Reflections on 80.

 The thing about life is that we never know how long we will retain our memory. That is why I am so happy I started this blog about quarter  century ago and record almost everything. (Wish blogs were invented long before though.)

I was reflecting on becoming 80 which sounded so remote up to a week ago.

 But now I will soon move away from that landmark and end up where I wonder?

This is why I am saving these pics to remind me of all who helped me celeberate, from nearby Plantation and Lauderhill to distant Sebring  all in Florida. 

Last year I had big plans with friends to go on a cruise around sections of Southern Africa from Mauritius to Cape Town in 2026, to celebrate this milestone. However, my heart objected, informing me that I have to stay close my cardiologist.

So,  I will be finishing off the celebration next month with my immediate family, on a cruise in the the nearby Caribbean. (Some have school till June).

It is what it is.

To get the celebrations going, we started started in Plantation where my good friend Carolyn hosted a wonderful dominoes session.

 (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/05/dominoes-forever.html)

Horace, Carolyn,  uncle Lesly, uncle Ruddy, Hollden at dominoes on my birthday. 

Then it was off  to lunch with my Trini friend Helena.

Not only was the Trini curry goat delicious,  but I have to thank Helena for reomtroducing me to Indian food. For you see, I was in Sri Lanka exactly a year ago, and while it was a great experience,  there they not only curry almost everything,  but the hot spices nearly killed me!🤢. 

I had never met hotter peppers in my life and thus I swore off curry.

But the Trini version was a delicious, gentle reminder that not all curry is hot and my once favorite roti, bussup shut, was most welcome.

Bussup shut.

Next we finished off the celebrations in Sebring where Camille and I drove to,  to spend the long weekend  with my lifelong, bosom friend  Sunshine and my extended family.

Thr Golden girls aka the scrabble ginigogs😁

The octogenerian.

Today (23rd) is Givannis birthday, but that makes him a Gemini, not a great Taurean😁. 

 He turns 13.

Yep it was great to get out of the city and hang around with more "family."❣️💕

Cardiff is extra special too for athough he was born an Adventist so pork has never touched his mouth, he had no problem seasoning and cooking the most delicious pork shoulder for me.😄.

Big up Cardiff.

It was so well seasoned, soft and delicious that I even had some for breakfast next day!

It's been a great 80th celebration.

On to the next big landmark.😉

A Swinging Hindu Wedding

I always considered Hindus conservative so  I never expected to have such a swinging time at Danraj's wedding. Everything was wonderful except I kept feeling a bit sad that his mom Karla did not live long enough to be there.

Danraj is the son of the late uncle Joe and Karla and he got married in Stanford, Connecticut to Anjana, who is from India but who has been living in the states for many years. She like he has her PhD and she is really a full of life person. 

I have been to Hindu weddings before but the difference here is that liquor flowed freely and the music was fantastic. The only place I have ever heard this version of Indian music is on the minibuses in Guyana as they tend to be operated by young Indian men who play modern, blaring music. This music seems to be a very lively mix between traditional Indian music with a Caribbean/pop beat, so there is no way you could sit down as it drags you to your feet. Just like dancehall and reggae. Just about everyone there was on the dance floor at the Italian Centre which was the venue. And the liquor was certainly talking for at one time as I went outside an Indian man approached me to congratulate me on the speech I had made. I never made a speech, it was my daughter Michele who was even in a sari while I wasn't so his eyes were really blurred!

Michele in a sari sits with Michelle and Madelyn

But as I said, the liquor was flowing so I made my blooper too, hugging a lady sitting beside Danraj and telling her congratulations. Only problem it was not his bride but what the heck, after several glasses of red wine, Indian ladies in saris all started to look alike!

Incidentally, I don't think I will be eating Indian food for some some and it is not because it was not delicious, but on or arrival in Stamford, we stopped at a restaurant with an  innocuous name for lunch,. only to find it was an Indian restaurant with a great buffet. Then there was Indian food at the reception and an Indian brunch put on by the bride's parents the next day so after three  consecutive Indian meals, I need a break!

A family photo at Lincoln's memorial in Stamford

Stamford is quiet and clean, no way as developed and bustling as Hartford but apparently the very rich live there as I have never seen so many Porches, convertible sports BMW's and Ferraris being driven on the streets downtown and that includes Manhattan.

Stanford is also literally just around the corner from Mt. Vernon where we stayed with Michelle...a mere 20 minutes drive on the I95.

 What I found interesting is that we had to pay toll on the same highway going up but not on  the way back. Strange indeed.

Danraj is such a wonderful person that people came from Jamaica, Atlanta, Colorado and many other far flung places to share the day with him.

Michele and family came from Colorado and we spent a great week together. I think we only quarreled once, a miracle indeed.

We took Madelyn to Central Park and  she really had a ball.  I had no idea it was so huge in the middle of Manhattan, 800 acres, the guide told us with everything brought in except the rocks!

Then we went lyming in Times Square  and thank heavens there were  no exhibitionists around this time.

 

The huge rocks are the only things which were not imported into Central Park

Actually, my  trip to 

New York this time challenged all the stereotypes that I had always had about that city since spending a few months there before escaping to Canada when we migrated many decades ago.

For the subways are now clean and I was alone at the bus stop at 10 pm one night and felt no fear. Then when I took the trolley at La Guardia and did  not have a metro card, the driver took me free. Then a young lady helped me with my suitcase without me even asking and a young man swiped his card to let me into the subway for $$2.00 when the fare is $2.50, when he saw I no metro card and there was no one selling there.

Hanging out in Times square

If someone had told me they had such pleasant experiences in New York I would have marveled.

The experience that knocked my breath away however was when we went to the beach ( ie. the cold, dirty Atlantic ocean which we went to visit, not to swim) in Stamford. Two young men were arguing nearby and using some M....F....and a man pointed to the baby and told them to stop using that language. Later as Michelle and I walked around, they came up and apologised for using that language near us! Absolutely amazing. 

Anyway I don't see myself going back up north for a long time as my grandson has now relocated near Tampa where he goes to university and I don't know of anyone else getting married or any other important function up that way soon.

For more photos, see https://www.facebook.com/gratestj/media_set?set=a.10151881714136823.1073741837.763366822&type=1

Shadrach on the grounds of St. Leo's in Florida