Christmas Letter, 2005

Nancy December 15th, 2005

Happy
New Year!

2005 has ended on
a wonderfully positive note after starting off in a fairly turbulent way
for us. The year was quite a roller coaster ride of emotions - trepidation
over personal health issues, the comfort of being surrounded by a loving,
supportive family and caring friends, sadness from being apart during
treatments, then the joyful relief over the return of good health.

And life, thankfully,
does go on. Our children and grandchildren are growing and thriving and
keeping very busy as young families always are.

Michael, Anne and Roan rejoiced in the birth of their daughter and sister on December 2, 2004. The sweet little girl with the gorgeous smile is Winter Lily Leaf who recently celebrated her first birthday. Winter is an athletic little girl and loves to run and climb.

Roan is attending pre-school two days a week and is starting to read and count. He can recognize his name in writing and many other letters of the alphabet, and is counting to 17. He will have his third birthday on January 4th.

The Haggerty-Goede family spent the year travelling – spending 3 ½ months in Eleuthera followed by a cross-Canada driving trip, settling back at their home in Peterborough, Ontario in late August. Anne returns to her teaching job in February, 2006 and Michael will continue
to work on his business/accounting degree.

Jessica, Scott and Jack purchased a larger house in Edmonton in February and have been enjoying
doing many beautiful renovations to their new home. Scott is moving from Kia to a new job with Volkswagen in the new year. Jessica is working at home doing computer database work on our software project plus providing
childcare for Matthew, another little boy, several days a week.

Jack is an affectionate
little fellow and had his first birthday on June 17th. He loves to build with megablocks, empty the kitchen cupboards, and go on excursions with his mom and dad. They holidayed in Canmore during the summer and have
joined us for Christmas here in Eleuthera.

Darryl continues to be busy with a large software project which was released to our test client in late August. The release has gone well and the development and improvements continue at a fast pace. He manages a staff of six programmers and two database staff, all online. Darryl has also been supervising and participating in extensive renovations around our property. He gets into his workshop whenever possible and produces wonderful and creative driftwood furniture, carvings and other wood projects.

Nancy completed her breast cancer treatment in early March and returned to the island shortly after. She is very appreciative of the wonderful medical care she received and grateful for all the support she received during her long stay in Edmonton. She loved getting to spend so much time with young Jack, and became quite the “Soccer Aunt” enjoying watching many of niece Claire Thomas’ university level games. After a follow-up in June, Nancy received a clean bill of health.

Now active in the software project, Nancy has also taken on a consulting contract to provide accounting design. She fills her spare time with embroidery, sewing, quilting and other craft projects.

We continue to host many new and repeat guests in our two vacation cottages and also greatly enjoyed visits with several members of our family in 2005. Nephew Drew Thomas was here for almost six months, Michael, Anne, Roan & Winter, Dean and Marylou Haggerty (Anne’s Mom and Dad), Roana Rondeau, and first-time visitors Evyln & John Gabrielson. Now, Jessica, Scott, and Jack are
helping us celebrate the end of this good year.

We marked several significant anniversaries this year - it has been five years since the passing of Nancy’s Dad and Darryl’s Mom, 25 years since the passing of Darryl’s Dad, and already 28 years since the passing
of Nancy’s Mom. We know that they would be as happy with and proud of their family as we are.

As this year ends and another begins, we are grateful that our children are settled happily in their lives, families and career paths. We savour watching both them and our grandchildren as they explore and discover all the interesting attractions tucked inside life’s cupboards.

We wish you great joy this holiday season, and may peace and serenity be yours in the new year!

Love,

Nancy and Darryl

~


Homecoming

Nancy April 4th, 2005

Some of the communities plan a special project to occur when there are so many helping hands available. Tarpum Bay has been constructing a community centre over the past several years and there is always lots of renewed building activity around and during the Homecoming.

One of the most recent homecomings was held in Rock Sound over the Easter week. There were lots of booths offering food and drink plus there was live music and a junkanoo competition with both local and Nassau groups performing. The driving rhythm of the drums , cow bells and whistles enhance the beautiful and colourful Junkanoo costumes. Many of the local crafts people also offered their crafts such as straw hats, purses and baskets, shell jewelry and coconut wind-chimes. The Harbour Island All-Age marching band performed and was very well-received.

Junkanoo

Rock Sound holds one of the larger Homecoming events and another large one will be held in early August in Governor’s Harbour. Also on the same long weekend in August are homecomings in Tarpum Bay, Hatchet Bay and Deep Creek. The island will be flooded with hundreds of relatives, friends and other visitors to enjoy the food, music and companionship.

One of the better known Homecomings on Eleuthera is the Gregory Town Pineapple Festival held in June. Usually, the wonderfully sweet island-grown pineapples are ready to harvest and you see lot of folks walking around nibbling on a big hunk of pineapple with the juice running all over their hands and chins. Nobody minds!

At all the Homecomings, there’s a great opportunity to try the local delicacies. Conch fritters and conch salad are always popular plus all the native side dishes - macaroni and cheese, potato salad and coleslaw. If you’re adventurous, there’s Souse - a stew containing everything and anything ! For the sweet tooth, try the guava duff or pineapple and coconut tarts. Yum!

