All Aboard!

You heard it here first! Well, perhaps those of you who have spent time in India or are fans of Ayurvedic Medicine are already converted, but here is my best guess for the next health food fad. The leaves of Moringa Oleifera provide 7 x the vitamin C of oranges, 4 x the calcium of milk, 4 x the vitamin A of carrots, 3 x the potassium of bananas, 3 times the iron of spinach and 2 x the protein of yogurt.




Fortunately for me, a tree grows outside my door. I thought at first the bright white flowers were just a convenient bird feeder for hummers, but now I'm convinced the tender leaves are a cure-all. Local cucumber, ginger, lime and papaya make a terrific base for a...Moringa Smoothie! Yes, it's easy being green here, and delicious, too.

Be sure to check the aisles of Whole Foods on your next visit and watch the trend train take off!

The Name is Mud

When guests come to visit, we hire a boat and cruise down the West coast of St. Lucia.   Dramatic rock faces, bat caves, and panoramic vistas unfold along the journey.  National landmarks abound:  Marigot Bay, the Pitons, the Volcano.  This land/sea tour has been the most popular expedition for folks who are only on the island for a few weeks. In one action packed day you get a terrific overview of the geography and scope of the island.

The active Soufriere Hills Volcano sputters sulphur and steam at the southern most point  of the island.  Referred to as a "drive-in" volcano, all this means is that you can walk from the road along fenced walkways to view the sulphur pits.  You can even get down and dirty with the cruise ship passengers in the mud baths constructed along the hot streams that course through the volcanic rock.

The hot springs are silky and and the black, mineral rich mud is worshipped for its healing powers, despite all the evidence that breathing sulphur is toxic! The mud from the volcanic lava rock creates a silicate facial and the locals sell the dirt at a premium in the city.

Tree to Blender

Chocolate.  On this island paradise, cocoa pods are literally hanging off the trees.  If you have money, you can spend a night ay at the intoxicating Chocolate Hotel and eat at the restaurant where every dish has chocolate in it.  Or you can take the Bean to Bar tour where you pick the pods yourself, process and  build a chocolate bar, all in the same 4 hours.

Or, if you're like me, you experiment at random, cut open a pod and harvest your own beans. Each cocoa bean is born inside a package of pulp. The white pulp is a sweet nectar, that you can suck on or process into sorbet and other yummy things. Then the bean gets roasted and ground. The locals roll the chocolate nibs with cinnamon and nutmeg into chocolate sticks.  On a rainy day, you grate the logs into boiling water or milk and make cocoa tea. Great source of theobromine!

To take the nib even further from the pod, I froze my concentrated cocoa tea in ice cube trays and used the frozen chocolate cubes to make a smoothie.  Combined with local banana and fresh coconut meat from the guy on the beach who carves coconut shell bird feeders, this is my go-to breakfast.  It's taken me too long to sort out how to be a locovore, but the blender makes it easy!

Waves and Troughs

 Saturday brought heavy rain and high winds racing over the mountains.  In the dark of the morning, I donned a rain poncho and headed out, only to find out that classes are canceled!  A RainDay.  Well, yes, it was a lot of rain, but the streets were passable, and... it's just rain.  Since it's still the dry season and the earth is parched, I guessed that all this water would pass in a matter of moments.

I continued to school to meet with a relentlessly talented, young cellist named Coman. Even if snow were falling on the Pitons,  Coman would still arrive at school, on time, oblivious of any extra effort or inconvenience.

Some students rescheduled for the afternoon, but by 3pm, even I was concerned about the weather.  Torrents of water pounded the roof and walls of the ancient wooden building.  Leaks opened up in the kitchen ceiling and water poured in through open windows. Electricity flickered and threatened to quit.  Students finally canceled the last afternoon classes, and the few remaining packed up and began the drive north.

Indeed, the gutters along the streets of Castries were in overflow, and pedestrians waded across streets on their way to mop out shops.
Previously nascent rivers erupted into the ocean, and large tree limbs and trash bobbed in the surf.
The extremely wet weather continued into the next morning, but by this afternoon the tropical wave had passed over.  Locals pondered the unseasonably soaking.  Could it be another result of global warming?

All You Need Is Love

 I am so proud of my students. After a long week at school, exams and at least three orchestra rehearsals, they show up to perform on the weekends for private clients.  Here, four high school students and a teacher perform Beatles, Wagner and Beethoven for a wedding at the Methodist church in Castries.

What gives these students their drive and ambition?  Most of these young people want to be musicians, and this real life training is essential.  Being well rehearsed and yet flexible enough to adapt to unfolding circumstances is a requirement for any general business musician.  Clients tend to be whimsical and are untrained in event planning.  A good musician is ready to do whatever needs to be done in the moment.

