The homes in Hartlands are like those you would expect to find in deep, rural Jamaica. - photo by Robert Lalah

The following are readers' feedback on our popular 'Roving with Lalah' series

Missing home

Dear Robert:

Just a note to say how much I enjoy and look forward to reading your column in The Gleaner online. It makes me aware of places I never knew existed and makes me miss home even more. Keep up the good work and keep those roving reports coming.

- Latoya Shaw

More stories

Dear Robert:

My colleague and I really like reading your stories. Could you write more often? It's my way of connecting through your stories to the history, geography and just the people. Keep them coming.

Thanks

- L. Williams

Hartlands house

Dear Robert:

How wonderful to see your article on the old Hartlands house, today.

It was the home of my godfather and my father's dearest friend, Leonard Carroll. My father was Allan Keeling of Thicketts, Claremont in St. Ann.

The Hartlands house was built after the original Hartlands house was destroyed in a hurricane. The old house was literally lifted off the ground by the hurricane and crashed nearby.

(Uncle) Leonard had a farm at Hartlands where he raised dairy cattle and provided the diary products for an ice cream company in Kingston.

I remember visiting Hartlands often and getting up with my brother to watch the cows being milked, and yelling at the turkeys. The adults, still asleep, would be awakened by gobbling turkeys and screaming children. What a dreadful noise it must have been!

Thanksagain.

- Liz Keeling Carter, Baltimore, Maryland

What a prekeh!

Dear Robert:

I enjoy reading your stories each week. Some of them bring back good memories and 'meck mi lang fi come home'. I had to laugh out loud when the woman called you a prekeh and you just stood there, not realising what was going on. That's a word I haven't heard in a long time. My daughter (10), who is quite taken with Jamaican Creole, will be pleased to add that to her vocabulary. As soon as she gets home from school I'll have to find a context in which to use it for her benefit. Thanks for the light-heartedness and keep them coming.

Thanks again.

- B. Gunter