Even if you’re a visitor, you will be “welcomed home” – and it’s a fun time to just relax and enjoy!

The tradition is an event called “Homecoming”. Every settlement on the island holds an annual Homecoming or town fair. Anyone born in the settlement or who has ancestors from the settlement “comes home” at this time of year to renew ties, get involved in the community and overall to just have a good time! This is especially important on many of the family islands such as Eleuthera where many of the young people over the years have had to leave the island to attend school or to find employment. Having this event draws everyone back to visit with the family again and brings a boost of energy and local pride back to the island.

Season of Storms

Darryl October 23rd, 2004

As we watch the weather predictions on our favoured tropical weather site, cleanup at Glenelg after Hurricane Frances continues with a heavy heart.

Marcel, our gardener-extraordinaire has been watching the reports from Haiti, his homeland. After Hurricane Jeanne set on its path of devastation last week, the news from Haiti, the poorest country in the Caribbean, has not been good. Many lives are lost and a desperately poor island has been racked with floods, acute shortage of vital water and food, and now loss of hope.

Marcel’s wife and children live in Haiti while he works in the Bahamas, sending money back to them each month. We do not think they have been affected as they do not live in the area most devastated. With communications in and out of Haiti almost nonexistent, we anxiously await some kind of indication how they are.

Now as Jeanne’s path seems to include The Bahamas, we once again set out on preparations to weather it out.

Why is it that this year seems to be particularly stormy? Some of our friends are convinced that it is the result of global warming and the encroachment of humankind on the delicate and intricate eco-systems of our earth. We have somehow played with the cosmic order and the downward course on which we have placed earth forbodes our inevitable self-extinction. Some even suggest that it is a punishment for growth, petrochemicals, and unbridled exploration into the forbidden clockworks of the natural order.

We offer to them our thought that weather is not necessarily something that repeats annually like a predictable familiar song. To us, the ups and downs of the cycles seem to be a reminder that we are a blink in the big picture; something that we humans call a natural disaster is just a momentary disturbance to Mother Nature.

Long cycles intertwine with short, lives come and go, trees grow and fall, and the waters of the oceans continue to lap the shores. The natural events of our earth are much bigger - and much more durable - than anything that humankind could ever boast of affecting. Hurricanes are a reminder that change is constant and that we must enjoy what we have while we have it. We simply are not masters - or mistresses - of our own destiny, as the theories of our friends suggest. Strip away what little control our governments, businesses and societies have over our natural world, and each of us is revealed as the temporary observer we are of the whole.

However, none of this is much of a comfort today. We wish there was some way to ease Marcel’s concerns as he works.

The World Renewed

Darryl October 13th, 2004

As I stood admiring how nicely our coconut forest had cleaned up after the September storms, there was a little commotion in the low brush at the edge of the grove.

I moved a little closer to see a wonderful surprise. An adolescent male Bahama Mockingbird sat in the shade. In its cooling stance, he was all fluffed up, wings drooped low as he caught a low breeze. He shook vigorously himself every few minutes, the source of the miniature flurry.

After such serious storms, the air of our island is silent, empty of songs from our local birds, all but blown away. Our mornings have yet to return to the calls of the threshers and bahama mockingbirds as they defend their territory against the rising sun. To us it is strange. Beautiful sunny fall days, now quiet.

The warblers have returned but remain timid. They are aggressive as they feed on the new bougainvilea flowers and umbrella tree, but do not seem to feel as though singing is necessary. We know that all bird nests would have likely been destroyed in such high winds and driving rains. Perhaps they are just now returning to their house-building activities. Soon there will be plenty of song-wars between these little flying gemstones, and their cousins the Bananaquits.

I continued to watch as the little Mockingbird cooled and preened. It will just be a few days until this young male is once again protecting his area, armed with a medley of songs. The repetoire may be a little shorter, perhaps only indicating what songs are carried in the genetic memory of the species.

We have observed this before. Fresh songs will be learned to add to the medley as birds of other species re-enter the area. The mockingbird gathers the songs of the intruders, adjusting his warning songs to their language. Soon his progeny will re-learn the thirty or so variations that a Bahama Mockingbird colony knows, each version a little different in each male.

Cereus BloomAs I continued my walk, I also saw that the Night Blooming Cereus (Epiphyllum oxypetallum) had flowered. The storms had done them damage, and the white blooms on the plants as I round the corner to them is a very pleasant treat.

The blooming of the cereus is a twice or three times yearly event that never fails to bring us out at midnight to see the soupbowl-sized white flowers, blooming in a wild profusion in our back garden. They are most definitely the Queen of night flowers. The slow-growing succulent is normally a tangled lattice of green triangular tendrils the size of your forearm, creeping and winding its way to the tops of the trees. On the rare night they chose to bloom, the woods are covered in large white-yellow flowers, oddly attractive with their long white tentacles surrounding the dusty yellow in the flower cup.

Swarms of bees and insects of the night cannot resist the heady charm of the flower’s aroma. The interior of the flower is engineered perfectly to brush its pollen onto their bellies as they enter.

Fruit of the CereusIn the early morning, the flowers remain in their magnificent display until the sun is direct on the plant. Our cereus colony grows best where the dew tends to gather in the morning. The glisten of the wetness in the early morning light is a beautiful sight, then the flowers slowly droop closed.

