45under45: Hope Town Rocks!

From thekindnessrocksproject.com

"The Kindness Rocks Project was created to spread inspiration and a moment of kindness for unsuspecting recipients through random inspirational rocks dropped along the way. Giving from your heart in service of others while expecting nothing in return is what that project is all about."

Gleaned from the Facebook page: Hope Town Rocks!

There are 127 members of this group, formed in late March of 2017. It appears that there has been an event and the community came out in support of rock painting to kick off this project.

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I am new to this rock painting craze! About a week before we came to the Abacos for the summer, I was jogging along Tampa's Riverwalk and spied a painted rock tucked into a planter along the route. On it was the word, "Faith" with some little hearts sprinkled around the edges. Since I was at the very beginning of my workout, I kept going and said to myself that I would pick up the rock on the return trip. Much to my great sadness, when I went back for the rock, it was gone. I guessed that the message wasn't meant for me. Someone else must have needed those words more than I did. But, still, I was a little sad that I didn't get to keep the rock. (I need to be faithful to my quest to exercise and become a more healthy weight.) When I got home from that exercise session, I went on Facebook to learn about Tampa Rocks. It turns out that there are several Tampa Rocks pages and that almost every little suburb/subdivision has their own "(insert name) Rocks" page. I "friended" a few of the groups and just thought, "Aww. That's cute. I wonder if there is a way that I could incorporate this into my school teacher life/writing lessons?"

The Kindness Rocks Project just wouldn't leave my head though. I contacted both the Tampa Rocks and the Hope Town Rocks pages to learn what was the etiquette... Does one bring Tampa rocks to Hope Town or create Hope Town rocks for Hope Town? I was advised that many people bring Tampa rocks on vacation so that they can see where their rocks end up. Somehow that just didn't seem right to me. As a wannabe Hope Towner, I felt like it was my duty to help promote Hope Town to the visitors and to honor the locals. So, I took myself to a Tampa art supply shop and got some tropical colors of paint. (My family thought that I was certifiable! "You're packing rocks?!?")

No, I'm packing paint:

White and black for obvious reasons.
Blue and yellow in the shades of the Bahamian flag.
Green, purple, and pink rounded out the set and added the Junkanoo feel.
Sealant and variety pack of brushes were also purchased.

I didn't break the seal or open them and, I also placed them in TWO Ziplock baggies for extra protection. Exploded acrylics inside my suitcase could have meant certain disaster! But, I figured that it would be something fun to do and I was protecting my things as best as I could.

When we arrived in our rental home, I set up my painting shop by spreading a towel across the seat and covering the table with open cereal boxes to guard the surrounding areas in case this turned into a fail. Also, I knew that I wanted to try to paint things that represented Hope Town and Abaco. So, here's what came of it...

Bahamian Flag

Golf cart decorated for Bahamian Independence.

Traditional flag on coral rock.
Hidden on the rock wall across from Fire Station #3.

A Bahamian bug.

"Bee" Happy (with Bahamian bugs).

Another version of the Bahamian bug.

Summer's abstract/ombre flag.
Hidden by "This Ole House" on Back Street.

FOUND!

As you can see from the photo above, the reverse side of the rock has painted on it:
Hope Town Rocks
Tag pic on "Facebook logo" to indicate "Hope Town Rocks' Facebook"
Keep or Rehide

I've got to admit that I was a little disappointed to see that so many of the rocks did not get tagged on Facebook. At the time that I am writing this, of the 60 rocks I painted, only nine showed up on Facebook. But, this is an out island. Folks may not have internet access due to their island style living conditions and/or because LTE is expensive! I have spoken to a number of people who have found, rehidden, and/or chose to keep the rocks. So, the spreading of kindness and joy is working and that is the purpose.

Island Critters

Sea turtle sighting with Captain Plug.

Sea turtle painted rock.
Hidden on the fuel pump at Sea Spray.

Painting rocks is HARD! It's hard because I'm not a painter. This is the first time I'd used acrylic paint since my high school art class. I can do simple "clip art" kind of drawings but that's about it. Also, painting on bumpy coral and sandy coquina is REALLY hard! As soon as I thought I had control of the brush, the surface of the rock dipped and really made the image go all askew.

We saw a ton of rays on this trip.
I honestly can't remember if we saw a spotted eagle-ray.
The pock-marked surface made for good spots though.
Hidden at the lighthouse festival.

Nicholas' stingray stalking photo.

Summer made this cute caterpillar.
We hid it by the gate to the settlement but discovered it fell off.
So, we moved it to the bulletin board by the playground.

I spied this curly tail sunning himself on the beach.
Strangely, his tail is not curled up.

These are some of the first rocks that I made.
Two were hidden near the basketball court and baseball field.
One was hidden at L.V.A.

