Nearing Easter - which means codfish cakes and hot cross buns!

Work has been a bit over-whelming - bosslady and I both were working on the Four Seasons resort report thru the weekend and all day Monday. She is sick and hoarse and not at all well, but believes she will be in tomorrow morning to do the presentation to the Board. She ducked out a bit early on Monday for a doctor visit, and was out today, although she dropped in for a few minutes late in the afternoon today to go thru the powerpoint I'd put together for tomorrow's gig. Still hoarse, but has a bit more voice...

But we did divide up the presentation, and I will handle part of it, to save her voice and let her rest a bit. Yikes - first time before the Board, and on a 'national interest' project for which we have to recommend refusal. (One of those 'soft nos' tho - the plan is pretty good, it all makes sense, and the 'environmentally sensitive areas' are (with the exception of the coastal bluffs) not all that high-quality. It doesn't literally meet the Plan requirements, and the EIS Scoping Document stinks, but if we were able to negotiate stuff we could come out with a positive recommendation and a somewhat better project. The refusal is as much a function of the odd system as anything else.)

Easter is coming, and here that means kite flying, codfish cakes and hot cross buns. My experience with all 3 is incidental, so this should be fun. We are, as a Department, having a cakes-and-buns fest on Thursday before the holiday weekend, woo hoo!

My fellow bus stop veteran and his wife are active with their church, that nice steepled thing with the cemetery across the road of which pictures have been posted on the blog; they have invited me to go with them to morning service. I'm not a church sort, but I am interested in getting inside St. Mark's, so if that works out will trot along with them.

In fact, attending services may be how I manage to see the stained glass in several of the old churches (much of it done by a local glass artist who recently published a beautifully illustrated book of her work).

What is coming up...well, Saturday morning I do go with a co-worker to 'the Barn', which is a big charity shop run by the hospital, and where often spectacular deals are found, I hear...It is open two mornings a week, and people camp outside waiting for the doors to open. Tends to be where the clothes weeded from various well-financed closets go, for one thing. (Sort of a larger Yellow Brick Road, for those with Carmel familiarity.) I'm also supposed to show up at a couple of people's homes for sales or stuff we've agreed I will come see over the weekend.

A new show opens at Dockyard's Bermuda Art Centre and I may head out there - tho it is a hike. And Sunday there is a sponsorship hike for National Trust thru St. George's, and weather permitting I will participate in that.

I'm working on my birdhouse...

It is on the bizarre side to read about events from rural NC in the Bermudian paper, somehow even more so that reading about them on CNN. A couple people at the office remembered I was from North Carolina and asked about the nursing home shooting.

A lot of folks are graduates of North Carolina colleges and chats about UNC and the Final Four have become a regular component of my mornings.

Take care, all, and write!

Enjoying the views - while at work

More from site visits - Bermuda is full of little twisting alleys and drives, and sometimes everything about a place comes together just perfectly.

Bermuda, 1951

Someone from the office found this and sent it around...1951, so black and white, and in Portuguese - fun to listen to. Glass bottomed boats, frolicking thru an arch that the last hurricane destroyed, views of Front Street and country side and coastal views...enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsaAmONnz1E

Birdhouses and lateral files

I think I've worked out a design for my bluebird house piece, which - if it works out as I envision - will be a fun bit of work. Bermuda isn't dripping with arts and crafts supplies, so one does have to be a bit creative about it.

And the teak-toned (but really presswood) lateral file was just delivered by the nice people who formerly owned it. Now I can keep the paperwork organized and off the tables!

Re that bruising from yesterday's fall - not as widespread as I'd thought it would be, but certainly colorful. At the day's end I had a quick hot shower and took an aspirin (only one - I think I'd tolerate surgery on the strength of two), and slept wonderfully, and all through the night. If chickens cackled and crowed I didn't hear them, and the night-long rain added to the usual 'white noise' of the ocean pounding ashore.

Back to work now....

Promises, promises

A busy but not particularly productive Saturday, one with storms threatening nearly the whole day, yet I never found myself under the cloud mass letting loose..just windy. Too windy for the ferry, which mucked up my first plan of attack on the day.

I was rushing to leave the house for the bus this morning, and in turning back to pick up my tote somehow lost my footing and landed hard on my upper thigh and shoulder. Nothing broken or the least bit wonky - but I'm a definite jelly on that side, bruised and sore and a bit 'stiff'. As I tried to catch breath and let the worst of it pass (hearing the bus roar by in the meantime) I kept saying 'this is not good'. But, other than feeling a little battered and tired before my time, all is well. Better luck than deserved - shouldn't have left it to the last moment. That'll larn me!

