Changing the face of waste…with a little Dis & a little Dat

by 2 Comments

 So many passions. Just sharing one

 It started with a conversation over lunch, with long time friends visiting from Canada.  Cooking is  another passion of mine. And I just love to feed people. So I whipped up a spicy  pumpkin soup and  salad, -all the ingredients, except the  onions and garlic, picked fresh  from my kitchen garden –  served with freshly baked crusty bread. Spicy delicious!

 And so, sharing food, friendship, catching up a little bit after several years, sharing ideas,  the  suggestion to try some planters, now catches me rummaging through garbage, scanning my  surroundings; everywhere I go, asking people if I could have their empty containers, cartons,  bottles, and sometimes pulling up by the roadside to pick up some stray something my eyes spot. But  most interestingly, it has me looking at waste items with a new pair of creative eyes. I wish I could  actually reuse all parts of those troublesome plastic bottles, containers, milk cartons etc., but by  reusing them in my creating process, I am making my own small contribution, by slowing down the disposal process.

So I did some research. I experimented a little bit. And everyday, I retreat to the dusty downstairs of my home, measuring, sifting, mixing up – music on the radio or in my head, singing along, and doing my thing. And as hubby says –and I really can’t stand clichés–but when I am there, in my space, I am truly , in the whole sense of the words, “as happy as pig in shit.” When I look at an empty water bottle; I see a palm flourishing in it. I look at a juice carton, and I see a cactus standing tall and thorny or toothbrushes leaning up against each other. I look at an old wash basin and I see succulents spreading out and taking roots. I look at this and I see that. Take dis and make dat. Hence the name..Dis & Dat Creations.

You won’t believe how excited I get when I unmold my creations, seeing my work take form or break form, as the case might be. Even when they break, I find a use for them. And no two pieces are the same, even when I use similar molds, every one is different. And I like it just so.

Then I gave away lots of free samples. I gave, gave, gave. Someone once said to me, “One day you go give away your arse and shit through your mouth.” Sometimes I worry it might come true, but it’s all part of what makes me who I am. And I give to people whom I figure will appreciate my creations – people who will Get It. I will call it my kind-spirited advertising strategy.

My first little reward came last Saturday, the 16th May, when I took the decision to showcase some of my creations, at the Bazaar, part of the Chocolate Festival events at the  Dodgy Dock Restaurant,  True Blue Bay Resort, True Blue, St George’s Grenada. No, it didn’t come with lots of sales or big orders or anything like that, but with some very positive and encouraging comments. And not from many, but from the ones who get it. And that’s enough right now. It can only get better.

I am writing this sitting on my bench under the Neem tree – Neem flowers falling in the cocoa plant beside me, falling on me and an idea settles with it, right on my lap. I look at the flat dry beans from that very stubborn weed in the garden and just so ideas flowing for so.

It’s the journey

by 1 Comment

Recently, on one of my very rare do nothing day, I watched the film Wild with Reece Witherspoon. This film is based on Cheryl Strayed’s Memoir, in which she

the journey 1 decides to hike more than a thousand  miles of the  Pacific Crest Trail, alone, as a  way to heal  herself following her divorce,  the death of  her mother, and years of  reckless,  destructive behaviour.

One of the quotes which stayed with me is  a verse from Adrienne Rich’s poem,  Power- about Nobel Prize-winning  scientist, Marie Curie. “She died a famous woman denying her wounds denying her wounds came from the same source as her power.” I kept thinking about this line, over and over. How this woman suffered terrible wounds – physical wounds which she saw, felt, experienced. She suffered mental wounds – grief – after the death of her mother, fear of the unknown, loss of courage- through thoughts of giving up, memories of her promiscuity – which ruined her marriage, dread, vulnerability – exposed to the horrors or nature and mankind, mistrust and so much more.

And you could ask, well why did she do it? No one forced her. Couldn’t  she just go to see a counsellor, like people do? Why did she think that travelling those miles will help her come to terms with herself or take her where she though she should be in her life? But  was it just about the destination? If that were the case, she could have done a coach trip, travelled by air-plane, train, car. But it was about the journey – the whole experience and all that it involved, all that she encountered along her travels.

And so it has been for me, with the writing process.  What started as my desire to tell a story – which I felt I wanted, even needed to tell – turned into a personal challenge and the journey of writing and completing this story. Getting it published became my personal goal, my destination. I could have taken a different,  shorter route, let someone else take me there (it almost happened), but for me, it has not been solely about the destination. It’s been about the journey. The experience. The lessons. Gosh, I am still many miles away from my destination, but I have to search and find my source of power. I think we all have our source of power. We just need to reach within. For some of us, it a deep dig to access this source. But we must find it and use it. Make it work for us.

