Creation

Here is some of the jewelry created with the local materials from earlier blog entries; Jumbie beads, Job's tears, Knuckle Seeds (Nickernuts), shells, pigeon peas and shak-shaks.

Preparing

Using the dremel to drill jumbie beads, shak-shaks and shells. The shak-shak makes a nice incense holder!

*note that jumbie beads are extremely poisonous if ground up/chewed and digested, shell dust is also reportedly harmful. Please use proper precaution and care when drilling and working with natural materials, especially if you don't know what it is!

**Note #2: A local friend of mine says that people grind up jumbie beads and use them like coffee to make themselves better when they are sick. Now I am confused. Form your own conclusions...

Hunting-Gathering

West Indian Mahogany seed pod, Knuckle Seeds (also known as Knickernuts) inside their pods, beach finds (unknown seed pods-look like polished apple seeds), diving for shells, beach combing, Shak-Shaks from the Flamboyant Tree, Sandbox tree, jumbie beads, attempting to gather coconuts

Some sights of Fountain

Olive always carries her matchet (pronounced "match-it" here in the Caribbean.) An interesting shape carved by a bug I assume. The pink leaves/flowers blanket the island! The Fountain/Mt Lily Community Club sign pointing to the main road.

Candlelight Vigil

On February 11, one of the bus drivers was killed in an accident. The news swept over the village like a black cloud. It was an emotional week. We had an emergency Rising Stars meeting (the brother of the driver is a committed member of the club) and a candlelight vigil was planned. I wanted to honor him in some way, although I didn't know him very well it hit me hard because his brother is dear to my heart. I painted some containers to put candles in, and even though it didn't work out because of extremely strong winds, it was nice to do something. I went to the funeral, stared straight ahead and willed myself to be stoic as I watched his brothers walk by, his friends, neighbors, family, coworkers, and then his coffin. I came home and cried. I cried for the loss of Perry, for his family, for his brothers (both of which I know), and I cried because of some amazing people I have met here. I don't know how to put it into words, but there are some people that just touch you and they will never know how much. It all came out with my tears.

just a day in the life

Today I was out hanging my laundry and playing with the kids and Aymani was pretending to take pictures, imitating me (I take pictures of EVERYTHING). I occasionally let Quetta take a few photos and she snapped a great one of us. I also discovered that the mosquito net makes a fabulous clothing dryer!

Jewelry session with Marie

One Saturday my friend Marie, the Director of the Craft House, invited me over to her home to make jewelry. We hauled out all her bins of goodies, there were so many wonderful materials to choose from. She made a delicious soup rich with local ingredients (sweet potatoes, goat, dumplings and greens) and we had a great time crafting and chatting the day away.

Christmas tree update

I was looking over my pictures and noticed I didn't post one of the Trinity Methodist Church Christmas tree that we decorated with our dough ornaments. The kids were really proud of their work and the tree looked absolutely stunning!

Kraft Gone Wild, pt. 2

As a continuation to the macaroni jewelry making, I dyed some with cherry, orange and grape kool-aid. We experimented with different patterns and lengths and made some really pretty creations. Quetta made me a matching bracelet but it didn't fit so I let her wear it. Our neighbors from America came over and helped out by entertaining the dogs (who kept trying to snatch our fruit-smelling strings of beads!) I tried to recycle the kool-aid dye by making finger paints and using it as food coloring to make stationary but both experiments failed miserably. Back to the drawing board...

Later my sister came over and we made some new outfits for my paper doll.

Kraft Gone Wild

Here is yet another one of our little "Kraft" projects, those beads are straight out of a macaroni and cheese box! We strung them on a thread, embellished with shells and beads, colored with markers and mod-podged (shellacked) the whole thing. I thought it was really fun but I am not much for macaroni jewelry so I donated my necklace to my sister. She wore them to school today and said some of her friends really liked it and others didn't as much. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Stay tuned for another macaroni project as I have painstakingly dyed some with kool-aid for future endeavors!

Future Tartmakers of...Nevis/America

My host mom taught my sis and me the way to make coconut tarts. My sister showed a lot of promise as a future tart-maker. Now Isilma has passed on the tradition and we can both teach our future generations the art. She even colored some of the coconut so we have red, yellow and green tarts!

New Years Tradition

Every new years day the village has a tradition of having a "senior" luncheon to honor members of the community. It is put together by the Fountain/Mt Lily Community Improvement Club of which I am a member. This year we had about 20-25 people and music, dancing and lots of good food.

Paper dolls

Remember paper dolls? Living here has forced me to resort back to a time when everything wasn't available to me. I have been creating little activities and things to do with the kids. This one was pretty labor intensive and I know it won't last long but it was fun to make! Let it be known that I tried to make her complexion dark but my colored pencils didn't agree with me. I glued her to the cardboard backing first (recycled from my rice-cooker box which has served many purposes over the duration of my service; from Halloween costume to craft treasure chest, painting shield to coffee table). I made the mistake of trying to color it post-glue which was not ideal, especially for creating future outfits. It's amazing what a little creativity and a few supplies yields to a fertile imagination!

Christmas in the Caribbean

Merry Christmas everybody! I spent my first Christmas in the Caribbean! It was the first one I've ever spent eating dinner outdoors under the shade of a golden apple tree (golden apples look to be in the mango family). We had turkey, ham, boiled vegetables, rice and peas, salad, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes (not the same as the ones we eat at home and not cloaked in brown sugar and marshmallows), pork (the pork they usually serve here is a hunk that was sliced straight off the pig, it includes the skin, a layer or fat and a layer of muscle.) I am not a fan of that kind of pork but there were plenty of other things for me to enjoy. Besides, I wondered if it was my unfortunate friend from outside and when I inquired everyone laughed! Probably not a good sign. We all ate until "our belly's full" and then ate cake for dessert. You can see in the photo my little sis stuffed her belly very full! The night before I had carolers and one of them I recognized as a member of the community group I belong to. The leader of the group was playing a guitar made from a coconut. The songs they played were tropical and nice and I was touched they came to my house. I didn't have any money left except bus fare so I gave them all I had, hoping my host mom would loan me the $3.50 it takes to ride to town. It was a bittersweet holiday. Surrounded by new people who love me and take care of me but on the other hand missing my boyfriend terribly.