The "A New Visitor To Our Neck Of The Woods" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got home from the grocery store and my wife told me to, "Come look out the back door at the bird I just took a photograph of a couple of seconds ago."  We searched our rear deck together and finally found it behind our Tiki Bar at the one end of our rear deck.  A bird that I had never seen before.  

The American Woodcock made a visit to our deck.
Click to enlarge.

I grabbed the camera and took a few more photos of it before it decided to take flight.  Before it did it was using its long beak to search between the boards of our deck for what I assume was food.  Carol began a search online to try and figure what exactly had made a visit to our house.  Within minutes she showed me a photo of the American Woodcock; a perfect match for our visitor.  It's plumage is a mix of different shades of browns, grays and black.  It's chest and sides were a variety of white, light gray and light brown colors.  It did not expose its neck, but the description online said that the nape of the neck is black, with three or four crossbars of deep buff.  The toes and feet, which are small and weak, are brownish gray to reddish brown.  The woodcock has large eyes located high in the head and their usual field of view is probably the largest of any bird, 360 degrees in the horizontal plane and 180 degrees in the vertical plane.  As I read more I realized the bird must have gotten off course since it told me that most woodcocks spend the winter in the Gulf Coast and southeastern Atlantic Coast states.  Some may remain as far north as Maryland, eastern Virginia and southern New Jersey.  So, our guest is a few hundred miles too far north in southern Pennsylvania.  The woodcock migrates at night while flying at low altitudes by itself of in small flocks.  It doesn't fly fast with the slowest flight speed ever recorded for a bird, 5 miles per hour.  The woodcock begins to shift southward before ice and snow seal off their food supply which is primarily earthworms.  Their unique bone-and-muscle arrangement lets the bird open and close the tip of its bill while sunk in the ground.  Only problem with this guy on our back porch was that there wasn't any earthworms under the boards of our deck and it's timing was off a bit since we had close to eight inches of snow a few days before.  Luckily the snow had disappeared the day after and the ground is moist so a good hunting ground for worms.  We hope the bird, which seemed to be about the size of a very small duck, will get back on course once again and find its friends in the near future.  But, while visiting our deck, he did have his photo taken and a story written about him.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Framing A Family Sport Favorite" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Our first child was expected any minute and the excitement was growing every day.  Early March and we knew it would be soon since he was expected on March 2nd.  The days turned into a week, and then another week, and then another week, and...March 28 he arrived.  Named him Derek Charles Woods.  Charles was my wife's father's name and Derek was.....the name of our favorite ice hockey player.  Wasn't long after we were married in 1967 that we both got interested in watching professional ice hockey.  Something to watch on TV on cold winter evenings in the north-east United States.  The more we watched the more we got to know the names of most of the players and one of our favorites was a young man by the name of Derek Sanderson who played for the Boston Bruins.  We thought his name was so neat that we named our first-born after him.  Now, I tell you this since last week someone came into the frame shop, where I work part-time, with a job to be matted and framed.  It was a newspaper from 1974, a few years after our son was born, that featured a front page declaring: "Flyers Take the Stanley Cup And the City Dances With Joy".  Brought back so many great memories that my wife and I shared in our early marriage.  The customer had recently found the old Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper which included a Souvenir Section which was dated Monday, May 20, 1974, and thought he would have the front page and page that carried the second half of the stories from the front page.  He also wanted the lead page in the sports section and another page of the sports section that carried more of the stories of the big win.  He brought along the Souvenir Section and wanted five pages of that section framed.  Big order for the gallery!  He chose the Flyers colors of orange and black for the mats and a black frame that had an orange trim along the black.  The mats and frames for both the large newspaper sections were 32" X 40" in size and had Museum glass on them.  Museum glass is both UV safe and  non-glare.  Very nice choice, but very expensive.  The five other frames for the Souvenir section pages were the same mats as the big jobs with the same glass, but less than half the size of the big mats.  I thoroughly enjoyed working on the job since it was fun to read as well as frame.  The guy who had the job done is a real Flyers fan and I'm sure he is enjoying the final result.  I know I certainly did as I worked on it.  Check out the photos I have included so you can see what I did for the customer.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1974.  The paper had very strong creases in it and it was my job to get rid of them and make the page flat so I could put it under glass with no wrinkles. The discoloring was something I couldn't correct and was due to age and light.  Click on images to enlarge.

