Petit Byahaut is the place we’ll be staying at on St. Vincent. I’m only a little concerned, especially since I can’t even pronounce the name.

We’ve packed our bags and are trusting in the universe to provide us with the bare necessities (rum, beer, wine) along the way and while we are there. We’ll be blogging about our trip when we return…..

We leave tomorrow for St. Vincent, so there were a few things we needed before we go. I’ve wanted to replace the Maui Jim shades that Peter threw away after I let him borrow them, for a while. I wanted a couple of comfortable swimsuits. I had a $50 gift certificate (that Goliath won for me at Rocky Horror) from Island Tribe boutique. Emmy has been eating our shoes (flip flops), so we both needed more footwear, and we wanted to see what they had for doggie “breed” pendants at Nelthropp and Lowe Jewelry store because Goliath won a gift certificate for a free one at the hollween costume contest.

I actually went into town in the morning since I had to go to the bank, so I cheated and got the shades and suits when there were very few people out shopping yet. Hot Heads is the place to get good swimsuits. They have all the different colors and styles, and they’re extremely helpful. I hate to shop, but they make it very pleasant. So I got two, plain, comfy one-piece suits that we can wear hiking on St. Vincent and I can just take off my shorts and shoes and hop into a waterfall or mountain pool. Cool! The Mauis from Quiet Storm are a no brainer. Sue was working and I got what I wanted right away, with a smile and a “just bring them in if you need them repaired or replaced and I’ll send them out for you”. Sue’s awesome!

I stopped in to see Nikki at her store, then headed to the bookstore for a journal to record our trip since we won’t have blogging capability out in the middle of nowhere. Then home for lunch before going off to work in the afternoon. Most of my really great regular clients are back on island for the winter now, so it is a pleasure to carry my table out to where they are. I would finish at 6pm and head to town to meet Michael, Peter and Heike, Carsten and Amanda, and shop for the rest of the stuff.

Mocko Jumbies on
King Street

I didn’t want to interfere with their time, so as soon as I got there I went to Island Tribe. There’s never anything there that I feel would look good on me, so it was a challenge. But they had some sarongs and I bought four of them for a grand total of 50 bucks, which my GC covered. Then it was time for one of Luncheria’s frozen margaritas. The hard stuff was over.

Michael called as I was finishing at IT and met me on the way into Luncheria. They were pretty busy. Luis was there and poured me my usual Tervis Tumbler full of green slush (yum!), and I told him we’d probably be back to eat a bit later, since I needed my tostada fix for the week.

We went to Nelthropp and Lowe to check out the pendants. They didn’t have a “shephuahua”, but said that if we brought them a picture of Goliath, the guy would create a custom one for him. I asked if he could paint party beads on it too? And Emily said “sure!” Cool! We’d do that when we got a chance.

Mocko Jumbie at rest

On to Purple Papaya for maybe some cheap “crocs”. They’d had a bunch of them in the months before, but were way down to only a couple of sizes in a couple of colors which didn’t suit us.

So we went over to SCUBA to check on their always full inventory of crocs and croc sandals. I found some water crocs to replace the ones that Emmy ate, and some cute sandals too. Michael found some real rugged ones in black that fit him, but then decided to go with orange. At that point, we were done with our mission. But I wanted to check on Nikki in case she needed food. (A mother always wants to make sure her children are fed) Of course she needed food. She had told Gloria that she was hungry at 3:30. It was after 7 by now. So I got her some “saltfish” pates from the nice ladies in front of Quiet Storm, brought them to her and we went back to Luncheria for my tostada and a margarita refill. Nikki had also requested a diet coke, so we got her one and brought it to her. When we got there, she hadn’t eaten her pates because they were Beef!! Ugh!! So I brought them back to the nice ladies who replaced them with saltfish and Nikki finally got some dinner.

We needed to return Heike’s cell phone to her. Michael borrowed it to call me so we could hook up when I got into town. He needed to borrow it because, although I reminded him earlier in the day to charge his phone, and he did, he also left it on the table when he got distracted making sure his camera was charged. He’s so cute!

