On Poseidon & Procrastination

Pendants I make with my sea glass finds (www.fromthecjewelry.com)

Last night’s swim was an afterthought…that morphed into unfettered joy.  More about that in a moment.  First, a note about procrastination, a favorite hobby. 

Turns out I can procrastinate about anything—even things I LOVE to do.  Swimming is the perfect example.  One thing you’re accustomed to stateside that you give up here in the Caribbean is the notion of twilight.  We just don’t have it.  We go from sunset to full darkness in what seems like the flip of a switch. 

After 21 years here, I’m used to that & don’t really miss it…until I’m taking my after-work swim.  If I start for the beach at 4:45 I’ll have a full hour to swim & search for sea glass before I’m plunged into murk & everything I pick up looks like or is a rock.  I live 12 minutes from the beach, door to shore.  Sunset now is at 6:10, & I’ll be able to see my quarry for exactly 6 minutes after that & before everything that brushes my leg as I swim becomes an imaginary eel.  I love all sea creatures, except eels.  They are basically big-mouthed snakes underwater, some with the added fun of being electrified, & who needs that combo? 

I keep my towel, suit, mask/ snorkel & collection bag on a hall tree I painted aqua to go with the other craziness on my porch.  I like to have them all together & ready, like a firefighter’s gear…except I’m going to water, not fire.  I’d always be early to swim, if it weren’t for Sun-dried Tomato flavor Wheat Thins.  I work through lunch & I’m hungry when I get home, hence the allure of the aforementioned.  Crackers lead to water, then to mouthwash & tooth-brushing before I jump in my gear & head west. 

Non-Judgy Mu, Happy I'm staying home

And when I’m running late & my dog looks at me judgmentally for thinking of leaving her again after being at work already, I sometimes lose resolve & end up staying home.  Of course I never know what I missed at the beach, but it is human nature to think that you’ve missed something great by being a slacker & staying home…& I am human despite my gills. 

So last night I answered the Wheat Thins & was about to (literally) throw in the towel on my plans to swim when the beebeebeep of an incoming text sounded & there was a picture of my first boyfriend Chris, standing in a snowdrift in North Carolina.  He had taken a snow day from work & that picture gave me the required shove to get out the door & head West. 

The surf was doing the regular push/pull, but the unusually strong undertow from last week has left the building & Neptune & I are buddies again.  All last week’s churning unearthed some wonderful sea glass, & I pulled in several pounds of good pieces in an hour, in about a 25’ stretch of beach.  There was a lot of ‘live entertainment’ as well, in the form of many huge schools of fish, seemingly organized by grade order.  First I swam in a ‘herd’ of neon-sized (Kindergarten?) sprat & three graduated sized schools later, I was with a bunch big enough to be working on their post-grad studies. 

So thanks, Chris, for the arctic motivation.  Hope you & NC thaw soon & you have an early spring.  That’s the best I can wish for you, while I’m paddling about in the surf & watching the sunset.  Sorry!

Unexpected Treats

My orchids, always a wonderful surprise!

I’ve been vending sea glass ornaments & jewelry by the sea (fromthecjewelry.com) for a few years now, & you’d think it would be more predictable…but it isn’t.  Seems every day & every ship there is something or someone new & different.  Some come with a little warning.  Others… BLAM & there they are. 

A year ago I had some warning in the form of a few emails leading up to a day visit (she & her husband were on a cruise) by one of my dearest childhood friends, Anna.  I was set up & vending that day, but she spent some time with me & we got a chance to catch up.  WONDERFUL, after not having seen her for well over two decades. 

Last week I stepped out of my booth to stretch, glanced across the waterfront park between my booth & the cruise ship pier, & thought ‘WOW, there’s somebody with Anna’s face!’  And then I realized it was Anna! This year she opted to just surprise me & show up, which was almost as much fun as anticipating her arrival. 

Other recent surprises weren’t as personal (& didn’t come off a ship), but pretty wonderful anyway.  Around the Christmas holidays, we had another unexpected visitor here on St. Croix—none other than Martha Stewart.  She had a great visit here & even spent considerable time in a friend’s coffee house (among various other restaurants & attractions).  She wrote several glowing blog postings with loads of photos & we were thrilled to have her here.

But back to the ships.  In the middle of a vending day last week with cruise ship passengers milling all around, I glanced at the coral stone steps leading up to the clock tower in front of my booth...and noticed something unusual.  There were three gentlemen in white suits standing there looking rather twitchy & expectant.  A moment later we knew why.  Here came the bride!  She was lovely, with a gown that appeared to have been designed for her.  The short ceremony was all in Spanish, & there were a handful of attendants & a few more guests. 