In a small number of the flowers, a brilliant red fruit forms. For us this is a lucky event. The fruit of the cereus tastes much like kiwi, only more exotic. Maybe it’s knowing about the strange and wonderful night flower that makes that first bite so delectable.

Butterfly Migration

Nancy July 15th, 2004

We witnessed an amazing natural occurence on Sunday. We were sitting up on our roof deck, enjoying a leisurely brunch with our friend Elma. All of a sudden we realized that hundreds of pale yellow butterflies were passing by. For the next few hours, we watched this incredible passage of Sulphur Butterflies.

Sulphur ButterflyThey came out of the forest to the south of the house and were all flying to the north. Many stopped briefly to feed on the bougainvillea flowers surrounding the house. They seemed to prefer the dark purple bougainvilleas and pretty much ignored the red and peach colours.

We looked down the road toward the coconut grove and there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, more butterflies in that area as well. There are many species of Sulpur Butterfly and it is quite common in this area. Even so, this was indeed a rare and thrilling experience for us.

While we were watching, we came up with several names for this “flock”, including a “cloud” of butterflies, a “flutter” and a “gathering”.

The North American Butterfly Association is trying to come up with an “official” name for a flock of butterflies and has several wonderful suggestions including:

- brilliance of butterflies

- bouquet of butterflies

- cascade of butterflies

- flourish of butterflies

- kaleidoscope of butterflies

- prize of butterflies

- reunion of butterflies

- spectrum of butterflies

- splendor of butterflies

- symphony of butterflies

- waltz of butterflies

- woodstock of butterflies

The Flame Tree

Nancy June 6th, 2004

Royal poinciana tree by SeaView Cottage Less than 10 days ago, the Royal Poinciana trees around the island were leafless and bare other than for their long dark seed pods. Normally in June, they are full and colourful and I thought that perhaps they were to be a victim of the extended dry period. Did they prove me wrong!

Today, as we were driving up the island, the Poinciana trees have just exploded into colour. The two poinciana trees in our yards are also blooming beautifully! Green leaves and great bunches of flowers ranging in colour from deep red to bright orange. Seen from a distance, you can truly understand why the local name for them is “Flame Tree” as they just blaze in the sky.

We are also celebrating receiving an inch of rain last night which put a quick end to any of the still smoldering fires. Early in the morning, the birds and frogs joined us in the celebration and we will soon see other marks of appreciation as flowers bloom and fruits ripen.

Fires

Darryl May 29th, 2004

Something in the early morning air stirred us from our sleep.

It was the smell of woodsmoke, carried as a hint of what was happening at the beginning of the valley in front of our house, about a mile away. This was the first time since the bush fires had started over two weeks ago that we had any real indication at our house on the Atlantic side. It meant that the winds had shifted to the west.

The fires had started in the area around a new set of bush roads the government had pushed in the commonage to the south. Wide gaping scars, the rough cut roads were made by a caterpillar to place survey stakes. The furrows along the sides were huge piles of broken trees, rocks, and the dirt formed on the floor of the centuries-old forest.

Now over a dozen fires spotted the horizon. We think that the first fire was started by native crabbers using the bush cuts as convenient access to their favorite delicacy, land crabs. A careless cigarette butt or match did the rest.

With morning coffee in hand, Nancy and I climbed the tower path. From the top of the tower some 80 feet above sealevel, we can see the island near us from side to side for about 30 miles in either direction.

Wildland Fires in Our NeighbourhoodBelow us to the south about a mile were the fires we had been fighting all week.

Some were now just charred and browned areas where the palmettos had literally exploded into flame. The areas we had put out were smokeless and dead. The other fires sent up plumes of white smoke. Together the smoke created a blanket of white, slowly drifting up the valley to our house.

We began to talk about the last week fighting the fires and how getting help to fight the fires had been very difficult.

When we called the local government, now led by the son of our oldest friend in Tarpum Bay, he drifted into the royal plural. “With fires in the bush, we take a wait-and-see attitude. ”

We finally convinced him to at least come out and do the “see” part, telling him that we hoped that he would visit the scene of the bushfires. The devastation to the wildlife, the effects on the water table, and the thirty years that it would take for the land to recover has just not yet entered the public consciousness of the average Bahamian. Our hope was that we could affect the attitude that if it wasn’t threatening a house, a fire was not important.

The first of the fires had threatened a home though, or neighbour Richard.  There was quite a crowd gathered by the time we arrived after spotting the smoke twenty miles away after coming back from dinner at Tippy’s with our friend, Paul. The fire was especially bad, as a 20 mile per hour wind was pushing the fire in the direction of the house. The fire pump from Tarpum Bay had arrived, a diesel pump on a small red utility trailer with “Tarpum Bay Fire Department” emblazoned in white letters on the side rails.

But where was the water to come from? Someone said there was a new construction site down the road, and there was a pit dug to take the septic tank that had filled with ground water. The pump was pulled over and positioned by the 4 foot hole.

Richard, our neighbour dropped the intake line into the pit full of brackish water, and three or four of us lay out the fire hose in the direction of the fire. Meanwhile, Richard tried to start the pump. Our friend Paul, visiting from St. Petersburg, was at the end waiting for the stream.

