11202020 WEEKEND

Friday, November 20, 2020

Weekend

photography beverages art gardening history entertainment puzzles LIGHTHOUSES OF THE BAHAMAS Pages 10 + 11

Breaking free Escape from screens and turn to art

pgs 08 + 09

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, November 20, 2020

photography

A Rose-Coloured Lens Historical boats

B

eauty is all around us in the Bahamas, on land and in the sea. But many of us are too busy with everyday life to pause and really see and enjoy the astonishing sights that surround us. Veteran photographer ROLAND ROSE captures both the ordinary and extraordinary, and puts it in frame for us so we can see our environment in a new light.

For hundreds of years the Bahamas has been a seafaring nation; designing and building wooden boats of all descriptions. Some are still with us today. But today plastic and fibreglass rule‌.I guess that is progress.

The Tribune | Weekend | 03

Friday, November 20, 2020

Weekend Inside

My Perfect Bahamian Weekend Tametryo Brown

Astrologer, hypnotherapist Q: What’s on your weekend menu?

“It’s my birthday weekend, and I am having shrimp linguine. I will also be having salmon fettuccine.

I make this drink called Killer B’s … it has some Jack Daniels and some honey in there with some Vita Malt and a few secret ingredients.”

2 Photography

Roland Rose turns his lens on boats

4-5 Interview

The Chippingham boy who found his religious calling

6 Puzzles

Q: If you had to be quarantined with a celebrity, who would it be and why?

“Brian Weiss (an American psychiatrist, hypnotherapist and author) because I want to pick his brain as a hypnotherapist.”

7 Beverages

A wine for your Christmas table

8-9 Art

Creativity to beat pandemic stress

10-11 Forgotten Facts

The lighthouses of The Bahamas

12-13 Literary Lives

Katharine Hepburn, a star to the end

14 Entertainment

A virtual Jollification – of sorts

07

15 Animals

Conversations behind the gate

16 Gardening

Our national show-off

BOUTIQUE HOSTS DESIGNER WEDDING DRESS GIVEAWAY

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@tribunemedia.net It’s been a rough year for 2020 brides who have seen their hopes for their perfect day dashed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But a local wedding planner is seeking to provide a happy ever after for one lucky bride affected by the pandemic with a designer wedding gown so that she looks her best whenever she does decide to tie the knot.

Tennille Darville, the owner of Five

Seasons Bridal, said every bride deserves to have a special day, no matter if it is a postponed large ceremony or a quick trip to the Justice of the Peace.

“She deserves to have her hair fixed, make-up done perfectly, and should look the best she has ever looked when she pledges her life to the love of her life,” she said.

“Weddings can be an unnecessary expense, as most would say, but the disappointment of cancelling all your plans is harder to bear after months of planning and dreaming of what your wedding would look like and I wanted to help in the one way.”

She noted the pandemic has displaced a lot of people and left them without jobs and a consistent income, which makes having their dream wedding less of a priority.

Tennille said that over the past few months she has seen many of her clients grapple with the choice of whether to proceed with their plans.

“Some brides have learned that

Q: What will you be binge-watching this weekend? “ ‘Blind Spot’, it’s a Netflix show about a woman who shows up with tattoos of her body of future crimes.”

a big wedding isn’t absolutely necessary and sometimes a private and intimate event can be better and much more memorable,” she said.

“Some brides, however, have refused to minimise their guest count and have decided to simply wait until they can have their big wedding exactly the way they envisioned. Other brides have made the most of the pandemic financially, and in instances where they have expected to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for an event that would have host 150 to 200 guests, they were able to get married in a smaller ceremony and saved considerably in expenses. And then some brides have decided to just cut everyone and go to the Justice of the Peace or have a private ceremony with their pastor or priest.”

Whatever they decide, Tennille, thinks they should look their best.

“Whether it was COVID-19, a hurricane or something else, every bride deserves to look amazing on their wedding day.”

Q: What do you miss the most about having to social distance?

“Social distancing will cause me to miss Junkanoo the most. I am a costume designer and a baritone player for One Family.”

Q: If you could spend a COVID-19 free weekend anywhere in the world, where it be and why?

“I would be right at home.

I am a homebody.”

To be eligible for the Five Seasons Bridal giveaway, brides will need to have someone submit a story on their behalf on why they should a win.

The team at Five Seasons Bridal will read each submission carefully and decide upon the winner.

Tennille said she intends to continue offering lockdown giveaways.

“Next month we will come up with another way for them to win the lockdown giveaway dress,” she said.

“With jobs lost and uncertainness for the past eight and a half months, some brides have lost the joy of planning their weddings, and some just don’t want to be bothered at all.

“For the brides that haven’t lost hope and realise it’s just a matter of reshuffling the cards that have been dealt to them, I want to be the one to help them deal the cards again so that we can bring a genuine smile back to their hearts and faces. The day you get married should be one filled with happiness and not regret.”

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, November 20, 2020

interview

Reginald Carlyle Grant It took nearly three decades for this Chippingham boy to fulfil his calling. But he has finally done so, and in a unique way. The newly ordained priest tells Tiffany Grant how he will continue to work as a wound care specialist at a hospital while he also serves the Diocese of Southwark in London as a priest.

From the age of 15, Reginald Carlyle Grant knew he wanted to be a priest some day. But that “some day” was still a far way off. His path towards that goal was a not a straightforward one, as he also had a burning desire to achieve more secular dreams in his life. At on point, he admits, he even actively ran away from his calling to serve God. It was not until his 44th year that he finally fulfilled his calling and officially joined the ranks of Anglican clergyman.

