Yep, it was a 2 for 1 night. Wow! Very strange!

I’m a bit hesitant about posting my dreams on my blog, but if Wreggie has the courage to do it, then certainly I can, too. I await massive amounts of commentary from the dream interpreters of the blogosphere…..

Last night was a very bizarre and vivid dream night. The first dream I remember concerned an invisible evil. Actually, they both did, but in different ways…..

In the first dream, I was living in a house somewhere (maybe my birth city?) which seemed to be a combination of a house that I once owned, and my grandmother’s house. I had been away for a while and came back to find my daughter and a friend of hers staying there. They had redone certain things at my house to sort of Feng Shui it, or more to make the invisible evil force less likely to affect us. In particular, they had added certain colored curtains to the colorful ones I already had. It would ward off the evil. But they ran out of actual curtain panels and were forced to use a table cloth for one of them. We were supposed to close the curtains to keep the evil out, which we did.

We were discussing this and went into another room (one without special curtain colors) to find our cat, Milo fighting with some invisible force! It was the evil! I tried to save Milo from it by screaming at it, and I actually screamed out loud and woke myself up.

Phew!

I’ve had a LOT of trouble sleeping this week, but I had just had this terrible dream and didn’t want to fall right back asleep in case I fell into the same dream. That would suck, so I tried to keep myself awake a while. And eventually I slept and fell into another dream where my husband and I were at some sort of outdoor learning camp or workshop. We knew we were only going to be able to incorporate what we learned here for four days each week and would be too busy the rest of the time to carry through with it, so we decided not to buy the books. The “workshop” was run by one of our friends, and, while it was going on, my husband became dizzy and had to lie down in the grass.

While I was comforting him, my eyes started stinging and I could not see. Eventually, we realized that we had been sprayed with some sort of “atomized irritant” (invisible evil) that made him dizzy, and fortunately, I hadn’t inhaled (hahaha), so it only affected my eyes. The “workshop” we were attending was supposed to help us avoid these problems, so we decided that we needed to use these skills (or whatever) EVERY DAY, and needed to buy the books. Next thing we knew a HUGE box full of books was in front of us.

Then I woke up.

Our kayak is great. I’m starting to think that I prefer kayaking to sailing. It’s cheaper and easier to buy and maintain a kayak, and it gets us where we’re going in a decent amount of time.

Yesterday, we had business to do in the early AM in Frederiksted. We stopped for breakfast on the way, met with a realtor friend in F’sted, and on the way back, stopped to help another friend load her kayak onto her sports car, so she could come to Buck with us. She hadn’t been kayaking in a year and a half!

When we got to the yacht club, there was a guy there getting his kayak loaded up. He had a “one person” pedal kayak, but his was equipped with small pontoons on either side. I wondered why, but quickly found out. He would be taking his two young sons with him! It’s kind of funny to try to imagine one kid on each pontoon, but in actuality, he sat one in front of him, facing him, and one right behind his seat, with the boy’s back against his. Very clever!

They started out a minute or two before we did, but we stopped to take pictures of a large wooden ketch anchored off the west end of the yacht club’s bay. It looked like a pirate ship because of it’s dark coloration and seems to be in great condition. We searched for a name on it, but only saw a golden eagle on the transom.

Anyway, the kayaker with the kids aboard was not ahead of us, but had gone toward Duggans, perhaps to adjust some gear or rigging. We pedaled away, down to the cut in the reef waving to Llewellyn as he passed on his way back to the yacht club ! He had a small group on board and we were thrilled to see him back at the helm of Charis+ where he belongs…

We got through the cut and the swells got bigger. Certainly not as big as we’ve seen, but it was a nice rolling ride through the deep blue. Since it is the height of sea turtle mating season, we were sure we’d spot at least one pair. And as we approached Buck Island, about half-way between the park boundary and the beach, we did see a pair of very large green turtles trying to situate themselves for mating. Well, he was trying, anyway. She seemed to want to keep facing him. Maybe she just wanted to chat a little before the big event . We got to within 20 yards of them and watched them struggle for a good 5-7 minutes until they saw us and dove down. We hope they were able to complete their mission!