Anyway, P & H & A & C & Vinnie were down in the Caravelle Arcade dancing to the music of Kurt Schindler and Heike came over to give me a hug and get her phone from Michael. I also got a hug from Peter and waves from Carsten and Amanda who were on the other side of the fountain. It was crowded and the music was loud, so I suggested we go back a little way so as not to hurt Goliath’s ears. He was already exhausted from his day, so we didn’t want to overtax his little-big system. We passed in front of Janelle (Kurt’s wife), who was selling T-shirts and CDs and I liked the little tank tops, so bought one of those. Kurt has told us to feel free to burn his CD’s, so we have them all.

After our purchase, we ended up walking back to Nikki’s and getting our bags full of stuff to bring home. We’ll sort through the stuff later…..

Four years ago, I had a bunch of fun people over for TG. I had never done it before and I ordered a big pre-made turkey dinner from a friend who was a caterer. I was still pretty much a vegetarian but I wanted to be able to celebrate with friends. There’s not a huge vegan contingent on the island. The 7th day adventists and rastas are each a certain kind of vegetarian, but I’m not sure of their specific “food rules” and I’m not religious, so I don’t hang with either of those crowds.

A few tables and chairs would be set up outside and we’d have a nice “island Thanksgiving”. Right, Ter. (Hahahahaha!) The gods had a different idea than I did (which usually seems to be the case - hence the “I’m not religious” stuff) though, and they made it rain. It wasn’t just a few passing showers, either. It POURED! So, my nice outdoor island thanksgiving by the pool became a crowded indoor affair. Oh, and that’s right, we had some really weird people over, too (they have since left island), but someone who’d been here for a while said, “Oh, it ALWAYS rains on Thanksgiving!” and I thought, “that can’t be right”. I had been here a while, too and hadn’t noticed that. But since then, I have made it a point to remember the weather each TG and it hasn’t failed to rain on one yet.

I was planning on going to the beach today. Problem is, if I don’t get going right away, I start doing things that need to be done and never make it out the door. This morning I got up at 7, gave the dogs their “cookies” and headed out the door for some excercise. I love walking on the south shore road in the morning. You can look out over the great pond with an unobstucted view to the sea. The breeze is fresh and clean. The smell of the grasses this time of year is intoxicating to me. The sky is just brightening with early sunbeams and puffy clouds. The birds are singing (or arguing with each other). It’s refreshing and a great way to start any day. After a brisk 25 minute walk, I got home and watered plants. Sure it’ll rain. But not enough to soak my plants so they won’t wilt. Then pooper scoop the front yard. Apparently Michael has taken care of the back yard, because I hear him getting the lawnmower out. Cool!

I have wanted to start using the “upside-down machine” (inversion table) and doing abdominal crunches. My belly still looks terrible hanging over my scar and I feel fat and ugly. So, I untie it (I guess Michael used one of its straps to secure it for one of the storms or something), adjust the foot-holders and climb aboard. It feels great to stretch like that and I do a few crunches without pain. Let’s see how I feel tomorrow…..

Also, let’s see if I ever make it to the beach today.

In the old days, this was how Land Rovers worked. There was a guy under the bonnet!

Now, we are so technologically advanced that we have the internal combustion engine. Ready at a moment’s notice to take us where we want to go (as long as everything’s connected properly and there’s fuel and the electrical system’s wired right and the frame’s not cracked and the tires aren’t flat and……)

I was massaging a client this morning who decided to have his satellite dish music on for his session. He never does this! Not only was he a little more obnoxious than usual, but he put on a country western station! I thought I’d died and gone to hell….Terrible versions of bad songs tormented me…..

I love my work. Most of the time. Then, my next two had the A/C on blasting down on me as I looked out at the stormy water, my teeth chattering…..

Frederiksted sunset Friday night

Too much to do! We spent Friday and Saturday nights in Frederiksted at the Blue Bay Jazz Fest. We didn’t get to sit and listen to the music, but what we heard as we walked around and talked to friends was great. I like Jazz better in a small, more intimate setting. I love horns, but thought that the amplification distorted the sounds of the brass instruments from where I was.

Main Stage

Anyway, it was a nice thing for F’sted. The stage was big and professional, there were two large viewing screens to either side so if you couldn’t get close, you could still see what was going on. It was reminiscent of the BVI Music Fest that we go to in May for Michael’s birthday week-end.