Rode out to Sandys Parish to look at a butcher block work table. Continuing the day's theme, no one was around at the address; oddly, the owner called as I was waiting for noontime, in case things would change when the time came for her sale. She'd seen my last email asking about transport, and was responding. When she realized I was out there, she laughingly chided that the sale was Sunday, but see if her housemate's car was there. It wasn't, I reported - so she told me where to find her emergency housekey and let myself in her place to look at the table and the other stuff she had collected for her sale. (Yep, people work differently here.) We stayed on the phone the whole time, until I reversed the process and replaced her key. (The table might work, but is a little lower and a little smaller than I'd like to have.)

Took the bus on out to Dockyard, to see the cruise ship pier and terminal I'd been co-authoring the EIS on, and to go to the art gallery out there. Their display space is about half what BSOA's downtown space is, and is more of a sales gallery (with 4 or 5 studios around the perimeter). Both the guys who had a show at BSOA recently - I listed their websites here recently - had pieces for sale there, as did several other people. A couple who were making selections when I walked in finally wrapped up their decision making - and their purchases -, having picked upnearly $1000 worth of pieces by one of the artists. Most of this is very much in the 'scenes of Bermuda' category, because that is both the obvious temptation, and, frankly, what sells in these venues.

The piece I liked the best was a blue, white and gray-tone watercolor of an architectural detail. After a while, all those paintings of seascapes and cottages resemble each other, esp when you are a bit tired. I didnt spring for the $670 price tag, of course. I did get some very low cost prints - a quartet of tiny scenes or details (hibiscus flower, Johnny Barnes waving kisses to everyone at the roundabout, an ocean horizon, a hill with the white roofed cottages) that I will stack somewhere, probably in the kitchen, a larger view past an old cottage to a bay, all turquoise and aqua. Nothing world shaking, just enjoyable moments.

With the ferry not running (those winds), I took the bus back to town. I'd noticed a 'grand opening' of the new facility for one of the few hardware stores on the island, and decided I'd get off at the nearby stop if I caught it in time. Turns out this rather formally dressed older woman had the same plan, and we walked down the road into the Industrial Park where this place is located. This one did carry some building supplies out back, but seemed to specialize in paints. (Which can be very pricey - I was looking at the small containers for what I might use for my to-be-donated bird house piece. The little containers start around $18. The gallons start around $40. Anything better quality or more exotic, and you are looking at $60/gln. Wow.

We walked past the 'Made in Italy' marble/granite place - they have lots of 'sheets' of stone and I understand inside they carry things like mantelpieces and sculptured work. I was there too late to get inside, but contemplated snagging some of the stuff that had been put in the trash barrels, clearly now waste. (I may give them a call and see if they'd mind saving some of those chunks and shards and extra bits - might be the cheapest way to decorate this birdhouse, with smashed bits of marble for a mosaic approach.)

Got to Hamilton, checked what the one quasi-sort-of-nominally-art supply place carried, then went to Gibbons, a local department store, to do my 'shops' for the month. As a mystery shopper I'm given assignments and questions about the sales associate, floor merchandizing, etc to respond to. I still need to do a phone 'shop', but otherwise Gibbons is done for the month. Monday I really must go to Capital G Bank.

The ride back was upbeat - the driver was an outrageous flirt with everyone who climbed on the bus.

So - I'll light-weight it this evening, try to make up some sketches for the birdhouse (decorating a bluebird house for a fundraiser), take a warm shower and go to bed early, if I can. Tomorrow I will tackle all the paperwork I have - and I know my wooden file cabinet is being delivered, woo hoo!

More!

Site visits are an entirely different thing here!

Bosslady and I went out to Coral Beach and Horizons resorts this morning for an extended site visit - about 4 hours, coming through the various components of the proposed site plan for the redevelopment of these pleasant older resorts into a Four Seasons resort. It is a project that probably would be terrific for Bermuda, if they get the financing pulled together and build it to a high quality standard. We met a very pleasant woman out there - an insurance salesperson, I think, turned master gardener in one of those 'follow your bliss' moments, from Long Island - and she was our golf cart driver and tour guide for the whole time.

The day started off a little cloudy but became more and more spectacular. I took pictures with my camera until I ran out of juice, then took pictures with the department camera to finish up. Most of these are for our purposes, keeping a record of specific vegetation, slopes, buildings that will stay or go, that sort of thing. Some of them, tho, are tourist worthy - and nicely illustrate one of the reasons why site visits here in Bermuda are rather different than those in Durham.

Afterwards, we had lunch on the terrace. The flowers and colors just pop, esp with the dozen shades of aqua one sees. The lobster avocado salad wasn't bad either...