The day was gorgeous, so there were a few boats already there. We pulled the kayaks up onto the south-facing side of the beach, had a little Monkey Bay Sauvignon blanc, and Michael and I went for a little snorkel. Here we are in pristine national park land, but some jerks are water-ski-boarding! We went into the water, and they (not paying attention, of course) almost plowed us over! We’ve noticed no jet skis out there (thank goodness!), so now I’ll have to call Joel Tutein and ask if water skiing is legal there. If it is not, I’ll let him know that they’ll need to get the word out or patrol the waters better. Or else, we will be calling in any violators we see. If it is actually allowed out there, they need to change the rules. A park is not for the sole entertainment of a few (I’m trying to word things without being offensive, so I’ll just call them idiots rather than assholes) in (and being dragged by) a motor boat.

Anyway, from where we were, the sand drops off steeply from the beach into the seagrass beds. Even though this is not considered a “primo” snorkeling spot, we saw lots of great stuff. Three active stingrays, a large black barracuda with a little french angel fish, and some uniquely camouflaged conchs. I could feel the energy of seagrass beds, knowing how much life is nourished and protected by them.

We got back on shore and had a bit of lunch. The guy with his kids had arrived and they were having a jolly good time on the beach and in the water. When we were finished solving all of the world’s problems, we packed up and pedaled back to the big island.

We did meet another turtle on the journey home and wished it well in it’s mating attempts. Even though it was Saturday, we could still say, “Happy ‘Hump Day’!”

Just like when we went to FL a few years ago for my Lasik surgery. We drove to visit my cousin, some friends of Michael’s family, and Joey. But everyone was spread throughout the state, so we spent a lot of time driving on highways and through urban sprawl with strip mall after strip mall.

So this trip was only partially a vacation. At least we did get to do a couple of fun things. The balloon ride over Temecula wine country at sunrise was spectacular. Michael took a ton of pictures. One of the other couples got engaged on their private balloon. We shared ours with an older couple. It was kind of tight in there with 5 people. I was in “the back” of the basket, so didn’t get to see as much until after we had passed over it. I tried to deny my fear of heights, and was successful unless I looked straight down, so I didn’t do that. But it was very special anyway.

And the drive up Palomar Mountain was exhilarating. The slow 7 miles up a winding dirt road with no guardrail made me queasy, again my fear of heights and “steeps” as Michael calls them. But at the top it was beautiful parkland with 400 year-old cedars and Native American archaeological specimens. We walked down a trail for a bit, among remnants of a fire from a couple of years ago. It’s frightening to think of those incredible trees going up in flames.

The Hale observatory is huge with a very interesting history. You can see the magnificent telescope and the big large wheels that turn it. Amazing!

The wineries were okay, except that I was allergic to something around there. So I sneezed and dripped until we got some drugs after which I was dried out and stuffed up.

So I couldn’t taste the wine!!!

And the wineries were only okay. We are so used to our friendly, welcoming wine clubs here on STX that appropriately pair wines with food. None of the Temecula wineries served food with the wine! You stood up at the bar, and just got 4 or 5 sips of wine for $8-$12 (with a complimentary glass at a few of them).

I wish we’d have had more time to visit more of them rather than spending so much time driving, though. Maybe we’d have found some fun, funky ones. The one I liked best wasn’t even in Temecula, it was on the way back from Palomar Mountain, in the higher country. A very small, family-run place which used only their own grapes in all of their wines. It’s called Shadow Mountain Vineyards and it was the only place from which we bought wine. We tasted 3 reds: a merlot; a 2005 “variation”, (which consisted of 50% merlot and 25% each of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes” that grow on the northern slopes of Palomar Mountain at an elevation of 3400′”); a 2005 carignane and a 2006 viognier. They had tiny crackers and bits of cheese so you could get a better feel for the way the wine would taste when served properly, like with food. We bought a bottle each of the viognier, the variation, and the carignane, along with a half-bottle of 2005 old vine zinfandel. It was so cute we couldn’t resist! Can’t wait to have a chance to buy some nice food to drink it with.

The four wineries we visited in Temecula were: Wilson Creek (no food, but free glasses); Ponte (they have a restaurant, where we had lunch – good food, but none with the wine tasting, AND no free glasses either); Bella Vista (the oldest winery in Temecula, a cute older Romanian couple own it, no food, but free glasses); and Callaway (crackers, a restaurant that closes at 5pm, and free glasses). We got there late and were looking for food, so we asked the workers for restaurant suggestions. They told us about the chains in the shopping centers! “Claim Jumper” and “Olive Garden”….Ugh!

