12102021 WEEKEND

Friday, December 10, 2021

interview literary lives gardening history food puzzles animals

Weekend

Experience Italy Page 08 + 09

Going places Designer uses old sailcloth to craft modern accessories

pgs 04 +05

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 10, 2021

food

The natural approach

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

O

n his mission to one day break free from his ‘9 to 5’, Omar Micklewhite has one major advantage: he’s extremely knowledgeable about local plants and Bahamian ‘bush medicine’.

Omar is now using this knowledge to make his dreams of owning a business come true.

Located in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, his Tri Tu brand of health drinks is flourishing.

Before opening his current stall where he serves both drinks and food, Omar operated out of a tent near his home with only a grill.

“I always wanted to do this because of the people who came to me and complained about health issues. They know I am known to make natural drinks so they wanted various bush medicines for ailments that they would have,” he told Tribune Weekend.

Omar’s knowledge of plants comes from years of first-hand experience and from working as a staff member at a local levy preserve.

“I have persons who speak to me about high blood pressure and they want something to keep the pressure down. They just want natural drinks on the whole that they can keep at home and drink every day. They are trying to use more healthy sugars and get themselves away from the white sugars. These days people want natural remedies to everything. Even though the drinks are tasty, they are even more popular for their medicinal values here at Tri Tu’s,” he said.

“I even spoke to persons with sleeping issues.

And my popular drink for that is called the green cap. Another popular one is my moringa juice infused with celery, green apple, cucumber and green bush; people love this as well. I add fruits to the bush drinks just so they can also be more pleasurable to the taste.”

While he initially started his brand with solely drinks, he has expanded to offer healthy, local food options as well.

“If you see my sign at the back here at our new location, it still stays Tri Tu’s Natural Drinks, but I wanted more. I added roasted corn, fried fish, grilled sweet potato, fried plantains and sea moss salads just to bring the diversity,” said Omar.

“I’ve been taking care of the property here where Tri Tu’s is now located and that is how I moved from the previous location to where I am now. The atmosphere at Tri Tu’s is carefree and I think people love the space. It is so close to my home to the point where I can just walk inside if I need anything, which is great. I have electricity, water and light and I am content here. I am not being taxed here, I am just keeping the grounds attractive and clean.”

Tri Tu’s is usually open on Tuesdays and Fridays, but Omar is looking to maybe open on Sunday afternoons as well.

“I try to come out on boat freight days where I can get my products freshly in. Those are the only

TRI Tu’s

SUPERFOOD irishmoss salad

TRI Tu’s Natural Drinks

OMAR Micklewhite days I can get fresh corn on the island here,” he said.

Speaking of Tri Tu’s best-sellers, Omar said roasted corn is a big hit with tourists especially, as they aren’t very familiar with how locals usually prepare the fried fish.

“They don’t want the whole head and eyes on the fish; they are expecting a more fillet kind of fish. Sometimes after they give it a try, they

become new fans of this type of whole grilled fish.

They never heard of the sea moss and once I take the time to explain the products and even speak about our native fruits to my customers, they always come back for more. There are corn spots all over the United States, so they are quite familiar with that. When they hear sea and Irish moss salads, it sounds a bit yucky, but once they try it, I always gain new customers and positive feedback.

I love that all my products have health benefits and medicinal value,” he said.

For the new year, Omar has plans to make Tri Tu’s Natural Drinks into an island attraction.

“I want to have benches put in the space and make it more of a sit-down setting… I also want to expand into adding a kitchen space on the property…The way I see myself in a few years, I see this place with umbrellas, swing sets - a whole attraction,” he said.

The Tribune | Weekend | 03

Friday, December 10, 2021

Weekend Inside

My perfect Bahamian Christmas

Emily Williams Entertainer

Weekend trade fair to showcase best of the Bahamas This weekend, artisans will be able to show off their high-quality, locally made products - which could be making their way to the new redeveloped Port of Nassau during the first Authentically Bahamian Trade Fair.

Taking place on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm, in the Grand Ballroom at Atlantis, the event seeks to connect vendors who will populate the future Nassau Cruise Port’s Authentically Bahamian Marketplace with suppliers and producers of Bahamian products, including art and crafts, straw goods, jewellery, wood work, sundry items, clothing, and shell work, to name a few.

The event, hosted by the Nassau Cruise Port Ltd (NCPL) in conjunction with the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC), also hopes to facilitate networking and engagement opportunities between artisans, market entrepreneurs and wholesale producers from the hotel and cruise industry with owners and operators of tour companies, attractions, restaurants and the like.

Family Island participants are especially encouraged to take part in the trade fair to showcase their unique, Bahamian-made products. The fair is open to the public so that Bahamians, visitors and residents can stop by and see, and shop, for themselves amongst the vast, diverse array of high-quality authentically Bahamian products handmade in the Bahamas by talented

Q: What is your favourite Christmas movie? “ ‘A Knight Before Christmas’. It’s a beautiful love story.”

Q: Real tree or artificial tree?

“Definitely a real tree.

It scents the house right up with that lovely Christmas pine scent.”

Q: Fruit cake or rum cake?

“Rum cake, especially Bacardi rum cake. It’s consistent, you can always find it year-round

and creative entrepreneurs.

As the transformation of one of the busiest seaports in the

region, advances, one of the steps prefacing the redevelopment’s opening is the establishment of an Authentically Bahamian Advisory Committee.

