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Heading for Jamaica
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
On Monday, April 26, at about 8:30 a.m., we got word that Aunt Kitty had passed away. She'd had a stroke the previous Tuesday and had been in the hospital since then. She'd had another stroke on the Saturday night, and on Monday it was all over.
We immediately started making plans to go to Jamaica, and we booked our flight for the next day, Tuesday.
On Tuesday April 27, at 7:00 a.m., we were off. You can probably tell that we were more than a little tired, since we'd had to hustle to tie up loose ends before flying, and hadn't had much sleep the night before.
Then we caught our first glimpse of Jamaica and some of the tiredness disappeared.
We landed at Sangster International airport in Montego Bay.
Waiting for luggage was not Erlinda's favorite thing to do. Interestingly enough, we discovered later that our luggage had arrived before we did, using another connection, and we could have been done at least half an hour earlier, if we'd only known. Oh, well.
Orville and Jean Parchment, Erlinda's brother and sister-in-law, had arrived earlier in the day. Orville came back to the airport to meet us, along with Jean's niece, Sharon Corrodus, in her van.
We stopped to visit the Corroduses, Jean's sister and brother-in-law, at their multi-purpose store.
Jean's sister, Daphnie Corrodus; Paul, her son (Sharon's husband); Sally Ann, her daughter; Erlinda, Jean and Orville.
Getting ready to leave for Mandeville, in a van driven by...
...(you'll never guess his name) Orville. Orville Heron. So to distinguish between them both in the van, we called him "Front Orville" since he was the driver, and Orville Parchment "Back Orville."
We stopped along the way to buy fruits. The two Orvilles made a killing here, buying up tons of stuff.
Erlinda grabbed my computer to show Jean and Back Orville (and Front Orville's little son, David) some photos of a nice development we had toured recently, as well as other recent photos.
(By the way, we've found Picasa to be a very cool tool for managing photos. You might want to check it out here.)
Front Orville in deep concentration. I can't remember whether that other car was passing us or vice versa, but either way, we were moving along at a pretty good clip.
Finally, we arrived at Mom's house in Mandeville.
Mom's sister, Lydia Rogers, and her daughter, Valerie Shaw, had been visiting for more than a week. We were glad they'd been there to support Mom during the ordeal.
We'd not been expecting to see Mom again so soon, since we'd just left Jamaica on January 1, after our last visit. There were hugs all around. The little girl is named Sondjrell, a neighbor who enjoys visiting Mom. They have a mutual admiration society going.
Pretty soon we were enjoying a good Jamaican meal. As you can see, Erlinda didn't waste much time polishing off her plate. I think she just inhaled it.
Another of Jean's sisters, Pat Haakmat, joined us a little while after we started eating. She lives nearby and teaches at the University. I think Jean was into her mango with a certain amount of eagerness. Even her eyes were involved.
As usual, Valerie was a laugh a minute. She's always the life of the party.
The whole gang. The young lady on the right, out of sight, is Rosanna (or Terry, depending on who you talk to), Pat's cousin.
Oops! I think Valerie found a slight...ummm...imperfection in her mango. It didn't seem to faze her, though. She just did some surgery on it and kept on moving.
The next morning, Mom was up bright and early, and out in her garden, watering. And of course Aunt Lydia accompanied her. These two sisters love doing everything together.
Later that morning, a group of us met at Aunt Kitty's house to plan details of the funeral service. Orville led out in the discussion. Iralyn Trott, Aunt Kitty's niece, had been like a daughter to her, so this was a difficult time for her.
Dr Sydney Beaumont had been a special friend of Aunt Kitty's for decades. Dr Hermon Douce represented the University Church, where he's the Head Elder. Ms. Marjorie Powis was from the University's Public Relations Department. Jean was the official scribe.
As you can imagine, it was a pretty somber occasion, as you can see in our expressions. Mrs. Dorothy Beaumont was also a good friend of Aunt Kitty's. Myrnelle Haig, Iralyn's sister, had also been like a daughter to Aunt Kitty, and you can see the sadness etched in her face.
In closing, we choose to remember this occasion, a much happier one. We spent the 2003 Christmas season in Jamaica, and this was Christmas dinner at Mom's house. Aunt Kitty enjoyed that visit immensely, as did the Beaumonts. Dr Beaumont was the life of that party, regaling us with stories of every description, from gardening to gourmet dining.
-------------------------
I'll have more for you later. Meanwhile, you can see a slide show that includes additional photos by clicking the slide show link in the upper left of the page. Warning--the file is large, so if you're on a dial-up connection you'll have to be patient. You'll need Shockwave Flash to see the show.
