Those of us who are the "oldtimers" of SXM constantly bemoan the fact that St. Maarten isn't what it used to be....that the old things are being discarded without any thought to preserving history, cuture, or heritage.
That, unfortunately, for the most part is true and very sad.

There is a bright star on the horizon though. Tyrone Phelipa, who went to school with my daughter and who is like family to me, is a young person who wants to keep the old traditions alive.

Let me back up a minute and introduce you to the premier string band of St. Maarten, Tanny and the Boys.




Tanny & The Boys was founded in the late 1970s and are the oldest existing band on the island. The musicians of this band play a festive music rooted in traditional St. Martin. The music is as infectious now to the mind, body, and soul of many as it was to revelers and partygoers for the first half the 20th century when the string band was a dominant mode of entertainment at parties. Those parties at times lasted “all night long” and “for days” .
Age doesn’t get in the way of their rigorous schedule. They perform weekly at hotels, private parties, public dances, formal receptions, and cultural events. They sing in English and in Spanish. They play merengue, calypso, tumba, bolero, waltz, pop, blues, polka, and mazurka using accordion, marimba, güiro, and tambora. They’ve entertained listeners in Anguilla, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Barthelemy, Tortola, St. Croix, Trinidad, The Netherlands, Bonaire, Curaçao, Germany, Aruba, and Cuba.
These silver-haired, golden-age musicians are named after their one-time bandleader Nathaniel “Tanny” Davis, who very recently died.
This is a profile of the original band.
http://www.houseofnehesipublish.com/music.html

A party isn't a party on St. Maarten without having Tanny and the Boys play. We never get tired of hearing their music.
Unfortunately "the boys" are getting up in age. Many of us often speak of what will happen when they are all gone..who will play like they play..who will carry on their kind of tradiitonal music..
There is very little traditional music left on the island.
You barely hear calypso any more except at carnival time. Steel Band music is rare too although The Mighty Dow is doing a lot to keep that music alive.

Never fear, the music won't die. Tyrone, who is a Capoeira instructor on the island, is also a musician.

Capoeira (IPA: [ka.pu.ˈej.ɾɐ],Tupi-Guarani word for - clear area) is a blend of martial art, game, and dance originated in Brazil, from the regions known as Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The art-form started up in Brazil during the 16th Century, an obvious result of the slave trading that took place in conjunction with the previously slaved native Indians. Capoeira was created and developed by both the native slave Indians in Brazil and slaves brought from Africa. Participants form a roda (circle) and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The game is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Less frequently-used techniques include elbow-strikes, slaps, punches, and body-throws.

Tyrone has taken some of the members of his Capoeira classes and formed a string band called "Tiny and the Boys."
He started the group a few months ago and it seems to have taken off.
According to today's news reports, Tiny and the Boys are getting considerable community and financial support for keeping "string" culture alive.
Here is the report from SMN-News.
http://www.smn-news.com/Headline%20News/
Take a look at the article because there are some great pictures there of the kids and Tyrone.

When all we hear about are young people in gangs, and crime, and problems in the school, it is a joy to hear something like this.

Kudos to Tyrone and to Tiny and the Boys!
Keep the good traditions alive!

 



Even Maxine is proud today!

I heard this on CBS this morning and I thought I would post it here.
It is from Harry Smith.
It certainly is something to think about.

We're lucky to be here - we're Americans. So much freedom, so much opportunity.

Most of us have roots somewhere else. Our grandparents and great-grandparents came here at great risk, or they were forced here against their will. Regardless, they worked hard to insure our lives would be better than theirs.

Our thanks to them this Fourth of July. And our thanks to the people who at even greater risk created the foundation for the United States.

Our founders, who dared to break away from the British, who gathered in Philadelphia to declare their independence, had a sophisticated understanding of history and philosophy.

What they dreamt of was audacious. There was no place in the world that would be like the United States of America. And they were willing to risk their lives for it.

We should be humbled today. And we should ask ourselves this - if the founders popped up at our barbeque this afternoon, would they be impressed with what we've done with the place?

I wonder.


Food for thought, as they say!
Enjoy your day! 

For me, it will be a normal day. 
I never celebrate the Fourth here. Ther are some parties of course but they are mostly geared towards the tourists and I just don't like large get togethers any more anyway. 
So I will have a "normal" day here.....whatever normal is.... and reminisce about all those mouth watering  hot dogs and corn on the cobs!