Abaco parrot

I've never seen one in real life.
Just at the top of the Abaconian.

Summer was the inspiration for this one.
This rock sat outside of Froggie's for a long time until one day...
she swam away.

Summer's actual tail is blue-green.
But, the artist is allowed some interpretation.

I am seriously NOT kidding when I say that Nicholas had several six packs
AND
at every opportunity, he ordered this at the restaurant.

Nicholas hid this one on the slide at the playground.

Nicholas could not see the striking resemblance
between himself and the Goombay punch guy.
To me, they're twinsies!
After all, you are what you eat.

Flowers

The flowers on these islands are the same as what we have in Florida. But... in Florida they're in people's yards. They've been cultivated and pruned. And, they're just not as stunning in. These flowers just grow in the wild. Many times the shrub does not even have any flowers on it but one. There's an expression, "It's better in the Bahamas." I think that must be true when it comes to flowers!

While Summer was getting her hair braided,
she learned that the lady who owned the stop had found this rock.
Apparently, the rock is now living in her house, beautifying her bathroom.

The Sun

One of the greatest things on this island is that every evening,
you stop and take a moment to catch the sunset.
Nicholas hid this one on a windowsill of a shack by the creek.

High tide at the entrance to the harbor
with the sunsetting over the channel.

Also, due to the sun...lots of sunglasses and smiling!

Summer and Mommy at On Da Beach

We hid this one on the steps of the school.

Traditional happy face.

We love Abaco!
I'm currently sitting in the airport typing this
and I've just learned that the young ladies sitting next to us found this one.
I asked if she posted it to Facebook...
"No."

This rock had two tiny holes at the top.
I painted them black and added a smile.

You can see that this one also had a hole that I turned into an eye.
Brain coral...smiley face...seemed like a no brainer.

Coquina is much harder to paint.
Nicholas made this one.

Found!

Found again

This is the only rock (to my knowledge) that has not been found.
Nicholas placed it near the sidewalk by Sunshine Park.

Heart and Love Section

As a school teacher, obviously, I love summer vacation. (I named my first born, Summer!) I love things I do in the summer time. I love the sun. I love beach combing. I love the Bahamas, Abaco, and especially...Hope Town! I love this rock painting project and doing these quiet acts of kindness. To do something to give back to the people and this place is such an honor. The hearts and the love are truly genuine.

Heart shaped sea fan found on the rocks by Abaco Inn.

Again, artist interpretation.

Hidden on the grounds of the lighthouse.

Hidden at On Da Beach.

The Usual Happenings

Whenever we come to the Bahamas, someone always asks me about the dates. "Do you want to be there for the 4th of July? How about Bahamian Independence?" My response is that I want to do both! Because the Bahamas survives on tourism and most tourists are from the US, they do fireworks for the 4th of July. The Americans don all of their red, white, and blue and the Bahamians graciously placate us. Now, for the Bahamian Independence, July 10th, many of the Americans are gone and the Bahamian folks can really enjoy themselves. (Because this is basically my homeland, I celebrate with the locals.)

Happy Independence!

My attempt at fireworks.

Another usual happening is the influx of Boy Scouts. Hope Town hosts "Sea Base" for dozens of troops. From what we've heard, the kids live aboard and crew a tall ship. We see them around the town in their BSA shirts. They always seem to use Hope Town Harbor Lodge as their beach access and swimming pool gathering spot. So, it only made sense to make a Boy Scout fleur de lis painted rock and hide it where they'd be sure to find it.

Hidden at the entrance of Hope Town Harbor Lodge.

Another one of the BEST things about coming to the Bahamas in the summer is the Junkanoo festivals and parades. Years ago when we stayed in Marsh Harbor we piled ourselves into an electric powered golf cart and headed out through the shanty town for the Goombay festival where there were local vendors in tiny huts (like ice fishing camps) hocking their wares. We ate, drank, and waited for the police band and the Junkanoo drums, horns, and whistles to indicate that it was REALLY time to party. Nowadays, Sea Spray brings the rush to us every Friday night!

Ain't no tiny winey here.
Go big or go home!

The Junkanoo Man sat at the table and listened in to the local sip sip
at "The Food Store" in White Sound for about three weeks until he went missing.
Is he upalong or downalong?

"Sun, sand, seafood...We have the very best. Come to my island for your vacation rest."

Inspired by the Ministry of Tourism's logo.

Lumps and Bumps, Spots and Dots

I cannot quite express how difficult it is to paint on coral. As I said earlier, I am not a painter and I'm not familiar with acrylic paints. The brush set that I got was also not ideal. But, we had lots of fun mixing paints to make new colors and letting the rocks just tell us what they wanted to be.

Bahama Sea Star
I'm super proud of myself for capturing the perfect aqueous effect.

