Carnival then ... and now

"I guess someone is not involved in the Carnival....." (comment from Anonymous yesterday). Quite true. I guess I'm not a "true Trini" or "Trini to de bone". I was never a die-hard Carnival person anyway - and not the kind to miss it and pine for it if I was/am out of the country.

When I was living in Woodbrook I was involved in it because we were in the midst of it, the vibe was all around and there was no escaping (unless you left town). Friends coming from abroad would want to stay over, as the house was so conveniently positioned on DeVerteuil Street ... and those coming from out of town would want to come and park in the driveway or in front of the house. Whilst I didn't long for Carnival to come around (as many Trinis do), when it was actually there, the energy was infectuous - somewhat like Christmas in that everyone suddenly became super friendly, generous and festive. We (my housemate, friends, etc.) would go to every fete, every Panorama and one year I even worked at Minshall's mas camp (many late nights, but lots of fun and worth the experience) making costumes for the section I eventually played in with large blue sequinned 'collars' meant to simulate waves of an ocean. En masse, everyone in the section looked like an undulating ocean passing over the stage (or past the judging points). It was great.

One Carnival (1995) a friend from Switzerland and I formed an all-girl band and we did a single "Mr. Macho" - a strange blend of Latin-meets-Carnival. It used to play on the radio, we were interviewed in the papers, on radio, Community Dateline, we performed in the Queen's Park Savannah, an outdoor concert in Arima, Mas Camp pub, etc. Didn't make road march. Ha ha. Looking back now, it's hilarious. We were so enthusiastic about it ... and had some good fun and laughs.

However (whilst all of that was fun), especially now that I'm no longer living in the midst of it all ... it could come and go and I wouldn't miss it. Also, since 2000 I've toned down on the amount of liming I used to do (which was a lot), I no longer drink and smoke and loud fast music, crowds and traffic don't appeal in the least.

From afar, where all is quiet, POS seems like a distant land of beads and sequins. Yesterday I went to La Vega with two friends and we fell asleep under the bamboo. Tons of people were there though .. obviously also not interested in being a part of 'de bachanaal'.

However, ironically ... as I was writing that, the friend I'm making Diva for just called in a panic to say that there is a damaged manicou in her drain (back legs crushed, etc.). She subsequently called Detta, who advised her to wrap it in a jersey and take it to the vet. She's doing that and therefore is running late to meet her band, Minshall, which left at seven.

Anyway ... between the beginning of this post and this final sentence, a friend who lives in POS and I have decided that we will most likely venture in to see Minshall's Sacred Heart costumes, at least.
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Elspeth

Diva Trivia

Ask most people what a "diva" is and they will most likely tell you one of the following: a successful female opera singer (as in 'opera diva') ... or a demanding, fussy woman who thinks she's the best thing on earth and expects everyone to adore her (a prima donna).

Diva also means "goddess" in Italian and is derived from the feminine form of "divus" (male, Latin for "Divine One"). It is this meaning which will be applied to Diva, the window lamp ... (although she has been known to exhibit traits of the showy kind of diva when she's ready).

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Elspeth

A Wish Come True ... and a trip to Bush Bush

There is a house in the Nariva area which I am drawn to every time I do the Manzanilla/Nariva/Mayaro drive. Each time I pass by I wish I could relax in one of the hammocks hanging under the house. Last time I was in that area (when I went to Kernahan), I felt to stop at the house and find out if we could lie in the hammocks for a while. My friend C thought I was bold-faced, but as we drew closer, we realised that the hammocks were already occupied and there were people liming and eating around them ... so we didn't end up stopping.

However ... yesterday I got my wish when I went with some friends to the Nariva Swamp. About 40 members of the Horticultural Society were going on an excursion to the swamp and we were tagging along at the invitation of my friend's father, who is a member of the group. Guess where we had to park to get the little boat that took us to Bush Bush island ... at the house. I got to lounge in one of the hammocks as we waited for the boat to pick us up.

I enjoy my wish ... as one of the members of the Horticultural Society munches on his lunch in the background.

