06232023 WEEKEND

A stitch in style

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer |

Ivanya McPhee caused quite the stir when she attended college. The reason for this was her wardrobe; the unique outfits she wore to class. Other students would approach her to offer compliments and inquire about where she had purchased the clothes, only to find out that Ivanya was making them all herself.

Her area of speciality was, and still is, crochet designs – a former therapeutic hobby which she has now turned into an up-and-coming business called Golden Stitches.

“(The other students) kept asking if I’d do customised orders, so I started doing pieces for persons on a small scale and then it took off from there,” said Ivanya, who is a customer service officer at a bank in her day job and a mother of two boys.

Ivanya began crocheting in seventh grade; it was her as a lunch-time “getaway’ task while attending A F Adderley Junior High.

“The craft has always been a place away from reality for me,” she said. “I started crocheting in 2006 but really began taking my craft seriously in 2012 during my sophomore year of college.”

This small venture has now grown into a proper business.

Today, Golden Stitches is best known for their crocheted swimsuits, dresses, skirts, pants and tops, as well as accessories such as earrings and bags. Ivanya also makes tams, hats and children’s clothing.

As a home-based business, Golden Stitches accepts orders for custom-made pieces over phone or social media, but they also have ready-made pieces for sale at Down Home Bahamas on Parliament Street.

“The majority of our orders are tops. Many young ladies match cute unique tops with shorts and jeans for an easy effortless look,” she said.

A lot of her inspiration for new designs comes from two female crotchet artists she follows, one from Nigeria and one from Jamaica.

The uniqueness of their styles, she said, constantly encourages her to think “outside of the box”.

“Crochet allows a level of creativity to be expressed in ways that can only be described as amazing art,” she said.

Ivanya, who is currently also a student at the Bahamas Institute of Financial Services, has big plans for Golden Stitches.

For this season, she is concentrating on comfortable and unique easy-to-wear styles like crochet tops, bralettes, beach cover-ups, dresses and shorts.

“Our main goal is to expand our territory and reach. We want to make Golden Stitches a household name while putting a major focus on sales, but also applying the same amount of effort into the community through giving back and teaching,” she said.

Commemorating history

Keepsake booklet features photos of key moments of Bahamian’ Indepedence

By CARA HUNT | Tribune Features Writer | cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian entrepreneur Anne Maura has created a unique booklet designed to not only commemorate the country’s 50th anniversary of Independence, but also to give younger people the opportunity to see images of the events surrounding July 10, 1973 that they may have never seen before.

The glossy booklet was designed to take people on a historical journey of Independence in 1973 and show the Bahamas’ achievements which have contributed to the country’s prosperity.

“Citizens of the Bahamas and visitors who are 50 years old and younger may have never seen these photos. The booklet is a good souvenir for everyone in the Bahamas. It is a booklet that many will want to have in their homes, offices and in schools,” she told Tribune Weekend.

Anne said she got the idea for a keepsake booklet about four months ago. She conducted extensive research in the Tribune archives to select the best images to showcase the memorable occasion.

She also worked closely with the Central Bank of the Bahamas, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of National Security.

“I really wanted to do something that could be a keepsake item, and I feel like so much of our history needs to be shown. We need to know where we have come from, so we can know where we are going. The Tribune was kind enough to open their doors to help me locate the images,” she said.

“Fifty years is a long time in many ways and in other ways a brief time. There is no doubt that as a country we have come a long way. The Bahamas of 2023 is very different to the Bahamas of 1973. This is portrayed on the back page of the booklet with images of the newly opened Nassau Cruise Port and pictures of the Atlantis Resort and Baha Mar.”

The booklet documents the arrival of Prince Charles (now King Charles III), who arrived on the HMS Minerva to present the Independence documents, and the activities and celebrations which took place.

Additionally, there are photos of Prince Charles with the then Governor of the Bahamas, Sir John Paul, with Commissioner Salathiel Thompson, and another of Superintendent Avery Ferguson, who led the Police Honour Guard performing the salute to the Prince of Wales at Prince George Wharf.

Additional images show Sir Milo Butler and Lady Butler; Bishop Michael Eldon, who was head of the Anglican Church; Chief Justice

Leonard Knowles, and the Bahamas’ first prime minister, Sir Lynden Pindling, and Lady Marguerite Pindling.

Anne said one of her favourite photos in the booklet is that of Prince Charles with Lady Pindling.

Other pictures document the beauty of the country through its beaches, national symbols and the 50-anniversary commemorative coin. And it would come as to no surprise to anyone who knows Anne that one page of the booklet is dedicated to the currency of the Bahamas.

Her jewellery company, Anna Karina, initially started with pieces inspired by Bahamian coins, before she branched out to create jewellery featuring coins from several other Caribbean nations.

Anne said she has always been fascinated with the Royal Mint printing process, and for this booklet she used special paper that is durable and prevents it from showing fingerprints.

“I wanted this to be something that can last,” she said.

Those interested in obtaining a copy of the booklet can contact Anne at 424-8565 or via email at maura5555@hotmail.com.

Kirkland Bodie, aka ‘KB’

After being stranded in Cuba during the pandemic, this well-known Bahamian music artist is back with a new album inspired by both his second, temporary home and the Bahamas. He tells Cara Hunt about celebrating the similarities between the Cuban and Bahamian cultures.

The past few years have been challenging for singer-songwriter Kirkland Bodie, better known as “KB”, but now he is back with a new album that celebrates the connection he found between Cuba and the Bahamas.

“This is the first album that I have dropped in three years, and it is because quite a lot has happened in my life. My home on Grand Bahama was destroyed in Hurricane Dorian. I actually have a home in Cuba, so I moved there and was going back and forth during the rebuilding process,” he said.

“But then of course COVID-19 happened and I was stranded in Cuba and I could not come back home; I was actually in Cuba for about ten months...We can all remember what it was like during the lockdown. The only thing that kept me sane during that time was the music.”