As the redevelopment aims to infuse authentically Bahamian elements and experiences into the port offering, including an Authentically Bahamian Marketplace, NCPL and BAIC have invited key public and private stakeholders, representing a variety of relevant organisations, to sit on the advisory committee.

Well-known culturalist Pam Burnside, who is an active

member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and president of Creative Nassau, will chair the committee along with other members, namely: Ed Fields and Amanda Freedman, Nassau Cruise Port Ltd; Debbie Strachan, BAIC; Suzanne Pattusch, BHTA/Tru Tru Bahamian; Samantha Rolle, SBDC Access Accelerator; Kirk Deleveaux and Eldena Cartwright, Festival Place Association; Janet Johnson, TDC, and Bernadette Bastian, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation.

and it’s Bahamian.”

Q: What is your dream Christmas gift?

“A trip to Hawaii. I’ve never been there. I like it because it’s tropical. I think most people dream about going there.”

Q: If you had to spend Christmas somewhere other than home, where would it be?

“Other than home, Canada, so I could experience a real white Christmas.”

The committee’s overarching mandate is to develop, implement and maintain organisational infrastructure, including operational guidelines, protocols, quality and authenticity standards to ensure the Authentically Bahamian Marketplace showcases the best representation of “homegrown” offerings and depictions.

One of the first tasks that the Committee has embarked upon is this weekend’s Authentically Bahamian Trade Fair.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 10, 2021

interview

Nakia Wong She has proven to be just as durable and enduring as the sailcloth she works with to make merchandise and art. The Hope Town resident tells Cara Hunt how she and her team survived both Hurricane Dorian and COVID to come out on top while also giving back to the community.

N

akia Wong literally turned trash into treasure after she discovered discarded boat sails in her backyard.

She used the sails to start a new business – W Sailbags – at Hope Town Canvas and Harbour Island Canvas, selling 100 percent authentic Bahamian products.

And with two devastating blows affecting the community in recent years, her company has also been at the forefront of helping people in need.

“Our company started out of inspiration from a stack of old sails in our backyard here in Hope Town,” she told Tribune Weekend.

“My husband’s grandfather owned and operated Hope Town’s first sailboat charter company in the 70s. That business dissolved but the sails remained.

The Tribune | Weekend | 05

Friday, December 10, 2021

“I’ve always loved to create and repurpose things, so taking trash to treasure seemed perfectly doable.

At the time I had never even sewn, but creating came naturally. I was awarded the art award for my high school graduation from St Augustine’s College. I’m a proud SAC’er.”

Nakia made the successful leap of faith to turn her creative idea into a thriving business.

“I also had a full-time career already started and was managing Home Fabrics Abaco. I was surrounded by the sewing world, so I decided I needed to learn,” she said.

“I always remember watching my mom sew too. She’d make my school uniforms and I was always interested.”

In February of 2013, at age 33, Nakia decided to take a very bold step.

“I decided I would quit my job, learn to sew, make one-of-a-kind sail bags and get married. That December we had our first official collection and it was a success,” she said.

Nakia said what makes the company unique is that they make every one of their items unique.

“That in itself is our signature.

We blend the feel of Hope Town, my hand-drawn designs and the best materials to make unique art pieces that are incredibly durable and made for use,” she said.

“All of the stencil designs on our bags all start as original drawings.”

Nakia said their products are 100 per cent Bahamian and so she makes sure that all of the products feature elements that are traditional to the Bahamas, such as the ‘242’ code, the blue marlin, flamingo and other classic and cultural inspired motifs.

The Lighthouse Collection is a special tribute to Hope Town.

And the company is very ecofriendly as it utilises both new and recycled sailcloth.

Nakia said they have grown considerably over the past eight years.

“From learning to sew on my kitchen table to having a team of 15; we’ve learned a lot, and our product has improved with each new collection,” she said.

The key to success, in her opinion, is to use only the best materials, have an original idea and have a hard-working team to implement it.

On top of that you have to have the desire to provide customers with a wonderful, authentically Bahamian shopping experience.

“We also have an entire pet collection named Sailor Dog, offering dog collars and leashes. We are so

blessed to do what we love to do and call it work,” she said.

However, like all of the businesses on Abaco, she suffered a setback due to Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

“Hurricane Dorian devastated our island of Hope Town and all of

Abaco. Going through a tragedy like that changes everything so quickly,” she said.

“We had just come off of our best year ever to losing our livelihoods for the foreseeable future. We were incredibly fortunate, while many

others weren’t, that our studio and storefront building in the settlement of Hope Town were miraculously still standing strong after the storm passed. It became our family’s storage for everything we could salvage after losing three family homes.”

This gave Nakia and her team a way forward.

“I knew with our manufacturing studio intact, we had to get back to work. Unfortunately, most of our employees had been displaced. The months following Hurricane Dorian we worked endlessly to make a way for our employees to get back on island and back to work. We provided housing for several of them for months. We kept several of them working even while displaced,” she said.

“At the same time, we knew our Hope Town market would be quiet for some time so we made a huge leap and decided to open a second storefront in Harbour Island, Eleuthera, to offset the retail loss back at home.”

Unfortunately, fate had further challenges in store for them.

“Our grand opening was a week before COVID changed our lives again. During the beginning stages of the pandemic, we kept our sewers employed by making masks for the entire community of Abaco,” said Nakia.

“Initially, we made and donated over 500 masks to our local Hope Town community. We were also contacted by a wonderful organisation, Idea Relief, that had been instrumental from the onset of Dorian through the pandemic and made over 3,500 masks for all government school kids.”