Pleasures from new BSOA show

These paintings are from a couple of different shows going on at the Bermuda Society of Arts, housed at City Hall. I walked over at lunch to enjoy this stuff - Bermuda College had one gallery, a painting teacher and students and most of the rest. Have a nice time with these!

It wasn't my favorite, but the whimsy in the Gangsta Last Supper was fun.

The last 3 were probably my favorites - the 'tunnel' of prayer flags, the gray-tones watercolor rendering of a capitol, the 'bricks' across a color field.

























Also, here are a couple of web sites from the last show - two buddies with quite different styles, and their work gives you a nice sense of Bermuda.

http://www.jonah-art.com/jonah-art.com/Home.html

http://www.chrismarson.com/page28/page28.html

Did I mention?

Did I mention the smushed-pea sandwiches?

Happily, they'd laid on a spread of sorts at the noontime lecture re Cuba architecture last Thursday and Friday, plates of sandwich quarters, a half dozen different fillings. I'm still trying whatever is put in front of me, so I tried a crab sandwich, and one with chicken and tomatillos and roasted peppers, and a green-filled one I thought might be a sort of avodaco filling, as avocados grow here (tho the season is past). Nope. I don't think I would have come up with a smushed-pea sandwich, but it was a bit sweet, as fresh peas can be, with a bit of mint and a bit of something sort of tarragon-ish.

That, and a bottle of lemon Perrier water. Lovely.

I've been busy cleaning. The vertical blinds on both sliding doors and the bedroom windows, which are almost the same size, all needed a good cleaning, and I wanted to get the new acquisitions settled but into well-cleaned and freshened areas. So, in the way my family knows, I've been taking the hands=and-knees approach to getting things, from ceilings to floors and everything in between, wiped down, scrubbed, re-oiled and/or whatever is appropriate to the item. I've washed windows, tho that is a rather hopeless task on the ocean-facing ones, and worked on the slider frames, etc., to get them as clean as I can manage (the vinyl seals, still out of reach unless I take the doors out, are an ugly mess, and apparently the moisture and salt is combated by heavily greasing the runners etal of the doors).

Molds and mildews are a constant threat in a humid environment like this, so I am trying to pre-empt problems. Keeping things clean and keeping the air moving are the two requirements (and keeping any foodstuffs sealed up and preferably in the freezer, too). I think being on the upper floor will help keep the ant, cockroach and bug populations controllable, tho they are absolutely typical to find in the cleanest, best kept homes.

I've got the rug down (probably not a good idea, but with all the hard surfaces bouncing sound around, and being probably lots more aware than I need to be that I am living above someone else, I am interested in managing noise into and from my living quarters.) It is too brown to be considered 'pretty', in my opinion, but it is an attractive oriental pattern in brownish burgundy, cream and green.

Still with one pot, that handy skillet, but otherwise things seem pretty much in hand. I'll start a hunt for things to get the office and studio aspects of my little nest organized, and continue looking for something to function as a work island and probably a table in the kitchen.

If I haven't already provided it, the address is: Sheila Stains-Ramp, #1, 101 South Road, Smith's Parish FL08 Bermuda.

Gorgeous, sunny and 72 here, with a nice breeze.

Hello? Anybody out there?

Some explanatory notes:

• a whatever was handy shed
• a soldiers and sailors cemetery, thru the bus window (ergo the smudges and reflection)
• the 'street' to the house where the yardsale was held
• old bus stop sign, taken during this morning's wait...
  

With certain exceptions, I do rather feel like I am more alone than I ever felt in Italy, so much further away...(farther away? Nina - which should it be?)

Today was oddly glorious.

The morning started (at 7, on a Saturday, waiting for a bus at the top of the hill from my place, by golly) with a trough of rain cells aimed arrow straight for us. It wasn't, however, a storm - just rain, so I opened my umbrella and huddled real close, pretty much inside of, the hibiscus hedge at the bus stop, and things were fine. The bus - given it was early on a Saturday morning - made it from its starting point to where I was a good 10 minutes earlier than it would have if it had been a reasonable hour.

That early bus was necessary if I was going to make it to a must-be-there-at-opening yard sale on the other side of the island (and more importantly, on another bus route.) I'd tried to get there all week. I'd semi-arranged to buy an oriental rug from them (well, oriental-patterned rug, the rug is actually by Mohawk Carpets), and my work buddy was going to do help Wed or Th or Fri this week, but as a supervisor he had to step in when one of his inspectors called in sick.