The quiet of lockdown allowed him to come up with quite a bit of new material.

“That’s how this album came to be; it is the whole concept of the project,” he said.

“I was able to really study the Cuban people and I saw quite a few similarities between them and Bahamians. I saw children playing marbles and top in the streets, and I saw the buildings and homes that looked like the ones that are in the Bahamas, and I was just inspired to create new songs.”

KB drew inspiration for the cover art for his album from derelict homes in Cuba, which he said are very similar to some of the older buildings found here in the Bahamas.

Two of those types of buildings, one from each country, are depicted on the colourful album cover by artist Durelle Williams.

“He bought my vision to life,” said KB of Durelle. The new album features 11 new songs and offers an eclectic look at life.

One of the songs is called “Da Mus’Cum Back”; it is about the power of seduction of the female sex. Another track is called “Dey Ain’ Gone”, which is about a man who breaks up with both his wife and his sweetheart, yet they stick around and keep asking him for money, which makes him ask why “dey ain’ gone?”

The album also features a song called “Sailboat”, which is a tribute to sailing having been recently declared the national sport of the Bahamas.

On the track “Heaven Bound”, KB tries his hand at gospel music.

“I have wanted to do a gospel song for years and have just been sitting on it, but really, I am getting up there in

age and decided that it was about time that I just did it,” he said.

The album is also a testimony to just how far the artist has come.

KB was born on Grand Bahama, where he grew up enjoying music with his father. As a teenager, he and his friends started a band called Ego Tripp. They gained some traction playing at local venues.

As the lead singer, KB was inspired to write his own music, which eventually led to him launching his solo career when the band disbanded.

And with hits such as “She Fat”, “All De Meat”, “Juicy Suzy She Jump”, “Lick Me With De Rhythm” and “I So Tired of Corona,” he has become a beloved and highly sought-after musician in the Bahamas.

“When people listen to this new album, I hope that they say, ‘KB is still coming up with quality music and quality writing’,” he said.

And with the country set to celebrate 50 years of Independence, KB said he is proud of the contribution he has made to the advancement of Bahamian culture.

“I stand on the shoulders of great Bahamian artists such as Ronnie Butler, Eddie Minnis, Dr Offf and the T Connection band and what they were able to

thisweekend in history

June 23

• In 1314, the Battle of Bannockburn begins near Stirling. It is a decisive moment in Scottish history: the Scots defeat the English, regain their independence and establish Robert the Bruce as King Robert I of Scots.

• In 1868, American inventor and Wisconsin politician Christopher Latham Sholes, along with Samuel W Soule and Carlos Glidden, is granted

a patent for a typewriter. Sholes invented the ubiquitous QWERTY keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets.

June 24

• In 1812, French Emperor Napoleon and his Grande Armee of 600,000 troops – the largest European military force ever assembled to that date –launch their ill-fated invasion of Russia. By December that year, after the loss of more than 400,000 men, Napoleon is forced to retreat back to Paris.

• In 1997, US Air Force officials release a 231-page report dismissing long-standing claims of an alien spacecraft crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in early July 1947.

June 25

• In 1950, the Korean War begins. The UN Security Council (minus the Soviet delegate) passes a resolution calling on UN members to assist South Korea after an attack by North Korea. The bloody and frustrating war lasts for the next three years.

accomplish, and I have been able to have a good successful career,” he said. “There are opportunities in this industry and if you are good, you will get paid.”

KB said he is confident in the future of Bahamian music; he feels it’s much easier for Bahamians artists to get their music out there today than it was in the past.

“We have a lot of young musicians out there who are making quality music and young kids are embracing Bahamian music. You see them enjoying rake n’ scrape with their whole heart and soul. I see us having a great future and I feel good about that,” he said.

KB said Bahamians have to take the lead in the promotion of their music, whether that be songwriters creating more material, the government creating the legislative framework that empowers local musicians, or the private sector making contributions to the industry.

“No one does reggae better than a Jamaican, no one does soca better than a Trinidadian, and so no one will be able to produce Bahamian music better than us,” he said.

• In 1978, the first version of the rainbow flag, representing LGBTQ pride, is flown during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade. It was designed by artist Gilbert Baker at the request of San Francisco City Supervisor and the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, Harvey Milk (who was assassinated by a former colleague in November

THE FACE of Robert the Bruce by forensic sculptor Christian Corbet

“I hope that they say, ‘KB is still coming up with quality music and quality writing’.”

Best described as a number crossword, the task in Kakuro is to fill all of the empty squares, using numbers 1 to 9, so the sum of each horizontal block equals the number to its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the number on its top. No number may be used in the same block more than once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Kakuro increases from Monday to Sunday.

Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so the each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

16 Unacceptable garments from the suburbs

17 Picture of harbour – it includes gunners (8)

A S U H H B C W K

FINd where the fleet of ships shown is hidden in the grid. The numbers to the right of and below the grid indicate how many of the squares in that row are filled in with ships or parts of ships. The ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some squares have been filled in to start you off.

HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here?

SmAll CROSSWORd

FINd where the fleet of ships shown is hidden in the grid. The numbers to the right of and below the grid indicate how many of the squares in that row are filled in with ships or parts of ships. The ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some squares have been filled in to start you off.