It may have been a rough few years, but Nakia is thankful that things are slowly getting to normal.

“Two years later, both storefronts are open and thriving, employees are back to work and we are continuing to make our authentic and original Bahamian made sail bags,” she said.

And Nakia is happily looking towards the future.

“We have a lot of expansion in mind still. Our brand continues to grow throughout the Bahamas and in select boutiques Stateside. For the past few years, we’ve expanded to sell our product through other Bahamian boutiques and vendors and next year we hope to gain a few more. We offer wholesale to select markets. We’re very excited for the future,” she said.

27 Heard contest was twofold (4) 28 Rules about alien figures (10)

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

7 8 4 6 9 2 3 5 1

Friday, Across: 1December Behaviour, 7 Aiming, 10, 2021 9 Comical, 10 Tsar, 12 ETA, 13 Plovers, 14 Red, 15 Shod, 17 Strange, 19 Access, 20 Character.

Down: 1 Bacteria, 2 Eros, 3 Hum, 4 Vice versa, 5 Images, 6 Units, 8 Grandeur, 11 Roster, 13 Peach, 16 Ogle, 18 Nut.

f t o HG t nr i

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

● 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.

Verb forms ending in s permitted.

TODAY’S TARGET Good 16; very good 24; excellent 32 (or more). Solution on Monday

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

BATTLESHIPS CRYPTIC PUZZLE Down 1 Clearly write a note according to fact (8) 2 Its contents go to pot (3,5) 3 Party rising in power in old Scandinavia (4) 5 One withdraws before the wine is served (6,6) 6 Calm yet just quits (4) 7 They make light of upsets (6) 8 The extent to which undergraduates work (6) 11 How an actor gradually gains experience? (5,2,5) 15 Loopy sort of topic (5) 16 Piece of land is on lease (5) 18 Pole is fired and insulted (8) 19 He struggled to maintain faith in the past (8) 21 Way in which a girl is taken in by a man (6) 22 Get off - it’s on fire (6) 26 He comes from Constantinople - or Istanbul (4) 27 Over 501 (4)

Across 1 Base character in Shakespeare (6) 4 Persistently preoccupied Bess does wrong (8) 9 Type inclined to be emphatic (6) 10 Driving one around the bend (8) 12 Try to catch what’s said (4) 13 Stop running and stand (5) 14 Stick with it (4) 17 Exchanging gold is enough for accommodation (7,5) 20 He cheats - by giving two cards instead of one? (6-6) 23 Friend totally childless (4) 24 He introduces us to the girl (5) 25 Agnes loses heart and grows old (4) 28 Patching battered headgear (8) 29 Ran away and got locked up (6) 30 Possibly reunites trains (8) 31 Offer to be a watchman (6)

1

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10 11

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Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Rajah, 4 Trumpet, 8 Dry, 9 Sea change, 10 Charade, 11 Noble, 13 Likely, 15 Regard, 18 Party, 19 Orleans, 21 Embattled, 23 Owl, 24 Suspect, 25 Essay.

Down: 1 Radical, 2 Jaywalker, 3 Hosta, 4 To a tee, 5 Unhinge, 6 Pen, 7 Theme, 12 Be at a loss, 14 Layette, 16 Display, 17 Goblet, 18 Press, 20 Ladle, 22 Bus.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Boast, 4 Dilemma, 8 Rib, 9 Task force, 10 Illness, 11 Odium, 13 Ringer, 15 Stalks, 18 Bleat, 19 Call for, 21 Soon after, 23 Nap, 24 Thistle, 25 Clyde.

Down: 1 Barrier, 2 Ambulance, 3 Title, 4 Desist, 5 Left out, 6 Mar, 7 Abeam, 12 Idle fancy, 14 Extract, 16 Scruple, 17 Scathe, 18 Beset, 20 Lyric, 22 Obi.

EASY PUZZLE

Across 1 Opera by Bizet (6) 4 The advantage (4,4) 9 Port in northeast Italy (6) 10 Protesting angrily (2,2,4) 12 Central part of a church (4) 13 Of first-rate ability (5) 14 Stimulus (4) 17 An emphatic refusal (7,5) 20 Refuse to listen (4,1,4,3) 23 Accustomed (4) 24 Up and about (5) 25 Sudden shock (4) 28 Something done very easily (8) 29 Cease to occupy (6) 30 Firmly determined (8) 31 Disquiet (6)

Down 1 A binding agreement (8) 2 Restore to good condition (8) 3 Every one (4) 5 Morbid anxiety over health (12) 6 Horse of small breed (4) 7 Curt (6) 8 Allay suspicions of (6) 11 Be deliberately slow (4,4,4) 15 Confusion (3-2) 16 Done without warning (5) 18 Revealing (8) 19 To bully (8) 21 Unusually plentiful (6) 22 Against (6) 26 Lacking cordiality (4) 27 Principal (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

2

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3 3

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0

THe ALPHAbe

black squares: 1, 3, 6, 8, 25, 31, 35, 38, 39.

Across: Dinner, Jacket, W Effervesces, Jives, Topaz Emu, Ritzy, Hotbed, Crisp Down: Detox, Quash, Nob Wafts, each Rye, Incriminate, Alphabeater? grid A Kingcup, Seeks, Thugs, Q

THE ALPHABEA

TARGET 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.