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A few other shots from the day:

On the way to Nariva we stopped and had some roast corn in Grande

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One of the two boats (in photo) was not working, so the boatman had to make several trips with only 15 people per load. We waited for ages, wondering if the boat, under the strain, would break down and leave us stranded on the island (Bush Bush).

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Side by side we stand, trees of the brown Nariva Swamp.

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Once on Bush Bush island, apart from seeing a porcupine asleep in a tree, we came across a group of red howler monkeys. One of them, barely visible in this shot, sat on a high branch, staring fixedly at us. Just as the tour guide would tell us "Listen ... do you hear the monkey's howling?" ... this monkey perhaps told his friends "Listen ... do you hear the humans ooohing and aaaahing?".

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The tide was down when it was time to leave Bush Bush, so we had to walk through mud and bog (feet sinking beyond ankle length every now and then), to get to another point of entry for the boat (where the water was deeper). I took off my sneakers rather than get them full of mud, etc. Whilst walking in the forest, a large thorn had already gone up into my foot through the soles anyway, so barefoot didn't seem any less 'dangerous'.

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Waiting on Bush Bush island for the boat to pick us up. According to Meiling (age 7), the swamp is like "a large dirty pond with an island in it."

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At last ... after a long wait ... boat ahoy!

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Elspeth

Three-dimensional prayers

This is a longer answer to the question one of the 'anonymouses' (ha - that looks like an anonymous mouse) asked me in a comment. Where did I learn to do the window lamps, etc.? It's not something I 'learnt'. It came about after an inspired moment in 1998. I was at a friend's house and her neighbour had a lot of pieces of junk under the house - one of which was an old window. It had 4 panes and it was very long/tall in shape. I was drawn to it and, realising that he was going to throw it away, asked if I could have it. I had no idea what I would do with it, but ... in those days I used to collect 'junk' and transform it into different things (reincartnation).



I was living in Woodbrook at the time. I kept the window outdoors in the driveway and would just look at it whenever I passed. Around that time the friend I had been visiting was going through a time of great darkness and despair. One day I looked at the window and realised the way the light shone through its panes. It must have been at that moment that I thought the light could also shine through my friend's 'pains'. I decided to make a lamp out of the window and give it to her. It was like a three-dimensional prayer.



It was a very simple lamp (being my first) but beautiful. The top pane had a unicorn on it, reaching for what appeared to be the moon. It was a visual prayer that said - continue to believe in your dreams and reach for them. The second pane was simply a blood red spiral done in glass paints, filling the whole pane. it symbolised blood (life) being transformed and constantly evolving. The third pane (I can't remember now). The lowest pane had a misty black cloud of spray paint in the middle, with an old watch stuck at the centre and abstract, mystical-looking symbols drawn in gold around the black cloud. That lowest pane was called "The mysteries of the Universe" ... that which we don't know in our conscious minds but which is revealed to us through God, dreams, meditation, experience and time. The light shining through the dark cloud is enlightenment.



My friend loved the lamp and her life turned around. For her, the lamp had become a symbol of her transformation and for me, a realisation of the healing power of art. She kept the lamp for years, taking it with her wherever she moved ... until about 2 years ago one of the panes broke (can't recall which one - perhaps the spiral) and we thought that the lamp had 'done it's job' and it was time to let it go. She was going abroad to study anyway.

The second lamp I had made (soon after I did hers) was called the "Twilight Door" - and I was going to put it in an 'Exhibition of Lights' (1998) that I was involved in with three other artists one Divali. In addition to some lamps I had made in conjunction with another friend who does batik, I had done a series of deep blue lighted pieces called "Twilights". The Twilight Door was one of them. It was so beautiful with its deep colours, I felt I couldn't put a price on it ... yet I wanted someone to have it. Every time I looked at it I was drawn in, soothed and inspired. I decided I would give the lamp to the first person at the exhibition who came up to me and showed in some way that they really understood and felt the depth of what the lamp was about.



