Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner Fundraiser in Cruz Bay
It is Friday night and we have a group in camp. I took the time today to do a “big cleaning” of my Hermitage and I am glad that I did. You cannot imagine cleaning here. You clean top to bottom and within twenty four hours (may-be sooner) the spider webs form and the mildew sets in. It is a constant battle. So today, I took the upper hand! And I am glad that I did because the Hermitage is … Oh.. so pleasant tonight. Food, not so good. Not wanting to venture into the dining hall with all kinds of activity; I settled for a banana (very ripe) and a granola bar and some leftover pulled pork sandwich (which by the way tastes like liverwurst … something I never have been drawn too) and a rum and ginger (when I leave here… I may never drink rum and ginger again… it is truly an island habit) Tomorrow morning, I will make up for it, and find something more appealing to eat, if possible, and those, my friends, are the eating habits at Viers. Not, how you say… DINING…
The group that is here were at camp about a month ago and they do their own thing. Consequently, it is easy to recede into a reclusive state and kind of become invisible. So, I think I nested today for a reason and it a perfect move. I am going to enjoy the weekend “on my own” but here. And that is a lovely way to spend the last weekend before all kinds of people start arriving on Tuesday. It is not that I could not be assertive about participating with this group, and Zoe encouraged me to do so. However, it is my energy bank that determines my behavior at this point and though I might be energized by participating; it is at such a low ebb that I cannot initiate the engagement. It is a good barometer of involvement depending on what your objectives might be in the future.
As I left you, I was headed for a pre-thanksgiving dinner in Cruz Bay complete with steel drum and reggae bands. We arrived somewhat early, to find that tables had been set up in the middle of the street right in downtown Cruz Bay. The dinner was a fundraiser the Love City Pan Dragons steel drum band, which is a group of local St John kids. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtdXV6CRcDg We had not quite been sure of the location but it sure was easy to find! We stood on the sidelines for a bit not wanting to be the first to sit and eventually the tables began to fill in and the steel drum music glided on air in and around the purple tables and us. It is very gently music, fitting for the climate. There was an incredible spread of food. We expected that it would be local foods but to our surprise was traditional Thanksgiving fare with the addition of fresh fish. I was disappointed for Zoe, because it left her few veggie options. We enjoyed the food and the music, though the band broke for dinner and then in the second set played many of the songs that they did in the first set, holding off the reggae band for too long. We were, however, incredibly impressed with the talents of the kids and the conductor. Some of the kids were real performers and used the totality of their body to share the rhythmic beats.
We were also interrupted several times by some real quick downpours. I was impressed by two local women with umbrellas poised who just sat as if nothing was happening, eating their dinner and enjoying themselves. I think umbrella is an art form at this time of year here. At one point we actually got under the table with some people (volunteers from Maho that I had met when I was there) that were sitting with us. We joked around about drinking each other under the table. How could you pass that up?
There was a long intermission after the kids ended their concert. It was way too long. The reggae band, Inner Visions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG3xFvM-nJM&feature=related) did not seem to be heading the call to come up to the stage. It was our guess that they were having visions of their own somewhere and we thought this particularly because the aroma of reefer was everywhere. Such a familiar aroma here.
Finally, they started but by then the crowd had filtered away. There were a few determined dancers in the street, many of them challenged by merely standing. Other’s just apparently really needed to dance.
Zoe and I decided to call it quits and drive back to Viers. I faced a new challenge of driving “all the way” as they call it here, in the dark of night. It is hitchhiking lingo for going all the way to Cruz Bay or Coral Bay. I was pleasantly surprised to find street lights on ninety percent of the stretch back and no formidable problems. One more notch in my belt!
The next day I was coming back into Cruz Bay to drop Zoe at the ferry…so I was getting a lot of driving practice during the weekend. I decided to take the long way home via the north shore since it has the three most difficulty very steep hairpin turns. I maneuvered these very well. I have surely earned my St John Wheels
I stopped at Shipwreck for a burger on the way home. As I ate my burger, I was introduced to a pirate game called “Shut the Box”. This game is not easy and it could be very addictive. It you were a pirate, I am sure there were bets involved, along with lots of rum and most likely loss of life. As I ate and played… I realized that I was eating a burger that came from the same food delivery as camp! It was then I decided not to pay for another burger on this island but wait until I get back to the states. Probably the same kind of food delivery there… may-be there will be burgers no more. I doubt it.. I’ll make my own.
