How to Live on an Island

How to Throw a Lobster Bake..in a Monsoon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:25:00 +0000

Well, it wasn't technically a Monsoon, but it felt like one.

To begin the story, our friend Craig was having a birthday on July 16 and his wife, Bree, decided she wanted to throw a beach party in his honor, Island Style. The first place to start was where to have a beach party where we could build a bon fire and not burn anything down. I know what you are thinking, if you are on a beach then there is a lot of water around so no worries, right? Not exactly, due to the reason that most of the shacks on the beach are just that, shacks. They would be up in flames before you could pour out your rum in order to fill your glass with ocean water.

Bree found a great spot on North Friars called "Godfathers". Private, easy to get to and the owner of Godfathers was being a great sport and providing a bar and shelter for us to have our shindig. That means we only had to bring food and people without the hassle of trying to figure out what everyone would prefer to drink.

So, on with the plan of what to make. Keeping with their family tradition of going to Joe's Crab Shack every year, Bree suggested it be a Lobster Bake. Oh, this was going to be great! I researched ways to cook lobster on an open flame on the beach and foods to serve with it. She was going to take care of organizing and decorations and a couple of side dishes and I was going to take care of the lobster, a side dish, the cake and the fire pit and beach chairs. I found some awesome suggestions for doing lobster on the grill and the one I ended up with was a lemon butter that was brushed on them, then wrapped up in foil and thrown on the grill. Easy enough. I graciously volunteered Ron to clean the lobster (all 15 of them) on Thursday night so I could prepare them all on Friday afternoon. Also made a carrot cake, chocolate cupcakes and a black bean, corn and mango salad. Bree made an awesome potato salad and the table was complete with little lobster food labels, lobster forks and great decorations for the "Craiggity Shack". Ron and I set up the beach and lit the fire. Now it's a party!

The birthday boy got there before everyone else, but I guess that is an Island Style surprise party. When you get there, no guests. His daughter sort of blew the surprise right before the party, but he still didnt' know everything and that was good enough for us.

The rest of the guests finally arrived (including the guy that owned the bar) and everyone got a drink and I started grilling the lobster (and pork chops for those who didn't partake in the lobster feast). We had a couple of mishaps where the lobster rolled off the grill into the sand, but Craig saved the day by taking it and washing it in the ocean and then we just popped them right back on and finished cooking. No worries!

By this time the wind is picking up a bit and it looks like it might rain. We are watching the cloud over Nevis and hoping that it is not coming our way. All of a sudden, the wind grew fierce and my food flew right off my plate! That means it is time to move inside. Well, if there was an inside. We are at a beach shack after all.

Everyone was abruptly finished eating and we started grabbing the chairs and trying to put out the fire since there were hot embers flying down the beach by this time and I was worried that something was going to catch on fire...like the next shack or the new building that was being constructed just down the beach and of course all the palm trees. The sand felt like bullets hitting the back of your legs and my shirt kept flying over my head every time I would bend over to grab a chair or try to move something from the beach.

All of a sudden, I saw a tiki umbrella from the beach bar north of the beach shack floating in the ocean. I called to Craig and the two of us took off into the ocean and grabbed the umbrella and dragged it up on the beach so it wouldn't wash further away. Now, to let you know what these look like, they are palm tree leaves strapped down over wood to provide shade. They are very cute, but not when they are floating down the ocean. It was quite heavy and now we were both wet and sandy. However, we saved the day and decided that he and I should go to Ship Wreck and boast that we saved their umbrella and that they should buy us a drink. We haven't done that yet, but I expect we will someday.

By this time we have everything off the beach, under the roof and the fire has been put out and everyone is huddled under the shack's cover. The music is still playing and we are determined that the party will go on! Then the lightning started and the rain was getting heavier and harder. The kids started panicking and so it was decided that Mother Nature won and we were moving the party. Everyone started grabbing stuff and shoving it in their cars and off we went to Craig and Bree's house. A trip back was necessary because the top of the grill was left on the beach and who knows if it would be there in the morning.

The party continued and thanks to Greg, we had some awesome music and the neighbors were so grateful that we didn't have a microphone.

It was a great time and even though the party didn't go off as planned, it was a very fun night and I wouldn't mind doing it again. Thanks Bree!

Just a Catch Up Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Since the last blog, we have almost solved the water problems. We had a roof repairman come out and fix what we thought were the issues and wouldn't you know, it hasn't rain like that since! So, we are waiting for the next big rain to come through so we can see if he did in fact fix it. The water coming around the doors is still an issue which is going to be solved once the storm doors are purchased and installed. Until then, we will just keep rotating the towels.

Ron and I have been doing a lot of swimming and snorkeling lately. Of course, he can't keep up with me and I have to slow down and wait for him. I truly think it is because he gets distracted by all of the undersea life that we see and I sometimes get distracted to and it is hard to keep that focus. When we went swimming on Sunday morning, we hadn't swam 3 strokes when he starts calling for me. So, I go check out what he has seen and it was a flying gurnard. Okay, I will give him that one because that is the first one we had seen since we moved here. I gently reminded him that it isn't exercise if we continue to stop, so let's move on. While swimming we also saw a very large turtle and other fish that looked as if they belonged on our dinner plate, but we are swimming, no fishing, let's go. Ron finished a minute behind me, however, it would have been longer had I not slowed down to let him catch up. Once he caught his breath, I said, "Okay, now we can go at your pace and snorkel for a while and see what we find". An hour later, we had managed to swim the Strip once again, but in a zigzag pattern this time and had loads of fun playing with an octopus and 8 very curious squid.
I did a swim by myself on Monday morning bright and early (7am) and did almost the entire Strip in 18 minutes! The water was a bit choppy and as some of you know, I don't do choppy very well, so I opted to cut it just a bit short. I felt it was an improvement since the first time we swam that very same distance it took us 22 minutes.
Other than that, nothing has really been going on. I am not saying that it is boring around here, but nothing worth writing about.
I did get myself into a project that was much more than I bargained for. As you know we love to go watch Karaoke on Friday and sometimes on Wednesday. All Karaoke functions I have been to always had a book so you could check out all the songs and see how many of them you think you know the words to. I mean, how else are you going to know what to ask for, right? So, as usual, we struck up a conversation with the Karaoke DJ and I asked about the book and he said he just didn't have time to do it. Well! I have lots of time! So, I told him that I would do it for him and this past Friday (after a few months) he gives me the hard drive with all the songs so that I can show my stuff and make the books. Oh Boy! Once I got into the hard drive, there are over 18,000 songs on there! I can't back out now, so I am going to truck along and get it done. It is probably going to take me longer to make the books than it did him to get the hard drive to me. I am going to have Ron to put his hand over my mouth and drag me away next time I step up to do something like that.
Well, that all for now. So long until next time...

