Thursday, October 13, 2011
Hi from St John…
This week finds me getting into a routine. Early rising… quick breakfast and then work projects. Then a couple hours on the dock, swimming, snorkeling, just relaxing. Then back to my cabin, a shower. This is a time when I either work on my blog, write letters, write emails. We have dinner at about six thirty until about eight thirty. Then I head for my cabin and by that time I am ready to rest. I do write a couple emails usually. I do not have internet access in my cabin and so I have to write them and save them to send the next day but this is working fine. Sometimes I watch a dvd on my computer just to let go of the day. There is dvd collection, most of which I have seen, I still enjoy as a bit of that kind of pastime.
Zoe’s explorations of plants that are edible or have medicinal qualities brought three great finds this week. We have a Bay Rum tree in the camp and surprisingly it is not used to make rum but used to make after shave. It smells just great as you might imagine. It also has medicinal qualities as many local plants do (in any region). Bay rum plant is used to decrease tensions and relieve inflammation. Another plant that grows in camp is called lovage and its medicinal qualities are for indigestion, bronchitis and it increases one’s appetite (no need for that here!) As with most plants used in medicinal application, you make teas and/or poultices. So, Zoe combined the bay rum leaves with the lovage leaves and made a tea that was very tasty… the aroma alone was inviting.
The other plant she found was the Maho plant… it has a heart shaped leave and I find this interesting because Maho Bay is my favorite place on St John. As she was reading, she noted that it was good for removing warts. I am testing this on my knee, which has two warts that I cannot get rid of for anything. Roy tells me that the way to get rid of them is to take corn and rub it on them and then feed the corn to a chicken and you have to watch the chicken eat the corn and then your warts will be gone! I told him if the Maho plant does not work out I will try his remedy and let him know the results. Jen and Shelly Saylor… I may have to visit your chickens.
We had a group visit camp this past weekend. It was a Seventh Day Adventist church group. Boys and girls between the ages of 8-15. They cooked meals and did their own program, so we basically just assisted as needed. The kids were good and it was nice having people around despite the fact that they blew a reveille wake up whistle at 6:30 am. They cooked vegetarian meals and we got to try some of the fare. They made particularly good loafs with pecans or cashews, oatmeal and a variety of other ingredients. I tried plantain pancakes which were pretty tasty. We also found a sugar apple on a tree in camp which when you open it has a gooey, very sweet substance inside. They left us with a juice concoction that tasted much like what you make rum punch with and so, of course, we did.
Lori and Roy are leaving this Saturday to head home to Tennessee. So Friday we are going to tour the north shore beaches. They have not seen much of the island and so for their last day it is only fitting that they should see some of this beautiful island and I will assume one of the roles I love… tour guide.
I’ll keep you posted….
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