That night at the exhibition opening, many people came to me and said they loved the lamp and found it interesting. At one point, two teenage girls came shyly to me, pointed to the lamp across the room and asked me if I had made it. I said yes - then one of them said "I love it!" Something about the way she said she loved it gave me goosebumps, because I knew by her tone and the look on her face that she felt it in a different way from everyone else who had said they loved it. She then started gushing in a torrent of words all that she had felt and picked up from the lamp - simple yet meaningful things that I didn't think anyone else would have sensed. At the end of her gushing, I said to her "You can have it." At first she didn't believe me. Then when I repeated myself, she and her friend clutched at each other, jumped around and screamed and ran off to be near to the lamp. Apart from the moment being funny, I was aware that the lamp was going to the right person.


Anyway ... it turned out that she was the daughter of the girlfriend (now wife?) of Nigel Rojas, lead singer of the band Orange Sky. One night I was out somewhere and he came up to me and, in chatting, mentioned something that sounded like it was the Twilight Door, saying that his girlfriend's daughter had got this lamp made out of a window, etc etc bla bla. When he realised I had made it, he said: "Wow ... I love that Twilight Door! It gives me real inspiration. I sit in front of it to write songs ..." (I wonder if that lamp is still around).

Anyway ... that's how the whole window lamp thing started ...

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Elspeth

Diva

The other day my friend Gab made a comment about the 'famous window' (which I'm making for her and her b.f.). She said it's turning out to be such a diva, appearing in videos, on the internet, showing off its different stages to the public, etc. I didn't think of it that way before, but it's true ...

So I was chuckling yesterday when my friend Rose (who I worked with in England in December) came over. She's here for Carnival and, while she's here, she will interview me and two other people (she is gathering material for a programme on creative people in other countries and the work they do). She brought her camera along yesterday, to film and interview me on the topic of my work. When she had asked me what I was working on these days and I mentioned the window (as one of the things), she asked if we could talk about that ... and if we could do it somewhere with a nice view. The first place that came to mind was Mount St. Benedict, so I put the window to recline in the front seat (that's the only way the medium or large windows fit in the car properly) and we drove up the hill. That's when I remembered Gab's comment ...

The Diva strikes a pose against an old shed up at the Mount,

overlooking her island home which is shrouded in a white mist of rain.

As we got up to the monastery, a huge grey mist passed over us, bringing rain ... so the interview never got started. We stood for a while in the drizzle before deciding to drive around and look for another location. We ended up by the river in Lopinot, which was beautiful as usual (despite being spotted with bits of garbage, some of which we picked up and put in the bins provided). Within about ten minutes of being in the river it started to rain again ... so thoughts of doing the interview there were also aborted. I didn't even bother to take the Diva out of the car.

Seen through the rain-splattered windscreen at Lopinot:

the Diva reclines in the front seat of my car

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Elspeth

Applying Bandages (video)

Working on the back of the lamp in the garage.

Click here to see the APPLYING BANDAGES video.

Length: 1:47 seconds

File size: 1.93MB

File type: wmv

Because of the age of some windows, there will be areas around the glass where weakened putty has chipped and fallen off. On my earlier window lamps I used to use putty or wood filler to re-seal the spaces. Now I apply Plaster of Paris bandages to these areas - to fill and strengthen them so that the glass is more securely held. It also serves a cosmetic purpose - filling up holes with a rough, interesting plaster-texture finish. Once it dries I usually apply paint to the wood and plaster, making them one.

On a symbolic level, the bandages feel like they have more to do with 'healing' than putty does. When applying the bandages, I feel as though anything that is 'imbalanced' or 'broken' on an energetic level is being fixed. Every step of the making of each lamp is isymbolic, but going into full explanations would be quite lengthy. By watching these short videos perhaps you will glean your own personal symbolic meanings from each stage of the process.

Elspeth

Radio Happy Hippy

Today's featured track:

As I am, you are.

Track #6 on the INFINITE CD.

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Featured lyrics from the track bring today's message,

courtesy Radio Happy Hippy:

Whoever you are, just be as you are

Just be as you are

Just be as you are

Just be who you are

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Elspeth

Are you employed?