We mostly hung out at the table Jim Hoffman got for selling tickets to a show next week which would benefit the Pointe Dance Academy. Recently, our illustrious senators voted to decrease funding for the arts (but they got themselves hefty raises this year!), so the dance school could use the help. We were with Nikki trying to sell tickets to a Jimmy James performance. Personally, I don’t think St. Croix is ready for this. Nikki talked to a lot of people who were totally against this type of performance, especially to benefit a children’s organization. Nikki tried to explain that it was another type of performance art and the arts are eclectic, but the closed minded Crucians did not want to hear it. So we sold zero tickets.

Well, they were kind of expensive, too. I don’t think most people go to a jazz fest with an extra $75 for a ticket to another show. It IS a fund raiser and there will be a gourmet dinner by the St. Croix Culinary Intitute included in the ticket price, but if people weren’t aware of them being sold there, they probably wouldn’t have extra $$ for the tickets.

Roots 1

Low-rider sound & light board

Anyway, we stayed at the table until around 11:30, packed up and headed toward the cars. At the Gazebo near the fort, a Reggae band,”Roots 1″ was playing, so we stopped and danced a bit and listened for around an hour. We were tired and giddy and laughed at everything. Michael had been carrying our picnic bag for our wine and cheese (which we devoured earlier along with saltfish pates and chicken bought for Goliath, since he had to go without the previous night), and set it down on one of the paths through the park. Earlier, I asked him if he wanted to move it out of the way and he laughed and said that there were not throngs of people passing by who would trip on it, so why not just leave it there. I said “okay”.

Off-center BottleBag

Later, Nikki started getting antsy about leaving it there. I guess it had been bothering her, too. Michael asked if she was afraid someone would trip on it or take it? She said a little of both, so we ended up moving it from the path and putting it on a paving block in front of the bench we were sitting on. It was funny. We were all goofing on ourselves. She then said that it might start bothering her that it was not properly centered on the paver. She’s still really anally retentive (like I was at that age) about things like that. But I think she’ll be worse, since she’s a dancer and a jeweler - two things that demand perfection and attention to detail. (Oh God, no, not worse than me!) I have learned, since getting together with Michael to be more lax in EVERYTHING, so things like that don’t get to me as much as they used to. We had a jolly good time trying to get the bag perfectly centered on the block and when we finally did, exhaustion overtook us and we headed home, removing the work of art. We even got a ride in Nikki’s new car!

Two nights in a row, we’ve gone to meetings. I really hate meetings. But these are important, so we go.

Tuesday night was the monthly meeting of the St. Croix Recycling Association. This is a dedicated group working for almost a year now to find and/or create alternatives to filling up the already overtaxed landfill. The FAA has threatened to close out airport if the landfill is not moved yesterday. For some reason, the airport is still open even though the VI government missed the FAA deadline for moving it. It’s good to get together with people who are committed to make things happen in a positive way to improve the quality of life for all of us here. Even though I hate meetings.

Last night was the St. Croix Environmental Association’s Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet. I was stressed going in for a couple of reasons. One was that we’d already gone to this meeting last week, but it didn’t happen. There was a mix up in scheduling and the newsletter I got a couple of months ago said it would be held on November 8. So I immediately put it on my calendar and prepared food for the pot-luck. We got home from work and I arranged the food on doilies (thanks to Reggie) and we set off.

When we got to the Buccaneer, the Mermaid Restaurant was dark and empty. No one who worked in the vicinity knew anything about it. As we drove home, I hoped beyond hope that I hadn’t gone off my rocker and put the wrong date on the calendar.

We checked the website and found that the meeting would be held on the 14th. The nesletter received on the 13 in the mail had a green insert saying the date was the 14th. I started melting down. I was having senior moments in my forties. I was crushed. My world would soon fall apart. We’d be like the couple in Nicholas Sparks’ “The Notebook”, only much younger….

But then I found it! The old newsletter! Don Diddums’ article DID say November 8th! I wasn’t totally losing it! What a relief! They’d just had to change it because the keynote speaker would be at a conference on St. John on the 8th. But it would have been nice of them to e-mail us a special notice or something, now wouldn’t it?