Rain, Rain Go AWAY!!

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:41:00 +0000

What a day! When you live on an island and it is going to rain, you always wonder from which way it will come. Is it coming from the Atlantic side or Caribbean side? Will it rain from North to South, East to West or some other way? Any way it comes at you will matter.

We live in a beautiful house and it was just built a few years ago. As luck would have it, we are the first people to have lived here. I think it is luck...but it is also like buying a brand new car...lots of bugs to work out. And I am not talking about the 4 legged kind.

Most mornings we check the weather and yesterday it said we had a 30% to 60% chance of rain. Actually, every day you have a 50% chance it will rain, but let's go with what the weather channel said.

The morning was going great because a friend of mine came over and we cooked all morning. Made pizza dough, Shepard's pie, hummus deviled eggs, pumpkin filling for ravioli and most of it was going into the freezer for some quick cooking later on.

About 3:00pm it started to rain and you could see it coming from the Atlantic and a bit to the North East. In a few short minutes, the downpour came and all hell broke loose. The rain was coming into the guest room from around the outside access door, so in a very short time, the guest room started flooding and by the time I got there, the water was almost to the entrance to the guest room. I grabbed towels and started throwing them on the floor and then I ran to the outside door of the family room and water was coming in that door as well! I just knew that the roof was going to be leaking in the living room and by the time I got in there, the arm chair of the sofa was wet, so I pushed the couch out of the way and threw down more towels.
Back in the guest room, the 3 beach towels I had thrown down were completely soaked and I had to replace those and grab the mop to catch the excess. When I finished there, I go back to the family room door and have to change that towel because it is soaked. I can see that I am quickly running out of towels, so I try to wring out the towels and throw them into the dryer, cause I am gonna need them.
So, with towels in the dryer, I go check on the living room roof leak and on my way there, I spot another leak, so off I go to get another towel. As I am laying the towel down, I spot water in the floor in the corner of the living room and look up to see water streaming down the walls from our archway window way above my head. I run back to the laundry room for more towels and this one was a bit more involved because the TV, Internet and phone are all plugged in where the rain is coming down the walls. Reluctantly, I pulled the cords from the wall (because I went through an electrical fire on New Years Eve if you remember) and pushed the TV out of the way and it took 3 towels to grab all this water.
As I am leaving this leak to check on the guest bedroom towels, I notice more water dripping from the ceiling in the archway going to the Master Bedroom. By this time, I am ready to pull my hair out because I am quickly running out of towels, water is coming into the house everywhere and I have sweat dripping from the ends of my hair because I had to shut all doors and windows to keep the rain from coming in there as well. So, off I go to find more towels and had to use the dirty ones from the shower because my supply is being depleted very quickly.
The towels in the guest bedroom are soaked and the water is running down the inside of the door from the top, and also under the door and around the sides. Guess what? There is no weather stripping around the door and you can see daylight! No wonder the water is gushing in like a waterfall.
I turn the towels so the dryer end is catching the water and I grab the mop to soak up what the towels didn't catch and off to the dryer I go to see if the towels are dry. NOPE! So, I did the best I could at keeping the water contained until they dried.
When I could catch my breath, I called Ron to see if he could contact the landlord or someone because I didn't have Internet, which meant I didn't have a phone and I didn't have the number of the local person here in my local cell phone. He tried contacting everyone, but nobody answered or called back.
What I didn't realize was that as our house was flooding, his factory was flooding as well! Their dock filled with water and came over into the shipping area. I guess there was excitement all over the island about now and everyone was busy mopping up water.
It has now been an hour and I have everything contained and have checked on the towels and decide to go into our bedroom, turn on the air and the TV and catch a break. It was raining so hard that you couldn't hear anything in the living room and it was unbearably hot in there. All was good in our room and I went to the kitchen to get a glass of ice water and when I came back into our bedroom, I looked up and water was coming down the walls behind the dresser! AAAHHHHHGGGGG! I had to pull the dresser out and find another towel to put back there and then I also found another place by one of the windows that more water was coming in.
It is almost time for Ron to come home, it is still raining outside and we are supposed to be taking a colleague out to dinner. There is no way that I am going to be ready and since it is still raining, I haven't had a shower and I know that I am going to have to change the towels and there is a load in the washer and the dryer.
I have to tell Ron that I am not going to dinner and he feels bad that I am stuck here "minding the buckets", but to tell you the truth, I am just not in the mood to go out after all this chaos. I will have a slice of veggie pizza and a rum and coke and call it a day.
It stopped raining for a while and after the last load of towels was dry (about 10pm), I decided to get some sleep. Ron was home but asleep on the couch, so I woke him up and told him I was going to bed. I knew that I wouldn't sleep sound because I was afraid it would start raining again and the house would flood while I was sleeping. Luckily, that didn't happen, but I did wake up a couple times to check the towels and the guestroom seemed to be the worst of it. I changed the towel about 2am and it had stopped raining, so I figured I was safe for a while. I went back to bed and slept until Ron's alarm went off at 5am (UGH) and had a couple cups of coffee while I did my round of water patrol. All is well this morning...
But we checked the weather report...60% chance of rain for the next few days along with Thunderstorms. Better make sure my towels and our mop are dry.
And to top that off, there is power sharing on the island, which means that different parts of the island are shut off during the day and this morning happened to be our turn. Power went off for about 2 hours, but now it is back on and I hope that it all holds off so I can at least go to happy hour and have some dinner. I haven't left the house all week and it is about time I do.
All the towels are still on the floor, the furniture is still pulled out, however, I did plug in our Internet so that I could get in touch with the world and stop talking to myself because pretty soon I am going to start answering myself as well. You can never say that Island Life is boring or uneventful.
Until the next storm...

