“During the operation…..a portion of Melvin Evans Highway along with the East and West Airport Roads were completely shut down to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

“Officers armed with assault weapons manned security checkpoints east and west of Henry E. Rohlson Airport, and no one was allowed to enter or leave the airport area….” says the article in The Avis‘ Sunday-Monday edition.

Glad I wasn’t out and about trying to get to Frederiksted during that time - surreal!

The Bureau of Corrections is moving approximately 100 prisoners from Golden Grove Prison to a maximum security prison in the states.

Corruption in the Department of corrections was brought to the forefront last week when a police dispatcher, a 27-year veteran of the VIPD, was arrested on charges such including “accessory after the fact”,  not reporting an escaped prisoner (her husband) to authorities, and promoting dangerous prison contraband by giving her prisoner husband a cell phone last year.

Three prisoners escaped last week. One was shot in the leg and died later in the hospital, one was brought back into custody (the one with the wife in the PD) and is one of the prisoners headed stateside, and one who is still at large. The one with the wife in the VIPD was allegedly found at his ex-girlfriend’s house after his wife found out he’d escaped.

Writers of novels or soap operas like “As the Stomach Turns” will have a great time with this one!

Stay tuned…….

After eight years of seeing NOTHING come to St. Croix from the turnbull administration, we are happy to see our current governor out in public, talking to the people, all the while, working to secure a better future for the USVI.

However, since deJongh took office, we have seen the Christiansted by-pass begin. We have also seen more activity on the south shore from the “Golden Gaming” aka “Wyndham St. Croix” project.

We KNOW that this project cannot even begin, since the “permits” Golden and his proposed project has procured are ILLEGAL!!! [Point #1...the CZM board which originally voted to grant Golden a permit did not have a quorum (this means there were not enough voting members present to conduct business that day)].

They should have just gone home…or put off the question to a later date. But the local CZM board proceeded. Ignoring the law. There are many more complicated legal issues that this proposed project has, but we continue to see illegal activity in this area of particular concern (APC).

It seems to be an ongoing problem with this project. Currently, there is a gigantic sign, of billboard proportions, being erected at the entrance to the property Golden/Wyndham purports to be theirs. After repeated calls to government agencies, it appears that there has been no permit issued for this sign.

Everyone I have spoken to this morning has “passed the buck” . My latest written and spoken contacts with agencies involved (including the governor), speak about my concerns regarding federal funding for the territory. I would hate to see federal funding (which lends these agencies credibility) be suspended due to impropriety.

Temporary jobs for the people do not solve the entrenched problems that keep our island oppressed (downpressed) in the long run.

Let’s hope the deJongh administration sees the errors of the ways of the previous administrations and rises toward making St. Croix into the unique and precious gem of the Caribbean that it truly is…

Well, the rotary luncheon at which he spoke was boring. He spoke for around 10 minutes and said the same things he’s said over and over again, and the people asked the same questions we’ve heard before, but for only about 15 minutes, rather than the hours and hours we’ve experienced at public hearings and such.

I didn’t notice how bedraggled he looked, but someone else commented on it, and come to think of it he had more of a weary-weasel look than his usual wary-weasel look. It might be because he was served with papers from an attorney announcing that he was being sued by a farmer who has been using the property he wants to build on, for more than 20 years, and therefore owns it by “adverse possession”.

Another legal hurdle in addition to the umpteen he already needs to overcome in his uphill battle to rape and deface part of the south shore of St. Croix! And he still had the nerve to say he will begin construction within 60 days. Last time he said, “….in the spring…”. It will be summer next week.

I was only able to make the luncheon part, so Michael would attend the afternoon session without me. This was another “tour of the property” which was purportedly, open to “all Rotarians, guests and the media”, as we see in the press release in my previous post.

However, when the time arrived for the tour, Golden and his buddies prevented Michael from climbing into the nearly empty safari van! Again!!

We had spoken to our friend, who will soon become president of the Harborside Rotary, the previous evening and asked him if we needed to have sponsorship from a Rotarian to go on the tour. He said that it shouldn’t be necessary, but we could use his name and say that we were his guests if need be. Well, we needed to, and Michael said he was a guest of our friend, but it meant nothing to Golden, who told Michael that he (should I capitalize that, too?) could choose whom he would let onto the bus since he was paying for it.

It’s his party and he doesn’t want us coming to it! Shucks!!

Michael did, however, get to ask a few questions in the parking lot, which Paul and Co. danced around. Too bad the newspapers weren’t there again. They were at the luncheon, and probably bored by the same old same old.

Oh well, the letters to the editors will be written and sent today. Let’s see who prints what.

I’m calling it discrimination. If everyone’s invited except Michael, and that wasn’t previously explained, I believe that is clearly discrimination.

Actually, it was more like a hopeful snicker. But it wasn’t sad. It was a joyful, but tentative, rejoicing.

We stopped into the Pickled Greek on our way home from Luncheria last night. The restaurant was about half full and there were a few more folks outside. We sat at the bar to order a couple of drinks, and suddenly, the lights went out!

Fortunately, we’d gotten our drinks first. Phew! But it was still pretty scary. Nikki and Doug and others, got their lighters out and we could see each other for a few seconds until the generator kicked on. Yes! The generator kicked on! Wild cheering could be heard all over the island. It was coming from the Greek. Well….it was quiet……the TV’s island-wide had gone dead……so people could hear better. Okay, maybe a couple of houses in Tide Village could detect muffled sounds coming from the inside of the Pickled Greek, but we heard ourselves cheering. Loud and clear!

They turned off one of the AC units so as not to strain the great machine, a gift to Peter from a friend who’d left island. But every time a compressor on a fridge turned on, the lights dimmed. Finally they turned off the other AC unit and opened the door. We felt it was cool enough and it didn’t stifle anyone (except maybe the kitchen staff - Peter said that the other day, it was 120 degrees in there, but that was not because of the power outage - there’s just way too much equipment running in there and not enough ventilation - but they’re working on making more holes in the walls and roof ).

At one point, the kitchen staff thought they might start the dishwasher, but it got really iffy and seemed like the generator wouldn’t be able to do it’s job, so they decided to wait on that load of dishes. It stayed dark outside, except for the headlights of passing cars, for about 45 minutes. Finally, WAPA came back on and the generator turned itself off.

We went outside with Peter, Nikki, Nicole and Amanda, to sit and visit some more, and watch them smoke. An SUV went by and a woman inside it exclaimed, “Oh my god! They’re open!” So we said, “Yeah! We’re open, come on in!” But she drove on by, hopefully to return soon….

So, hooray for the Pickled Greek! Another hurdle overcome. They will undoubtedly be busy during the coming power-outage season, since so few restaurants have generators. Look at your calenders, folks. Sunday, June first is when you’ll start getting the tropical updates on the weather channel. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Peter’s generator doesn’t get too worn out in the coming months.

I was hungry when I got home from work yesterday. I had eaten a small, early lunch because I had to get to work, but also in preparation for our dinner at The Pickled Greek.

We were on our way up Lowry Hill Road, when a neighbor stopped us to ask if I could massage his leg soon, since he’s been having trouble with it. I said, yes, give me a call, and we traveled on.

There were a few people there already and Heike sat us at the table she was working at with the reservation book, close to the bar area and kitchen. We saw the usual suspects: Lorine and Diane, Margi and Fran, Joe and Val, Diane Marie, and more friends and supporters trickled in throughout the evening: Peter and Carol, Leonore and Paul, Mike and Barbara, Avalon and Athena, Doug and Isabel, Jenny and Chris, Jeannie and Rick, etc. etc.

