Like Lemmings to the Shore

A very tourquoise boat

Culebra cleared out yesterday quickly enough that I could almost hear the whoosh of departures. I heard there was some ferry confusion; sorry to all of you affected and hope you got to enjoy a few more hours of Culebra, even if it was not your first choice.

Everything feels a little bit in slow motion right now. A horse lazily wanders down the street, stopping to take a bite of lush new grass along the way. Even the birds sound in muted calls.

The morning, which is getting cloudier as I type, is getting cooler, with the radar showing rain to the north and south of us and confused winds (even though at my end of the bay the water is almost still). Or they are confusing to me, those reds and yellows going east and west, with us somewhere about the middle. Ah well, if it breaks the humidity, a little rain wouldn't be a bad thing.

Here is some of the morning round about me. Not the horse; I was too lazy to get the camera...and a horse ambling is not the same as a still photo. As ever after a holiday weekend, it doesn't feel like a Tuesday and that will take me at least until Friday to straighten out.

 A morning swim over from Iguana Island

With no hurry, he glided into the mangroves

On a torpid Tuesday, do something turned on.

Memorial Day 2011. Yes, the U.S. is still at war today.

When we say "War is over if you want it," we mean that if everyone demanded peace instead of another TV set, we'd have peace. -John Lennon  

As I approach the gates of heaven;
St. Peter I will tell;
One more soldier reporting sir;
I've served my time in hell. -Mark Anthony Gresswell

I don't even begin or want to understand the phrase 'Happy Memorial Day'. Have a Memorial Day.

Beauties, Bulldozers and Birds - Culebra style

Today, well, your yesterday most likely, Daphne and Olivia, accompanied by Raquel, stopped by at the cart on their way to the library. The girls were quite insistent on letting me know they did NOT have their sunglasses, a momentary oversight Raquel was quick to fix. Because one knows one must be wearing one's sunglasses. And all slightly kidding aside, one really should. Eye protection in the tropics isn't a fashion statement as much as a must. Truly. Though obviously, fashion statement they can be.

And off to the library they go

Onward went the day, as a day does. I finished my time at the cart and headed homeward, with a stop at Happy Landings for some cocktail hour libations. In the parking lot I noticed a bulldozer and laughed to myself, thinking, that would be one way to move my dinghy (Norman wants it at his house to do the fiberglass and repair work, which is fine with me). Norman had been over the day before and realized it was a four man lifting job. But then, in front of me WAS Norman, and he told me,'We're on our way to your house to move your dinghy.' I said EXCELLENT! how? He pointed to the bulldozer. I laughed. 'You're kidding, right?' And he said 'No, we're going now.' And they did.

Karen came along and picked me up. 'If you want to see some fun, let's go!" We got there in time, barely, and this is what happened in my yard. Let me say this about that. If you have read my blog awhile, you will know; when Culebrense decide to do something, it happens. Period.

And that's how THAT was. I love Culebra! When my dinghy is glassed and I can paint its bottom and get back on the water, I'll love it even more. Life is ridiculous. Life is good.

Yes, another bird. This bird. not a hummingbird. Not a pelican. This bird has been hanging around my yard for a few years, skittish as can be. I cannot be within 30 feet of it and it's gone like a shot. But today, I was inside and I saw it through my window. It was probably about...60 feet away? Maybe more maybe less. Close enough to take a photo, inside where it didn't sense me. Score!

It found a land crab carcass, or it had made it a carcass. And then it went on to pick and peck. And then it flew away. I took way too many photos. Here they are. Well, the ones that weren't too blurry anyway.

Gulp!

What big feet you have, my dear

I got your back

So ended another Culebra day. Yes, it is Memorial Day weekend. Parties, trips, holidays. I could go on about what this remembrance is really about, and probably I will. But in the pre-actuality of it, enjoy.

Have a soldierly Saturday/Sunday. Do something special.

 

Publish Post

How to Start Your Day

Once again, Harold's cartoon of the day has been perfectly timed.

Copyright Last Lemon Productions Ltd. 2011. Haroldsplanet is a registered trademark.

I had decided to go back to some old routines, which means a yard walkabout first, ok, really first is breakfast for Cwim, then coffee or tea, walkabout, and internet after. What do I find on the internet? A laugh or two, some maybe pertinent news about Culebra, and a whole lot of sorrow and anger. The laugh or two can wait. The news of goings on here can wait (if it's that important, I hope someone calls me to tell me, if not, I'll hear about it later on). The sorrow and anger can be put off a long time, because it seems only the faces, names and places switch; natural disasters, indignities humans perpetrate upon each other, insane thinking by politicians...

I'd rather start the day like this.

Have a fret-less Friday! Do something freeing.

Busy Buzzy Busy!

Yesterday was a very successful trip to the big island! Today is full of doing what I went to the big island for, which is setting up my new stove/oven (only in this life did I ever think a stove did not include an oven, that's how it is). After nine years of a stove TOP and an awesome toaster oven, I have a cooker again (does that sound British to you? a cooker? well, it is, but it is also what is on the box and I like it - because that's what it will do. Cook).

After multitudinous stops at a variety of stores, we found pretty much all we needed and had the energy to shop for. A mandatory stop at Lolita's for one of the best margaritas (ok, two) to be found ended the trip. Well, including wrestling the oven onto a dolly, onto the ferry, into Francie's vehicle, down my lawn onto the porch. Which was as far as it got last night...