How to Get Your Hair Cut on an Island

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Well, to back up just a bit, we went sailing on a Hobie Cat with some friends and had lunch in Nevis at this great little place called Coconut Grove Beach. While talking to the owners, I found out that one of the owners has her Master Degree in Hair Cutting and Design. Yee Haw!
I have had a terrible time since the last time I got my hair done on the island because the woman bleached me blonde and damaged my hair beyond repair. There wasn't really anything I could do except for try and camouflage it or shave my head. I chose to camouflage until something could be done.
I finally decided to give this lady a call and have her do something with this mess on my head. The trick is how to get there in time. I will have to take the Sea Bridge to Nevis in order to get this done.
No worries, I am up for an adventure. The only drawback to this is my appointment is on Thursday morning and on Wednesday night I took a tumble down our front steps and spent most of Wednesday evening with ice on the top of my right foot, the back of my left foot and on my butt. Ron thinks I will need to cancel my appointment. Come hell or high water, I am going to Nevis! I am so tired of looking like something that just crawled out from under a rock.
On Thursday morning, I dragged myself out of bed, hobbling around and limping. I was supposed to do a photo shoot this evening and I know I can't do that because all that running around on the beach and trying to maneuver around to get the different shots is going to be impossible. So, I did cancel that until Saturday night.
I got ready and took Ron to work and I headed for the south end to catch the Ferry at 9am. The ferry was late, which isn't a big surprise, but I got to Nevis around 10 and walked to the salon that is just a way down the beach. I am sure I looked crazy walking on the beach with a limp, but hey, I am on a mission to take care of my mop head.
I reached the salon in time and I let her do her thing. At this point, I really don't care if she shaves my head. Anyway, when she was finished, it looked great!
Once finished, I have about 20 minutes to get back to the Ferry before it leaves. If I don't make it, I have to wait 2 hours before the next one.
Ok, I cannot miss this, so I ignored the pain and started walking back down the beach really fast. I can see the Ferry and it is loading and now I am down to 10 minutes. At this point I had to do a little bit of a jog and just keep telling myself there is no pain! I was almost hoping that a taxi would come by cause I was going to hop on! No such luck.
With luck and the wind behind me, I made the Ferry with 1 minute to spare. Whew! Now I am sweaty, the wind is blowing, my face is red, but my hair still looks good! That made it all worth it!
Ron calls to see how I am doing because I was so sore when he left for work. I told him the story of the Ferry and the great hair cut and told him to hold on to his belly cause I was going to come pick him up and take him to lunch with my new hairdo!
I took him to a new place he hadn't been and that was to Sweet Cane. I grabbed a salad and he got a chicken wrap, which set his mouth on fire due to his allergic reaction to the mammy apple he ate almost a month ago. So, we swapped food and had a great lunch together.
By this time my right foot is swollen above my sandals so I spent most of the afternoon ice on, ice off until the swelling went down.
I am so glad that the haircut was worth all the time it took to get there and back. I think next time, I will take a friend with me and make a whole day out of it! Guess that will be next month!

Keeping Busy on an Island

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Not that keeping busy is something people think about when they think about "island living", however, you can only lay on the beach so much before you start to look like shoe leather.

Ron and I started swimming. We lasted 2 days and we were both sore and his back started hurting, so we are going to have to stop being so ambitious and take our time. Hopefully tomorrow, we will get back at it.

You know, I forgot exactly how much time that I can spend in my office editing photos, updating and organizing photos and whatever else catches my attention. I have been in my office for 3 days doing stuff and having a ball. Of course the house looks like it has been neglected, so I am going to have to take care of that too.

On Mother's Day I did a photo shoot for a group called Project Strong. They were putting on a fashion show at Port Zante, so I volunteered to help them out. This is the first time I have ever shot a fashion show and it was definitely a challenge for me. Just to make a long story short, it took me 2 1/2 days to edit the photos. Ron however, had a good time harassing the locals. Just kidding, he wasn't harassing them, just joking with them. This one little girl came and talked to him and she must have been about 4 yrs old, so Ron asks her when her birthday is and she told him "August 28" and he says, "Oh! Me Too! I was born in August". So then he says, "So, you were born in August" and she replied, "No, I was born in St.Kitts!" Needless to say this threw Ron for a loop. I wasn't there at the time but the story I got later was hilarious.

It was a great way to spend the day. Something different and fun. I hope they give me another opportunity to do a photo shoot again. I learned a lot and did some research on all the things wrong with the photos. Next time will be better.

Other than that, I have been teaching myself how to make new things. Last week I taught myself how to make whole wheat ravioli. It was very good and with a bit of work, it will be going into my cookbook. That is another project that takes a lot of time and research. I am not sure if my waistline can take all of the experimenting. I need to start making stuff and giving it away. I have found a publishing company though, so that is a good thing. I will be very happy when the finished product is in print. I read Julia Child's book and I didn't feel so bad about how much time it is taking me because it took her years to write her book and she worked on it for hours and hours every day. I don't work on it that much, except for trying new things. I am still going through photographs trying to decide on which photos are going in the book.

I am learning how to operate Facebook. We lost a very dear friend on April 24 and I started a Facebook page for her so that everyone could come together and share their thoughts and feelings. It has been so rewarding to see how many people took advantage of it and posted pics and memories. The family was very grateful to see how she touched so many people and how she was cared about and loved by all. The next move is to try and do something in her memory that all can enjoy. I believe that an artificial reef will be a possibility if the money can be raised. I hope that everyone keeps posting.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you guys with trivial stuff, so I will go for now. Talk to you in a couple of days!

Jeff and Lyndsey's Vacation in St.Kitts

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:13:00 +0000

Ok, I really suck at keeping up with this blog. Ya'll love me anyway though, right? I thought so.

Actually, I have been very busy since the last blog.

First, getting ready for company always keeps me busy for a days. There is lots of cooking, cleaning and errands to run so all we have to do when company comes is to have fun. That is the goal, have fun and nothing else. Our visitors this time were Jeff and Lyndsey from Myrtle Beach. Jeff has come to visit us every where we lived, for the exception of Florida and I guess that wasn't far enough away, so he skipped that one. Anyway, they arrived on Saturday evening around 5:45 pm and their plane went right over our house! We stood on the roof and watched them fly over and then got in the car and went to the airport and still beat them at the door. I guess that is a real plus of living on a small island. The funniest part is that they had to land on Nevis before landing on St. Kitts and the landing and takeoff and flight to St.Kitts took all of 15 minutes! That isn't even enough time to pop your ears!

Our first item on the agenda was to pick them up (with rum and beer in the car of course) and then drop their bags at the house and then off to the beach for a happy hour drink and a sunset. Both of which were great! After this, we decided it was time to eat so we went to Club Fusion and had a bite to eat and then back to the house to let them get semi settled in while the drinks were flowing. I have to admit that I have no idea what time it was when we went to bed but we had a great first night.

On Sunday morning we all slept late, then drank some coffee and some bloody marys and had a big ole breakfast. The only mishap was that their bed fell apart while they were sleeping (or just waking up). Ron and I had changed over the box springs from one bed to the other and neglected to check the frame. Made for a great conversation at breakfast though. Lot of laughter and pictures the first thing in the morning. I am just glad nobody and nothing was hurt. Except the muscles in my stomach from laughing.

Afterwards, we decided to take them around the island and to Ottley's Plantation for a little taste of what is called a "Rain Forest". We tried to round the monkey's up for Jeff, and they seemed to be surrounding us at one point and I think I could hear Jeff's blood pressure going up, but then they seemed to vanish into the forest. Now, in the cooler (I never leave home without a picnic of some sort) there is rum, beer and snacks. Everyone picked their favorite and off we went. Next stop Black Rock where lava rock has formed over hundreds of years and have made some wonderfully huge formations to see. However, you cannot leave Black Rock without the legendary drink at Black Rock Bar, which is the first bar on Black Rock.

