In my estimation, Butler's is the best place to shop on the island for groceries. We are constantly reminded that we are living on an island and our lives are some what affected by that. You don't try to buy milk on a Thursday or Friday as the supply is so limited. One week there was no Kahlua on the island. Believe you me, I checked. Most groceries come from the USA. Chicken comes on Thursday so don't buy it on Wednesday, as I have done!!!! One week you will buy something, find it delicious and never see it again on the shelves. It's a fun game.
Last Thursday I went to the West End and brought Judy along, thank goodness she agreed to come. I had been asked to teach knitting to a group of seniors who meet every Thursday as part of an Urban Outreach Program run by the government. We arrived at 10 only to learn that it started at 11 so off we went to find some conch salad as I had heard the West End has the best on the Island. This little stand is a crazy busy place on the weekends. We arrived and no one was about but one guy yelled to another guy and then the owner yelled at us that he would be right with us. He came across the road with this buggy on the left full of the fixings, tomatoes, onions, limes, vinegar and salt.
The conch are caught in these basket affairs you can see here called condos. They are placed on the bottom of the ocean floor and the conch wander in and can't get out. The helper is removing the live conch from the shell and "cleaning" it up some, throwing it in a bucket of water and throwing the shells back into the ocean.
The conch man then chops the conch up into pieces, adds the other ingredients and voila!!!! For $7 you are now eating a bowl of what was alive and kicking only minutes before!!! I actually like it. I also like conch fritters but cracked conch is a little like eating the inner tube from a bicycle!!!
Judy is getting a serious lesson on playing dominos. Playing dominos??? Hey, stop that!!! Start teaching knitting!!! The quiet woman beside her is actually crocheting under the table!!!
These were the only two men brave enough to come into this bevvy of women. They had a great time playing dominos. It seems they didn't want to learn how to knit. You have to love the smiles. This was such a happy group of people. A real joy to spend time with!!!
I loved working with these two women. While I sat with them, they did fine. As soon as I left, they became what I called "creative knitters". Needles anywhere, yarn anywhere. Just keep doing it!!!
These cool ladies looked on and must have been thinking, "Knit on you fools. I'll just sit here in peace and crochet quietly on my own. Thank you all the same!!!"
I'm getting ready to clap as this new knitter finally had it!!!
"Hey Judy, you're right. Playing dominos is much more relaxing, fun and enjoyable than teaching knitting!!!"We had a great time and were surprised to be served a yummy lunch!!! We're going back this Thursday and then I only have one more after that. Tomorrow afternoon we are going to teach knitting to 9 young women at the Pace Centre which is a day program for pregnant teens. This should be fun too!!!! I'm looking for donations of knitting needles and kinky yarns if any of you are interested in becoming part of this next year. I spent $130 on the supplies for tomorrows class and would appreciate some help from all of my generous friends and family. When you go to the dollar store you can often find interesting yarns for a dollar of $1.25. Thanks for all I anticipate getting from you!!!!!!!!
This is the car that has gotten us everywhere we wanted to go during the last three months. It is pretty old. Nothing is automatic. Very plain but practical. I really like it. Driving here has been a real challenge. It took me weeks before I was comfortable driving on the left. I have grown to really like the traffic circles. Stop signs are just a suggestion here. No one uses an indicator so I continue to use mine just to confuse everyone. Seven out of every 10 cars shows some form of body damage. They beep their horns all the time. It doesn't always mean you are doing something wrong. Most of the time it means hello!!!!! They like to drive in the middle of the road. The scariest thing for me is the overtaking lack of skills. They weave in and out of traffic as if they are invincible. It is so bad that a sign on the highway going west says, "Undertakers love Overtakers." Says it all!!!! Bahamian people are really lovely people UNTIL you put them behind of the wheel of a car and THEN the devil takes over them!!!!! They are to be feared when driving!!!!
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