A N E K W K N I C B D M Q M I C R O W I N D O W B E W

1 4 8 9 7 5 6 2 3

SMALL CroSSWorD

4

3

1 x Battleship

3 x Destroyer

2 x cruiser

4 x submarine

2

TArGeT

cAn you crack the number represents a letter – or black square.

CroSS As in Alphapuzzle, every letter of the DoubT alphabet Across: QUEUE is used. But you have to complete the grid too!

Down: SEALS use the given letters and black squares below SuMMiT uP the grid to start. the grid is ‘rotationally 90 and 94 symmetrical’ – in other words, it looks the same if you turn the page upside down.

Solution on Monday

uNDerTAke aunt daunt denature denture drunk duet duke dune dunk dunker endue endure enure enured etude eureka nature neuter nude nuke nuked rude rued rune runt tenure tenured true trued trunk tuna tundra tune tuned tuner tureen turn turned under UNDERTAKE unrated unread urea

A 31 10 5 2 B C 38 13 16 35 D E 34 3 15 17 F G 27 6 39 27 H I 27 23 16 4 J K 29 5 21 10 L M Yesterday’s 25 33 21 35 N Kakuro O 34 20Answer 34 3 P Q 6 12 1 6 R S 27 15 11 4 T U 35 9 14 32 V W 38 10 20 13 X Y 36 37 31 38 Z 1

2

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■ 25

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● Alternatively, for six Extra Letter clu text DXBEAT to 64343. Texts cost £1 plus y

KEIJO 3 1 1

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The Tribune | Weekend | 07

Friday, December 10, 2021

food

New cake shop ‘born out of pain, but built on love’

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

A

business inspired by two tragic losses, the confectionary brand It’s Treat Time is now seeking to spread some happiness.

Owner Simone Coakley, who lost both her mother and her husband over the past two years, said the business may have been born out of pain, but it is built on love.

The idea for It’s Treat Time was first inspired by a tribute Simone came up with for her recently deceased mother, who was also a passionate baker.

“With Mother’s Day 2020 approaching, I decided to honour her by using her baking tools to experiment in our kitchen and it just took off from there.

With the support of my loving and dedicated husband, I decided to introduce Mother’s Day treat boxes, and within an hour of posting about their availability, we were at our capacity,” Simone recalled.

“We realised immediately that there was significant interest in our creations and we decided to dedicate our extra time to nurturing this new adventure in our kitchen.”

At first, the business was run by both Simone and her husband, W Stanley Coakley, both financial services professionals in their day jobs. Simone was the creative mind behind the dessert ideas and Stanley, as the taste tester, was responsible for quality control.

Sadly, following a devastating illness, Stanley passed away a few months ago and Simone was left to carry on by herself.

She has risen to the occasion and hopes to now make It’s Treat Time the one-stop-shop for all your dessert, edible gift and custom treat needs.

Simone prides herself on not only delivering visually appealing creations, but also delicious tasting ones.

“We are dedicated to personal one-on-one service to our clients and tailoring every treat to suit every occasion, palate and lover of exquisite sweets,” said Simone.

It’s Treat Time offers a selection of cakes, cake pops and balls, brownies, chocolate-covered strawberries and Oreos, sugar cookies, and other seasonal items such as gourmet apples. They have also introduced caramel apples for the holiday season.

The apples all have a caramel base and are offered with the following toppings like pecans, peanuts and almonds, and in flavors such as chocolate, pina colada, strawberry shortcake and more.

“It’s all in the details. Our sweet treats stand out because of our attention to detail coupled with highquality ingredients,” said Simone.

“My new favourite have to be the caramel apples that we introduced last month. The tart flavour of the Granny Smith apple is the perfect balance for the caramel and the various toppings we have to offer.

The apples became an instant hit, and we didn’t plan

HAND-sculpted cake bite

CHRISTENING special

GOURMET apple

on launching them until December, but once we posted a few on our social media pages, the orders started rolling in.”

From a creative standpoint, however, Simone said her favourite treats to produce are cake pops.

“You’ll be amazed to know how much you can create with cake pop dough. The SIMONE Coakley with her daughpossibilities are endter and her late husband less. Our sculpted cake pops have ranged from seasonal shapes such as Christmas trees, pumpkins and airplanes, to intricate shapes such as hookahs; all made using cake and chocolate,” she said.

The business is home-based, with most clients picking up from a location in eastern New Providence where Simone has implemented safety protocols. It’s Treat Time also outsources delivery to a professional concierge service.

And Simone’s creations have not only been a success with locals; visitors have also placed orders after finding It’s Treat Time on Instagram.

“How awesome is that,” said Simone.

“For the remainder of 2021, we are focused on preparing for the Christmas season. At It’s Treat Time, we like prospective clients to see the quality of what they will receive when they order from us, so we establish preset gifting options for popular gifting seasons such as Christmas. We love for everyone to get in on the fun, so we have Christmas gifting options as low as $5 this year and we have introduced few new items, including a completely edible Christmas cake bite and Oreo ornament, as well as gourmet apples.”

You can check out It’s Treat Time on Instagram @ itstreattime and on Facebook at “Its Treat Time”.

Feel free to also contact Simone by email at itstreattime242@gmail.com or WhatsApp at 376-6281/376-6283.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, December 10, 2021

gardening

Contrast and colour – Foliage, flowering and mutants

G

ood day, gardeners.

Continuing on from the contrast and colour created by using plants such as silver buttonwood and poinsettias, how do we get more contrast and colour into our homes, patios and garden spaces?