We looked at the menu and couldn’t get past the appetizer section! I wanted everything (except for the meat things, but there were only two apps with meat - cool!). We ordered the tzatziki (cucumber, garlic yogurt dip); the melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant, red pepper and garlic dip); the spanakopita (spinach and feta in phyllo); the dolmades (herbed, rice-stuffed grape leaves); the falafel (herbed, fried chickpea balls); the calamari and the tyropita (cheese-stuffed phyllo triangles).

It was all fabulous! Our only mistake was ordering tzatziki, since a couple of the other things came with it (the grape leaves and falafel), so we had an abundance of the delicious stuff. It was the only thing we couldn’t finish. But we didn’t leave much. We shared a bottle of Mitchell’s Pinot Nero and it was a perfect meal.

Nikki was our server and apologized at one point for not paying enough attention to us. It was not a problem, we had people popping over to our table throughout the evening, and we had each other and Biggie to occupy our attention. Besides, we got our wine and food in a very timely manner, and were pretty busy polishing it off most of the time. Oh, and Peter started dancing with Pam and Heike and Cindy twice while we were there, so there was plenty of entertainment.

We were about half-way through our repast, when I spotted Aaron! Peter’s chef was back for opening night! I jumped up and ran over to give him a hug. He’s looking great and he says he’s feeling good, too. What a thrill for him to see the day we’ve all been waiting for! He’d worked so hard for so long before his diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, that it would have been a real tragedy for him to have missed it. He’s here for a week and looking forward to coming back when his treatments are finished, and taking over in the kitchen. We’ll surely be stopping in during the week to visit with him and the rest of the gang.

In more good news….Vinnie comes back today from rehab in CA. It’ll be great to see him again as well.

By the time we had finished, all of the indoor tables were full and a couple of the outdoor tables were, too. We are extremely happy that there will be NO SMOKING inside the Pickled Greek. Peter, himself, goes outside when he wants to light up.

They’ve also decided that, for the time being they will not open for lunch. They should be busy enough with dinners, especially if they continue to provide the quality and service we experienced last night. I think they decided that, after two refrigerator malfunctions (and subsequent food losses) over the week-end, that they’d get new equipment before getting overly ambitious.

As for the rest of the menu, the two appetizers we didn’t have were the lahanadomathes (spiced lamb and rice cabbage rolls) and keftedes (lamb and beef meatballs in a tomato herb sauce). For soup or salad, you can have a traditional Greek salad, a warm spinach salad, a village Greek salad, which has the veggies without the lettuce, and Yia Yia stew, a hearty seasonal veggie soup. Mmmm!

For sandwiches, they have the classic gyro, a souvlaki pita (with marinated chicken, beef or lamb), a keftedes (meatball) sandwich, a falafel pita, a veggie pita or a Greek hamburger. All sandwiches come with your choice of fries or Greek coleslaw.

The entrée selections are souvlaki (slow roasted, marinated beef, lamb or chicken kabobs); moussaka (herbed eggplant lasagna with or without lamb); pastitsio (macaroni and ground lamb casserole); a leg of lamb; a NY steak or fresh fish of the day. All entrees are served with seasonal ratatouille and rice.

The prices are very reasonable. Our total for the evening came to $77, not including tip. Truly a bargain for all that food and the delicious wine. Salads are $9 or $10, sandwiches $9-$12, and entrees (except for the fresh catch, which would be market price) $16-$23.

After the feasting, and to celebrate his opening, Peter opened a couple of bottles of ouzo and shared a drink with each table. It was a great evening. The acoustics inside were very loud, but it’s a Greek place, there’s going to be a lot of activity and noise. But it will always be a good time. We had so much fun I forgot about my Greek lesson. So, bon appetit!

Yes! It is officially the opening day of the long awaited Pickled Greek Restaurant here on St. Croix. Last year, Peter was talking to us and some friends about opening a restaurant here, and while we were floating around in our pool with Carsten (aka Pookie) and Amanda (aka Marvella), we were tossing possible names into the air for Peter’s future restaurant.

At one point, after a few glasses of Pinot Grigio, Pookie, came up with “Ze Pickled Greek”. (Pookie is Cherman, hence the “ze” ). Anyway, we all loved it, and when the time and location came about, Peter gave his business partners, his nephew, Doug, and Doug’s wife, Lindy, a list of names. Out of a plethora of hilarious ones, they chose “The Pickled Greek”.

Other possibilities included, “The Cruzan Greek”; “The Melting Goat” (since the restaurant there before him was “The Melting Pot”); and lots of others with “Greek” and “Goat”, but this is a family, blog, so I won’t go there….

In any case, the “Soon Come Pickled Greek” has finally reach here! We have 6pm dinner reservations for their “soft opening”, before the rush. We’ve seen Peter telling everyone in sight that tonight would be their first night open, and it will probably be a much harder opening than they’d hoped for.

The place is looking great, with Jackie’s murals on three walls, and tables and chairs from all over the island.

Funky and fun are the key words here. Bon appetit! Tonight, I’ll learn to say that in Greek!

I wonder how the national media will handle this one. And if it will have an effect on our economy similar to the fallout from the Fountain Valley massacre in the early 70’s.

Very early this morning, 5 masked gunmen entered our Juan F. Luis Hospital, tied up a security guard, “threatened maintenance workers” and proceeded to a patient’s room, where they shot and killed him. The patient was recovering from gunshot wounds.

At first, this may seem like a terrorist attack similar to others we have heard about. But if we think about it, it appears more likely to be a gang killing. The perpetrators went into the hospital and finished a job they botched up the first time. They didn’t harm or kill anyone else. Period.

I’m no more afraid of living here than I was yesterday or last week or 5 years ago. Stuff like this happens everywhere, all the time. The lax security at the hospital however, is a concern, but it will be no longer. I’m sure they’ll beef up security so that it never happens again. But, as usual, it’s too late for St. Croix.

Friday we had another running around day. We brought Meredith to the airport bright and early. Michael came so we could check out a few commercial properties on the way back. When we got to Princesse, we passed by a yard where a puppy had squeezed out through an opening in the gate. I stopped and Michael got out to try to put him back into the yard. As soon as he got near the fence, a bunch of other little ones came wiggling over to play with him.Then they started coming out, too. He finally managed to get them all back in and shove something into the opening so they couldn’t get back out. They were just so adorable!

We finished our errands in that area and headed home. But when we got to the Pickled Greek, there were cars there and we stopped in for a visit. The Pickled Greek will finally open on Tuesday, May 27th!

Back on the road…..but on Lowry Hill at Tide Village, there were a couple of horses in the street. There were also a couple more at the pond on the east side of the road. We were worried about the ones in the road and drove slowly hoping they’d go off to the side, but they stayed in front of us for a while. We got closer to the hilly, curvy part of the road and finally got in front of them, but we worried that someone would drive down too fast and hit one or both of them. So we stopped at Bob and Joanne White’s house because we assumed the horses were theirs. We were right, but Bob was off island and Joanne was at work in F’sted.

I called our friend Mitchell who rides with Bob and Joanne sometimes and he said he’d come as soon as he could. Their tenant, Glenda called Joanne who decided to come home from work as well. Glenda got some sweet feed and a halter and we headed down to try to lure them back up the hill. Joanne said there was a gate at one point where we could get them in so we wouldn’t have to walk them on the road. She said that one time, Bob was walking a horse back and a car came by too fast and hit the horse. How awful!

As we were getting into the car, one of the horses, Pinto, came sauntering up. Glenda said that Pinto is 40 years old! I guess you don’t get to be that age by being stupid. Smart horse was back on its own. Relieved that at least one was safe, we drove down the road to the gate Joanne had mentioned. Then we drove farther down the hill to the pond, but they were nowhere to be found. We walked and drove up and down looking for them, but to no avail. Finally, Joanne arrived in her car saying that she’d get changed into bush clothes and start searching for them. She took Glenda back up the hill and we went home for breakfast. It was around noon and we were famished!