Well, we still had time to get to town for Luncheria Night! I’d freeze the food I made and serve it the following week.

The other reason I was stressed was that I had to get the food together, yet again. I rushed home from work hoping Michael had gotten home and fed the dogs and cats so all I’d have to do was heat the food and arrange it (yet again!) on doilies (thanks again, Reg). But no, Michael had to work late and the hungry dogs were all waiting for me at the gate drooling and doing their “feed me” dance.

So I did all the stuff and Michael helped once he got home, and we were a bit late, but so were a bunch of people. For some reason SEA is anal about getting the meeting started on time and getting everything done in a timely manner. Which is good in some ways, but they really should not expect people to come from work, get food together and get there by six. I’s impossible. We could get there by six if we didn’t have to bring a dish.

Anyway, we got to sit with boardmembers Jen, Philippe (new to the board), Ryan (just elected to the board) and Claudia, who we hadn’t met but only knew to call her if we having turtle poaching issues on our patrols. I felt better sitting with friends who got there as late as we did and talking about the important issues facing our island environment.

The keynote speaker escaped before having to face questions (how conVEnient!). She’s in charge of the Waste Management Authority which has come up with the idiotic plan to tax everything everybody buys on the island to help eliminate the landfill problem (rather than providing incentives for reusing and recycling). Anyway, we will be talking with her in the coming weeks about our new business venture. Our plan will help provide proper disposal options for waste vegetable oil which not only fills the landfill, but ends up clogging the sewer system resulting in health-threatening overflows into the streets and seas.

We’ll see what she has to say about it….

…in my blogging. We’ve been busy with Land Rover engine swapping and regular work and meetings and general stuff we need to do. You know, eating, feeding animals, watering plants, cleaning the house (the windows need to be washed again). We have been out every night since last Thursday. It’s already that time of year.

Next week is Thanksgiving and before we know it, Christmas will be here! And here we are, leaving for vacation before our really busy season arrives….I’m starting to get crazy like I do thinking about all the extra stuff that needs to be done before we go.

We will be going to St. Vincent via LIAT Airlines. We stop in St. Martin and Antigua before getting there. It’s pretty far south in the island chain. We’ll be staying at a “resort” which is only accessible by boat, in one of 5 cabins on 50 acres.

We’ll take notes, of course and blog about it when we get back, but for now, back to work…..

Tomorrow we’re planning to swap a working engine into our 1962 Land Rover. Its been sitting in the driveway since February, when we discovered the engine was shot. We’ve had a blue junker, with a good engine, in the driveway for almost that long planning to make this swap.

In the meantime, some rats have set up shop in the Orange Land Rover. We discovered this some time ago and I set some traps and caught two big rats. One in the Landy and one in the carport.

Our friend and Land Rover Guru, Dave Walworth, suggested I remove the front floor boards from the Orange Rover so we can get at the bolts that hold the transmission to the engine we want to remove tomorrow. I’ve already done a few preparatory things like swap the oil pans and loosen the bolts on the front panel that holds the radiator so we can remove it to make the engine more accessible.

This afternoon I took a look at the floor board situation and realized I needed to clean up some of the evidence of rat habitation first. Behind the front seats I found all sorts of debris the rats had hauled in - plastic bags, a strip of rag, bunch of mango seeds, shredded paper bag, an outboard engine fuel hose clip (still in package!), a disemboweled toad and something that looked like a rat tail… eeeewww. Turns out there were two tails of rat, one foot, and three disembodied rat faces! These rodents were practicing some kind of Satanic Rat Rituals in my Land Rover!

So I’m short of a few Land Rover parts (see Reggie’s Blog for details), but have some spare rat parts if anyone has a need…

Poor Reggie had a typical Virgin Islands experience in America. The worst part is, he was trying to do us a favor and we thought it would be easier to get something shipped to us through him. Read all about it at reghunnicutt.blogspot.com. (post of Friday, November 9th, entitled “Geography 101 meets Stupidity”).

We had to work way out east on Wednesday evening, so we met at Chicken Charlie’s, left one car there and took the other up to our appointment. It was close to 7 when we were done and I mentioned to Michael what we had at home for dinner. He said that we were right there at Chicken Charlie’s so why not eat there. I said, “Okay”, and we did.

