I HEAR YOU (video)

Please read the below explanation before viewing video:

Earlier this year I recorded 15 random people voicing what they felt the woman in the "I Hear You" painting was saying to them. I then burned these tracks to a CD.

Viewers at my FIRERHORSE interactive exhibit (Watermill, Tobago, 29 November 2014) were invited to sit before her one by one, wearing headphones, choose a random number and listen to that one track out of the 15—the experience being that the woman in the painting was talking to them.

This interactive installation was set up in an old watermill (stone tower in photo below)—an intimate space—just you and her and "her voice"/message for you. This video shows the top of the sugar mill, looking up at the moving clouds. The voice I used as the soundtrack is track #2 of 15 (Voice of Marion Robley). At the end, the painting which was the inspiration behind the recorded expressions briefly appears.

 The watermill in which the "I Hear You" 'audio painting' was located.

V.V.V. = Venus's Vimeo Videos

Venus the Starlet from Venus on Vimeo.

Click here to see Venus's other videos on her Vimeo channel.

Turtle Release Video

Baby hawksbill turtles in bucket awaiting release

I recently went to Magdalena Grand to see S.O.S. Tobago release Hawksbill turtle hatchlings to the ocean. I took my camera, did some filming and put together this short video with some of my original music. Enjoy. And check out www.sos-tobago.org to learn more about how you can help to protect these wonderful creatures.

Post by Elspeth Duncan.

Bubble

Yesterday while waiting at Kariwak for my yoga students to arrive, I filmed this bubble in the pond. A brief clip, set in very slow motion to the opening bars of "Sue's Angels"...Track #9 on my first ever album—'Moving Pictures'.

Tobago Terriers Unite

Click here for me and Venus featured in People of Trinidad and Tobago ... a wonderful initiative/project by Rashmi Mathur.

May all 'Tobago Terriers' find their true home. Same goes for us humans! ;)

DAY 1 OF 40

Grainy early morning shot of dream catcher and incense after doing this sadhana (early morning practice).

 

DAY 1 OF 40 of "Exercise Set for the Chakras" and "Gift of Gurprasad Meditation".

"What is sadhana? It’s a committed prayer. It is something which you want to do, have to do, and which is being done by you. … Sadhana is self-enrichment. It is not something which is done to please somebody or to gain something. Sadhana is a personal process in which you bring out your best."

~Yogi Bhajan

... and why 40 days? According to yogic technology it takes 40 days to change (make or break) a habit. In this instance, I've chosen to do this particular kriya not only to charge up my chakras every morning but to recommit to my daily early morning yoga practise which had fallen of for a while.

The meditation is a simple one. Can be done anywhere between 3 - 11 mins. Great to start the day with, inviting blessings to come in. Here is a link: http://www.3ho.org/3ho-lifestyle/prosperity/meditation-gurprasad
 

I haven't found the kriya online. If you would like to also do this set for 40 days, send me your email address and I will email it to you.

Venus in Caribbean Beat inflight magazine

Click on this link to read about the adventures of my dog Venus in Caribbean Beat.

Tobago Peeps: Tobago Treasure Map

The art of map reading is a useful skill to have. Some people (myself excluded) are “map people”, easily able to use maps to navigate successfully around new landscapes. A friend of mine, before going traveling in South America, wisely embarked upon a map reading course—something I never knew existed until she said she was going to do it.

As children, one of my sisters and I often created ‘treasure maps’. We would draw fictitious landscapes on pieces of tracing paper, the edges of which we then singed with candle flames to create a parched, antiquated look. Guided by our cartographical artwork, we would go digging in the garden for buried treasure.

I still view maps as treasure maps of sorts. More than simply being practical tools for finding specific locations, they are networks of possibilities leading to unfolding adventures and (one of my favourite words) serendipity—the finding of something valuable or delightful when not looking for it.

Now, with a Skyview map sprawled before me, I close my eyes, circle my hand over the paper expanse of Tobago and, after a while, set my index finger down on a spot at random: Nutmeg Grove. I have never been there—at least not knowingly but, possibly unintentionally, I might have taken a “wrong turn” and passed through in the quest for some other destination.

The name conjures images of groves of nutmeg trees, but because locations often don’t visually match what their names suggest, I can’t be sure what the area is actually like. Maybe it is peppered with small rural houses—and possibly very few because (if my understanding of the map is correct) the area is located somewhere in the Tobago Forest Reserve.