Summer made this.
I like that she made two shades of brown and a shrimpy pink color.

Kind of a sci-fi ombre thing.

On the top right is a deep hole.
I painted the inside of it purple and the rest just followed.

The first rock that I painted!
Hidden by Sea Spray.

Icons of Abaco

The Elbow Reef Lighthouse is THEE LAST IN THE WORLD! The last and only manually hand-wound, kerosene burning lighthouse in the entire world. Yep, that's an icon...THEE icon of Abaco!

I love the lighthouse!
But, I only made one of these.

As far as pictures of the lighthouse...
I think I took about one photo each day!

You may be wondering why this rock is in the "icon section". It's not the image that is an icon, it's where it was placed and who found it. Wyannie Malone is the name of the widow (a loyalist from South Carolina) who brought her children here and founded this settlement. I placed this rock by the Wyannie Malone Museum and it was found by...Wyannie Malone!!!

Be still, my heart, precious Wyannie.
Your granny is watching over you.

Conch: Pronounced "konk" is another icon of this place. The shells are beautiful and can be crafted into everything from jewelry to dishes to tools to musical instruments and a million other things in between. The meat can be eaten raw (actually cooked with citrus), frittered, cracked, stewed, grilled...etc. It is my goal to try to have conch at least once a day while in the Bahamas.

I must admit that I'm kind of proud of my conch shell shading!
Especially when you take into consideration that I didn't bring tan/brown
and the pink I had was a deep fuchsia.

Summer found this discarded shell on the sand bank at Tilloo.
(It has the tell-tale hole in the top of the spiral, so we knew it was empty.)
It was covered in muck but it bleached up nicely.

The super fragile beach combing icon, the sand dollar, is one of the most delicate shells. Many times they shatter just as you go to pick them up off the sand. Needless to say, typically, they do not transport well. But, when you find sun bleached shells dotting the sand bar, you just have to pick them up!

Summer's collection of tiny sand dollars she found
when we were out with Captain Plug

This guy ain't delicate.
He's about the size of a mango.
I hid him in front of our rental cottage in the settlement.

I sort of set this one out there like a trap.
I wanted to see someone find this.
I was delighted to hear, "Mommy, I found a rock!"

Cute, quaint, quintessential colors... Where does one even buy these paints? I don't know, but I love the multitude of shades that match the sky, the sea, and its critters. So many layers hold the woodwork together. Regardless, it's like living in a tropical Candy Land!

I'm super proud of this chair!
Free hand!

Inspired by our porch chairs at Lantana Cottage.

Reed, the same little boy who found the sand dollar,
found this one too!

Bahamian houses are painted such cute colors!
Loosely inspired by the purple trim of our Lantana Cottage.

Found at Cap'n Jacks!

Parrot fish?
Rainbow fish?
Artist interpretation.

Found by the same little boy.

It got re-hidden and re-found by someone else!

The Albury Ferry's fleet of boats are all called Donnie. I loved staying in the settlement and watching the boats come and go. Yet another icon of island life.

Hidden by the upper ferry dock.

Making a morning run.

I'd like to think I'm an icon of Abaco: beach combing, jogging, bike-riding, death-defying expeditions... My literal and figurative bucket is full!

How full is your bucket?

My final haul of beach treasures.

Pot-cake is the term used for stray dogs that used to be fed the left overs in the bottom of the pot of peas and rice. In my family, we call all island dogs "pot-cakes". The wandering dogs on the island of Elbow Cay are, for the most part, owned by someone although they may or may not wear a collar and they may or may not actually live 24/7 out of doors. Regardless, we love them. They're always friendly, floppy eared, and waggy tailed. How can you not?

Pot-cake prints.

Millie, the anti-pot-cake.
But, dirty feet just like her island brethren.

Tropical drinks: Goombay Smash, Bahama Mama, Nippers, Grabbers, Yellow-Bird... There are hundreds of combination of fruit and rum!

Rum by the ton.

The term Abaco Rage can refer to two things: The sailing sloop, The Abaco Rage, or a way to describe the whipped up seas slosh around like a giant washing machine over the shallow banks of the Bahamas. While we were on the island, we had two days of killer waves! I don't think it was what the locals would call a rage. But, it's fun to say, "There's a rage on!"

"Abaco Rage"

Not really a full "rage" but whopper waves nonetheless.

Found!

Nicholas made this one.
An icon of Abaco? No.
But, in honor of Adam West...a true icon.

I love puns and I love the endless number of various based on the word "rock". Precious Abaco, you rock!

In total, I painted sixty rocks over the course of five weeks. I didn't start this movement but I am proud to have been a part of it. The Kindness Project is contagious and the following photos are of rocks found that are not mine. Let us all spread joy! It is my MOST sincere honor to have been quietly discovered as "the rock lady".