YESTERdaY’S solutions

19 Merit of verse Ed translated (7)

SmAll CROSSWORd

SmAll CROSSWORd

SmAll CROSSWORd

CRYPTIC PUZZLE

Across

1 Blustery at first with frequent showers, but bright (6)

4 There’s a certain wildness in such devious dealings (8)

9 Filled perhaps or not filled (3-3)

10 Its promoters will raise no obstacle of course (4,4)

12 Cooked in socially acceptable way (4)

13 Animal trap I set (5)

14 He’s on about being present (4)

17 Log of charges for entry (9,3)

20 Extremely aggressive military operations (5,7)

23 Some seem quite empty or just the opposite (4)

24 One object of retirement (5)

25 Got back a Roman garment (4)

28 As one was in debt though disputed (8)

29 A land’s converted to wood (6)

30 Sign for ten outstanding wines (8)

31 Selectively drawn and prepared to grow (6)

Down

1 Lose credit owing to others? (2,2,4)

2 How a person may be seen to be lying eventually (2,6)

3 No article from Spain for Christmas (4)

5 Pedestrian injured? (7,5)

6 Record token (4)

7 Doesn’t eat greenstuff (6)

8 Japanese copper married in part of Scandinavia (6)

11 The full extent of governmental borrowings (8,4)

15 Shuts up the animals (5)

16 Not a genuine stone or stick (5)

18 A hundred bound to be granted (8)

19 Said sale was fixed and became aggressive (8)

21 Purist contrived to make trouble (4,2)

22 Go about two? (6)

26 Got up for a lady (4)

27 With due deference to a piano expert (4)

Across

910

Across: 1 Climb, 4 Disturb, 8 Act, 9 Ad nauseam, 10 Toehold, 11 Gaudy, 13 Choppy, 15 Method, 18 Judas, 19 Centaur, 21 Witticism, 23 Dub, 24 Licence, 25 Defoe.

Down: 1 Chaotic, 2 In the mood, 3 Bravo, 4 Denude, 5 Snuggle, 6 Use, 7 Bumpy, 12 Unheard-of, 14 Passion, 16 Durable, 17 Active, 18 Jewel, 20 Nomad, 22 Tic.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution

lAST SATURdAY’S SOlUTION

ACROSS

1 Casual (8)

Yesterday’s Sudoku Answer

21 Italian, extremely cute, having love affair (7)

22 Quiet woman with manuscript of sacred songs (6)

HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here?

arrow-word wordSEarch

24 A lieutenant with hesitation making change (5)

CAN you crack your mental muscles in Alphapuzzle, the given letters

25 Rascal showing regret about own goal (5)

In making a word, each letter may be used once only. Each must contain the centre letter and there must be at least one nine-letter word. No plurals. Verb forms ending in “s” permitted.

To add to the same if you turn

So, for example a corresponding Every black number. This can corresponding

thE alphab targEt thE alphapuzzlE across: Amateur, Cave, Time, Chivalry, Detain, Editor, Adjust, Mumble, Bouffant, Wick, Gear, Oxidant. down: Ravine, Droned, Maze, Aquifer, Beacon, Teapot, Praise, Metric, Cranium, Wrap, Overdo (clue), Locate.

6 Earth’s satellite (4)

8 Rowing team (5)

11 Edible tuber (6)

In making a word, each letter may be used once only. Each must contain the centre letter and there must be at least one nine-letter word. No plurals. Verb forms ending in “s” permitted.

12 Obtains (4)

TOdAY’S TARGeT

14 Rock that is a source of metal (3)

15 Particles (5)

Good 9; very good 14; excellent 18 (or more). Solution next Saturday.

16 Short snooze (3)

17 A pace (4)

TOdAY’S TARGeT

CAN you crack the Alphabeater? It’s a tough your mental muscles to the limit. Each in Alphapuzzle, every letter of the alphabet the given letters and the given black squares

Good 9; very good 14; excellent 18 (or more). Solution next Saturday.

black squares: 3, 4, 18, 20, 23, 27, 30, 33, across: Visiting, Hours, Aberrant, Gazed, Kepi, With, Crazy, Simplify, Ravished. down: Violate, Exam, Surfer, Swelter, Gherkin, Brooch, Aqua, Wizened.

To add to the fiendish fun, Alphabeater same if you turn the page upside down.

lAST SATURdAY’S

SOlUTION

Yesterday’s Kakuro Answer

So, for example if there is a six-letter a corresponding six-letter word Across Every black square has a symmetrical number. This can help identify other black corresponding ‘twin’. Solution next Saturday.

For today’s solution call: 0907 181 2583 *Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

ACROSS 1 Sympathy, 6 Tied, 8 drown, 11 Meadow,

19 Beast (6)

20 Hold royal office (5)

21 Married woman (4)

22 Squirmed (8)

DOWN

1 Unreal (9)

2 Unit of length (4)

3 Logic (9)

4 Earlier (3)

5 Matted pet (anag.) (9)

7 Perform surgery (7)

lAST SATURdAY’S SOlUTION foot fort frost oust port post pout roost root rotor rout rust RUSTpROOF soft soot sort sport spot spout sprout spurt stoop stop stoup strop stupor tofu tops torpor torr torso torus tour troop turf turps uproot

9 Objects (5)

foot fort frost oust port post pout roost root rotor rout rust RUSTpROOF soft soot sort sport spot spout sprout spurt stoop stop stoup strop stupor tofu tops torpor torr torso torus tour troop turf turps uproot

12 Oath, 14 Fit, 15 Poets, 16 Gin, 17 Even, 19 Answer, 20 Sense, 21 rise, 22 Sardines.

dOWN 1 Strongest, 2 Meet, 3 Addressed, 4 How, 5 Instances, 7 Imagine, 9 route, 10 Writers, 13 Horns, 18 Vein, 19 Ana.

Across: 1 Blast, 4 Admired, 8 Roc, 9 So it seems, 10 Nirvana, 11 Nouns, 13 Trance, 15 Typist, 18 Banjo, 19 Calypso, 21 In the news, 23 Dip, 24 Haggard, 25 Order.

Down: 1 Baronet, 2 Ascertain, 3 Tessa, 4 Animal, 5 Masonry, 6 Roe, 7 Doses, 12 Unimpeded, 14 Cholera, 16 Trooper, 17 Screed, 18 Bligh, 20 Lasso, 22 Tug.