"God is the Boss" was emblazoned across this Bedford truck parked in Santa Cruz, near to where a large CPEP gang was cutting weeds at the roadside yesterday. Surprisingly, none of the workers were lounging, liming or chatting. God had them busy. The truck appeared to be one of a set of bright yellow vehicles with that same motto on their windscreens. (Painted on the side door in green was M & S Landscaping;Community Maintenance Limited; 675-3265). In fact, just nearby was a spanking yellow sporty-looking car with yellow window glass and yellow back & front windscreens with GOD IS THE BOSS spreading across the front screen.

I parked my car in front of the yellow sportscar and walked back down the hill a little way to take a shot of the truck. A woman and a man (he looked like the 'leader of the gang') dressed in dark blue overalls were standing chatting by the yellow sportscar. As I walked back to my car, the woman turned to me and said drily: "Yuh takin' a picture of de truck?" She didn't say it as a question, but as that half question-statement Trinis make when they're stating the obvious. E.g. "You're wet?" when you've just come out of the rain, drenched.

I said "I was taking a picture of the motto."

The man's face lit up and he said: "Yes! God is de Boss! God is de Boss!"

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Elspeth

Feather

Be strong, little one.

The smaller the feather,

the harder it is to snap in two.

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Elspeth

End of the Rainbow

This rainbow led me to my destination yesterday. It was visible to me from the time I left home in St. Augustine to the time I reached Sangre Grande about an hour later. It was always before me as I drove, like a companion, getting brighter and bigger the closer I reached to my destination: North Eastern College. This photo shows the fence as I approached the school. The Rainbow seems to be saying: "Here is where you enter ..."

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A friend of mine who is a Brahma Kumari invited me to a function yesterday called "Flame of Hope" in the auditorium of North Eastern College, Sangre Grande. The 2 and a half hour programme consisted of performances (dancing and singing), followed by a speech about "Hope". The speaker ended by taking the audience through a guided meditation, during which I drifted to sleep - but woke feeling peaceful. Hopefully not too peaceful for the long drive back home, I thought.

A rather blurry rendition of one of the two Flames of Hope that were on the front corners of the large auditorium stage. This flame was silver. The other was golden.

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After the function we were each given little boxes (containing a square of cake), little bags (containing mixed nuts, etc.), a soft drink and a little square card with a message on it. The latter reminded me of my Post Its. The message I got was: You reflect back to others the brilliance of their own potential.
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A peaceful way to spend an evening into night ... at the end of a rainbow.
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P.S. For those in Trinidad, tune in to Gayelle TV tomorrow (Hototo programme) at 11 a.m. I will be talking about the All Creatures Great and Small exhibition and Detta Buch will be talking about W.O.R.C..

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Elspeth

Shining Through

The sun through the holes in the metal sheeting creates pinprick patterns of light on the floor. This is what will happen when the metal sheeting is on the lowest pane of the window lamp, with the lamplight shining through.

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Usually each window inspires some kind of 'poem' which embodies its essence. For example,

the lamp called 'I AM', inspired the following: All of a sudden the moment became impulsive. It grabbed you and pulled you through the door that led to Somewhere. Afraid of not knowing, you held back from flowing, but the moment would not be ignored. "FEAR NOT, it said, pulling you further. Relax as I hold you, I am here to unfold you. Open and find who you are. That window had to do with 'fear' and the fact that it can keep us back from things that actually empower us. Hence: do not fear.

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Go here to explore a few different window lamps.

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I won't write on this current window (I've since removed the writing I'd done on the metal sheeting). But, it did transmit/inspire this 'message' which I will somehow incorporate:

I come from a place that is not known ... and yet it is.
In silence I speak.
In darkness I see.
In stillness I move
Like a rock.

