Still breathing and laughing

Since I thought I'd be home a few days ago...of course I did...I decided a very quick check in would not be remiss. No photos for today but if you can imagine being at a beach bar about 20 feet away from the touch of water on your toes, the sea grass and sand and changes in depth making for stretches of the colour spectrum well beyond my ability to ennumerate, while fishing and sailing boats sway and bob slowly on anchors and moorings, you'll be a little bit close.

Last night we ate grilled fish that had come in early in the morning...yellowtail with sauteed veg and rice. So, yes, it's been like that. I really will come home though...soon.

Oh thank the weather gods!

Finally, a release from weather concerns! While only a few days, these events turn into what I consider "hospital time" where all indications of an hour having sixty minutes and a day 24 hours disappears into something meaningless on a measurable scale.




Of course, our visitor list on island has been minimal and since the cart is cabled and storm ready or not, along with everything else in my world - more or less - it seems a fine time to take advantage of a chance to go on a brief island hopping trip, seeing some old friends and putting Culebra in my rear view mirror for awhile. Nothing like creating the set-up for 'It will be great to get home!' syndrome, which only takes me a very short time. Leaving by boat, it takes a week or so, by plane, I start missing home before I've left our air space. A good thing.

The sun is back!

The first Peter Pepper Pops!
(you'll understand the name more as it grows -
of course it was my brother who sent the seeds!)

Aji cabelleros - Puerto Rican peppers, fourth or fifth go round

Mint (yes A & K, help yourself for mojitos!)

If we actually leave tomorrow, I'll be back in a week or so with photos, unless I can't stand it and post mid-holiday...but don't count on it! If we're delayed...you'll know it first!

Bill almost at 20 degrees

We're all watching degree by degree at Bill stairsteps to the north, wondering if he will move fast enough to not spank up with his southern half.

But for the most part...looking good, looking great, looking oh let out a huge breath of relief wonderful!

Now a category 4, a major hurricane and predicted to get stronger (yeow), you can see why we've been a little bit edgy around the islands...

Muff the Magic Dive Boat

Muff today (literally)

MUFF THE MAGIC DIVE BOAT Certificate!!!

Live the Dream

If you know Culebra, you know about Capt. Jack and Muff the Magic Dive Boat. If you want to know Culebra, ask for some stories about Jack and Muff when you get here. If you want to actually live the dream, you can own the original certificate to Muff the Magic Dive Boat, its newer cousin, the log book, an original business card or two, an original Muff t-shirt and yes, Muff herself. All of this comes with the purchase of the certificate!

While Capt. Jack may not be around, his spirit is, as is Capt. Pat, so you will have your own personal guide in the purchase. Plus Capt. Pat's willingness to tell you any and everything you want to know about Muff, Jack and some stories of Culebra 'back then'.

Here's what is on offer: (don't forget you can click to enlarge the photos)

Muff today

Ah Ana

Ana, pronounced AH na, is still around, though we are on the back side of her now. Of course, being first to the party, she had to come early, so I hope everyone was ready! The track had her way south of us, but she was here as well (still is, in bits and pieces), and in fact, at the end made a jump north, landing her over Vieques and PR with us catching an extra hour after it seemed all was done.

The yard is happy, the dinghy is in serious need of bailing - too windy and wet and cold right now - yes, cold. That stormy cold when hot tea and a light blanket feel great...in AUGUST!!

Of course I got a lot of photos. So I'll post them in the order the day has gone, since almost pre-light to a little while ago.

This really was the color of the sky...color Ana purple

In only minutes, purple went pink and the wind began with no rain

And then there was rain...it's still on and off - but it was calm again

After the rain I took a yard walkabout - I tucked my herbs away for safe keeping
and there they shall stay until Bill that isn't supposed to touch us goes by

At one point near the end, the wind came up out of a dead calm -
this guy chose that moment to whip across the bay - hope he got what he was after...

Waves at the mouth of the bay

How it looked before I fell asleep!

The sky is grey, there is little to no wind and sleep was delicious! Ana is exiting PR to the west. Maybe I'll go to town and get that lamp oil I couldn't find at Milka's (where they had this glass bottle that says Gas Kerosene and looks like something from 100 years ago that was hand made and put in a funky liquor bottle and that would blow up in your hand while you were just thinking about fire - or, that's what I think!).