EASY PUZZLE

Down

10 Feminine pronoun (7)

13 Sharp pain (5)

18 Track or follow (4)

19 Broadcast (3)

Call 0907 181 2586 for today’s Target solution

*Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge. All puzzles use The Chambers Dictionary

1 Talk discursively (6)

4 China’s most populous city (8)

9 Various (6)

10 Analogous (8)

12 Essence of a matter (4)

13 Dance in triple time (5)

14 Depressed (4)

17 At intervals (5,2, 5)

20 A misleading illusion (4-1-34)

23 Go into raptures (4)

24 Put up with (5)

25 Mark left by damage (4)

28 Honoured as holy (8)

29 Basis (6)

30 Shamefaced (8)

31 Mysteriously different (6)

1 Acquiescent (8)

Yesterday’s Easy Solution 123

2 Give aid (8)

3 Linger furtively (4)

5 Cruel nature (5,2,5)

6 Elegantly simple (4)

7 Insincere (6)

8 Away from the coast (6)

11 Distinguished author (3,2,7)

15 Kingdom of Croesus (5)

16 To yield an opinion (5)

18 Reject as unimportant (8)

19 Scattered (8)

21 19c German composer (6)

22 Develop gradually (6)

26 Play boisterously (4)

27 Decisive point at issue (4)

Call 0907 181 2586 for today’s Target solution

*Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge. All puzzles use The Chambers Dictionary

Contest asks for “Art from the Heart” to celebrate the Bahamas’ transformation

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

YOUNG artists are being challenged to use their imagination and illustrate what a transformed Bahamas looks like after 50 years.

The best piece will be put on public display as part of the Plus Arts & Culture (PAC) ‘Art from the Heart’ competition.

Talented artists between the ages of eight and 19 from across the length and breadth of the Bahamas are being asked to make submission for the competition which is currently in its third year. The 2023 contest launched earlier this month.

PAC, a community-based arts and culture appreciation programme, was launched in 2010 by Furniture Plus in Abaco, and later spread throughout the Furniture Plus franchise to Nassau and Grand Bahama.

With the Bahamas currently celebrating the “Road To 50”, the competition is being held under theme “Transforming the Nation: The Next 50 Years”.

“Our nation has made great strides over the past five decades, and time has also revealed many challenges that we must face. You were born for this very time, with dreams, ideals and solutions that will shift the way we see one another as a people, and cultivate important developments

across our islands. We welcome participants from all Bahamian islands and cays,” said Joy Sweeting of Furniture Plus.

Artists are asked to create a scene that shares their vision of a transformed Bahamas. They can apply their ideas to any area that “stirs their heart”, including arts and culture, education, the economy, environment, faith, family relationships, health and wellness, physical safety, recovery from disaster, social justice, etcetera.

Submissions in water colour (watercolour, tempera, poster, or acrylic) will be accepted as well as drawings done in pens, pencils, coloured pencils, markers or crayons.

Art made with charcoal, pastels, chalk, glitter, sand, paste-ons, attachments, stencils, tracing, digital art, or computer-generated graphics will not be accepted.

Any artwork that depicts copyrighted images will be rejected. For example, no artwork depicting brand logos, characters from TV, movies, video games or books will be accepted. All artwork must be original ideas and created entirely by the applicant.

“This contest is our third. The first competition was well received, with over 200 submissions including the Family Islands. The community

encouraged us to sponsor a second competition. While the winners received prizes, we could not offer the customary public exhibit due to the pandemic,” said Joy.

The grand prize winner will receive a $1,000 gift certificate for Furniture Plus. Each category winner will receive a laptop, an exhibition of their artwork on Furniture Plus’s social media channels, as well as a kit of art supplies and more.

The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas is a co-sponsor. Winning art pieces will be featured at a public exhibition at the NAGB.

In addition to the cash, the grand prize winner will receive a paid scholarship to attend the NAGB’s Summer Art Youth Camp, plus a one-week job shadow experience at the NAGB, exposing them to visual arts careers in administration, curation, conservation, education, and marketing.

“We know that exposing young people to inspiring careers and helping them envision success in uncommon career paths has helped to produce Bahamian outliers – astronauts, horticulturalists, muralists, photographers, writers. It takes all kinds to build a great country,” said Joy.

“See yourself as a potential winner. Your ideas are important. Secondly, if you need help understanding the theme, or getting art supplies, ask a teacher or someone you trust. Use what you have. Don’t be afraid to work in pencil or pen. The greatest thing in your favour are the ideas that come to your heart and mind. We need to see them. There are solutions you are carrying for this country. Your bold, new ideas can change our course.”

For more information on collaborating or attending an upcoming PAC event, contact 242397-7587 or email pac@furnitureplus.com.

Water as needed

Good day, gardeners.

How does one know when a plant needs water? Well, quite simply, it depends on the plant in question. Whether in the ground or in a container, many plants will give clear indications that they require water. Many will not.

A cactus or a snake plant are difficult plants to notice when they require water, as they do not particularly show any signs of stress when overly dry.

The snake plant will show a slight drooping at the tip of the leaf when extremely dry.

Cacti, well, even they like some water now and again, but really, it’s impossible to tell most of the time. I’m happy to give them a soaking once a month or so to keep them actively growing, but once they receive water they must be allowed to dry out before being given more.

When it comes to softer leaved plants that may be used inside the house or office, many of these give clear indications that they are too dry and require water.

The Spathiphyllum is a plant that is used as an indicator plant, meaning that it will give very clear signs that water is needed by showing dropping leaves and wilting, very quickly, when dry. It’s really a matter of getting to know your plants, and each different setting or location will require slightly different watering patterns depending on things such as temperature, light, humidity, etcetera.

I grow many plants that I am completely unfamiliar with when I get hold of them, save for a scant bit of information from the vendor as to care of the plant. We put new plant species through trials when growing for the first time or two, until we learn the specifics that it needs to thrive.

Some get damage from being too dry, we lose some from being too wet, and eventually we get it right and only then will we grow something on for sale or use. Of course, there’s always the soil mix to consider. Some hold more water, some hold less. An all-purpose mix is a good place to start, and then either improve moisture holding capacity,

or increase drainage as needed pending the specific needs of a plant to its location. All of the above refers to container grown plants. In the landscape, often once a plant roots thoroughly into the ground, many will require little attention when compared to container growing.

