Travel with JoY

Goat Water I know it doesn't look great and sounds even worse, but it was fabulous with a hint of clove and cinnamon.  Goat water is similar to beef stew but instead of beef broth and meat you would use goat meat and broth with Caribbean spices as I mentioned earlier.  They also offered Conch Water. Maybe next time.  This was at Dan's our closest commercial establishment here in Buckley Heights. That was our first local fare. I'd heard of Goat Water but not sure if this is strictly Antiguan or Caribbean. Other than that I haven't found many restaurants offering local fare, instead we've gone to some great entertainment venues with high end menus in the harbors which serve the boating tourists.  So we've enjoyed the great sounds of Asher Otto and ItchyFeet while sipping on Chilean wine and savouring a brick oven pizza, for example. Yata, Adrienne, Jean and CJ But I have been enjoying the use of a good kitchen in our AirBnB lodging.  In the back yar...

Nelson's Dockyard In the Southeast corner of the island is a UNESCO Historic site, Nelson's Dockyard, a compound of buildings built in the 18th century by the British to serve the nautical industry, commercial as well as military. It was named in memory of Horatio Nelson of the Battle of Trafalgar. He had spent some time in the area and had married a woman from the nearby island of Nevis.  The Dockyards have been restored and maintained to impeccable standards. Many of the buildings have been converted to hotel, restaurants, and shops. The pillars This photo shows one side of a row of pillars. With the other row these twelve foot high erections held up the roof of the boathouse in Nelson's Dockyard.  The concrete cap on top was added to prevent erosion of the pillars. We found a tiny beach between the rows where we spent a few hours reading and relaxing. Interior of the Officer's Quarters, now an office space at Nelson's Dockyard Shirley Heights O...

English Harbor from Shirley Heights We arrived on Antigua island this last Wednesday, it being Saturday morning now.  Antigua is typical of other Caribbean islands that we've visitied, sunny, colorful and warm.  We're staying at a home in Buckley Heights in the center of this fairly small island about ten miles from all the beaches.  We have a pool and a large comfortable bed where we've been sleeping soundly each night since we arrived. We share this home surrounded by a large verandah overlooking the island and sea with CJ and Adrienne. CJ is a physical therapist for the world champion West Indies Cricket Team. As I always say, one of my favorite things about travel is meeting people.  Each person you meet has the potential for such amazing life stories.  The downside is that if you compare your own life to these folks your own life can at times come off as dull. CJ's life ( he's in his forties), started in rural Australia on a family farm. He is very at...

Isn't the whole point of things, beautiful things, that they connect you to some larger beauty. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt I am an art collector and I am an artist. Those are two identities that I claimed with a bit of self doubt at one time in my life. First came the title artist. As a child, being an artist was one of three potential chosen professions. But being an art collector; hadn’t crossed my mind until years after I had begun to collect art. Like calling myself an artist, thinking of myself as an art collector somehow seemed too high blown for someone like myself raised in a working class family from Iowa. Both the title artist and art collector beg the question of definition. Being an artist is easier to define, whether we are talking professional or amatuer, an artist is someone who makes art. But then does it follow that an art collector is someone who collects art? Of course that is the case. But I think what is even more important is to differentiate  an art col...

Just finished a week with thirty artists in my gallery painting within the area, a culminating exhibit and now more show and sales. But moving on to the Fresh Art Tour next weekend June 3-4-5. I'll be exhibiting many new pieces painted while in Grenada this last winter.  This is one of the more unusual ones. But very intriguing. Title?  36 x 36 " acrylic. -- Jean Accola Accola Gallery 502 2nd Ave East Durand, WI 54736 715-672-8188 www.accolagallery.com

No I didn't get a massage with oil, and no I didn't get an oil change, but instead finally found one of the last three servings of Oildown, the national dish of Grenada at Babes.  Oildown is a culinary staple of the island, and the reason there were only three servings left at Babes restaurant is because when they make Oildown, there is, as Andre our driver said, "never any left".  If Oildown is available on the menu, that is what the Grenadians have.  Unfortunately for Andre who took us to Babe's we got the last three servings.  It was better than I expected. I'd heard about it; how you layer assorted meats or seafood, breadfruit or root crops, green bananas, yams, coconut milk and greens and stew it down until what remains is a savory stew with a coconut oil sauce.  I asked Babe how she made it and this is how she described it. She sauted the green spices: green onion, celery, thyme, possibly dill, and any assortment of green herbs, but very likely Shadon Be...

In the Year 2100, 12 x 12 acrylic Azure Tube Sponge, 24 x 36 acrylic