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To me this represents something that is yet to be realised within (me, you, whoever encounters the lamp) - a deep 'place that is not known' in a tangible, everyday way ... yet it is, it exists. In silence I speak seems to represent what is realised in the silence of meditation ... In darkness I see indicates the strengthening of the third, non-physical eye, the intuitive ability to sense and know even when you cannot 'see' with your physical sight (reminiscent of that saying: Faith, not sight) ... In stillness I move like a rock is again the 'result' of that meditation - the solidity of being centered whilst being moved by Spirit and the ability to be 'like a rock' in the midst of everyday life, the act of trusting.

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So far, this is the message I am picking up from this window lamp. It is the message which will be shining through.

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Elspeth

Midas Touch

The golden light of the late afternoon sun is a precursor ...

Pippa hangs around as I prepare to apply paint to the window. I wasn't going to paint it. I was going to leave it raw and as close to its original wood as possible. But yesterday evening when I went into the shed that has the paint, a little tin of gold lacquer called out to me from behind a spider's web ...

This is the longest I've ever taken to make a window lamp. Normally I work ceaselessly at it and, within a few days, I'm done. This particular window has spent all of its time outside, obviously soaking up the elements. As a result, I thought it was going to be very raw, rustic and natural. I was surprised when my creative flow led me to use silver metallic sheeting on it ... and now gold paint. As I was cutting the sheeting that day, this phrase came into my head: "I come from a place that is not known ... and yet it is." (For those of you who looked at the video - that's what I was writing on the piece of sheet metal). I wonder ... what does that statement mean to you?

The window leans against the water tank, as her new gold skin dries. Some more painting and cleaning needs to be done before I begin to work on the panes themselves.

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Elspeth

Weapons of mass destruction

Yesterday some friends and I went to Cedros, passing through La Brea where land has been cleared at Union in preparation for one of the proposed Aluminum Smelters. This area was once peaceful, verdant countryside ... until, unbeknownst to the sleeping villagers, backhoes and other machines came like thieves in the night and began to ravage their paradise. This Express article by Mark Meredith gives a chilling overview.

This is just a pin point view of what is now 800 acres of cleared (i.e. ravaged) land. Once it was forest.
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Protest signs erected by villagers speak for themselves. But can signs like these be heard above the clamour of backhoes, bulldozers and billion dollar budgets?

P.S.A.E.L. (Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Limited)

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National Gas Company

National Energy Corporation

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Over 100 years of clean, peaceful country living in Union Village is already looking like history.

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Elspeth

Step #6: Chew, digest, egest, end, begin

I had said that these questions would be the basis for Step #6. But ... I will leave them as questions ... to be 'chewed upon' and digested or egested by whoever comes across them.
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The 'Steps' project began with Step #1, where I acknowledged that the first step was my willingness to go with the flow and see where it led without limiting it by definition. "The Flow" has since guided me to wean off the online documentation of the project.

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Recap:
Step #2
Step #3
Step #4a
Step #4b
Step #5
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I have not stopped it - in fact, it continues to evolve, but 'on the ground', where energy is going into action - in ways that I have not been documenting here.
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When the 'Steps' project began, I wondered how many 'steps' it would take to 'find the answer' at 'the end'. 12 Steps? 99 Steps? There is no limit to the number of steps, as each one is an answer in itself ... and there is no end either, because the process is an ongoing one. In closing, it is my sincere wish that we all begin/continue to act upon the realisation that we are each an 'issue' as much as we are an 'answer' in dealing with the 'issues that affect our nation'.

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Full Moon Guardian Angel

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Elspeth

And yet it is (video)

All along the window was feeling very 'natural' - wood and flowers, rain, sun and wind ... but the other day the making of the lamp took a different turn.

Click here to see the video

Size: 2.71MB

Length: 1:43 mins

File type: wmv

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Be patient. If you have a slower dial-up connection, it may take a little while to download (you will see it 'buffering').

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Elspeth

A voice for the voiceless

This DVD is being sold in aid of the wild animals of W.O.R.C.

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This educational and emotive ten-minute feature takes you behind the scenes to meet the wild animals currently in the care of Detta Buch, founder of the Wildlife Orphanage & Rehabilitation Centre (W.O.R.C.). Understand how you can be a part of their healing process.

Great for both children and adults.