Mulching to the depth of 2” in the landscape will improve moisture holding, and decrease the need

for supplemental water. Plants that require very little water, considered “low maintenance”, include but are not limited to: Snake plant - Sansevieria (reclassified as Dracaena), ZZ plant – Zamioculcas zamiifolia, dumb cane – Dieffenbachia, cacti and agave, false agave - Furcraea foetida, most native plants, plumeria – frangipani and bridal bouquet, pomegranate, fig, and many others!

For all indoor plants: move them into the rain if you get a chance! Let them have time to drain before moving back into the building. They’ll perk up immediately. For all landscape plants: water when planting, and then typically two times a week, sometimes three, all depending on soil, temperature, wind, light, humidity, etcetera. In gardening we have rules of thumb, but nothing is set in stone. The name of the game is trial and error, experimentation, and patience. No vine before it’s time!

On that note, grape vines do very well in the Bahamas, as they can go through dry periods with little ill effect, they do perform better when given supplemental water when bearing fruit. I grow some very successfully in a very hard, rocky ground. Don’t go trying to grow a grape vine from seed of store-bought grapes, these are grown in a very different climate than ours.

Reputable garden centres or nurseries, the one on Bernard Road for example (shameless plug), grow several varieties that are bred over decades for our climate. There is a lot that goes into having a successful garden, it is not something that can be achieved overnight, and it takes sweat equity, attention, and passion. It is never too late to start. As always, I wish you happy gardening.

• Adam Boorman is the nursery manager at Fox Hill Nursery on Bernard Road. You can contact him with any questions you may have, or topics you would like to see discussed, at gardening242@gmail. com.

(Photo_Pexels_Mikhail Nilov)

Chef Simeon Hall Jr brings ’island soul food’ to Nassau Cruise Port

New restaurant ‘Preacher’s Kid’ to open next month

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

Celebrity Chef Simeon Hall, Jr, is always cooking up something, and this time it’s a brand-new restaurant featuring “island soul food” to satisfy those who have a big appetite for Bahamian and Caribbean fare.

“Preacher’s Kid” is the name of the restaurant that will be located at Nassau’s recently renovated Cruise Port. Chef Hall said they

expect the doors of the new venue to open next month.

The island-inspired soul food restaurant is expected to serve customers from all around the world, being as it is situated inside the island’s newest tourist hub.

The menu boasts of an eclectic mix of islandinfused comfort food items, including offerings such as plantain sticky buns, Johnny cake biscuits, banana leaf jasmine rice, and a Bahamian-style roti.

“The Bahamas is seeing a rebirth in its food scene, and with ‘Preacher’s Kid’ we strive to add

to that,” Chef Hall, who is also a Bahamian food ambassador, told Tribune Weekend.

He continued: “We’ve coined the term ‘island soul food,’ a powerful expression that embodies our mission to preach and spread the great news about island cuisine and infuse such dishes with even more soulfulness.”

Chef Hall conceived of the idea of opening an ‘island soul food’ restaurant while consulting with the planning committee for the newlyunveiled Nassau Cruise Port.

“I started doing some work with the planning committee of the port and that blossomed into an opportunity to start this restaurant,” revealed the owner of the Simeon Hall Restaurant Management Group.

The dishes at this restaurant will be prepared by up-and-coming chefs.

Chef Hall is pulling talent from the University of the Bahamas’ (UB) School of Hospitality & Tourism Studies. This was the result of a deal between the College of the Bahamas alumnus and the Cruise Port.

Chef Hall’s aptly-named “Preacher’s Kid” not only teases his soulful menu options, but also pays homage to an influential figure in his life: his father.

Amongst the many titles that he bears – chef, restaurant consultant, author, mentor - he is also the proud son of Bishop Simeon Hall, Pastor Emeritus of New Covenant Baptist Church.

“Someone said it best, that our restaurant will preach soul food. That’s our ministry – providing nourishment of the body with delicious island ingredient-driven food,” said Chef Hall.

“With this concept in mind, not only is ‘Preacher’s Kid’ a dope name for the restaurant, but it’s a huge part of my story as a person and serves as a tribute to my dad.”

Speaking about his father’s influence on him, Chef Hall said: “My dad has not only graciously opened up some doors for me, but he’s dropped me off to where the door was and prepared me to walk right through it.”

CHEF SIMEON HALL, Jr, and his father, Baptist Bishop Simeon Hall

“We’ve coined the term ‘island soul food,’ a powerful expression that embodies our mission to preach and spread the great news about island cuisine and infuse such dishes with even more soulfulness.”

literary lives

Matthew Henson: The first person to reach the North Pole?

Sir Christopher Ondaatje re-examines the extraordinary life of Matthew Henson, the African-American explorer and unsung Black pioneer who is said to be the first person to have reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909.

“The Lure of the Arctic is tugging at my heart. To me the trail is calling. The old trail that is always new.”

– Matthew Henson

Matthew Henson was born on August 8, 1866, on his parents’ farm east of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, to sharecroppers who were free people of colour before the American Civil War. The family was terrorised by the Klu Klux Klan and other supremist groups after the Civil War.

To escape the violence the Henson family sold their farm in 1867 and moved to Georgetown –still an independent town adjacent to the national capital. Georgetown was made part of Washington, DC, in 1871.

Matthew had an older sister, born in 1864, and two other younger sisters.

Matthew’s mother died when he was seven. His father Lemuel remarried, to a woman named Caroline and had additional children with her. When his father died, Matthew was sent to live with his uncle in Washington, DC. But he, too, died after a few years, after which Matthew was sent to a Black public school for the next six years. He washed dishes in a restaurant in the Summer. When he was ten years old, he went to a ceremony for President Abraham Lincoln and heard a speech by Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and orator who encouraged Black people to pursue education and battle racial prejudice. He was mesmerised by Douglass’ message.

