Up early, we go to play tennis in Saint Francois. After twenty minutes the massive cloud cover spreads over our heads, it pours. So we walk along the bright fish market toward a little cafe for breakfast instead.

This is my first rainy day on Quadaloupe - showers on and off all day, but still, it's warm and pleasant for swimming, so we go to one of our favorite beaches - Plage de Bois Jolan in Sainte Anne.

In between tennis and the beach, rain and sun, my daily hike involves an encounter with this stunning tropical vine growing lushly along a chain link fence of someone's yard near the cliff edge to the sea.

Such a fascinating and exciting purple and white striped tendrils of a hood veiling a yellow delicacy, exquisite as an orchid.

This passion flower has become my daily touchstone, a point of fascination, a meditation and reflection on how the spirit of this flower may grow in my spirit, my body, my choices, my awareness - my writing, my life.

All photos and text copyright Kelly DuMar 2107