A mishmash

First, thank you Bird Lady! for identifying the bird in the previous post. It's a very young little blue heron. Apparently they don't get their full color all at once, a factoid I didn't know, having never seen such a young one. My little bay seems to be drawing birds again; an American Night Heron was hanging around a few days ago. It had hurt its foot somehow but wouldn't let me anywhere near it. Gone now, so hopefully all is well.

Second, I got these beeeeeuuuuuuuteeeful photos of my granddaughter eating her first oysters and first shrimp po'boy from the family's recent trip to the Gulf Coast. Anything that makes me smile a lot these days, I'm sharing! My daughter Michelle is trying to make up for the fact of my jealousy at not being able to eat oysters with them...pretty good job, kiddo!




Third, Sean is out of the hospital! Hooray! He kept being interrupted by the sound of the seaplane flying over the Seattle harbour while he and Nancy ate lunch. Definitely a better sound than the whisk whisk of nurses' shoes on shiny floors.

Fourth, the Cwim series. I was trying to grab a few more minutes of sleep when it seemed like Santa and all of his reindeer were on the roof. Instead, it was Cwim, running around like mad up there. Why? I have no idea. When I came outside she looked at me with a small cry, like she had no idea how to get down. Two seconds after I came back inside, she followed, using the genipe tree, no doubt. But don't tell, she thinks it's a secret.







Which brings me to those pesky storms - see gotoculebra.com and/or stormcarib.com for info. They are wearing me out! Today will be finish it up day for all the things I forgot to buy, like...toilet paper. It's the little things that make the difference between comfort in unpleasant circumstances and...damn it, I can't believe I forgot that! discomfort.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

One of the crazier days in Paradox

As noted, today started out with weather...and ends with more weather. But in between I took a bunch of photos on my way to town, thinking I'd do a blog on my work drive. But I don't have the energy to do it. I also have a project to post for Muff the Magic Dive Boat, Jack's boat, that is for sale. Well, the certificate is for sale actually, the boat comes with it. But I don't have the energy to do that either.

So, what you get is what I can do. I closed the cart minutes before a big squall hit. It was short lived and powerful, enough to send me home. Plenty to do here...but right before I got to the dock I saw this bird walking the shore. I've not seen an egret with this coloring and someone will have to tell me what it is...but it was very beautiful. There is some lack of focus as I was in the dinghy in some pretty bouncy water, but hopefully, the coolness of him will bypass the lack of expertise in the photos.









Now we have three systems looking to eat our lunch (or someone's), so readiness is the watchword. I think there are some tired people tonight...who will be more tired tomorrow. By the time Ana rolls over or below or above us, let alone Bill or the potential Claudette, we'll all be asleep.

Only two of the systems...don't be greedy

I raised a glass to Peter with people who didn't know him but understood his spirit and the reality that it is everyone's loss that he no longer walks among us with his smile. I can't help but believe he's near by with a grin as the storms line up...

Of all times...but of course!

We've been offline here since last night, which in my case means the phones were down, for the island, means ATM's were down. But, as of 30 minutes ago, we're back! I'm doing lots of catch up, but of course the big news is TS Ana and its follower, 90L, with them expected to be here Monday and Thursday...which of course, is a forecast, not a definite. . I'm just going to post these graphics to show why we'll all be busy today. The winds of Ana aren't expected to be *dangerous* just enough to blow stuff around, knock out the stuff that gets knocked out (water, electric, though sometimes they just keep on going great, we never know! It's a surprise!), etc. 90L is another question mark, but could be fairly stronger. So cleaning up yard stuff, securing it, all the last minute stuff goes on today.

Today is the life celebration of Peter des Jardins over on St. Croix at Hotel on the Cay. It sounds like it will be a large event and I wish I could teleport myself over there, but also know that I can be there in spirit, the same way I can be with Peter in spirit. For all of you who miss him, we're together in being grateful that we got to share in his life and hope that we can carry on his example of positive, generous joy, even if we do wear shoes!

Weather weather everywhere

I always love, when the update is pretty nuts like this one, the line at the end that says, elsewhere, tropical cyclone formation is not expected....I mean sheesh! isn't this enough for one evening?

