Sewing group
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 01/Nov/2010 22:41, 34 days ago
I joined a sewing group this morning with lots of interesting older women, one is 88, many are Jamaican and all had lived in Jamaica in the 70s. They said anyone who lived through the 70s in Jamaica can live through anything. Incidentally Jamaica achieved independence from the UK on 6 August 1962 so the hard times followed independence. People fought in the supermarket over lettuce and to buy toilet paper and other essentials you had to travel to Miami. There was virtually nothing in the shops. That's when everyone put bars on their windows and doors and added security systems and packs of guard dogs in the yards because robbers would come in the night and clear your patio furniture or anything that was not locked up. The household pet poodle was no longer a deterent to burglars. They said the 90s weren't much better but paled in comparison to the 70s.I was able to buy an unwanted embroidery project from one of the ladies at the sewing club which hadn't been started so I'll be learning how to embroider as well as learn about Jamaica's history as they reminisce. It's been many years since I last held an embroidery needle in my hands -I was probably about 8 or 9. These are very talented and experienced women who are showing me the ropes or should I say, threads, in embroidery.Then while we were sitting in the gated patio they served a gourmet lunch cooked by our host. I sure hope I never have to take a turn hosting (fortunately we don't have enough comfy chairs) in the rotating club venue because following that meal it will be difficult to produce anything near that calibre - I'd need to go to chef school first. The good thing was there was absolutely not a grain of rice and one of the women even commented on "rice eaters". So I'm detecting a class system here.But best of all, while I was sitting eating my lunch I couldn't help but notice the blooms on a tree outside so I asked our host if I could take photos. I haven't posted any flower photos for a few weeks, so here's this week's flower selection.This one is called Poor Man's Orchid. Our host told me the name of the one above as well and I know it starts with the letters "mass" but I forgot the rest by the time I came home and can't find it on the internet. I'm pretty sure she said it blooms all year round so I suspect it's similar to Red Ginger and therefore these are not blooms, but leaves. Which reminds me, did I mention our superintendent requested our gardener to chop down all the Red Ginger outside our dining room window and by our front door? They are re-landscaping so I hope they replace it with something equally nice. I miss it ever so much.