I'm told that the students who show up each day at the St. Lucia School of Music prefer being there to anywhere else. Here they get the support, encouragement, and attention that all children crave and a safe, steady place to practice focus and discipline. If they do decide to become musicians, that's great, but most importantly, these young people are building community and forming healthy relationships with mentors and peers.

Applicious

Water Apple, Java Apple, Semarang Rose-Apple, Wax Apple....this is NOT an apple.  Somewhere on the fruit continuum between Asian pear and watermelon, these refreshing thumbed-sized, red bells arrive piled high on market tables across Castries.  Bright, shiny like holiday ornaments and dotting tall, tropical evergreens, these delicate fruits are rather perishable. They seem to lose their waxy sheen the moment they go in the fridge.

Wax Apples are one of the few Caribbean fruits I've found that doesn't require major dissection resulting in mounds of goopy seeds, juice and skin.  You can an entire apple in a few bites, so it's fun to purchase a "heap" to snack on at work for about 75 cents.

Not surprisingly this "apple" pairs beautifully with local cinnamon and nutmeg then blended with a bit of banana becomes a tasty smoothie!

Position Missionary

 It was another steamy morning in St. Lucia.  Private school children from the nearby academy are directed outdoors with chairs and tucked into whatever shade could be found.  Storm clouds move quickly over the mountains and a sudden breeze lifts branches and presses leaves sideways. The heat of the sun is so strong that the strings on the cello drop in pitch in surrender.

The primary grades assemble under a prolific and nearly ripe mango tree.  The early childhood group camps out 30 paces away  underneath a porch and the secondary school students cluster under a different tree, even further afield, literally.

My job?  To address all the students and convince them to seek fulfillment in studying violin, viola or cello at St. Lucia School of Music.  Not an easy audience!  This situation needs a microphone.  So a P.A. is located, and a half hour later,  I am schilling for the music school and continually reminding the students I don't teach guitar.

Minus the microphone, this scene reminds me of vintage photographs of missionary schools in rural Africa.  Haphazard assemblies outdoors, a dirt floor and leaf canopy.  I guess, I am a missionary for orchestra.  Music is my religion, and here I am, in a corner of the earth where stringed instruments aren't manufactured and are dear to maintain. Orchestra may still an anomaly in the Caribbean, but not for much longer!

Caribbean Cohorts

 Everyday is a good day for a wedding in St. Lucia.  Because of relaxed legal requirements, idyllic climate and scenery, resorts targeting couples are on every coast catering to romance and family engagements.

My new pal, Lestan, on guitar, and I found our way to a wedding dinner to perform jazz standards. In a mansion high on a hill overlooking the Caribbean sea, there is no more beautiful setting for songs from the American Songbook.   Guests lingered at porch railings on every side of the house, sipping Tamarind juice and Gin & Tonics while servers deliver fish fingers and calamari on silver trays.

One of the things I was looking forward to most by moving to St. Lucia was developing a new cohort of musical colleagues. I haven't had to look far1  With many performance opportunities on the island, and locals who truly appreciate all kinds of music, the island features a multitude of venues for students and teachers alike.  I am never at a loss for what to practice, and, most often, I'm just preparing for the next gig.

Season of Passion

Last week, plump, plastic packages of purple passion fruit piled up in produce carts at the market. Just in time for Mother's Day, the gorgeous and inimitable fruit is actually a berry, which helps explain the pulpy seeds that crowd inside the rind.  The taste is impossibly sour and sweet at the same time.

The first time I ate passion fruit was with a spoon in Bali.  The Indonesian variety is much smalled, the size of an egg, and I was shocked that the hallmark name represented such a seedy, difficult to eat fruit.  The Caribbean version is the size of a grapefruit and ranges ripe in color from yellow to sunset purple.
  

Well,  I have developed a passion for the namesake and add it to my morning smoothie instead of flax and lime.  The blender makes short work of the seeds and the flavors mix beautifully with almost everything!

1,000 Words

For Art's Sake

The Ministry of Tourism is eager to expand on the glut of artists descending on the island of St. Lucia this week for JazzFest.  In addition to performances at the Arts Village and entertainment stages, visiting talent is pulled in all directions to make the most of their short stay. One educational component is a presentation for the local school children at the School of Music performance venue, The Musicbox.

This event is held during the school day, and children  arrive in minivans and are dressed smartly in the red or blue uniforms that distinguish one school from another. The visiting "artist",  Chris Standring, informs the youngsters that if they want to be musicians, they have three choices: artist, sideman or teacher.  His other takeaway point is that there is no original thought.  We are all influenced by other people.

Then his band performs and the students absorb the moment through iPads and phones.  From a brief survey, it appears that very few of these children are interested in becoming an artist, as defined by Standring.  Afterwards, snacks are served and swag water bottles are distributed.  The artist is now relegated to signing 80 water bottles for the persistent fans.