Monday. mostly clean up from the weekend UVI group, and Tuesday, clean up continued, were both quiet days and I looked forward to our invitation from Lyndie, and the viewing of the ski trip to the North Pole. I had showered and dressed and was waiting for Jamie and thought may-be I should not have gotten him into this but he was ready and we found our way to their island home. The driveway was a treacherous at they get around here but the payoff is always the view and it was truly spectacular. On the way out of the driveway Jamie did “ a several point turn” with the truck to avoid backing since he said a mistake can “have big consequences around here” and to which I replied… “yeah, like death. ”
Lyndy and Heinz had built this house over several year periods, quite awhile ago and now go back and forth between here and Lyndonville, Vt. There was an expansive wrap around deck that made you wonder how they got the huge lumber up the hill. The house was stark and beautiful. We were served wine and snacks and given an introduction to the video. Hienz had done the video and narration and Lyndy did the music. It was beautifully done. They told us that it was actually four adventures that we would be seeing (I silently flinched thinking Jamie was going to kill me since he had plans to go out afterwards). We all were totally captured by the presentation, them reliving every minute, I am sure, and we were reduced to five year olds watching these two do the most amazing things including riding a Russian trawler thought the ice caps of the artic, skiing to the North Pole, climbing the highest most northern peak while camping for fifteen days on the ice and finally actually finding discovering the northern most island! So, they have set foot on a piece of land that no one else has ever seen. When they arrived at the North Pole they took a picture of their GPS device with the coordinates… since that is the only way you tell you know you are there! The horizon shows the curvature of the earth and they announced they were standing on the very top of the earth. Wicked!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnIO2K5v7wo)
Afterwards we talked a bit and they were full of questions about us. When we finally left, Jamie and I agreed that we had both fumbled when telling them about our “adventures” that seemed so insignificant by comparison. Lyndie also mentioned that she had sky dived a couple weeks ago since she had never done it. They met each other as pilots and they both purchased and fly hot air balloons. She is actually turning 80 on Tuesday and I plan to call her and wish her Happy Birthday. They both are truly inspirational, but I particularly find her to be. They are full of life, healthy, happy and a bit crazy, self-proclaimed!
The next day was particularly long. Days now with no event in them, seem much longer than they did initially. Thursday we had to go pick up the other truck at the repair shop (two drivers needed for this) and so I asked if I could go check out Jumbie beach and that was approved! Jumbie beach is a cute little beach but by the time I got there was no sun to speak of. Now, this was a good fine in retrospect because if you wanted to spend a day on the beach you would get a good dose of morning sun and then have shade all afternoon. Since sun was what I was after. I moseyed on down to Cinnamon Bay, rented a float and floated for awhile. Then I headed back to Viers and stopped at the Tourist Trap. I needed to get back by six for a call from my family so I just got a sandwich to go but ran in to Ann. Ann, I met on the plane coming down and she and her husband have a house right near the Tourist Trap and Concordia. They invited me to join them and with them sat Wayne, who manages Concordia and Roseanne, who works at Concordia. We got in to a great discussion about volunteering with them next year and I told them I would come over this week sometime. The Tourist Trap seems to be a happy hour location for Concordia employees, volunteers and those who live adjacent to Concordia and Salt Pond. And, it has good food and a fun atmosphere.
Back at Viers.. I had just missed my call from Mar but she was calling back in ten minutes. I got the call and talked with everyone… Mom, Sal, Mar, Steve, Matthew and Sarah. It was brief but so nice to hear their voices!!
Thanksgiving morning arrived on schedule. Jamie and Kelly had worked in the dining hall all of Wednesday while I was gone. They made three pies, stuffed the turkey, etc. and there was very little to do on Thanksgiving day. I worked some and then went down to the water to try out the camp kayaks. They are short and stout and require a lot of work to keep them going in a straight line. But my motivation was to tie to a mooring in the bay and lay in the sun! I paddled to the mooring… tied up and laughed to myself to think of all the huge vessels that have tied to that mooring and now I lay there on a yellow, six foot, sit on top kayak! No one to take a picture… damn! But I am sure you can picture it. The bay has several mooring but none taken. This surprised me as I would sure some fancy boater would want to have turkey day on their boat! I think they were all moored on the north shore since that had been super busy when I was over there the day before.
Tonight, Friday, there are 36 kids in camp. So solitude has blossomed into pretty much full chaos. It is raining right now which may keep them quieter tonight or it could work the other way. They ring the bell for breakfast a 6am… so it will be a different atmosphere for the next couple of days. AND then… lots of people will be arriving for the Grande finale at Viers.
Oh, and the ladies from D.C. left on Monday but I have an invite to go visit. They left clothes behind which I packed up to send them and the day I was going to do it… they called in the morning for just that. I told Sheila she owed me a beer for the package and paying for the four Viers postcards she took… but the package was more than expected.. so she now owes me a Cosmo! ha ha ha
Keeping you posted….
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