On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good morning everyone,
We hurtle towards the next horrific milepost on this fever-dream path.
Thankfully we have your submissions to give a little joy and peace: distraction. We need so many more submissions, so get cracking!
Again, with this new world, local content – “your backyard” is our goal. Less about far-away places we won’t be traveling to for a year or two at best, and more about finding more local joy. Of course all travel photos and stories are very welcome, but since there will be a dearth of such new content this year, it makes sense to focus on sharing stories and pictures with a local focus.
Apologies in advance that the quality of pictures may not rise to the excellent quality so many BJers have submitted, but the subject matter is quite lovely. These are taken from and of our house above the Roseau Valley in Dominica.

Morne Watt which forms part of the Morne Trois Piton National Park, a World Heritage Site.

This view is of the three mountains to our south/southwest and from the left include Morne Watt, Morne John and Morne Anglais.

This is the view to the west toward the Caribbean Sea.

A mango tree in bloom.

An African Tulip tree.

The house with a rainbow.
Amir Khalid
Today’s On The Road certainly looks … different. The mountains are awesome and the greenery is beautiful, but is there any chance of correcting the photos’ orientation?
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Yeah, for a second, I thought Dominica was near Australia.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: It’s a topsy turvy world Amir.
J R in WV
Really, also too. Alain, are you OK>???
ETA: Third? ;-) ETA@: Nope!! Damed it!!!
More seriously, beautiful place, on the Road at home. Thanks Betty, the pics are great.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: The pictures are indeed nice, even though I had to crick my neck and stand on my head.
OzarkHillbilly
The bonespurs in my neck did not need this.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: You know who else had bonespurs?
JPL
The pictures are lovely, upside down or not. I hope that the next hurricane season is kind to you.
Alain
Sorry for the picture orientation folks, I couldn’t figure out last night how to rotate them with this new setup/form. Looking at it again this morning did nothing. Hope it didn’t strain any muscles!
I’m off to shower then must do a water change, setup the auto-feeder with spring food, and related tasks for a koi pond. They are hungry and need clean water, COVID-19 be damned!
satby
Very beautiful Betty, and always good to hear from you. Now thinking I need to add Dominica to the bucket list once we can start traveling again.
marklar
Thanks for kindling some memories, Betty.
We spent a lovely week there back in 1991. We stayed at a hotel run by a fascinating woman (Mrs. Holmes, or Mrs. Hughes…I can’t remember) who was retired from the State Department. She was one of the interpreters who went to China along with Nixon on his first trip, and trained as a chef at the Cordon Bleu School in France. We brought home a wonderful memento (although we had to wait 8 1/2 months for it to be delivered)…let’s just say that our daughter’s middle name is Dominique!
As for the orientation of the photos, trying to drive on some of those roads (well paved, but very twisty) resulted in the view seeming to match what you posted!
satby
@Alain: you couldn’t just download the pictures, correct the orientation, and then put them into a new form to upload?
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
Lovely place, thanks for sharing Betty!
(If someone can figure out how to get the rainbow in front of the green mountains pic rightside in the post up it would be nice. The wrong orientation, doesn’t do it justice!)
It is hard to just look and contemplate being in that warm and beautiful place as I like to do with these pictures so for my own viewing i’ve downloaded it and rotated it with irfanview’s lossless rotate plugin so I can imaginge being there. Here is a link to it. https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/I8AnSwrHRP6uMJPcwFKJUQ.QtY0ZTa1dERHQg9qH2b6Xo
Thanks for making me feel warm Betty!
Tenar Arha
Betty, these pics of your home are beautiful from any angle. Thank you.
Betty
Sorry for the orientation problem. Thanks for letting me know you enjoy them nonetheless. We are definitely not looking forward to hurricane season. We were just put under serious lockdown yesterday.
WaterGirl
@Betty: No apologies!
Sorry I got up late or I would have fixed it right away.
All fixed. :-)
Kattails
@Betty: Absolutely gorgeous. Looks particularly heavenly right now as it’s in the 40’s, gloomy, with a chilly wind here in NH. Is it volcanic terrain? The village almost looks like it’s in a caldera.
Betty
@marklar: So happy to know you had a good visit
Betty
@marklar: So happy to know you had a good visit
@WaterGirl: You are the best, Watergirl! Thank you.
Elizabelle
Heaven. Betty: so glad to see you here! Stay safe from this terrible virus.
Betty
@Kattails: The mountains are all volcanic. We have 9 or 10 active volcanoes – both numbers have been given. Time to time we have tremors, a few minor earthquakes, nothing worse yet.
satby
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): Lovely! Thanks for that until WG fixed them.
satby
@Betty: so now I’m seriously wanting to visit there, but I do poorly in most tropical temperatures. When is the coolest time of the year?
TaMara (HFG)
Lovely.
Jerry Samuel
@satby: Dominica has the same weather year round and the coolest times is normally around xmas I also want to make sure that no one is confusing Dominica with Dominican Republic. Dominica is a beautiful tropical island known as nature island not to be confused withspanish speaking Dominican Republic. Thanks
Vidal
Beautiful, just got back from a trip there last month, (not my first since it is my birthplace). Had a grand time and really miss the laid back attitude and easy going that the rat race does not allow.
Betty
@satby: The high temperatures are generally in the 80s from January through April. Things get warmer and more humid starting in May. This past week has been dry with lots of cool breezes. It makes up for hurricane season – mostly.
Betty
@Jerry Samuel: Thanks for explaining that. It’s often a problem, especially with the US Postal Service.
chris
Beautiful. Love your veranda and it looks like a person could live under it.
*checks flights*
Wifi password?
cckids
How beautiful! I’m not a tropics person, but this looks so lovely. Thank you!
satby
@Jerry Samuel: yeah, I was in Haiti after the earthquake, so I knew the difference, but other people may not have.
Edit: 80s are ok @Betty: !
Llee
@Kattails: yes it is you hit the nail on the head
Amber
@Amir Khalid: I’m glad the foliage is coming back. More beautiful than when I was there same time in 2018. Can’t wait to visit again