Some surprises come in smaller packages.  This little guy is the youngest of the flock of shore birds Ms. Joan, my neighbor vendor refers to as her ‘children.’  She feeds them crushed crackers & they are quite tame.  The adults are much darker in coloring, but the babies are mostly white, like Jr. here. 

Pictures that Speak for Themselves?

I love words.  I like the way they feel & taste, their nuances & hues, & frequently I'm guilty of using too many.  So here I will give them a rest & let these pics of my orchids speak for themselves.  Enjoy!

Carnival Colors & Home Decor? by Lea Ann Robson

Moko Jumbies (stilt dancers) at 2013 Crucian Carnival

In an earlier post (Fabric (of my Being?) I vowed to tackle my second bedroom décor with zeal equalling that which I applied to the first.  As you can see by this photo,  Iappear to have done so with wild abandon. First, let me state that this room is more evolutionary than planned.  At least that’s my defense & I’m stickin’ to it!

New bedding...Same dog!

The irony here is that despite the aforementioned zillion or so yards of upholstery fabric languishing in my closet, I succumbed to Anthropologie’s irresistible offer of an additional 50% off clearance, & purchased instead of made most of these linens. 

Regret?  Not one iota.

Back when our cable provider offered Sundance Channel in our lineup, I was addicted to ‘Man Shops Globe,’ the episodic saga of the head buyer for Anthropologie & his travels around the world. He had perhaps the one life I would trade mine for…Naaaaa.  But I loved Anthropologie & their quirky, arty, none-too-informative but delightful catalogues long before I caught that show.  Bits & bobs of their merchandise crop up all over my house, & I have never been disappointed in anything I have purchased from them, from my 3D white floral shower curtain to my happy Portuguese ceramic baking dishes & rolling pin (someday I’ll make a pie…really I will).  They are one of the best satisfiers of my Mom’s sage advice: If you’re going to interact with something on a daily basis, make sure

1. You love it &
2. It is well made.  

Seems simple enough, but too often (& I’m guilty, Lord knows) the temptation wins to settle for bargains (that aren’t) or mind-numbing generics instead of flair, pizzazz, & quality.  I can say, most enthusiastically, that Anthropologie purchases never fall into those categories. So on to the bedroom & the aforementioned clearance sale.

It started with this plaid throw (on the footboard) that at once unified & electrified the first bedroom design, like a big fat cherry on an already delicious sundae (can you tell I skipped breakfast?).  Since the final price reduction brought it to under $20.00, it inspired me to go through the clearance items again to see what new finds were lurking.  I was just looking for a throw to put at the foot of the second bed, to incorporate the colors of the mod print burnout velvet drapes I made for that room (to cover the rolling chrome racks full of craft stuff) & the bold cushion covers I had already paired with the white down comforter.  I found this one (pic at the head of this post), made from recycled silk sari strips.  The saturated colors thrilled me, & though it was substantially pricier than the first throw, it appeared to be (& turned out to be, upon delivery) absolutely worth it.  Since I had addressed & dressed the foot of the bed, I also found & ordered 2 euro shams for the head.  Their patterning & color palette reminded me of my Aunt Effie’s quilting from years ago & also had a bit of a Hawaiian quilt feel, which worked for our tropical setting. 

After adding two sets of my biggest Anthropologie weakness—their amazingly diverse jacquard woven dishtowels (that frequently incorporate the quirky orange of my kitchen cabinets), I had finished my order…

And then I saw the quilt that went with the shams…& it featured hand embroidery & appliqué, & was so reasonable after the discounts…& you know the rest.  

This summer I’ll probably go with my original plan to use the white duvet & just accessorize with the color & pattern at either end.  For now, I’ll use the whole shebang & every time I glance at that room in passing, I’ll feel the joy & excitement of the ‘carnival’ that is the décor in that room.  My Mom just scheduled (after much wheedling & begging on my part) a visit in April & I’ll let her take her choice between the ‘sunrise’ room & the ‘carnival o’ color’ option.  If she questions my palette inspiration, I offer these pics of this year’s Crucian Christmas Carnival as my defense.  On second thought, my choices may ‘pale’ by comparison?

Moko Jumbies in a sea of feathered dancers

Serenade of the Seasons

Serenade of the Seasons

So it’s December 17^th …are you sick of Holiday music yet?  How ‘bout if it was cranked out a public address system from a live band on the back of a flatbed truck…in the WEE hours of the morning?  If such a thing slowly drove through your neighborhood at 3 or 4 a.m., would you pull the pillow over your head & grumble, or do what we do & tumble out of bed to go out in the streets in our P.J.’s to dance behind the truck as it goes?  Would you offer the musicians expletives &  ire or as we do, refreshments & greetings?