The randomness of selecting Nutmeg Grove brings to mind a story someone shared via Facebook: It is Easter weekend and two young Torontonians, on their second date together, spontaneously decide to go to the airport and hop on the first available, affordable flight—to wherever. Long story short, they end up flying via Westjet to spend the weekend in Tobago, experiencing jazz, beaches, waterfalls and as much “island life” as they can fit in to their three unplanned days.

In a world where so much of daily life is organized and orchestrated, the magic of random or spontaneous acts and moments is often lost. Something about the unintentionally chosen Nutmeg Grove draws me and I sense that the impulse to go there may have little to do with the place itself. The Ralph Waldo Emerson quote comes to mind: “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

Who or what will I experience on my journey to this place? Today is as good a day as any to find out … Skyview map in hand to lead the way.

I peruse the Map Icon Key. The highway, signified by what looks like a red and yellow train line, is short, covering only the distance from Lowlands to Dwight York Stadium. Before and after those points, the route is defined by a yellow line which, according to the Map Key, is a ‘Main Rd’. That one Main Road runs like a frame around the island.

To get to Nutmeg Grove, I can turn off the highway to drive along Providence Road, then on to Northside Road. The map seems quite straightforward. On the right, just after the name Mason Hall, there is a broken white line (“Parishes”, according to the Map Key) that veers off from Northside Road. This, according to the map, leads to Nutmeg Grove.

The day is young and I am free to see where this journey takes me.

Your tickets are waiting

I am organising and performing in (with three musical peers) the concert not to be missed: LOVE AND LIGHT. This will be a fringe event on the first weekend of Tobago Jazz Fest.

Come and experience great music. Part proceeds go to TTSPCA Animal Shelter (Tobago Branch).



Please click to enlarge flyer.

Diners' feedback

Reviews for my customized restaurant, Table for Two Made for You:

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- Elspeth

Location:Tobago

TOBAGO PEEPS: CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (Part 2)

Caption: Love Thermometer and ring box

(Last Monday's Tobago Peeps article)

It is 7:15 a.m. I am in Scarborough early, to get easy parking uptown. While waiting for the cloth store to open, I bide time by walking around.

Passing near to the Methodist church, I put my hand out to graze along the top of an orange bougainvillea hedge. A loose clump of about five flowered stems comes off in my hand. Holding the small bunch, I walk back down to the square to wait in front of the cloth store.

Ahead of me, at the corner, a car stops and an older man gets out from the back. As I approach, he sees the orange flowers in my hand, laughs and says: "You selling flowers or wha'?"

I stop, pick two from the bunch and give to him.

"For me?" he says, surprised. "Sharing! That's nice. The world needs more sharing."

I agree and wish him a good day.

"You have a good day too."

Glancing back, I see him waiting to cross the road to the bank, holding his orange bougainvillea flowers.

Later ... It is now 3:30 p.m. and I am in Bon Accord, across the road from Stumpy's Hardware, sitting on a stool under a tent, surrounded by Valentine's Day paraphernalia. Out of curiosity, I have come to chat with Bev, the woman who has set up this Valentine's table for the second consecutive year.

No one is here but us. I ask: "Do lots of people come to buy?"

"Tobago people laid back," Bev explains with a slight American accent. She has lived in the States for many years. "They will come and watch first and wouldn't buy yet ... but you wouldn't like to see here on the day! Dem man an' dem who ent get nothing yet, dey scrambling!"

Bev is an excellent saleswoman. I end up buying four small $5 bags of little beads called Bio Gel" ... " or Water Babies as they call them here," Bev informs. The coloured beads swell into translucent marble-sized balls when soaked for a few hours in water.

Bev shows me the "hit item" known as the "Love Thermometer", which I hold in my hand to test. "Ooooooh, girl! You gotta lotta Love!" Bev exclaims as the red liquid rapidly rises, filling the heart above.

She gives me a tour of the vast array of Love gizmos, amazingly priced from $5 minimum to $100 maximum because "I give you nice at a pocket price": straw Love-hamper baskets filled with romantic trinkets, hanging hearts, stuffed teddies, large gift bags covered with hearts, ring boxes ("For that person who may want to propose on the day itself"), a red rose that's actually a thong, a rose that lights up and says "I love you" when pressed, a teddy bear that does the same ... and (Bev shows me a small plastic rose bud in clear wrapping): "Two of these roses for $5, because it's the thought that counts."