I'm posting this because in a tropical moment, things are heating up fast...TD2 is coming back, 90L is continuing to make a play. This isn't usually what happens with these systems, usually one or the other backs out, off, down. So it's time to pay attention, if you haven't been already!

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
800 PM EDT FRI AUG 14 2009

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...

1. SATELLITE IMAGES AND DROPSONDE DATA FROM A NOAA HIGH ALTITUDE JET
INDICATE THAT FORMER TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWO LOCATED ABOUT 1000
MILES EAST OF THE LESSER ANTILLES IS REGENERATING AND COULD BECOME
ONCE AGAIN A TROPICAL CYCLONE TONIGHT OR EARLY SATURDAY. UPPER-
LEVEL WINDS ARE MARGINALLY FAVORABLE FOR ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT AS
THE SYSTEM MOVES WESTWARD AT 12 TO 15 MPH. THERE IS A HIGH
CHANCE ...GREATER THAN 50 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A
TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

2. THE BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE CENTERED ABOUT 400 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
THE WESTERNMOST CAPE VERDE ISLANDS IS ACCOMPANIED BY A LARGE AREA
OF CLOUDINESS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THIS SYSTEM IS GRADUALLY BECOMING
BETTER ORGANIZED AND A TROPICAL DEPRESSION COULD ALSO FORM TONIGHT
OR SATURDAY. THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE WESTWARD AT 15 MPH. THERE
IS A HIGH CHANCE...GREATER THAN 50 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM
BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

3. A TROPICAL WAVE INTERACTING WITH AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW IS PRODUCING
DISORGANIZED CLOUDINESS AND SHOWERS OVER THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN
NORTHWARD ACROSS CUBA AND THE BAHAMAS. THE ACTIVITY IS MORE
CONCENTRATED JUST NORTH OF THE COAST OF CENTRAL CUBA AND IS
EXPECTED TO SPREAD WEST-NORTHWESTWARD OVER SOUTH FLORIDA AND THE
SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. THERE
IS A LOW CHANCE...LESS THAN 30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A
TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

4. DISORGANIZED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NORTHEASTERN GULF OF
MEXICO ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A WEAK TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE.  SURFACE
PRESSURES ARE RELATIVELY HIGH IN THIS AREA. THERE IS A LOW
CHANCE...LESS THAN 30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL
CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS.

$$
FORECASTER AVILA

Of course, nothing happened

Yesterday's morning jazz turned quickly into a blue skied, hot summer day. I'd not even tied my hair up, expecting to have it cool enough to not have sweat head. Wrong! What did happen was - a colt wandering around by Mini Mas (I don't know the end of that story yet, I notified a couple of people I thought might know who a colt with no mama around belonged to), a discovery of magic stairs out in the bush along with some old corrals, and a peaceful end of the day. At least an 8 on the scale. Not bad at all.

Follow the signs!

Even from up the street at the cart, this cat looked HUGE

Investigating (that's what kids do!)

Where can I go next?

Are you taking my picture again?? Aren't I deliciously cute?

Speaking of delicious, this is my angel Sylvia,
bringing me one of her glorious mangos. Yum!!

A walk in the bush view of town

Town dos

Some deer prints...big deer prints! Thought I was in NC

Minding my own business (sure) I found this stairway,
in what is now the middle of nowhere. Sort of.

Like the Secret Garden, but different

Looking down the steps

An old cattle corral

Make do, make a fence

A rugged old tree in magic light

My daughter Sarah told me about a wonderful podcast, This American Life that I listened to for the first time last night. NPR is hard to get here so we miss lots of great radio unless we use the internet to listen. There are many options, but this program is a good one. I'm new to podcasts, but with my mac, I use itunes, click on the podcast link and then fill in the blanks. It works! So I can listen to the full show for free and/or go back and listen to old ones as well. Addictive. And, there are many more shows available, as well as finding straight NPR live broadcasts. In case you're interested...

Lastly, I got this in my email from the tinyhouse blog and really liked it. If you, like me, can't stand to see all the pallets that get thrown away (and we have lots of those here), here are some ideas for using them. While this chair looks pretty rough, I bet it's comfortable and anyone with another tool or two could round off those harsh corners, making it a little more asthetically pleasing. Maybe this will be a new business...hmmm.