Last evening

I was out and about last evening, but not what some of you might think. Those with the dirty minds, stop right there...right now....
The year has opened with a bang, so to speak, with several social engagements on my plate.
Of course with it being Jazz Season, there was no doubt in my mind that those events would be foremost on my schedule of engagements. Last evening, my girlfriend and I attended a free Sunset Jazz Concert at the  Frank Collymore Hall, to see Roger Gittens...."A Taste of Me".
Roger is a music teacher, composer, arranger and pianist.
Roger, yes I can call him by his first name, since he and I became quite close during the performance.
With the exception of the first two tunes, namely "I am so Glad" and "Be Still", all the others were wonderfully self-composed tunes.
Roger is a devout Methodist, and the evening's performance started out with "I am so Glad" (that Jesus loves me), artfully rearranged to a jazz beat. I myself did not pick it up until about three verses into the tune. I just wish I had a recording to replay for you.
Followed by "Be Still" (and know that I am God) based on Psalm 46, which was sung by Kellie Cadogan, a fantastic vocalist.
He was accompanied on the Bass by Richard Evans and Errol Bradshaw on the drums. I am still enthralled at Errol Bradshaw who is an older gentleman, but was a mean drummer,  he actually reminded me of Animal on the Muppet Show....he made those drums "talk" as we say here.
As I was settling in, there appeared on stage the two Andres, Andre Woodvine, a well-loved jazz saxophonist, and Andre Forde, a fantastic steel pannist.
With all these mean masters on stage, we sailed along  with tunes like "The things I write for you", "Boom Boom" which was a CP (Crowd Participation) tune, "Jazz Benjamin" written for his son Benjamin, "She's Here" written for his wife Sharon Rose, and finishing with "Artful Dodger".
"She's Here" was an emotionally charged and tender tune which I fell in love with....wish he would write me a tune too.
As a welcomed bonus surprise, Roger's son Miles appeared on stage with his friend, and those two little guys played a lovely violin duet, which left me speechless, and the crowd in total appreciation. 

A little background on Roger from the programme: "Roger Gittens, Department Head of the Barbados Community College's Performing Arts Department holds a Bachelor in Music Education from Berklee College of  Music and a Masters in Music Education from the University of North Texas.
Roger continues to contribute to the local music scene, in all genres of music, particularly jazz, calypso, and of course, religious music. He was the opening act for Kenny G in the 1999 Barbados Jazz Festival and has appeared as a keyboardist in the presentation of other  local artistes at local and regional jazz festivals."

A lovely musical evening...........I enjoyed it immensely. 

Time is flying by

Wow,  January is flying by already!  It's already day eight of the new year, and I have been busy trying to get some household projects completed, in between several social engagements. Everyone was trying to squeeze in the last activities before the end of the festive season.
Last Friday night, I found myself attending a wine and cheese party at a friend's house, who is a great cook and mixologist, so there was LOTS more to eat and drink than wine and cheese!!
I've also been busy painting, cooking and baking, and oh yes, gardening, which included relandscaping the hedge along the front wall.
I also found some time to fix my "no kink" hose. Please don't ever fall for this gimmick, since I've come to learn that ALL hoses kink, no matter what!
Brownie had not been well since Friday, and I became quite alarmed when he seemed to be getting worse.
Sunday morning, an emergency visit to the vet at his home for attention.  Seems as though I did not give Brown Berts the adequate dose for his worm treatment, so those buggers took a liking to my poor boy.
After an antibiotic shot and another dose of worm medicine, we came home armed with a 5 day course of antibiotics for him to take.
I felt so sorry for him, he was just miserable, and one look in his eyes told me, "Mum, I don't feel well."
Despite his ailment, he was still manning the house. Unknownst to me, one of my friends had stopped by on Sunday, and Brownie did not even allow him to open the gate, but stood his ground barking. Eventually my friend deposited the items he had for me in the mailbox and left. I received a phone message later indicating what had happened.  I laughed...here it was, my poor Brownie was "sick as a dog" as we say here, but yet he was still performing his guard duties.....so proud of him.

Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding

Banana raisin bread

When you're cleaning out hard to reach areas, you find the most amazing stuff

Some kind of moth

And here is the invalid on his way to a full recovery

Brown Berts feeling much better and keeping a look out for Brazen and his crew.

