The Speightstown Chickens Cross the Road

Today, we took the bus to Speightstown, which is about 20 minutes from Holetown where we are staying.
It's an old town with lots of amazing buildings on very narrow streets. There was a real bustle to the town and adding to that bustle were these stalwart chicks with their mom.  It was startling to even see them there, but even more so to watch them cross a busy street - the cars all stopped for them.

Not something you witness every day....

unless, perhaps, you live in Speightstown.

We wandered around and visited an amazing art gallery called Gallery of Caribbean Art. There was an incredible variety of artists on display, who originated from various countries around the world, but all made their art in a Caribbean country.

I fell in love with Vishni Gopwani, who moved to the island when she was 17.  She lives in the country and many of my favourite paintings were her studies of field workers.

This is a thumbnail from the website, and there was one very similar on display in the gallery. All her paintings are very impressionistic, painted on a bright yellow/orange ground, which continues around the canvas onto the sides. 


The colours in the art, the clothing, the houses, the buildings are all bright and happy. It truly is a magical place and the more I see of it, the more I fall in love. 

Having a Two-terful Time

I think that is one up from wonderful, right?

And I blame my lapse in posting on all the eating, drinking, swimming in the sea and exploring the island. It seems that every little place we try for lunch or dinner is even better than the last. And there is always another one that someone is talking about that we have to try.

Lunches are the best bet, since you can walk most everywhere and even the smallest places are open. Today, we hiked 3 km to a little pub/restaurant on the beach called Ramshackle and it was soooo charming.  Very rustic and colourful and the food was great!

 The interior was filled with all kinds of interesting driftwood and shell mobiles and an entire wall in the entry way was devoted to them. Very quirky and quaint.

We liked it there so much for lunch, we are going back on Monday night for the "Curry and Quiz" night, which is chicken curry and trivial pursuit.  The bus system here is pretty amazing and they kept trying to pick us up as we made our way there and back. We will hop on on Monday night. The ride is only $2 Bajan - or $1 Canadian!!!!

Even the Rain is Beautiful Here

Today is overcast and rainy - on and off all day - some heavy downpours and some light misty showers, but the clouds are socked in with very little breaks.

Even so, it looks like this.

It's the foliage and the colours that are so amazing after leaving winter. We have drifted back into a rhythm of swimming in the ocean and then having a quick dip in the pool to get the salt off. Then some chaise time with a good book. Pretty tough to take!!

I didn't get this finished yesterday, so now have another picture to share of the lunchtime entertainment. For the celebration of the Holetown Festival, there has been a steel drum band performing at the local beach bar. You can't have a bad time listening to steel drums - it's impossible.

Mind you, I don't know who could have a bad time in Barbados.

Only 6 More Sleeps Til Barbados

And the making is nearly done.
The bag was actually done last week, but I didn't post when I finished - too busy sewing and working, I guess. But here it is.

It is very big! So it will definitely hold everything, and then some.  I am still in love with the braided handles. I will do a test pack today, though there is the issue of the laptop that one of us needs to carry, so I may end up with a backpack with a laptop compartment.

Here you can see the lining (which I thought was kind of Caribbean feeling), but this shot is to show the rings I found for the handles. They are actually curtain clip rings with the clips removed. I thought black would be too harsh, so was happy to find these ones - kind of antique white - just sitting on the shelf waiting to be brought home.

Here's a better look at the lining. I had a bunch of quilting squares that I used to make the pockets. Lots of fun colours inside. I like that the whole thing is washable. Extremely important in an off-white bag.

And here's the (I think) last of the dresses. This is an Amy Butler pattern that had incredible instructions, but as it is fully lined and VERY fitted, it took many hours. If the others were a sprint, this was a marathon. But I think it was worth it. It fits me perfectly.

You can't really see from this picture, but the fabric print is high heel shoes. Here's another pic so you can see.

BTW, I am not wearing a mask in the first picture. That is what happened when I tried to "remove red eye" without knowing what I was doing. I couldn't un-do and it was already off my iphone, so there you go. Kind of mardi-gra-ish.

So, let the packing begin. Hopefully, once that gets under way, the lists in my head will "settle down".

Good thing we have peeps staying while we are gone. They can stay on top of the snow and keep things safe around here.