“I kind of knew for a very long time that this (becoming a priest) is the direction I should go, but I also knew there were a million and one other things that I wanted to achieve in my life. It was a long journey,” said Rev Grant The journey culminated with his ordination on October 17, 2020, at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, in the United Kingdom. He was ordained by the Right Rev Jonathan Clark, Bishop of Croydon to the priesthood in the Diocese of Southwark, which serves the 2.8 million people in the 16 Local Authorities of South London and East Surrey through 356 places of worship.

Rev Grant has chosen the path of becoming a “worker priest” in England. This means he is engaged in secular employment. In his particular case, he works as a wound care specialist and podiatrist at the Croydon University Hospital, and he serves in the church on a part-time basis.

“

When it was first put to me (to become a priest), I didn’t think I was ready.

I think if I had responded (back then), I wouldn’t have some of the qualities that I have developed to become a better minister of the gospel.”

He is not paid by the church. “(Being a worker priest) does come with challenges.

There are times when I have to come from work and go directly to a parish council meeting. So it does come with its challenges because you are holding down two jobs,” he told Tribune Weekend.

Getting to this stage in life was indeed an adventure for Rev Grant. However, “running away” from his calling for several decades gave him the opportunity to have unique

Friday, November 20, 2020

experiences and acquire various skills, and over time he gained the maturity to step into the shoes of a priest.

“When it was first put to me, I didn’t think I was ready. I think if I had responded (back then), I wouldn’t have some of the qualities that I have developed to become a better minister of the gospel,” he said.

“The truth is, in the time between when it was first put to me and the last time it was put to me, I have grown, I have seasoned, I was ready. I developed the patience, the rapport with people (and) the ability to listen and not try to solve problems.

Sometimes you have to learn to just listen. When I was younger, I didn’t have that skill. I think I do have it now.”

Rev Grant’s advice to an individual who feels a calling on his or her life is to seek God and to be patient.

“Doubt is OK because it gives space for God to show just how powerful He is. In the time that you are running away from your calling, God is probably preparing you to fulfil that calling, because if you are truly called it will eventually come to pass,” he said.

Rev Grant, who is married to Lauriette Hinsey Grant and the father of two sons, Reginald Cahled and Lucas Alonzo, trained for the priesthood at St Augustine’s Theological Seminary. The seminary is affiliated with the University of Durham.

Rev Grant’s mother, Elizabeth Grant, along with other family members, had planned to be in the UK to witness the ordination in person. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic that was no longer possible, but they were afforded the opportunity to watch the live stream via the internet.

Mrs Grant said that she felt “spiritually overwhelmed in a positive way” to see her son being ordained.

“I felt so grateful to God that He has seen it fit to use my son as a priest,” she said.

Rev Grant was asked whether he ever plans to come back home to work in the Anglican Diocese in the Bahamas. He said it is something he thinks about regularly, but he is leaving it up to God to direct him.

The Rt Rev Laish Boyd, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, congratulated Rev Grant on answering the call to ordination. Bishop Boyd, who has known Rev Grant since he was a boy growing up in the Chippingham area, said he watched the ordination on YouTube.

“I want to offer him and his wife my heartiest congratulations. I pray that he would serve in the UK to the best of his ability, bloom where he has been planted and do what God needs ordained people to do there,” said Bishop Boyd.

“In today’s world there is so much uncertainty.

We are currently in a pandemic that causes persons to be filled with anxiety. As a new priest, Rev Grant encourages persons to remember that God is still in control.

“Whatever pain, whatever struggle, whatever suffering we go through, whatever heartache we bear, know that God is in control (and) this too will pass.”

The Tribune | Weekend | 05

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

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.

Friday, November 20, 2020 Across: 1 All at once, 7 Des res, 9 Rudolph, 10 Stub, 12 Ben, 13 Proverb, 14 Ref, 15 Year, 17 Gestapo, 19 Padres, 20 Bloodless. Down: 1 Airstrip, 2 Lout, 3 Lid, 4 Televised, 5 Osprey, 6 Celeb, 8 Sonorous, 11 Bolero, 13 Petal, 16 Apes, 18 Ace.

i HA rKo c E t

● The Target uses words in the main body of Chambers 21st Century Dictionary (1999 edition)

HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here? 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 or verb forms ending in “s”.

TODAY’S TARGET Good 24; very good 36; excellent 48 (or more). Solution on Monday

Yesterday’s call 0907 181 2585 Sudokufor Answer today’s target solution *Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

BATTLESHIPS CRYPTIC PUZZLE Across 1 Pound notes may be what it means (10) 6 Chilly sort of cake? (4) 10 Bad organisation in cinema fiasco (5) 11 This means the end of one’s best suit (4,5) 12 False story about the ringleader produces bad feeling (8) 13 Clean break or cut (5) 15 It ends a flight in two ways (7) 17 To snub a girl may be wounding (7) 19 Looks for key weapons (7) 21 Italian dish Rex is to turn to (7) 22 Take advantage of a sailor needing employment (5) 24 Compellingly kind (8) 27 Imperturbable admission of inertia (9) 28 The cream of the Carmelites (5) 29 Biting a pastry (4) 30 Contracts producing mere confusion in agents (10)

1

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Down 1 Celebrity retired from the Mafia (4) 2 Votes the umpire possibly earned (9) 3 Numberless Visa account for a patriarch (5) 4 Sediment of port?