The gardener and I went down to Simspon Bay Yacht Club to check on the boat today. There are people who live next door who are from the States and have recently bought down there. They are relatively new to the island.
They own a boat too but it is anchored over in the marina.
There is a Spanish guy who cleans their boat for them. Being anchored in the lagoon is a hassle. The barnacles grow on the bottom of your boat over night.
Dee always cleans his boat with a helper. They take  the boat over to a shallow area in the lagoon, use snorkel masks, and clean her up whenever we are about to take her out....which is not often. 
Poor Zelphina usually just sits in the lagoon all by herself, collecting moss and  barnacles.

Anyway, I digress.

The neighbor was doing something on  the dock with his knife and somehow the knife ended up in the  bottom of the lagoon.
The Spanish guy who cleans  boats was walking past, and the neighbor,  pointing to Dee's boat  and assuming the guy cleans Dee's boat, said  to the Spanish guy
"Hey, when are  you gonna clean that boat?"
The Spanish guy says "OK, tomorrow."
So the neigbor says "Ok, good, can you look for my knife when you do"
Sounds good, right?
Except for a few things:
1. The neighbor was speaking English.
2. The Spanish guy speaks Spanish.
and 3. the Spanish guy does NOT clean Dee's boat, but he thought he was being asked to clean the boat, not just get a knife back.
So guess what? Dee's boat got cleaned the next day!
And the neighbor also got his knife back!
And then the Spanish guy asks the neighbor for $200.00 for cleaning Dee's boat.
Oop! A little communciation problem here, ya think?
 Are you following all of this?
Ok, enter Dee!
And what do you think happens?
The Spanish guy wants $200.00 from the  neighbors
The neighbor doesn't want to pay.
The neighbor calls Dee.
Explains the situation.
Dee says, ever so politely, "not my problem."
And this goes on and on and on .
Long story not so short.. The neighbor realizes he and the Spanish guy both made a mistake. He pays the Spanish guy $100.00, saying they both have to absorb the loss since they both screwed up.
So Dee gets his boat cleaned at no cost and the neighbor pays $100.00 to get his knife back from the bottom of the lagoon.
Guess who the winner here is?? 
 And the morale of the story?
1. Don't assume nuttin'!
2. Ask questions first!
3. Learn each other's language!
4. Never try to get  money from  Dee!

On July 1, 1863, slaves were freed on St. Maarten. What is fascinating is that slaves were freed on the French side in 1848. That is 15 years of slavery on one side and no slavery on the other side.
I am sure there were many runaway slaves escaping to the French side during those years.
For a fascinating history of the French side of St. Martin, check out this link.
http://www.st-martin.org/us/discovery/history.php

So today is Emancipation Day on Dutch St. Maarten, not French St. Martin. There usually are various activities on the island in rememberence of this day, but not this year. No reasons why.
The SMN-News posts on it site, however,
http://www.smn-news.com/Headline%20News/head2.html

that these activities were usually financed by one of Commissioner Louis Laveist foundations, However, since the Federal Detectives have been investigating these foundations the Commissioner chose to stop the activities. And apparently the island government refused to finance anything since there is a deficit in government budget.

So who knows what the true story is? All we know is that there is no 2008 commemeration of this important date in St. Maarten's history.
Commissioner Wescot-Williams did send out a govenrment statement though, but is that enough?

In my mind, it is another example of neglect of the isand's history and heritage.
What a shame!

............when you basically have been in your air conditioned bedroom for the past 3 days?
Ever since I came home I have been suffering from allergies. It started in NY but has continued here.
In additon , the island has been experiencing a layer of Saharan Dust and that does cause breathing problems and respiratory irritations.
So since it was a weekend and since the gardener was not home, I just hung out in the bedroom all by myself.....except for the doggies of course, who follow me everywhere I go, even into the bathroom.

I did finally start Barack Obama's book,  Dreams from My Father.
If you haven't read it, you really should. It is fantastic and much more interesting than I thought. 
It is a complex honest look into the personal struggles of a man who may be our next president.

By the way, I have a question for you all since it is going to be nothing but politics for the next several months. 
How do you tell someone to stop sending you political jokes? 
He is  a nice man. He is an internet friend and I love most of his jokes.
 He clearly is for the candidatae other than the one I am for so he is sending me jokes about "my" candidate.
 I don't want to hurt this person's feelings, but I don't want those jokes either.. God, can you imagine how many I would get before November? LOL

                

 

By the way, Happy Birthday to Lena Horne who is 91 today!

What a gal!

