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Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 2001-03 > 0984072436


From: "Chris Codrington" <>
Subject: RE: Grenada...ooops!
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 12:27:16 -0500
In-Reply-To: <MABBKJDLBCCAOBBLJOFIGEHMCFAA.chriscod@bellsouth.net>


Hi list

Sorry for the private correspondence going out on the list. Please delete
it. Well, I guess there are no secrets now!
Cod

C.M. Codrington("american version # 1952)
Editor: Carib GenWeb "Historic Antigua and Barbuda" web-site
Member: Barbados Museum Historical Society,
Museum of Antigua and Barbuda Historical and Archaeological Society.

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Codrington [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 11:52 AM
To:
Subject: RE: Grenada

Hi Cindy

Grenada sounds well, amazing, but I have heard that many of the smaller
islands are.....brother has waxed ecstatic several times about the
Grenadines....

who in hells name revived red cadre's in this day and age? Poor people will
just get manipulated and lied to again, with no benefit to anyone, same old
story...sad. No doubt led by some high minded son of Grenada come back to
save his people and line his pockets(on his own time of course) very likely
having done stints at Peking U and the Sorbonne(the French seem to have
educated every marxist ideologue run amuck between 1965 and 1990)

Blah blah. I am fascinated by "pimento" or Allspice as we say here. My
father loved it in all his foods, not to the extent that it was a major
ingredient but it was always there. For years I have avoided it because it
seemed so pungent I did not know how to control it....

Since moving down here, I've become fascinated with everything "Jamaican",
going to local West Indian grocery stores etc and buying all the bottled
sauces and talking to people about how to cook those big weird roots.....
Past two weeks broke the allspice barrier, making a marinade for pig along
the lines of a jerk seasoning with lime juice, mango, fresh ground allspice,
ginger, rosemary, bay and some "green pepper sauce" which when used on pig
or chicken is just freakin unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

I liked the smell, but you never know with marinades till you sear the meat,
so did and could not believe how tender and nice the pork loin was. I just
closed my eyes and thought "now all you need is the abandoned acreage on the
east coast of Jamaica and you can die and go to heaven.....("Naked american
writer lives in hut on old Plantation Grounds" Since the true value of a
dish is it's effect on the imagination, I rate this a success....

Anyway boy you guys are really getting dumped on ....The March from hell?
Must be god awfull beautiful though....Have you ever used snowshoes? I was
listening to a fun story on Nat. Public Radio the other day regarding the
revival in snowshoe making...fellow was explaining the differences between
the new manufactured ones and the larger, traditional patterns and how they
effect style and movement....fascinating, and it made me wish I had plucked
that old pair off the wall in my folk's old barn and tried em on. I wonder
if they help on sand........

We are having a grey day which is truly unusual(nice in it's own way) so the
beach mission is delayed till tomorrow. I am going to spend the day at the
keyboard and see if I can't break through my block about "really" starting
the book. It seems the more I outline it the more perplexing it becomes so I
am going to say the hell with it and go by the seat of my pants. In truth my
quandary has been to what degree I will incorporate the "personal" journey
into the story. Dammit I just want to get on with the damn thing. Truth is I
will never know enough, have researched enough, or have answers to enough,
so Enough or Too Much (Wm Blake) let the carnage begin!

Things on the home front have improved greatly. I'm feeling better, and in
general am now quite happy to live by myself. Have been on somewhat of a
personal improvement jag, losing quite abit of weight as a result of
removing beer from my daily diet, and working out consistently. This has
resulted in clothes falling off my waist, the purchase of a new tropical
patterned Speedo(eeeeyew!) and just plain leveling out emotionally and
feeling better about myself as a man. Financially things are almost stable.
Daniele has actually taken initiative by arranging a refinance deal with her
bank in Switzerland so we can pay off the cards etc so there is progress.
Now honestly it occurs to me that a little companionship now and then would
be healthy, but have no idea how to go about arranging That! I think I will
follow the Tao on that one and "let" it happen when "it" happens!