From here we moved on around the island where we encountered stray goats, donkeys, cows and bulls. Some we had to dodge in the middle of the road and others we tried to get them to come closer to the car. Actually kind of glad that we didn't get the bulls to come closer. A brief stop at Rawlin's Plantation gave us a chance to show off our stuff and show them different fruits and trees of different kinds.

We ended up back at the house later on and hungry! Our plan was to grab the grill and food that had been prepared and head up to the top of the mountain at the overlook and have dinner while we watched the sun set. Before we did that though, we took them down to Reggae Beach where Wilbur the Pig lives along with his friends Oliver (the monkey) and another pig and a goat live. Once we had had our fill of the livestock, we headed back to the overlook.

The Jack Daniels grill was filled with Charcoal and lit and then watched closely to see when it was ready for the steaks. In the meantime, we pulled out the rum and the beer along with bread and cheese, just to keep us occupied until the coals were done. Jeff threw the steaks on the grill and then I put the leftover macaroni pie on there to so it would heat up. The timing was perfect and we were eating dinner as the sun went down. YEAH! We will be doing this again! If you are going to be visiting, you can look forward to this!

On Monday, we went snorkeling for a couple of hours and saw so many terrific things. This was Lyndsey's first snorkel, so showing her everything was such a special treat for us. I think she enjoyed herself even if she did get just a bit woozy with the waves. Then we had to do a very hard thing and that was to take Ron to the airport bc he had a meeting in San Juan that was called at last minute. I have a plan though. There will be no down time here, to many things to do.

I had made reservations for the 3 of us to do the Sky Safari later in the afternoon so that it was after Ron had left. What I didn't plan on was that it was a holiday and after we dropped Ron off at 12:30, we tried to find something to eat and absolutely nothing was open. We went to the Sky Safari place to see if we could get in earlier only to learn that they pushed us back 1/2 hour so now we had more time and we were starving. There was one place we saw on the way up called, "The Love Shop" and we all giggled and said that we would pass that one by. It was opened, but didn't look like a place we should be hanging out. What we found out was that this was the place to go for fried chicken and also the only place open on a holiday! We still passed on it and drove up to Rawlin's Plantation and had a wonderful Caribbean Brunch and then back to the Sky Safari.

The Sky Safari was a great time and we had to harass Jeff just a little so we had the guy at the end of the second trail to shake the wire really hard so it would make Jeff swing back and forth. It was hilarious! We got lots of pictures and lots of laughs. That evening for dinner we had some fish tacos (their first) and ate until we couldn't feel our feet!

On Tuesday morning Jeff had a dive scheduled, so Lyndsey and I decided to go for a spa day at the Marriott. Now, that is a way to start every day! A nice relaxing massage and pampered to the max! We arrived at the port just in time to pick Jeff up, and I believe that was about 4 hours later. From there, I took them to my favorite Roti Shack on the island and then off for some souvenir shopping.

We went back to the house and had some dinner and of course, the drinks were flowing. Now, it is Tuesday night and this is the night that I watch LOST. I have never missed an episode, and I wasn't about to start tonight, so they decided while I was watching my show that they were going to go to the strip and have a few drinks and I would pick them up after my show. Sounds like a plan, so off they went. I gave them the low down on the better places to go and the riskier places that are not the best idea to go and went back home to watch my show. After my show was over I went back to pick them up. That was when the real work began. They weren't where I left them and I had no idea where they were. So, I started driving very slowly and stopping in front of each bar to see if I could see them. I was in my pj's so I wasn't going to get out, I just knew I would find them at some point. And find them I did at the opposite end of the beach, giggling and stumbling and having a great time. They were approached with various forms of "fun" and surprised by the actions of a few older women and I feel sure that these are images that are forever burnt in their brain. The important thing is that they had a wonderful time at the strip and got back safely.

Have no idea on what time we went to bed, all I know is that I was worn out. Everyone finally made it to bed and I think all were up by 10am. I made bloody Marys and a hangover breakfast consisting of sausage, gravy, biscuits and eggs. Once that was done, they started getting all together and packed for their next adventure in Antigua. We had a wonderful time and I am so glad they came. I just wish they were staying longer. Next time, next time. I dropped them off at the airport at 12:30 and went home where I was so bored and the house was way to quiet.

I am glad Ron comes home tomorrow so that the house will not be so quiet.

More to come!

Just an Update

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:54:00 +0000

It has been a while since I posted anything and I guess that means I am seriously on "Island Time". Let's see if I can catch you up without boring you to death.

I spend most of my days plotting on what to cook or what to create, spending time online, cleaning up volcano dust...did I mention how much I hate volcano dust? About every 3 or 4 days, I sweep up about a 1/4 inch of dust just from the living room, kitchen and family area. We won't even talk about the patio. I have also given up trying to keep the floors clean, I am all about just keeping down the dust.

Just about every morning I take a walk to the far end of the beach and back and that is about 2 miles. It is nice and quiet that time of morning and fairly cool. The weather has been unusually hot for this time of year and there hasn't been a whole lot of rain, so everyone is very thankful for the least drop of rain when it comes. When I come out of the bedroom in the morning to grab that cup of coffee I can tell what kind of day it is going to be. If the heat hits you first thing in the morning, you know it is going to be hot and humid. Those are the days I get what I want to do done in the morning and spend the rest of the day where there is a breeze. I figure if I am going to sweat then I may as well get the house clean all at once.

Ron now goes to the market with me every Saturday morning. He has found he likes to go and see what they have and what good stuff he can score. One of the vendors tried to take him one day on a bunch of bananas. The price they gave him was $1 more a pound than anyone else. Once he goes a few times, the price will come down, but for now he will stick with me when making the purchase. We now have someone that saves us the good lettuce every week. As hard as we try to get there early, 7:30am is about the earliest we can get there and by that time some of the good stuff is already gone. One week we got some fresh, sweet corn on the cob still in the husk and it was so good. We soaked it and put it on the grill with our fresh red snapper and other grilled veggies.

Enough about food, but to be honest, that is what I do. I figure out what we are going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then forage for the food and cook it.

Not a lot happens during the week and I figured everyone was bored when I kept talking about cooking or cleaning. Ron loves his job, however, works late most days. Our time begins on Friday afternoons when we head down to The Dock for happy hour with some friends to catch up on what crazy things they have had happen during the week. Then we usually head down to a place called Club Fusion for a bite to eat and some karaoke. It is so funny to watch locals sing Neil Diamond, Jimmy Buffet and other stuff. Ron has not been shy about getting up there and singing his heart out. One night he and I even sang Summer Nights (from Grease). I hear there is video of that, so I will have to watch myself a bit closer when I am out.

