The next decade....what's in store?
Musings of a yamfooted traveller still trying to shake off those last 20 pounds as she treks across the Caribbean
My nephew will represent Jamaica in table tennis. He was half asleep when I called this morning to congratulate him after being selected yesterday.
So he joins his Grandmama as a family member who has represented the great Jamaica in sports.
Me? I never so much as lifted a ball. Ok, that's not really true, but me and sports was never any great friend. From the weight tracker thingy, can't you tell? But I've played ball more as an adult than I did as a teenager. See, sometimes you can be a late bloomer!
Join me in congratulating The Nephew. I'll probably have a surprise for him at the weekend.
Watching someone have a heart attack is not a very nice thing. I thought at any time she might take her last breath, especially since the ambulance took forever! Might have been better to put her in my car and take her for myself.
Anyway, as I was holding her hand and talking to her to keep her with us while her husband went to pack her bags, I looked up at the serene scenery....
....the setting sun glistening on the massive expanse of water, people frolicking contentedly in the golden sand
...and I thought to myself, if I were having a heart attack and about to die, this would be a nice time and place for it to happen.
Fortunately she survived after a few days in hospital and was cheerful as she left to be reunited with her family tomorrow.
There was something else I was thinking as I watched her husband comfort her....
....who will be there to comfort me when I am 60, if I don't make arrangements from now?????????
Prior to 2004 when I did my first Pilates class, I hardly used to work my abs. I found crunches to be incredibly boring and if I could suck in my stomach while dressed and achieve the same result, I thought why bother with crunches.
Since April 2004 I have been hooked on Pilates. Best thing anybody could do because it strengthens your mid section and generally changes the shape of your body. It certainly did for me.
So from then, just going about daily activities I have noticed how much you do need strong abs (and back muscles...which Pilates works on as well). Just think about it...
1. Bending over to pick up something...weak abs means you will tumble over
2. Twisting to grab something beside or behind you....your oblique muscles come into play.
3. Sitting up in bed....I now am able to do this with ease.
4. Changing from the church position to.......ok, I'll stop here. but you get my point?
The other day there was a huge grasshopper living in the house. There are lots of bugs here....bush on three sides of the house you know.
Anyway, when I buy plantains, I leave them out so they can get nice and ripe for frying. I came back one day to find what looked like when a bird takes a bite of a mango on a tree. I thought nothing of it, but I knew it wasnt a rat because I didnt see any evidence of that (not like you Stunner!).
Then I got some green bananas and those too were left in the fruit basket to get ripe. Came back one day to find a bit in one of the fingers.
Now the grasshopper has disappeared. Left out some new plantains but nothing has been bitten. So I am definitely thinking that it must have been the grasshopper. But mi neva know seh dem did 'ave teet?
I could do nothing as the steering wheel seemed to develop a mind of its own. We were careening down a winding road, with a precipice on the left side.
As the road veered to the right, the steering wheel stayed to the left. Soon, the car inevitably jumped over the safety rail and plunged.....how deep we did not know.
I was the driver, and at first, when the car left the road I was terrified, but as the car began to seemingly float to safety below, a calm came over me.
None of my passengers screamed. There was my father, aunt, sister and my niece plus me. It was the Volvo 840 - a very sturdy car. Maybe that is what made me feel relatively safe.
The car landed without much impact on a road several thousand feet below. I drove it to a halt, we got out, surveyed the damage and were relieved that no one or nothing was damaged. I made an attempt to start the car and lead it from its resting place through the dark night up to resume our planned journey. "Oh no", my father said, and took the wheel. Soon, we were on our way merrily, as if nothing had happened.
A miracle? Nope. My dream last night! (I didn't eat anything devilish I swear!)
There must be a few yam cookers reading this blog, so I have a question for you. I have been experimenting since I have been cooking and nothing seems to work.
Everytime I boil yam, it turns brown or sometimes has black spots. How do I prevent this from happening? I have tried putting lime juice and oil in the water, but that does not help.
Here's what I do....
I put water in the pot and put the pot on the fire. Immediately I peel the yamfoot (see where it comes from???), cut it up and put in the water. It might go in looking not too bad in colour, but by the time it is finished boiling, it is blotchy.
Help!
So, with a full tank of gas, I headed to the (new) club late Friday night. This was to have been the start of a fun-filled weekend. I had some plans, but I left some of the weekend open for whatever. I would go with the flow.
The entry is a bit long. I hope you don't mind......