Anyone seeking Valentine's gifts like these would definitely strike a treasure trove at "Bev's Everything".

The wind flutters red tinsel hearts hanging from the edges of the sales tent. Cars crawl by. Pedestrians amble along the sidewalk, not really glancing our way. I wish someone would stop to buy something while I'm here. I'm curious to see which item(s) they would choose. But, hardly likely this will happen now, judging from the fact that "dem man an dem" scramble on "the day itself." But why wait until February 14th?

Every day is "the day itself" ... and doesn't have to cost a thing.

Happy Anniversary

February 2014 marks a year since Table for Two made for Youofficially opened its doors to welcome loving diners from all over the world. As of today we are #7 out of 78 restaurants in Tobago (according to Tripadvisor).

In this year, TFT, has been and seen a flow of love given and received. The location has changed, the essence has evolved and new growth and learning occur every day.

Thank you to all who have come and to those who are yet to come.

Thank you to all, seen and unseen, known and unknown, who have assisted in any way in enabling TFT to be what it is.

Happy Anniversary, dear Table for Two.

Lovely

Dear God,
Let all Lovers be content
Give them happy endings
Let their lives be celebration
Let their hearts dance in the fire of your Love.

Rumi

TOBAGO PEEPS: CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (Part 1)

(Tobago Peeps article from last Monday. This is actually an abridged version of a blog post written a few years ago, documenting the following experience ...)

One Valentine’s Day, mainly out of curiosity, I had offered to help out in a friend’s flower shop at Gulf City Mall, San Fernando
. Apart from Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day was the busiest day in my friend’s establishment, so he was glad when I had asked if I could assist. Next week I’ll write about it from a Tobago perspective, but this is what I learned in Trinidad.

I spent that day-into-night surrounded by hundreds of red roses and different flowers (lilies, tulips, chrysahthemums, etc) witnessing with up-close fascination the frenzied commercial mass phenomenon which is promoted as being 'romantic'.

Mainly men came in to buy flowers. Their expressions ranged from stressed, confused, scared, embarassed ... to innocent, hopeful, eager, cassanova-ish.

Some would come in and mumble something quickly under their breath, forming an entire sentence into one incomprehensible word:

"Ahcometobuysomeflowersfuhmuhgirlfriendwhatallyuhhave?"

... seemingly embarassed to be buying flowers ... akin to going to a supermarket to buy tampons or sanitary pads for "their woman".

Most of the men had interesting ways of asking for flowers. One man came in and said simply: "Ah want flowers."

One man came in, cast a swift glance around, pointed to rose bouquets awaiting collection in a corner and said: "Gimme one ah dem ting like dat."

One man came in, pointed to some helium balloons and said: "Gimme wanna dem."

(N.B. I'm only highlighting the ones I found were funny. Some were regular, politely asking for advice on what to get).

Some of them didn't know what to write on the little gift cards. They got people in the store to come up with words and write their messages for them. I wondered: what does a man say when "his woman" gushes over a beautiful message that he knows he didn't write? Some of them wrote their own simple messages, like: "To (Woman's name) From: (Their name)" ... and some would add something extra like "With Love". One man stated that he had to go away and think about his message, but he knew "some Brian McKnight songs so would put in some of those lyrics."

I observed people (mainly couples) streaming past the shop door, along one of the main corridors of the mall, like robots programmed to buy. I noted many women walking confidently ahead, determined to buy (or be bought for) ... with 'their man' slowly trailing behind, looking unenthused and submissive, as if to say:"Is Valentine Day. If ah eh come wit she and buy she ting ah go be in trouble."

One man, who came in later in the afternoon to buy roses, said: "Gorm! Ah already get cuss!" I asked him: "Why? Because you didn't get her anything?" His response: "No! Ah order de ting! Look it dey! But ah now comin' to collec! She cussing because she ent get it yet!!"