The standard choices often include bougainvillea, poinciana, hibiscus, orchids, and a handful of others. In these upcoming cooler months, we have more options in the form of coleus (perennial), impatiens, marigolds, begonias, petunias, and a slew of other annuals or biennials that can be used in containers indoors or on patios, and also to brighten up even the shadiest of spots in the garden.

Apartment or condo dwellers can easily add colour into their homes by utilizing windowsill or patio spaces if it is facing east, south or west. Northfacing windows and patios are a bit more difficult as there is less available natural light, but they too have options, mostly in the form of foliage colour from plants that tolerate a lower light situation such as crotons, dieffenbachia, aglaonema, spathiphyllum, dracaena, philodendron, spider plants, etcetera. Many of these foliage plants are purported to have good air filtering capabilities to clean toxins out of an indoor space.

One of my favourite flowering shrubs that is easily grown in containers or in the ground goes by a wonderfully woody word: dombeya

(species). Multiple pink flowers on a large textured, easy to grow, relatively fast-growing shrub, the dombeya is suited for full sun or part shade. It is one of the closest things that we can grow that resembles the Hydrangea of more northern climes, but it differs in that it is more drought tolerant, and it is longer flowering (most of the year in the Bahamas).

As with anything, the dombeya is susceptible to decline when over watered, or when left too dry. No plant needs to be watered twice a day in typical conditions, and dombeya is no exception. When planting in the ground, provide ample water when planting. After planting or potting up, treat it similarly to bougainvillea or hibiscus by fertilizing when needed and watering to prevent drying. Do not water so much that the ground or planting media remains wet, allow to dry somewhat between watering.

How often one fertilizes any plant whether in containers or in the ground depends entirely upon the fertilizers used, liquid is entirely different in its available nutrient release than granular is, and qualities cover all ends of the spectrum from low to high. Not all fertilizers are worth their salt. Foliage and flowering shrubs are an easy way to add colour, it’s almost Christmas, cheer and joy can be given or shared through plants too!

For the apartment or condo dweller, an extremely easy option for windowsills or patios is grafted cactus which brings us to the mutant that I mention in the heading.

Gymnocalycium mihanovichii is a colorful cactus native to Paraguay and parts of Argentina that mutated to create offspring which produces no chlorophyll and hence cannot survive past the seedling stage on its own roots. Someone got the brilliant idea to take these mutants and graft them onto a completely different genus of plant, typically species of hylocereus (the genus that gives us dragon fruit) to allow their survivability. Grafted cacti are great for beginners as they require little to no care. The general rule of thumb with these mutant beauties is to resist the

A GRAFTED cactus urge to water and simply let them be! I lose a lot of these when there are heavy rains and they are left out in the elements, as they are highly prone to a rapid death when the media retains a high moisture content. This is why they are excellent for indoors, even watering once a month is risky!

When watering a grafted cactus, do so very sparingly and in small quantities. Do not allow the soil to become fully saturated, especially in cooler months or lower light situations. So, depending on the situation there are always alternatives to the typical flowering trees and shrubs or foliage.

Our islands are very green and using plants to brighten things up is easier in the cooler months than in the heat of summer. Create some contrast in your home, office, or garden space by using plants to enhance your immediate environment. Are you composting yet? Veggies in the ground or in containers? Now is as good a time as any to grow food, flowers, and foliage. I wish you all success in your gardening tasks and goals. 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.

The Tribune | Weekend |11

Friday, December 10, 2021

shopping

Holiday gifting made simple with “More Things” pop-up shop

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

S

hops can be few and far in between in the Family Islands, but locals looking to secure fab finds this Christmas are in luck, because gift buying has just been made a lot simpler.

A group of small business owners and brands are collaborating on the island of Eleuthera for the More Things - The Ultimate Shopping Experience Pop-Up Shop to make finding that perfect gift easy this holiday a season.

More Things is an outdoor market that will feature small businesses selling locally made goods, apparel, accessories, home décor, holiday pastries, games, food and more.

Talk of The Tee Boutique is one of the organisers, in conjunction with Tri Tu’s Natural Drinks and Pivotal Flow Advisors. The event will take place on Friday, December 17, and on Saturday, December 18, on Cupid’s Cay in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera.

This pop up experience seeks to provide an opportunity for islanders to find all the things they need for their family and friends this Christmas.

It’s also an opportunity for the small business owners to gain more awareness for their brands.

“What I love about small businesses and brands that are based on online shopping only, I like to see them branch out and take chances, like being a part of or solely hosting a pop-up shop,” said a representative from Talk of the Tee Boutique.

“People became so bold and so loud (during the pandemic) with their ideas and I absolutely love it.

I am a big cheerleader of persons who just decide to go for it. People sit on ideas all the time and just let them die, but 2020 and 2021 have taught us all to develop a Nike mentality and ‘just do it’. After all, it is better to try and fail than not try at all.

It feels good to be a part of something so special and beneficial as this pop-up shop on the island where all vendors involved grew up. Everyone is so excited to be a part of this new experience in Governor’s Harbour Eleuthera.”

Vendors featured in the pop-up event, besides Tri Tu Natural Drinks and the Talk of The Tee Boutique, include Lorria Mena’s Boutique which specialises in underwear, lingerie and pyjamas for ladies; Bahama Dimes, which offers quality human hair, wig caps, braiding and crochet hair, as well as skin and haircare products; Awesome Kitchen Supplies for all your kitchen needs; Cocojo which creates cocktails and mocktails from a variety of spirits made with local ingredients; B+B’s World of Fun which offers games like the old-fashioned hoopla; Refined Edges, which is best known for their 24-hour edge control products; Glamorous Girls, which offers accessories for kids; Crochet Bundles which specialises in pre-looped crochet hair; Re Marie Creations which offers holiday bakes and treats, and the Twice But Nice consignment clothing boutique. There will also be gift wrapping services available.