Such is the Crucian traditional ‘Serenade,’ & I heard it in a ‘neighboring neighborhood’ at around 4:30 this morning. Local favorite band Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights earn their name this time of year, with these nocturnal mobile parties trouping from area to area & rousing the sleeping with festive local twists on traditional holiday songs & completely original calypso & quelbe compositions befitting the holidays our land of no snow.  (In a documentary, I heard Quelbe defined as a mixture of Quadrille which is our local version of a called or square type dance & Belbe, which no one ever defined further??).  Whatever it is, I don’t begrudge any lost sleep due to the refrains of ‘I want a piece of Pork for Me Christmas,’ “Santa Lookin’ for a Wife,’  or any of the other clever ‘carols’ we twist with a wink & a nod to their more traditional counterparts. 

The best Serenade experience I ever had was one morning at dawn when I was snorkeling by Dorsch Beach on the West end of the island.  Blissfully face down & focused on my fish friends & sea glass quarry, it took a moment for the approaching strains describing a Crucian’s concern that without a chimney, ‘How Will Santa Get In?’ to register.  Wending through nearby communities, the truck never came into view, but I hummed into my snorkel as the refrains became nearer & clearer.

Here’s hoping your holidays are tuneful & fun, & if you want to start some new traditions don’t forget to look for (lots of local stores have them) CD’s of Stanley, or Bill Bass, Ebenezer Methodist Church or Rising Star Steel Pan carols.  Once again proving Culture is like yeast, if you don’t combine it with other ingredients & make something of it, it disappears. 

Ho Ho Ho from Paradise by Lea Ann Robson

 

Oh what fun it was to be on St. Croix this weekend!  Our little berg was holiday hoppin’ on all four burners & we were repaid in breezy, lovely days for all the great rain we’ve had lately.  The Coquito (homemade rum cream—think eggnog with a St. Croix twist!) was flowing, & though it’s not snowing, everyone was showing up for events far & wide (OK, enough rhyming!). 

Saturday was the Governor’s Christmas Fair at Government House & the First Lady’s Children’s Party on the lawn at Fort Christavaern.  The beautifully manicured lawn around the Fort was the perfect setting for the kids & parents, & crafts (some sponsored by Home Depot), games & book giveaways were in stations all around. Of course Santa showed up, & fun was had by all.

As night fell & everyone flowed (& glowed!  Glow-in-the-dark hoops were everywhere!) toward the wharf to get front row seats to the Boat Parade.  Spectacular entries floated by to cheering crowds.  Some of the ‘boat floats’ used laser light shows, fire twirlers (Kiki & the gang really outdid themselves), & live bands to thrill onlookers. 

 

My friends & I slipped out after the first boat lap, before the second & third & the fireworks finale.  We had been at the Governor’s Fair since morning & despite the wonderful local Pate’s, tarts, fermented Sorrel (sort of a spicy, Port-tasting delight from Grizelle Davila), ginger beer & other local delicacies we’d been sampling while I sold ornaments & jewelry there, we had managed to work up yet another appetite.  So while everybody on the waterfront ‘re-oohed’ & ‘re-ahhhhed’ to the boats again, we slipped up the street to Kendrick’s for a wonderful meal (between the four of us, we taste-tested  & revelled in the chipotle onion garlic soup, the spinach salad, fillet mignon kebabs (why didn’t I think of that!?), & what were pronounced the best patty melts EVER. 

 

On Sunday morning, we decided to milk a good thing by driving out to the worst kept, best secret for brunch—Blue Water Terrace.  I had the epic Quesadilla & my friend had the ‘Double Love’ which can only be described as one chotamama plate full o’ fantastic breakfast food!  Shops were open in town, so on the way back we hit our favorite décor store—Sampson House--& had a great time looking through all the gorgeous items there. 

 

Despite being dangerously close to post-brunch comas, we stopped by the annually held local Woodworker’s Expo at the UVI campus to see evidence of the talented artists & craftspeople we have in the VI, yet again.  I am a self-professed & unashamed woodworker groupie (my Dad was a talented woodworker, so I can’t help myself), so I enjoy seeing what’s new & catching up with the people who work their magic on local materials.  This year’s crop was as inspiring as ever, with some new twists on this venerable art form. 

 

Last night we finally hauled my little live tree out of the bucket behind my house where it has been soaking for almost two weeks, like some forgotten pedicure client & brought it inside.  I’m happy to say (& obviously someone else is PROUD to say) that despite its shortcomings (I usually buy a much taller tree), umpteen tubs of décor made it a cheerful little addition to my living room.  My pup Mu was a Christmas gift many years ago, & she loves a Christmas tree more than most kids you’ll meet. 