Skip forward to four years later and I am living in Tobago, a much simpler, less commercial society than Trinidad. As Valentine's Day approaches, how many people here slip into the I-have-to-buy-something-or-else mode? Are flower shops overflowing with men scrambling to purchase blooms? Are jewelry shops splitting at the seams with lovers who don't care if they have to break the piggy bank to appease the loved one with an expensive purchase?

(To be continued)

Submit your written offering

Dear All,

In the month of February 2014, I am gathering 108 written offerings which will be a part of one of the paintings in my upcoming FIREHORSE exhibition.

I am therefore asking you to submit an original written offering (a prayer, wish, statement, whatever you choose to call it) inspired by (and only if you really feel & want this) the desire for TT, the place and the people, to experience positive transformation and healing on all levels asap.

Please use your own words, not an existing prayer, quote, mantra, etc. The mission is to be yourself, to project a positive beam from the heart, through original written words, in line with the very specific desire/intention stated above.

You can email your written offering to me, send as a private message on Facebook or (if in Tobago) deposit a hard copy into the special FIREHORSE box which will be at the HWH Love & Magic Centre, Lambeau, Tobago (on the grounds of Shore Things Cafe).

If you know others who also want to participate, please pass on the info to them.

Thank you.

Elspeth

(Image shows a mala, which has 108 beads. This is a part of the piece/painting).

Preparing

Preparing for tomorrow's Table for Two ... A Swedish couple. A night full of clues ... What they seek they shall find.

The Treasure awaits ...



Preparing from at least the day before involves conceptualizing the experience, creating the elements of it and chopping ingredients so I can begin making the various courses. Tomorrow's dining experience will have five parts/courses.

Looking forward to providing the opportunity for them to have a very memorable night.

Location:Tobago

Blessed by Ras Nolan

(Tobago Peeps article from Monday 20 January 2014. I can publish the articles a week after they appear in the Guardian (Behind the paywall). To read the full article at the Guardian on the day of publication you must subscribe to the online Guardian or buy the physical nespaper).



Ras Nolan
Photo by Elspeth Duncan

"I collect gems and minerals from the four corners of the universe."

Already I know that my conversation with Ras Nolan is going to be about more than the arts and crafts he makes to sell in his little shop opposite the Buccoo Community Centre. Handcrafted jewelry and handbags, incense, oils and semi-precious stones adorn walls, shelves and glass showcases.

"I am into crystal therapy and the seven chakras, from root to crown. If you want your third eye to open, I know what to use," he tells me as he scrapes the insides of a small calabash into dark water in a bucket.

He is preparing calabashes to begin working on 500 pieces in time for Carnival 2014. "Calabash spoons, bowls, bottles, flower vases, napkin holders, mask faces ... I will take calabash to a different level."

There is always something to learn, even from the simplest encounter with someone. I note his focus. He knows what he wants to do and how and by when he will get it done. I think momentarily of my own life and the areas I want to take to the next level.

Lesson #1: Focus and do it.

Is he from Buccoo? No. Bethel. So why did he choose this Buccoo location for his shop?

"I didn't choose it. It was chosen by the Lord, the Most High. I used to sell at Mt. Irvine beach in July and August. Lots of rain ... and I was struggling for the longest while ... until one day I saw the landlord, Mr. Shakey, and he offered for me to take a look at something he was building. The first day I saw it, I took it instantly."

Lesson #2: Know what you want/need and go for it when you find it ... or when it finds you.

"This is a shop of healing ... "Ras Nolan says, quickly adding: "No ... An enterprise of healing. A bigger word than shop, because I not selling biscuits and sweets. You have to be careful of the words you use."

Lesson #4: Words have power. Choose and use them carefully to manifest your greatest reality.

"You can have physical, mental and spiritual healing once you enter," Ras Nolan tells me. From his warm but penetrating eyes, I can tell that he sees beyond life's surface. "I am a man dealing from The Divinity, working with pure vibration. Any time the vibration is negative, I can tell. I deal with the True."

A passing woman calls out. He smiles, waves and calls back: "Peace and Love!" The way he projects the otherwise cliched phrase sounds different. Later, he tells me that everything he does and says, is done and said as a blessing.

Lesson #5: Have a positive vibration within and extend it to all.

"I study oils and incense. Everything I sell, I can tell you the power behind it. Prosperity oil, success, spiritual cleansing ..."

I tell him that for years I have worn Patchouli oil daily, but now I'm moving house, my Patchouli bottles are packed in boxes, my current bottle just finished and I haven't worn it in days.