So - Saturdays meaning even skimpier bus service, with the next bus in to Hamilton being an hour later - my 7.10 am bus got me to the bus terminal in Hamilton about 7.45. The #8 runs every 15 minutes, and the ride out to the Port Royal area in Southampton would take about 30-40 minutes, so I stopped for a coffee and breakfast, then caught the bus. (Taking the next bus at 8.15 from the house would have meant I wouldn't have made it out there until around 9.30. Early is must-do with yardsales having stuff you know you want.)

Anyway, it was a good sale to attend. Besides the rug, I got sheets and towels and kitchen stuff, and feel things are nearly complete. Too late for the microwave, tho - she'd promised it to someone already - and she had no pots/pans. By the time I left they were just giving me whatever I asked about, which was nice.

Roy showed up at our agreed-to time, we loaded his car, then he decided he wanted to go see what they had at the sale for himself. He bought some binoculars and some tools, and we high-tailed it over to my apartment, hauled the stuff up to the unit, hopped back in the car for redelivery of me to a nice garden center/nursery. He, I think, likes to take his boat out and go fishing, and play golf on the weekend. Nice guy, and has been warmly helpful.

I've been thinking I'd like to set up some pots on the deck, with herbs and veg, and maybe some bigger growy stuff to help moderate road noise - some rosemary for near the bedroom windows (love the smell), some hibiscus, perhaps some other things that can tolerate a lot of hours of sun, the somewhat salty breeze and a distinct lack of my Mother's green thumb. (She can get anythingn to grow.) Ergo the garden center visit, Aberfeldy near the National Trust offices at Waterville . The herbs were priced acceptably; the potted plants started at $15 and, depending on size, were $48 or $68 or more for showier, instant coverage plants. They do deliver (free); they do have a good selection and patient, helpful staff.

I walked into town from there, stopping at a couple shops carrying things like outdoor furniture, kitchen cabinets and tables, and such. Nothing persuasive - I'm sort of looking for something that could serve as a worksurface island for the kitchen - and so continued on to check out a couple sites for which I have applications under review, and then to the one in-town hardware store. Everytime I've asked where to look for something, I've been told Masters, so I was glad to see what the place was like. One thing immediately apparent - one does not go to hardware stores for building supplies. The temptations were primarily garden-oriented - their pots and potting soils were less than half what Aberfeldy charged for the same thing - but I am a sucker for hardware shops and have to look at everything.

And then home. I've unpacked the bags I set inside this morning, and I've started doing some serious cleaning (ergo the time-out to write for a little while...)

Fun.

coincidence

Met my next door neighbor today - Robin is Bermudian to the core, but went to Carrboro Elementary while her Mom attended UNC.

Lunchtime lecture at the Vasco de Gama Club - Portuguese social club - on Modern Architecture in Havana. Interesting, both for content and meeting some of our architects in a different setting. (This was a program put on thru the Bermuda association of architects.)

I'm meeting a coworker - who has a larger vehicle - at a yardsale over near his house in the morning. I 'm going to go figure out my commute over - two buses, probably 45 minutes what with the waiting for a connection. Hopefully can snag the rug and a few other things and get them carried back over to the house, then head back out for more of the same - perhaps getting the herbs and veg to plant in containers for the balcony. Whatever, will be fun. And NOT WORK!

More pictures and chatter

Photos of the Cathedral, which establishes the height above which nothing else is to be built in Hamilton. Developments in the visual impact zone have to provide info on how the proposals stack up relative to views of the cathedral tower - a nice touch.

One of the (many!) rainbows I have seen since being here. The most gorgeous was one that appeared to reach from ocean to ocean, on either side of the island, a complete rainbow with oddly strong colors.

And photos of the super-great-deal studio, caretaking for the rental house - a rather concentrated living style, but lots of amenities to go with it. Still ruing that, tho, in terms of living arrangements, this purple house apartment is very nice and more livable.

Bosslady is pushing on me getting my license. Not happy-making. Tho if I gain confidence with driving I might persuade myself into a vehicle of some sort, which would open up a bunch of options that otherwise I can't do because of my bus turning into a pumpkin at 6.15.

In what has been a very typical example of the friendliness of people here, I'd hiked over to the Bermuda Sun office at lunchtime to pay for a heater (one of those oil-filled, non-blower heaters) I'd bought for $40, an absolute steal here. I wasn't really planning on trying to walk back to the office with it - they are a little heavy, and while not a long walk it was a longer one than I wanted to make while toting the heater. The guy selling it decided he'd walk part of the way carrying it for me, then decided he'd just come all the way to the office with me. Very nice. Of course, he is a reporter for the twice-weekly newspaper, knew I worked for Planning, and may have thought he was cultivating a contact - but whatever works!

I go look at rugs and things I need/want this weekend, how fun.