TTYL.
We immediately started making plans to go to Jamaica, and we booked our flight for the next day, Tuesday.
On Tuesday April 27, at 7:00 a.m., we were off. You can probably tell that we were more than a little tired, since we'd had to hustle to tie up loose ends before flying, and hadn't had much sleep the night before.
Then we caught our first glimpse of Jamaica and some of the tiredness disappeared.
We landed at Sangster International airport in Montego Bay.
Waiting for luggage was not Erlinda's favorite thing to do. Interestingly enough, we discovered later that our luggage had arrived before we did, using another connection, and we could have been done at least half an hour earlier, if we'd only known. Oh, well.
Orville and Jean Parchment, Erlinda's brother and sister-in-law, had arrived earlier in the day. Orville came back to the airport to meet us, along with Jean's niece, Sharon Corrodus, in her van.
We stopped to visit the Corroduses, Jean's sister and brother-in-law, at their multi-purpose store.
Jean's sister, Daphnie Corrodus; Paul, her son (Sharon's husband); Sally Ann, her daughter; Erlinda, Jean and Orville.
Getting ready to leave for Mandeville, in a van driven by...
...(you'll never guess his name) Orville. Orville Heron. So to distinguish between them both in the van, we called him "Front Orville" since he was the driver, and Orville Parchment "Back Orville."
We stopped along the way to buy fruits. The two Orvilles made a killing here, buying up tons of stuff.
Erlinda grabbed my computer to show Jean and Back Orville (and Front Orville's little son, David) some photos of a nice development we had toured recently, as well as other recent photos.
(By the way, we've found Picasa to be a very cool tool for managing photos. You might want to check it out here.)
Front Orville in deep concentration. I can't remember whether that other car was passing us or vice versa, but either way, we were moving along at a pretty good clip.
Finally, we arrived at Mom's house in Mandeville.
Mom's sister, Lydia Rogers, and her daughter, Valerie Shaw, had been visiting for more than a week. We were glad they'd been there to support Mom during the ordeal.
We'd not been expecting to see Mom again so soon, since we'd just left Jamaica on January 1, after our last visit. There were hugs all around. The little girl is named Sondjrell, a neighbor who enjoys visiting Mom. They have a mutual admiration society going.
Pretty soon we were enjoying a good Jamaican meal. As you can see, Erlinda didn't waste much time polishing off her plate. I think she just inhaled it.
Another of Jean's sisters, Pat Haakmat, joined us a little while after we started eating. She lives nearby and teaches at the University. I think Jean was into her mango with a certain amount of eagerness. Even her eyes were involved.
As usual, Valerie was a laugh a minute. She's always the life of the party.
The whole gang. The young lady on the right, out of sight, is Rosanna (or Terry, depending on who you talk to), Pat's cousin.
Oops! I think Valerie found a slight...ummm...imperfection in her mango. It didn't seem to faze her, though. She just did some surgery on it and kept on moving.
The next morning, Mom was up bright and early, and out in her garden, watering. And of course Aunt Lydia accompanied her. These two sisters love doing everything together.
Later that morning, a group of us met at Aunt Kitty's house to plan details of the funeral service. Orville led out in the discussion. Iralyn Trott, Aunt Kitty's niece, had been like a daughter to her, so this was a difficult time for her.
Dr Sydney Beaumont had been a special friend of Aunt Kitty's for decades. Dr Hermon Douce represented the University Church, where he's the Head Elder. Ms. Marjorie Powis was from the University's Public Relations Department. Jean was the official scribe.
As you can imagine, it was a pretty somber occasion, as you can see in our expressions. Mrs. Dorothy Beaumont was also a good friend of Aunt Kitty's. Myrnelle Haig, Iralyn's sister, had also been like a daughter to Aunt Kitty, and you can see the sadness etched in her face.
In closing, we choose to remember this occasion, a much happier one. We spent the 2003 Christmas season in Jamaica, and this was Christmas dinner at Mom's house. Aunt Kitty enjoyed that visit immensely, as did the Beaumonts. Dr Beaumont was the life of that party, regaling us with stories of every description, from gardening to gourmet dining.
-------------------------
I'll have more for you later. Meanwhile, you can see a slide show that includes additional photos by clicking the slide show link in the upper left of the page. Warning--the file is large, so if you're on a dial-up connection you'll have to be patient. You'll need Shockwave Flash to see the show.
TTYL.