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Price $100TT (local sales)
Foreign orders: $20US (to include shipping).

All proceeds to W.O.R.C.

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To purchase your copy or copies, please contact:

Elspeth.

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In your e-mail please include your name, contact information and the amount of copies you would like to order.

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A photographic exhibition of the same name (All Creatures Great and Small) will be held in the first week of March by a group of photographers who have come together to raise money for W.O.R.C. Stay tuned for further details. In the mean time, visit this website (set up by Hakeeb Nandalal, one of the photographers), to view a few of the images which will be exhibited at the show. If you wish to purchase one of the photographs before the exhibition, please make contact as outlined on the website. To date, three sponsors (listed on the site) have already pledged to purchase a total of four photographs. We thank them for their support.

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Elspeth

Recap of the questions you asked

1. How can I be of service?
2. What do you have to give up in order to find forgiveness and have trust in all of God's creation?
3. Who is my neighbour?
4. Do we feel sorry for you? Do we applaud you?
5. Am I willing to be a friend/your friend in the name of Love?
6. When will we humanize our intelligence?
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These are the questions some of you asked after Step #5: Will you be my friend?. (Some of you didn't ask questions, but gave interesting statements). These are the questions I will be using as the basis for my next 'Step' conversation ... with whoever that may be ... and whenever ...
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Elspeth

Interpretation

When I wrote the questions yesterday I was aware that they could have been interpreted and answered in different ways.


1. One way would have been a more abstract, 'deep', poetic or philosophical route - and I think everyone who answered went that way.
2. Another way could have been very basic and literal ... E.g. I am Mary Smith, 56 years old, divorced mother of 3 boys (now men). I live in the suburbs and work in a library. I have three dogs, two cats and one rabbit. I walk 2 miles every day even if its raining ... etc. (a kind of Who are the people in your neighbourhood ... or bloghood).
3. From another perspective, the questions ask (again basic): who are you (as a person) and why are you here (reading this blog)? I sometimes wonder how people found it, why they read it and why some return - including those who find it trite or baffling.
4. It could also mean: who are you when you strip away your name, your occupation, your gender, your age, your nationality, etc. - the labels by which the world 'defines' you and uses to place you into societal boxes. And why are you here? What is your purpose, your mission, your reason for being on earth?
5. I suppose there are even more ways of looking at those two questions.
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I'm not sure how I would have interpreted the Q's had I just seen them (and not written them). Who are you? I don't find that an easy question - but it is thought provoking. I might just have put "I am ..." (those dots can be followed by many things or nothing). From the time one starts putting adjectives or labels after those three dots, others naturally make assumptions and form opinions based on their own perspectives of those words - and then what is perceived is not who I really am at my core. I am ... leaves it open (because we are not closed or close-ended).
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Why am I here? I would most likely have first thought of that question in terms of my purpose, because that's something I often wonder about (... although not as often as I used to).
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Just out of curiosity, I typed Who are you? into Google.tt and got this as the top answer. I typed Why are you here? and got this .
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Elspeth

Questionnaire

Who are you?
Why are you here?

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Elspeth

Under the Skin (video)

The making of the window lamp (continued) ...

See video here

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Length: 43 seconds

Size: 1.12MB

File type: wmv

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Scrape the skin

Reveal the Truth

All the same.

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Elspeth

Upon waking ...

This..

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Elspeth

Person A: Panman on crutches

Those of you who read it may recall my mention of Person A a few days ago. Person A is a man I found out is named Trevor (nicknamed 'Panman') who used to play his pan outside of HiLo to make money ('busking', as you'd say in some other countries). I used to hear him playing sometimes when I drove by on the main road. I had gone to RBTT (bank) in St. Augustine one day and he was standing near to the door, as most people asking for money do. As I neared, he said: "Panman. I got knocked down by a truck and can't play again ..." I made a sign meaning "when I come back out' - and when I came out I gave him some dollars.

