Mi amor, mi papa! 12/6/1934-8/28/2011

To whom do I owe the pleasure?

As I travel along the highway
Reflecting on this day
Thinking of you and your smile
And the things you use to say
The things that made you laugh
Your abilities and your many crafts
And when I'd answer your quotes
How you laughed and called me daft
In my reflection I see your face
In my actions some of your ways
In my heart a permanent place
Your strength, and your bowlers pace
Today above all others
I think of you and my brothers
Thankful that I still have my mother
But for a father there is no other
Your teachings will always be
A formidable part of me
It has helped shape my destiny
I am thankful for my history
Oh daddy how I miss you
Do you see the things I do
The words you said 'I'm proud of you'
And most of all 'I love you'
These are the things I savor
As with your loss I labor
But in those words I found favor
Trying to keep it all together
My light my joy is in knowing
That to us you were never owing
Time nor mercies unspent
You did it all your life well spent.
So today as I travel down this road
In my heart lays a heavy load
I had to pen these words to you
Saying daddy, today I miss you!

-- O. Lawrence
Aka NorDean Canvas

© 2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly prohibited.  

Tyrico Bay

Who says ‘beach’.  Feeling hot, hot, hot.  I want a sea bath.  Let’s go……

Well here we are on summer vacation, school is out, the place is hot, the mood is right.  My brother says that he has to go into Port of Spain to do some business and would like to know what we had planned for the day, since we were back to another day of schlepping Sherry (my daughter) to summer camp.  We had nothing planned.  He suggested Maracas or in particular, Tyrico Bay (knick named Indian bay by the locals).

After the popular Maracas Bay on the northern coast of Trinidad lies a bay called Tyrico Bay which is approximately nine (9) hundred meters long or half (1/2) of a mile.  This beach is best visited in the early morning, before it gets crowded as it is a small beach, and subject to many families with small kids.  The sands at Tyrico Bay are a greyish brown hue, quite beautiful.  The beach is manned by life guards between 11am and 5pm daily.  I do not know where the name ‘Tyrico’ came from, and my research didn’t afford information on such.  I wonder if it was of Amerindian origin, as many place names on the island are.

Tyrico Bay doesn’t have high waves, the water is very calm, waves maxing at three (3) feet.  My niece and nephew being three (3) and six (6) years old respectively would benefit from the calm waters, and so would my ten (10) year old son.  We agreed to meet at the beach and packed a cooler full of drinks, a Publix bag full of snacks, towels, sun block, and a fresh set of dry clothes to wear afterwards.  We donned our swimwear.

On the drive in, we stopped at a local vendor and bought a few bags of pineapple chow.  Almost ripe pineapples, sliced and seasoned with shadow beni or bandania (culantro), chives and pepper (if this vendor used salt, you could barely taste it, perfect for my HBP).  We got to Maracas, and met my brother, parked on the side of the street waiting for his wife and child who were using the facilities at that beach.  They came out and together we drove less than five minutes to our destination, Tyrico Bay.

We parked, by backing up under some foliage with the front of the automobiles facing the ocean.  This was indeed an ideal spot for changing our clothes afterwards.  I, with camera in hand, proceeded to the beach.  The water was clear, and even though it was already around eleven (11) in the morning, there weren’t many sea bathers.  The football (soccer ball) was taken out of the car and a little warm up session began, believe it or not this session included all family members from three (3) years old to seventy seven (77), fun times.

I noticed some folks setting up a tent on the beach, they had parked right below a coconut tree, and I thought to myself, how brave of them, because if a coconut fell out of that tree unto their car ‘crapeau smoke their pipe’ (local saying meaning no one can help them).  The tent was constructed and oh my goodness, out came two (2) massage beds and they too were assembled and placed under the tent.  The tent was adorned with mosquito netting, and a sign promptly went up offering massages and facials.  I did not see anyone venturing near the tent to receive any of the offered services, I only hoped that they were successful.

Along the beach came a young man selling beautiful bead and sea shell necklaces.  Alas, he had no change, else I would now be wearing an astonishing all white coral shell necklace that caught my eye.

We went into the water.  The water was crystal clear, calm, warm and very salty.  I wanted to show my son the things that I did with my father when I was his (my son’s) age.  Hmmmmm, who will help me.  Both my husband and brother swam away, saying “NO, you’re too heavy”.  How mean, I am not a ‘fatty bum bum’.  I wanted them to stoop so I could climb on to their shoulders and jump off making a bomb splash.  “STRUPES” (sound made whilst sucking your tongue against your teeth).  I finally persuaded them and my husband allowed me to use him first, up up and ‘woooooooooooo’ splash.  Simple delight marked my son’s face as he witnessed my splash and he wanted to try it, so did my three (3) year old niece, she has no fear of the water even though she is not yet able to swim.  We allowed them both to do it over and over again, alternating between dad and uncle.   They enjoyed this immensely.  My six (6) year old nephew on the other hand was not having it.  He preferred to lock his hands around my neck and tell me about how far out I was going, not caring whether my feet were touching ground or not.  “Aunty would you please go back in, closer to the shore aunty please”.  I complied, just a little, because geeeeze his hold was tight, he is “cough cough”, choking me.  Eventually I deposited him on the shore and he ran to his mother. One day I will get him to do it all, one day I surely will.