I spent a bit of time in the states lately and enjoyed visiting with my family and friends and as always, Power Shopping! I had a list of the craziest things and most of them involved cooking. An ice cream maker for Ron, a vacuum cleaner and a room divider were on the top of the list.

Let me explain about the room divider. We have glass french doors into both the master suite and the guest room. The guest room has no privacy at all and in the master you cannot forget to take your clothes with you into the bathroom because you will have to streak across in front of the doors in order to get dressed. Thank goodness that the divider is portable so it can be moved to different parts of the house until the curtains for the doors are complete.

When I came back from the states my cousins John and Willie came home with me. I was going to surprise Ron, however, he was going to have to forage for food before we got there so that we would be able to eat. It was Easter weekend when we arrived and nothing was going to be open. Ron was so sweet and hired someone to come clean the house before we came so that it was spic and span when we got here. What a blessing that was!

Our first night here, we came home from the airport, unloaded the stuff from the car, changed clothes and took off for The Strip to watch the sunset. I was really hoping they would get to see a green flash while they were here but that didn't happen. Not that we didn't try because we were at the beach almost every single night with our happy hour drinks waiting for it to happen.
On the morning of their first full day it was raining like monkeys and mongoose! Before we took off for the day we stopped by my favorite little roti shop and pick up some beer and chicken roti for lunch. We attempted to go to Ottley Plantation and walk thru the rain forest but there was no way due to the rain so we opted for a ride around the island. When we got to Brimstone Hall Fort we decided to head up there and see what was going on. There are lots and lots of steps getting up to the top but we all made it just fine. We had lunch on the top of this mountain at the fort and had people staring at us eyeballing our rotis. A couple people even stopped to ask where we got them. You know, thinking back we could have made some money off those rotis cause we were far from anywhere. I think we stayed there for a couple of hours and then headed back toward our end of the island.

By this time we are ready for happy hour, so we head to the beach and introduced John and Willie to our friends and had a good time at the beach. We opted to go to bed a bit early because we are going to the market in the morning.

Everyone got up early and watched the monkeys play for a while, then off we went. The market was extremely busy and we loaded our arms full of the local wares. After the market we headed to Ballyhoo for breakfast and then back home to unload and take a nap. Didn't do a whole lot the rest of the day and then back to the beach to watch the sunset. Still no green flash.

On Sunday we got up and had a nice big breakfast because me and John have an exciting day planned. We are going on a Sky Safari! The two of us will be zip lining over top of the trees in the rain forest. John of course is calm but I know he is about to pee himself, he just won't show it. Me? I am so excited and I am hoping I don't pee myself. Ron and Willie are going to hang back and take photos. We get all geared up and do a practice run on the zip line and get our instructions. Now we have to ride to the top of the mountain so we can zip line all the way down. The driver was so nice and stopped at each place so that Ron and Willie could take pics of us getting ready to take off. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be and for that I am glad because I came home with dry pants. If any of you come to the island I highly recommend this.

After our exciting day we have really worked up an appetite. We haven't had them on the south end of the island so we head down to Reggae Beach for burgers and fish sandwiches. It just so happened that Wilbur the Pig was there and although he was asleep he was still quite entertaining because he snored like a fog horn. We took some pics and video of Wilbur and had a good laugh when he tried to get in the van with a bunch of locals that were getting ready to leave. Now, Wilbur is about 400 lbs and has one tusk hanging out of his mouth. Let me show you his picture...

After Reggae Beach we took it slow and easy back to the house and watched the sunset from the southern side of the island and it was beautiful. We were all worn out from the day and all of us turned in early.

Today is Monday and we are off to a Caribbean Cooking Class. We learn about the history of Caribbean food as we watch Wendy make some fabulous dishes. I won't bother you with the details because it will just make you hungry. Class lasted for about 3 hours and we all waddled out the door happy. The rest of the day we spent at the beach while Willie looked for beach glass and Ron went snorkeling. John and I were bums and hung out in the lounge chairs and drank beer.

Wow, it is already Tuesday so we decide it is time to do some shopping. John waited so patiently while Willie and went into every single souvenir shop. We picked Ron up for lunch and then went at it again for a while, then back home.

Caribelle Batik was our last tourist activity. This is where you can go watch them make Batik and it is fascinating. They put wax on those areas they want to stay white and dye the rest of it, then boil off the wax and start over. It is truly an art and they have made some beautiful stuff.

That is the end of our week with John and Willie and I can't wait until someone else comes to visit so I can do it all over again! It was such great fun getting up, having our coffee and watching the monkeys play almost every day.

Since they left, I really haven't done anything unless you count reading 3 books nothing. I did got to the beach yesterday which was nice but I can't do that everyday because I will look like a lobster.

Anyway, that is our update for now. I apologize for the lateness and I will try very hard to keep everyone up to date at least once a week.

The Hash at Cockleshell Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:20:00 +0000

This was the first Hash we have done with the St.Kitts group and let me tell you, it was tough! Above is the view we had from the first large hill we had climbed. Our starting point is on the far left part of the picture and we walked along the beach and up the mountain to where you are seeing now.

We invited our friends Craig and Bree and their 3 children along with us so they could partake in the fun as well. There are parts of the day we couldn't tell them, but we did tell them that you cannot wear black shirts and to wear tennis shoes. I said that this was very kid friendly, but this particular walk was quite tough and all the children that were on the hash were struggling with the climb. I know that I will wear my hiking boots next time.

So that you can understand what the hash is all about, check out the link below and it will tell you all about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers

To start the day, we met at Cockleshell Bay at 3:30pm and waited for the rest of the hashers to arrive. Once the briefing was over, the whistle blew and we were off. The kids were excited they had friends from school there and had lots of questions about exactly what was going to happen. One of the things that we couldn't tell them was that since this was their first hash, they were known as "Hash Virgins", that there was a celebration at the end of the walk that would initiate them into the Hash Club. More about that later...

We start the walk by walking around the restaurant called The Spice Mill, and it is located right on the beach with a brick oven for pizza and lots of other goodies. This has been on our list of places to eat, but haven't made it yet. Past the restaurant begins a grassy area around the point and then the long stretch of beach with soft sand that makes it a bit difficult to walk, but what we didn't realize was that this was the easy part. After glancing up at those hashers ahead of us, we realized that they were headed straight up the mountain. This was not going to be easy, but you cannot turn around, because that is very, very naughty to do. The mountain has lots of loose rocks and briars. The kids were real troopers and made us look old because they were able to get to the top of the hill without the heavy breathing and red faces. Once we were at the top, the view was amazing. That is the picture you see at the top of the page.

