The Lady Lunches, and Lunches, and Lunches...

To supplement a wretched week of reality bites, I've been breaking up the madness with some sweet foodie pauses around town this week with some buddies. Just when I get to the edge and think its time to fly outta here - Kingston gets sweeter.

 

First Stop - Cafe El Centro @ 8 Hillcrest Avenue

We had quite the yummy seafood gumbo, sandwiches, tea, and cookies,

all for the sum total of about $12!! Run there!

 

 

Next stop, just downstairs - the newly opened Uncorked.  A godsend really, since I'd been complaining endlessly about not finding anywhere to get my cheeses.  Well they have quite the selection of wine and a yummy cheese list that extends BEYOND smoked gouda, goat cheese logs, and gruyere.  

 
 For those of you who tweet - you can follow them here:
http://twitter.com/uncorked_ja

 

 
So not that anything's wrong with those selections, but I was happier than a pig in shit to sup on my purchases of Cantalet, Mahon, and Comte - along with smoked Marlin, and other pairing goodies. Yum! Such discoveries continue to endanger my commitment to board a return flight to New York...eek!

 

Met up with my darling Karin (YardEdge) at Suzie's Bakery - a sweet cafe with good coffee, sinful pastries, sandwiches, and Mediterranean fair. 

 

There are two locations: one in Orchid Patch Plaza at 20 Barbican Road, and the other in shops 1 & 2 Southdale Plaza on South Avenue.

 


Just had a super creative meeting with my BFF Steve Urchin (Brand New Machine Global) - looking a bit funny in this shot, and talented sound engineer/composer, Sawandi, at Bookophilia - a sweet bookshop with yummy cupcakes, cookies, and a great reading selection from local and international authors.

 
 Located at 92 Hope Road, Suite 1

 
 You can also look 'em up on their Facebook group page
and fan page

 

 

After such treats I'm REALLY excited about the weekend.  

Loving my Jamaica. 

Sent from my BlackBerry® device from Digicel

Condensed Milk

It's been a LONG break since my last post and I'm not even coming back at you with a production of philosophical rantings with fotos right now. I've been back in Jamaica for just under 2  weeks and the blessings have been so delicious that I just had to jot down a condensed sweet n' creamy report of recent fortunes.  

Upon arrival I received my copy of the recently released Jamaica Fi Real: Beauty, Vibes and Culture - a book written about Jamaican history, culture, and contemporary life on the island by Kevin O'Brien Chang.   I submitted a couple shots to Randle Publishers earlier in the year, just a couple images I had lying around really - some of which were taken with my little (now old) Canon Powershot S1000 point + shoot.  Anyway the book features about 200 fotos and illustrations - and they printed two of mine.  SWEET!

Original - cliK for a larger view

One as the first foto page...
(Taken in Port Antonio, 2007) 

Original - cliK for Larger View

...and the other as the Introduction page (which also appears on the back cover)  Yay!!
(Taken @ Hellshire Beach, Kingston, 2010)





For more info on this book or where to buy it check these links:

•CVM TV Interview with writer Kevin O'Brien Chang 
•JA LITERATURE BLOG 

JAMAICA GLEANER ARTICLES: 
•Highlighting The Nation's Positives
•ARTS + LEISURE: Understanding 'Jamaica Fi Real'
•CHAT BOUT Blog

Check these sellers:
•Jamaica Fi Real from AMAZON BookSellers  
•Bookophilia, 92 Hope Road, Kingston
•Fontana, in Savanna-la-mar, Mandeville, and Montego Bay

 ...

Right - Dyllese, Left Steve, and me, freaked with glee!

The co-conspirators - heehee ;)

Then...my best friends Dyllese(UK)and Steve (GLOBAL) threw me a surprise bday party (in JA) at which a good handful of dear friends were in attendance.  Everyone kept the damn secret via email and a FB group page!  I was so shocked I couldn't stop breaking sweats all night.  haha.  And I keep going on about this because I still can't believe they pulled it off.  To be so actively loved is to be truly blessed.  Endless gratitude and creamy yum!!  :)

...

Berette Macaulay Neue Rootz - Marisa Willoughby-Holland Uprising

After partying LITERALLY all night, I dragged my hung-over ass to the opening of the National Biennial @ the National Gallery of Jamaica the next morning.  I kind of waded through the whole show in a condensed mix of extreme nervousness, nausea, and hazy euphoria.  The two works from my Neue Rootz series seemed to be well received, and really, what more can a girl ask for?!  My childhood friend and ridiculously talented painter, Marisa Willoughby-Holland, also had a piece in the show - and it was great to experience doing one of these things with a close gal-pal. 