 

Next weekend is a ‘three-shipper,’ as in we have a cruise ship in port Saturday, one Sunday & one Monday.  I'll spend evenings this week knuckling down & trying to refute grade school teachers' prophesies that I'd never apply myself & live up to my potential.  I'll create as many new sea glass designs as I can (& yeah, I probably should have been doing that this weekend).  But I can't bring myself to regret one second of this delightful weekend of friends & festivities & now I get to work next to my cute little tree, in my happy little house with my blissed out little dog.  Could be worse!

So we’re here, full of cheer, & hope you’re having as much fun, wherever you are!

Outside the (cigar) Box

(written in September)

I was first confused & later horrified by an email I received this morning touting a pre-sale on HALLOWEEN decorations…EEEEK!  Shaking my head to realign my mental calendar pages, I moved from full denial (but it is still SPRING…Why Halloween???) through incredulity (OK, so it is SUMMER…but we’ve got tons of time until Autumn…How dare they start pelting us with Halloween ads when it is ...) to utter defeat (OMG!!...August 21^st!!???...I’ll never be ready for Christmas.  Might as well take a nap.).

I’ve been benched this summer with an injury that prevented me from lifting my equipment to vend over the last couple of months.  As much as I love vending, I haven’t missed it nearly as much as you’d think.  I’ve missed talking to visitors, working by the waterfront (sounds like a Longshoreman?) & selling what I make.  It’s just that setup & takedown of my tent & displays has never been the fun part & I’ve found so many great activities to occupy my time without that component. 

Aside from my usual marathon fruit (pineapples, mangos, bananas, etc.) harvesting & storing mambo, this off-season has also afforded me the time to catch up on some of the zillion ideas I have during the high season when there is no time to act on any of them.  A note here:  Admittedly, not all these ideas are gems warranting action—storm season equates to brain storm season in my head.

This summer, interior & exterior décor have been front & center on my to-do list.  After living in my little house five years, it is finally starting to look less like a blank slate & more like I feel—upbeat, exuberant, colorful…& a little over the top!

Wall art was a necessary first project.  I mounted espresso-toned modern cigar boxes as display cubes, a task I had been procrastinating about for ages.  The delay was because masonry walls, while a definite plus in the Caribbean, are the natural enemy of hurricanes & drill bits.  I have burned up many bits & friends, just mounting curtain rods & a microwave.  Hanging art here can be quite a commitment in time & effort because by the time you’ve drilled through cement block to mount it, you can be sick of something you loved just days before. 

To avoid that, I’m keeping displays flexible and mounting all with what I consider to be the greatest invention of the century…OK, I’m being a little hyperbolic but I really love them—COMMAND STRIPS!  The boxes aren’t heavy, & I’m only using them to support Plexi-mounted art prints, so the strips aren’t overtaxed.  Originally, I had in mind Plexi-sandwiching some beautiful handmade gouache prints I bought in boxed sets from my beloved Anthropologie some time ago, & only using the modern cube boxes. 

And then I remembered something liberating—those are my walls (OK, mine & the bank’s) & I can do what I want…& COLOR happens to be what I want.  This hit me when I was sorting through the cigar boxes & found a bunch I had altered a couple of years ago.  I love orchids & I love photographing them, so as mine bloomed I had taken extreme close ups, printed them on translucent vellum, & then ‘wallpapered’ them to the front of some older cigar boxes, applying a paste wax to protect them after they fully dried.  And then promptly shelved & forgot about them.

When I added a few of these bright image boxes to the wall arrangement, it came to life & united the colors of my mod crimson sofa & crazy tropical print drapes (also Anthropologie) in an unexpectedly harmonious din.  And yes, I know that is an oxymoron, but then so is my house. 

I had cleaned out Home Depot’s precut Plexi shelf, buying the 9” x 11” sheets by the dozens.  To create a floating appearance, I sandwiched the gouache prints between 2 sheets, using black binder clips top & bottom to hold all together.  I had 2 boxed sets of the prints, a dozen per box.  Midway through mounting them, I found a pile of orchid photos I had printed on vellum & hadn’t affixed to boxes.  Sandwiched between the Plexi sheets & atop the cigar box display shelves, slightly tilted to allow light through the picture, these orchid images fairly glow. 

So I mixed the plain & printed boxes, Anthropologie prints & my photos, threw in a couple of mercury glass candlesticks & a little yellow enamelware teapot, & now my walls speak volumes.  It may not be a language to everyone’s liking, but it suits me just fine.  It is impossible to be depressed in that house.

Next project:  the ‘sledbed’ room.  Stay tuned!