tolerance within a family, even a half Fish family that makes it all flow like saltwater!

Hazel~ with arms WIDE open!

Hazel was known for celebrating every single moment of every single day. This was more the norm than a crime on the Island. Hazel has always known that the tiniest almost unawares things are what makes a life full and rich. Her arms are wide open and she notices every single bitty butterfly that passes her way and the brilliant colors on the feathers of birds, the verdant green shoots of plantings, the shapes of clouds in the sky, the scent of the ripest mango, the sound of the spring water on the rocks, distant thunder, all reasons to rejoice!

Jayne, the "Embracer"

The Embracer, the hugger, she keeps the *WE* connected.

Mercats

Mercats have rarely been seen, but occasionally they do want a little attention . They are capable of swimming long distances at high speed having no need to stop for a picnic lunch.

The Guardians

I almost forgot! The guardians of the Island are another bunch altogether. The mermaids have different roles according to their temperments. Like chameleons they are able to blend or not with their surroundings. They travel like mist through water or water through mist, hopefully, always exceptionally aware.

Who shall I write about next? There are so many characters in this story!

Perhaps I should better describe the Island itself. It has no name, other than "home" or "here" or "sustenance" which is felt rather than spoken since no Mumu Mama has ever left the Island to return. All of the Island's creatures have been here as long as fable or memory allows with the occasional new species appearing rarely. Men have long disappeared, if ever they were here. Occasionally a man appeared, washed up on the beach, ship wrecked, oddities they were and no progeny was male. The Women who remain are all related, they are the *WE*.
The Island's fine grained white sand beaches made from ground shells are short in depth but large with amazing indiginous life. Close to the beach is a wall of tropical trees, dense enough to make the Island appear uninhabited. Ferocious with undergrowth, unless one knew the maze of paths, sharp blades of grass and vicious thorns from vines would impede one's progress through it. Beyond the thick tropical forest of plenty are hills that quickly build to small mountains. Two mountains that might have appeared as breasts were they easily seen from afar, were divided by a soft green valley speckled with fresh water springs and limpid pools of turquoise water, or green depending on the light of day. The mountain apex' are rarely visible as they are most frequently topped with mist like whipped cream on a sunday as if conspiring to hide this secret land.

Mumu Mamas

Here then begins the Story of my Mumu Mamas.

Once upon an Island far far away the "Mumu Mamas" reigned. The "Mumu Mamas" were thought to be the happiest people in the world. I believe they still are.
The "Conch Queen" was raised from infancy in the place where sugary white sands met the warm waves. Her mind beheld all of the wonders and signs that nature plainly laid before her. Her mind was so pure and uncluttered that in one instant she could decipher the meaning of the crabs' clatter, sniff a changing breeze, note where there were  fish in the currents, acknowledge the tip of the albatross wing and feel the water table under the sand at her feet ebb and rise. Born on the beach which she was meant to monitor and nuture, the "Conch Queen" would never leave her enormous task of compiling and relaying information to her tribe via the long soulful sounds from her conch shell.