When the fire hose was all coupled, we suddenly discovered that the nozzle was not on the pump trailer. Somehow at the last fire, the nozzle had disappeared.

Laying down my piece of hose, I ran back to the pump. There was a long discussion going on among the men standing around. I caught fragments as I caught up on the situation. “Maybe it needs to be leveled.” “There’s no foot valve.” ” I saw this happen with an old engine of mine before. ” “They need to keep this in better shape.” - all at the pace of a Sunday afternoon conversation.

The local government’s water pump was not cooperating. “Did you check the fuel?”, Richard says. Off comes the cap. No fuel. Richard walks off to his station wagon to go to his house for some diesel. Meanwhile, Paul the man on the business end of the hose starts pulling the line back as the fire continues to approach. If he stays where he is, the water hose will start to burn. The fire is now about three hundred feet from the house, sparks flying in huge clouds into the night sky with every crack of the intense heat.

Richard finally returned with a can of diesel fuel, and he pours some into the tank. The pulling on the cord starter resumes, but still no pump. The august assembly resumes its discussion, alternating between tentative solutions laced with whatever their last experience with a pump, diesel, fire or water may have been. The deliberation leans to the favored conclusion - the fault lies with the last party who had the pump.

Meanwhile the fire advances. After twenty minutes of mutual consultation, the problem is discovered. The fuel line was airlocked. Line primed, the pump finally takes off with a roar. The call goes down the line, ” Water’s coming!” “Water’s coming!”

Our friend Paul had fallen back to check the line, and when the pump had cut in, the business end of the hose was unmanned. As the water filled the hose, over a dozen leaks in the hose suddenly show up. Near the fire, the people who had gathered round to watch the water come out the end of the hose were taken totally by surprise, and just stood there with the water gushing out the end onto the ground twenty feet from the fire. I yelled, “Point it to the fire!” The men at the front shuffled around a little and fell back. One man walked away back to his truck where others were standing.

The nozzle had still not shown up, so with whatever pressure there was on the line, I grabbed the end, stuck it between my legs, and stuck my hands into the stream to create a jet. By then the fire was about 40 feet long and the width of the furrow, about 10 feet.

With a large roar, the first of the water hit the blaze. I could not move the full hose any closer, and we had removed the last length as there was a huge split in the second last link that wiped out the pressure. Paul grabbed the hose near the split and directed the stream from the tear into the fire. I aimed what water was left at the base of the fire.

The fire began to subside almost immediately, and the area fell dark. As we dealt with the remainder of the embers in the high winds, the pressure began to fall in the hose. “The pit’s out of water!”, I heard from the people gathered near me. Paul and I immediately hit the last of the trouble areas, a huge toppled tree whose roots were on fire. It had been soaked quite good from one side, but the back side was burning like a large campfire.

Too late. The water trickled, then stopped. The huge root began to burn harder, flamed by the winds. I tried to empty the hose into a pail that I had found on the construction site, thinking that I might be able to dowse the growing fire before it got too big.

There was nothing we could do. Before we knew it, the bramble caught, and the fire was off again.

I looked back expectantly to the men gathered round, yelling for help. There was a chance if we pulled the root into the cleared area. But it was big, and needed about four men. As I poured the little bits of water from the split in the hose to the pail, I could see the men fade back into the night away from the rising flames. The littel crowds at the hose end and at the road thinned, as people got into their vehicles and drove off. Finally the blaze became too hot to work, and I retreated.

The blaze roared back to life and began eating away at the bush. It was small compared to the first fire, so we just had to let it burn itself out. There were other small fires, started from the blowing sparks, and Paul and I beat them out with shovels before they could grow. It was difficult without water, but we managed to quell three or four before they spread into the bush on the other side of the tractor cut.

Finally everything was out except the fire that had got away. As we walked back to the pump, exhausted, wet and filthy, there were two or three people still there, one of them the head of the local government council. I asked him about the missing fire equipment, but he didn’t seem to know where it had ended up. My neighbour Richard, was finishing pouring water on the roof of the house. He had been waiting for the water truck - operated by his cousin - to arrive since early evening to spray down the house. Now, at 12:30 am, as the fire threw off blankets of sparks into the wind, Richard was on the roof, and Cindy his wife and Nancy were handing him buckets of water to pour onto the shingles.

I briefly wondered whether we should have concentrated on soaking the house rather than trying to put out the main fire. Without the nozzle we would have had no luck anyway. I suppose we could have just taken the open hose onto the roof, but, the best idea at the time was to deal with the real problem.

We broke off for the evening, tired and discouraged. The blaze still burned across the road. There were still many more fires still burning in the bush behind this one. It was to be a long week.

Christmas 2003

Darryl December 15th, 2003

Best of the Season from the Goedes…

“Here’s to the bright New YearAnd a fond farewell to the old;
Here’s to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.”

Traditional New Year’s Toast

Well, it doesn’t seem like so long ago that we sent our last Christmas letter, yet another busy year has flown by. Once again, it’s time to relax during the the holidays, remember our friends and family, and reflect on the good things 2003 brought to us.

2003 turned out to be a very important family year, with lots of family visitors, the exciting arrival of our first grandchild and then late in the year, the wonderful news that a second grandchild is on the way!

