Tag Archives: Blue Mountains
FMM 7 6 18 I’m Only Human
“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.”~ George Orwell. The first time I visited Jamaica after an absence of over 14 years, I fell in love all over again. It was not difficult. For a start I was staying up in the verdant hills of St. Andrew, looking up at the […]
FMM 11 18 16 Chant a Psalm
“Just living is not enough…one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”~Hans Christian Andersen. My father was chaplain and teacher of Bible Knowledge at a high school in the heart of Jamaica. Since the school was founded under the ‘auspices’ of a Christian School, the subject was not Religious Knowledge. There was no […]
FMM 10 14 16 Awesome Wonder
“He who can no longer pause to stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”~Albert Einstein. I remember very clearly being taken by my father to see an amazing sight. It was one of the nights on board the SS Ascania, the ship that took us to Jamaica in 1963. […]
FMM 8 12 16 Jamaica Sweet!
“Lovely dainty Spanish needle With your yellow flower and white, Dew bedecked and softly sleeping, Do you think of me to-night?”~ Claude McKay. For many years, I was totally loyal to Air Jamaica. I refused to fly on any other airline when I flew home to Jamaica. It was not just the beautifully sleek […]
FMM 2 12 16 Upcycling
“We should give meaning to life, not wait for life to give us meaning ”~Stacy. Once, driving through the beautiful Blue Mountains in Jamaica, we came upon a bus load of cyclists perched at the top of the steep climb on the north side of the range. They were assembled with the intention of riding […]
FMM 2 27 15 Jamaica Calling
“As you move towards a dream, the dream moves towards you”~Julia Cameron. I live an overcommitted life. Most of the commitments are of my own making, others are a product of a society which requires payment for goods, and thus the need to work for a living. A few weekends ago one of my commitments […]
FMM 11 14 14 Strange Magic
“There’s a natural mystic blowing through the air”~Robert Nesta Marley. For a long time I resented the author Terry McMillan (of Stella fame). Her semi-autobiographical novel set in Jamaica came out not long after my first trip to my adopted home after fourteen years of exile. I felt quite strongly that somehow the seed […]
FMM 10 24 14 Year of Rebirth
“Ah but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”~ Bob Dylan My daughter’s 35th birthday last weekend prompted my mind to scroll through pages of memories. Not only of her childhood, but of a watershed year, one that followed my own 35th birthday. For a start, I managed to get […]
FMM 4 4 14 Thin Places
FMM 4 4 14 Thin Places “Heaven and earth, the Celtic saying goes, are only three feet apart, but in thin places that distance is even shorter.” ~ Eric Weiner. Considering that I have long been a fan of all things Celtic (an ancient Indo-European tribe that wandered from East Europe as far as […]
FMM 01 04 13 Torn between two lovers
When my father plucked his entire family from Manchester, England and transferred us to the center of the island of Jamaica, he had no idea he was creating a lifelong dilemma for me. I am frequently pulled between two shores: the beautiful exotic island I grew up in and the severe, mysterious mountains of North […]
Friday Morning Messages 