Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, life goes on

Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on….

 

When I was in Pakistan I had trouble with my computer and after a couple of weeks it crashed and died.  I hauled the dead thing all over India and when I got back to the states I managed to get it functional again (after a huge amount of effort and stress).  And even though it was a new computer and still fully covered by the manufacturer's warranty , it still cost me $500 to get it working (long story).

 

With all that behind me I brought "Phoenix`" with me to Haiti and all was well until last Thurs. when someone entered the office that Martin and I use and took both of our computers, as well as Martin's blackberry.

 

So here I am, typing on another borrowed computer as I wonder what this computer karma is all about.  As an added challenge, every computer I have used when mine has been unavailable has been subject to the same glitch.  The cursor will spontaneously jump to some random location and begin inserting my text there.  This is not a rare event.  I'm lucky if I can type a single sentence without it happening at least once.

 

But enough of my whining.  I had backed up my data just 3 days prior to the theft so I did not loose much.

 

Which is not to say I did not loose anything of importance.  I did loose all of the photos and video of a wonderful day we had in Kenscoff on Sunday, 1-23.  But I'm getting ahead of myself….

 

A few days prior to the Kenscoff trip a couple of Martin's friends dropped by.  Tim Owen-Kennedy is a natural builder and designer from Ukiah, Ca. with decades of experience.  He also knows a lot about various aspects of permaculture and is otherwise a wealth of interesting information.  His traveling companion is Bruce King who wrote the book on straw bale building.  Literally, it's called, "The Design of Straw Bale Buildings."  He's also written, "Buildings of Earth and Straw", "Making Better Concrete" and "The International Standard for Earthen Buildings."  Between the 2 of them and Martin, I was soaking up a lot of good information during our discussions.

 

Martin had planned a day for them but before they headed I joined them for breakfast.  While talking about bamboo connections and other geeky stuff Martin made contact with Regine, a Haitian architect he knows.  She was headed up to see her friend Jane Wynne who has a place where she grows several varieties of bamboo.

 

So plans were changed and soon we were headed up the hill to Kenscoff.

 

The journey took the better part of an hour and as we climbed the hill the temperature dropped by 10 degrees.  I found myself more comfortable than I had ever been since arriving in Haiti 3 weeks prior.

 

When we arrived we were let in the gate by Frank, a Haitian who I learned later had lived in New York City for several years.  We met Jane, who is a wonderful, half-Haitian woman with an effusive sense of hospitality.  It wasn't long before we were on her front porch drinking tea with Coleen, a friend of hers who had brought Marika, her precocious 8 year old daughter with her.

 

The place where Jane lives was bought by her American father who had a vision that included growing several varieties of bamboo.  After tea Marika led us on a tour of the grounds, an acre or more of lush greenery with surprises around most every bend.  Tim was our bamboo expert and explained the difference between the outer, structural part of the bamboo and the inner part that insects love.  He pointed out that these varieties could grow up to a foot in a single day and that when the first shoot comes up you can put a wooden box around it and force the bamboo to grow in a rectangular shape.  Or any other, depending on the shape of the box one uses.

 

Square bamboo.  What a concept.

 

Later, back on the porch Martin was thinking about getting back to his plan for the day when lunch appeared.  Soon after that Frank started playing his flute (bamboo of course) and was joined on the congo drum by his good friend, Willy Lee.  As the music and singing began, Martin's plan became just another unrealized thought.

 

This was when I pulled out my camera and after a few stills, started shooting some video.  Marika, however, had other ideas and put her beautiful chocolate brown face directly in front of my camera and made faces.  It was precious and it's a shame I lost it all.

 

Frank and Willy Lee were joined by Coleen on the guitar with her beautiful voice.  Tim took a turn with the guitar as more neighbors dropped by to join in on the fun.  Pretty soon the porch was full of folks either playing, singing or dancing.  Marika finally grew tired of primping herself in front of my camera and I was able to get some great shots of the scene for the better part of an hour that have now been lost forever.  When the battery finally gave up the ghost I put the camera down and started dancing myself.  I had a great time doing so but this time I had to cut it short as my heart, for the first time since my ablation in May, started giving me some atrial fibrillation problems.  I sat down, concentrated on my breathing and hoped I would not get shocked by my defibrillator since it probably would have put quite a damper on the party.

 

My heart calmed down though and I was able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon without incident.  But the event has caused me to consider a re-do of the ablation, something I was warned about when I had the first one.

 

Just before leaving I asked Jane if I could use her bathroom.  Because she lives in a house that is 100 years old, and is in Haiti, everything does not work perfectly.  She said I would need to fill the toilet with water from the bathtub using the bucket she has there for that purpose.  When I did, the water spilled out of the tank and onto the floor (I guess I should have put it directly in the bowl).  I spent the next 15 minutes mopping up the mess.

 

But the incident gave me an idea.

 

When I re-emerged folks were just saying their good-byes.  I gave and received many hugs and I knew that I had finally found my tribe in Haiti.

 

Jane had mentioned that she was coming down to Port au Prince on Tues. and when she did I presented the idea that was hatched in her bathroom a couple of days prior.  I said that I was extending my stay in Haiti and that I would like to add a week at the end to come back to her place so I could fix her bathroom plumbing.  Jane thought this was a fabulous idea so I will now leave Haiti on March 2^nd.  This should allow enough time to finish the straw bale building and allow another week to help Jane out and hang with some great folks.