Grandson Roan at ten months. The rocking chair belonged to Great-Grandma
Belva, the rocking horse was Grandma Nancy’s. The hanging
quilt was made by Grandma Nancy.

On January 4th, we rejoiced at the safe arrival of our grandson, Roan (pronounced “Rowan”). Roan was
born at home in Toronto and his Mom and Dad are greatly enjoying being parents.

Michael, Anne and Roan came and stayed with us for two months, from mid-April to mid-June, and we were able to see him change so much in such a short time.

Roan
and fans

When Roan visited us, he was a very contented baby who loved the outdoors and all the bright blue and green colours. He had lots of swims in the ocean and has since traveled across Canada visiting other family. He is becoming a wonderful little boy, full of curiosity, and will soon be celebrating his first birthday.

Roan
and Mom Anne watch the sunset

Anne, Michael and Roan have settled in Peterborough, Ontario where Anne is attending teachers college. Michael is on parental leave and is able to be a full-time Dad for awhile.

For the first time in many years, we were not able to attend the Pierce family reunion held in Western Canada, but Michael, Anne & Roan and Jessica & Scott were there to represent the family. A very good time was had by all who attended.

Jessica,
Roan, and Michael on steps of new home

In December, we were very happy to hear that our daughter Jessica is now expecting, with the baby due in June. Jessica and Scott purchased their first home in south Edmonton this spring, and really enjoy their new neighbourhood. Jessica continues to work in administration at the Remand Centre and Scott works in management at a vehicle transmission dealer. They now spend much of their spare time working on their new home.

Around Glenelg

Aerial
of Glenelg, our home

Much of the year around our place was spent working on smaller projects, seeing lots of closets, shelves, and a kitchen renovation in the guest cottage.

While visiting this spring, our son Michael helped Marcel the gardener plan the front two acres with approximately 150 shrubs and plants started in the greenhouse. Now the area by the gate is full of hibiscus, American sisal, yellow elder, and bougainvillea. While we were waiting for the grass to establish, Marcel set in watermelon.

Bounty
of the Land

The new land became a very successful watermelon patch producing over 50 huge watermelon for us, our guests and friends, and unfortunately, many passersby to enjoy. This fall, we moved the watermelon patch up closer to the main houses.

We also weather-watched this year, and September and October gave us a few weather scares. Hurricane Fabian missed us, but then it looked as though Isabel, a Class 5, was coming
straight for us. Fortunately, it turned a few hundred miles out, but was strong enough to do serious damage to the Atlantic beach, even though it was never closer than 400 miles. It took a few months for the beaches to rebuild their sand, and the beachcombing is still interesting.

Terry’s
Garden in the December Morning

In October, we were joined by our friend Terry Toma from Calgary, who performed a miracle in the gardens. The objective this year was to see how many different types of plants would grow, and Terry soon proved that the answer was… All of them!

This year we will sample somewhere around 30 varieties of produce, including ten types of tomatoes. Next year, we will try for quantity.

Nancy’s year passed quickly and she enjoyed her continuing involvement with the Eleuthera Natural Arts and Crafts Guild. Other crafts included gifts for family and friends and experimenting with the native fruits – either dehydrated or in jams and jellies. She is also helping Darryl with the development of an large information web site about the Bahamas, learning lots of interesting facts about the Bahamas, and about new computer uses for the web.

Darryl
building the store front for the

Eleuthera Crafts Guild

Darryl continues to be very busy with two software projects and is actively involved as a communications and marketing management consultant for a large Caribbean real estate
firm. His assistant, Sebastian, returned to Canada in late June and Darryl is now working with programmers in Serbia. It is an amazingly effective way to work and, other than a few stumbles and giggles over the language “barrier”, the work is progressing quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately,
he again finds himself spending too much time on the computer. He still greatly enjoys creating projects in the workshop and developing new gardens on the property.

Musical
interlude

with Donna Brown

The cottages continue to be a great way to make new friends, meet interesting people and renew friendships.

Trio with Michael Graves, visiting mandolin player

2003 was a great year for visitors, and music rings around Glenelg, with the musical partnering of Darryl and Eleuthera friend Mark Adams, a guitarist and folk singer. Several guests who visited were musicians, and soon a musical party became part of the memories from their visit.

Original Thomas Wedding Party, 25 Years Later

We also enjoyed several visits from our family and friends. A very special occasion was a visit from Nancy’s sister Cathy and husband Wayne, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.They brought one of the original attendants, Dave Hodgson (and wife Janice), who together with Nancy made up the entire wedding party.

Susan Chantal and Nancy
at the Orchidarium in
Governor’s Harbour

Another special visit was made in February by Darryl’s sister Susan Chantal, from Ponoka, Alberta.

Susan
of The Sea

Escaping the cold on her first visit to us, Sue was here to help us celebrate our February birthdays, when we turned 33 and 34 respectively. ;-)

Other special guests were Darryl’s cousins, Roana and Jessica Rondeau, for their third visit with us. We even met some “shirttail” relatives as Glenn Chantal’s sisters Lynda Chantal and Lucille Dawkins visited in October.

Blake and new British
friends, the Knights

Longtime friend Blake Fallis has now made Eleuthera his home (when not in Victoria, Canada) and we see his growing family several times a year.