We enjoyed the water and reluctantly came out, because we were hungry, and the time to go back for my daughter Sherry, was fast approaching.  My brother, in his sheer brilliance creates all sorts of conveniences and when we go to the beach, he has these barrel type containers filled with water that he brings along.  Well he typically does this when he is travelling with his pickup and today having his car, I didn’t realize that he had a smaller container available with water.  He has outfitted this with an aquarium pump, which is connected to an invertor, connected to the car’s battery, a hose with a shower head, is connected in this barrel and serves as an outdoor shower for washing off after being in the salt water.  This convenience is really best for beaches with no facilities, and our parking location served ideal for rinsing off and changing to make our trek back down.  

Well this region is known for a particular food.  Bake and shark!  Bake – is a form of bread, but in this particular instance it refers to a fried bread.  The flour is typically kneaded using butter, and baking powder, and then rolled out into small circular like flat cakes, and placed into a cast iron pot of hot oil to be fried, the baking powder allows it to rise, and it will consistently do so if there is oil on the top as well as the bottom of the bake.  A variety of things are eaten with these fried bakes, but the Maracas region is known for the ‘shark’ filling.  Well the shark is typically fried shark, seasoned with local seasonings, breaded with corn meal or flour and fried.  There are a variety of condiments offered to put into your bake and shark, including, pineapple, shadow beni, tamarind sauce, ketchup, pepper, mango chutney, mustard, tartar sauce, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and more.

We stopped at one of the many vendors at Maracas Bay, I had bake and shrimp instead of shark and filled it with condiments, it was absolutely delightful, and quite frankly my mouth is watering anew typing this post.

It was a wonderful day and we have some shots to prove it.

--NorDean Canvas

© 2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly prohibited. 

The Emperor Valley Zoo - Trinidad

Port of Spain, the capital of my beautiful republic of Trinidad and Tobago is home to the Emperor Valley Zoo.  Once again we were presented with a period of schlepping, our daughter this time, to summer camp and wanting of a time waster, lollygagger, shooting the breeze moment.  Well our daughter claimed that she had no interest in the zoo, as she was all zoo’d out, having visited several like locations stateside.  Our son, on the other hand, is absolutely intrigued by animals, and in his mind the promise of adventure.

If I may, I would like to indulge you a little, on my island’s history and some facts on the capital city of Trinidad.  Port of Spain, even though our nation’s capital is the third largest municipality on the island of Trinidad, placing after the southern location / city of San Fernando, where I reside, and the central location / city of Chaguanas.  The city of Port of Spain is our hub for commerce, retail and administration, and serves as the financial mecca of the Caribbean.   Two of the largest banks in the region find home in Port of Spain.  This city became our capital in 1757 preceded by ‘San Jose de Oruna’ (Saint Joseph).  Cumucurapo (place of silk cotton trees) was the name of the Amerindian fishing village where Port of Spain was founded.

The Emperor Valley Zoo is located right next door to the Botanical Gardens in Port of Spain, Trinidad and occupies 7.2 acres, utilizing the original foliage and flora of the area.  It tries to capture a wilderness atmosphere and appeal by keeping the woodsy effect in its pathways, fences and buildings.  The name came from the Morpho or Emperor Butterfly that is indigenous to this valley.  The Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago which was founded in 1947 brought this zoo into existence in 1952.

We pulled into the parking lot and was greeted by the parking attendant to whom I said “d pahken fuh d zoo is here?”, and he replied “yes”, pointing off to our left.  We pulled in and parked and my husband approached said attendant for the parking ticket, I do not know what he said to the attendant, but whatever it was, it gave the attendant the impression that my husband is a ‘foreigner’.  My husband could actually walk to the home he grew up in (where his dad still resides), in Belmont from the zoo.  I think it was his GA ‘new’ bred southern hospitality “Thank you sir” that did the trick.  The parking attendant chuckled and said “you must’ve lived outside”.  So I asked “wheh is d entrance?”, and he pointed us in the correct direction and my son’s adventure began.

We paid for our tickets (“leh me geh two adult, one chile an’ ah senior citizen please”).  We entered.  I looked at my mother and her face lit up when presented by the first exhibit, I wondered to myself, who is going to enjoy this more, my son or my mother?  It was sweltering, and although I donned a pair of shorts, I knew that sweating would prevail shortly.  I pursed my lips, letting my top lip hover over the bottom and blew, expelling air and making a non-whistling air sound, nothing but hot air warmed my chest, but I did it again and again, hoping to find comfort.

