Christmas lights like you've never seen before...and this is all at one house (!!!). Welcome to the Crighton House Annual Christmas Display - a well loved Cayman tradition, where you and your family get to explore the grounds, take in the sparkling sights and where if you're ye high, you even get some candy from the owners. Enjoy and check back for more...
Wishing everyone a very Merry & Blessed Christmas, from me here in Cayman - Our first truly Caribbean Christmas, complete with our first Christmas tree as well. A mini Cayman Christmas tree.
I am sorely missing everyone at home and am sure they're all having a blast.
You know you're Caymanian when upon meeting someone the next thing out of your mouth is WHO YA DADDY IS? Not to be mistaken with, WHO'S YOUR DADDY? Which might be more of a common question to ask the ladies in Bermuda. I'm just sayin!
A little something I have picked up on this island of Cayman. A little something I've been wanting to dabble in for as long as I can remember but kept putting off and then realising I wasn't getting younger and that there was no reason to wait any longer. A little something that is now one of my prized possessions and something I can easily get lost into. A little something that only gets better with age and/or frequent use. How many things in the world can boast that? A little something that my husband at times, thinks is a little too loud. Cayman, I now have the skill of a little something that I learned on your shores, a little something that I will carry with me for the rest of my days. For now, me and my violin are ready for you this Christmas.
To those of you wanting to and hesitating to learn a musical instrument but fear you are too old to learn one, let me tell you this: You never are too old and if I can do it, anyone can.
'What do I get a big black Jamaican man?' That was the big question plaguing me a few days ago. Anyone partaking in a Secret Santa Gift Exchange this year? It's not easy buying a gift for a man, especially for a man you don't know too well. There aren't too many options out there. So, I sat there scratching my head at work, and again at the many stores, thinking that exact same question, because that's the co-worker I picked.
'Buy him some cologne', says my boss.
'Cologne? Oh no. Every one's getting everyone cologne. I want to get him something different.' say I.
So, what does one get a big black Jamaican man? What does one get any Jamaican man? I walked over to the...you guessed it, liquor store and got him not one bottle but a few to make up a gift basket, right after I grilled the Sales Clerk on what kinds of rum/liquor Jamaican men normally come in to buy. I walked out with the following which I arranged at home myself: one medium sized bottle of Red Label Johnny Walker whiskey in the center, flanked with two smaller Appleton Jamaican Rum bottles on either side, and closing the arrangement off with a bottle of Smirnoff Vodka and Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum. It all looked rather cute, and while at the store I got some admiring comments from other customers waiting in line, all male, of course, saying they wished I was their co-worker. Ha! In any case, what Jamaican man would not love that Christmas gift, right? I joked around at work for the rest of the afternoon about how this Jamaican better not be a teetotaler, because that would be just my luck. I was quickly assured otherwise, because 'all Jamaican men love to drink'.
So, what did my Secret Santa get me? A bottle of perfume. Don't laugh just yet because it's not just any perfume - we're talking Hugo Boss for Women, and I happen to love it. The kicker is I know who got it for me, because I was one of the few people in charge of the Secret Santa list!
OK, I get that you have to cross at the Bypass, because at times that's the only choice. I'm OK with that. But do you think that instead of leisurely walking as if it were pedestrian crosswalk, you could perhaps run? That way I don't have to slow down, which could be the recipe for an accident waiting to happen, for those fast approaching cars behind me. And may I remind you that you are in no way invincible or indestructible. All you are, Pedestrian, is flesh, bones and a whole lot of blood. I mean, I will at all costs try to avoid hitting you, but could you maybe pick up the pace when you see me approaching, and not just be so blase about the whole thing. The last thing I need it to have your guts splattered on my car, especially with Christmas approaching. I am sure your family would like to have you around and alive for Christmas; while mine would like for me to not be in jail during Christmas.
For those of you just tuning in, did I mention that a BYPASS is Cayman's version of a highway?
A long forgotten video taken in February of this year at BAMZ - the Bermuda Aquarium & Zoo. I love this video because it shows you the creation of Bermuda, right from the time the Bermuda volcano erupted millions of years ago to present day. Of course it's all animated but you'll be a lot more informed about Bermuda after watching this. Enjoy!
This is why many visiting or living in Cayman CAN and WILL say they've been to Hell and back, if only to confuse the hell out of you for a few seconds.
Caymanians say I walk too fast. It's a force of habit, I tell them. If we didn't walk this fast back in Toronto during the winter, we'd be frozen on the way to our destination. Then they laugh. They hate walking, they say. I know this because they'd rather, in an outdoor complex, drive from one stairwell to the next instead of walking, or letting me walk. And no, no heels were worn. It's a fact that once you've acclimatised to a metropolitan city and are dependent on public transportation, you pretty much tend to walk everywhere once you're downtown. Parking rates there are highway robbery, so many just use the subway and/or walk. It's environmentally friendly, economical and definitely a more efficient way of beating traffic. New Yorkers will attest to this fact as well.
I can't remember what my Bermudian peeps might have said about my walking speed. Actually I do remember. They said nothing! No one walks fast in Bermuda. You just can't! Not when you have all those hills and dips to walk on. Speed is not even a factor in Bermuda. It's stamina!
My husband, however, says I don't walk fast enough...to keep up with him. Sometimes I don't know what he's talking about.
Today I give you Sparky! Sparky is the oldest turtle at the Turtle Farm and she's quite bossy too. You know what they say, the older you get the more you get to call the shots. And does Sparky ever. She won't be too happy with me revealing her age but I'm not afraid of her one bit. Sparky is 70! You can't help but spot her among all her turtle friends, with her yellow hued shell, she stands out among from them all. Plus she's from the Galapagos Islands. So that's two reasons. Don't mess with her and her food though. She's not afraid to dunk anyone underwater if they get in her way. You just know she rules the roost.
Bombay is where I grew up and where I spent 10 years of my life. I didn't think I'd be so affected when I began to see the utter chaos cause by the terrorist attacks that was televised on CNN and BBC. It was paralysing, not knowing what to do. As I hastily emailed everyone I knew that lived in Bombay, and later called my grandparents to ensure they were safe, I got word that one of my friends narrowly missed the attacks TWICE! Here's what she had to say:
Things are quite bad... I can't believe I just missed the whole thing - It's a miracle.
A few of us were dining next to Cafe Leopold just an hour before the shootings took place.
I also travel home from Victoria Terminus (now known as the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus). Usually the crowded trains do deter me to wait for another. I took a train at 8:00 and the shootings took place around 9:00...
Can you imagine gunmen opening fire at a cafe or a restaurant in an area that you were in just a mere hour earlier? Or the train station that is on your route as part of your everyday commute? Yes to have escaped TWICE in one night is nothing short of a miracle. Her guardian angel must have been working overtime that night.
Here in Cayman the news continued to shake the island and many grappled with the fact that this could even take place here. One of the waiters at Cayman's Gateway of India Restaurant, sadly announced on Friday morning that he lost a friend who worked as a waiter at the Oberoi Hotel in Bombay.
Like everyone, I too am saddened by the attacks and while there are accusations and justifications flying around every which way, there is nothing that will justify the loss of the innocent lives that were taken with this terrorist act. Our world is becoming such a dangerous place to live in and one never knows when something like this will hit so close to home. Many living in Bombay feel that the city will never be the same again and it's true. We are living in a new age - the age of terrorism that can literally take place anywhere, anytime. No place is safe. No one is safe and it's very scary.