Niece
Claire Thomas (far right) and her friends at the Tarpum
Bay Junkanoo, Christmas Day, 2003

Now in December we are enjoying the company of niece, Claire Thomas, and six of her friends who are sharing Christmas and New Years with us – Bahamas style!

Nancy
and Terry toast the

Christmas season

This year, we sat 21 for Christmas dinner, celebrating the occasion by gathering good friends, guests, and family to a meal prepared by Nancy and Terry.

And so what does 2004 promise for us? We think that we will likely get some traveling in this year, perhaps timing the western Canada portion to visit with a new grandchild. We have several projects on the boards, and hope to get more land cleared for open areas, a couple of acres cleared for Terry’s gardening next winter, hopefully a new shop for Darryl, and new crafts house for Nancy. The new software Darryl has developed may also mean traveling in North America and Europe.

As the distance keeps us apart, we aren’t able to visit with many of you in person. We would love to hear your news via email or snail mail.

We have a new email address at goede@bahamahost.net.

Our postal mail address is:

Nancy and Darryl Goede
Glenelg
Box 25
Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera, Bahamas

Telephone: (242) 334-4356
Fax: (501) 621-4054

Our best wishes to all of you for a joyful, healthy and productive 2004!

Warmest regards,

Nancy and Darryl

Christmas 2002

Darryl December 15th, 2002

Season’s Greetings from the Goedes

Well,
another busy year has flown by. Once again, it’s time to relax for the
holidays, and look back at the good things the days of 2002 brought to
us.

We had a very important family year, with new beginnings for our children
as they continued to make lives for themselves.

(If you would like a closer look at the pictures,

just click on them to make them larger. There are also some links that
you can click on as well)

After
getting our share of weather anomalies like the rest of the world, 2002
seemed like a go-ahead year for the land, and for us.

Glenelg

This year gave us a continuous stream of beautiful days and much good
success with our plantings. New native fruits include passion fruit, carambola
(star fruit) and pomegranate.

Butterflies
on the Lantana

The early part of the year was spent completing the cleanup from Hurricane
Michelle of the previous fall. We finally finished clearing the last of
the storm-toppled trees from the bight side beach, main road frontage,and
lane. Two acres of new planting land were created in the process.

Bougainvillea
on Wall

We enjoyed watching the plant life recovering, and with the good rains
all year, everything is looking lush and colourful.

Sebastian
and Michael

In the early part of the year, with help from Michael and his good friend
Sebastian Grinham, who now works with us, we also finished our sunroom
and kitchen, two big jobs left from our renovation. The woodworking shop
hummed for days as they learned all about cupboard construction, particularly
the never-ending finishing, sanding, staining and varnishing!

The
“Tiyan” Craned off the Truck

In early March we trucked a sailboat from up island that had been slightly
damaged in Hurricane Floyd. Dubbed “The Tiyan”, our goal is
to have her ready for an inter-island trip in mid 2003. We have a series
of work bees planned with friends and neighbours to get her back in the
water in time for the journey. It will also be nice as a way to get out
more ourselves onto the beautiful waters of the Bahamas.

The
Beautiful Bride and Proud Parents

We travelled to Edmonton in late March to celebrate daughter
Jessica’s wedding to Scott Wilson. It was a very quick trip. Some
late winter weather arrived at the same time we did, and we didn’t get
as much visiting done as we had hoped.

The
ceremony went very nicely, and over 120 friends and relatives were there
to help Jessica and Scott mark their special day.

Jessica and Scott

After their lovely wedding, she and Scott now make their home in Edmonton.
Jessica is working in administration at the Remand Centre and Scott works
in customer service at a vehicle transmission dealer.

With new career, new home, and a new family, this year was special and
memorable for Jessica, and for us.

View
from the Tower

In April, with the help of visiting
cousin Paul, we rebuilt the lookout tower to a height of 20 feet. On a
clear day you can see about sixty miles, with a 360° panorama of the
entire island and a pretty view of both oceans. It’s a great spot to watch
the sunset or spend a sunny afternoon in the breeze.

The
Cave

With the work effort finally being able to move beyond storm cleanup,
we opened paths to a pretty little pond, the cave, and to the tower. The
cabana got a new roof, and the Bight Side beach has a new firepit and
sitting area.

The
Greenhouse, Ready to Plant

In July, we finished glassing our greenhouse and immediately set in
a few hundred new plants. The greenhouse is now full of sea cabbage, yellow
elder, bougainvillea, hibiscus, a breadfruit tree, crotons, orchids, and
frangipani. The pretty pink rose and orchids have bloomed as well and
that is a true reward for all the TLC given them. All will be planted
early next year.. Soon we will be enjoying them in their new homes in
the newly cleared areas at the gates and beaches.

Michael
and Anne in India

Son Michael, who had spent the first few months of 2002 helping us here
in Eleuthera, then travelled to India to join his girlfriend Anne. They
returned to Canada in the mid-summer. Shortly after, they surprised us
all with news that they are going to be parents in January, 2003. They,
as well as we, are very excited and happy. We now eagerly await the arrival
of our first grandchild! Anne and Michael have settled in Toronto. Michael
is teaching job skills to new immigrants and low income workers. Anne
is completing some university courses in preparation for teachers’ college
in the fall.