Sling it out (7) 5 Kind of lodge Monica’s built (7) 7 Agitate a liquid container (5) 8 It causes rough weather and loss of trade (10) 9 Let heats decide those who run (8) 14 Copywriter? (10) 16 What’s more, it’s a sincere conversion (8) 18 Command rigidly obeyed on the parade ground (9) 20 One covered by unusually strong stocking (7) 21 Free of duty (7) 23 Such a cut may be seen in a ring (5) 25 It won’t throw much light on the subject (5) 26 Like things to eat (4)

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Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Central, 5 Crisp, 8 Outspoken, 9 Tip, 10 Kiwi, 12 Innately, 14 Casual, 15 Poland, 17 Recently, 18 Snap, 21 Era, 22 Abominate, 24 Token, 25 Doddery.

Down: 1 Cloak, 2 Net, 3 Ripe, 4 Liking, 5 Cinnamon, 6 In the main, 7 Pop-eyed, 11 Wisecrack, 13 Maintain, 14 Current, 16 Almond, 19 Piety, 20 Bind, 23 Ace.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Stowage, 5 Slump, 8 Offending, 9 Peg, 10 Tale, 12 Impaired, 14 Immure, 15 Floats, 17 Cul-de-sac, 18 Team, 21 Nag, 22 In the swim, 24 Extol, 25 Nomadic.

Down: 1 Shoot, 2 Oaf, 3 Aunt, 4 Enigma, 5 Signally, 6 Upper case, 7 Pagodas, 11 Limelight, 13 Free will, 14 Incense, 16 Wanton, 19 Mimic, 20 Term, 23 Wed.

EASY PUZZLE

Across 1 Excellent (5-5) 6 Be acceptable (4) 10 Nippon (5) 11 Receptacle for voting papers (6,3) 12 Keep alive (8) 13 Piece of ground (5) 15 Involve in trouble (7) 17 Crush by treading on (7) 19 Aperture (7) 21 Of little substance (7) 22 Attracted (5) 24 Open two-seater car (8) 27 Vivacity (9) 28 Out of practice (5) 29 Sudden rush (4) 30 The developing countries (5,5)

Down 1 South Pacific islands group (4) 2 Able to be made good (9) 3 Armour (5) 4 Broad-minded (7) 5 Conspicuous (7) 7 Precincts (5) 8 Abnormal perceptive faculty (5,5) 9 State a grievance (8) 14 Not new (10) 16 Eastern (8) 18 Highest-ranking academic (9) 20 Embellishment for food (7) 21 Athlete’s instructor (7) 23 An assumed name (5) 25 Dried stalks of grain (5) 26 Stained with a colour (4)

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.

Solution on Monday 1

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THe ALPHABeAT

Black squares: 2, 4, 8, 10, 11 26, 29, 36, 37, 38.

Across: Irrational, Number, O Foresaw, Pixel, Plaza, Hiked, Quiches, Zealot, Barmen, Str Down: Sniff, Whizz, Immoral, TArgeT Reefs, Ajar, Stun, Icon, Thou, cAn you crack the Alphabeater?

Each grid Nitpick, Exhumed, Jelly, UsinE AeroPLANe number represents a letter – or black square. aeon AEROPLANE aloe alone apnoea 0 DouBT (D As in Alphapuzzle, every of the alphabet apron areola elope eloper enrol letter CroSS Across: EVICT loanBut loaner lone lonertolope eac isleone used. you have complete the grid too!

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THE ALPHABEATE

TARGET 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 Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

X D R A O B K C A L B I V B K I M X S R

SMALL CroSSWorD

about, here in France (7) 27 Charge for ring (4) 28 Low-spirited? Possibly not – depends (10)

0

1

1 x Battleship

3 x Destroyer

2 x cruiser

4 x submarine

4

same if you turn the page upside down.

Solution on Monday

y

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

35

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The Tribune | Weekend | 07

Friday, November 20, 2020

beverages

Bring a taste of South Africa to your Christmas table

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

W

e are only weeks away from Christmas and plans are soon going to be underway for those elaborate holiday dinner menus, even if the number of guests will most likely be reduced this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you make up your shopping list, Jamal Gray would like you to consider what beverages you will be serving with your special meals, particularly which wines.

“Wine pairing with holiday meals can be a task. Given that menus at family get-togethers have such a diverse number of dishes, it would be difficult to just pair a wine with each of the dishes,” he explained.

“Instead, we recommend pairing refreshing, food-friendly wine varietals (wines made primarily from a single named grape variety), with great acidity that don’t have any ‘oaky’ character notes.”

Mr Gray’s top recommendations are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir or an unoaked Chardonnay.

“These varietals tend to have the acidity needed to add balance and complement the fatty, sweet and salty dishes usually consumed around this time. I would compare acidity in wine to having the same effect that seasoning dishes with lime or lemon has on poultry, conch, and fish. It enhances the flavours in the dish and works well with salt and fat to create the balance consumers’ desire,” he said.

Mr Gray has long since been a wine and spirits enthusiasts. He has always enjoyed trying unique products and sharing the experience with friends and family.

He had unexpected and inspiring experience with wine when he and his wife, Tonice Gray, visited Cape Town in South Africa during their honeymoon in 2017. They fell in love with the wines, which are produced in a climate and landscape perfect for growing grapes.

The couple decided they wanted to introduce these wines to their fellow Bahamians, so they launched their own import venture, the Springbok Company Ltd. They now offer the largest selection of South African wines and spirits in the Bahamas.

