This is an image of what has become something of a landmark on Harbour Island -- Brilanders call it the Lone Tree. I Photoshopped this image for a while thinking I would put in on a tee shirt or hat and wear it on my next trip to Harbour Island just to see what kind of comments I would get. I had emailed it to an artist I know and showed it to a few other friends. They all did a thumbs down. "Not enough color," they said.
Well, yeah! If you've seen the
Lone Tree on Harbour Island, it's a study of grayscale that contrasts heavily against the backdrop of the bright sand, blue sky and a turquouis ocean -- essentially a dead object sitting in very righteous spot.
What I'm driving at is it's easy to miss the beauty of Lone Tree. Having done my fair share of fresh water fishing, I've seen a lot of deadwood. It's the shape and character that makes one piece of driftwood more beautiful than another. In simple terms, Lone Tree is the bomb and definitely worth a Kodak moment.
I was told once this tree was an almond tree -- and then I get it from the real authorities who hang out at the Harbour Lounge Bar (Yo Spooner!) it's a pine of some sort? Everyone seems to agree it wound up there after hurricane Andrew in '92. Some say it slid down the nearby hill -- others disagree. Who had too many drinks and said it was blown over from
Eleuthera? Interesting how it wound up being upright; the tree I mean. A even more interesting tidbit was how Lone Tree can move around during high tide. Are famous landmarks supposed to move around?
If you look closely at this second shot, you will see a pair of flip flops laying to the right of the tree. I know it's anectdotal, but you might get a kick out of this little segway. As I approached Lone Tree to take this shot, a couple of golf carts came whizzing past making a beeline to Lone Tree. Note, you are not supposed to drive golf carts on the beach and there is a sign that clearly says so. Right away, you know these people are the special annointed ones who don't need no steenking rules.
This guy and a fair looking underaged bimbo literally jump out of the first cart; she runs over to the tree, kicks off her flip flops and proceeds to run out to the water's edge so boyfriend can act like he's a pro with a camera and shoots 100 pictures of her trying to act goofy like she's a model. "Look at me!" Sorry Toots, the SI Swimsuit shoot was months ago. What a hoot! She thought it was all about her. But it sure was nice of her to give my shot of Lone Tree that little extra prop.
How do I know they were "annointed" you ask? The second golf cart contained two pilots who were flying them around the islands in a jet -- they were now acting as bodyguards -- like it was really necessary (yawn). The pilots and I exchanged a few comments and those kinds of smiles that say "Yeah, I know. They're..." I would have thought better of them and said they were just having fun; I like doing stupid stuff too. But those &#!@# carts can leak all kinds of wretch on the sand. It sucks when people don't respect how fragile the beach is.
Anywho, I came across the first image while browsing through my collection and remembered how much time I had spent working on it. Why not at least shove it up on the blog? Yep.
And then you ask how one can babble on about a Lone Tree on a beach on Harbour Island? You'll have to go see for yourself -- you'll know.
Visit Harbour Island Bahamas
Copyright © 2006 Perry Joseph