The terrain gave us a bit of a break and was level for a very short time and then it was time to start up the next mountain. This one seemed to go on forever and ever. Ron has his "Schtick" that Dad made him, so he was able to go up the mountain with a bit more ease. So far his back is holding out, but his toes are giving him fits. I didn't have my shoes tied tight enough, so my shoe would stay where it was and my foot would give way and slide around. We stopped part way up to fix these issues and catch our breath. The crowd was slowly passing us. Once at the top, we sat down for a few seconds and then started back down the mountain. The consensus was that this was harder than the climb up! I turned both my ankles a couple times, Ron slipped on a few rocks, but was able to recover quickly and the kids got a good lesson on how to walk sideways down a hill. The lady behind me thanked me for finding all the loose rocks for her so she wouldn't fall. I was most gracious and told her that if I found them first then that meant she wouldn't be falling on me and that she was most welcome for that.

We can see the bottom of the mountain getting closer and closer, and level ground is fast approaching. Whew! Everyone is glad that part is over. So much for my statement of "Kid Friendly". At this point, everyone is heading straight along a dirt road and around the large pond. We had a chance to cheat and take the road, but again, that would be very, very naughty so we followed the rest of the pack around the big pond.

More than an hour has already passed, so we know we couldn't be to far from our destination. No worries now though because we are on level ground and able to breathe normal and determined to reach our destination. Didn't have a lot of choice but to reach the destination because the bus doesn't run out here and you were not going to get any pity.

I could see the flags in the distance and thought that these were the flags on the beach, but they weren't. These flags marked the entrance road to Cockleshell bay and much to our surprise, this road has an incline. That isn't fair, we had already walked uphill enough for one day. Of course we laughed at the fact nobody realized that this road had an incline until now and persued on.

We reached the finish line with much excitement ready for some cold beverage and food. The sky clouded up and this beautiful rainbow appeared and then another one beside it. You could actually see where the rainbow ended but nobody wanted to walk up the mountain to find the pot of gold.

Now that we have cooled down and hydrated ourselves, we notice the runners haven't arrived. After a few minutes, the runners arrive by boat because thier path had led them to a dead end and many false trails. As a surprise to them, a boat showed up and carried all them back to where we were.

The religious advisor climbs on top of his beer crate to start the celebration. First on the list is to thank the Hares that laid the trails. They were shown appreciation by singing the Down Down song, which we can't remember the words, and had to down a full bottle of beer without stopping and the beer they didn't finish was poured over their head. Next on the agenda were welcoming the Hash Virgins. Craig and Bree were among the virgins who were about to be intiated. They reluctantly but admiringly went forth. They were all summoned to kneal in front of the religious advisor and proceed to be introduced and something sarcastic was mentioned about thier names and some even got a special trickle of beer on top of their head. Once all are introduced and a few laughs had by all, they were given a fresh bottle of beer and told to drink it down. Again, the Down Down song was sung and the drinking began and within seconds a beer soaking broke out and we all had to run for cover. You can see part of this in the photo below.

Craig and Bree were no longer Hash Virgins and I explained afterward that I couldn't tell them what was going to happen or I would have been on my knees in front of the religious advisor with beer being poured on my head. Now they will have to find some virgins to take along next time. There were a few more recognitions and punishments that went on and luckily none of us were called upon to participate.

We hung back and watched the goings on and ate our snacks we had brought, the kids played on the beach and ran around until after dark and then it was time to call it a day. Everyone was ready for a shower. A couple of the kids soon forgot the struggle and decided they were going to do another hash. I believe everyone had a good time.

The next hash will be Valentine weekend and we are all told to wear red, so that is what we will do. Hope you enjoyed coming on the hash with me and as always, there is more to come...

More hash pics on my website.

Market Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:20:00 +0000

Yesterday was quite a busy day. I got up and out and was in town at the market by 7:45am. We were quite low on everything since I had not been foraging for food all week. The elections were last Monday, so we stayed far from the city and I missed the boat from Dominca with all the fruit. Here is a picture of the market before vendors and people.

Anyway, I scored some great herbs at the market. While I was parking the car, I spotted flat leaf parsley across the street. Don't ask me how I did that, but I did. That of course was my first stop and I was happy with my find and went about my way down the crowded side walk to find other treasures that the farmers had so graciously brought with them. As I am walking, I feel so much like I am in a movie for some reason. To the left and right of me there are ladies and men with their long dreads tied up in colorful scarfs and hats with all of their goodies scattered on cardboard or cloths ready for someone to take their pick. Some had fresh pigeon peas still in the pods, along with carrots, potatoes and other vegetables that I am not quite sure of the names. Mounds of sorrel, which are a rich ruby red, are stacked on tables along side of sweet potatoes, pineapples, christophene and plantains. The colors are just beautiful. It could be the morning sun hitting them just right, but whatever it is, it is beautiful. I proceed down the walk to the main market, which is an open air building painted in bright colors, and there a so many early risers bargaining and chatting with the vendors and a minister who has his speakers on top of the car, preaching to all those that will listen. Actually, you don't have much choice but to listen, because it is very, very loud. Everyone that passes says, "Good Morning" and I smile and extend the greeting back to them. Once inside the market, there are tables all in rows and the farmers have organized all the fruits and vegetables so you can see them easily. I decide to start at the right side of the market and work my way back because I really don't have a list of items, I am just going to wing it. That will be the adventure for the day, lol. Whatever the market has is what we will eat. On Saturday mornings, and only on Saturday, the butchers are there to sell their meat. Curiosity has the best of me and I decide to venture in and see what they have. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected. The forever burnt memory of the first time I went into the Bridgetown market and saw the head and feet of so many pigs propped up on the shelf for all to see, is something I just can't shake. To my surprise, it was mostly slabs of half frozen meat that they were chopping up for their customers. One thing in particular is an Ox Tail, that is chopped in segments all the way down the tail without going completely thru, so it can be used to flavor soups and stews, only to be picked out later if you decide. Don't get me wrong though, the thought of turning vegetarian is highly likely once you have been in there. There is no refrigeration, the machetes they are cutting with are rusty and who know what was on the countertops before they arrived. Just to confirm your thought, NO, I did not buy any meat.

As I was walking out of the meat market, I saw a table that had alot of herbs on it and I was happy to purchase a huge bunch of fresh basil. I can taste the bruscetta now, yummy. By this time my friend Bree has come and we wonder around for a few minutes to see who has the best items so we can go back and make our purchases. The last time we were at the market, one of the vendors had a bunch of herbs tied together, and if you touched the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb, that is about how big around this bunch was. These herbs were used to make Bush Tea. I had bush tea at the cooking class and didn't quite capture the concept of it, and so I had to ask lots of questions about how to make it and all that. Just to make a long story short, the one very important question I didn't ask, was how much to use. To make a long story short, we drank bush tea until I don't want to look at it again for a while. The same vendor was there this morning with the herbs for bush tea, but I didn't buy any. The bunch consists of basil, mint, lemon grass and cinnamon leaf. I have to find out more about the cinnamon leaf, it is commonly used in alot of dishes here on the island.

