“Scott! Look at this! It was made in Barbados!” I’m holding up a leotard/unitard/one piece shorty exercise outfit. Exuberant tropical flowers, red, orange, pink, are splashed large across a white background. What’s surprising is not so much that it was made in the country we now live in, but that I’d bought it 25 years … Continue reading Beautiful Barbados Broad
There is still paint on the wall behind the inside stairs, and carpet or oilcloth on some of the stairs. The colours are faded, but their presence is the echo of this once being a joyful place. Very little left in this house The windows and doors, the electric fixtures and wiring are gone, scavenged, … Continue reading Abandoned Places
We drive over the Malahat. They have added bright orange posts between the north and south bound lanes of this coastal mountain highway, to prevent turns on and off it in dangerous places. As we come to each of these, I remember the fatal accidents: here, two motorcyclists; there, three members of a family in … Continue reading Surrounded by My History
We took our friend Richard to the airport. We’ve been neighbours for a year and a half; we’ve shared a rental car for a year. We would walk into each other’s houses after yelling a token “knock knock!” would see each other almost daily on the water, surfing, and would get together for drinks and … Continue reading Coming Back to Barbados?
Today, I had the chance to run over the surf asshole. He’d fallen off his board right in front of me, when I was already catching the wave. I didn’t. I veered to the right (on a left breaking wave) , stayed on my knees, didn’t stand till I was past him, then broke left … Continue reading Work in Progress
If you count my bra (something I never wear in Barbados) I have 5 layers of clothing on my upper body. I’m still cold. The wind cuts through me, and the damp penetrates even when I’m sheltered from the wind. Why did England in February seem like a good idea? I suppose it’s better than … Continue reading Getting Acclimatized
The DNA results came back. I’m 100% Finnish. It was a surprise— I expected some Swedish, maybe a little Russian. Family myth had that there was some Roma in the bloodlines. Yup. No measurable amount of anything but Finnish. I’m 100% Canadian. I was born there, educated there, from kindergarten to all three of my … Continue reading 100% Finnish. 100% Canadian. Or Bajan?
Last night, there was a total eclipse of the moon. Two things come to mind every time I hear “total eclipse.” First, the 1984 Bonnie Tyler song, Total Eclipse of the Heart. Go ahead, click the YouTube link, I dare you. If you’re too young to remember, it is an astonishing example of what music … Continue reading Total Eclipse
“I’m heading home.” But what does that mean? It’s a fundamental question for me right now. Sometimes I solved it by putting air quotes around “home.” Other times I avoided it altogether by specifying: back to Canada, back to Barbados. Which way is the plane facing, when I’m going home? I thought Canada, my home, … Continue reading Home After a Year— or After a Month?
We were walking down the driveway, on our way to dinner, when Richard looked at me, startled. “Is that a CARDIGAN?” Simone, who was also carrying one, and I exchanged a men-don’t-really-understand glance. “I might get chilly.” Simone nodded in agreement. “But it’s still 28 degrees!” “But it might get down to 26 tonight. And … Continue reading My Barbados Evolution
Brave Travels 