Caribbean Classics

Jazz Week in St. Lucia continues with the Chamber Orchestra performing on the Strip at JQ Mall in Rodney Bay.  Imagine the additional impact of an international draw on a remote island destination. Loudspeakers boom into the night, rental car companies are depleted and the coast highway slows to a crawl.

Due to some small miracle a dozen young performers were able brave traffic and crowds to arrive at the mall Thursday afternoon and entertain locals and tourists alike with classical and contemporary arrangements for string orchestra.  Grace passionately performed a solo piece from the local folk repertoire.

There is something surreal about performing Broadway classics such as Sunrise, Sunset or Somewhere Over the Rainbow in the Caribbean. So far from New York City these songs take on a new significance on a small island where rainbows and sunsets are the main feature.

Another song the students here love to perform is Danny Boy.   A traditional  Irish love song, most often this piece is performed as a slow, mournful ballad.  Ameila conducts the orchestra in a lively, uptempo version.

Cuckoo for Pudding

Our performance at the British High Commission Residence yesterday was filled with bird song and cider.  As the guests arrived we set up near the parking lot and the table serving StrongBow, a wonderful hard cider from England and serenaded the arriving guests with music featuring birds from the last 400 years.

The event featured passed appetizers replete with Shakespeare quotes and large banners declaring Britain as a cultural hub.  In attendance were Sir Walcott, the Governor General, ambassadors and High Commissioners from the various embassies here.

A few members of the Globe Theatre performed Shakespeare, and then we performed two renaissance songs honoring the Cuckoo bird and written for Strings and Voice.  These two songs had taken a month of rehearsals to learn and proved much more challenging for the young people than I could have ever imagined.  Dissonant melodies performed without vibrato, each part unique in it's rhythmic components. We had to leave the party much too early and "pudding" was offered thru the van window for the departing entertainers!

There's no place like Omeris

 St. Lucia is abuzz this week with the annual Jazz Festival.  Created in the 70's to promote tourism, this occasion has become a high point of the year for tourists and Lucians alike.  Stages are set up the length of the island featuring local and international arts entertainment.

 One component of the festivities this year is a visit from London's Globe Theater.  The cast and crew are here for the week performing Omeris, a play by local playwright and nobel laureate, Derek Walcott.

 In preparation for an event at the British Residence welcoming the theatre company and commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death,  I met with Mr. Walcott and his wife Sigrid at their home in Cap Estates.  The meeting was intended to determine the entertainment for the embassy event, which might include madrigals and sonnets.

At the conclusion of the evening, we had made a number of decisions, drunk too many gin and tonics, and  I had read aloud a sonnet at the request of the great playwright.  We also had a tour of the mansion which features an ocean-side swimming pool, theatre workshop and painting studio.  I didn't realize that this man who pens like a Caribbean Shakespeare is also an accomplished visual artist!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

As I shop, teach and ride the bus around town, Lucians comment everyday and frequently on the temperature.  Since St. Lucia is close to the equator, most often the comments are about the heat. And yet, the locals  have been warning me since March that the hot season is still on the way.  Now the heat has arrived.  May and June are also  known as the dry season, and I've put up gallons of water, just in case!

Some say May and June are extra hot because there is less wind, or less rain, or more humidity.... or the sun is closer.  When I checked Weather.com to find out exactly HOW much hotter the air is, I see that the temperature has definitely increased by about 4 degrees, to bring it to the upper 80's.


I've spent a good part of my life in Washington, DC, so I've seen the thermometer rise above 100 degrees with 60% humidity in August. Combined with my steadfast practice of Bikram Yoga in a room heated to 105 degrees with 50% humidity, I've developed quite a  tolerance for heat and humidity.  I much prefer the warm weather to the opposite.  So, while I still sweat and swig water when we chat about the humbling heat, I have to smile a bit, as well.  :-)

Gratidudes!

 THANK YOU to all the String musicians from the Boston area who recently collected and delivered accessories for the benefit of the orchestra students to the St. Lucia School of Music. When the delivery arrived it felt like Christmas!  Unstrung celli were instantly repaired and immediately put to use.  Rosin was distributed to grateful students with slippery bows. Shoulder rests have been finding their way to rest on young shoulders across the island.

An extra special thank you to David and Sharon for coordinating the collection effort and also to Johnson Strings in Newton for their generous donations and support.  Thank you to Irving for transporting all the items safely across the ocean and spending meaningful time with the students here.

If anyone knows a luthier who is in need of a Caribbean vacation,  please let me know!  Because of the humidity, most bows are slack. We would welcome someone who arrives with a handful of horsehair with room and board and an island of grateful customers.