“What I like about this selection is that there is a little bit of everything in the shopping experience. You may have someone out looking to

purchase pots and pans and find themselves over to the lingerie section. Or someone looking for a custom T-shirt and end up getting their hair bundles at the same time. And while they are at it, grab a delicious cocktail over at Cocojo. That’s what I love; the diversity in the selection. We want you to just park your cars, take your time and walk around in an effort to support all vendors.

The parents are going to absolutely love the toy selections for the children, so we encourage them to bring the kids out in the safe and intimate space,” said one of the organizers.

This is the first pop-up shop organised by Talk of The Tee in Eleuthera, but organisers say it will certainly not be the last.

“While there are 12 vendors now and it is small, I see it growing and growing to a bigger festival setting,” they said.

“It provides a creative platform for small business owners to win. They are all winning in their own right, and an added initiative like this is even better. There have been so many tragic and horrible stories surrounding these past two years, we are just trying to do our part in creating positive headlines. We want persons to enjoy the holiday cheer all around and make it a day out at the More Things Pop-Up Shop. We are merry and in the festive mood. You may even see Santa Claus walking around the grounds.”

TALK of The Tee Boutique

TRI Tu’s

BAHAMA Dimes

GLAMOROUS Girls

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literary lives - James Baldwin (1924-1987)

Harlem’s famous ‘Native Son’ who tackled racial truths in America Sir Christopher Ondaatje writes about the American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and activist whose novels and essays explore intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western society – most notably in mid-twentiethcentury United States. “… Baldwin left Harlem to write about it. Aged seventeen, he moved a couple of miles downtown to the Bohemian quarter of the (New York) metropolis, Greenwich Village, and began to write ... he met Richard Wright, the leading African American novelist of the time ... radically left wing. Baldwin’s Harlem background is reflected in the powerful ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain’ (1953) – with which he made his name.

Realistic in tone, it draws on Richard Wright’s novel ‘Native Son’, and was, for its time, shockingly frank about race, sex and clashes of the two.”

- John Sutherland Lives of the Novelists (2011) James Arthur Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York, on August 2, 1924, the illegitimate son of Emma Berdis Jones, who left his biological father because of his drug abuse.

She never told him who his father was. Jones then married a Baptist

preacher, David Baldwin, and had eight children with him between 1927 and 1943. Jones also brought with him a son from a previous marriage.

The family was poor and Baldwin’s stepfather treated him much more harshly than his other children.

This stern persecution, combined with his intelligence, drove Baldwin to spend a great deal of his time in libraries. He was almost totally self-educated - with little more than a high school education, a member of an historically oppressed minority, and ashamed of his deviant sexual inclination. He achieved his extraordinary eloquence, and his vision of the world, from the Baptist Church.

He wrote his first article “Harlem – Then and Now” when he was thirteen, which was published in the school magazine. He was taunted and abused by New York police officers – something that continued in his teenage years and which he wrote about in his essays.

“I knew I was Black, of course, but I also knew I was smart. I didn’t know how I would use my mind, or even if I could, but that was the only thing I had to use.”

- James Baldwin Notes of a Native Son Baldwin attended P S 24 – a school on 128th Street in Harlem, and wrote the school song which was used until the school closed. He also wrote a play directed by a teacher. His early teen years were spent at Frederick Douglass Junior High School where he was influenced by Countee Cullen – a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance where he worked as editor of The Douglass Pilot. The future actor Brock Peters and the jazz pianist Bud Powell preceded him at the school. Later, at DeWitt Clinton High School, in the Bronx,

he worked as literary editor, together with Richard Avedon, the future fashion and portrait photographer, on the school magazine. However, he was not happy at school, disliking its racial bigotry.

In his middle teenage years, he followed his stepfather into the Pentecostal Church and became a junior minister, thinking it to be his true calling. But he came to realise that Christianity was hypocritical and racist and left the church, despite his family’s expectations, when he was seventeen and moved to the Bohemian quarter of Greenwich Village intent on writing. His church experience significantly influenced his outlook on the world and on his writing.

“Being in the pulpit was like working in the theatre; I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion worked. If the concept of God has any use, it is to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God can’t do that, it’s time we got rid of him.”

- James Baldwin The Fire Next Time Baldwin praised religion, however, for inspiring Black Americans to defy oppression. He left Harlem when he was seventeen, two years before his stepfather died of tuberculosis in 1943.

In Greenwich Village, Baldwin met Beauford Delaney, a modernist painter, who became a mentor to and convinced Baldwin that a Black person could be an artist. He wrote short stories and essays – later collected in Notes of a Native Son (1955). He also befriended Hollywood star Marlon Brando and for a while they roomed together. They remained friends for over twenty years.

During these late teenage years Baldwin realised that he was homosexual. Therefore, disillusioned by American prejudice against black people, and wanting to express himself – like creative African-American jazz musicians such as Sidney Bechet, Don Byas and Dexter Gordon – Baldwin left the United States when he was twenty-four to settle in Paris. He wanted to write outside of an African-American context, and be accepted not only as a Negro or a Negro writer, as well as to come to terms with his sexual ambivalence and the hopelessness of other young African-American men like himself in New York. Paris at that time was tolerant of gay men and of his open affair with the seventeen-year-old painter Lucien Happersberger – an imprisonable crime in the United States.