He nods, understanding. "Not everyone will come in here telling me they wear Patchouli."

He rises, goes to his oils, selects the rasta version of Patchouli and pours some into a vial. He then reaches for a green pack of Patchouli incense, puts both items into a small white bag and hands them to me as "a blessing."

TOBAGO PEEPS: VEHICLES OF WISDOM

(Last Monday's Tobago Peeps article. I post them to the blog a week after publication in the Trinidad Guardian):


As I'm leaving the gas station, I notice DOH STUDY IT scrawled across the back windscreen of the dark grey Hilux in front of me.

I look to my right to see what vehicles are coming and my eyes meet the message on the front windscreen of the car heading my way: TOO BLES (one S missing) TO BE STRESS.

I swing my vehicle out and head in the direction of the highway, stopping at the traffic lights. The wording on the car coming from the right advises FEAR NOT.

Moments later, on the highway heading west, I pass a car turning right at Signal Hill. On the back windscreen, written in rasta-coloured letters sandwiched between stickers of two praying hands, is: IN GOD WE TRUST.

Clearly a message is being delivered today via these consecutive nuggets of vehicular wisdom.

Messages on the windscreens of vehicles in Trinidad and Tobago are a common and thought provoking sight. Drivers' reasons for choosing particular words and phrases (and commuters' interpretations of them) vary widely. Whether clear or obscure, the only way to find out what these 'signs' mean to each driver is to ask (as I do on occasion).

HIGHER GROUND.

ASK MONEY.

IT DOESN'T MATTER. WHO VEX LOSS.

ONE LOVE.

SHALOM.

Days later, as I drive past the NP gas station in Scarborough, I see a silver station wagon parked to the front of the compound. The windscreen announces in capital letters: IN GOD WE TRUST. This phrase is a popular one.

I pull in to the gas station, park a few metres behind the car and observe large letters emblazoned across the back windscreen:

TIK GAL. SOCA. FAT SAUCE.

Interesting contrast to the frontal message. All the more reason to speak with the driver.

The vehicle doesn't belong to any of the men standing around the gas pumps. They direct me inside to a young woman sitting behind the counter. She nods. Yes, the car belongs to her.

"People must be wonder what kind of stupidness on the back of my car," she says. "But they is nicknames. I am Tik Gal. My mother is Soca. My sister is Fat Sauce."

And how does that connect with the front windscreen?

"It's my mother who made me put 'In God We Trust' on the front."

No need to explain. The love of a mother, putting her trust in God in front, for her daughter's safety.

Later ... DR. SCOOB D BILLIONAIRE cruises by at an intersection.

GOD IS MY CONQUEROR follows.

VENOM.

As we are all in motion, I can't stop to talk with these drivers. My next opportunity comes via a newly painted blue flat bed truck parked near the Esplanade in Scarborough.

BUY THE TRUTH AND SELL IT NOT. Proverbs 23:23

I pull into the empty parking space near to the truck. The middle-aged male driver is happy to explain the proclamation which, before committing it to his windscreen, he used to print and offer to the public every Christmas, asking them to put it at the top of their list.

"When Panday got into office and became Prime Minister, UWI offered a twelve point plan to solve crime. But from that year, crime rose!" he tells me. "That text is God offering a four point crime plan: TRUTH. WISDOM. INSTRUCTION. UNDERSTANDING."

He takes a brown, dog-eared Bible from the glove compartment and asks if he may read me two passages. As he simply wishes to share a perspective, I listen.

"It's not only about knowing the Truth," he tells me after. "It's about having the Wisdom to apply it. Remember that."



- Elspeth

Guardian Article on Firehorse Fridays and Firehorse exhibition

http://guardian.co.tt/arts/2014-01-19/elspeth-duncan-harnessing-creativity

(Front page of today's/Sunday Guardian arts magazine)

Please click,on the above link to read Gillian Moore's article on my upcoming Firehorse exhibition and the public interactive Firehorse Fridays I have been offering since 10th January ...as a lead up.


- Elspeth

TOBAGO PEEPS: End of Old, Beginning of New

(This was my first Tobago Peeps article for 2014):




The last day of 2013: I am having lunch with two visiting friends at Shore Things Cafe in Lambeau. On my recommendation, we’re all eating and drinking my favourite items from the menu—grilled fish sandwich and sorrel. We chat, update each other, discuss old/new year-related topics, have some laughs, then pay the bill.

