THE AMAZING COCONUT

                                 USE IT ALL
Having lived in Hawaii for years and eaten many a coconut, I learned a lot more about the ‘nut of life’ in Raratonga, Cook Islands.

The saying goes, if one takes care of a coconut tree for 6-7 years it will take care of you for the rest of your life. Island inhabitants waste nothing. The tree trunk, the coconut, fiber, leaves, nut shell, meat and milk are all used.

There are six stages of life for a coconut. The milk is sweetest in the third stage. The coconut fiber is easiest to remove in the fourth stage, when it can be pulled and twisted into rope. The coconut falls from the tree during the fourth stage. The nuts ripen at different times, so they don’t all fall at once. Natives know better than to sit under a coconut tree!

The nut sprouts sending out roots to grow another tree in the sixth and final stage. This is when the meat turns mushy becoming a treat for island youngsters who liken it to marshmallow. Coconut trees require little care to grow, but take 6-7 years to produce fruit.

The tree trunk is used for posts, stools, drums, storage containers, and even dugout canoes. The bark provides firewood. Small chunks of bark are dried and when burned act as nature’s natural mosquito repellent.

The fiber growing at the base of the leaves is used for clothing, loin cloths, and decoration on dancing skirts. When painted with various designs it becomes a wall decoration or hanging. The fiber is also used to strain coconut milk from the meat. Tree roots are used to make fish traps, usually for eels.

Palm fronds are woven into dishes, platters, sleeping mats, window coverings, fans, hats, and decorations. Polished coconut shells become bowls. Dancers use polished half shells as bras when dancing. Until the late 1950s many buttons were made from coconut shells. Jewelry, earrings, and toys are fashioned from the shell.

Coconut milk is used in cooking, cosmetics, and lotions. It is truly a tree of life for islanders!

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

                        A LOVELY CITY
Glasgow is known both as the Victorian City and the Merchant City. The literal translation from the Gaelic glas cu means dear green place and thus the name Glasgow. Natives of the city are called Glaswegians. The once industrial city that was covered with a layer of coal dust is no more. The lovely Victorian city now shimmers and sparkles. It is one of my favorite cities and if I had to choose between it and Edinburgh I’m afraid I’d chose the less popular Glasgow.

Museums are free and some cultural event takes place every day. Buildings are made of either red or yellow sandstone with slate or red tile roofs. New buildings will lack chimneys, as after the Clean Air Act passed in 1967, there is no deed for them.

The city grew twenty miles from the River Clyde in the 17th century engulfing several smaller medieval settlements. During the Industrial Revolution it was the fastest growing region in Britain. Although only 40 miles from Edinburgh, there is an amazing contrast between the two cities. Glasgow is Britain’s third largest city but Scotland’s largest. The city is also the commercial capital, and the birthplace of both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

Big Bertha, a huge crane, is now a monument to the vast and prosperous ship-building industry that the city of Glasgow was famous for. The last ship built on the Clyde was the QE2 in 1962. During WW II a warship a day rolled off the rails into the River Clyde. The 24-hour a day operation was incredible when 2000 ships hit the seas in a six year period. Before the war most of the ships built were passenger liners including all of the Cunard Line ships. At one point the shipbuilding industry employed over 200,000 people. The ships were not only built here, but fully outfitted here as well. To say something is Clyde built means that it is quality and built to last. The River Clyde is but 78 miles long and can have a 20-foot tide in the city.

Both the ship building industry and the BBC headquarters accounted for the heavy bombing during WWII.

I’ll talk more about this wonderful city another day. Three weeks in the country has left me with lots of information plus an interest in the food and language.