 






Yes, I am home and I slept for 10 hours last night. Home and exhausted! 
Traveling definitely is not easy! LOL

And, of course, I haven't been home 24 hours yet and GEBE already  went off. What is their problem?
 I had been hearing reports that they go off at least twice evey day. What fun! It is so nice to be back where things work so well....... do you detect the sarcasm?? LOL

My doggies were so glad to see me. I forgot how big they are.. They both greeted me and knocked me down.
I have been hanging out with Erika's little King Cavalier Spaniel, weighing all of 12 pounds.
My guys are huge monsters.
it was good to see them though.

Today is catch up day. 
I wish I meant catch up day with sleep but I mean catch up day with errands.
Go get the mail!
Go to the superpemarket!
Go get dog food!
Make phone calls!
I sure hope I have time for a nap this afternoon!  

 Thanks to all of you for your comments on my last entry.
It is always good to hear from you!

Did you think I was never going to blog again?  Did you wonder where I was? Or simply did no one care?

It is funny..as a blogger, you never know who is reading your blog or if anyone really is. That's why when people comment on what you post, it is so nice...you know at least they have read the entry for that day.

So when you don't blog, are you disappointing those readers? We bloggers sometimes feel a lot of pressure. 
I have had many people say to me that they would never start a blog because it is too much pressure and they feel like there are things like deadlines.
I don't quite feel that way, but I do feel bad when I have not blogged for awhile.

I am headed home tomorrow. I am more than ready to go home. Traveling for a month and living out of suitcases is exhausting. 
Of course, the past 10 days I have been doing fun things like having doctor appointments and, best of all, a mammogram.
I have heard it always said that men cannot understand what it is like to be a woman because they can't experience pregnancy.
Well, they don't usually experience mammograms  either.
Having a  mammogram is just donwright painful.
Since I got a clean bill of health, I can joke about it now. 
So, forgive me, but here come some mammogram jokes. Any woman who has ever had one will fully understand.

"Whoever thought up the word "Mammogram"? Every time I hear it, I think I'm supposed to put my breast in an envelope and send it to someone. "
-- Jan King
 


                   

          and, finally THE poem!

The Mammogram
By Julia Napier©

For years and years they told me,
Be careful of your breasts.
Don't ever squeeze or bruise them.
And give them monthly tests.

So I heeded all their warnings,
And protected them by law.
Guarded them very carefully,
And I always wore my bra.

After 30 years of astute care,
My gyno, Dr. Pruitt,
Said I should get a Mammogram.
"O.K." I said, 'let's do it."

"Stand up here real close" she said,
(She got my boob in line),
"And tell me when it hurts," she said,
"Ah yes! Right there, that's fine."

She stepped upon a pedal,
I could not believe my eyes!
A plastic plate came slamming down,
My hooter's in a vise!

My skin was stretched and mangled,
From underneath my chin.
My poor boob was being squashed,
To Swedish Pancake thin.

Excruciating pain I felt,
Within it's vise-like grip.
A prisoner in this vicious thing,
My poor defenseless tit!

"Take a deep breath" she said to me,
Who does she think she's kidding?!?
My chest is mashed in her machine,
And woozy I am getting.

"There, that's good," I heard her say,
(The room was slowly swaying.)
"Now, let's have a go at the other one."
Have mercy, I was praying.

It squeezed me from both up and down,
It squeezed me from both sides.
I'll bet SHE'S never had this done,
To HER tender little hide.

Next time that they make me do this,
I will request a blindfold.
I have no wish to see again,
My knockers getting steam rolled.

If I had no problem when I came in,
I surely have one now.
If there had been a cyst in there,
It would have gone "ker-pow!"

This machine was created by a man,
Of this, I have no doubt.
I'd like to stick his balls in there,
And see how THEY come out!

By Julia Napier©

!

                       

                        
             
                                 

Let's see.. Aftrer 2 1/2 weeks, we have experienced blazing hot temperatures.....hotter than it ever gets at home.....and now we are experiencing damp chilly temperatures. The temperature did not get much above 60 degrees today and, the sky was grey and cloudy, and, yes, I was cold. LOL

We are with our friends outside of Boston.
 Tomorrow I head back to NYC and Dee heads North to Maine and some fishing for small mouth or big mouth bass.
He probaly likes to fish for big mouth better since he seems to like big mouth things and people better. LOL
What do I know?

Our friend Jeff has a lovely little back yard with some beautiful flowers growing. This is a pretty time of year up here.
Here are some pictures I just took in Jeff's back yard.
Do you all know what they are?