Home again home again

Until I started baking bread to sell, my trusty toaster oven was all I ever needed, even when I was in the muffin stage of my life (though it certainly crossed my pea brain a few times that I'd like a bigger oven). But needs must and needs did. I found exactly what I needed (not the six burner I wanted, one because they are very pricey and two because I'd have to turn my bed into a countertop due to space constraints - and I love my bed way too much, despite that it takes up more than its share of room. Blame it on the cat; we NEED this bed!).

Though, as you can see, she'll use anything for a bed

Weirdly, instead of looking oddly out of place, it looks like it has been there all along - well, except for the shiny newness of it. I guess the lizard brain in me remembers that most of my life I've had a cooker and it is just refilling this wee gap of time. Now of course, I have to paint...as the rest of the place looks decidedly less than shiny new. But I just happen to have some lovely periwinkle paint just waiting to get on where it belongs. Goodie!

 Ok, it will look more in place without the tools I had to use to get it in place

...and after the redistribution of stuff that was where it is now...

and throwing away the ton of packaging that it apparently required 

to get it safely to me. But beside all that, it's quite at home

Thanks, Francie, who kickstarted the trip, and Ray, our driver for the day, for all the help and patience in making this happen. Woo hoo! Four loaves of bread at a time!

I'm off to get a new hose for the propane tank...funny the things you finally notice that haven't blown you up...oops.

Have a turned on Thursday! Do something toolish.

Wave Watching

Sometimes, it is good to just be quiet and watch some waves (which is not like making waves). More like water waves, waves of golden grain, life waves. I like water waves the best, preferably with sand involved, rather than the sink variety. But that's me.

 

Watching waves...that's a pretty good idea.

Copyright Last Lemon Productions Ltd. 2011. Haroldsplanet is a registered trademark.

 

Have a watchful Wednesday! Do something  waist-deep.

Quiet Sunday, Shiny Monday

Yesterday, after a quiet day at the cart, finishing off a batch of hot sauce at home and recouping from a long walk in front of the fan, I thought, yes, this is how Sunday should be.

This morning there is barely a breeze, the sun is blaringly bright. It's quiet, like a Sunday repeat. Shhhhhh... A good day to make more hot sauce!

Copyright Last Lemon Productions Ltd. 2011. Haroldsplanet is a registered trademark.

 Some random shots of quiet

and then this guy...a wake up call... Good Morning!

.

I've Got the Best!

Girlfriends, that is. Truth is, until I came to Culebra, I usually hung around with guys. Part of that was what I did, part of it was just because guys did more stuff and had more fun than most girls and women I knew. Oh, I've had some excellent girlfriends in my life, starting with Patty Posey in the 3rd grade (where oh where is she now?), and Robin and Dickie and a few others who I'm still in touch with from junior high days. In adulthood, I have been lucky to meet a small number of women I am glad to call friends. But overall, it was guys who were more my 'hang out with' buds. Until Culebra. Where the women are as or more interesting, strong, funny and do as much or more than the men. I don't know why, it's just like that. And I'm blessed to know them.

Because we rarely have days that induce cabin-fever, routines with it come easy. When Linda was here, before the last drops fell, we'd hop in the car to do an island drive-about, usually ending up at Dinghy Dock with a few other people who were tired of their four walls or hull sides. now that she is in Michigan, that's changed. I wondered what would happen next. Yesterday, I found out.

Francie: I've got to get up and do something. I'm heading out toward Zoni, want to come for a ride?
Me: YES, thank you!!!

So off we went, in the finally not raining day, to check out one of the homes she manages. here is some of what we saw...

Deep cut from the off running water at Zoni

 Sometimes there's a great blue heron here, 

but this day, it was a great white egret

I love this spot after a big rain

I'd been home a few hours when the phone rang.

Susie: I've got to get out of the house! I'm heading out with a bottle of wine to sit by the water, want to come along?
Me: YES, thank you!

So off we went, the sun out a wee bit more (or less), to sit by a bay and catch up on our lives, at this almost-end-of-her-restaurant-closed time. Something here, that the women I call friends all have a drawing to the water as strong as I do, whether they live on boats or on shore. A fine foundation of a shared passion.

So we sat by the water, and sometimes talked and sometimes listened. And drank some wine. And hiked a hill. And got stuck in the mud. And got out of the mud. Here is some of what I saw (no photos of me splattered with mud from the spinning tire, doing the triumphant dance).

On both trips, we marveled over the new road out to Zoni, especially the part where the road was falling away for years and is now banked up and safe. Amazing! Done, and done right!

And the brilliant line of bougainvilleas gone wild. This photo, does not do justice to the color and impact of this riot of reds. But hopefully, you get the idea.

Now, if we could just get underground lines...(sort of like waiting for the Rapture, but different).

Yes, I know some wonderful men here too, but this is not that.

The sun is out. A swoop of weather (that's the technical term) is making it's way across the islands that may or may not get us wet again today, but that's for later. I think I still have a cart to open...

Thanks, women in my world. And thanks for always being willing to stop for me to take photos, in just the right places. You rock!

Have a so-glad-I-know-you Sunday! Do something with a sidekick.

p.s. The osprey is gone. I hardly knew ye...