Mr Gray said South Africa’s natural beauty, its passionate people and rich history all permeate into the country’s wines and spirits industry.

For the Christmas season, Mr Gray said his company has collaborated with local businesses to create holiday gift boxes featuring all kinds of goodies. They will soon be launched.

“We have integrated in our online store a chat option that customers can ask questions and receive an instant response similar to the traditional way of shopping in-store and in-person.

We want to know how we can better serve our customers,” he said.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

history

Friday, November 20, 2020

Guiding lights

By Paul C Aranha | Forgotten Facts

T 1817 Hog Island

o write this article, I reread the 1944 book “Silent Sentinels” by R Langton Jones, a Nassau-based inspector of the Imperial Lighthouse Service. He wrote that “in the third century before Christ, there was erected at the famed city of Alexandria, the most celebrated lighthouse in history…”, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that the Bahamas got its first lighthouse, at the western end of Hog Island. It was built and operated, by the Bahamas Government. The structure is 69 feet high and came into service on September 1, 1817, when “the band of the Second West India Regiment was in attendance and a battery of artillery was erected on Hog Island … ‘three times three’ guns were fired at the appropriate moment … while an answering salute thundered out from… Fort Charlotte.”

Nineteen years later, in 1836, the Imperial Lighthouse Service (Trinity House in London) built its first two lighthouses – at Hole-in-theWall, Abaco and at Gun Cay, a few miles south of Bimini, the start of a system of lighthouses throughout the archipelago.

In 1839, North Elbow Cay lighthouse (69’), on the Cay Sal Bank (the most westerly of Bahamian cays and islands), over 200 miles from Nassau and only 45 miles from the coast of Cuba, was built.

Imagine that it is 1839 and you have been chosen by the Imperial Lighthouse Service as principal lightkeeper on the newly-completed, 59-foot North Elbow Cay lighthouse on the Cay Sal Bank, the westernmost island in the Bahamas; over 200 miles from Nassau (as the crow flies, but about 250 miles by boat) and 45 miles from the coast of Cuba.

In 1851, a lighthouse was erected in Hyde Park in London as a show piece for the Great London Exhibition (May to October), where countries from around the world could display their achievements and Britain sought to prove its own superiority. The British exhibits at the Great Exhibition “held the lead in almost every field where strength, durability, utility and quality were concerned, whether in iron and steel, machinery or textiles.” The first modern pay toilets were installed,

with 827,280 visitors paying the one penny fee to use them, and “spending a penny” became a euphemism for using a toilet.

This lighthouse was a brick built circular tower, about seven stories high (151’), tapering to the top. It had an entrance door, a staircase, inside, and windows at each level.

The top was a gallery and visitors were able to see inside the lighthouse. The entrance brought them onto a circular gallery and above them the original spiral staircase wound upwards to the lantern room at the top of the tower and below them, in what was called the basement ,was a water tank. The lighthouse operated for 12 months and, after the celebrations, it was dismantled and reassembled at Great Isaac Cay, Bahamas, coming into service in 1859. Four years later, the neighbouring 46-foot Great Sturrup Cay light was built.

The much-photographed, red and white, candy-striped Elbow Cay lighthouse has been shining over Hope Town, Abaco since 1864. A black Bahamasair pilot told me that he and his siblings had gone to school in Hope Town, something that I did not want to believe, until he explained that his father had been the lightkeeper and his children were the only black kids in the school.

The north-west Bahamas being well-supplied with lighthouses, attention was directed to the islands in the south-east – Acklins, Cay Lobos, Inagua, Crooked Island and Watling’s Island (San Salvador).

Castle Island, off the southern tip of Acklins, was built in 1867 and its light gives two white flashes every 20 seconds. I say this because one moonless night I was flying from Inagua to Nassau and could barely see the outline of Acklins, when I heard one passenger say, “That’s Castle Island”. He was a seaman and had recognised the flashing code of the lighthouse.

Cay Lobos was considered the most remote lighthouse in the Bahamas. Constructed in 1869, it stood 144-feet high at the southern end of the Great Bahama Bank – 72 miles from Long Island, 100 miles from Crooked Island, 220 miles from Nassau and only 20 miles from Cuba

The Tribune | Weekend | 11

Friday, November 20, 2020

1864 Elbow Cay Great Inagua, the southernmost island of the Bahamas, was the home of the Inagua Salt Company and Mathew Town is the only properly surveyed and laid out community in all the Out Islands. Its sizeable population should have made building a 113-foot lighthouse, in 1870, were it not for the Bahamian tradition of ‘wrecking’. Whenever a vessel ran onto one of the many reefs of Great Inagua, the labourers and foremen would lay down their tools and rush to be the first to salvage the wreck. “It was generally a week or ten days before these men would return to their normal work, after having reaped the fruits of the sea-harvest.”

Built in 1876, the 112-foot Bird Rock lighthouse is unique in Bahamian lighthouses. In 1870, “lighthouse materials consisting of a lamp, iron work, lenticular panels and machinery (originally intended for the construction of a lighthouse in Ceylon) were made available for a lighthouse to be erected at Bird Rock.

“The lighthouse tower, which is one to the most picturesque in the Bahamas group, was designed by the Engineer-in-Chief of Trinity House and erected under the supervision of Mr Francis J Aranha, a Nassauvian contractor and the light came into operation on the evening of August 1st, 1876, flashing every five seconds… the impression of solidity this tower coveys is strengthened by the keeper’s dwelling being built in a circle, around the base.”

