Final Tamarind Cottage Day and Lobster Dinner

 My last day on Eleuthera was generally a pretty one, though I would say that some of my time could have been better spent. It started out lovely and sunny, so I figured I'd try to take a few extra photos of the property. See the top little window? That's where my bed was/where I could look out in the morning and see what kind of day it was going to be.

 Down the hill at the dock there were all these volunteer tomato plants that made many of my meals just a bit more special.

 Tamarind Cottage as cyanotype.

 Bromeliads I believe?

 More tomatoes.

 A view of the cottage from a different vantage point.

 The last day involved a trip to Governour's Harbour for cash as well as Ben Bay and Gaulding Key. On that day I actually went farther out to the far side of the rock and got to see a wider variety of fish. And I found this neat-o thing, which I took out of the water for a photograph before returning to the sea.

 Just a little god-light.

 So perhaps the thing I wish I had figured out much, much sooner, was the fact that there was a dude right in Gregory Town selling a variety of seafood. Frozen, but local. I knew that if I was around at a certain hour I could potentially go to the harbor and buy fish directly from fishermen, but I was generally still on some beach around the time they came back to shore. The point is I was able to buy two lobster tails for my last night's meal, but I should have been buying lobster tails and other such treats from the very first day instead of eating macaroni and cheese. In any case, these were Caribbean lobster tails that I steamed in a combination of Sands beer, butter and garlic and served over spaghetti with a fresh tomato/garlic/basil pseudo compote. Tomatoes were from the property.

Yup. The life. I was living the life.

Hurricane Sandy's Effect on Country Trees

I had planned on working remotely a few days after Hurricane Sandy, but S. had called to say that things were a bit touch and go there as far as telephone/internet access. And electricity for that matter. So I held off going up a few extra days. When I drove up last Friday evening there was a marked moment in the drive where things suddenly got darker than usual, and there were still a few big trees that hadn't been removed from the country roads. It was striking to see all the downed wires and old trees that had met their ends as a result of Sandy. My neighborhood in Philadelphia was almost entirely untouched. We never lost power nor did we experience flooding. In fact, there's a travel coffee mug on our deck table, which even during the windiest and most rainy part of the storm, didn't budge an inch. We were lucky of course, especially compared to NYC or the Jersey shore. The country also didn't fare quite as well. The next morning I woke up far earlier than I meant to, and instead of just going back to sleep I decided to take a walk to see what could be seen as far as trees down. This tree fell smack dab on some group of wires.

Same tree, different angle.

Bird house becomes mouse house?

I found it interesting that the inside of this tree was hollowed out a bit. Obviously it had already been cut, but had it already been like that? Or did some intrepid animal quickly think that a little digging out the tree remainder could become a nice home?

Poor little fence.

This was just a pretty view.

Yup, already starting to be cut down to size, but the damage to the fence remains.

As a kid I was always sort of amazed by the ability to age a tree by counting its rings.

I am still pretty amazed by it, but also by the images that can be captured/created over the years.

Poor trees.

This storm was no joke.

No joke at all.

This tells the story of one tree falling on another, and that one also succumbing to the wet ground and strong winds.

Yup. They went down together.

Whooooooooosh.

And on a political note. The jerks who put these stickers on these signs are, I'm sure, quite disappointed with the results of our election. I, frankly, can't understand how we can be so divided about issues that seem so obvious. Gay marriage is a civil rights issue and anyone who feels like it is anything else than that is a terrible combination of ignorant and hateful. I know that's not very charitable, but for me it's true. Though I am not gay, it hurts me to the core to think that people truly think they are somehow 'better' or 'more worthy' of the rights and privileges that come with a legally recognized marriage. I think for many of us with that basic vantage point, the true thing that 'sticks in our collective craws' is the fact that extending the rights of marriage, or serving openly in the military, for gay/lesbian/etc does not in any way actually affect the lives of people who oppose it. They think it does. But seriously, they are wrong. I'm getting angry and sick just thinking about this, so I'm going to end it. But I do have to write some sort of something about just how I feel about the strange polarization that's going on and how it's hard to figure it out.

