Another week slips away

Somehow it's already Wednesday again.  I think I just wrote about Harbour Nights a couple of blogs again, but I found myself there again tonight.  A lot happened in the week, but I won't get too far into it.  To sum it up, I have become internationally renowned as an amateur psychic/psychologist, will soon be able to report on how traumatic it is to have a traffic violation in Bermuda (let you know after the court date, but let's just say the experience could have been better if people were just nicer), spent more time with the visitors in many more restaurants and with many more memories (apparently there was a phase I went through in my 20's with flammable drinks that it still most memorable, and I was still thinking about the story of the Flaming Mo rather than my speedometer when the incident with the popo occurred), managed to work every day since the last Harbour nights, and attend a special screening of a short film documenting the history of the Sea Venture -- the wreck that resulted in Bermuda's colonization in 1609.  I might add that there were some pretty handsome research scientists both in the film and on sight (totally serious), so that was one of the bonuses of the week.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and recommend anyone on the island drop by BUEI to see it.  Here is a link to the teaser, a short 2 min summary (including the handsome scientist).  Click on the title below to see this (you won't be sorry!)

Sea Venture film teaser

Watch for some upcoming Bermuda features -- PBS will be showing a documentary next year for the 150 year anniversary of the Civil War about the Mary Celestia, a Civil War blockage runner that wrecked on Bermuda's reefs.  Intact bottles of wine and a bottle of perfume were recovered recently, so this story has marine archaeologists, perfumists, smelliers, and war buffs totally hot and bothered.  National Geographic has been working nearby on a project in the Sargasso Sea which is due out next year, and one of those photographers is coming back this summer to document the unique flora and fauna of Bermuda.  Those photos will be starting to come available on www.nonsuchisland.com.  If you take a look there, that cute and fluffy little thing on the homepage is a baby cahow, the second rarest of all seabirds.  Bermuda has done a great job of creating a protected area for them, and actually building little nests in the rocks for them.

Anyway, after work I met my guests for a quick tour of the botanical gardens.  I had to rush off when my phone beeped and reminded me of where I needed to be.  The phone is worse than a diary.  If I ever lost it someone would have a blast reading all the calendar entries with my to do list.  For example, someone asked me today if I could do something and I texted back that I had added them to the list below 'go to the naughty shop.'  Yup.  A girl from work is getting married and somehow the "hen party" shopping ended up on my list and so I must take a hit for the team and enter "Eve's Garden," which is at least conveniently located below Flanagan's in case I need a beer first.

After that I met with them for supper and we wandered down through Harbour Nights.  Tonight there was a parade with both the Bermuda Regiment and the Scottish veterans.  I have to confess I love the bagpipes and a Scottish marching band.  After that it was time to pick up a few items as souvenirs...for myself when I go.  I grabbed 4 beautiful ceramic coasters, each was a different picture on a bright red background with Bermuda written on it...a fish, Hibiscus and the like.  My guests pointed out that the Graham Foster prints were only $30 each so I promptly bought 2 signed prints to take home and frame.  He even gave me a deal and agreed to a photo -- I told him I was pre-planning for the 2075 season of Antiques Roadshow so that I could prove the "provenance" and tell the story of how I bought his pictures from a booth he had on the street in Hamilton one summer night in 2014.  Graham Foster paints in a manner that is a little like "Where's Waldo," a little cartoon, a little real, and a lot of Bermuda.  He is most well known for his mural in the Commissioner's House at Dockyard where he painted a 2 story scene depicting the history of Bermuda for its 400th Anniversary.  Here are a couple of literal snapshots of that mural.

The wreck of the Sea Venture as depicted by Graham Foster in his 2009 Mural at Royal Naval Dockyards

Graham Foster's pictorial of Bermuda on display at Dockyard