An Exodus panman in action a few nights ago

The morning before I went to Kernahan, I went back to RBTT. Being a weekend, the place was quiet, but Panman was standing by the door to the ABM asking people for money. When I came back out of the ABM, I gave him some dollars then asked how he got damaged. He told me he had been playing pan in Valpark over Christmas and, on the way home, riding his bicycle along the highway with his pan on the handlebars, a speeding truck knocked him down. The truck never stopped. When he regained consciousness, he was on the road, with his bicycle handlebars bent and his pan (his livelihood) bent and out of shape. When he told me that, I said: "I can't believe the driver didn't feel that and stop." He shrugged his shoulders and said matter-of-factly that people are so busy rushing at Christmas that they don't have time to notice anyone or anything. "But at least is de pan an' de bike dat get mash up. Dey could fix."
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It struck me ... Person A is like personA non grata (an unnacceptable person; not worth stopping for) ... the national instrument and the person who plays it being knocked down and destroyed without a care is a symbol of the country itself being 'knocked down' without care by its rapidly moving people. (Also make me think of the national bird - Scarlet Ibis - being hunted and eaten. What other nation eats their national bird and uses its feathers for costumes?)
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Elspeth

Pause for a commercial break

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(Click on photo to see larger version and read the story behind it)

This weekend, spend quality recreational time with your family by the river. Fish, cook, eat and indulge in healthy family values!

Enjoy the gently wafting Sunday breeze as it offers you the odours of dead catfish floating belly-up in the discoloured waters. Sit back and relax in your beach chairs, oblivious to the mounds of plastic bottles clogging the mangrove roots and carpeting the bushes and trails around you. In fact, by the time you leave you may have contributed to this display of national pride yourself!

Why waste time caring?

Why waste time caring about a bird with one wing when there are more serious issues like crime, drugs, corruption and child abuse running rampant through our land?! A boy was recently buggered and thrown in a pond to drown for God's sake woman! What does it matter that a crippled bird needs to be fed by humans for the rest of its life? You must be joking ... asking us that question!

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Elspeth

Step #5: Will you be my friend?

Here's where you come in. Normally at the end of each conversation I have with someone in this project, I get the person (based on what we have discussed) to come up with a new question to ask the next person. The question asked here (Will you be my friend?) came from 7 year old Kajal who was Step #4a. Because the 'being' featured here cannot ask questions (at least to our general understanding), I would appreciate it if each of you will ask a question at the end, after reading this. In the words of that slogan used by the TTSPCA: We speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Your questions are what I will use as the foundation for the next conversation in this series ...

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There once was a wing there. Those of you who follow up on the blog may recall my mention of Lady the pelican some days ago. She is the innocent 'being' I mentioned yesterday.

In Detta's back yard: Lady on her roost in the large cage which she shares with the short tailed hawk (also one-winged). Because she will never fly again, Lady will be trained to sit on someone's arm and will be used by Detta as an educational bird.

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An extract from the 'log' written by Detta Buch:
Jan 20, 2006
By 6 p.m. we were all in the surgery room with the pelican on the examination table. The humerus was very badly shattered and a 4 - 5 inch length of the bone was projecting dried and blackened. The bird was very dehydrated.
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Sadly both Dr. Pyke and myself reached the same conclusion, then we noticed the imploring look on the faces of the young couple. It seemed to dishonour their generosity and caring, having brought the animal from such a distance, with such difficulty, only to be told effectively, that they had wasted their time. I suggested that the only alternative, if it survived, was a life on the ground and be trained and handled for education. They offered to support it, so we proceeded to carry out the amputation, removing the wing from the shoulder. Dr. Pyke's surgery was impeccable ...

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Detta handfeeds Lady with some Joshua (fish).

For the rest of her life, Lady will have to rely on humans for food.

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You may wonder why I've put Lady at Step #5 and given her Kajal's question. The above photo indicates the care with which one has to approach this wild creature who, through no fault of her own, is suddenly required to live in 'captivity' (albeit caring captivity), interact closely with (and trust) humans - the very creatures who got her into this position. She does this with such grace. The first time we met, she allowed me to touch her feathers and stroke her head and neck. I've never touched a pelican before. She is a very gentle and brave bird... so soft ... and right under her skin are little air sacs that feel somewhat like poppy bubblewrap. This protects her when she dives (or used to).

