can't wait to hear about hsh
can't wait to hear about hsh
Im with all the group on here that say awesome! and Thank you also for the mention in the report , what a interesting life you have and I cannot wait for the rest of the story..Originally Posted by brasi
Thanks for sharing. I can not wait for the story to unfold.
I have photos Patty!!toy camera had some problems with the high contrast though, we'll have to see how the sea window shots came out, they might be pretty shadowy. Have a couple other nice shots from the boulder cave where we could get better lighting so I'll probably throw a couple of them up when I get a chance.
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!I have photos Patty!!I cant wait!
Brasi - it was your story that really got me thinking about the cathartic value of doing this. Respect. Rum-pole's pretty bold too, made it easier. It's a little weird and unnerving putting it all out there, but I'm all in now...---
I'm flattered. By your mention...and that rather than ostracize me for laying out my feelings this board's community TOOK ME UNDER THEIR WINGS. Rather rhymes with Sather...btw.
What's obvious is that we all have a common love. I for one won't forget the kindness shown by everyone here. I love Rum-pole's explanation...Trip Report's are kind of like "paying it forward" with positive energy...to get those of us at home through the times when our next reach seems so far away! So maybe the catharsis through trip reporting...is the poster's pay off for allowing others to live vicariously through a reporter's eyes?
I digress... get writing, son!
Ahhhhh Brasi.............Brasi - it was your story that really got me thinking about the cathartic value of doing this. Respect. Rum-pole's pretty bold too, made it easier. It's a little weird and unnerving putting it all out there, but I'm all in now...---
I'm flattered. By your mention...and that rather than ostracize me for laying out my feelings this board's community TOOK ME UNDER THEIR WINGS. Rather rhymes with Sather...btw.
What's obvious is that we all have a common love. I for one won't forget the kindness shown by everyone here. I love Rum-pole's explanation...Trip Report's are kind of like "paying it forward" with positive energy...to get those of us at home through the times when our next reach seems so far away! So maybe the catharsis through trip reporting...is the poster's pay off for allowing others to live vicariously through a reporter's eyes?
I digress... get writing, son!
Friday was an incredibly slow and difficult day of work. Meetings about projects I’ll need to be working on when I return followed by meetings on the politics of the projects I’ll be working on followed by grousing about the politics of the projects. The longest days of the year are the last work days before vacation. I print out the travel documents, The newbie list for Sweetie Pie to peruse and the poetry I will be reading to her. Love poems referencing the sea are plentiful and easy to find, it’s such a great metaphor in so many ways.
We meet at Sweetie Pies to change and load the car. Dogs are walked and we head over to Coolbook and Heavy Hand’s (Sweetie Pie’s sisters well deserved nickname) for a farewell dinner and drink. We joke about opening a bar in Negril and naming it the Heavy Hand. We decide HH can’t bartend there, she’d be a liability. Coolbook and HH are seriously bumming as we walk out the door.
We head to Detroit Metro to do the stay and park. $85 at the Clarion for a nights stay, breakfast and 8 days of parking. The room is ridiculously hot even though the thermostat is set at 65. We take this as a good sign but sleep restlessly with just the sheet. We are awake, showered and dressed before the wakeup call. The cattle call that is air travel these days goes about as smoothly as we could hope.
We sit with Robin on the flight. She has just turned fifty, lost her husband 2 years ago to a long term illness and is headed to Jamaica to get “Back in the game”. Her and Sweetie Pie hit it off and have several long chats. While I’m trying to nap with Robins pillow pet I hear her say something to Sweetie Pie that is one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received. The whole week would be a little strange that way, a lot of very nice things said by some lovely people. I long ago learned the value of effective flattery as an interpersonal skill tool – just a little, just the right thing at just the right time. Well, Robin was loaded for bear and hit dead center with precision timing. I felt like I was in the clouds…
We pass over Cuba and I’m starting to get antsy. “We’ll be in Jamaica in less than half an hour Sweetie!” I begin to scan the horizon for the first sign of the island. Big cloud heads are the first give away, then a small bit of green. As we turn to land I tell Sweetie Pie to watch out the window and it will seem like we’re going to land in the ocean. She is amazed how close we land to the sea. We’re early and have to wait for a gate to open for us. This worries me a little, it means congestion at the terminal. It is well founded as we wait an hour and twenty minutes to get through immigration. We’re not going to let it get us down though.We keep crisscrossing the line with some folks we’d met at Detroit waiting to get on the plane, they’re headed to Treasure Beach for a week then a week at the Rockhouse with a group that’s referred to as the Old-Timers, Rockhouse guests for 20+ years I think. We joke at each pass and try to point out the grumpiest people in line.