I envy your ability to make the trips. Right now that is all beyond me,
being very tied down to putting in the hours to make expenses. Typically I
have all sorts of invitations to stay at villas and old Great Houses etc on
both Antigua and Jamaica, and really should walk the ground there as much as
I can prior to tackling those portions of the book. My Brother is one of
these people who has 7 billion frequent flier miles so tickets are not the
issue, it is more the time away from work element. One of the plantations
which features throughout the Cod's time in Jamaica is Happy Grove which was
located on the east coast below Manchioneal. The coast there is absolutely
gorgeous, much like a tropical Oregon coast, and I have often imagined that
just standing there surveying it all, letting all of it osmose in and around
me would be quite something. There is now a well known secondary school on
the grounds, and it would be fascinating to ponder all that transpired on
that piece of land over a period of 350 years and tangle with all of it.
Anyway this too shall come.

How goes the writing biz? Do you go down to collect experience and material
with certain stories in mind or do you go and nudge around for them or do
you have set projects prior to leaving?

Boy I'm talky this morning! Well, let me apply this to the work at hand. You
sound great and I hope March stops roaring and becomes mild preamble to
Spring(some chance!). I remember one day in Bennington, abit later, almost
April when winter had been real tough and we were finally having a thaw. The
air smelled of fresh earth and roots and I was walking along a little creek
near my house watching the water run under the skim ice along the edges. I
was wearing one of those English tweed greatcoats a size or two large for me
and was snuggled up feeling very quiet inside. It was one of those moments
the poets speak of when time and place and being unite in a wakefulness so
sharp yet entirely still and I recognized it and was being careful not to
break the spell. At some point I knew my idyll must end and just turned away
and walked briskly towards the house. It was an interview with the eternal
which I still treasure.

Anyway, regards to you and light a nice fire tonight

Chris Cod



C.M. Codrington("american version # 1952)
Editor: Carib GenWeb "Historic Antigua and Barbuda" web-site
Member: Barbados Museum Historical Society,
Museum of Antigua and Barbuda Historical and Archaeological Society.

-----Original Message-----
From: Cindy Kilgore [mailto:]
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2001 1:54 PM
To:
Subject: Grenada

> Hi Lenora and Alan and other Listbuds,

Many, many thanks Alan on the estate info - I'll get back to you on other
estates as they arise - oh, would you happen to see any belonging to any
Ollivierres? slim chance, but who knows,eh?

Lenora, you have to remember tourism as we know it doesn't exist in the
Windwards. Dougaldston is a working plantation and has cruise ships
interested, yes, but nonetheless still focused on nutmegs. You don't see
printed handouts in SV-Grenada except in rare occasions and then generally
something owned by an American or big foreign investor who is there solely
for tourism. It's not anything snobby whatsoever, ... just another world not
caught up in
ours (yet). Good question - I'm glad you asked it so that it isn't
misunderstood by someone especially looking for relatives. The info is out
there - just needs to be dug up in some strange place where our mind isn't
focused - yet.

And the slave/indentured question. A slave was a slave. I don't think you'd
see an Indentured referred to in anything official as a slave unless he/she
was. Still a lot of Indentured papers out there in the Search Rooms.
Actually in Grenada I was sitting next to a man who was writing from an
Indentured paper and of course, I peeked over when he wasn't noticing. It
was 1999! In Grenada they still write out Indentured papers in EXACTLY the
same
language as in the 1700's - I knew what each line was saying before my eyes
got caught up with the words! It was really pretty freaky!

got to get back to taxes and shoveling snow (still falling),
Cindy


>
> To:
>
> Darn Cindi.. wouldn't you think that these estates.. like Dougalston that
are
> open for tourists would have some kind of brochure???? They never answer..
> maybe its a snobby come and see for your self??? I am so intrigued now
> that I know there were in existence since 1700 at least!.....found and
> address of a George R. Heneage,,, like the name you found..... in London
> England at Bryanton Court Place 10, Pincess Court that might lead to
> informaion if these persons are related at all thru lineage... I try
ANYTHING?
>
> Lenora.
>
>

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