Nancy
Upholstering

Nancy’s year included plenty of home crafts to keep things nice around
our place, and also many special heirloom gifts for family and friends.

Nancy’s
Quilt for our New Grandchild

With two big family occasions this year, her quilting was very active.
Her wedding quilt for Jessica and Scott, and a baby quilt for our new
first grandchild (oops, we mean Michael and Anne’s new baby,,,) now grace
the homes of our children in Edmonton and Toronto.

Canning,
Shells and Basketmaking

This year Nancy also became very active with a new natural
arts and crafts guild formed on Eleuthera. Drawing its members from
residents from the native and foreign community alike, they get together
regularly to learn hand crafts. The guild members work with natural materials
from rock and shells, to coconut and driftwood, to preserving and basketmaking,
their natural work is helping to keeping interest in old native crafts
alive.

Visiting
School of Nurse Sharks

One of the interesting natural events this year was a school of nurse
sharks sighted on our Bight Side beach. A harmless animal, it is rare
to see more than one at a time. We had three visit us for about an hour
one early morning, lounging around it the water while we photographed.

One
of our great pleasures this year has been continuing to work on the family
tree website. There are now over 2400 of our relatives in the records,
with a few more being added every few weeks. Many people have been sending
pictures and information. We are hoping to greatly enhance our records
as other family members who are interested in their family history begin
to join in. The family website is called “all-our-families.com“,
and we invite you to have an enjoyable time visiting it.

Darryl
Fixes a Door at the Crafts Guild House

Darryl continues to be very busy with his internet marketing work. This
year, he did quite a bit of traveling throughout the Bahamas in relation
to it. It was a good opportunity to see some of the other islands, although
our preference is still this quiet island we call home. He spends a lot
of time in the shop where he works on furniture, cabinetry, and woodcrafts
using natural materials.

Beachside
Campfire with Friends Bruce and Terry

2002 was another good year for visitors. The cottages
continue to be a great way to make new friends and meet interesting people.
As well, we enjoyed several visits from our family and friends, including
Blake, Gwen and Madison Fallis, Ron Grinham and Gerry, Paul and Olga Jamison,
Lea, Harold, Richard Perkins and Angie Pike, Roana, Jessica and Jasona
Rondeau. We enjoyed sharing our place with first-time visitors, and with
those who are now visiting more often.

As
we enter our seventh year of living in Eleuthera, we see a few things
on the horizon for the next year. Two more homes are planned next year
for the people who work with us. We are planning a large garden expansion
to further our dream of a self-sustaining livestyle, and to move a little
further off the grid. We also are planning to build more cabanas for the
beaches. New roads will be made to give us better access to the gardens,
and storehouse, and to feature the plantings by the entrance, now hidden
in the surrounding foliage.

When we were young adults, we never seemed to spend enough time with
old friends and family. We’ve discovered pleasantly enough, living in
a beautiful secluded place such as we do is a great way to renew and get
re-acquainted. In that spirit, we extend a warmhearted invitation to feel
free to come for a visit and enjoy tropical island life with us.

Our best wishes to all of you for a happy and prosperous 2003!

Warmest regards,

Nancy and Darryl

Diary of Hurricane Michelle

Darryl November 15th, 2000

The Hurricane Song

Hurricane’s a’comin’,
So big and strong,
Hurricane’s a’comin’,
You better get along.

Variation, Bahamian pop song

The winds had been howling incessantly for a week, coming from the north east, an uncommon direction. We had been looking forward to an end to blustery days and noisy nights.

Our favourite internet weather service suddenly threw an alert.  Local wisdom says that hurricanes
don’t happen after the middle of October and everyone thought the condition was just something delayed in the rainy season.  Michelle, a tropical storm 1200 miles to the southwest was now predicted to upgrade to a level four hurricane, and was coming our way.

Friday, November 2

By the next day, with the forecast being an arrival into our area in 72 hours, we decided to treat the situation as potentially serious.  Early in the morning, we stocked up on water and gasoline, and topped up our storm stock - candles, canned food, propane and batteries.  The store owner was a little surprised.  “Been watchin’ the storm?” she said to Nancy.

Saturday, November 3

Saturday, the last of our guests left for Nassau, and we spent the rest of the day on a painting job we were trying to complete, stopping every couple of hours to check the internet.  As the reports moved Michelle from storm to Level one, then jumped to Level 3, the time before Michelle’s arrival also began to shorten.

Sunday, November 4

We hurriedly picked up Nancy’s cousin Becky, at the Rock Sound airport, and began to doubt if our kids would make it in on their scheduled Monday flight from Ft. Lauderdale.

By mid-day, we had our answer. Michelle was due to hit the next day.

Racing against increasing winds to tie everything down, we prepared the yards, beaches and gardens for the onslaught.  The winds howled around us, and a steady driving torrent of rains keeping us all soaked to the skin.

The shop was completely sealed up this time, having had the hard lesson that salt rain drives itself
through the smallest openings.  I had a two week rust recovery session on my shop tools after Hurricane Floyd.

The drop shutters on the store houses and other outbuildings were wedged tightly shut, the sailboat clamped to the ground under a ladder lashed between two trees, and the rare plants from the shade house moved into the shop.

