Canadian Women's Club
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 12/Oct/2010 17:50, 34 days ago
Well, what a find this was. A few weeks ago Delphine noticed an ad in the paper inviting women to join the Canadian Women's Club which has monthly meetings at the Canadian High Commission. We contacted them and they in turn invited us to join their group at their Thanksgiving dinner but we couldn't bring friends, although family members were allowed, so we decided to have our own CUSO-VSO Thanksgiving dinner instead. They were very helpful advising us where to buy turkeys so Delphine, Coreena and I went along to their meeting.We discovered a lively group of international women, some Jamaican but the majority were women with Canadian roots. Many of the Canadians have been living in Jamaica for years - as much as50 or 60 years. Marguerite, being the 60 year Jamaican resident, has a daughter who was Miss Jamaica World in 1976 so I googled her daughter, Toronto born Cindy Breakspeare, and discovered she is a jazz musician and the mother of Damian Marley, one of Bob Marley's children. That makes my new friend, the grandmother of one of Bob Marley's children. Bob wrote the song "Turn Your Lights Down Low" about his relationship with Cindy.Another is going to invite me to her sewing group where they quilt and cross stitch with local women, but the best part of all are the tours and activities they are involved in. They do the usual toy collection for the Children's Hospital at Christmas and visiting a seniors complex, but they are also involved with an orphanage in Mandeville with a tour planned in early 2011 so we are really looking forward to that. But the best tour is next month's meeting...it's a free trip to the Appleton Rum estate. Everything is free, bus transportation to and fro, lunch and the tour! What more could you ask for? The meeting will be held on the bus and we can bring guests. On hearing that, all three of us signed up for annual membership. Watch out Nydia...I'll be back and this time for free (see my posting of our first visit to Appleton Rum Estate athttp://mwapoleni-bunty.blogspot.com/2010/09/treasure-beach.html)The President showed up late with a large turquoise basket full of avocado pears which she had picked from her tree and handed out to everyone as many as we could carry home. I took two, enough to make an avocado salad for supper tonight. Perfect for the diet I started yesterday to shed the pounds I gained while inactive with my broken shoulder.There are lots of very interesting people here in Jamaica and I'm having a ball meeting them.