Maria Callas in Barbados

Huntes Garden Barbados

I guess most of us recognize that it’s the apparently ‘little things’ in life that can often bring us a sense of meaning and happiness – which is why synchronicity and serendipity are so pleasing.

I’m just back from giving some workshops in Barbados and would like to share one of those moments with you. Stephanie and I drove to Huntes Gardens to see the lush tropical flowers and foliage that everyone recommended we visit. As we walked into the gardens it was indeed a paradise. And as we sat down to work a little more on the workshop we had planned for the following day, the haunting voice of Maria Callas as the Druidess in Bellini’s ‘ Norma’ floated across the air. She was singing  the beautiful  Casta Diva aria: the Prayer to the Goddess.

We thanked the owner for the way in which he plays opera all day in his garden. He told us only one person had ever complained about this: a conductor of a Philharmonic – no doubt seeking solace in silence…