Thursday, August 18, 2022

connecting

people and the places which they live in and experience.’  
Edward Relph, ‘Place and Placelessness’ (1976)

screenshot of Buccament Bay from https://youtu.be/AuQZT3gmGnA - “This is Who We Are” by Keith Currency, Mentaliss and the New Starrz

 

Family, howdy!

Life has kept me away from focusing on the Punnett arrival in the Caribbean, but I fully intend to resume that historical thread.  

Because the silence has gone on too long, I thought I'd drop a post with bits 'n' pieces, and family photos (old and new), which recently came my way.  Regretfully, it's not a broad selection, but it's what I was able to access.

First, this note from Brenda...

"I was mentioning to Lynden about the lack of French names in the Punnett line and she commented that perhaps they purposely anglicized them not wanting the French association in those volatile times?"  

So, there's that to ponder.

 

Queensbury folk...

Brenda, young & beautiful

Malcolm, young & handsome, and inimitable

Aie, Rocky, Brenda, John, Denise ~ May 2022

Rachael, Brenda, Rocky, John, Denise ~ May 2022

India and Hamish Dunn ~ Rachael's brood ~ July 2022

India's graduation ~ with godfather, and with sister Freya~ 2022

Zen and middle son Aatlaz, Carnival 2022

 
 
Cousin Mary Punnett Nelstrop in Toronto
Mary is at a gathering of Bolands (her mother's people) in Toronto this summer.  She's in the white pantsuit.  Her brother Winston is in the pink shirt towards the back on the left.  Her sister-in-law Helen and her nieces Hannah and Danielle are also in the photo

 
Helen, Danielle, Mary 
 

My Sister Bunny (Catherine Serrao O'Brien) aka The Travelling Bunny is now in Iceland for the second time this year, having been on a Norwegian cruise, another cruise on the Danube and on the Rhine, a visit with Trini friends in Kauai.... and the year ain't done yet! 
Kauai ~ Bunny on left.  June 2022

Bunny and Dianne Maing.  Dianne's father and his siblings grew up across the wall from Mummy's childhood home on Frederick Street in Port of Spain.  It was an easy climb on the cherry tree to the Maing family home on Pembroke Street, and lifelong Friendships were forged there.  I often stayed with the Maings throughout my childhood visits to the doctor in Trinidad.  Mark also stayed with them on several occasions.
July 2022


I love this photo of my Bro, Stephen Mark Langley, with two generations of his descendants
Bella, Matthew, Sophia, Noah, and Mark
 
Kim with Noah, Sophia, Bella and Aaron (Claire and Ron's son) ~ 2021

Aaron, 4 years old ~ 2022
 
Paige, Gemma's daughter
 

Closing with a  sweet Trini poem, and  a treasured table runner made by Cousin Maureen Kirkwood. 
 
  Sending love to all. May every one of you be well and happy.
 
Lisbie X

Mango Juice

 

Trinidad is…

 

The green cat’s eye

of the last marble left

from the two bulging pockets

that I win from my schoolfriend

Junior.  As I slam his last

remaining marble

from the chalk circle

with a running start

he kicks me in the balls.

and all my mother’s friends

visit asking me if my balls

are feeling any better?

 

Trinidad is…

 

The bead of sticky mango juice

running down my bony wrists.

And it’s the Indian girl next door

who wears the same two dresses

all year round.  She gives me a ripe

mango plumped to sweetness

once a week.  She never talks

she just gives me the mango

and sits in the yard

with a goofy smile watching

me as I eat it, and then she leaves.

If she’s trying to get me

to like her I can tell you right

now it’s working.

 

Trinidad is…

The first drop of warm rain

of the wet season.

And all the young kids run

out into the street

in their Jockey shorts

with a bar of soap

for a rain bath.

 

It’s nights so long

you feel you could reach up

and pluck the diamante stars

from the black velvet sky.

It’s where I was, where I am

and where I’m going.

It’s the knot in my throat

when I have to leave.

Roger Robinson

 

 

Monday, May 2, 2022

taking a break from history

For the most part, this post will be about our times.  But first...

from Betty Jane, who attended the 2008 gathering of Punnetts in Punnett's Town...

 

I came across my little booklet with the story of Punnetts Town and it says “The first people to obtain land ….. belonged to three families: the Lucks, the Kemps and the Punnetts”

“A James Punnett had married Ann Cooper in Heathfield in 1738 and it was probably his grandson Samuel who in 1783, was granted the copyhold …..” “Luck and Punnett were both carpenters ….”

Until recently, I accepted as fact that we came from France to the Kent/Sussex area, but if that's true, we certainly became Anglicised quickly ~ no French names in our Caribbean tribe or in the Punnett's Town folks... the earliest on record there being James.  I wonder if Betty Jane and Patricia heard any speculation among the gathered Punnetts about a French past?  

How I wish we had letters or diaries from our forebears!  I hope our descendants will fare rather better... undoubtedly, we will leave behind more personal records of our time.

However, to the present...

It recently struck me how many artists of different stripes we have in our family.  Betty Jane's Amanda is making extraordinary blankets; Malcolm's Zen's paintings are being exhibited and collected; and together the two cousins created a delightful book, Benny's New Friend.  Cousin Mary (daughter of  Desmond and Helen) in Toronto is painting again after a pandemic and health-related hiatus.  Among Denise's daughter Lynn's paintings is one that Nan Peacocke declared "would make Rembrandt gasp".  My sister Lynn's daughter, Laura Waldron, makes beautiful copper pieces.  Malcolm's Rachael and her daughter India make art a way of life.  And, I'd wager that much art of which I am unaware is being made by family members around the globe.  And there's Dermot, son of John D. and Heather, who is a highly regarded and well established artist in the UK.  

So, a plea to family artists, in any medium, do send me some work to show on this blog.  Please.

But, hey, for great art, look no further than our magnificent Valley... 

 
 

Happy family news...  Colin's first born, Daniel (the handsome guy below is my nephew!), and his partner Adora got married on April 16.  Welcome to the family Mrs. Daniel Punnett!





I also have some great Vinci news to share...

Chanel M. Sutherland has won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize  for Beneath the Softness of Snow.  In 2021 she won the CBC Nonfiction prize for her story Umbrella, and she is the recipient of the 2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship, a component of the Quebec Writers' Federation Fresh Pages initiative. Born in St. Vincent and the GrenadinesChanel moved to Montreal when she was 10 years old. She holds a BA in English literature from Concordia University and is currently writing her first book, a collection of short stories that explore the Black Caribbean immigrant experience. 

There are links to both stories here

https://www.cbc.ca/books/two-time-cbc-literary-prize-winner-chanel-m-sutherland-talks-about-how-her-life-inspired-her-winning-stories-1.6431807

 

and  Betty Jane's friend, Cecil Browne, has been shortlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize 

https://www.stvincenttimes.com/cecil-browne-first-vincentian-shortlisted-commonwealth-short-story-prize/

and  



That's all for now.  Until next time, be well and wonderfully happy, all ah yuh.
Lovingly,
Lisbie x