The tagline for Ladera is "view with a room." This is what I woke up to this morning, after awakening a couple of times earlier to rain.

A black bird with a slender slightly arched beak popped by just after dawn to dine on a breakfast of Big Black Beetle. What a racket as it pecked unrelentingly at its meal on the tile floor! Afterward I found a couple of leftover bug legs under the table. The bird in the photo above stopped in for only a moment. Wasn't interested in the menu.

A hummingbird with a jaunty deep iridescent green cap has thrice visited the flowers along the edge of the room. A small black bird with a red throat came to perch on the rim of a glass and tip in for a sip of Melted Ice.

Down at the bottom of the precipice is The Jalousie Plantation, Sugar Beach, a Hilton Hotel. It sits in the valley of the Piton Mountains.

It's rained a few times so far today, and there's a cool breeze/wind. I'll need a cardigan with my SPF. How's the weather where you are?

Along with several other Canadian beauty journalists, I'm in St. Lucia for a series of new launches from Aveeno Active Naturals. This was my room last evening when we arrived.

Photos via Fujifilm FinePix F300 EXR.