I was surprised at how few people there were on Friday night. I reached there shortly before midnight and there were only about 50 people there I would think. Music was good though, so I stayed for about 2.5 hours. Next it was to a fete that a work colleague was having. That was rammed....maybe that's where all the people from the club were! It was the same admission fee. Left there close to 5am.
Saturday morning was the market. Mission.....coconut oil. Got that, saw some of our guests who were on a market tour, bought a freshly blended fruit punch from the cruise ship mall and then headed back home. Washed clothes, ate then slept because the afternoon was reserved for Grenville.
Grenville is the second city. Every month end, they have a dj in the car park and it's just a nice lime. Left home around 5:15pm and drove via the parish of St David. Grenville is in St Andrew. On the way, stopped at Bacolet Point where I had gone one night. Wanted to see it in the day. The sun was almost setting. Here are two photos...
Grenville was ok. Saw people I knew so limed with them. The bloody DJ would not keep his mouth shut. Why he couldn't just let the song play I don't know. Anyway, one of his announcements was that there was another murder that night. That brings the total to 5 in two months. Shocking for Grenada. Usually in a year, we have about 10. Don't know how the police will stop it because the murders have been domestic in nature. Only one was a robbery.
Back home at 10pm, slept until 11:30pm and headed to the club for Barrington Levy. Went to bed at 6:30am and got up at 12:30pm.
Boiled yam and ate it with already cooked ackee & saltfish. Fried some plantain as well. Yum. Washed clothes, including the expensive bikini that I didn't wash from the last wear. It's the one with the least fabric by the way. It dried in no time. Headed out, intending to go to the nearby beach, but everybody had the same idea obviously. It was too packed.
Drove back to St David to a place called Pt Marquis - a new development to included homes and a resort. There is nothing there yet, but I was looking for some photo opportunities. Called one of the guys involved in the development and he told me where to drive. Came up on a lovely spot which had a lookout point. Climbed the stairs and took some photos...
I lamented the fact that there was no one there with me to take a photo of me. Then I remembered the self timer. The first picture cut off my head.....it don't matter 'cause ah woulda cut it off to post it here anyway! Here it is...
I always carry my journal with me when I head out. I spent from 3:48 until 5:00pm making an entry describing this Perfect Weekend. Naturally I went into more details there! While I was relaxing and enjoying the view and getting a tan, Elan Parle's Kindred Spirits was playing on the CD player in my jeep (I must get some better speakers). Some seriously sexy music. Pity I was alone. I must stop travelling alone. Here is a picture of my jeep. Thankfully I didn't need to use the four wheel drive because I haven't quite got the hang of it yet!
When I left there, went driving all about. Was looking for a particular vehicle I had seen earlier in the day...actually was looking for the driver of that vehicle. Drove all about St David. Saw the sun set, went to the Supermarket, bought ice cream, saw the vehicle and the driver (one of those situations that I think was meant to be for a reason) chatted to he, went home, cooked shrimp and vegetables (I haven't cooked a meal besides ackee & saltfish in about 6 months), ate the ice cream (it wasn't good) and came on the computer.
What a great weekend this was. Now it's back to work tomorrow. Must go and iron some clothes. Actually, since that is such a hated job, I will do that tomorrow morning. Don't want anything to spoil this perfect weekend.
"on the intercom rosie cummin to town
seh shi didnt hav a daughta shi did hav a son
shi seh di lif didnt work so run up the stairs and come
and if u dnt come quick
you not gonna see your son
so i grab a bunch of rose and i started to run
here i come ( oohh )
The familiar lyrics blared throughout Club Karma on Saturday night. The Grenadians were full of love for Mr Barrington Levy, fresh off a plane from California....
I reached there shortly after 1am. The club was crowded (thankfully) and the vibes was great. I wasn't looking too bad myself.
Took quite a while to decide what to wear. Eventually I settled on short capris (black), multi coloured strap top (bought in Guadeloupe) and gold shoes. The shoe decision was the most difficult. The top was white background with dominant colours being green, yellow and black. See all the shoes I was considering (except the work ones to the right of the picture)....
I eventually settled on the gold ones. Mistake. Not good for dancing.
There was lots of dancing. Music selection very good. I was dancing by myself for the first part of the night. Then after Barrington reeled off hit after hit, I found a few dance partners. They have a carpeted section of the floor which is poor for dancing. Shoe heel gets hitched in it.
Anyway, I helped lock down the club at minutes past 5am. Needless to say, I didn't wake until 11:30am, and then lay in the bed aiming to take another 'five' but ended up sleeping for another hour. The rest of the weekend you will read about in "The Perfect Weekend".