Baldwin’s Harlem background Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) draws

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Friday, December 10, 2021

on the leading African-American author Richard Wright’s book Native Son and, with his powerfully frank opinions of race and sex, made the young Baldwin’s name. His second novel Giovanni’s Room (1956) dealt explicitly with homosexuality.

“The white hero in ‘Giovanni’s Room (much criticised during his lifetime) released Baldwin from the artistically hobbling ‘protest novel’ ghetto ... There is a new level of art in his writing. ‘Giovanni’s Room’ enjoyed a ‘success de scandale’ in Anglo-Saxon markets less for the art than its taboo subject. It paved the way for Baldwin’s apocalyptic tract about insurgent negritude in the US, ‘The Fire Next Time’ 1963), and his more complicated treatment of the same theme in ‘Another Country’ (1962).”

than the America he wrote about.

Baldwin settled in Saint-Paul-deVence in the South of France in 1970.

Beauford Delaney, the artist, Fred Nall Hollis, and the actors Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier were his regular houseguests. So too were Baldwin’s musical friends: Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, Miles Davis and Ray Charles – for whom he wrote several songs.

BALDWIN with actress Vicky Tyson, ballet pioneer Arthur Mitchell and singer Harry Belafonte

- John Sutherland Lives of the Novelists (2011) Baldwin lived in France for most of his later life. His position on race was cruelly conflicted and he was a sexual rebel who could not take sides. He was seen and respected not just as an influential African-American writer but also as an influential emigrant writer because of his experiences outside the United States and the impact of these experiences on his life and writing.

He wrote several of his last works in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, including Just Above My Head (1979) and Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985).

It was also there that he wrote his famous “Open Letter to My Sister, Angela Y Davis”, in November 1970.

“All James Baldwin wanted was to be a white man’s bitch. He was a Negro – afraid of being a ‘N*gger’ but too smart to be an Uncle Tom.” - Eldridge Cleaver American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party

BALDWIN with famous folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan

Middle-class whites in America found Baldwin too angry; and he was treated suspiciously by AfricanAmericans who were uneasy about his sexual orientation. Baldwin’s later novels, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968); If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), and Just Above My Head (1979), dealing with African-Americanism did not have nearly the same impact as their predecessors.

James Baldwin’s final years were spent as an eminent professor at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and as an eminent expatriate in France – much more his home

“I’d read his books and I liked and respected what he had to say.

As I got to know Jimmy, we opened up to each other and became real great friends. Every time I went to southern France to play Antibes, I would always spend a day or two out at Jimmy’s house in Saint-Paulde-Vence. We’d just sit there in that great big beautiful house of his telling us all kinds of stories, lying our asses off ...

- Miles Davis Miles Davis: The Autobiography by Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe

BALDWIN with Hollywood actor and close friend Marlon Brando

James Baldwin died on December 1, 1987 suffering from chronic alcoholism and racked by stomach cancer. He was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, near New York City. He left an unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, a memoir of his recollections of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King. After his death, publishers McGraw-Hill took the unprecedented decision to sue Baldwin’s estate to recover the $200,000 advance they had paid for the book.

The lawsuit was dropped by 1990, and the manuscript forms the basis for Raoul Peck’s 2006 documentary film I Am Not Your Negro.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Lives of the Novelists (2011) by John Sutherland; and Talking at the Gates; A Life of James Baldwin (1991) by James Campbell.

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history

A very Bahamian dictionary

R

eading the introduction to ‘Dictionary of Bahamian English’ (1982) by Dr John A. Holm (19432015), with Dr Alison W. Shilling, each a former member to the COB faculty, made me think of the creators of the Oxford English Dictionary and the part played by an American, Dr William Chester Minor (1834-1920), as narrated in Simon Winchester’s 1998 book ‘The Surgeon of Crowthorne’.

The OED (originally referred to as ‘The Big Dictionary’) took almost 70 years to compile, starting on January 7, 1858. A host of volunteers read countless assigned books looking for words, and Minor contributed tens of thousands of words. His name is on the introduction of the OED. As a most-valued contributor, he was invited to the big celebratory party.

Only after he did not show up was it discovered that he was an inmate at Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire, England, serving a life sentence for murder.

Without the benefit of contributions from Dr Minor, the 5,200 entries in the excellent Dictionary of Bahamian English (DBE) are the result of four years of fieldwork and painstaking research into the English Creole, spoken by white and Black people in the Bahamas. They are words and expressions not found in the standard English of Britain and North America, and they cast a new light on of the origins of today’s Bahamians – from the American mainland, the British Isles and Africa.

Holm and Schilling hypothesise that because the Africans came from many different areas and had no single African language in common, they adopted simplified English for communication with the Europeans and with one another.

One important result is the loss of inflectional endings on words, replacing them with grammatical endings found in African languages. For example, adding a letter ‘s’ to many English nouns makes them plural, but it is common to hear Bahamians

say “two house” or, conversely, “one ants” and “one teeth”. When necessary, for clarity, plurality is expressed by adding “dem”, as in “de housedem” and “de fish-dem”.

Many words were borrowed from regional English and/or nautical English. One of these is is the word “duff”, which was made of dough and served on English ships, whereas the word “jook”, meaning stab, comes straight from Africa. A few years back, a woman was on trial in the Magistrate’s Court, charged with stabbing her husband. She pleaded not guilty, explaining that stabbing involves a downward movement of the arm, whereas she had used an upward movement and “jooked” him. If I remember rightly, she was convicted.