Watling’s Island (now called San Salvador), 160 feet high, was built in 1887. Here, I need to add that each lighthouse was equipped with a copy of the International Code Book of Signals, plus

1887 Watling’s Island

1876 Bird Rock, Crooked Island

1859 Great Isaac Cay numerous signal-flags, used for ‘talking’ to passing vessels.

On December 26, 1905, the master of a steamship bound for Jamaica observed the letters ‘N J’ flying from the flagstaff of the San Salvador lighthouse, and, upon looking them up in his ship’s International Code Book of Signals, he read: “I am attacked. Want assistance.”

In those days, radios were not in general use, so the master waited until he reached Jamaica two days later, where he reported what he had seen. Jamaican authorities immediately cabled the Governor of the Bahamas and “a body of armed

police proceeded, full speed ahead, to San Salvador”. They ‘invaded’ the island, but met with no resistance, because the ‘N J’ was not intended as a signal. To celebrate the christening Neville Jones, the baby son of the assistant keeper, the principal keeper had given permission to hoist the baby’s initials on the flagstaff.

I have concentrated on the building of lighthouses. In another article, I plan to write about the people who ‘keep’ the lights.

• For questions and comments, e-mail islandairman@gmail.com

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, November 20, 2020

literary lives - Katharine Hepburn Part III

A star to the

Sir Christopher Ondaatje continues to write about the final years of the fiercely independent life of the American actress who was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

“Who is Katherine Hepburn? It took me a long time to create that creature. Once a crowd chased me for an autograph. ‘Beat it’, I said, ‘go sit on a tack!’ ‘We made you’, they said. ‘Like hell you did’, I told them.”

- Katharine Hepburn Katharine Hepburn was always a strong willed woman. Vulnerable, but strong willed. After her initial success in Hollywood with Morning Glory (1933) and Little Women (1933) she put out a series of unpopular films and had problems with her attitude and a difficult relationship with the press. She was outspoken and argumentative, and wore trousers long before they were fashionable for women. She disagreed with her wardrobe team – and when they took her trousers away she walked around the set in her underwear until they were returned. She survived being labelled “boxoffice poison”, she bought out her contract from RKO shunning the security of the studio system, and clawed her way back to popularity with the play The Philadelphia Story on Broadway. With some help from Howard Hughes, who bought the film rights of the play for her, she bargained with the Hollywood studios before selling the rights to MGM, choosing her own director and co-stars, and starring in one of the biggest hits in 1940. She never looked back, began a screen and romantic relationship with Spencer Tracy that spanned 26 years and nine movies.

When Spencer Tracy died after completing Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Hepburn quickly returned to acting as her only remedy against grief.

“It was a unique feeling that I had for Spencer Tracy. I would have done anything for him.”

- Katharine Hepburn Tracy remained married throughout the relationship although he had been living a separate life from his wife Louise since the 1930s. Hepburn did not interfere and never fought for marriage.

Determined to conceal the relationship they lived in separate residences and were careful not to be seen together in public.

Hepburn was offered several scripts after Tracy’s death and chose to play Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968) with Peter O’Toole.

Filmed in Montmajour Abbey in the South of France, the movie was nominated in all the major categories at the Academy Awards, and for the second year running Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress – this time sharing it with Barbara Streisand for Funny Girl. She also won the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Best Actress.

However, Hepburn was not infallible. The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), filmed in Nice, which should have been entertaining, was a disaster.

Hepburn was criticised for giving a misguided performance.

“Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I’ve had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh.”

- Katharine Hepburn Hepburn then starred in the Broadway musical Coco about the life of Coco Chanel. She did not have a good voice but she took vocal lessons six times a week and bravely attacked the show with more bravado than vocal talent. The show ran from December 1969 to August 1970 and the public seemed to be on her side rather than against her. Surprisingly she earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, probably more for guts than performance. But she didn’t win anyway.

Throughout the 1970s Hepburn continued to play strange old ladies with character: The Trojan

Women (1971) with Vanessa Redgrave; Travels with My Aunt (1972), which she abandoned and was replaced by Maggie Smith; and A Delicate Balance (1973) directed by Tony Richardson – all to unfavourable reviews.

“If you follow all the rules you’ll miss all the fun.”

- Katharine Hepburn In 1973, although scared of the medium, she accepted a television role in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. This changed her attitude and she was more open to television movies like Love Among the Ruins (1975) with Laurence Olivier. It earned her her only Emmy Award.

Back in Hollywood she teamed up with John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn (1975) – another religious spinster role.

A Matter of Gravity (1976) was Hepburn’s next three-month stint of Enid Bagnold’s play on Broadway. During its Los Angeles run she fractured her hip but continued the tour, performing in a wheelchair. Two years later she starred in Olly Olly Oxen Free (1978). The film was one of the biggest failures of her career. Another disaster.

But she was determined to keep working. The Corn is Green (1979), a television movie, made

The Tribune | Weekend | 13

Friday, November 20, 2020

HEPBURN as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968) with Peter O’Toole.

“I have no romantic feelings about age. Either you are interesting or you are not. There is nothing particularly interesting about being old – or being young for that matter.”

- Katharine Hepburn

HEPBURN starred alongside Henry Fonda in 1981’s award-winning “On Golden Pond” in Wales, was the last of ten films Hepburn made with George Cukor.