We had time to eat and do a couple of things around the house and then it was time to go to Sunset Jazz in F’sted.

We packed up some cheese and crackers and wine and fruit and chairs and blankets and drove out to Aqua West’s parking lot where we met Peter and Heike and Nikki. We saw owner, Brian Mika, driving in and Michael went in to make reservations for dinner after the concert. We walked the few blocks into town and found a spot to watch the sunset and listen to the music. We settled down while Peter and Heike wandered about schmoozing separately with all the friends they’d meet. We saw Margi and Fran in an upstairs window at the Caribbean Museum Center.

The sunset was muted, but lovely, and what little breeze there was, was heartily appreciated by Michael and Nikki. We finished two bottles of wine that we also shared with Marie as she wandered through the crowd as well. That made it time to go find more at Aqua West.

Hilarious! Uproariously funny! Lots of belly laughs and guffaws as well as giggles and snickers!

We went on opening night and only a couple of times did the performers seem to be reaching for their lines.

The casting was perfect. The players truly seemed to matched their characters.

There were about 50 people in the audience, which is quite a decent showing for opening night during the beginning of our “slow” season. The audience was pretty responsive and appreciated most of the jokes and funny lines.

We also went on night two. We volunteered at the raffle table. There were fewer people, perhaps because of the big day-long “cancer sucks” fund raising bash at Cane Bay. But they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. There are still 5 performances left. This week-end, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and a Sunday matinée. And then Friday and Saturday nights of the week-end of the 23rd and 24th. If you are on island, don’t miss it!

Well, it’s official. I heard it on the radio. The Sahara dust is here.

A caller to the morning talk show cautioned listeners not to breath too much because “agents have been released into the atmosphere which may cause mass paranoid schizophrenia”! I’m holding my breath. I don’t want to get THAT!

No, but seriously. It can be bad. There may be molecules of poisons used in the third world and bacteria from all sorts of dung which have been carried by the winds to our area. I’d better break out my burka, my hard hat and my gas mask.

Let me go do that now!

The first time I went to a CCT play, it was at the Sydney Lee Theater at Island Center for the Arts. I saw “South Pacific” and fell in love with that musical and our local theater company. I didn’t know, at that time, that calling for reservations was necessary because the theater was so small and the place was packed! I just barely got a place to sit. Many people had to stand.

I love the Sydney Lee theater (named after a former senator who was a great supporter of the arts and whose daughter is in the publishing industry), just as I love Island Center. When we first moved here and my daughter performed in “The Nutcracker Suite” ballet, I was in awe of being able to see a first-rate classical ballet shown in a large open-air theater. The tropical heat is tempered in December by the “Christmas winds” and the lack of humidity. It’s a beautiful place to watch a show. One of my favorite things about it is watching the bats swoop in and around the lights for treats of moths and other delicacies. Très islandy!

But alas, our community theater group has outgrown the Sydney Lee Theater and has moved to a more “industrial” type building. It fits more people (no need to call for reservations any more, but if it’s a popular show, you must get there early), and it is air-conditioned. I guess some people love that. I was not thrilled at first to have to leave the charming playhouse at Island Center, but I have almost gotten over my dismay since they continue to stage wonderfully entertaining shows. At least the bar area is still outside under the stars.

This season we have thoroughly enjoyed our CCT’s productions of “Chicago” (the play blows the movie out of the water), “Grace and Glorie”, a two-woman show which had us alternately in stitches and in tears. It was fabulous! A strange is that CCT decided last year to do this show and shortly before they had auditions, the author (or writer ?) moved to St. Croix. He found out about it and helped with all aspects of staging his play.

This week-end, Neil Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” will open. It’s a four person show with the lovely and talented Nicole Gariepy (who was quoted in the St. Croix Avis this week regarding the triathlon’s effect on her business) in the role of “a flaunting sexpot with a fondness for cigarettes and whiskey”. Shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for her to play. Bruce Specter, who played “Mary Sunshine” in “Chicago” is Barney, the blundering adulterer. I crack up every time I think of Mary Sunshine kissing my daughter on stage.

I’m really excited about seeing this show. I’m sure the cast will do a great job. Stay tuned for the review…..

I was talking to someone the other day who mentioned that someone mentioned our blog to her. And it was in a “not very nice” sort of way. She said it was because I posted a “not very favorable” review of a certain restaurant. Funny! But the funniest thing is that the next time we went to this restaurant we were treated “like royalty”, and I wrote about that in my next review.

The person who told me about the “complainer” thought that maybe we were “treated like royalty” because of the blog. So I say to that, “Way cool, but why wouldn’t they treat everyone nice the first time and not need to be ’spurred on’ by the fact that I might write a ‘not very favorable’ review?” Why not strive for excellence in your chosen occupation, whatever it is and with whomever you’re dealing? I think I do. Well, okay, sometimes I’m not as patient as I should be with some people who call or e-mail with schtupid questions, but I would really like to have the patience of Michael. They still get a really good massage and I haven’t yet begun to charge a “stupidity fee”. So see, I’m striving.

I think it was Wreggie, a while back, who asked if our blog brought us any more business. Good question! But I think it hasn’t, and in fact, it may have had the opposite effect. People make assumptions about us after reading things we’ve written, and if they disagree with us, we probably won’t ever see their business. For example, read the comments on Michael’s post Rejected Again. There are people who despise us because our opinions differ from theirs. But we do try to make coherent sense and base our arguments on honest research. Maybe they’re just jealous because they can’t do that.

Someone told me recently that she feels like she knows me really well because she reads our blog all the time. Very interesting! Maybe it’s easier to get a massage from someone you don’t know very well if you’re not a regular client of theirs, because you don’t know about their personal faults. Especially if you don’t live here. When I massage a visitor, most of the time I will be asked lots of questions about what it’s like to live on an island. People who have read the blog already know much of my side of it.

We have met fun new people in the last few weeks who found us through our blog, and it’s okay that they didn’t get massages from us. It was fun just meeting them and hanging out and showing them some of the things we love about living here.

I guess when I first started blogging, I thought I’d write about only the good stuff to make St. Croix sound oh-so-perfect, but that’s what people read in tourism ads. No place is perfect, and people need to know that. I’m not perfect, I have some dumb ideas and opinions, but I’m a damned good massage therapist…. and I don’t do the “hard sell” thing, either.

Xenophobia is defined by dictionary dot com as: “an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.”

The other night we went to a “brainstorming session” in Frederiksted. There was a small group of people assembled to gather ideas about an up-coming day-long workshop on “Racism and Xenophobia”. I went to listen, but the group was so small, I was asked to talk about why I was there.

In the recent past, my opinion about some of the people in this group was that they seemed to be looking for “handouts”. Talks on reparation for the descendants of slaves had been ongoing by this group and a group of Danish citizens. I skimmed articles in the local papers on the subject whenever I had a chance. I’m not sure if their talks had resulted in any solutions. And I dismissed their concerns as “their problem” and wished they’d just “get over it” and help solve the problems we have in our society here and now. It’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do to change the past. All we can do is hopefully learn from the mistakes and triumphs of the past.

But I am interested in listening to peoples’ feelings about their ancestry and their place in the world today. As a woman who has deep emotions and feelings which I can’t always explain, I often need to try to. When Michael and I argue, I want him to understand what I’m upset about. So I try, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to get in touch with my feelings and explain them to him. Also, I’ve not read a lot of history. So my understanding of the issues may not be as clear as it could.