Here are some interesting sample entries from the DBE: • Act your head = use common sense.

• Beagle = nickname for a native of Cherokee Sound, Abaco • Cascate or cascade = vomit • Done-done = overcooked • Done-grow = short of stature; runty • Dream book = a book that translates dreamt images into lucky lottery numbers

• Jam up = (of vehicles) to collide, (of people) to fight

• Endeavour best = to do one’s endeavour best is to exert oneself to the utmost

• Kotty = got to; I kotty go home now • Lick spittle = gossip

• Ferruffle = to set upon with violence

• Member = remember

• Gattie = obliged to do something • Hoop = rim of a bicycle, rolled with a stick by children as a game • Iron taw = a steel ball, salvaged from an aerosol spray can and used to play marbles

PAUL C ARANHA

FORGOTTEN FACTS

• Nabel-string = umbilical cord; “My nabel-string bury in Adelaide.”

• Zinc = kitchen sink • For questions and comments, please send an e-mail to islandairman@gmail.com

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Friday, December 10, 2021

animals Animal matters Kim Aranha

M

aking a pet feel comfortable is something that is extremely important for the wellbeing of your family and the atmosphere in the household.

A pet is much like a person and has definite likes and dislikes. These preferences may not seem obvious to all “pet parents” and my advice is that you do your research and find out what the experts are suggesting. If you already have a pet then it is time to open your eyes and ears and understand what your pet is trying to tell you.

Body language is very important, and you can learn so much just by watching how your animal is responding.

I am not just speaking about dogs and cats, all pets, all animals, need a spot of their own where they feel they can retreat to safety and not be disturbed. This is especially important if you are have a small child. Your small person has to be taught that the puppy, dog, cat, kitten, parrot, hamster, or whatever, has an area that is his and is off limits to the child. There must be somewhere that the pet can go to be left in peace and alone. Yes, I know your child is perfectly wonderful (aren’t they all?) and would never bother or hurt the family pet. Well, you might know what hurts your pet, but do you really know what bothers him or her? Proud parents post photos of baby snuggling up to family pet who is trying to have a nap and I can tell by the look on that dog’s face that he is being intruded upon and baby should leave him alone. Ever heard of the saying “let sleeping dogs lie?”. Ever wonder where that came from? Probably from somebody who wouldn’t leave their pet alone and learned the hard way.

A bird needs an area not exposed in

Join the Adopt-A-Thon!

By The Bahamas Humane Society

O

PHOTO/LINDA GILL-ARANHA

Let sleeping dogs lie

PET OF THE WEEK

order to rest, a terrapin needs a rock to go under, a snake a spot behind a rock, and so does everyone else.

Dogs and cats are probably the most susceptible because they wander free around the house and are so adorable that people (big and small ) tend to take advantage of their good natures.

To be remembered though, is that no matter how good natured (as with humans), there is a boundary. There are days you do not feel as well, or chatty or sociable as usual, and you just want to get home and snuggle down in your favourite sofa, ditto in the animal world.

I have just returned from Delray

n December 10, 11 and 12, the Bahamas Humane Society will be holding a special ‘Adopt-A-Thon’ event.

Every dog and cat over six months old will be half price.

The first 30 dogs adopted will receive a free collar and leash.

Every adopter will receive a complimentary bag of pet food So get your applicaBeach, and every time I go over there I am impressed and touched by the way people take their animals everywhere.

On the “main strip” of Delray, Atlantic Boulevard, you bump into dogs of all sizes in the restaurants and shops. The animals are well behaved and are sociable, but I have noticed that when they settle under the table with their owners feet and legs to create a wall between them and the rest of the world, it is as if they are in their special space, somewhere to feel safe and protected from the movement and chaos around them.

In the home, a bed, strategically placed, is a must. Somewhere Fido A YORKIE finds some peace and quiet in a Delray Beach café retreating to his dog house.

tions in ASAP to be approved in time for the event. But remember, a pet is for life, not just for Christmas!

• The BHS Thrift Shop will be holding its annual Christmas jewellery sale on Saturday, December 11, from 10am to 2pm. Find something special for yourself or a loved one. All proceeds go to the BHS.

or Kitty can retreat to and be undisturbed. Again, whilst in Delray I always go to a little breakfast café and there is usually an elderly Yorkie who ambles around. This time I didn’t see him and was concerned about him, until I came upon him in his adorable dog house placed out of the way in the little café. He had taken himself off to his sanctuary; to be distanced from the noise and the café “rush hour” at breakfast. I took this photo of him but made a point of neither approaching his bed nor bothering him. I felt he had gone there to be on his own and I respected his unvoiced request to be left in peace.

Especially in a raucous house, with lots of people and kids, the family pet needs his territory: a spot behind a chair, under a desk or table, or in a corner.

It is essential to pay attention to what your animal is telling you. If you watch them, and care sufficiently for them, you will notice that they are actually sending you messages, the only problem is that they cannot articulate, they cannot use words that we can understand, but their body language says it all. Some humans just dispel the concept that their animal has thoughts, feelings and preferences, and those make the worst owners on earth.

Those are the owners who will never really enjoy the special bond between owner and animal, and they will miss out on a truckload of happy times.

The happier your pet is, the better friend and guardian he will be, so take time to look and listen

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