Some more eye candy

1. Jenny, 2. Zoe, 3. Ginger Lily, 4. Hi there!, 5. Cattle Wash, 6. evening walk, 7. fish out of water, 8. sunset over st. thomas, barbados, 9. Oistins at night, 10. purple, 11. curly, 12. mama's tea set, 13. This must be why they call it the Gold Coast, 14. on duty, 15. oh, orange!, 16. smile!, 17. join me for dinner?, 18. day is done, gone the sun, 19. my view, 20. relax, 21. desert rose, 22. me, 23. lunch is served!, 24. strange but cool

Things I forgot about life in Barbados

1. How freaking hot it is. Ok, obviously I expected it to be hot and I was looking forward to that, but it is SO hot! Not that I am complaining of course......

2. Being greeted everywhere you go. I love that about small islands, the acknowledgement that you are in the company of another human being, even if you may never see them again in your life.

3. The unwritten rules of the road: flashing your lights to call people out from side streets, and the short double toot of thanks in acknowledgement. Also drivers stopping to let pedestrians cross the road.

4. Being served at the gas stations, I keep wanting to get out and pump my gas!

5. Having your groceries packed at the cashier and then carried out to your car for you. I totally felt like a queen today after doing groceries! The down side of this though is all those plastic grocery bags! yikes!

6. How much in a rush everyone seems to be on the road. I don't know why the hurry, it's a small island, it doesn't take long to get anywhere!

7. The fact that it doesn't take long to get anywhere (unless there is traffic, which is more and more the case)

8. Guys on the street and just about everywhere making catcalls. Of course having just turned forty I have a new appreciation for this!

9. The words "above" and "below" when used to explain the location of a building. It doesn't mean "up" and "down", but rather "left" and "right". Or is that "right" and "left"?

10. How quickly the sun sets. I keep getting caught by surprise!

The story so far

Hiking, hanging out, eating A LOT, laughing, the doggies, the beach, tropical flowers and more!



1. burnt, 2. Royalty, 3. Heliconia 1, 4. Caribbean Style, 5. sweet sugar cane!, 6. water, 7. the grotto, 8. heading into the gully, 9. local thistle, 10. farming, 11. Heliconia 2, 12. 19/365 - the neighbourhood, 13. 17/365 early morning, 14. through a mirror, 15. Brown's Beach 2, 16. lizann, 17. criss-crossing the sky, 18. boatyard, 19. Swash!, 20. Brown's beach 1, 21. ahhhhhhhh, 22. mellow yellow, 23. Sable, 24. 16/365 - This Old House, 25. 18/365 - gotta have it!, 26. pick me, love me, choose me!, 27. yachts, 28. Brown's beach again, 29. East Coast, 30. Cherry Tree Hill, 31. twinned, 32. the edge of succulence, 33. Starburst, 34. bright blooms, 35. pink!, 36. red bells

Easy like Sunday Morning?

Every Sunday morning for as long as I can remember, the Barbados National Trust has led a hike around different areas of the island, as a way to educate people about the heritage of the island. The hike starts at 6:00 a.m., and when we were much younger my sister and I went every week with my Mum. Thanks to jetlag I was actually up to going yesterday, since I am waking up ridiculously early these days. The hike was held in St. Peter, one of the northern parishes, and started out at Farley Hill National Park.

The hikers are divided into four groups: Stop & Stare (i.e. slow pokes), Medium, Fast-Medium and Fast (a.k.a Grin & Bear it). My Mum and I, and our friend Lyndonna joined Stop & Stare. Of course. Although I have since renamed it Stop, Stare and Click because of course I had my camera along.











You can see some more photos here

But said camera got us into a bit of trouble at the end of the hike! I eventually ended up falling to the back of the group with all my stops to attend to the click part of the tour. Another hiker then came to me to ask about my camera since she was planning to buy one soon. As we chatted she and my Mum discovered they were both teachers so started to chat about that. As they were "licking their mouths" as we say (gossiping), we came to the top of the track through the cane fields and there was not a soul to be seen! We just assumed that we should go straight ahead, but to cut a long story short, after tramping around the fields for over an hour with no human in sight, we gave up, and retraced our steps back to the last main road we passed on. We weren't worried or scared, it's practically impossible to get lost in those fields, and we could see roads and civilised life off in the distance. Mostly we were just dang tired and hot and thirsty!

Once on the road we "poped' a ride with a passing Defense Force landrover, and they kindly drove us back to the starting point. We arrived back a good two hours late! We had a good laugh (in fact we're still laughing about it) and went off to Lyndonna's for brunch.

Quite the Mother's Day gift!!

What is Callaloo Soup?

A year ago yesterday I started on this blogging adventure, not having a clue where it would lead me. I wasn't sure how long I would keep on blogging, and I can't believe how quickly the last year has passed. I like to think that writing this blog has not only allowed my friends and family to learn more about my life in France, but has also helped me to improve my writing, something that has always been on my long list of :To Dos".

In thinking about the past year of blogging it occured to me that I never explained just what Callaloo Soup is. Those of you in the Caribbean or in some way associated with that part of the world need no explanation I'm sure. For all my other loyal readers however it certainly bears a description.

Callaloo is the familiar name for the large, heart shaped leaves of the root vegetable known as dasheen or taro or malanga. When cooked, it has a consistency similar to spinach, and is just as nutritious. Callaloo Soup is a rich chunky soup made from a base of callaloo leaves, and containing a selection of root vegetables (dasheen, tania, yam, sweet potaoes, green bananas), salted pork, coconut milk, spices and stiff & sticky dumplings. And hence the catch line of the blog: a little bit of everything.

Ironically, as a child growing up in Grenada I didn't even like this soup, I had to be forced to eat it, the only part I enjoyed were those stiff & sticky dumplings. Now when I do get the chance to eat it I lick the bowl. Once I started living outside of the Caribbean, Callaloo Soup became a symbol to me of everything Caribbean, everything Grenadian, everything that said home. It was the perfect name for my blog.

So what else is Callaloo Soup? A place for me to write my thoughts. A place for me to share my art. Somewhere I can connect with people the world over. A place through which I can make friends. My little spot on the world wide web.