I think many descendants of slaves have come to terms with the past and don’t allow themselves to dwell on it, so they can live their lives and succeed in today’s society. But I guess many haven’t, and they want to talk about it. They want their feelings to be listened to and heard. And I am willing to listen. Totally understandable, and I applaud their courage. But just like when Michael and I come to an understanding after a discussion (or not), after we have discussed these issues, I want us all to get to work to actually solving the problems of survival and well-being for every member of our community.

I will post this for now and take issues I personally have with the reparation movement individually in the coming days so I can try to more eloquently explain them.

Was this “Armageddon”? The south shore of St. Croix was ablaze!

I heard on the radio Thursday morning, that there was a fire on Lowry Hill Road. That’s a mile or so away and they said it was on the north side of the hill. Far enough away from here and with the wind blowing east to west, there was no chance of it coming toward our house.

A few hours later, I heard sirens and looked out to see a fire truck turning at the intersection of 62 and 624. They were coming our way. As soon as they turned the corner, they stopped with a screech of tires. I saw them back up and head due south, toward the boyscout camp. I didn’t see anything else, so I again a thought, “okay, we’re safe”.

I took a shower to prepare for the arrival of my 2:30 client. It was between 1:30 and 2:00pm. When I got out, I looked out the front door and saw flames to the southeast. Clouds of dark smoke were being blown toward us ahead of the blaze, and the fire was coming this way, too. I started to panic. I was sure someone had called the fire department, so I called Michael. I was waiting for my client and I didn’t want to not watch this fire in case it started coming too close and we needed to soak down the area in front of our house, or help our neighbors do the same.

My client arrived and poo-pooed my anxiety (yeah, it wasn’t HIS house in the way, so why should he care?) and Michael came home a few minutes after I started the session. He thought the fire was close to being out and started feeding dogs or something. Then he heard the crackling of the flames devouring the dry grass and trees right across the main road from our neighbor’s house. He went onto the roof to check it out.

I was massaging my client and could hear more sirens and John Ballard’s helicopter overhead. I was going crazy not being able to see what was going on. After his session ended, I went up on the roof with Michael to watch the firefighters to the west, waiting for the fires to reach the road on that side. One of the guys walked down a little way to the east and started another small fire so it would back-burn and not threaten Cafe Kaleidoscope on the corner.

There were areas across the entire Great Pond area in flames. Huge walls of flames in all directions. Our friend Lisa called to ask what areas were burning. She also told us there had been a fire down in her area by Ha’penny earlier, but it was out now. That’s where they were going when I first heard the sirens and saw the truck stop and turn around.

After a while, we walked down to the main road by our neighbor, Roy’s house. He was outside and came to talk with us. Our other neighbor, Shane came down too. The fire had come right to the edge of the road. If the wind had not shifted, we would have been in big trouble. As it was, the smoke and flames were blown to the southwest, rather than our way, which was the case when I first saw the fires.

It was getting dark when we went back home. The firefighters had it under control and Michael and I felt comfortable enough to go to Luncheria to meet up with the usual Thursday night suspects. We got to meet Cindy’s Dad, Gary, who was visiting St. Croix for the first time. They had just gotten off the Roseway after a sunset sail where a couple of dolphins swam with the boat part of the way. We had a nice dinner with them and Dave and Michelle and Roy and Sue and headed home shortly after 9 pm.

We were surprised and shocked as we rounded the top of Lowry Hill Road to see the fires still blazing down by the boyscout camp. We drove down until there were firetrucks in the way and took pictures of the continuing carnage. We felt for the fire fighters who had had such a long day and it wasn’t over for them yet.

Despite recognition in the OPEN Government Act and rulings by the FEC that “under US law blogs are formally recognized as media organizations“, Paul Golden rejected us as “media” and evicted us from his “Press Conference and Property Tour” this morning.

Yesterday, Golden sent out a “Media Alert” inviting select individuals and “all press” to meet at Ginnie’s store this morning at 10:00 am and ask “any and all questions that you might have”. The last line of the “alert” reads “This tour is for all media representatives and invited persons only.” But apparently its actually like one of those Bush PCs where he’ll answer all questions from a hand-picked audience.

We showed up and circulated a list of important questions that Golden has managed to avoid answering publicly thus far. The list included supporting documentation demonstrating the “factual” responses. But when we tried to hop on the safari bus for the tour, Paul Golden and his henchman, Roy Rogers, refused to let us join. They claimed it was for invited guests and media only. We responded that we write a blog and our readers have unanswered questions about this project. But they refused to let us go unless we were with the Avis, Daily News, or TV 2. Those media outlets did have representatives, and Roger Morgan was invited and included. Here’s to hoping someone asks some of those important questions.

Uh oh, things are not looking up for Paul Golden. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his bid to stop CZM from reviewing his permit. Roger Morgan got the scoop Wednesday afternoon and Andy Simpson confirmed it on Free Speech Thursday morning. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt:

You can get the full program here. The discussion about Golden starts around one hour ten minutes into it. Andy comes on at about 13 minutes after the hour.

Just a few weeks ago Paul Golden held a press conference announcing Wyndham Resorts as his “brand” partner for the proposed resort on St. Croix’s south shore, in the environmentally sensitive Great Pond wetlands. He spoke as if the project was a done deal - $150 million in equity - CZM permit fully in compliance - $32.5 million of the publics money back in his hands for the convention center - breaking ground next month - Blah Blah Blah. Reporters asked about the pending lawsuits and he shushed it away, “I’m not going to talk about those”. Like they were trifling inconveniences. How about the “default” CZM permit? “No, its not default. We have the permit and we’re fully in compliance.”

Except, he didn’t mention one of the pending legal issues was his own appeal of the Third Circuit Court’s order to send his permit back to CZM for “finding of fact”, to determine if it is actually “compliant”. If he’s so sure its compliant, why would he worry about CZM reviewing it?

Well it doesn’t matter now. He’s lost this battle and is back to square one. You can read more about it in the Daily News article 3rd Circuit denies Golden Resorts appeal; permit must go back to CZM for review.

Llewellyn signals the start of our wedding

The following is a Guest Opinion, from the Virgin Island Daily News, Thursday, March 13. Written by Todd H. Newman, an attorney who lives on St. Croix. Reprinted by request of Raki (Raquel Santiago-Silver).

On Monday, March 3, St. Croix icon Llewellyn Westerman went home. Every community has one or two persons who are so well known, and so beloved, that they are just referred to by one name. Llewellyn is just such a person.

A famous musician, recording artist and performer - having been crowned the Calypso King of St. Croix - expert chef, man of letters, and one of the best sailors in the Caribbean, Llewellyn can now also be known as Lazarus.

On Friday in the afternoon Llewellyn was doing what he loves best: sailing. As he brought his vessel Charis up to the mooring at the St. Croix Yacht (Club), a squall came up. He and his brother Inglore struggled to anchor the boat and lower the sails. Suddenly, Llewellyn collapsed. The first of many miracles on that Friday was that when he collapsed, Llewellyn became tangled in the sails and fortunately did not fall overboard. He was not breathing and there was no heartbeat.

Mike Webber - originally from the states but who has lived on St. Croix for many years - was on the dock at the Yacht Club and saw that something was wrong. He raced down the dock, got into the Yacht Club whaler, motored up to Charis and somehow was able to lift the lifeless Llewellyn into the boat. He ran the whaler straight on to the beach and immediately began mouth to mouth resuscitation and CPR. St. Croix native Stephanie Malanga came running over to help, as did Lisa Price, who has split her time between St. Croix and Jackson, Wyoming for many years.