When he was twelve years old, he went to sea as a cabin boy on the merchant ship Katie Hines. The ship’s captain looked after the young Henson, and taught him to read and write. Nine years later,

when working in a Washington, DC, clothes store, BH Stinemetz and Sons, in 1887, he met US Navy Commander Robert E Peary, who learned of Henson’s sea experience and hired him as an aide for his planned surveying expedition to Nicaragua. Impressed with Hanson’s seamanship, Peary recruited him as his leading man to accompany him in his expeditions. He was with him on all his expeditions.

For more than twenty years, Henson accompanied Robert Peary on his Arctic expeditions. He traded with the Inuit and learned the Inuit language. They called him Mahri-Pahluk (Matthew, the Kind One). He became skilled in driving dog sleds and training dog teams. He was invaluable to Peary, who relied on Henson to sort out every conceivable problem that turned up in impossibly harsh Arctic conditions: building igloos out of snow, manufacturing makeshift shelters and housing as they literally covered thousands of miles through inhospitable weather to the Arctic.

In 1908-1909, Peary and Henson mounted their eighth attempt to reach the North Pole. No one had done it before. Peary, always the expedition leader, left Greenland and their ship Roosevelt on August 18, 1909. They had a team of:

“22 Inuit men, 17 Inuit women, 10 children, 246 dogs, 70 tons of whale meat from Labrador, the meat and blubber of 50 walruses, hunting equipment, and tons of coal. In February, Henson and Peary departed their anchored ship at Ellesmere Island’s ‘Cape Sheridan’, with the Inuit men and 130 dogs working to lay a trail and supplies along the route to the Pole.”

– Anna Brendle, “African-American North Pole Explorer Matthew Henson”, National Geographic, January 15, 2003

It was a very large expedition because Peary planned to set up cached supplies along the way.

Henson and four Inuit were selected by Peary as the team that would make the final run to the Pole, but before they got there, Peary could no longer walk and had to continue in a dog sled. He was ill, exhausted and had frozen toes. He sent Henson ahead as a scout.

“I was in the lead that had overshot the mark by a couple of miles. We went back and then I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.”

– Matthew Henson for National Geographic

Henson proceeded to plant an American flag at the Pole. Henson’s statement is quite plausible because he was selected by Peary to be the lead party to make the final assault on the Pole. Peary was also, at the time, sick and confined to travelling only on a dog sled.

Peary’s claim to have reached the North Pole was widely debated when they returned. Both the National Geographic Society and the Naval Affairs Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives credited Peary’s team as having successfully reached the North Pole, but there was a lot of doubt.

EXPLORER Robert Peary

The British explorer Wally Herbert examined Peary’s notebook in 1988 and found it “lacking in essential data”.

There was also the competing claim by Frederick Cook, who stated that he was in fact the first to reach the North Pole on April 21, 1908, a year before Peary. Cook was an American explorer, physician and ethnographer, whose limited records were examined by a commission of the University of Copenhagen and ruled that his claim was unproven. He published a memoir of his expedition recording his claim, in addition to maintaining that he had been the first person to reach the summit of Denali, then known as Mount McKinley – the highest mountain in North America.

This claim was discredited. Photographs later of Denali’s summit were proven to be false. (Denali’s summit is now known as “Fake Peak”).

Ed Barrill, Cook’s sole companion during the 1906 climb, also admitted that they had not reached the summit of Denali. Cook was, however, the first United States national to have discovered Meighen Island in the Arctic.

Cook never produced navigational records to substantiate his claims to have reached the North Pole, instead stating that all his detailed records were left in three boxes at Annoatuk in April 1909 with Harry Whitney, an American hunter, who left the boxes in a cache in Greenland. These boxes were never found.

Cook’s reputation never recovered from the attacks on his claims, while Peary’s North Pole claim was widely accepted. In 1919, Cook was involved in setting up oil companies in Fort Worth, Texas.

In April 1923, Cook and twenty-four other Fort Worth oil promoters were indicted in a Federal crackdown on fraudulent oil company promotions. Cook was also charged with paying dividends from stocks sales, rather than from profits. The jury found Cook guilty on fourteen counts of fraud.

In November 1923, Judge Killits sentenced Cook and thirteen other oil company promoters to prison terms. Cook’s was the longest sentence:

fourteen years, nine months. His attorney appealed the sentence, but the conviction was upheld. Cook was imprisoned until 1930, but was pardoned by President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1940, ten years after his release and shortly before his death.

In 1912, Matthew Henson published a memoir, Negro Explorer at the North Pole. He then collaborated with author Bradley Robinson on his 1947 biography, Dark Companion, which revealed more about Henson’s life.

Henson married Eva Flint in 1891, but the marriage did not survive his extended expeditions. They divorced in 1897. He later married Lucy Ross in New York City on September 7, 1907. They had no children. During his long expeditions to Greenland, both Robert Peary and Henson took Inuit women as what they called “country wives”. Both fathered children with them. Henson’s “country wife” was called Akatingwash, and she bore Henson one child – a boy named Anauakaq, born in 1906. Anauakaq’s children are Henson’s only descendants.

After 1909, Henson never saw Akatingwash or her son again, although subsequent explorers told him about them. The French explorer and ethnologist who spent a year in Greenland in 1951-1952, revealed the existence of both Henson’s and Peary’s descendants to the public.

After Robert Peary, now an Admiral, returned to the United States, he received many honours for successfully leading the 1909 expedition to the North Pole, but sadly Matthew Henson’s achievements were completely ignored.

At the recommendation of Theodore Roosevelt, he worked in the US Customs House in New York, and was honoured only at dinners within the Black community when he returned in 1909.

Later, however, he received some attention. In 1937, he was admitted as a member of the prestigious Explorers Club in New York, and in 1948 he was made an Honorary Member, of whom only twenty were elected each year. In 1944 Congress awarded him and five other Peary aides duplicates of the Peary Polar Expedition Medal, a silver medal given to Peary. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both honoured Henson.