I bid my friends goodbye and pop into the neighbouring Love & Magic Centre, the recently-opened shop/office for the Healing with Horses Foundation. I chat for a while with Mary-Ann, a visiting Canadian horse vet, who is doing the morning shift. I am scheduled to take over at 1 pm.

First I need to go to the mall to use free wifi and catch up on e-mails. A man and woman are standing near my vehicle attempting to stop a taxi or any willing car. “Which way are you heading?” the woman asks. “

I’m going to the mall.”

They are late for a funeral and can’t get transport. “Could you give us a drop to the highway?”

The drop to the highway ends up being a direct drop to “a Baptist church in Bethel.” Neither of my passengers knows exactly where this church is, so we pull off the road in Carnbee to ask directions from a woman standing in a driveway, holding a black and white cat. The woman points and tells us to take the next right to Bethel, where she says there are five Baptist churches.

Next, we stop in front of two youths standing at the roadside. “We looking for the funeral in the Baptist church,” my female passenger says. The youths casually point up the road.

As we depart, my female passenger laughs and says to her male companion: “Take care we end up in the wrong funeral. It come like we paranging in the wrong house!”

One more stop for directions, then the sight of people dressed in black walking past lines of parked cars. My passengers hop out, thank me and I drive off.

The unexpected diversion from my intended direction feels symbolic. On this last day of 2013, most people will say goodbye to various aspects of life or ways of being, anticipating the new.

The first day of 2014: I am driving out of Buccoo. Two women, clearly tourists, are walking, holding their thumbs out for any passing car. Figuring transport may be hard to come by on a public holiday, I stop for them. They clamber in, smiling.

“Happy New Year!” Their first words to me.

They are going to Scarborough, to the port, to Trinidad, to return home to French Guiana. Along the way we chat, mainly in English, sometimes in French. One woman is a social worker, the other a teacher. Their first time in Tobago: lovely place, friendly people, fun at Sunday School, wonderful beaches.

We draw near to the Port. The woman in the passenger seat asks me my name.

“Elspeth.”

“Elspen?”

“El-speth.” I repeat slowly, accustomed to mispronunciations of my name.

“I’m Mary Ann.”

“I am Laila,” the other traveller pipes up from the back.

I stop and they disembark. As Mary Ann closes the door, she says: “Thank you so much. I wish you the very best...of everything!”

Her tone is so sincere and pointed that I feel the words ignite something new in me.

To you, reading this, I also wish newness and the best for 2014.

Original link in Guardian Newspaper:
http://guardian.co.tt/news/2014-01-06/end-old-beginning-new


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2nd Firehorse Friday on 17.01.14

Come to the 2nd Firehorse Friday and be a part of the creative process leading up to my exhibition, FIREHORSE. Jot down date, time and place on your calendar/in your diary ... and come let your Creative Spirit out of the stables:

2nd Firehorse Friday
17.01.2014
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
@ Healing with Horses Love & Magic Centre,
On the grounds of Shore Things Cafe,
Lambeau, Tobago.

This video gives a clue about the 2nd Firehorse Friday's creative activity.

The first Firehorse Friday

At one point during Firehorse Friday (10-01-14), when the first few visitors had added their random paint marks to what was initially there (initial canvas in background in pic above), the canvas looked like this (see below):


We saw a bird (dove or pigeon) nesting high in the city while the madness of life rushes around below it. Then a few other people came along and transformed it further by making a few simple paint strokes (no brushes were used).

And now I am at home transforming it even more as of today (Saturday).

The purpose of yesterday was to allow everyone who came to Firehorse Friday to "let your Creative Spirit out of the stable" ... and whatever comes out, comes from the freedom of that person and will be developed from there by me.

Everyone yesterday approached differently ... some softly, some boldly, some dropping swirls of paint, some making straight lines, some using leaves, some laughing, some serious, some pensive ... There is no right or wrong.

Below are some shots featuring a few of the people who added to the canvas that day. To see the final piece, come to the exhibition. Stay tuned or send me your email address so I can put you on the mailing list.



The first visitor makes her mark.


