But first more sad news. Yet another friend has passed. We knew him through Peter and listened to him play at the Galleon on many occasions. Ben Miele was not in great shape. He needed regular dialysis treatments. But he was never without a cocktail and a smile. His hearty laughter filled the air whenever he was around people. He died on Tuesday and we just heard about it Friday. We will miss “Big Ben”.

On a happier note, the art show at the atrium in Gallows Bay was a big hit. Bonnie Luria’s paintings of island people are so stirring. You can really feel the energy of her subjects. Way to go, Bonnie!

This painting is entitled “Crucian July” and I love how you can see the juices dripping all over from the ripe mango. Mango season is very messy!
Too bad we are clean out of wall space…. .

Some of Don Scafidi’s, Ross Meuer’s and Madeleine Meehan’s works were displayed as well. The place was packed. I liked the idea of having it in the atrium, but couldn’t figure out where they’d put the paintings. They had them on portable wall systems with special directional lighting. It was a nice thought, but there wasn’t really enough room to back up and see the paintings from the proper distance. And there were always people in the way because of the narrow passages. Despite these minor deficiencies, it went well from what I saw.

After schmoozing with Lorine and Michael and Deb and Asha and a dozen other friends, we headed out, in Jenna’s car to Savant for dinner with her and Tori, who has been visiting for the first time.
Michael and I were there a couple of weeks ago and have not had a chance to blog about it. So here goes….It was great! Both times!

We could hardly wait to dig in!

The funny thing is, the bartender came over to talk to us remembering that we’d been there recently, and for some reason, thinking that we’d had a bad time. We told him that we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves the other week and knew we’d have a great time again. We always start off with the grilled baby calamari. Both times it was cooked just right and even though the pieces were large, they were not too rubbery. Last time we had a lobster dinner with ginger mango sauce and a cumin encrusted mahi. Both were fabulous. This time we chose the mahi stuffed with shrimp mousse and wrapped in a chinese cabbage leaf over soba noodles and the mahi ceviche.

The stuffed fish was excellent, but I was not thrilled with the ceviche. Michael enjoyed both, though and ate all of the ceviche and half of the mahi. Jenna opted for lambchops and Tori had the stuffed mahi, too. We quickly went through a bottle of Bodega Dolium Petit Malbec, so Michael and I each had an other glass to get us through to dessert.

There were nine dessert items to chose from. Three frozen pies, three cakes and three other things (I forget, now, duh….). Michael wanted the hazelnut mousse pie and Jenna wanted the chocolate coconut rum cake. Tori and I wanted forks and decaf. It all was delicious and we were stuffed!

Frequently, when I’m driving down the road, I am awestruck at the beauty of this place. Is it my Maui Jim extremely polarized shades that make the colors so vivid? I often tilt them down to make sure it’s really that gorgeous. It really is.

The sharp lines between the verdant hills and the sugar mills against the blue of the sky are stunning. The varying degrees of the colors of the sea, between light turquoise and deep royal blue take my breath away.

Yesterday it was overcast and rainy, but today was one of those sunny clear days that act as yet another reminder of how fortunate I am to be here.

The Sunday-Monday edition of our local newspaper listed 29 job openings. Not including those at the Buccaneer Hotel, which is looking for people to fill many vacant positions there. The Wednesday edition listed 28 openings, again, not including the Buccaneer. And at this time of year, we have many transient workers who are here for the high times, but will go to Sarasota or Alaska for the Summer. So there are not as many spots to fill as there are during the months of May through December. It’s still plenty. But people say “there are no jobs…”

We also frequently see “Help Wanted” ads (and we hear them on the radio) by the Divi Hotel and Casino. In fact, a few months ago, the Divi asked the government if they could hire people under 21 to work in the casino, since they could not find enough qualified Cruzans of age to work in the industry. Where are all the people who need jobs? Do they really WANT to work?

The “powers that be” support Paul Golden in his attempts to build a resort/convention center/casino on the South Shore because he’ll bring jobs to the territory. Hmmmm. There aren’t enough qualified people to fill the vacancies we have now, so….

He’ll have to hire more statesiders! And then the people dem will bitch about all “de outsiders dem takin’ all de jobs dem”.

It won’t be pretty.

And then there’s the guy we see at all the Paul Golden hearings. Roy Rogers. He has kids with college degrees. He wants them to work in Golden’s Resort. But he wants them to start out in managerial positions.

Well, I know a guy who’s the president of an oil company in RI. His father owned the company. But his father made him learn the business from the “ground up”. He started out cleaning boilers and working in freezing cold temperatures. He learned every aspect of the job so he could become a good manager. His company is very successful because of this. Why can’t Roy’s kids start out dealing cards at Divi to see what it’s like?

I came from the states a while ago, but I have paid my dues, doing everything (even with a master’s degree) from cleaning other peoples’ toilets to finally running a successful business. I don’t want an influx of Americans here. I left America because I wanted a simpler island-style life. Americans will bring their strip malls and IHOPs. Ugh!

St. Croix has so much potential to become a unique example of responsible development and non-invasive tourism. Why can’t we all just work together to make this happen rather than cow-towing to some big talking Jerseyite with a lot of PR and too little common sense and foresight?

(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.

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on Society” — Mark Twain

I saw this quote on a website for a local boutique. Interesting….

But I TOTALLY disagree. Some of the greatest minds ever have not been able to afford Armani.

Also, sex makes the world go ’round. That usually involves naked people.

Whatever that means.

This time of year, we work 7 days a week. It’s okay because season has started VERY slowly this year and we need to make the bucks while they’re there and save some for when it’s slow (from July through December).