They had crawfish bisque on the menu and we hadn’t had any of that in a long time, so we ordered a bowl to share. Lacey was our server and she was her usual pleasant and efficient self. I wasn’t that hungry, and had just eaten out twice in a row so I ordered the tuna melt on rye with coleslaw. Michael was torn between the ribs (thanks to Reggie’s rib post) and the Shepard’s pie. He asked me if he’d had the Shepard’s pie before and I said that yes, he had, one night when we were with Peter. Peter had his feet up on the table that night, too and I was annoyed at both of them. Peter probably doesn’t remember that night either. I told Michael that he enjoyed the SP the first time, so he believed me and decided to try it again. Jazzy Blue provided the entertainment and played many favorites from the likes of Bob Marley and Van Morrison.

We ordered WAY too much food. A bowl of soup, a sandwich and an entrée at Chicken Charlie’s could feed an entire African country. The SP was HUMONGOUS, my sandwich was very large and the bisque thick and tasty with lots of crawfish and veggie bits, a meal in itself. After the soup, I could only eat half of my sandwich and a couple of bites of coleslaw. Michael consumed about a third of his SP before he thought he might burst. Lacey was quick with the “to go” containers, bless her heart and we paid the tab ($40 + tip….a real deal) and headed home to the fuzzy kids.

So…Chicken Charlie’s – the food is good (not incredible or exceptional, but good), the service great (thanks to our friend Lacey) and the price very reasonable for the portion sizes. We’re hoping Lacey stays on island, she was planning to go back to PA in December…..

My daughter and I used to have dinner together once a month or so at Bacchus on Wednesday nights. We always had a perfect meal and a wonderful time. We haven’t done that in a number of years, so I’d like to start another tradition and go to lunch with her once a month or so. (Whadda ya think, Pook?) It’ll be challenging when season is in full swing, but I think we’ll be up to the task. And it’ll be different to review lunch places for the blog. And we’ll get to go to Cafe Christine this season!

Nikki wanted to go to Christine’s this week, but when I called, Christine said they wouldn’t be opening until next Wednesday. Okay, so I mentioned that “Angry Nate’s” had opened and it might be a cool place to try. She agreed and we had lunch there on Wednesday, the day after I had dinner there with Michael and Goliath.

Tammy was the waitress and she was the only one. Steve, the manager was there again, helping out, I guess, and he came over to make sure everything was alright at our table. Nikki was really hungry, so we decided to share a caesar salad with shrimp as a starter. Tammy came back after we placed the order, to say that they were out of shrimp, so we had a caesar with croutons and grated parmesan cheese ;). It was good, but I have not found a better caesar than Diane’s at the South Shore Cafe (although I haven’t had it in years). She uses really good parm and doesn’t grate it into a powder like most places.

For her lunch “entree” , Nikki had spicy tuna bites, which were breaded and fried with a creamy dipping sauce. I had the veggie spring rolls. Both choices were yummy. As Nikki said in a comment on my last post, the service was lousy, but we’re thinking it was the kitchen that had difficulty with the lunch-hour pace, since Tammy’s a very good server.

Brian and Angry Nate

We first met Brian Mika when he was waiting tables at The Galleon Restaurant. We’d go there a lot when Peter worked there and got to know his coworkers pretty well. Now that I think of it, working at the Galleon has inspired others to start their own restaurants. Over ten years ago, Diane and Chris, who opened the South Shore Café, worked at the Galleon. There may have been others over the years, but Brian is one we know and we were very happy for him when he started “Aqua West” in Frederiksted. It is a great spot and he developed a really interesting and diverse menu (one dish contains crocodile meat!). Now Peter will be opening “The Pickled Greek” in the coming weeks. Interesting…

Anyway, Brian is apparently very ambitious and has opened another place in the spot on the Christiansted boardwalk where “The Mix” was. He’s called it “Angry Nate’s”. His logo looks like a superhero character with the words “World Famous” on a banner around the face. Too funny! He said they picked the name “out of a hat” but it makes for interesting conversation and speculation, fun jokes and names for menu items, and he’ll be able to have some cool t-shirts made up, too.

