The sun may come up around 6 am but in this house we rise long before the sun warms the hills. Marshall starts the kettle fire and soon hot water steeping a brew of strongback tea with a heavy dose of mountain ginger and just enough lemon grass to give it some sweetness. He says we must start our day by purifying our blood and this potion fits that bill. A quick breakfast of a slice of wheat bread to sop up the tin mackerel mixture seasoned with slices of onion and lots of garlic to hold us over until a more proper meal at midmorning can be prepared as daylight is fast approaching. The Cockpits are calling.
Mountain Ginger and Strongback
Marshall is completing the cleaning and sharpening of his chainsaw before hoisting it onto his shoulder and heading out into the dim light. It is another day of cutting wood to build a coal kiln from which his livelihood is derived. I spend my mornings picking up around the house, sweeping the as of yet untilled floors and checking the water barrels before sitting down at the computer to work. These are the rainy months and thunder storms along with strong lightning around mid afternoon limit the usage of electrical appliances so all computer work needs to cease when the clouds darken over the Don Figueroa mountains to the East. I honestly look forward to the afternoons on the verandah watching the lightning flash across the sky along with the solid excuse for not working it provides.
Sometime in the late morning, I hear Marshall in the room downstairs putting up his tools and work clothes before washing up and joining me here in the living room. Another day of wood cutting and packing the kiln is complete and now it is time for a proper breakfast. Marshall takes his machete and goes out the back door to a banana tree and cuts a few hands of green bananas to boil along with a cut-up white yam to begin the meal. While out in the Cockpits, Marshall picked some gully beans and some red ginger which is actually turmeric and the basis for a curry. He adds the turmeric to some hot oil in a kettle while he stirs in the gully beans, black pepper and a vegetable protein called “veggie chunks” along with some fresh tomatoes and onions. The result is Susumba, a traditional Maroon dish and adds the boiled bananas and yam to the plate. We sit at the table eating our meal and talking over plans for the rest of the day and the rest of the week. A trip to Santa Cruz, some twenty or so miles away, to a grocery store needs to be scheduled each week and any other items picked up at the same time.
Marshall excuses himself and heads out to the bush behind the house where he has two pregnant goats tied to some bushes just far enough apart as not to allow them contact with each other. He moves them one at a time to a new location with higher weeds as a goat prefers the tops of bushes. I turn on the radio to a call-in show and go out to the verandah and take a seat where Marshall joins me after tending to his goats. We sit facing the East and watch the clouds start to form over near Mandeville as they head across the valleys below. A cool breeze is blowing and it’s a good time for Marshall to take a short nap while I remain on the verandah reading a day’s old Gleaner someone left at the local shop.
I am so preoccupied with reading that I don’t notice the dark rain clouds until they are upon us. I scramble around the house shutting the windows and return to the verandah and remove the chairs just as the rain intensifies. I have one more job to do before heading inside. I go around to all the rain barrels and assure that the lids have been removed and that any gutters are in place to capture every drop possible. We are now in for at least 3 hours of steady rain so I took the paper to my room and fall asleep to the sound of the rain pelting my window.
When I opened my eyes, I noticed the sky was clearing and the rain had finished. I also noticed the smell of food being cooked. I recognized the smell of plantains being fried as I straightened my bed and headed to the bathroom to wash for the soon to be dinner. Tonight “nerve soup” and fried plantains are on the menu. Nerve soup is so named as when I asked what it was, Marshall said it was good for the nerves. So, nerve soup it is! This version has chunks of yellow yam, dasheen and Irish in a lightly spicy broth of a fish based soup along with lentil beans (which I brought from the US), onions, peppers and red beans. A piece of fish steamed in the mixture was added to the top. It was delicious.
Night was falling and most nights Marshall goes out for a few hours to a couple of shops in our section of the community and sometimes I join him but tonight, we sit down to watch a couple of DVDs. I rarely watch movies at home so I look forward to seeing them here. I seems that most all the neighbors have a small, usually scratched selection that we can choose from and I did bring a few from the US as well. Marshall prefers to watch the “Nigerian” movies anyways so finding a regular movie and a Nigerian movie is not that difficult here.
We watch movies until 8 or 9 o’clock until the news plays on one or the other of the two stations we get. After watching the news and enjoying one last cup of tea, we retire for the evening as the sun will come up early tomorrow just like today and another day will be upon us.
Peace and Guidance