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If Lady could speak (humanese) she would perhaps ask us that very question: Will you be my friend? Clearly those who killed her companion and damaged her wing were not 'friends'. It's amazing that after all that happened to her, she can still sit in a cage in Petit Valley and allow herself to be touched by us. There are different ways in which we can be friends to Lady ... from something as simple as buying a few pounds of Joshua (small sardine-like fish) and carrying it for Detta in Petit Valley, to contribute to the bird's twice daily feeding requirements. For the rest of her life that's a lot of fish - and a lot of driving around to fish markets for Detta to do on her own. For more information on how you can help and support ... contact Detta.

Joshua

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You may wonder where all of this is going. What does a Pelican with one wing have to do with Trinidad & Tobago, with the "Prime Minister", with politics, with national issues ... with us?

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Please leave your questions/answers below.

Thanks.

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Elspeth

Back to the Steps

Having introduced the window, I will now work on it behind the scenes and bring it up again at some point in the near future. For now it is important to get back to the "Steps" project. It's not that I've forgotten it. In fact I've been working on it mentally and indirectly all this time.
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Where we left off with the "Steps" project was at Step #4: Kajal. Those who were following will remember that this little girl (age 7) had changed the original question to something a lot simpler: Will you be my friend?
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On one level, this is quite a jump from Prime Ministers and politics ... and I am glad for that. It was refreshing to get away from that 'tangled web' weaved by adults' on 'national issues'. Kajal's answer ("Be my friend") is really the most basic element that will solve any conflict. Her answer in itself is so simple ... yet so difficult (i.e. everyone actually doing that and meaning it).
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I went to a child at Step #4 because I respect the way that children view the world around them. Their 'innocence' holds a wisdom that adults in general tend to lose along the way (due to fear, mistrust, greed ... and other things that build up over time and cover simple truths and ways of being).
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Early on the morning of the day I had gone to Kernahan and found Kajal, I went to the Royal Bank ABM in St. Augustine (to get money for the trip - gas, snacks, etc.). There I met an adult (let's say Person A) with whom I interacted. In curiosity, I asked Person A a question and we ended up having a long chat, during which I felt quite moved at points. Coming home from Kajal's (later) I thought of going back and asking Person A the question Kaj had left with me. I did see Person A again after that, but something told me "No, not yet ..." (so I didn't approach Person A to be Step #5). Although I will most likely come back to Person A in an upcoming Step.
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Soon after, another 'being' (I can't say 'person' here) stepped in and diverted me from the concept of Person A answering the question. Like Kajal, the 'being' also has 'innocence' - in fact, even more so. The innocence of the child and the innocence of the 'being' are, to me, important steps in the realisation of our answers concerning 'the issues affecting our island'.
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Tomorrow, the innocence of 'the being': Step #5: Will you be my friend?
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Elspeth

Jasper and the Window (video)

My cat, Jasper, in a scene from

the video.

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Length: 19"

File size: 497KB

File type: wmv

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I've been quite busy with different things over the past two days or so and haven't done any work on the window. It's been standing there in its spot outside, soaking up the elements. Jasper loves it. The featured video clip is just a little 19 second bite of the kind of thing he was doing for about 10 minutes that morning.

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Elspeth

Washing the Window (video)

Click here to see the Washing the Window video

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Size: 1.5MB

Length: 52 seconds

File type: wmv

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Along the way I will document (in some form) stages of the making of the window lamp. I've never recorded the process before - and doing it this time around somehow makes each stage feel more specific. Getting to look back at the washing of the window on video, I saw one or two little things that I would not have noticed otherwise. In one section in particular, there is a sudden gust of wind and a yellow Alamanda flower flies down from the plant above (along with a few dry leaves) and hits against the window. I found that interesting, especially as the window itself already has glass flowers embossed on its two lower panes. (See first photo in yesterday's post). It's as if the elements that are already in (or of) the window are being drawn to it.

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Elspeth