Jamaica Return - 2011 (Soon Come)

[suzengrace]

I'm so very happy for you!!!! I wasn't too far from you recently-hanging out in Maroon town and places on the edge of the cockpit country where I stay..I'm sorry are paths didn't cross-Please keep the reports and pics coming...keeps me from getting too homesick....

[Accompong]

For the past several days I have been looking for something to write about as I feel like I am in a time warp of sorts or "Betwixt and Between". Getting up before dawn; having some fever grass and mint tea, a small breakfast of boil banana and vegetable with vegi-soya meat and taking a pan bath has been the opening routine day after day.

But when the sun comes up over the Don Figueroa Mountains and starts to light up the valley floor, I can begin to make out the John Crow spreading his huge wings to the sun's rays and the tiny hummingbirds pollinating banana stalks outside my verandah and the day takes on a real and natural life of it's own. The roosters calling across the valley in challenge to a rooster on the far side and a mother goat calling her kids for a drink of mother's milk are the only sounds to punctuate the intense quiet that engulfs this sleepy mountain town.

I usually don't carry my cell phone as I find the ring often intrudes on my thoughts and I didn't have my computer nearby to check out facts so I was winging it today. While sitting and looking out over the expanse of the Cockpit Mountains, I tried to think of what day this was. I tried using my fingers but got lost once I exceeded one hand and couldn't remember the rhyme that revealed just how many days there are in November. It has since come to me but I have noticed that my usually sharp, fact-based mind has shed its protective rind to reveal a mish-mush like sweet potato pudding below.

I must admit I was getting frustrated trying to remember but, at the same time, I really didn’t have anywhere to be or a specific place to go. It was just the frustration of not knowing for sure. As I was sitting there, I saw a neighbor Earl coming out of the Cockpits with his machete and a pail of dasheen. I called to Earl and he put down what he was carrying in hiked up the short hill to my verandah. “Whaa Gwann, Bill?”, he asked. “Na Gwann, Earl but I have a question for you. “Okay”, he said slowly and softly not sure if he wanted to answer but would listen to the question first. “What day is today?” A simple enough question but I could see Earl was not quite sure either. “I tink it Tuesday”, he finally said without much conviction.

Now, I was already pretty sure it was either Wednesday or Thursday but him adding Tuesday turned an either or into a take a guess answer. Earl then surprised me with a, “What u tink, Bill?” I went out on a limb and offered, “I tink it Wednesday”. “Wednesday soun good”, he said as he turned back to the road and over his shoulder said, “It b Wednesday den!” Flashing his ever-present smile at answering my question.

Now, I simply just had to find out for sure so I went to my room to fire up my computer when I noticed that it had been left on carelessly and we were having the first current outage since I got here. The battery was virtually dead. I searched for my cell phone amongst the clothes to be washed and couldn’t locate it when I caught a glimpse of an Appleton Calendar on the wall of the bathroom. I went over to look and, sure enough, Wednesday was December 1st! Eureka! I have solved the problem until I saw the year 2010 at the calendar bottom.

Crap! Now I am even more confused than I was a couple of hours ago. I sat back down behind my now dead computer and began to think about things. Not knowing the exact day it was wasn’t so important as to frustrate me. Being entirely comfortable in your surroundings doesn’t have to be thought provoking and thought of as leading a boring existence.

I have finally made it to the “Betwixt and Between”. A state of consciousness that doesn’t always require exact answers. If Earl said it was Wednesday, then Wednesday was good nuff! Suddenly the current returned and the computer was now up and running. I went to the calendar at the lower right side; clicked and found out it was Thursday!

The weird part is that it didn’t seem to matter to me at all anymore.

Peace and Guidance