The three of them, a white male from the states, a white Virgin Islander, and a woman who has loved St. Croix all her life, worked furiously breathing air into Llewellyn and pounding on his chest. While they were doing everything they could to keep blood flowing through the body whose heart had stopped, someone from the Yacht Club remembered that William Will, who lives in Cotton Valley, had recently purchased a defibrillator. A call was made and miraculously Will was home and raced to the Yacht Club with the defibrillator.

The exhausted lifesavers followed the instructions and placed the defibrillator on Llewellyn. No heartbeat registered. The defibrillator then did its job and Llewellyn’s heart began beating.

Ambulances arrived and the comatose Llewellyn was rushed to the hospital. There, Emergency Room doctors and nurses fought to stabilize their patient. A CAT scan was performed to see how badly Llewellyn had injured his head when he collapsed. At that time, a young Virgin Islands native, Dr. Keldall Griffith - who had graduated from Central High, gone on to the states for his medical training and returned to St. Croix several years ago as a cardiologist - was testifying in Frederiksted in front of the Legislature. Contact was made with Dr. Griffith, and he came to the hospital.

Despite it being Friday evening, he quickly assembled his expert team of specialists and by 7 p.m. he was operating on Llewellyn. By 10:30 that evening - to the grateful applause and tears that greeted him from those of the many Llewellyn well-wishers who had snuck their way into the hospital - he announced that he had repaired the blockages in Llewellyn’s heart.

Our amazement and joy at the fantastic set of circumstances that had resulted in Llewellyn still being alive were tempered by our fears as to what brain damage may have been done due to the long time that Llewellyn was without a heartbeat. The miracle became complete Saturday morning as Llewellyn was weaned off of the narcotics, and we instantly knew from the sound of his voice and the quick humor that indeed Llewellyn was back!

As Virgin lslanders we are many times too consumed with concerns of race and petty politics.

The events last weekend remind us of what a special place we live in, where a community of people worked together to breath life into one of our beloved residents, keeping him alive long enough for a son of our soil to perform his wondrous healing.

I am so happy to be a Virgin Islander and so proud of all who were involved in bringing Llewellyn back - we should all be proud. Every once in a while in the Virgin Islands it all works out.

Todd H. Newman

We have gotten many, many comments from concerned friends and family members all over.

The latest one is from his companion, Karen who says, “Llew has another week of recovery and then back for a stress test on Friday. He is taking it easy and getting some paper work done. plus alot of ZZZZZ!”

It’s good to hear that he’s doing well. We look forward to seeing Captain Westerman back at the helm of Charis+!

“It’ll be something different”, I said to Michael when we heard about the Yellow Bird coffee tasting. Not that he needed convincing. This would be a coffee and dessert pairing. Michael can be a coffee-and-dessert-a-holic (when he’s not too busy with projects, anyway). So we went out to Starfish Patisserie, Dennis Gribbons’ new pastry shop and bakery on Saturday evening and had a wonderful time. Yellow Bird Virgin Islands Coffee is the creation of Kangja and Roger Morgan.

I met Roger and Kangja shortly after they relocated to St. Croix a few years ago. It was at a rum tasting at the former Cafe Madeleine. That night, the rum was Cruzan Single Barrel, the island’s premier sipping rum. We chatted for a long time and shared stories about how we’d gotten to St. Croix, and life on our island, in general.

Anyway, we talked to Jenna and Tori about it and they were very interested. And when Meredith found out about it she wanted to come, too, even after her long week preparing for the Villa Madeleine Condo Association’s annual meeting. We didn’t have advance tickets, so Michael and I went early to get tickets and seats for the gang. We were REALLY early. Jerome and Viviana weren’t even in their official Yellow Bird uniforms yet when we arrived.

At a little after seven, shortly after Roger started giving us a history of Kangja’s dream to start a coffee company, the rest of our crew got there. Our first taste was of the Crucian Rainforest Blend. It was paired with a mini almond Danish topped with orange butter. Yummmm! The coffee is great. Some of the smoothest and richest-tasting I’ve ever had. Not being a caffeine user, I thought I’d be in BIG trouble later, but I persevered, drinking cup after cup of this delectable dark nectar.

The next round consisted of the Coral Bay Frangelico flavored coffee, paired with a fresh fruit tartlet and chocolate covered strawberry with strawberry coulis. Fantastic!

But I still liked the Cruzan coffee better. The last one would be the Frenchtown Roast. I love my coffee strong and thought this would be my favorite. It was paired with a chocolate and peanut butter mousse cake. Very good, but the desserts were starting to get to me. It was heavy for the last course and, while I enjoyed it, I could feel the sugar and caffeine coursing through my body and I felt heavy with the quantity of the last dessert. I was getting wired and tired at the same time. But I ate it all….

And then they had a raffle. Each of the prizes was a gift bag with a “thank you” card from Kangja and a package of Rainforest blend coffee! We’d put our names on our ticket stubs and Michael crunched them up before Meredith put them in the basket. The first name picked was…..mine! Then Michael’s, then Jenna’s! Crunching up the tickets had worked! We left with some major loot! Cool!

Afterward, we congratulated Roger and Kangja on their new venture (and on winning the battle against the “senators” wanting to shut down their radio station) and went outside to decide on our next step. We thought it would be fun to play miniature golf and Jenna wanted to come, but the others declined. So we set off in the rain to the east end where it had stopped raining, but the place was closed. The others all decided to go home, but we’d just heard that Danny Morris was playing at Chicken Charlie’s so we checked it out and it was true.

We saw Marg and Jim and Ethan and Robin, Millie and Tom, and a bunch of others. After all that caffeine and sugar, we needed something starchy and calming, so we drank a beer or two and had potato skins with cheese and sour cream (Michael ate all the bacon, and there was a LOT of it!). At the break, we paid Whitney , put a few bucks in Danny’s bucket, and headed home. Believe it or not, after all those stimulants, we were able to go right to sleep. I guess it was a burn and crash situation, or maybe the hops in the beer worked really well. But it was a fun and different evening. We’re going to stick with our regular Dean’s Beans organic fair-trade coffee (it not only tastes good, but it’s good for the planet and the people in the coffee-producing villages) but we’ll definitely be buying more Yellow Bird coffee occasionally.

(Also sent to the Source, the Avis and The Daily News)

As a person who fell in love with St. Croix the first time I landed at the Alexander Hamilton Airport in 1987, has lived here, raised my daughter here, worked myriad jobs (menial, professional and managerial), has done countless hours of volunteer work, and continues to try to promote the beauty and uniqueness of our island home, I must speak, yet again, about the potential damage that Paul Golden’s casino, convention center, golf course and “resort” will do to this amazing place.

There are a group of swimmers who get together every Saturday morning to swim from one point to another at various beaches around St. Croix. I have swum with them for over 10 years. One of the swims takes the participants from Robin Bay (east of Mt. Fancy) to the Boy Scout Camp. It can be a fabulous swim. The patch reefs in the Great Pond Bay, as well as the barrier reef, harbor innumerable species of colorful sea life. The waters are fresh and clear, until you get to the beach where Paul Golden wants to build this abomination. The beach may look nice from land, but it is murky and full of smelly seaweed once you get to the spot where this “resort” is proposed. The current takes a lot of yucky stuff to that particular beach.

During certain times of the year, the place smells like septic. The aroma of decaying vegetation in the area as part of the natural processes of a wetland/saltpond, aka swamp is prevalent. My belief is that Paul Golden was sold the proverbial, “Prime swampland in St. Croix that my buddies and I have been holding onto for just someone like you…” And that may be why we see former Senator David Jones’ face at every Golden hearing trying to dissuade naysayers like me, who actually know what the area is like and have had many years of contact with stateside tourists.

My business depends largely on tourism and I know the typical “golf resort/casino tourist” will definitely not enjoy their stay at this resort. But Golden does not want to look like an idiot who’s been sold a bill of goods, which is why he perseveres.