Second "public painter" transforms it further


Next up ... Without realizing it, he painted the dove/pigeon


Another participant makes her mark


There were other participants between, but I didn't take shots of them.



The last person to make her mark before FIREHORSE FRIDAY closed at 2 pm

Stay tuned for next week's interactive FIREHORSE mission ... The results of each mission will be included in my exhibition in various ways.

FIREHORSE FRIDAYS

I was born in a Fire Horse year (Chinese astrology). This year I am working on a 2014 exhibition entitled FIRE HORSE.

As with everything I create, I introduce aspects of interaction for the public, so that people can be a part of the creative process in some way. Starting this Friday, 10 January 2014, Firehorse Fridays will begin, enabling public interaction.

Click here to see this Short Youtube video which is your invitation to come and "make your mark" ...

The first FIREHORSE FRIDAY
Date: Fri 10 Jan 2014
Time: 10 am to 2 pm
Location: Healing with Horses Love and Magic Centre
(On the grounds of Shore Things Cafe, Lambeau, Tobago)

Come and make your mark. Be a part of the creative process of the gradually-unfolding exhibition, FIREHORSE by Elspeth Duncan.

All are welcome and will receive more information and guidance for interaction upon arrival.

As it is a Friday, make it a date. Invite friends, experience Firehorse Friday, visit the HWH Centre and treat yourself to a delicious lunch at Shore Things Cafe.



Firehorse (the first and title painting of the exhibition)

Tobago Peeps: The Best Thing

(I could not find the link to last Monday's article, so will copy and paste here. Photo missing as I am typing on my ipad and the image is elsewhere ...)

THE BEST THING
First on my to-do list: Go to the photography place in Bon Accord to print new flyers for my one-on-one and couples yoga sessions. Minutes later, mission accomplished, I’m happy with the printed result, and head off to get a few more things done.

I go to the small TTPost office in Bon Accord, to post a Christmas gift to someone in Trinidad via TTPak. As I enter, the two women behind the counter greet me with a good morning chorus. Their simple welcome touches me.

A short while after, while I am making a payment at an office in Scarborough, the man attending to me stops what he is doing to reach out and fix the loosening tip of my pen as I write the cheque. Small gesture, memorable impact.

Next, on my way to a meeting in Mt. Irvine, I stop off at the gas station along the highway. While the young male pump attendant fills up my vehicle’s tank, I look at him, wearing his red NP-branded promotional t-shirt and my mind runs with questions. Does he enjoy filling vehicles with gas? Does he meet and interact with interesting people or are most/all drivers simply nameless faces with empty tanks rolling through the station? If it were not for the necessity of money, is this really where he would want to be right now? The final question that pops into my head is the one I ask him aloud: “What is the best thing that happened to you today?”

He pauses, eyes open in momentary surprise, thinks for a moment with a long “hmmmm”, then says: “I woke up this morning.”

“Good one,” I say.

There is a moment of silence as the numbers on the pump roll up toward one hundred dollars. “And what’s the best thing that happened to you today?” he asks me.

I think for a while and remember the light feeling I had that morning upon reading an email from a friend with whom I’d been at University in England. “I heard from a friend that a mutual friend we thought could be dead is actually alive.”

“Wow, now that is great news!” the pump attendant says, looking almost as relieved as if it had been a friend of his.

After a few final words, we part and I proceed to the QuickShoppe to buy a snack to eat on the road. While paying for my purchase, I ask the young female cashier: “What’s the best thing that happened to you today?”

She looks at me for a while without saying anything, then quickly responds: “Ah wake up. I am alive.”

A few hours later, after the Mt. Irvine meeting, I go to the reception area of some villas to deliver one of my newly-printed yoga flyers. Employees in crisp blue uniforms are milling around chatting, perhaps on lunch break. One of them approaches me and asks if she can help. I give her a flyer and ask if she could put it in the activities folder they have for their guests.

“If you give me fourteen I will put one in each villa,” she offers.
Thanking her, I give her the nine extra that I have, then ask: “What’s the best thing that happened to you today?”

She pauses and, after a brief silence, smiles, cocks her head and says in a light, singing tone: “I woke up today!”

“You’re the third person to give me that answer in the past few hours,” I tell her. “Must be a Tobago thing.”

We laugh and part.


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Location:Tobago