In the early 1980s, Katharine Hepburn’s head began to shake. She looked to all the world as if she had Parkinson’s Disease. But this wasn’t the case. Essential Tremor (ET) is a condition characterised by involuntary shaking or trembling of an affected body part. Katharine Hepburn had ET of the head and voice, which she said she had inherited from her grandfather. It is not a lifethreatening illness and usually happens in later years. She managed it very well and it did not seem to affect her theatrical performances.

“The thing about life is that you must survive.

Life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. What you do is move along, get on with it, and be tough. Not in the sense of being mean to others, but being tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.

- Katharine Hepburn But then she saw the Broadway production On Golden Pond of an elderly married couple coping with the difficulties of old age. Jane Fonda had purchased the screen rights for her father, actor Henry Fonda, and Hepburn wanted to play the part of the quirky Ethel Thayer opposite him. Her ET problem did not affect the 74-year-old Hepburn at all – diving fully clothed into Squam Lake and giving a lively singing performance. She won a second BAFTA award, and a record fourth Academy Award for Best Actress. Henry Fonda won his only Academy Award for his role in the movie.

Playing another septuagenarian widow, Hepburn returned to Broadway in 1981 in The West Side Waltz, and received another Tony nomination for the portrayal. It was a perfect part for her and she was disappointed that no studio purchased the film rights.

Grace Quigley (1984) was a dark comedy with Nick Nolte who played a hitman who she had hired to kill her. But the morbid film only got negative reviews and the box-office was poor. She kept working, mostly on television, and received an Emmy nomination for Mrs Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) saying it was her last screen appearance. But it wasn’t. Two years later she performed with her grandniece Schulyer Grant in Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988).

In 1991, Hepburn published her autobiography Me: Stories of My Life which was a really good read and topped the best-seller lists for over a year.

But this still wasn’t the end for her. In 1992 she co-starred with Ryan O’Neal in The Man Upstairs, and received a Golden Globe nomination. Two years later she played opposite Anthony Quinn in This Can’t Be Love­– which turned out to be a fictional account of her own feisty character. She was basically playing herself.

“Acting is a nice childish profession – pretending you’re someone else and at the same time selling yourself.”

- Katharine Hepburn Katharine Hepburn’s final appearance in a theatrically released film was Love Affair (1994) with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. It was a remake of An Affair to Remember (1957)

with Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant. She was 87 and looked very frail, but she was still Katharine Hepburn and she still stole the scenes that she was in. She only gave one more television appearance in One Christmas (1994) for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award.

“I’m what is known as gradually disintegrating.

I don’t fear the next world, or anything. I don’t fear hell, and I don’t look forward to heaven.”

- Katharine Hepburn Hepburn began to deteriorate almost as soon as her final screen appearance was over. She was hospitalised in 1993 for exhaustion. In the winter of 1996 she was hospitalised with pneumonia. In 1997, she was very weak and not speaking very much. She showed signs of dementia in her final years. She died on June 28, 2003, a month after her 96th birthday at her home in Fenwick, Connecticut. She was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, and insisted that there be no memorial service.

On the evening of July 1, 2003, the lights of Broadway were dimmed in her honour. After Hepburn’s death in 2003 the intersection of East 49th Street and 2nd Avenue was renamed “Katharine Hepburn Place”. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Centre was opened in 2009 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, the location of the Hepburn family beach home, which she loved and later owned. The building includes a performance space and a Katharine Hepburn museum.

NEXT WEEK: The ‘Blue Angel’ from Berlin who became famous for her unique, and at times androgynous, sex appeal •Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. The author acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Katherine Hepburn (1995) by Barbara Leaming; Me: Stories of My Life (1996) by Katharine Hepburn; Kate Remembered (2003) by A Scott Berg; and Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn (2006) by William J Mann.

14 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, November 20, 2020

entertainment

SCENES from previous festivals at the BNT’s Retreat

BNT goes virtual with Jollificationlike event

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

I

f 2020 were a normal year, we would have probably just finished celebrating the Bahamas National Trust’s Wine and Art Festival and be preparing to attend the annual Jollification to get us in the Christmas spirit. Alas, the COVID-19 pandemic has put paid to all these types of events.

But the BNT isn’t letting that stop them from still spreading joy through the community and supporting local artists.

Lynn Gape, deputy executive director of the BNT told Tribune Weekend that while they would all

love to celebrate the traditional festivals in-person, she and Urmie Braynen came up with the following motto: “When life gives you COVID, get creative.”

It is the guiding credo of the BNT’s virtual “Parks Fest”, which kicked off on Monday and will continue to this Sunday, November 22.

The seven-day event highlights arts and crafts, as well as wines and other holiday favourites. To take part, all you have to do is follow the Bahamas National Trust on Facebook and you can shop from over 50 Bahamian artisans, support the BNT members only silent auction and other online activities, and visit sponsors in the virtual marketplace for special promotions. Proceeds will go towards supporting The Retreat on Village Road.

“We are working with creative people who were willing to try something new and we hope that having a virtual marketplace will become a part of our annual events in the future. Both events (Wine and Arts Festival and Christmas Jollification) have traditional sponsors and we are grateful for their continued support and encouragement,” said Ms Gape.

“One of our goals of course is to raise money for the BNT Retreat - one of 32 national parks - but we also wanted to provide an opportunity for our vendors to be able to benefit economically. Bahamas Local and Jason McDowell have been an amazing sponsor and partner in the creation of the virtual marketplace and they have really gone above and beyond to assist our vendors.”

Ms Gape said festival organisers have received inquiries from attendees and vendors all throughout this year, but they of course also realise that in this highly contagious environment of the coronavirus, the safety protocols that have been established by the Bahamas government have to be respected.