Tuesday night we decided to go there for dinner. We always like to try the new places (and we’re STILL waiting for “Zizzlers” the Cajun place to open) so we can blog about them. “Angry Nate’s” had a soft opening recently. It was so soft, in fact, that we did not hear about it until after the fact. Brian wants to iron out any kinks in his product before advertising full scale. He might not need to advertise. But he will need to hire more help. By the time we got our entrees, the place was packed. And it appeared that Chad was the only watron. Fortunately, the manager, Steve and his wife were on the floor helping out.

We arrived before 7 pm and sat at one of two outdoor tables just off the boardwalk with a view of the fishing dock and sailboats in Christiansted harbor. The waiter, Chad was taking an order from the folks at the next table. We hoped he’d be efficient and, seeing us right there, drop a couple of menus with us (we were dying to check out the selections, after all), and take our drink order. Alas, it was not to be. He finished taking their order and zoomed right back into the restaurant without acknowledging our presence.

Brian visits with us

He came out a bit later to find us sitting there with nothing in front of us and asked if anyone else had been out to see us. Nope. He told us what the specials were. One was a fresh tuna steak with wilted spinach and a red pepper coulis (mmmm). I asked for a club soda and we asked for a wine list when our menus finally arrived without one. Very nice menu. Not overwhelming. Just the right amount to choose from. A soup of the day, two salads and a little over a half dozen entrees. The prices are extremely reasonable. We generally expect to pay $30 or more for a tuna special. It was $22! There were two wonderful sounding fish entrées on the menu as well. Pesto-crusted Atlantic salmon and local tilapia with garlic shrimp. Each was only $16.50! Unheard of ! We were excited…
We love Caesar salads and spinach salads, but chose to share the spinach with a citrus vinaigrette, brie cheese and pancetta. It was yummy and we ate it while sipping our malbec wine (only $17 per bottle). Malbec is heading toward the top of our personal favorites wine list. It’s flavorful, but not overbearing. Chad (who’s very cute but like a bull in a china shop) and Steve kept checking on us but it was almost an hour before we got our entrees. We couldn’t understand why it took so long. We ordered rare tuna and the tilapia with shrimp. It should take two minutes to cook that. A table of six right inside the window ordered after we did, but got their food way before we did.

Michael’s Rare Ahi Tuna

Anyway, our entrees finally did come and so did a basket of garlic bread. Hmmmm. It would have been nice to have that bread with our salad, but, oh well…..The food was fabulous! Very generous portions, but our wine had just about run out. We decided to order just a glass of the “House Merlot” to get us through our meal. It was good, too.

Pirate Baby Swims in the Sauce

Since we would be doing a review, we opted for dessert and decaf. Crème brulee and white chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce. It came right away. Our coffee took forever. Dessert AND coffee was what we wanted, but we had to not eat our dessert so we’d be able to enjoy the two together. Good thing the desserts weren’t skimpy. Chad chatted away with the tourists at the six-top while we tried to get his attention. He finally brought two mugs of decaf or what we hoped was decaf. Then he had to go back for cream….Okay, he’s not the best server on the island, but he was very pleasant and apologized for taking so long with the entrees and coffee (and it WAS decaf).

All in all, we enjoyed our dinner with Nate, we did not have anything else to do. After all, things could be worse than sitting out on the boardwalk with Michael and Goliath for a few hours…

Michael loves Mondays. He gets to go back to his cushy job. When he’s home on the week-ends, he’s either chainsawing trees, scooping dog poop and mowing the lawn, or fixing something on one Rover or another, etc., etc., etc. It’s a homeowner thing… some people just wouldn’t understand….And his regular job consists of mostly sitting at a computer, doing, maybe, one chair massage per day, 4 regular massages most weeks, and walking the office dogs a few times each day. It’s rough, but he (brave soul that he is) takes it all in stride.

Monday is just like any other day for me. I make breakfast, do the dishes if Michael doesn’t have time, then clean the house, do laundry, and get to my appointments. If I don’t have appointments, there’s the homeowner stuff….or other business owner stuff….catching up on bookkeeping, blogging, etc. Today, I had to clear the “WAPA path”.