I can only imagine the pampered American tourist holding her nose walking from the beach to the golf course (or more likely being chauffeured in a fancy golf cart) to complain to her husband about the “awful smell of St. Croix” and wanting to go to Aruba or St. Martin.

St. Croix is a breathtakingly unspoiled gem with so much more potential than to be just another overdeveloped Caribbean island who has sold out to some (or a few) scam artist(s).
Let’s take better care of her and not let this happen.

Terry told me before that my posts were too political, so I’ve cut back, but I had to share this.

I just had an enlightening conversation with former senator David Jones. We were at the press conference where Paul Golden finally announced his partnership with Wyndham Worldwide to manage and operate the Wyndham St. Croix Golf Resort and Casino (formerly called Golden Gaming/Golden Resorts, LLC). Oddly, no one from Wyndham bothered to show up, or they kept quiet, they certainly weren’t introduced. How’s that for a resounding endorsement?

Anyway, I was discussing with Mr. Jones the fact that Mr. Golden’s checkered past includes episodes that would prevent him from employment in a casino, let alone running one, according to the Virgin Islands Casino Control Act. “We’re not here to judge anyone”, Mr. Jones said. He went on to say Paul Golden hasn’t murdered or raped anyone, as far as we know, so we should move forward. Right in our community, he told me, we have people who have raped and murdered and they’re flourishing, so why shouldn’t Mr. Golden. He seemed to be saying that, since we haven’t been able to enforce all our laws against more heinous crimes, we shouldn’t bother to enforce lowly laws like the Casino Control Act. It struck me as particularly odd, since our police commissioner was on a radio talk show this morning saying he and the force are committed to enforcing all the laws, from seat belt requirements, window tinting, cell phone use, noise ordinances and traffic rules on up. Yet here was a former senator, who used to be charged with making the laws, saying we should just ignore some of them, since we can’t enforce all of them.

I really wish someone from Wyndham had shown up at the press conference. I’ve heard all of Paul’s answers before, but I had a question for them. I’m wondering, given Mr. Golden’s history, in previous ventures, of ignoring municipal rules and regulations that he’s been unable to have changed to suit his purpose, how much consideration Wyndham has given to their liability should this practice continue on this resort project? I’d also like to know why they jumped the gun on his announcement by a few hours, sending a press release out to Marketwire, but failed to note it on their own Wyndham Worldwide website? (as of 4:00 pm AST 2/27/08)

Note: This editorial comment was also submitted to the St. Croix Source, The St. Croix Avis, and the VI Daily News

We’re back from our vacation, but the good folks working hard to get The Pickled Greek up and going are exhausted, so the not-quite-yet-open Greek is now closed for vacation.

They did get the outside looking nice though. The shutters are done, the building is painted, an alarm has been installed, generator and AC should be coming soon.

Our island was once mainly agricultural and is divided into sections called “estates”. They were plantations on which sugarcane and cotton, among other things were grown. The estate names still remain in use today. For example, we live in “Sally’s Fancy”. Other fun ones are “William’s Delight”, “Whim”, “Betsy’s Jewel” and “Rust Op Twist”. Just west of Christiansted town, is one called “Golden Rock”. There is a shopping area which includes a Pueblo Supermarket, a Blockbuster video, Golden Rock Pharmacy, Domino’s Pizza, etc. There has been a large new building across the street from Pueblo for a good while, which once had a sign announcing the opening of the “Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant”. It was there for a long time, the grass kept growing and no work was being done on the property. Until just a few weeks ago. Signs of life! It’s always exciting!

There was a really fun change, too. Instead of Golden Dragon, the name on the building which appeared in large letters was “Golden Wok”! Right there in Golden Rock! We thought that was very clever and couldn’t wait until they opened so we could eat there. It’s a big building. Maybe we could finally have something like a stateside Chinese Restaurant (can you say “oxymoron”?) But we had great expectations….

They opened last week. The parking lot was finally paved and the neon “Open” sign flashed invitingly. Last night Michael and I worked in town, and thought it might be nice to give them a try. It was either that or the new Cajun place, “Zizzler’s”. I felt like nice Chinese veggies, so we went out to Golden Wok. Hee hee hee.

We arrived around 7 and the lot was jammed! It looked like the whole island was there! We saw some folks we’d hiked with a few weeks ago just getting there as well. They were part of a large group. We walked in and saw Kristin from Rumrunners dining with Anna from GoToStCroix, Anna’s husband Carl and their daughter Savannah. On the other side of the room our friend, Captain Al was seated in the crowd. Laura and John Ballard arrived with Casey Willard and a guy from wine club the other night.

We had to wait a minute for our table to be ready, so ordered drinks at the bar. I asked for an Amstel. They didn’t have it. How about a MaiTai? Nope. Michael wanted his usual FatPapi (rum and coke) which they had. I ended up with an O’Doul’s. Once we got to our table and opened the menu, we saw that the drink prices were more than we should pay for cheap stuff and switched to tea. Michael wanted his iced. I wanted hot. My tea arrived lukewarm. I sent it beck to be heated. It came back the same temperature, but with an extra teabag. I didn’t drink it. I gave up on anything to drink.

Ah, the food…..They had one of my favorites, eggplant in garlic sauce on the menu. Michael wanted to know if any of the dishes had cashews or peanuts since the menu didn’t specify. I guess he was feeling particularly nutty. Our waitress did not know. She went to ask. Oh, yes, the Kung Pao Chicken (they spelled it Kung Bo) had peanuts. So Michael ordered that. I ordered my eggplant. They didn’t have it. Okay, I’d need another minute to decide on something else. Okay, how about the curried tofu, and why don’t we start with tempura vegetables? Our waitress took the order and came back 10 minutes later to tell us they didn’t have the tempura veggies. Fine! Just bring our regular food! I was getting a bit irritated. When our food arrived, my tofu looked kind of lumpy. When she set it down, I said, “This is curried tofu?” She said it was. There was some nice fresh broccoli with it, which I devoured, then took a bite of the “tofu”. It was chewy. I gave some to Michael. It was pork or chicken! We called our waitress back and I said “This is NOT tofu!” She said, “Uh, oh, right, it’s chicken. You ordered the curried tofu?” “Yes, I did….”
She took my plate. Michael had a large dish of chicken and veggies with peanuts and was nice enough to share with me while I waited FOREVER for my tofu to arrive.

Meanwhile, the guy sitting alone at the table behind me was also having trouble getting what he ordered. He kept sending stuff back. It really became comical. Finally, my lukewarm food appeared. It was passable. The hostess/owner came over to refill Michael’s tea. “Is everything okay?” I said, “It’s JUST okay”. She giggled.

Michael kept saying, “Well, they just opened, you’ve gotta cut them some slack”. Maybe. Maybe they should train their staff better. How about a serving spoon to scoop your veggies over your rice? How about soy sauce on the tables? We had to ask for soy sauce.

We were able to get our bill in a timely manner. On the way out, I stopped at the ladies room. I thought, “Okay, new facility, the restroom should at least be nice.” HA! Hahahahahaha! The room was HUGE, but the water pressure was very low, so both toilets still had stuff in them. It stunk in there. There were two stalls. One “handicapped”. The handicapped stall had no rails and just a regular toilet (which was difficult to flush since the water pressure was pathetic). There was a small counter with one sink. With all that space and two stalls, you would think there could be a larger counter so more than one person could wash hands at a time. And, you know how women like to reapply lipstick and check their make-up? Impossible if just one other person was in there! Especially, since the lack of water pressure would cause one to take 50 million years to rinse the soap off their hands!