On the right side you can see the pages dry-mounted in place and the double-mat of black and orange cut, ready to put both together.

In the frame with Museum glass which reduces glare. 

The second double page from the sports section.

This is the Souvenir section that I had to cut all the pages apart and flatten and dry mount them and make mats for the five pages the customer wanted done.  One page, which had the team photo on it, was a horizontal page and a different size layout so it had to have a totally different size mat and frame, but still in the same colors and frame. 

The "A Fun Name To Pronounce" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the weekly email sent to my mailbox by St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where I am a member.  Every week they feature a small story about a saint.  Today was a bit different, since a short story appeared in the email telling about the former King and Queen of the United States' 50th state, Kamehameha and Emma.  Carol and I have visited Hawaii three times over the past 20 years.  During one of our visits we visited an Episcopal church in Lahaini on the island of Maui with friends Jere and Sue as well as Harry and Barb.  The liturgy was easy to follow, since it was the same as we use in our home church.  I tell you this since the King and Queen used the same Anglican liturgy which was approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the new mission in Hawaii.  Alexander Liholiho, who became King Kamehameha IV, was born in 1834 and was the grandson of Kamhameha the First who happened to be a brutal pagan ruler, but who did unify the Hawaiian Islands.  Alexander was educated by Congregationalist missionaries and began studying law at the age of 14.  He was named crown Prince in his teens and began traveling to Europe, England and the United States in preparation for his reign.  While in England he attended the Church of England which used the Book of Common Prayer which is the same used in our church today.  He found he liked it better than what was being used in Hawaii at the time.  Alexander took the oath of King Kamehameha the Fourth in 1855, at the age of 20, after a smallpox epidemic nearly wiped out Honolulu.  

King Kaamehameha and his wife Queen Emma

A year later he married Emma Rooke who was of British descent on her mother's side.  When he found that American missionaries to Hawaii desired to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the U.S. he wrote to Queen Victoria asking her to send missionaries from the Church of England to his kingdom.  The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury approved the new mission and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Nettleship was consecrated in Lambeth Chapel as the first missionary bishop of Honolulu on December 15, 1861.  King Kamehameha and his wife were both very concerned for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of their people.  The King personally translated the Book of Common Prayer as well as the hymnal into Hawaiian.  Together, they organized Queen's Hospital, which is the largest civilian hospital in Hawaii, and a leprosarium for the treatment of leprosy patients on the island of Maui.  Queen Emma was a favorite of Queen Victoria who was the godmother to their son who died at the age of four.  The King died of chronic asthma a year after his son and over 800 teachers and students walked to pay respect for their beloved King.  Queen Emma remained active in politics as well as her several charities until her death in 1885.  

The "SXM: A Visit To Marigot Marketplace" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Overcast with a chance of showers so we hopped in the old rental and headed to Marigot which is the capital of the French side of St. Martin; the "t" is silent when pronouncing the name of the town.  

Marigot Marketplace was almost empty of vendors today.

Our reason for the visit is to see how much damage Marigot suffered during hurricane Irma as well as visiting the open-air market along the waterfront.  Many vendors specializing in just about anything and everything usually line the assembly area, especially on a day when cruise ships are in port such as today.  

Ceramic tiles sold by Micka.

We arrived and found a parking spot and headed the half-block to the market.  To our amaze- ment, less than half the area was covered with vendors.  We wandered through some of the stands until we came upon the stand that has artistic tiles made by Micka.  Micka settled in St. Martin after several years of copywriting in Italy.  She arrived in 2001 by sailboat and began painting "with the eyes full of the colors, light and shades of these lands and these oceans."  