Bree was a real sport and humored me and walked thru the meat market again. I just had to show her what an island meat market was like. This is her first time living on an island and she just needs to experience some things. We giggled and passed on the offers that the butchers were trying to sell us. Now that she was ready to be a vegetarian, back out into the market we went.

It is funny because I notice now that I have been to the market a few times now, the prices are cheaper. Huh...wonder why that is? We are starting to know some of the vendors and it never fails, someone always asks if we are students at Ross University. At my age, I love being asked if I am a student, lol. Little by little, our bags are getting heavier and heavier and soon we will have to leave or we won't be able to carry the bags. Mine was full of pineapples, mangoes, ortanique oranges, cucumbers, pumpkin, tomatoes, bananas, avacodo, papaya, christophene and herbs. This was the first time that I have seen mangoes at the market, so that means they are coming into season. One thing I didn't see were breadfruit and we love to eat breadfruit. It is a nice alternative to potatoes. There is a breadfruit tree in the middle of town that is bearing breadfruit, so I will have to go check that out and see if any have dropped on the ground or are at least within my reach.

With a smile on my face, I lug the heavy bags down the street to Bree's car, cause she parked closer and she gave me a lift back to my car so I wouldn't have to carry the bags so far. So nice of her to do that.

I will now venture over to the grocery store to see what they have and that will determine what we will be eating for the next week. Should be interesting. This afternoon we are heading to walk with the Hash House Harriers, so I know that I need to make some energy sustaining food to get us thru that. I started a batch of dough for breadsticks before I left the house, so with my gorgeous bouquet of basil, I believe that pesto may be on the menu for today.

Stay tuned for the next post....The Hash

Routines

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Routines are wonderful aren't they? There is something comforting about starting your day out the same way, it just makes it feel like your day is going to go as planned.

The routine I have developed since living here, is that I wake up (without an alarm) between 5:30 and 7am every day, even weekends. I wonder into the main area where I see my husband drinking his coffee and watching the news. By this time he has a couple cups of coffee under his belt so he is very awake and sometimes very talkative. After 10 yrs of marriage, he understands that I am not that awake yet and sometimes just cannot comprehend what he is talking about. If I do, I respond and if not, well, I just wonder on past him toward the coffee pot. I pour my coffee in my favorite coffee mug (Army Mom) and head for the porch. When the door opens and that wonderful sea breeze hits my face, I smile and breathe it in. I sit on the couch outside and watch across the street as the construction workers get dropped off to start their day and all of those motivated people who are walking, running and walking their dogs. The ones I admire most are those who are walking the hill beside our house. I have not tackled this yet, but I will. Maybe someday I will know their names or at least wave to them and they will wave back.

Sometimes I am entertained by the family of monkeys that migrate through our yard. It is funny because I never see them on the weekends, only weekdays. Where do they go? There are days that I grab my camera and take pictures of them or video. I have included a video for you today of one morning they were very playful. If you notice, most of them will look before crossing the road, others just trust the monkey in front of them. Rumor has it that if one of the monkeys cross first and the one behind it gets caught by a car or something that makes it turn back, they beat up the successful monkey that made it across. I have yet to see this, but I can't wait.

While all of this is going on, I watch the sailboats on their journey to wherever they may be going, the kite surfers getting in that morning rush and the sun just starting to peek over the mountain. Once the rays of sunshine start coming over, I know that my day has started. Sometimes Ron gets to see the monkeys and sometimes he has to go to work before it starts. He giggles and says, "Don't be to lazy today..."

Lazy is something I am not to much of these days. On my days off in the states, I would sometimes just stay in my pj's all day and lay in bed or on the couch and watch TV all day long, and not even go outside. Now I will stay in my pj's all day, but that is because I am going to be cleaning and sweating, and the pj's are already dirty, so why change into clean clothes, when I can just use the ones I have on. Then I can take a shower and be clean all over. Sometimes on a hot or very busy day, I will have 2 or 3 showers. That was normal on those days that I was unpacking from morning until night. I would work until the clothes I had on were soaked in sweat and I just couldn't stand the smell anymore and would take a very cool shower, change clothes and back at it again. I also realized that my daily perfume was no longer flowery or fruity, it was baby powder and bug spray. Mosquitoes seem to be attracted to perfume, so they win, I don't wear it.

When I go to town, the items in my bag have changed as well. While my bag in the states was like a brief case and I just couldn't do without anything in there, priorities change and my bag now consists of a bottle coozie, toilet paper, hand sanitizer and of course my wallet. I will drop my iPhone in there when I am going to be spending a long time in town because I will head to Sweet Lime for a nice cool drink and some WiFi time.

I also realized this morning that I haven't left the house all week except to walk to the beach with Ron on Tuesday. Monday I cleaned the family room, exercised on the Wii for a couple hours, cooked something, but I don't remember what and crashed early. Tuesday, I cleaned the living room, made something in the kitchen and walked to the beach with Ron. We had leftovers, but I couldn't tell you what they were, isn't that awful? Wednesday, I didn't clean at all, I decided to cook all day. A friend came down and she made a pile of pancakes to freeze for her kids, I tried my hand at tortillas, but that didn't turn out so well, showed them how to make macaroni pie, made a caramelized onion and mushroom quiche, and then we had steak, macaroni pie and salad for dinner. I also made a batch of Biscotti that was the best I have made yet. Yesterday, after making a loaf of bread so Ron could have a sandwich at lunch, I mainly worked in my office all day trying to get things organized. I made hard copies of all the photos we have taken since being in St.Kitts and that took 4 Cd's. A couple friends came by and we shot the breeze for a couple hours and then back to my office. My goal is to be completely organized this time around. There is nothing more frustrating than to know what pic you want and have to go through 20 Cd's to find it, or looking for a document and not know which file it's in. Let's hope I stick to the plan.

Today is Friday and now that the sun has come up, my coffee is gone, it is time to start the day. I believe some yoga is in store for me this morning. I was quite stiff this morning and that is probably from sitting at my desk for so many hours yesterday. We may head to the beach for happy hour this evening, who knows. I will have something out for dinner either way. But what will that be?

I believe I like this blogging thing, because it is like I am talking to each and every one of you like you are here. I hope you feel that way too. Enjoy your day and I will be blogging diligently for you...

My First Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Tina Elkins) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:37:00 +0000

This is my first post to my blog. I am very new at this, so please be patient with me.
It has been a while since updating everyone on what we have been doing. Basically, nothing exciting has been happening. Since the last time I sent out an update, our belongings arrived and I have been very busy unpacking and unpacking and unpacking. I did discover a little friend in the house and we played hide and seek. Mainly, he would hide and jump out from a box or something that I moved. He (I have named him Jasper) is a lizard that is about 2 inches long and I swear I heard him giggle a couple of times when I would jump back.