All in all, it was an annoying culinary experience. It will be a loooooong time before we go back there. We’ll just stick with our sweet little neighborhood Chinese restaurants that we know and love. Or maybe we’ll just eat Cajun.

Michael’s Dolphin Rating:

Golden Wok, Golden Rock, St. Croix

Name -
Location -
Service -
Food -
——————
Overall Experience -

Yesterday Peter asked what our plans were for the evening, “You’re driving me up to the rainforest, right?”. Kurt Schindler was playing his regular Last Sunday of the Month gig at the Montpellier Domino Club, or “The Pig Drinking Jungle Bar”, as he lists it on his site. Terry’s a little burned out on Kurt and I had stuff I had to get done.

So today Peter calls to tell me a little story that “Reggie has to put on his blog”, but its too good, so I’m keeping it for myself. Reggie will have to track-back to it.

On his way out west with a full car, Peter stops to pick up some visitors, staying at Chenay Bay Beach Resort, who are also heading to the show. When he gets to Bassin Triangle Kurt’s song “Banna” starts playing on the CD. So Peter immediately pulls over into the parking lot of a deserted gas station, across the street from the police station, and all seven of them pile out of his Cherokee and start dancin’ in the parking lot. There’s a police car parked in the lot, but Peter thought no one was in it.

When the song ends, they all climb back into the jeep to go on their merry way. Immediately Peter hears a “Whuuoop whuuoop” from the cop car. The policeman gets out, walks over to him and says, “Sir… you left your drinks on top of the car”. Peter turns back to the others and says, “Kids, you forgot your beers!” They all pile out again, retrieve their beverages, climb back in, and drive away.

Only on St. Croix. That’s why we call it Paradise!

Click here for Dean’s latest Track Projection

Other storm tracking sites we visit:

Intellicast Storm Center

NOAA National Hurricane Center

Craig’s St. Croix Weather

And a next one sent by Reggie:

Tropical Storm Risk

Dean is the tropical storm, soon to be hurricane, who may be coming to visit us in the next couple of days. I don’t know. People start getting all crazy and try to tell others how to prepare for a big storm. But I just think it’s like everything else in life: Use common sense. Of course, common sense is not all that common, but if people would just think a little (not too much, because that can get you into trouble, too).

I think it’s a no brainer to put small objects away that could be taken by the wind. It’s been quite a few years since we had to do this, so it will be good to take stock of all the junk we have and get rid of a lot of it. Major things to secure are lawn furniture and potted plants. We have a bunch of plastic chairs that we will never use again. They will go to the dumpster tomorrow (woohoooo!). Michael will need to decide which 5 gallon buckets should stay and which ones should go. Buckets are important in the storage and mixing of the oils for our veggie oil/biodiesel projects. But they are all scattered about and need to be organized and categorized.

The placement of the cars will have to be assessed. We have four and a half cars. The half car will stay where it is. Others will be moved to where they will be less likely to be hit by flying objects and tree branches. But also in a somewhat sheltered place where the wind, if it becomes strong enough, will not lift and move them causing damage. Don’t laugh, I saw an old Chevy blazer (heavy) that had been lifted by winds during hurricane Marilyn and landed on some roofing material that had also been displaced by the storm. Scary!!

The dog and cat situation will be addressed if need be as well. Some dogs will spend the storm in the spare bedroom behind closed doors. Others will be in our bedroom also with doors closed. Still others will be in bathrooms while others will go wherever we go. The cats can stay in the laundry room. We will have to rearrange a few things so they don’t knock stuff down if they get skittish at some point. They’d end up scaring themselves more than anything else.

The hardest part will be moving my many many plants. I have slowly been putting them in large ceramic pots. Now they’re heavier and therefore safer in many ways, but the wind can still snap the nice palms and frangipanis if they’re too exposed. As the storm approaches, we’ll figure out the best option for them. I’m thinking about just using the hand truck to move them into the carport. Then, there’s the barrels of used veg oil in the carport which may have to be rearranged. I’m not sure if they’ll be movable. We’ll see.

The shutters shouldn’t be that hard to shut since we have replaced most of the old windows. Noe that they’re easier to close, our window prep time is cut in half. That should be most of it. But for now, I have a bit of paying work to do, so I’m off….

A recent island controversy has inspired curiosity from the international media. In January, the people of the Virgin Islands (particularly St. Croix), started a petition drive to attempt a recall of some recently elected and re-elected senators who had enacted questionable legislation. It was discussed daily on a radio talk show hosted by Roger W. Morgan, who was in the process of buying the radio station which broadcasts the program.

The senators who were being recalled decided that they were not happy with the talk on Morgan’s program, entitled “Free Speech“. So they took it upon themselves to petition the FCC (on VI Legislative stationery) to block the transfer of a broadcasting license to Morgan for his station. Our illustrious VI senators want to stop the people from speaking out! They want the people to be denied the right to free speech!

A while back, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal was on island interviewing people about this and related issues. The article was on the front page of the Friday, July 13th edition. Since then, the subject has been picked up by other publications (Free Press reprint, St. Croix Source article and Commentary ). It’ll be interesting to see if anything comes of this publicity.

“Soon Come” is one of those versatile Cruzan phrases that can mean anything from “I’ll be there in a minute” to “your entree is on its way” to “It’s almost Christmastime”. Its one of Peter’s favorite Cruzanisms. You can’t hardly have a conversation with Peter without hearing “soon come” at least once.

Its Official. The Pickled Greek soon come to St. Croix!

Peter is everybody’s favorite waiter/bartender on island. He’s got three degrees, but has spent most of his career waiting, bartending and managing restaurants. When he came down to St. Croix, one of the things he left behind was the responsibilities of running restaurants. But he’s about to get back into it. Peter bought a restaurant, signed a lease, and is now the proud owner of The Pickled Greek. He’s just gotten started cleaning the place up and giving it a new look - the vinyl floor has been ripped up and the lowered acoustic ceiling pulled out. He not even open for business, but he’s already had more people stop in than the previous place had in the last year.

Look for The Pickled Greek just east of Christiansted, across from Pearl B. Larsen Elementary. Peter will be serving Greek and Cruzan dishes (he’s bringing back Mr. Nolan for authentic caribbean cuisine) and take-away dinners.

Another Cruzanism you’ll hear passing Peter’s lips is “I go to come back”, meaning “I’ll be right back”. At last nights Mango Tango Party, Carston suggested Peter put it over the door, in place of an Exit sign. We all liked it. Once you stop by The Pickled Greek, you can never leave, but you can “Go to come back”.

If there’s one thing that irritates me (OK, there are a few things that irk me, but this is near the top of the list), its when I hear “There’s nothing to do on St. Croix”. Whether its Cruise Industry excuses, St. Thomians dissin’ the Big Island, or travel writing whiners repeating schlock without ever having visited, it drives me nuts.

For the naysayers, here’s our social report for the last two weeks. In my renewed blogging zeal I’ve already posted about a few of these tings and intended to write up all of them (and still might), but I just keep getting farther behind - too busy doing to write! So here’s the abridged version:

Monday, April 30 Dinner at [tag]Tuttu Bene[/tag] with Peter and Heike before Heike left for Germany visit.

Wednesday, May 2 Coastal Zone Management public meeting regarding [tag]St. Croix Environmental Association[/tag]’s proposed development of the [tag]Southgate Coastal Reserve[/tag] at Southgate beach and wetland area. Check back here for my letter to CZM regarding questions raised at this meeting.

Thursday, May 3 Sushi at the [tag]Deck Bar[/tag] - outdoors, overlooking [tag]Christiansted[/tag] harbor, Maggie serves up great sashimi and rolls. You can’t find fresher fish anywhere, the boats are docked right in front of you. Art Thursday - Christiansted Gallery Walk.