As I finished scribbling this piece, I switched on the radio, and Miley Cyrus’s It’s the Climb was playing. So very apt!

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

Find your source of power!

Last chapter…finally!

by Leave a Comment

 journey02 Celebrating the final chapter…

 Today I will take the time to celebrate this    achievement.  I don’t yet know how, but I will. Then I  will move on to  the next phase in this process. The next  leg of this journey. For I am now at the crossroads,  where I need to choose the next path. But ”… knowing  how way leads on to way…” this journey is nowhere near  the end.

I have come this far. I have paused along the way, to think, reassess, ask for directions. I have stopped to rest my weary self, have a drink, replenish, recharge. Look back on the roads travelled. Breathe. Smile. Laugh even, at the wrong turns – when often I was scared, terrified I wouldn’t know how to get back on track.

A few years ago I was driving from Morton, the tiny village where I lived in Lincolnshire, to Queensgate Shopping Centre in Peterborough.  Though I had a vague idea how to get there, and everyone kept telling me to just follow the road straight ahead, never mentioning any of the umpteen turnings and roundabouts I would encounter. Anyway, as it happened, it was not a straight forward journey and I did take a wrong turn, which took me onto this extensive, nerve jolting, dual carriage way…four lanes of traffic zooming pass me little green Peugeot 306 at 80MPH!! Imagine me! Small island girl, from this tiny Caribbean Island, Grenada, with Maurice Bishop Highway the closest I ever get to a dual carriage way…ending up there! To say I was shit scared is an understatement! I nearly mess meself!! Luckily my very brave daughter kept me calm and very sensibly said, “Mommy let’s just look for the next exit.” Well the only exit I could think of is the bright yellow EXIT sign, lit up over the door when matinee over in Griffith cinema. And there is no asking for directions!!!

 Now I will breathe, appreciate where I am now and acknowledge all that it took to bring me to this point – negative as well as positive. I  look back at the people who might have looked the other way, no time to share a kind or wise word – I wish them well. Those who have walked with me, kept me company – thank you.

And as I fill my lungs with revived energy to steer me along, take me on this next leg of this long long journey, my weight is much lighter now – my water bottle almost empty, food supply low, I am looking toward that silver lining… (Waitrose had an outlet at the end of this road.. rustic bread rolls and Tuna & sweet corn paste..some olives and a glass of Rose. Ah!!!)

And the roads ahead might get even more complex at this stage, I know. But I am hoping that the knowledge and experience which I have gathered along the way, have armed me with a bit more confidence. Seasoned me a little. I recently posted a piece on my book Force Ripe maturing, etc etc… and someone commented, “enough already!” Well I removed the post. That’s how enough already I felt! It hit me real hard!

But I will keep breathing and taking one step at a time. And though this road is by no means one “…less travelled by”, and the leaves are well trodden, “I am praying the road I take will make all the difference.” And “I don’t know how my story will end, but nowhere in my text will it ever read, ‘I gave up.’ ”journey03

This gardening thing …

by 1 Comment

  Ecorn field in sunshineach morning I go to my garden – to    check on my plants, see what’s been  happening overnight. Check if I need to  water them. Give them some love. I put  my heart into my gardening and they are  very much like children. You know how  we plant them, care for them, then we  expect a nice, abundant harvest. Likewise, we care for our children, then expect them to go the right way, grow into the people we expect them to be. Now there those who don’t. They plant some corn, for example, don’t offer them a drop of water, or weed them or nothing, but expect them to yield nice full ears of corn. And you know what, sometimes they might just do that. Compared to a field that was cared for,  nourished, yet yielded a poor crop anyway – because of poor soil etc… (like some peppers I have planted…no matter what I did for them, they are just there, nothing doing) that neglected field might flourish in all the bush and hardship, and produce well!

Same with some children. Some people just have them. That’s it. And though the nurture thing might affect how they turn out, there are the ones who will turn out just fine anyway. Beat the odds and grow into well adjusted, productive people.

So I walk around each bed, every plant, checking for bugs, (wish I knew which ones were useful) pulling the weeds , (I guess some of them might actually be good weeds ) but I pull them anyway. All man and their brothers. And sisters too! Just when they think all is well, and they start to take root and take over, I uproot them. Evict them from my garden. Give my plants room to spread out more, give them some of that yummy pen manure they love so much. Test the soil – see if they need water… like getting up at nights and checking your little ones bed, (for those who won’t even know what pull-ups are), making sure they are comfortable.

And it’s a journey – like life itself… taken with patience and perseverance.  But sometimes it does not matter what you do, or how much love, care or passion you put into it, nature will do her thing.

nature doing her thing

pink hibiscus