After the rain....

February has been extremely hot and humid, with temperatures up to 36C / 96.5F along the west coast. I shouldn't whine, but with +32C / 92F halfway on the plateau and add 80-85% humidity... Yes, it is way too hot and humid for me!

Some days ago we had such a nasty, yet such a wonderful days; RAIN - and the temperature fell with about 6 degrees - WONDERFUL!

I love to take photos in our garden. Flowers and leaves look amazing and different in the rain... like they are smiling...  Here I have captured some of the plants after they got wonderful showers.

Our latest addition to our garden; Ixora Coccinea - known as 'Jungle Flame'.
The genus 'Ixora' was named by Linnaeus referring to species originating from India which was dedicated to the god 'Iswara'. The Old Indian for master, lord was turned into 'Ixora'.
(An Illustrated Guide to the Flora of Mauritius & Indian Ocean Islands - Ameenah Gurib Fakim)

Callistemom Citrinus - 'Bottlebrush' flowers

No idea the name of this one.... There are several plants with almost the same flowers...

Glittering and silvery banana leaf...

Caladium Bicolor - lovely colorful leaves.

Even a dry seed pod looks different after the rain...

'Pistache Malgasche' (known as this name by the locals)

It looks like we're in for a sunny day today (Sunday), but perhaps more rain next week. This is what the satellite imagery shows this morning.

If you don't know where Mauritius is situated; the island to the right (in the middle of the blue ocean, see photo). The tiny, tiny dot to the right (on the line) is Rodrigues and to the left of us; Reunion Island (French). As you can see, Madagascar is covered in clouds.

(Synoptic chart from MMS - Mauritius Meteorological Services)