The only time I have been out of the house is to go to the market or the grocery store. I did take a couple friends to the cooking class that I had attended when we first arrived and they had a great time. Afterwards, we went to the market, the hardware store and to the grocery store. We call it "Foraging for Food" here, not grocery shopping. Seems appropriate to me.

On January 20, we celebrated our 10th anniversary.Ron took me to this quaint little French restaurant down from our house and it was great. On Friday, January 22, the last box was unpacked and on Saturday morning, we went to Nevis for the night. Now, that was a real trip. There is a car ferry that takes you from St.Kitts to Nevis and it arrives and leaves at different times of the day. We decided to take the first trip over (9am) so we could get in as much time as possible. Normally you would drive the car on and then drive the car off when you get to your destination, however, not here. It is one way on and one way off. First thing that happens is all the cars have to get into a line (facing the opposite direction of the boat), and then someone comes around and chooses who goes on first. We were second in line to be told to put the car on the boat. All cars have to back up onto the boat and there is someone to guide you on where you need to be and also move the pieces of wood around so that your car doesn't get stuck on the ramp when the water rises and falls. I decided that I would rather watch this event from the outside of the car rather than from the inside, so I waited in a covered shelter until all was done. The depth perception of the locals here is phenominal! I realized that all of these people put their full trust in these guys to make sure the cars get on safe and sound. There wasn't more than 2 inches between the cars. The ride over to the sister island only took about 20 minutes or so and it was time to drive all the cars off. This went much faster and I got in the car for this. It was quite bumpy, but successful.

Once we were on land you could see just how beautiful the island was. Luckily, I remembered to bring a map of Nevis so we would know which way to go to the resort. Even if we turned the wrong way, there is only one road around the island, so we would have found it eventually. The resort was Oaulie Beach Hotel and it is a charming, tucked away gem on the Caribbean Sea. Since we arrived so early, our room wasn't ready, but that was ok with us because we would change into our swim suits and settle down into one of the many lounge chairs under a palm umbrella or a nice shady almond tree. Both are abundant on the resort. We went to the bar and had our welcome drink and then off we went. The lounge chairs were nestled under a palm umbrella with a light breeze and the ocean was at our feet. Heaven is the only way to describe it. I could feel all of the tension of the past couple of weeks just start melting away. AAAhhhhh.....that is until a father decided to ignore his child until she felt the need to scream DAAAAAADYYYYY over and over and over as loud as she could until he answered her. I was very close to yelling for him myself to answer her. Then a gentleman behind us answered his cell phone and was doing business with someone from New York. I think working while laying on the beach should be outlawed. I mean really, you are there to relax, right? I know that is what I was there for. Thank goodness for my iPod. I plugged myself in and started to relax once again. I made sure I didn't play Soca music because people would have thought that I was having an epileptic fit. I just can't seem to keep my hips still when that music is on, so I closed my eyes and let Jack Johnson drown out the kid and the workaholic.

Ron wasn't quite ready to relax, so he grabbed the snorkel gear from the car and went for a swim. Once he was back, he was ready for lunch. The restaurant was behind us, so we grabbed a quick lunch and then our room was ready. Our room was at the end of the resort tucked away just waiting for us. It was called Paradise Cove and as soon as we walked in, we knew why. Inside the room was a king size four poster bed with a canopy and one side of the room as all glass that had a door that opened up to a screened in patio that faced the beach. We were only yards from the beach. Oh, this is going to be great! I see two hammocks right outside that are under palm trees and I can't wait to get out there. We drop our stuff in the room and outside we went. I got one hammock and he got the other one. The pelicans came in to feed and that was so entertaining. We must have layed there for a couple of hours watching them and dozing in and out.

At one point, I could hear someone yelling my name over my music and when I looked up, I saw Ron pretty much hanging upside down in the hammock sideways. He is yelling "Help!" and once I realized it was him who was yelling for me, I looked at him and said, "Do you really need help or are you just fooling around?" He chuckled and let me know that he really needed help. He must be out of practice relaxing, we must work on this some more. Afer a while, we moved to the lounge chairs and were chatting, when I looked up and a monkey was eating the almonds under the tree right beside of us. They were so cute! They entertained us for a while longer and we layed out there for a couple more hours until the sun was about to set and we went to our room to get showered and ready for dinner. On our way to our room though, something had left us 4 large piles of surprises. I looked at Ron and said,"Monkeys don't poop that big, do they?" We hadn't seen anything big enough to make this mess, until I looked up and a big bull walked right behind Ron. I pointed and said,"There is your culprit!" Of course, we couldn't just walk away. We had to take pictures of the poop beside Ron's shoe so you could see how big and also follow the bull to the rest of the herd and take pics of them too. We couldn't be the only ones to see this, right? Once the novelty of this had worn off, we were ready for our showers and something to eat.

While Ron was taking his shower, I watched the last of the sun go down and to my amazement, I saw the green flash. That is something I have never seen before and may never see again. Ron was very jealous and he will not rest until he sees the green flash too. We had a great dinner and settled into our lounge seats on the patio and watched the stars until we just couldn't hold our eyes open anymore.

We hopped up early so we could go for an early morning snorkel and more lounge time before we had to check out at 12. What a great place to snorkel! That is once we got past the gasp coming from our mouth as we got in the cold water. It was worth it though. We must have seen 40 lobters, no joke! I wanted to grab a couple, take them back to the kitchen and see if they would cook them up for free. Ron wouldn't go for it. He wants to keep this place a secret I think so the lobster will grow really big and we can get them later on.

Check out time came and our next adventure was driving around the island. Now, if you remember, there is only one road and this island is significantly smaller than St.Kitts. Total time for the ride was less than an hour. We found ourselves turning onto a dirt road to a place called Coconut Grove and it was this enormous Tiki Hut! There was a huge social area with large couches and oversized coffee tables and a wine bar. The roof was a real thatched roof that took a team of men from Dominica 6 weeks to complete and it was absolutely amazing. We had a great lunch and then it was time to catch the ferry back to St.Kitts. I still didn't stay in the car for the this, I waited and walked on. The trip back was just as pleasant as the first one. Calm waters and great views of both islands.

Once back on St.Kitts, we headed home and dropped our suitcases off and headed toward this little beach I had found that I thought would be great for snorkeling and diving. It has a small beach, a bar, a dive shop, a restaurant and a roped off snorkel area. Ron really didn't want to go in because it was about 4pm by this time and it would be dark soon, but I made him go anyway and he was really glad he did. It is going to be a great place to go for us. I can see this becoming a hang out for us on the weekend with other dive friends. We stayed to watch the sunset, but no green flash this time.

You can see more pics of our weekend on my website under the heading of St.Kitts.

That is all for our anniversary celebration weekend. I will write more later.