I just couldn’t get over the fact that the restaurants all CLOSE at 5pm. Just when they could be opening and making a bunch of money from late afternoon visitors. And they don’t give you a morsel with the wine tasting. I get much less drunk if I have some food to absorb the wine. Remember, this is America with very strict rules about drunk driving. It felt sort of “slam bam, thank you ma’am”-ish. I might be more inclined, if I had a nice taste of food with each sip, to buy something in the gift shop, stay for a nice dinner, purchase more wine…..

A long long time ago, on an island called St. Croix, some people got together to go swimming…..

They were just ordinary folk, realtors, poets, attorneys, boat builders, teachers, business owners, etc. They decided that it would be nice to get together on Saturday mornings and swim at a different beach each week. Well, there are a lot of beaches on St. Croix, but they wouldn’t be able to do a DIFFERENT one each time. So they experimented and came up with about a dozen different swims which they rotate on the “Official Finfolk Schedule” which is now typed out and e-mailed by the “Secretary” every few months.

Their idea was great. Pick a beach to swim from, and a beach a mile or two away to swim to. And they’d swim WITH THE CURRENT so it would be enjoyable. They meet at the end point, and one or two people (depending on the size of the group) drive the group to the beginning point. This had already been going on for 10-15 years before I started swimming with them.

I was never a great swimmer. In RI, where I come from, the ocean water is cold year round and you can’t see the bottom. I loved the sea though, and went to the beach whenever I could. I’d go in to cool off and come back to my blanket. In the summer the beaches were so crowded with blankets that it seemed there was a sea of people leading to the sea of blue. At one point, I decided it would be better to buy a boat since it would be more peaceful than going to the beach.

Anyway, back to the “Finfolk”. When they first got together, they thought they’d call themselves the “Fin Men”, but someone decided that that might be a little sexist. And at certain times, there were more females, so the poet thought “The Swimmin’ Women” might work. (It was cute anyway!) Eventually, “The Finfolk” became the name of this group. And over ten years ago, when I returned from massage school in Berkeley, CA, a friend of mine asked me if I’d like to join her to participate in the “Coral Reef Swim”. Well, I had done a few running and bicycling races, so I said, “sure!” So we’d meet a couple of times a week to swim a certain distance. We wore masks, snorkels and fins, because there was a category for masked and finned swimmers in this race, and we like to see what’s under the water. She also introduced me to the “Finfolk”. And the first swim I did with them was from Cane Bay to the Carambola Beach Resort. What a fabulous swim!

Over the course of that year, I swam with them a lot. There were some good swims and some that I would not go on again because of shallow reefs at the beginning, end, or both. I almost drowned one time because I panicked when the waves continuously crashed us back to the rocky shoreline and I couldn’t see what was beneath me nor could I catch my breath.

So now I pick and choose my preferred swims. This week, we went from the beach at Duggan’s Restaurant to the beach at the Coakley Bay Condos. They have estimated the swim to be about 2.3 miles long. We swim straight out from the Reef beach over sea grass until we get to a rocky point, where we stop and wait for any stragglers. Then we cross the light blue expanse as a group until we get to the barrier reef (in case of boat traffic). There are numerous white sea urchins scattered among the grass and a few sea stars. A couple of hundred yards out, a spotted eagle ray passed in front of me. I tried to get Michael’s attention, but it was soon out of sight in the murky water before he could catch a glimpse of it.

At the point, the water was rough. It was, as I often say, “like swimming in a washing machine”. It had been windy and the currents were strong. But we zoomed across the sandy-bottomed deeper waters which, in areas remind me of an underwater snowscape. There are small sea weed plants that poke up through the sand like pine trees on a christmas card. It’s magical!

The water didn’t seem as rough on the other side, and as soon as we got there, there were two more spotted eagle rays! The entire group got to see them and they swam around us in graceful magnificence. The rest of the swim went quickly because the current carried us even when we stopped to look at something or to chat. But we got to see a nurse shark, a submerged sailboat, two more eagle rays and a small southern stingray.

I think we need to start taking the camera on these swims, now that the water is warm enough for us to go in again!