Matthew Henson died in the Bronx, New York, on March 9, 1955, at the age of eighty-eight. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery and survived by his wife Lucy. After her death in 1968, she was buried with him. In 1988, both their bodies were moved for reinterment at Arlington National Cemetery, with a commemoration ceremony.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. The author acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia and National Geographic.

HENSON in 1953 (Photo_Library of Congress) HENSON and the four Inuit guides on the last stretch of their 1908–09 expedition, taken by Peary at what they believed to be the North Pole

HENSON with members of the Peary party

A Mayaguana adventure

My friend, Gene Pyfrom (1931-2022), gave me a copy of his 32-page booklet about the adventurous weeks he and his life-long friend, Basil Kelly (1930-2003), spent on the island of Mayaguana in 1948.

With an area of 96 square miles, Mayaguana is the one of the larger islands in the Bahamas. In 1926, it was home to 432 people. Today, there are only 277 inhabitants, scattered between three settlements

– Abraham’s Bay (143), Pirates’ Well (90), Betsey Bay (44).

In an auction, the Pyfrom brothers

– William (1900-1951), Sidney (19021963) and Gene’s father Theodore (1906-1963) – bought the contents of what had been a United States Coast Guard rescue station during World War II, including barracks, canteen, generators, radios, water-making equipment, and a good dock made of timber.

Hiring a 60-foot motor vessel named Standard J, the brothers hastened to Mayaguana to salvage their new possessions.

Sam Swain, a general handyman who worked for the brothers, was a part of the team.

“We reached Mayaguana the following morning and, because of the shallow water, anchored about one mile off Abraham’s Bay and… as soon as the passengers and their equipment (including enough food for three weeks) were safely on shore, the captain rushed back to Nassau.”

The adventure began when a bull of a man, not tall, but very broad, dressed in a constable’s uniform, appeared and demanded to know what the visitors were doing.

He identified himself as Brent Saunders, “representative of the governments of the Bahamas and United States governments”.

He claimed the rescue station was under his control and, since he had not been notified of any transfer of ownership, the Pyfrom brothers would be unable to take possession.

On being shown the brothers’ document, Saunders backed down.

“His attempt to establish his authority having failed, he began to play the role of headman

for the nearby village…offering to produce workers for dismantling of the station.”

The next morning, he turned up with several jobseekers.

The Pyfrom brothers offered the workers four shillings (56 cents) a day, but Saunders, threatening to send the labourers back home unless they were paid ten shillings ($1.40), held up the start of work, until a few of the men, agreeing to four shillings, began dismantling barrack buildings, canteens, generators, pipes, radios, water maker and everything else, including a Jeep – “to the point of taking all nails out of the wood and straightening them with a hammer, to be sent to Nassau in buckets.”

Every item had to be taken to the dock and, eventually, loaded onto a barge from Symonette Shipyard that would come from Nassau.

PAUL C ARANHA FORGOTTEN FACTS

There was no gasoline on the island and no tyres on the Jeep, so the vehicle, pulling a small trailer, was rolled to the dock on its rims, with six men on each side. The

hired hands grunted and groaned from exertion, but when the six men from Nassau eased up on their pushing, the convoy came to a grinding stop.

Working from dawn to dusk, equipment (weighing several tonnes) was rolled to the dock – using pipe rollers that had to be constantly moved from behind and relocated to the front.

Expecting to find stores on the island, “we had brought only enough food to last about two weeks, but a worker told us that there were only two stores, each with nothing to sell”.

He explained that “when the mail boat comes in, the stores have some grits and rice, a few canned goods and some other stuff – but they are all sold out in a few days, so they close, until the next mail boat arrives.”

“The arrival of the barge at Mayaguana was the event of the year” and all the people came to watch, but no one raised a hand to work, and Constable Saunders declared that “the men don’t intend to load the barge unless they get ten shillings a day.”

When the brothers refused to give in, Saunders and his crowd of workers dispersed, believing that they had the upper hand.

With a little help from the crew, the six Nassauvians “tugged, shoved and pushed all night, manhandling all the heavy equipment aboard. Whenever exhaustion overtook someone, he would lie down for ten to fifteen minutes, for a catnap.”

When the workers from the village turned up the next morning, all the heavy equipment was already on the barge.

“Once in Nassau, and before the barge could be unloaded, the galvanised pipe had been sold at a price that paid for all expenses, plus a little profit.

“I was particularly interested in what would become of the secondhand nails that Uncle Will had laboriously withdrawn and straightened. They were never re-used.”

Some 40 years later, the telephone company chartered a Trans Island Airways Piper Aztec for a fact-finding visit to Mayaguana. The deputy manager wanted to buy souvenirs, but there were no shops.

Animal matters

Kim Aranha

Inside the world of orcas

If I were to tell you about a group that that usually travels in packs and rarely suffers individuals becoming loners; a group where the grandmother is the matriarch and is very influential in the family…

If I were to tell you that the teenage males of this group frequently behave like hooligans, and the older females suffer from menopause; that they are highly influenced by group fads that an influential member starts and the others pick up until everybody in the group does it before it fizzles out… If I were to tell you that they speak different dialects and mimic others…

If I were to tell you all of this, would you ever, in a hundred years, think that I was telling you about orcas, also known as the killer whales?

Of late, a group of orcas have been attacking boats off the coasts of Portugal and Spain. Several sinkings have taken place over the past three years and hundreds of attacks, some more devastating to the boats than others.

A boat’s rudder is frequently the object of the attack and the orcas will rip it off, but sometimes they just ram the boat or scrape their teeth against the hull. At no time was a human killed. In fact, the orcas have been seen to follow damaged boats, on occasion, back in to port as if they we ensuring safe passage for the humans on board.

Teenagers in some pods have been known to behave badly; they form groups or gangs of hooligans that go marauding through the ocean looking for mischief and causing trouble. Like humans, one set of teenage orcas see their friends behaving badly and decide to copy them and the entire fad mushrooms. Sound familiar?