Our electric meter is on the backside of our house. The meter reader needs to get to it, but I ‘m not always home to put the dogs away so s/he can get to it (and even if I’m home. it’s too much of a pain in the butt to put all the dogs away for him to do his/her 30 second job on our property). So we clear a path on the abutting property on the other side of the fence for him/her to walk on to get to where s/he can read the meter with binoculars. The recent rains have caused the guinea grass to grow taller than me and even though it’s not necessarily right IN the path, it bends over to the path and obstructs passage. Baby tan-tan trees were growing in the path and other obnoxious weeds were in the way as well. I worked for a large part of the morning with the pick-axe, pitch fork and hedge trimmers, and most of it is gone now. It’s out of the WAPA guy’s way until next month (hopefully my work will last longer than just a few weeks, but this is the tropics, where forests grow overnight under the right circumstances). If it needs to be done next month, maybe Michael will be done with the Rovers for a while and it’ll be his turn…

We spent part of Saturday morning recovering from staying out until 3:00. That means we slept in….until around 9:00. We got up, had breakfast and headed outside to work on cars and the yard. Just like we had the day before. I had a client coming at 4, so I had to make the house look presentable as well. That evening was the YC Auction to benefit the Junior Sailors program. It was a lot of fun. The place was packed! And NOT with all “Snowbirds” like we usually see this time of year. It was mostly us year-rounders. People with kids or grandkids or friends with kids in the sailing programs. And the food was good. It was buffet style with one table of Chinese curried chicken with lots of “fixins” , a table of sushi, a table with pasta and a table of pork. We bid on a bunch of items we could not afford, but they were things and services we could use. One was a nice outdoor swing, another was a lovely mosaic tiled mirror, a gift certificate for Terminix and one for a new store called “Go Green”. We didn’t win anything, which was good because we couldn’t really afford anything and also the YC made more money from people who could.

Juvenile Jeweled Damselfish
Photo courtesy of FreshMarine.com

Sunday we FINALLY made it into the water. We hadn’t been in the sea since Reggie and Gigi were here in September. Our morning lasted too long with having to go to Southgate and look for signs of turtle nesting or hatching, so we didn’t get to take the boat out to Buck. But we also had to make a dumpster run, so that was quite satisfying as was our swim/snorkel at Divi. We swam out to the reef and along it for a while. It was pretty murky since the seas have been rough and we’ve had some rain. But on the way out there were some patch reefs where we saw some cool fish. A jeweled damsel fish sparkled in her royal blue coloring speckled with iridescent blue dots. We also saw something that looked like a small sea bass, and as we got beyond areas along the reef that we usually go to, there was a spotted eagle ray gracefully floating by. It circled us for a short time, then took off. A puffer fish got spooked by us and made a quick retreat to a crevice in the coral, its little tail fin wagging away like a miniature propeller. A cow fish let me get down close to her to check out her fancy designs and greenish coloration. We got back to the beach where Goliath waited expectantly for our return. We’d forgotten to bring a book (out of practice, I guess), but Michael had downloaded a few Israel Vibration songs onto the ipod and we listened as we watched the calm blue sea. There were a LOT of fish jumping out there, too. Schools of tiny fish could be seen jumping out of the water as something larger chased them. Often, the larger fish would jump too. It was a fun show which went on for a good while. As the sun got behind the hotel, we decided it was time to go home to feed the kids and ourselves. Michael also needed to refuel the green rover. There’s still around 200 gallons of veg oil in the carport waiting to go into the cars….

It’s nice to get back to what to us is a more normal life, a little work, a little play and done with that lying around recuperating crap!

Yesterday was Friday and we had work! The Simpsons are back on island for their son’s wedding and they, along with a few of their guests wanted massages from us. They are great folks and we love to see them. We massaged them in the morning, then did some errands and came home to do some work around here (Michael did Rover stuff, I did yard stuff). Then we tried to take a nap because we knew we’d be going to the reggae concert and they ALWAYS go late into the night (I’m usually asleep around 10 pm).