Artist Muryel

Carol bought two of her tiles which will be added to the other eight she has in her collection in our bathroom next to her end of the vanity.  For the first time she is offering small notebooks so I purchased one that illustrates Orient Beach.  Muryel is another female artist who has a spot in the Marigot marketplace.  She makes hand-painted shot glasses, mugs, dishes and a variety of other items.  Her themes tend to use the colors and backdrops of St. Martin.  We searched for the woman who sells silk-screened shirts from a stand called "Secret Spot", but couldn't locate her.  After inquiring we were told she was ill, but that another vendor had several of her new designs for sale.  Found the location and checked the new designs that illustrate the island.  

Some of the artwork sold by Muryel.

I have a few short-sleeve and a few long-sleeve shirts from the stand that designs their own shirts and prints them on a silk-screen, multi-station unit, much the same as the students in my graphic arts classes did.  The next vendor we saw was a woman who made items from Tagua nuts, also known as vegetable ivory.  They are a seed that comes from a tropical palm tree.  

My shirt from Secret Spot.

The palms are found from southern Panama along the Andes to Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, northwestern Brazil and Peru.  The scientific name is Phytelephas which means "plant elephant."  When the seed is ripe it becomes extremely hard and will fall to the ground where it can be harvested.  Once carved it looks like ivory.  The items for sale made from this nut were amazing.  Most are made to be mementos or souvenirs.   We searched for one more vendor who makes jewelry, but did not see her so we walked along the shoreline for a few minutes before heading back to the car.  

The seeds that come from the tropical palm.

Fun morning which gave us a chance to see just how much the island is recovering, or not recovering, from last year's monstrous hurricane which made a direct hit on St. Martin.  Life will go on for my wife and myself after we leave this beautiful island paradise, but for those who live on St. Martin, the struggle for normalcy will continue.  The little bit we spent here today and during the rest of our vacation will not make big difference to the residents of this island, but if more and more people can make a journey to this island, it just might make a difference.  Here's hoping some of you reading this will find a way to visit this beautiful and caring island known as "the friendly island", to help them get back to a normal life once again.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The seeds after extraction.

Items made from the seed.

The "SXM: Vacation's Are For Reading & Relaxing. Yeah, Right!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Punching the keys on my MacBook Air while my dear wife is sitting by the pool reading another book.  On days that we go to the beach, I take my Kindle with me for reading while Carol will be reading another book.  Some days I will dig out my iPhone and take off along the shore line to snap a few photos while Carol will be reading another book.  

My reading material.

We were on the island of St. Martin for 19 full days and during that time I read three Kindle books and an Alfred Hitchcock short story book while she read 14 books.  Now, how is that possible.  I would say that I probably took more naps than she did, but that wasn't the case.  She just reads faster than I do.  At least that's what she says.  She told me I read the same page a few times since I lose track of where I am in my Kindle due to looking at all the girls walking by my chair.  Nah!  Well, maybe!  I must admit that the books she read weren't real skinny ones or only printed on one side of the page.  She actually read 14 books!!  She and her friends Marg and Beth from Lancaster, and her friend Sue who lives in State College, PA exchange books all the time.  

She made me line up all these books she
allegedly read and take a photograph of them.

When she buys a book its like buying four books since after swapping books, the four girls only have to buy one each.  Now, for me, if 10 girls pass by my beach chair every hour, I can only read half a book a day.  While at our villa I usually grab my laptop to load photos onto it from my camera or iPhone while she reads.  I also take time to add a story to my blog daily while she sits reading a book.  So there you have it.  She actually reads all the time while I vary my vacation time.  We're both happy, so what's it matter if she reads almost ten times the amount of books I do.  It's just not fair that she gets to pile up all the books she reads while I have a skinny Kindle and an old book that I read maybe 50 pages in it.  And, to top that off, I have to pack half of her books in my suitcase since if she put them all in her suitcase we would have to pay extra for all the additional weight.  Oh well!  It's only vacation and no one really cares how much the other one reads.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

PS - I really think she only reads every other chapter!

The "SXM: A Visit With Jenn & Mark At Amuseum" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I along with native island friends Dee and Barbara are having our evening meal at Le Piment in Orient Village when this young couple enter and sit close to our table.  Soon they are making a visit to our table to say Hi! to Dee and Barbara as well as introduce themselves to Carol and me.  

The Old House or the new Amuseum Naturalis in French Quarter.

