04-25-2013, 06:02 PM
<P>Sophie and I headed out yesterday morning for Hanover Infirmary and a visit with Irie. I was a little nervous since I’ve never driven outside of Negril. But the traffic was light and not one goat in the road. It took us about 45 minutes to reach. Irie was outside the gate with his little stand of jewelry set up (always the business man). He started introducing Sophie and I to all his friends and time and again I heard “Oh, so you are Pineapple, he talks about you all the time.†That was sweet to hear. When we’d stopped on our way to Negril on Saturday, I given him a small photo album with photos of him and me, the last photo I took of him in Negril with his friend Alvin, photos of the beach and different places in Negril I knew he’d love to see, then I also added photos of Sophie and Smokey, Sundowner and Grater and photo of my back yard in the summer and in the winter covered with snow. I’m sure by the time we got back to see him on Wednesday he’d showed it to everyone.<P>He then led us around the corner, past the Hanover Museum because he said there was a beautiful view. We were both so surprised when we came around the corner and saw the beautiful sea view. We went over behind the museum where we could see two beaches and the Grand Palladium Lucea. There was a wonderful sea breeze but we needed to head for a little bit of shade. There is a beautiful spot overlooking the sea and beach under a tree. That is were we three sat and talked for a while.<P>Then I took out the Kobo reader I brought him and showed him how to use it. He was so excited. There were 156 books loaded on it and he just grinned like a little kid on Christmas. He was getting the hang of it and I have no double that he’ll be a wiz with it in no time. If he has problems, he said he’d go to the library. He never stops amazing me. 82 and still wanting to learn new things all the time.<P>We then headed back to his room to give him all his other “goodiesâ€. He introduced me to Tiny who is a woman who takes care of the ward. She was very sweet and even game me a bracelet she had on. I think she was just trying to show me her appreciation for my taking time to be with Irie. Eveyone there knows how special he is.<P>I gave him the blender/juicer he asked for and showed them both how to use it, three books, a Cardinal’s baseball cap (that he is now calling his “dress up†hat), earring findings, and Sophie had brought him a small fan he needed. Then I showed him the post cards Sundowner had sent me to give him (sooo sweet she wrote on the back of each a little bit of the history of the area). I also had picked up some postcards of St. Louis but never did find the time to write on them. (bad me)<P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple752.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple995.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple980.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple924.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple384.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple634.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple685.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P><img class="refimg" src="http://jamericans.net/webbbs/images/main/picpineapple299.jpg" border="0" alt=""><P>