“Our vendors are excited for the opportunity and many of our members have said they are doing their Christmas shopping at Parks Fest. It is a wonderful opportunity to support the BNT by becoming a member and to support Bahamian artists and artisans. Commonwealth Bank, who are an amazing supporter of the event, and their team are our chief volunteers are once again...we will miss the camaraderie of the in-person event. Many of our sponsors are excited to use Parks Fest to advertise their holiday promotions and several of those promotions will be benefiting the BNT,” said Ms Gape.

Speaking of the 2020 Parks Fest highlights, Ms Gape said the special silent auction will take place today. The auction is for BNT members only, who will be given a special password to participate. There will also be videos of vendors and sponsors, as well as memorable moments captured from past Jollification and Wine and Art Festivals.

Moreover, sponsors like Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits, Bristol Wines and Spirits and 700 Wines are giving prizes to the auction as well as offering special discounts for BNT members. Caribbean Bottling is once again supporting membership initiatives with a special gift certificate for the first 100 new or renewing members.

“The Bahamas has some very talented artists and artisans and there are some wonderful items for those special persons on your Christmas list. Beached Treasures has a new line of sea-themed necklaces and earrings. Tiff Gallery is back with her beautiful wine coolers and is donating a percentage of her sales back to the BNT. Bahama Dawn has unique ceramics, decorated wooden signs and other unique gifts.

Other vendors include Poinciana Press, Heather’s Treasured Creations, Sasha’s Foxy Paws, Me Abode, and Biggity, just to name a few,” said Ms Gape.

“There is also amazing fine art from Jonathan Bethel, Susan Roberts, Imogene Walkine, Jeff Cooper , Judith Papillion, Katerina Kovacheva, Moya Strachan and Robin Hardy.”

While she loves the in-person events, Ms Gape said she knows digital sales are the way of the future.

She said having a virtual arts and crafts market that can operate year round would be an advantage for the artists. She is looking forward to the virtual marketplace becoming a part of the annual events, and the Bahamas Local team has indicated that they want to continue to support the BNT in this endeavour.

“We are looking forward to great support of our artists and artisans, many people becoming members of the BNT and support for the Retreat Garden - an 11-acre urban national park that provides opportunities for nature-based experiences for tourists and as an outdoor classroom for students,” said Ms Gape.

“We hope that this will act as pilot for more digital promotion of local artists and artisans. You will be able learn about the virtual market place on the BNT’s Facebook page and on the BNT website, www.bnt.bs.”

The Tribune | Weekend | 15

Friday, November 20, 2020

animals

Conversations behind the gate

By KIM ARANHA Animal Matters

B

uddy and Chief position themselves behind the gate from the garage the moment I go out and stay there until I come home.

I had left the house for no more than 20 minutes. While waiting for me to come home the conversation goes like this.

Buddy: Hey, Chief, where do you think she has gone to?

Chief: Not far, Buddy, because she took the golf cart.

Buddy: I worry about her driving around in that thing, so close to the ground. I always sit as high up as I can on that thing.

Chief: I sit here and wait for her whenever she goes out.

Buddy: Have you been watching TV lately? I have noticed something really interesting.

Chief: Really, Bud ,what have you noticed, something I missed?

Buddy: No, I don’t think so, Chief, unless you were sleeping. What I have noticed is how many TV advertisements use dogs in the ads to get the humans’ attention.

Chief: Yes, Buddy, that’s because dogs are cuter than most humans, and most humans can’t resist us.

Buddy: I told Mum to write an article about it. I also told her that the next time she buys a car it has to be “dog tested”.Chief somebody told me that Mum spends time on Facebook on a site called “I heart senior dogs” and she put our photos up there and tells stories about us, is that true.

Chief: Yes, Buddy, and there are thousands of users on that page and they all post wonderful pictures of their pets. I even have a friend in Australia called Archie who loves playing in the mud. He is a Labrador like you, but my colour. The sad bit It is when one of the senior dogs die.

Buddy: Well, is always sad to go to the Rainbow Bridge. That’s why me being 13.5 and you being 14.5, we need to have fun every day.

Chief: That’s why Mum allows you to stand at the gate every evening Buddy and have a ten-minute single woof. Why do you do that?

Buddy: Do what?

Chief: The single woof thing?

Buddy: Well, it’s my special style.

All the dogs know the single woof and they stop in their tracks, and they say, ‘That’s Buddy the Labrador who wants to be a potcake.’

Chief: Come on Bud, you’re making this up…besides you are an honorary potcake and you do lots of potcake things.’

Buddy: It’s funny how people around the world think potcakes are special and yet Bahamians aren’t really interested in them.

Chief: Easy now, Buddy…where are you going with this?

Buddy: Well, you see people asking what breed dogs are at the shelter. Sometimes they go so far as to call breed dogs ‘real dogs, so what would that make you, Chief?

Chief: (Chief stands up to his full height and 85lbs weight) I am potcake, I am the only one who looks exactly like me, there may be similar but I am unique. With all due respect, you are a very handsome black Labrador, but there are thousands who look just like you all over the world…. there is only one Chiefie.

Buddy: Well, I guess that is true. I am pleased that you are so special.

Chief: Bud? Buddy: Yes, Chief?

Chief: Is that her golf cart that I hear in the distance?

Buddy: Hang on, I have to concentrate and listen up a bit harder. Mum thinks that I am deaf. I am not really.