Country Times: Spiders, Shiso Chicken, Garden

After McCrossens I took Mr. Ass up on his invitation to dinner in the country. When I arrived my car's headlights illuminated this giant spider and spider web. This is a web that, were you to run into it, would easily span one's torso or - even more horrifying - one's face and shoulders. Guh.

I like that spiders eat bugs, but I do not care for running into their webs unannounced. I was just thinking about how if I had a kid I would teach him or her to always walk in the woods with a stick. A stick you should be rhythmically be swinging in front of you in order to prevent any full face to web (or  scrambling spider!) contact. I find it makes the woods far more enjoyable.

Mr Ass. whipped up a tasty meal of grilled chicken, some of which were wrapped in shiso leaves from the garden. Fresh corn was also enjoyed. We ended up going to New Hope for a taste of its nightlife. It's strange there. New Hope is this bustling center of such a strange sprawling country-ish area with plenty of relatively affluent  (and non affluent) folks gather. You'll see bearded men greying beards, leather jackets and blonde lady friends mount their motorcycles and ride off with a growl. You'll also see equally older men with well dressed girlfriends slide into their fancy convertible sport cars and drive off with a vroom. Also in attendance will be a wide range of other folk. A man in academic gown stalking the streets and reeking of weed. Lesbians - butch and femme and all between- asking others if they can pet their dogs. Dogs, happily panting at the end of leashes enjoying the attention of strangers smoking outside bars. Dudes wearing dress shirts and party jeans with wide shoulders, gelled hair and a hit of fake tanner. Bearded buddies dressed down and shooting the shit. I saw one group of women all of whom were very thin and very very short and tight dresses; the kind of dress with missing sleeves and sexy necklines. They looked great, but I just couldn't understand New Hope as a place where one would want or need to dress up in such a fashion. I think this may be out of touch.

The next morning I got up earlier than I strictly meant to but had important life errands to run. Mainly taking care of my car's need for changed oil. This was something I had put off for more time than I'd like to discuss. But before I left I did take a little perusal of the garden in daylight/

Asparagus jungle.

Lazy Country Day

So a few weeks back I went up to Bucks County and spent the day with Pipo and Yma the Jack Russels. It was gorgeous. I spent the majority of my time either catching up with the new season of Game of Thrones, or walking around looking at the pretty, or lying down in the sun and napping.

Last Morning in Gregory Town

And then suddenly it was our last morning. We had a noon puddle jumper flight from Eleuthera back to Nassau, so it's not really a surprise that I woke up at 7. My initial plan had been to go down to the cove and swim with the fishes a bit more...but unfortunately I started thinking about lathering myself up in sunscreen, the shower I would need once I was done with the salt and the sand, the plastic bags I would need to keep my damp suit, towel and shoes in if I didn't want my entire luggage to smell like mold. Etc. Basically I psyched myself out. So instead I walked around the landscaped front of the place and then strolled on down to the water for a brief put my toe in kind of final hello and goodbye. The sunlight was beautiful. Honey golden shit going on.




And then we were off to the airport, where we arrived with plenty of time, which we spent having a beer and (in my case) worrying that we would miss our plane if we weren't incredibly diligent about sitting and listening.

Looking Up, Down, And All Around

After brunch I returned to the house, put on S.'s feet fortresses and took a little walk in the woods. I forgot my zoom lens, so I didn't even attempt to take photographs of birds. Though I think I saw a heron and a Kingfisher.
S. said that there wasn't any great beautiful moment for foliage this year, which made me feel better than if I had missed it by a week. Leaves were still on trees and it was in the mid sixties temperature-wise. I'm actually back out in the country today and it is snowing. So I'm extra glad I made it out last weekend when the weather was more fall-like than winter.

Who doesn't like a stream?

There were a few buzzards circling about and a whole murder of crows in a tree I couldn't quite see but could certainly hear without trying.
I love this big open field. Such a sense of scale to travel from one side to the other.
Stone barn.
P-u-r-t-y. Purty.