 

The end of the season

Did you take your Christmas decorations down today?  I did.
Today is Epiphany, which is the end or climax of the Advent/Christmas season. The twelve  days of Christmas begins with Christmas Day on December 25th and lasts until Epiphany, January 6th.


Epiphany is commonly known as Twelfth Night, Twelfth Day, Three Kings’ Day, or the Feast of Epiphany.

Epiphany refers not only to the day itself but to the church season that follows it – a season that has a varied length because it ends when Lent begins, and this depends on the date of Easter.

I met a lovely Canadian lady, a guest at my friend's home on New Year's Day, and we got to talking about Christmas and how it is celebrated worldwide.
She informed me that they refer to Epiphany as "Old Christmas" in her part of Canada where she grew up.  How interesting, I thought.  Once again, I had learned something new....yep, I'd learned something new on New Year's Day.

Since I did not go all out with decorating this time around, I had minimal decor to put away.

Today was "Old Christmas," time to put away everything Christmasy until next time.
T'is the end of the season.

Oh horror of horrors!!

I can't believe it!  I thought, surely I could not be seeing correctly.
I heard Brownie barking up a storm this morning. It was his monkey bark, so I looked out, and there to my horror were THREE monkeys scampering across the back wall.

Oh horror of horrors!!!

In the back of my mind, I thought maybe I had transported a monkey from our St.Joseph country visit home with me, unknownst to me.

Then again, I had missed Brazen and company for quite a few days, and I suspected that they were visiting another troop, but now they had inducted another member into their troop.

Oh double horror or horrors!!!

Brownie was not well during the night, so I did not want him getting himself all bent out of shape barking and carrying on over these pests.
He needed to rest, so I brought him inside and closed the patio door to obscure them from his view, but as I did so, I could swear I heard Brazen monkey laughing at me.
He has brought in reinforcements, I will have to do the same.

There he is sitting on the corner of the wall - barely caught this photo with my phone.

The Battle Royale has begun for the new year.

A visit to "the country"

I received so many invitations for "get togethers" throughout the season, that some were impossible to attend (sorry friends, I'll get me a clone next time!)

I visited one of my girlfriends last Sunday who lives in "the country", in the parish of St. Joseph, which is located in the east of the island, and is a fair drive away.  We sometimes refer to areas like these as "up behind God's back."
(a distant rural place way-out in the countryside.)
However, the drive out was scenic, and with the lush vegetation recently caressed by falling raindrops, there was much to admire.  With so much beauty all around us, we were "ooohing" and "aahhing" quite a lot.  We have the same plants in our gardens back in the city suburbs, but ours could only beg to compare to the ones we saw on our ride.  This part of the island is hilly and therefore much much cooler, and the plants THRIVE exceptionally well.
It's always nice to drive into the country where the folks are friendlier, and they wave as you go by, and shout out "Good Morning!" or "Howdy doo!"
I was accompanied by two of my other girlfriends, and we chatted away as we drove along the winding country roads, avoiding folks, and animals too, that chose to walk out in the road.....I carefully avoided them (since I was the one driving)...it was their territory so to speak, so it was no sense cussing at them...besides it was Sunday, and I don't cuss on the days that end in "y".
Up another hill, and down a next hill, and finally we were there.
Each visitor to my home always tells me I am lucky to have a view like mine, but I love the view from my girlfriend's patio.

Hilly St.Joseph parish is prone to landslides

 

The grey exposed soil area is after a recent soil slippage.
This part of the island is partial to soil erosion.
The Soil Conservation Unit which is attached to The Ministry of Agriculture  is responsible for areas like this. 

What a view! Lots of green vegetation, with a sliver of sea in the distance, it is just paradise.

Yes, there are monkeys living in the vegetation just beyond the grove of coconut trees.
This gang of marauders gives my girlfriend lots of "grief" too, since they steal and destroy all her planted vegetables and the fruit from her trees.
I had been planning to give her Brazen and company, but she declined my offer with a "Thanks, but no thanks!"
We had a lovely morning, and soon it was time to go, but we will be back soon....we love visiting in "the country".