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
As soon as we walk out the door Chris is standing there with a Home Sweet Home sign. God do I feel good, I turn to Sweetie Pie and kiss her and we’re off. There is another couple waiting at the airport bar, they’ve apparently had to wait about 90 minutes for us. They’re an older couple, somewhere in their sixties from southern Indiana. The husband has a pretty good one going and says he spent more in the bar waiting for us than the taxi is going to cost. I tell them I’ll buy them a Stripe when we stop for the trouble. We stop at Pork Pit and get some jerked pork and a couple of Stripes. Big load of mild sauce on one side and a smaller load of the hot stuff on the other. It is delicious. Sweetie Pie is digging in, saying “Now I feel like I’m in Jamaica!” We scarf it down, it’s so delicious that I’m licking, sucking, semi-abusing my fingers. I would later regret this action.
So we’re sitting at the table at Pork Pit, 15 maybe 20 minutes out of the airport doors and I have my first awkward Jamaican moment. Old Indy has actually brought down some medicinal with him, this just makes me shake my head. He imbibes before we go into the Pit so he’s even more relaxed as we’re talking about the excitement of being in Jamaica. They’ve been several times. I tell them I’ve been a few and mention some of the things I love about it. Here’s where it gets awkward. Sweetie Pie says she thinks she heard one thing, I think I heard something worse, but either would be seriously problematic for me. What Sweetie Pie heard Old Indy say was, “I love everything about Jamaica except the natives.” I heard something a sight worse… In any case Mrs. Indy smacks Old Indy and says, “They’ve just met us!” Awkward! If they weren’t going to be at the same small hotel as us for the next week I would have said something but considering his list I couldn’t see any positive coming out of it. So neither Sweetie or I said anything, but on the way back to the taxi Sweetie Pie whispered, “I don’t like that guy.” This is a very rare occurrence.
On the way to Negril Chris takes us to Percy’s Garden Retreat in Orange Bay. This is a very cool place up in the hills. Chris had his wedding reception there in December. It’s mostly used for day trips out of Negril. If you like the Jamaican countryside chill I would highly recommend it. The centerpiece of the property is a river bar. Yes, a bar built over a river. Very cool, very easy to relax. Sweetie Pie is amazed, she asks for a good Jamaican drink. We talk about the options a little bit and she settles on a rum and ting. She got the hang of the Jamaican thing really easy. She knocked a couple back, said they were delicious, she was hooked. We walk the property, it’s very nice old school Jamaica. Percy was working in Negril when most people still camped there, his place has that kind of feeling. Old Indy is a wreck by the time we leave and has managed a few more inappropriate but less overt comments. Percy wants to talk us into a day trip with the other couple to the retreat. We have to pass. Sweetie Pie says the place is beautiful and she wouldn’t mind going but…
We head out for Negril and I’m talking to Chris about what has changed since my last visit. A lot. The hotels start much sooner, Bloody Bay is mostly full now. I see all the old haunts go by a lot under different names now. Into town and up the west end road and soon we’re there. “Here we are, Home Sweet Home,” says Chris. I laugh and say,” I bet you like saying that.” “Ya mon,” comes the reply.
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
Charlie greets us and our bags are taken up. We’re shown the room and given a demonstration on how to use the TV and cable setup. We don’t turn it on the whole week. The verandah doors are swung open, we don’t shut them the whole week. After unpacking a little and getting out of our travel clothes we head down to the restaurant. Dirty Bananas!! Hay Suess they are good!! We order some dinner, Brown Stew Fish for me and Fish Escoveitched for Sweetie Pie. I like the brown stew, the escoveitch is good but they do the dry escoveitch there and to me that’s more like English fish and chips. Good, but I like it better when it’s in a sauce with veggies. Sweetie Pie loves it all. The escoveitch is very vinegary which is going to cause a bad association for me later in the night. I have had a strange low grade headache in the temples since about Percy’s. I write it off to travel and dehydration. I start drinking copious amounts of water. We have a couple more stripes at the bar and head up to the room. Flowers are waiting for Sweetie Pie in the room. I tell her flowers will be coming every day. She gets melty. We spend a little time on the verandah. We are in awe. I read her Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster. This is public domain material Rob -
Beautiful Dreamer
by Stephen Foster
Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd away!
Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng.
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea,
Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
We eventually drift off to sleep with the sea breeze rustling through the palm outside our room. We are in Jamaica!
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
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