We saw turtles, ocelots, goats, ducks, hogs, tapirs, birds, lions, snakes, reptiles, owls, monkeys, an alligator, an otter, butterflies, flowers, fishes and foliage. 

In writing this blog, I re-awakened my son’s enthusiasm by asking him for reminders on animals and the different species that we saw at the zoo.  He walked over to my computer and looked at some of the photographs captured and said “mom, you write about the pictures you take? I like that”.  I smiled and said “yes son, it helps us remember exactly where we’ve been and what we’ve done”.

I do not like the smell of animals, in retrospect, when reading novels and the author describes the pungent smells of the wild, I can only imagine it smelling like the zoo and worst.  I cannot fathom the fear felt knowing a dangerous predator was lurking around.  Imagine after saying all that I am still interested in hiking trails, I guess I will have a good ‘pooyah’ at hand, and know how to use it.  Truly though, praise God I was born in this era and not of the wild wild west, because I wouldn’t have made it at all.  I can move like Keanu Reeves in the matrix when I see a wasp or any of the bee family.  As a child we had an estate, it was a citrus estate with cocoa and coffee.  My father would sell citrus by the hundreds to the local grocery stores and to some of his co-workers.  One day my mother, sister in law and I, went to the estate to secure some oranges.  Well in typical teenage fashion, I found that they were taking too long to come up with the requisite oranges and sauntered off to get it on my own.  I came upon a tree laden with ‘valencia’ oranges, this by far was one of the sweetest oranges on the estate.  I was thrilled, what a catch, I can get all that we need off of this one tree (I thought).  I climbed this tree and started picking.  Well before long, I knew why this tree was laden.  On this tree was a huge ‘maribone’ (a wasp that causes fever and swelling in its sting) nest, and of course it was awakened by my thrashing about the tree.  Well I do not know how I did it, but I came down the ten (10) to fifteen (15) feet that I had climbed, promptly and ran through the brush, making several summersaults and flips, trying to evade and lessen the bite rate.  I did get stung, but not by as many as I would’ve had I ‘dilly-dallied’ around.  Adrenaline is a power house, I am living proof.  My mother and sister in law heard the commotion and came running to see what had transpired, only themselves to be confronted by angry maribone swarming around, looking for me, hiding in the bush.  I run from cockroaches, lizards and birds (lol, a parakeet came into the house, and I screamed and ran out the room), I am definitely NO nature buff (said parakeet is now in a cage in the living room – a whole different story).  

Off of my tangent and back to the zoo, and talking about birds, the zoo houses some of the most colorful and pretty birds that I have ever seen. We saw the Trinidad Motmot, Macaws, the Scarlet Ibis, Pelicans, Guineafowl, Ducks, Toucans, Flamingos, and more.

Walking down monkey avenue (as I’ve labeled it), my son said “there is the chimpanzee”, and I said, “I do not see it”. He said, “you don’t see that chimp in the corner there with his face like this?” and he made his face similar to the chimp, and low and behold I then saw the chimp.  I had him make that face again, just so that I can photograph it.  We had a good laugh and continued down looking at the ‘pink swollen bam-c’ monkeys, howler monkeys, mandrills, spider monkeys, to name a few.  My son also wanted to know why the monkeys’ backsides were pink and swollen, to which I had absolutely no answer and quite a perplexed look on my face.

All this walking and monkey business made us hungry, but, as I said, that smell, that pungent odor, I could not eat in such surroundings.  My son however had no problem buying something at the cafeteria and sitting and devouring said something.  I decided that a nice beastly cold beverage would be all that I needed and got me a mango slushy.

We left the zoo and walked over to the Botanical Gardens, and as luck would have it a shower of rain came down.  We quickly sheltered under some thatch huts made for picnickers.  We made our way back to the car with thoughts of grabbing some pholourie at the Lady Young Road overlook.  The same parking attendant when presented with our parking ticket to get the cost of parking, laughed again at / with my husband.  Again he was guilty of the “have a nice day sir, and thank you, ‘preciate it’.”  The parking attendant had pure confirmation on his face, yes indeed that man is foreign.  Nothing could be said to deter him from his calculated conclusion.  It’s a wrap.  Off to run an errand and back to the science center to pick up our daughter from her day of ‘Gamers World’.

Here are some of what I captured (including my son making a chimp face).

Enjoy!

--NorDean Canvas

Turtle

Ocelot

Ocelot

Pelican

Wild Hog

Wild Hog

Tapir

Owl

Parakeet

Mimicking chimp

Chimp watching us

Scarlet Ibis

Scarlet Ibis

Alligator

Blue Macaw

Blue Macaw

Flamingo

Flamingo

Butterfly

Ginger Lily

Ginger Lily

Balisier

Macaw

Otter

Botanic Gardens

Botanic Gardens

© 2013, Odette M. Lawrence and NorDean Canvas. All rights reserved. The use and/or duplication of this material without the express and written permission of this blog’s author and/or owner are unauthorized and strictly prohibited.