On two separate occasions in the Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington state, one specific fad spread wildly between orcas and their pods: that of wearing dead salmon on their heads.

Referred to by people keeping track of them as “dead salmon hats”, the first time this “fashion trend” was ob-

PET OF THE WEEK

Faithful Fred

By The Bahamas Humane Society

“Big, goofy, loving, gentle, and ... obedient!” is how Fred was described by the dog walking crew.

Fred has been at the Bahamas Humane Society for a while now, still looking for the right fit for his forever home. Fred would do best in a home where he’s an only dog and has lots of one-on-one time with his human(s). He’s smart, having learned some basic obedience school at a previous time of his life, so might well approach training with the same enthusiasm he applies to his walks.

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Fred might just be the perfect fit. Come to the BHS to meet him or call 325-6742 for more information. Fred looks forward to shaking paws with you!

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served was in 1987. The trend spread and continued for several weeks, and then resurfaced again in early 2000s. These fads started quickly, spread fast and fizzled out just as quickly. Scientists cannot explain this behaviour beyond it having been a transitory fad, a phenomenon we see in humans regularly. Not a fad for one orca but lots of orcas from different pods who adopted this fad for about six weeks.

So it is interesting to wonder where these recent boat attacks are coming from. There appear to be about nine different orcas involved.

Scientists are saying that it is maybe a teenage group; are they simply bored and have picked up this bad behaviour

from one another. Another theory is one of them had a bad experience with a boat and has now taught his friends to join in. This Moby Dick conduct is not typical orca etiquette; they do not hunt humans. The attacks are of no obvious benefit to them.

The general feeling amongst scientists and others who study orcas is that this is just another fad that will die out quickly.

However, lets us not forget how badly the orca has been treated by humans on boats over the years. Looking over the numbers, I learned that at least 174 orcas have died in captivity (not counting 30 still-born or miscarried calves).

There are currently 54 held in prison-like captivity. SeaWorld has a significant number of orcas in captivity now, but they have abandoned their breeding programme. They claim that orcas are vital to teaching visitors about the importance of marine life… I mean, really? That has to be the silliest comment made in ages. Pillage marine life in order to teach it? I wonder how we managed to teach our youngsters about dinosaurs with none to hold in captivity.

All the captures of orcas have involved boats. Has an orca remembered this and taught its friends to join in on a rampage? With over 500 attacks on boats since 2020 in the waters around Spain, Portugal and Morocco, it is most certainly food for thought.

David Diamond of the University of South Florida believes that they are capable of retribution. Orcas have a mammalian brain that is functionally similar to humans. It is possible that the killer whales are taking a proactive approach and attacking that thing on the surface of the sea that can cause harm?

If that is the case, we have most certainly earned the aggressive behaviour and should be grateful that they stop at attacking boats and not the individuals in the sea. We know they have been known to attack and injure their trainers/tormentors in the miserable little tanks they have been shoved into; they have been known to even kill them.

Just what is the orca thinking right now? If it is malicious, we most certainly have earned it.

(PHOTO/JUDY YOUNG)

What to stream this week: ‘And Just Like That’ back, Kelly Clarkson sings, Robert Downey Jr drives

By The Associated Press

NEW MOVIES

— In “The Perfect Find,” Gabrielle Union stars as a 40-year-old fashion editor who hits it off with a young man (Keith Powers) only to

gets a little help from comedian and banjoist Steve Martin.

— Summer and Big Freedia were made to be together and she’s offering us the 16-track “Central City”

fighting climate change in the new Max docuseries “Downey’s Dream Cars.” Viewers go along for the ride as experts help the actor make his vintage car collection not only functional, but environmentally-friendly.

season two, Carmy and his staff are tasked with levelling up The Beef to become a fine dining establishment named The Bear.

— Alicia Rancilio

find out later that he’s the son of her new boss, a media mogul played by Gina Torres. The film, which premieres today on Netflix, is directed by Numa Perrier and based on Tia Williams’ novel of the same name.

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle NEW MUSIC

— Loss informs “Chemistry,” Kelly Clarkson’s post-breakup album. “You can take my money drag my name ’round town/I don’t mind I changed it anyway,” she sings in the kiss-off single “Red Flag Collector.” Clarkson previously released “Favorite Kind of High” and “I Hate Love,” which both feature on “Chemistry,” an album where she

just in time for backyard parties. The New Orleans-raised queen of Bounce music has brought along some friends — collaborators include Lil Wayne, Faith Evans, Ciara and Kelly Price — and promises a new sound: “Bigga Bounce”.

— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

NEW SERIES

— Max has already publicised two big reveals for season two of “And Just Like That”: the return of John Corbett as Aidan Shaw and Kim Cattrall filmed a scene as Samantha Jones.

— Robert Downey Jr combines two of his passions, classic cars and

— Actor-comedian Anthony Anderson is a proud mama’s boy and loves to dote on his mother, Doris. Cameras rolled as the “black-ish” star took his mom on a six-week dream vacation to Europe visiting England, France and Italy. “It’s the best and worst decision I’ve ever made,” declares Anderson in the trailer. “Trippin’ with Anthony Anderson and Mama Doris” debuted yesterday on E!

— The critically-acclaimed series “The Bear,” which debuted last summer and was an immediate wordof-mouth hit, is back for a second helping. The show stars Jeremy Allen White as a classically trained chef named Carmy who returned home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich spot called The Beef. In

NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

— Final Fantasy XVI, the new chapter in the groundbreaking role-playing series, takes place in a land fuelled by magic crystals whose light has begun to fade. The most significant change to the formula is in the combat: Protagonist Clive Rosfield fights mostly on his own, rather than assembling the usual party of warriors and spellcasters, and the turn-by-turn skirmishes that once defined Final Fantasy have been replaced by zippier swordplay. Your latest chance to save the world begins today on PlayStation 5. —

Lou Kesten