Sometimes I just don’t want to do what she tells me to do Chief: Yes, yes, it’s her, she is coming up the road now… gosh, I am so excited, it has been all of 15 or 20 minutes since I saw her.

Buddy: Me too, Chief. I am so excited that I going to stand up and give a single woof. Won’t you?

Chief: Nah, I am going to play it cool and stay lying in the earth. …. here we go, the gates are opening.

Buddy: Here I am, over here…. hellooooooo!

pet of the week

A HYPNOTIC FRIEND

By THE BAHAMAS HUMANE SOCIETY “Look deep into my eyes. Deeper.

Deeper. Now, repeat after me: ‘I must adopt Trevor. I must adopt Trevor.’ When you wake, you will go directly to the Bahamas Humane Society and ask to see me. My name’s Trevor and I’m about one year old. I’m bouncy and full of energy, so I’d love a home that will PHOTO/Linda Gill-Aranha

Chief: Give her a chance to park, but she did call out ‘hello my boys’.

Buddy: Chief, I’ll race you to the kitchen to see who gets to greet her first…

I walk to the kitchen door and there are the two sweetest senior faces standing, waiting, with their tails wagging so hard that you can hear them hitting the cabinet doors.

The glorious joy of being greeted like a long-lost friend after less than a half hour’s absence. Anybody who owns a senior dog must know that there is no love like it.

PS: In this colder weather, please make sure they have somewhere warm to sleep at night with access to water at all times!

take me for walks or to the beach and maybe even have another youngish friend to play with. If that’s you, do come meet me, or call 323-5138 for more information. I’ll be waiting here patiently to look deep into your eyes!”

•The BHS Thrift Shop is open and accepting donations! The shop accepts gently used items and raises funds for the BHS with them. Shop hours are Wednesday/Thursday/ Friday, 11am to 3pm, and Saturday from 10am to 2pm. Wear your mask, bring your bag, and please leave your children home as we have only a limited amount of space inside. See you soon!

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, November 20, 2020

gardening

ORANGE Jubilee

YELLOW Elder

Our national flower is a showoff

T

ecoma stans, aka the yellow elder, is worthy of focus this week because established plants are showing off at this time of year. The yellow elder is one of the showiest of shrubs and trees in our area and is regionally native. Although it is the peak flowering time now, throughout the year they flower on new growth flushes which means that they tend to flower most of the year, but they do seem to be much fuller with color in the ‘fall’.

Yellow elder can be either a shrub or a tree, with growth up to around 30 feet, unless it is constrained. It is often best used as a shrub, in my opinion. They do get and stay quite shrubby, naturally, rather than taking the proper shape of a tree unless they are pruned and trained to do so.

To keep it in a typical tree shape, maintenance is necessary, with frequent pruning included. Sucker growth is heavy, usually with sprouting from the base, or the lower portions of the trunk (if it has been trained to have a single trunk) and lower branches are easily formed. This natural shrubby habit leads it to best be used as a shrub rather than a tree, mind you, I am also a proponent of less maintenance and more natural growth habits. I think that allowing plants to take on their natural habits with selective pruning leads to a showier and healthier garden. Space is a factor, granted.

If your space is relatively small to accommodate a 30-foot shrub, pruning will be necessary. It is possible to keep yellow elder as a small hedge, shrub, or even as a potted specimen. Yellow

elders are often kept as small shrubs or hedges by pruning the tops and sides, this usually ends up as a woodier shrub than a flowering one. Selective pruning will create a fuller and showier hedge or specimen.

The colour variations in yellow elder vary from rich yellows to pale with tinges of white. Most common are seed grown mid yellows. Commercially we tend to grow the deeper yellows, and there is a lady on Wulff Road across from the bank and gas station who has the palest yellow that I have seen, they are all beautiful. Tecoma stans (yellow elder) is moderately salt tolerant, and drought tolerant once established. Tecoma stans ‘Orange Jubilee’ (recently designated as Tecoma alata -- there are several designations for this plant, but we do not need to go there) is a smaller growing species with orange flowers that is absolutely stunning when it is given a chance to be in a suitable location and allowed to grow.

The ‘Orange Jubilee’ or similar is more compact and easily manageable than the yellow elder and gives a bright addition to a sunny or semi-shaded location.

Another plant worth mentioning is the Hamelia genus, commonly known as firebush. There are several varieties and natural hybrids that vary in flower colour between yellow and deep orange.

These plants are important for migratory birds.

The birds (warblers and others) go to town on the seeds of the firebush, and they are a good attractant for migratory birds to visit your area.

Hummingbirds frequent the flowers and the plant flowers most of the year. This is also a plant that I favour when allowed to grow freely rather than being constrained. They are easy to grow in pots or in the landscape.

Keep watching for snails, slugs, whiteflies, caterpillars and all the other culprits of garden balance that can wreak havoc on a cultivated veggie patch.

With rain comes snails for many of us. Snail bait is a good thing to have on hand if you face snail issues, but beer will do simply fine. Pour beer into a saucer or container several inches deep, and dig that down into the ground, it is a honey pit for snails and slugs. This is a good monitoring tool to keep an eye on the snail and slug populations.

All of these “pests” have their place in a naturalized, free growing garden, but must be managed in a cultivated setting. By growing plants such as yellow elder or firebush, both of which require no chemical intervention (scale et cetera have no ill effects on these plants, but they can look a little unsightly for a few weeks each year – hint – that’s a good time to prune!), we contribute to the greater health of our immediate environment. Get out there and get growing. As always, I wish you happy gardening!

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