Chester Francis-Jackson,
Contributor
WAYNE CHEN, MARA MANDARA-JARCHOW, PETER BOVELL AND CHRISTENE
KING
MY DAAHLINGS, it's my favourite time of year as it's all about
Virgoans! Well it is, and dears, so are the invites as the fabulous
all get ready to celebrate the binary star Spica, located between
the celestial equator of Leo and Libra, and the stabilising influence
she brings to bear on this traditional wet season.
And so, the invitations are out, and so are those invitation-chasers.
Dears, the email had not yet settled into the mail boxes of the
intended invitees before the telephone lines started lighting
up as the shameless invitation chasers began calling, ostensibly,
to say hello!
Angels, there are some people who just do not get it, so here
goes: if you are an acquaintance, or even a 'friend', who was
a guest at parties past, if you hear about another one coming
up and you did not get an invite, honeys, it was no, repeat, noooo,
accident, so let it go!
It's like this - you do not get an invite, do not stress the
host by calling up for an invite, after all, y'all can sit one
or more parties out, can't you?
Oh, and y'all ever notice that the people who are the first to
call-up for invites are the ones who never give parties? Dears,
they are guests every-which-where, but it's a full blue moon before
they themselves play hosts, but when they are omitted from happening
lists, they are the first to call!
THE BIG BOO-HOO
Sweethearts, it's been like that for some time now, so much so
that one does recall, a few years ago, that the host of one of
St. Andrew's annual Yuletide doos, instead of giving the guards
a list of invitees, gave them one of potential crashers, and sure
enough, a number of them not only showed up, but insisted that
they were duly invited and that the security officer should check
this with the hosts.
Dears, suffice it to say, this was a number of years ago, and
the embarrassment was soooo profound, that these faces have not
been seen at any of these functions since!
But sweet-things I digress! This is about Virgos, not would-be
perennial gate crashers.
And so birthday wishes all around to the many Virgoans blowing
out candles on their cakes this season. We begin by saying happy
belated wishes to the lovely Sammille Spence, who opened the season
on Wednesday, as she celebrated her 18th birthday.
Today being Friday the 26th, lots of birthdays around, with among
those celebrating being: Dawn King; Gillian Belnavis; the fabulous
Roseanne Delfosse-Neuman-Smith; the lovely Sherida Sharpe; the
oh so gracious Brenda Belding-Topping, now in Cayman; and businessmen
and twin siblings, Desmond and Donald Panton.
Tony Constantine, will celebrate on Sunday, the word is with
an intimate do at that oh so fab restaurant named Velisa's; glamour-puss,
oops, - no, make that glamour-kitten, Cecile Levee, will celebrate
on Monday, but not at her Runaway Bay villa; Pat Stephens, will
celebrate on Monday as well; Sonja Sutherland, will celebrate
next Friday, as will businessman Chris Nakash, (wife Zein Nakash
is mum on plans) and Wayne Chen of SuperPlus; Paul-Navarro Jackson
will celebrate on Saturday, the party being in New York, as will
architect Nafthalie St. John Walsh; Capt. Michael Lyn celebrates
on the 6th, but he will be the special guest at the mother-of-all
parties for the season as wife Thalia Lyn will host the event
next Saturday, marking his 60th birthday.
Also celebrating the age of Virgo are: national treasure, folklorist
extraordinaire Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverly; Dr. John McHardy;
Dr. John Masterton; head of MacMillan Advertisers Robert MacMillan,
who will celebrate on the 13th; the charming and graceful Debbie
Hamilton will celebrate on the 12th, and her colleague Dawn Young,
will celebrate three days earlier on the 9th; Sonia Ruddock of
Jamaica National; Garth Barakatt; the style perfect Portia Nicholson-Clarke;
Dr. Lee Martin; Wyvolyn Gager, former editor-in-chief, of this
here fine institution, are all Virgoans, as are businessman Peter
Bovell; Hazel King and her daughter, editor of The Sunday Herald's
'Pure Class' R. Christene King, and her son-in-law Marlon Creary;
wife of the Head of EU, Ambassador Gerd Jarchow, Mrs. Mara Mandara-Jarchow;
teacher and actor Ronald Gossop; actor Glen Campbell; Ena Jackson-Wray
of Mandeville; Supt. Harry Daley, of the JCF; Charmaine Johnson-Niazi;
Capt. Cliff Lumsden; Sulan Delfosse-Smith; the lovely Jessica
Marzouca; Dwayne Gouldbourne; plus a number of others.
And dears, champagne wishes all around with Beluga feasts, and
then some! And remember, living well, is the only revenge, y'all!
And speaking of living well: my dears, all month-long it's love
and kisses to the absolutely fab couple Serge and Jolly Mengat,
who celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary last Wednesday,
with a quiet and rather intimate dinner at their Long Mountain
residence.
Dears, the couple, world citizens who originally hail from Kenya,
are currently residents here as Serge Mengat, a leading architect
of international renown, is here consulting with our Airports
Authority, to upgrade our facilities, to that of first world status.
And, arriving just in time to toast the fabulous Virgos is the
Casella Reserve of fine wines.
Dears, its been the wine on every oenophile's lips for weeks
now, at least, here in Jamaica. The Casella reserve of Yellow
Tail wines is a treasure trove of fine wines.
A few Sundays ago, I motored over to the fine resort town of
Ocho Rios to share in a few bottles of this lovely Australian
export and pumpkins the wines had the gathering going. Mind you,
this was one of those 'just because' affairs and the winees were
served with some simply fabulous sizzling steaks.
Dovecakes, imagine a few days later to receive an invite from
Caribbean Producers Jamaica, Limited, to attend at the fabulous
Christopher's Jazz Café for the Jamaican launch of the
Yellow Tail brand of Australian wines.
Now dears, both events, were not related as the first was a gathering
of friends celebrating life and the sharing of a new found brand
of wines; the other was a public introduction of the same brand
by the national distributors. But both events had one thing in
common - both endorsed the fabulous Yellow Tail brand of wines.
Now, with the Brand boasting Merlot, Cabernet Merlot, Pinot Grigio,
Chardonnay, Shiraz-Cabernet, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon, oenophiles
are really in for a treat.
Now, that said, however, those of you who love Shiraz, will go
ga-ga after tasting the brand. Dears, we are talking classical
features here, of the flawless kind as, served at room temperature
after being chilled Shiraz is an esoteric experience of the fabulous
kind.
Oh, my word, what a dream! The beauty of the wine! Luvs, we are
talking silky here, and flawlessly so, and definitely, the Summer's
best find!
And, people are still talking about the smasheroni of a do, that
Chris Blackwell, hosted at his Strawberry Hill Resort and Spa,
last Wednesday night, and the buzz is its all that!
And Peter Fraser is promising nothing short of a sensational
brunch at the monthly Champagne brunch over there at the very
grand Royal Plantation Hotel, in Ocho Rios, come this Sunday.
And with a number of Kingston's leading citizenry planning to
be in attendance, at this calendar do, luvs, it also promises
to be a social humdinger, and then some!
More, definitely anon!
