October 28, 2025

Week Four Blog 2025 Class

Well, we have gone almost though Hurricane season 2025 with out any country being hit by any hurricane. Well, that changes this week as Hurricane Melissa has formed in the Caribbeans Sea and is now headed to Jamaica first then Cuba and Hati.

I am sure the Dominican Republic will get a lot of rain as well. It will leave those islands and go to the Bahamas and to Bermuda.

I have family in Jamaica. They are scattered around the island. My sister, Linda was able to text one of them yesterday and hear some news. Anne Marie told her that they were in the home in Kingston with one of her daughters there and the other is in Paris.

Her brother, Tony Jr manages the family’s farm and lives in a beautiful old house on a lagoon. He left that with his family and went into the hills as the raising water will overtake that house.

It’s a pity. It’s a house with history. It has an upstairs is bedroom that is haunted. Truly so. One older lady not from our family was placed up there in her older years as her mental state was failing.

There is a black spiral staircase that winds its way from the bedroom downstairs up to this room. It’s a big room with large windows looking out on to the property and the lagoon the home resides on.

My sister and I spent a night in the bottom bedroom sharing a large bed. My Uncle Tony and Aunt Ingrid were our host. We had been horseback riding earlier that day with our cousins.

Uncle Tony said that one of his friends would arrive later and ascend the staircase going to that bedroom. He did arrive later and said hello to us as he went up those winding stairs.

I expected him to return down the stairs in a hurry at any time that night. He did not. All was well with the spirit. I was up all night waiting for the terrified man to return!

This homes lagoon was featured in the Steve McQueens picture called Papillon. Steve walked in one scene around the edge staying out of the water. That was a great idea as the water is the nursery for stingrays’ babies.

At the end of the lagoon is a river that brings in fresh water that the stingrays love. That river was also in the movie when you see the prisoners working and a crocodile shows up! Dustin Hoffman was in that scene.