Michael was able to get about an hour’s worth of sleep since he didn’t sleep well the night before. I had difficulty, but got horizontal for a while and that helped. So did the caffeine in diet coke and lipton tea (we are out of regular coffee). After dinner we got ready to go. It was after 9pm. We got to the concert at around 9:30.

Ads on the radio said that doors opened at 6:00 and the show would start PROMPTLY at 8:30. Well, it might have, but the opening band (Midnight) was still not on when we arrived. The concert was commemorating the coronation of Haile Selassie, so when we got there, there were some drummers on stage doing religious songs. Then they showed a film of the coronation, played a recording of Selassies’s 1963 speech in front of the UN, and the DJ played some conscious Bob Marley while cultural dancers graced the stage. It was great. The air was thick with the wonderful aromas of herb, scented oils and Ital food. People of all colors swayed to the riddims. I was happy the guy with the oils was there and I replenished my dwindling supply, buying some Egyptian Musk for me and something nice and manly for Michael.

At 10:30, the Midnight Band (all the way from St. Croix!) started. They were okay. We listened to a couple of songs, then went out to the car to check on the little big dog and Michael refreshed his beverage since they had no dark rum at the rasta bar. Michael had set the Rover up with a sleeping pad, sheet blanket and pillows in case we needed to rest a little more. Midnight was okay. I love the classic reggae beat, but could not understand a lot of the lyrics. And we could still hear them really well from the car.

Photo by Carlie Kenton, courtesy of
Reggaemovement.com

Shortly after midnight, the Midnight Band finished. The promoters raffled off a 1983 classic Mercedes diesel, which we bought a raffle ticket for, since we will need a more “baby friendly” vehicle in the future. We didn’t win, oh well. But around 1 am, the Roots Radics came on and started playing. They are one of the best back-up bands in reggae. Awesome! We were hoping they had a horn section, but the synthesizer worked well enough. “Wiss” and “Skelly” of Israel Vibration followed after the band played a melody and then a medley. Those guys really rock! They’re sooo inspirational.

At one point in the show Wiss actually pushed himself up off the floor and danced on stage with just his crutches. Their bodies are disfigured from polio and their movements jerky. I often felt like they would lose their balance and fall while they were dancing. But they’re strong and they moved around a lot, changing places at the mike depending on who was doing lead vocals. Their harmonies are fabulous. I just run out of adjectives talking about them.

There were a couple of guys waving Ethiopian flags on stage all night, even before the bands came on. Their arms must be very sore today. One of them even had a little boy who looked to be maybe 18 months old that he had to pick up every now and then during the show. He ( and the little guy) must be exhausted today! I know we are and all we did was dance to Israel Vibe. And what a good vibe it was…..

Yesterday was the BIG day. But it was Wednesday, so since we’ve been rationing our fun lately, we didn’t go anywhere. We didn’t know where to go. Most places tried to have their parties last week-end, but the rain made some postpone the festivities. Unfortunate, because this week-end is really busy for us with the Isreal Vibration/Midnight concert at Island Center on Friday night, and then the Yacht Club Auction for the Junior Sailors Program on Saturday night.

Normally, I would not go to this particular YC function, thinking that anyone who belongs to the YC can afford to pay for their kids’ sailing program, but the STYC has been actively been reaching out to the community and getting kids from “not so well-off” families involved with sailing. So we’re going to support that. Sailing is a wonderful and rewarding art/sport and since the water is RIGHT there, I believe more local kids should be able to participate and learn about the various elements of our natural marine environment. And, of course, to have fun with fellow sailing/boating enthusiasts.

Anyway, the only costumed things we did this year were Rocky Horror, where Michael and Goliath (my heroes) won great prizes while I was “convalescing” in the car, and the doggie parade, where Goliath was the only one of us in costume. Of course, we HAVE had a couple of other concerns lately with the surgeries and all….So not a lot of prep time for that sort of thing. Again, not knowing if I’d feel up to doing things like that, especially when they are always lasting late into the night. I just heard this morning that the casino had their party last night (I’d forgotten all about them, and I’m not a huge casino fan anyway, even though I did win a prize one year there). And VICARE is having theirs (postponed from last Saturday) on Friday night.

So, we’ll miss that one too. But we should have a fun week-end anyway. We’ll let y’all know next week…..