(Btw I will also have photo books of all the black and white portraits from Neue Rootz on sale at the gallery, and through an online store - more on that in another post.)

See YardEdge Interview I did with Marisa a couple years ago.  Her work is MINT!

 

...

  

And now...B A H A M A S!!!

Photo Source Link

Extra Rich, Sweet n' Creamy 

;)

The Wanderer: An Old Path to Renewal

A few days ago I did myself the therapeutic favour of visiting an old friend and explorer, Colette Garrick, owner of THE WANDERER* - a peaceful and alluring  haven of colour, art, ancient metals and jewels, pottery,and crystal wonder.

She - a beautiful, inquisitive, and generous spirit.  For years, Colette's nomadic journeys have sparked local interests in the decorative pieces and amulets she collects from cultures around the world; hence 'the wanderer'.

When I was in high school I spent so much time here, and also spent much of my student fortune on crystals and silver rings that I collected seemingly by the pound.  

Having lived away for so long now, I've drifted far from so many aspects of my past.  It was truly a soulful treatment to pass through these gates again, and I walked out with a spirit quartz (from South Africa) and a colour treated Aqua Aura - scintillating stones believed to be imbued with the energy of peace, purity, and community...to keep clear the channels of creativity. Score!

The extra treat was this painting by Kacey Ferguson.  I HAD to get it.  His technique is incomprehensible, but it was his imagination I found to be absolutely irresistible.

I learned too that Colette grew up under the thumb of the recently deceased Albert Huie (1920-2010), known as the "father of Jamaican painting".  She shared a cathartic goodbye/thank you letter she wrote after his passing, which brought to life a couple of odd memories I had of him: his smooth knocked knees always revealed by his long working plaid shorts, and

the pronounced angle of his right forefinger knuckle - made permanent from years of pressing the paint brush to the canvas.


I didn't know him well, but I did spend 1 year of my life sitting for him every Saturday when I was 18.  Me, a figdety troublesome subject who refused to remove my panties, and him a jovial and patient older artist excited by youthful energy, yet unrushed by it.

I wanted to share this some time ago, but I decided against it after hearing of his death. And, well, there was great trepidation about posting the nude too - though Huie's impressionistic nudes have always been celebrated here.  

Anyway, dear Colette furrowed those distinctively arched brows of hers and instructed I post away.  And as another friend added, "If you are feeling like you want to put the Huie paintings up on your blog, don't let your tits get in the way. :-)" Haha - thanks Justin! Here goes:

Albert Huie nude and portrait

*If you're ever in Kingston, Jamaica, you must visit THE WANDERER:

3 Queensway, Kingston 10, Tel. 876-926-6071

Also hit the link at the top for a YardEdge interview with Colette. 

NB. Photographer of Huie pic unknown.


 

Birthday Gallery Soiree ThanXX

Rich are we to be loved.  Damn X-cessive and Xtravagant to be loved by many. You all made me into a Double X Diva. 

Thanks for swimming thru the puddles to come celebrate with me, and um, sorry about the lack of photo editing - had to get 'em up fast. Hope you enjoy them as I did. 

Photos by: Marlis Momber, John Mazlish, and moi.

Works exhibited by Avery Daily, Yxia Olivares, and moi!  :)

Odic Birthday Message from a dear friend

God looked down admiringly, exclaimed "Nothing could be fine-ah!"
"Than the sassy smart and sweet lil babe I just forced out that vagina!"
She knew not then her destiny nor recalled the moment prior
When God had asked her to descend to stir up quite a fire
"Blaze not with rage but warmth and light for this is what is needed"
"It will take some time to figure out, to get the garden weeded"
So, each year, when the day arrives that marks your popping out
Know you are light and not mistakes, and know this with no doubt


by Mark Pergola
 
Thank you Marky-boo!  I love you SO MUCH!

This just makes me happy...

...everytime I watch it. It's simple, silly, and innocent. I love it!






1 COMMENT FOR THIS ENTRY


Tammicita

I LOVE IT!!!!! ONE LOVE

Tammy

Posted by Tammicita on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 12:13
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