We worked quite a bit yesterday. We did two couples massages and then I had two regular clients for 3 hours until 6 pm. We were going to stay home and finish making our costumes for the SEA Creatures masquerade ball tonight, but Michael thought there’d be time to do it today, since we had a last minute appointment for 4 massages cancel at the last minute because their flights were canceled, at the last minute, due to extreme weather conditions in America.

I’d been wanting to go to the Galleon for dinner, so we did. We didn’t call for reservations (a “no no” this time of year), but figured we’d just eat at the bar anyway. They weren’t extremely busy (they’d been slammed the night before), so we lucked out and found two stools at the bar far away from the piano. Usually the music is too loud for me in there, but Ben Staron, who we hadn’t heard before, kept the volume perfect for dining in the lounge area. He’s really good and plays a wide variety of favorites like Elton John and Billy Joel.

We looked at the wine list and noticed a malbec by the glass but not by the bottle, so we each ordered a glass after Cass let us try a sip of the Bogle Old Vine Zin she had open. It was good, but we liked the malbec better.

They had a few yummy sounding specials, and the new menu looked wonderful as well. We started with the mahi chowder, which was creamy and delicious, and the tuna futomaki in a cone of nori with wasabi and a ginger soy sauce, which was awesome, too. For an entree, Michael ordered the crispy snapper with a sweet and sour pomegranate-orange sauce, and I got the appetizer portion of smoked eggplant in an arugula and walnut pesto with a sweet onion and lemon marmalade and flat bread. Both were fabulous!

We had no room for dessert. Our tummies were full and our wallets empty by this time, so we walked off in a sated balance, got Biggie out of the car, and strolled along the docks for a while, admiring the moon’s fullness and the activities of the bats and night birds in that quiet section of the marina. Paradise at it’s finest.

Sunday, the winds died down. But it was overcast and rainy, and cold! The winds died down only for that day, though. I don’t know what is going on, but this is a really strange extended weather pattern. The seas have been too choppy for fun boating, sailing and snorkeling for almost two months!

I’ve done a few massages on the beach and after a couple of hours of being belted by the gusts, I just want to get home to cuddle up with a good book (or a cute husband or dog).

I was out at Tamarind Reef beach a few days ago, and although it wasn’t as cold as when Wreg and Wgigi were here, after two and a half hours (when the gusts actually worsened), I started asking the universe for just 10 lousy minutes of calm, just to soothe my nerves. I got about 90 seconds before the next gale force blast. Okay, it would be a lot worse.

I kept looking up at the coconuts in the trees and hoping they would come flying off at me or fall on my client. I probably wouldn’t be able to convince anyone that it was a “bonus feature of today’s massage”, like when the wind blows sand all over and I tell them it’s their free exfoliation.

Just after breakfast this morning, a wind and rainstorm blew by. Now it’s sunny again. But still windy, of course. Well, I’m off to Chenay to sit on the beach for a while and maybe do a little business. After that, I’ll do lunch at Cafe Christine with my little Pookie. Reviews of Christine’s to follow…..

….And tonight, Michael and I will go to the Botanical Gardens for their “Gardens by Moonlight” special event.

It has been a tough week. Lots of unpleasant stuff happening to those close to us.

Peter was not only devastated by the loss of Ben, but now he’s found out that his chef, Aaron has
cancer. At the beach the other night, he came toward us saying, “I’m gonna get through this.”

After all the crap he got from the government over the many many months since he bought the business, this is overwhelming. Aaron has been learning the Greek recipes and creating wonderful dinners at the homes of friends for weeks. And now this.

He, of course, has no health insurance, and the medical bills for his treatment will be outrageous. So there is a “pot luck” dinner planned for Friday night to allow folks to get together and create a plan for helping Aaron.

Just haven’t felt like writing and really haven’t had the time.

We went to the beach party memorial for Ben last night. Jody was a rock. He was walking out to see a friend whose handicap prevented her from making it all the way out to the festivities when we first got there. I gave him a hug, said how sorry I was, and he just gave us a big Jody smile saying something like, “Look at all the people Ben touched while he was here!”

And he was right. I estimate close to 200. We had to walk 1/2 mile to get to the beach because there were so many cars parked along the road getting to the beach. Good thing we had that tacky Budweiser cooler on wheels Wreggie won at the Divi Superbowl party! This is a picture of Ben and Darin. Darin died a few weeks before Ben did. Both of them worked at Savant.

Anyway, I had started crying even before getting ready to go there. And I knew I’d stupidly be drinking my bottle of red wine I’d bought a few days before (and wine makes me cry, too). So Michael valiantly put up with me all night.

We talked to Carsten and Amanda when we first arrived. Then Cindy, Ditty, Lesley, Tito and Sue, Peter and Aaron, etc. And we saw lots of friends we didn’t have time to talk to. There was a slide show going on with fun pictures of Ben and family and friends, and a bonfire and awful music, but Kurt would be playing later.

By 10pm (we’d gotten there around 6:30) I was ready to get home, having demolished my bottle and snacked on cheese and crackers we shared with a few folks. So home we went.

We lost another dear one this week.

Michael and I just found out this evening as we visited Peter and Heike (freshly home from Germany) at the Deep End.

We met Ben at the Deep End when he’d first moved here to be closer to his brother, Jody. He was very inexperienced and nervous as a waiter, but his great personality came out shortly and he became one of our wonderful, loving, island family.

Ben was found by Jody yesterday, eternally asleep in his apartment. We don’t know the details, but Jody is not answering his phone, as we can understand.