A Mocko Jumbie greets
revelers at Christiansted Jump Up.
Mocko Jumbie dem are
“false spirits”, people dressed up
as gods or spirits that “bless” events
by scaring away evil spirits.

Friday, May 4 Triathlon [tag]Jump-Up[/tag], Christiansted. A downtown block party covering about six square blocks (nearly all of C’sted). Music, dancing, [tag]Mocko Jumbies[/tag], steel pan, lobster kabobs, and limin’ in the streets. Meet new friends or catch up with ones you haven’t seen in months - young, old, residents, visitors - everybody is out at Jump Up. Served four times a year: February Valentines (or Terry’s Birthday, May Triathlon, July 4th, and December (sometimes late November) Pre-Christmas.

Lately, island favorite [tag]Kurt Schindler[/tag] has been performing his music magic in the Caravelle Arcade courtyard outside Caravelle Cafe (formerly Cafe Society, formerly de Bean Mon). He was there rockin’ away to a large and appreciative crowd Friday night.

Cinco de Mayo, Saturday, May 5 Finfolk [tag]Ocean Swim[/tag]. I think the scheduled swim was from one west end beach to another, but a small group of renegade non-triathlon participants met for a Cane Bay to Carambola beach route. The conditions were too perfect, so we opted to swim west from Carambola to [tag]Annaly Bay[/tag] and back. Visibility was great, I’ve never seen such calm waters at the western Davis Bay entry. Not too many spectacularly exotic species this trip, but we did see one small hawksbill turtle and a huge school of good sized bait fish of some type and the coral is this area is some of the healthiest around the island.

Dinner at [tag]Cafe Kaleidoscope[/tag] (at the former Southshore cafe location) before cross-island trek to see [tag]From Page to Stage[/tag] production of Hate Mail at the Good Hope School’s Savage Theater.

There were various Cinco de Mayo events around the island, but we didn’t get to any, just too much to do!

Sunday, May 6 [tag]St. Croix Ironman 70.3[/tag] (formerly St. Croix Half Ironman formerly St. Croix International Triathlon). Beginning in 1988 as an alternative off-season tourist attraction, the “little triathlon that could” has grown into a major international sporting event. Pros and challengers come from all over the world in an attempt to conquer “[tag]Beauty and the Beast[/tag]“. The triathlon is now a qualifying event for the Ironman World Championship (Kona, Hawaii), the Ironman USA (Lake Placid, NY) and Ironman Canada. We didn’t go this year, it came to us! Nearly every year, for the past six or more, Terry, myself, or both of us, have volunteered our massage skills to suffering triathletes down in the massage tent in the transition area. This year we took a break, took our dogs for walks and watched the competitors bike past once… twice… three times - the 56 mile bike loop(s) covers nearly the entire island and passes our little road 3 times, twice one way, once the other.

Monday and Tuesday, May 7-8 We caught our breathe and caught up on domestic things (riiiiiggggghhhht… well we tried, a little)

Wednesday, May 9 Dinner at the Deep End - Farewell to Peter, he’s headed for Germany and Paris vacation early next morning.

Thursday, May 10 Up at the crack of dawn, or a little before, to get Peter out to the airport for a 6:45 am flight - Incredibly, there are actually American Eagle employees behind the counter and a long line of travelers already checking in at 5:30 am, I didn’t figure they’d even open the airport before 6:00! I mean, nobody comes here right?

Thursday [tag]Luncheria[/tag] Night! We’ve become Thursday night regulars meeting our Land Rover Guru, Dave, his wife Michele, and their assorted (or is that sordid) friends.

Friday, May 11 After giving a couples massage on the beach in front of Sand Castle on the Beach in Frederiksted, we’ve got a few hours before next appointment. We enjoyed a snorkel/swim from Sand Castle south past Cottages by the Sea and the condo complex toward the public pool. A big barracuda passed us at a good clip, which can be a little worrisome. Usually they drift lazily along near schools of lunch. What was he after, or what was behind him?? Nothing scary turned up. Terry saw a small sea snake or eel, but I missed it.

Having worked up an appetite, we lunched at the [tag]Beachside Cafe[/tag] at Sand Castle. Terry started with french onion soup and followed up with a hummus platter. I had a cuban sandwich. The soup broth was thicker than usual and a little sweet. The hummus was “boring”, according to Terry. The cuban was alright, but pickle was on the side, not in it (carmelized onions in it instead) and though warm, it wasn’t press grilled the way I’m used to. I popped the pickle inside, and it was pretty good. All in all, not much to “blog about”. However, service was decent and the view is to die for.

Finished the day at [tag]Caribbean Community Theater[/tag]’s opening night performance of Niel Simon’s The Odd Couple. This is the final show of the regular season. All the cast were great, but Michael Armendariz and Lionel Downer were terrific as Felix and Oscar. And we enjoyed opening night champagne and cake with the cast after the show.

Photo © Dive Experience

Saturday, May 12 Now that the waters have warmed up and our season is slowing down we were able to join the finfolk for a second week in a row. The scheduled swim, from Robin Bay (Lobsta’ Shack) beach across Great Pond Bay to Howard Wall Boyscout Camp, was aborted again, this time due to Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish sightings on the south shore during the previous week. Getting stung by jellyfish half-way through a 2 mile swim - Not Fun. We relocated to [tag]Tamarind Reef Beach[/tag] for a ’round Green Cay swim on the north east shore instead. Like last weeks swim at Davis Bay, this was the calmest water most of these veteran swimmers had seen for this swim. Ray Lutz spotted a couple [tag]Spotted Eagle Ray[/tag]s on the way over and again on the way back - it was a see Ray see sea rays kinda swim. No turtles this time.

Since we were right there, we stayed for breakfast at the [tag]Deep End Bar and Grille[/tag]. Its hard to screw up simple breakfasts, but special orders can be a different thing. Our dining companion eschews all foods yellow (or at least yellow dairy items) and ordered an egg-white only veggie omelette with white cheese. The Deep End kitchen came through with flying colors (or would that be flying colorless) and served up the omlette as ordered. We were also able to pick up a cube (4-5 gallons) of used veggie fryer oil for our Veggie Rover Biofuel Project. For the record, we’ve collected Waste Vegetable Oil from several area restaurants and the oil from The Deep End is consistently the cleanest oil we’ve collected. That can really tell you something about how a place keeps its kitchen.

We’re making a good attempt to get back on our massage-a-week (or every other week) program. I got a massage from Terry last week, so she got one today.

Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13 We had a lazy morning, then joined Terry’s daughter, Nicole, her boyfriend, Ian, and our friend Meredith for Brunch at [tag]Duggan’s Reef[/tag] out at Teague Bay. Our server started off a little scattered and nervous, but made a strong finish offering Meredith extra chocolate muffins to go. BTW, Meredith treated us all to brunch, so she deserved them. Thanks Meredith!

I got another massage from Terry - only a week apart, we’re on a roll. Though she readily admits it was only to speed up the queue to her next massage
Finished up Mother’s Day at [tag]The Terrace Restaurant[/tag] at The Buccaneer. I haven’t dined here since I used to manage their spa and was hosting a spa journalist. The view from the Terrace toward Christiansted and the harbor is unbelievable, hands down the best evening dining panorama on island. The sunset tonight wasn’t impressive, but the view still rocked. The food was fantastic, the service less consistent.

So there’s our two week round up. Keep in mind, this is after Easter, almost half-way through May, season is well into the downhill slide, but there is still too much to do. When season is in full swing every week-end (Wednesday through Sunday) is so chock full of events you have to really pick your favorites and abandon 2 or 3 per night. There’s no way to keep up with everything that’s going on.