Jenn and Mark are the new resident owners at what they are now calling Amuseum Naturalis which to most is known as "The Old House" which is located on the hill at the end of French Quarter as you enter Orient Village in St. Martin.  For years I have admired the old house that sat on the hill along the road above Le Galion
Beach that takes passengers from the French Quarter to Orient Bay.  

Not a very pleasant photo, but it shows a pile of dung
covered with white butterflies known as St. Martin snow.

A couple of days after our evening visit with new friends Jenn and Mark, I actually pulled into the driveway to make a visit to the old house now known as Amuseum Naturalis which is now a free museum of local nature, history and culture developed by the Les Fruits de Mer Association with an all-volunteer team.  

This is the caterpillar that hatches into the butterfly.

After pulling off the road you are greeted by a restored 18th century green-and-black plantation greathouse on what at one time was a sugar plantation.  The Old House's interior replicates the life of a typical planter and shows period furniture and original family portraits and personal objects from six generations.  I pulled up to the house and hopped out of my rental.  

Stairway to the front door of The Old House.

Searched the grounds for someone and after not seeing a soul, began my own tour.  The view of the house was obstructed at first by a wall of white which I later learned was call St. Martin Snow.  It is the early hatching of thousands and thousands of white butterflies.  They were everywhere.  About 10 minutes after I began my self-tour a car pulled next to mine and out jumped Jenn and Mark.  They apologized for not greeting me, but they had a delivery to make before heading to The Old House.  We walked to the front door of The Old House, but I was told the interior of the house had suffered severe damage during last year's Hurricane Irma and still isn't safe enough to enter.  

Looking inside the front door yields this beautiful view.
I could go no further due to the floor being weak.

They told me The Old House has been part of the landscape for hundreds of years.  It was built in 1766 of wood on a stone foundation and was a valuable estate for years.  Originally there were coffee plants, banana trees and acres of cotton, potatoes and cassava.  It was farmed primarily by slaves for many years.  By 1793 the land was used to grow sugar cane.  A mill had been built in the valley across the road.  

These old wheels may have been part of a vehicle or perhaps
part of a machine for processing sugar or even salt or cotton.

The owners of the property were the Hodge family who were from nearby Anguilla.  In 1819 a hurricane destroyed the home which was rebuilt on the same foundation of wood.  By the late 1830's the house was in decline and in 1843 was purchased by Daniel Beauperthuy who had rights to produce salt on the Orient Bay salt pond.  

Don't you wonder what went on behind the many doors of The Old House?

Since the house was in terrible shape, Mr. Beauper- thuy set it on fire.  Took two weeks to burn it down.  The concrete house that is seen today was built in 1935 by Adolph Artsen.  The Bearperthuy family still lived in the house as they managed the salt production on Orient Bay until the 1950s.  

This old slide bolt may have been touched by the owner,
a worker or even a slave who lived at The Old House.

Pierre Beauperthuy transformed the house into a museum of history and culture in the early 2000s.  As I was searching for information I found that Pierre was murdered, but never found an outcome of the investigation.  The remaining Beauperthuy family eventually asked Jenn and Mark if they would take over the property and make it into the Amuseum it is today.   In 2018 the Les Fruits de Mer Association began restoring the property and finally opened it as a free museum.  My visit was interesting, but the short time I had wasn't enough to explore everything.  On my next visit to the island I will make another visit to The Old House to explore at greater lengths.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "SXM: A Few Of My Favorites" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Loading all the photos I took with my DSLR as well as my iPhone during my recent vacation to St. Martin/Sint Maarten into my MacBook Air.  Went through the photos and deleted over half of them.  Many of the photos I put into files to be used for the stories I posted and from the remaining photos my wife and I chose our favorites.  The following are the selections we made as favorites with a brief description if needed.  Please click on images to enlarge them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

These two friends were running on the beach one morning.   They stopped in front of me, one laid down while the other decided to relieve himself on the other.  Just being dogs!

A soaring Frigate.

I must have taken a few hundred photos of flowers.  Carol liked the dark background on this one.

This guy is showing his colors.

Scared?  It wasn't more than an inch long!

One of the few photographs I took in the town of Grand Case that didn't show devastation.

