Though it is said that air travel is statistically safer than traveling our congested highways, it’s the high probability for loss that gets me. Thankfully, all 162 passengers on board Caribbean Airlines are alive but when I heard the news of the crash late Saturday night, I felt a sense of unease.
As someone who travels frequently, this type of news always shakes me even though my attitude is, if it’s going to happen, there’s little I can do. I think of the time a few years ago in Spain when news reached us of a crash just as we were about to board a flight. We were delayed for several tense hours but when our flight was ready, we went with it. I also recall the American Airlines crashed near Queens in 2001. I tried not to see any of the photos as I was flying out the following morning. And finally, I think of a friend who was lost on Air France 447. The relief I’ve felt that no lives lost were almost overshadowed by these other thoughts.
Bermuda Cup Match takes place this weekend in Bermuda. My friends are there. Since I couldn’t make it, I’m thinking about them and wondering which of the sites they’ll get time to see.
Held over two consecutive public holidays, Cup Match is a signature event of Bermudian cricket that pits two rival cricket teams, Somerset and St. George’s, against each other. It has been held on the island since 1902.
Outside of Christmas, Cup Match is the most popular event in Bermuda. Scores of Bermudians and international visitors swarm the island, swelling the population to more than twice its size. It is one big weekend-long party that shuts the island down. Continue reading “Weekend Getaway – Bermuda”→
On most summer weekends, the sounds of drums, African drums float like a breeze through my window. In my neighborhood of brownstones, hipsters and big city sounds, it feels odd sometimes. But it shouldn’t be.
For more than 20 years now, drummers have been gathering in parks and other public spaces in informal drum circles to beat their drums, practice their craft and entertain people as they pass by. Sometimes they stop and watch, or just dance but the music never stops as there are always fresh drummers ready to replace those who had been playing for a while.
Synonymous with Africa, the drum was brought to the New World by African slaves. It is the heartbeat of African music at home and in the Diaspora.
There are so many places I’d like to visit that I get overwhelmed when I try to choose. Each place has something that appeals to me.
For example, although I’m not a good swimmer, I love water and places that have beautiful beaches call me. I discovered recently that I also love the mountains. Mountains capture my imagination and give me a sense of peace so any place that has both makes me happy.
I’ve always felt that I was born in the wrong era and the wrong place. I love looking at old buildings and visiting quaint villages that take me back in time. I’m also in awe of old stone monuments, Gothic cathedrals and the ruins of ancient civilizations.
New York has a million faces. It just depends on where you are. Of course, the city looks very different when you’re not at ground level.
I took this from the Time Warner Building. Before the sun set, I could see directly to New Jersey. A few hours later, these clouds came into view and washed the buildings with an inky tint.
View from the Time Warner Building
Those saucers are the light fixtures from inside the building. They just bounced off the window.
Sherry of Colorful Footsteps has just nominated me to participate in the “My 7 Links Project” (Thanks, Sherry!)
Initiated by Tripbase, the My 7 Links Project aims “to unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.”
I’m very honored that Sherry has nominated me. It was difficult to select just six posts but I hope you’ll like the ones I chose.
Today would have been my mom’s 82nd birthday. Gloria loved flowers, roses, in particular. My, how she loved roses! It would have been such a treat for her to visit the New York Botanical Gardens today. But since she can’t, I’m sending these flowers to her.
Mama and I were alike and yet so different. She told me once that she wished she’d had my courage. I told her I wished I had her brains. I know for sure that if she had had half the educational opportunities I’ve had, she would have reached the moon. I’m glad I was able to tell her that.
For a long time, I measured myself against her. Probably still do.
Mama, the last time she visited
She sewed, without a pattern. She’d take the measurements, cut the material and sew a dress, skirt, shirt or whatever. She crocheted and embroidered, baked and cooked, and did each equally well. Everyone loved her rum cakes.
Played the flute and taught me how. The difference is, at the end of the summer, I’d forget. She never did.
Did the payroll for my grandfather and my uncle every Friday afternoon. She never used a calculator and it was never wrong. She kept meticulous notes and filed the receipts neatly every week. And if there was ever a question from an employee, she could remember exactly how many hours they worked and what their payroll amount was and back up her memory with her records. She was never wrong.
In my first or second year of high school, my English teacher asked us to write a poem. We had read poems in class but she hadn’t taught us how to write one. I didn’t know how and worse, I didn’t think I could. I was almost in tears when I got home from school that day.
I wish I had kept the poem Mama dictated as she sat marking papers at the table. After I finished writing it, she started to hum a melody, one she had created for the poem. She grew even taller in my eyes that day.
Mama always said she could ‘read’ me like a book. She wasn’t bluffing – she could sniff out a lie every time. I learned early not even to try to fool her. Her dreams were prophetic, I never understood it until some of mine started to have the same quality.
She was a stickler for what was right and proper, and set the bar so high, I never thought I’d ever measure up. So I was shocked the first time Gloria’s words came out of my mouth!
For the last ten years, I’ve been negotiating life without her often sage advice and insight. I miss her everyday but I know the love we have for each other keeps me strong.