We started shuttering the main house at about 8 in the evening, and finished the last shutter at about 10:30.  This time the installation of the seventy panels went like a military operation.  Two of us then jumped in the car and headed down to seal up the house of an absent friend.

Fighting our way home through flying coconuts and 35 pound fronds flying like wraiths, we couldn’t believe how our little community looked so fragile in the depth of a howling midnight, Michelle beating on every door and window.

Remarkably, even though the winds were steadily increasing, the power and telephones had stayed on, and with a last minute call from our children now safely trapped in Ft. Lauderdale, we settled to sleep.<

Monday, November 5

By early light, the front of Hurricane Michelle began to beat on us. Raging in from the Atlantic side, the swell was running 12 and 13 feet.  The roar of the ocean steadily underpinned the howling wind, now steady at 90 mph, and gusting to 100.

Awakened by the beeping of the computer UPS, the power had shut down.  But as I was shutting
the systems down, the power suddenly come back on.  I quickly brought down a Hurricane progress report.   Michelle was on us.  Then at 6:35, the power went off, and this time stayed off.

As the dull morning light came up through the dawn, we could now see the storm through the only unshuttered window in the front of the house.  Our front door coconut tree became our gauge of Michelle’s strength as we watched its top fronds almost touch the ground, as it bent but held against the force.

Stealing along a sheltered part of the house, I hurriedly snapped a few pictures of the fury of the wind.

We sat in the darkness of our shuttered house, huddled under the soft light of our only skylight. As the storm howled, we sat reading magazines and drinking coffee made on our camp stove, now the new hearth of our kitchen.

Then the winds began to slow down.  The last report had placed Michelle’s centre so far away from us, it was possible that this meant that the storm had passed.

With the winds now down to about twenty miles per hour, I went on a tour of inspection.

Our immediate yards and gardens are whipped leafless, the bougainvillea recently in magnificent bloom now naked.  The coconut grove on the way to the Atlantic is carpeted in fronds, seed branches and coconuts, with one 60 foot coconut prone.

The Atlantic beach is eroded out about thirty feet, leaving a one to two foot ridge right at the vegetation line.  The cabana is intact, and our old Haitian boat that we had quickly “moored” between two large casuarinas about five feet above the high water mark has not moved an inch.

There are some new trees by ValleyView House that have been blown down, most sadly a tree hibiscus given to me by my good friend the artist Lord Macmillan-Hughes, recently passed.

As the sun broke into a beautiful version of a Bahamian day, we jumped in the Volvo and went to the Bight Side to inspect.

When we arrived on the beach, a remarkable sight told us we were actually experiencing the eye of
Hurricane Michelle.  We could see the clearly formed wall of the eye over thirty miles away, neatly ringing our line of sight all around us on the full horizon.

Quickly determining that there was no damage to the Bight Side beach to that point, we walked quickly back to the car with the wind picking up steadily behind us. After a little trepidation when the car wouldn’t start, it suddenly rumbled to life after wiggling a couple of wires.  By the time we arrived back at the house on the Atlantic, the wind was back up to gale force.  We battened in for the last half.

This time, the force of the storm came at us from the southwest, dipping down to touch us over the hills sheltering our house.  Our coconut tree storm monitor out the front window bent almost to the ground, this time the other way.

Tuesday, November 6

Rising with the first light, we took stock of Hurricane Michelle’s damages.

The Bight Side beach, untouched before the eye, now had given us great quantities of sand, and the surge still lay a quarter of a mile inland.  Our handsome old tire collection, built to create the foundation of a new seawall, is now strewn throughout the bush.  Two casuarinas in the lane are over, one weakened from disease now snapped, and the other uprooted.

Back in the main yard, all our citrus trees are salt-burned, and hundreds of grapefruits, sours and oranges scattered all over the ground.  The ground is a solid carpet of leaves and short branches.  About seventy shingles now need replaced on the roofs.

All in all though, we made it through without too much lasting damage, and will not be too long recovering.

Then as evening fell, Nancy reminded us of the real importance of the day after Michelle.
It was Becky’s birthday! Over a candlelight spaghetti dinner, we drank a nice bottle of wine to Becky’s health, chilled with the last of the freezer ice.

November 12, The Aftermath

It took a week for Marcel, our gardener to make it out from town after hurting himself in his own cleanup.  Our kids finally made it in, and the extra hands were appreciated.  We spent the whole week cleaning up SeaView Cottage with some seasonal repairs and a thorough paint job from top to bottom. We finished just in time for our friends Dave and Kay, to make it by the following weekend.

Our provisioning did us well, and we wanted for nothing during our confinement.  Here is our list of items and tasks that we made note of, for next storm:

  • Tab the shingles on the edge of the roof
  • Fill the bathtubs with water before the power goes out to refill toilets
  • Think seriously about a generator
  • Finish installing the shutters that were missing
  • Make lots of ice to cool things.

Rock Sound had many homes that lost appliances in the post-eye flooding, with many waterside homes receiving two to three feet.

As for the rest of the communities, the damage was extensively distributed but seems slight, with a few shingles lost here and there, lots of salt-burn, and trees pushed over.  The electrical company had our power back on in less than 60 hours, and the local phones never went down.  Just minutes ago, the international circuits came to life, signaling  the end of Hurricane Michelle for us.

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