We had a few visitors everyday.  None of them became friends with us. 

Greeters in front of the home of friends Barbara and Dee.

Anna!

I doctored the colors since it was a rainy day with dreary colors on Great Bay in Philipsburg. 

We had both Sugar Birds and Hummingbirds visit our bird feeder every day. 

This little guy wasn't more than 3" long.  A meal to many of the birds in the neighborhood.

Even rain can be beautiful!

Taken with a macro lens attachment on my iPhone.

The daily storm clouds had just passed.  Truly beautiful!

Another photo taken with my iPhone.  Even seaweed can be interesting.

This child's toy was one of the few items on the decimated resort of Club Orient that had any color.  Caught my eye immediately.  Actually brought it home as a souvenir.

Our love has lasted a long, long time!

The soft and muted colors captured with my macro lens on my iPhone.

Second floor guard in Orient Village.

The "SXM: Talking With The Bridge Master" Story

The Sint Maarten drawbridge is opening.

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting at a table with my wife at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club waiting for our new yacht to be brought to the dock.  Nah...we're actually waiting for our breakfast of French toast and bacon to arrive at our table while we also wait for the nearby drawbridge to rise to allow the couple of yachts to pass through the drawbridge that sits next to the Yacht Club.  

Aldria tells me he is the Bridge Master. 

Kinda funny ordering "French" toast on the Dutch side of the island, but there was nothing "Dutch" on the menu!  Wasn't long before the alarm sounded and the street traffic was halted as the drawbridge rose and the boats passed through.  A few years ago we made our first visit to the Yacht Club and now try to return every year during our annual island visit to witness the passing of some of the most beautiful boats, ships and yachts you will ever see.  

A boat moves from the lagoon into the ocean.

As soon as the alarm rang, I told Carol I would be back and grabbed my camera and headed to the edge of the pier where the restaurant is located to get some photographs.  After returning to my seat we dug into the great breakfast that had been delivered to our table.  Short time later Carol said, "See that man over there in the blue shirt?  I think he is the fellow who opened the bridge for the boats to pass through.  He just came back to finish his coffee."  I turned to look and saw this gentleman with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  Told Carol I'll be right back and walked over to talk with him.  I introduced myself and he told me his name was Aldria.  He has been the Bridge Master for 10 years now.  

This sailor is taking my photo as I take his.

The bridge is opened 7 times a day for boat traffic to pass from the Atlantic Ocean into the Simpson Bay Lagoon and vice-versa.  The first opening is at 8:30 AM, with four hourly openings in the morning and then openings at 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 pm.  He is notified of boats that want to pass through through the canal by the walkie-talkie he carries with him.  All drawbridge traffic must pay a fee based on the length of the vessel.  

A sailboat exits the lagoon.

After each opening and closing he must check the mechanism that opens the bridge to make sure everything is in order.  If a vessel wants to pass through other than the normal time, they must pay an additional fee, also based of the size of the vessel.  I asked how long the bridge could remain open and block road traffic while the boats passed through.  Told me he must close the bridge within 20 minutes of when he opened it.  Today it wasn't opened for more that 10 minutes as only four vessels passed through.  Boats heading into the ocean pass first while those coming into the lagoon follow.  He told me that a few years ago, when a new swing bridge for the opposite side of the lagoon was being made, the mechanical part of the bridge had to pass through the drawbridge and that took quite a bit of time.  

Aldria looks toward the bridge as he tells me about it.

It had been published in the newspaper and on the TV and radio about the bridge being opened for an extended time period to allow for that.  If he gets notice of an emergency taking place where police or ambulance will need to cross the bridge, he can hold up the opening of the bridge, but once the water traffic begins, he doesn't close it for 20 minutes, unless there are fewer vessels waiting.  After his hourly chores are completed he returns to the Yacht Club, parks himself on his usual chair and enjoys his smoke and cup of coffee.  He invited me to come with him in another hour to see what he must do, but I passed on his offer so I could head back to our villa to get ready to head to the beach.  Nothing can keep me from my appointed trip to the beach for my morning nap.  It was another day in the life of an ordinary guy.