Edge of the front.

This is my favorite view - it where the thunderheads build every
afternoon, and where the sun first breaks through. It's different
every 10 minutes and I never get sick of watching the sky.

Inch by inch

Look look look! Tomato blooms! Finally! This one happens to be a
better boy. Anyone have any idea what those plants are in the corner
of the bed? Steve and I put spinach seed there, but it's clearly not
spinach. It looks like weeds to me, but it came up so specifically
where we put the spinach seed that I can't make myself pull them up. I
guess I'll leave them be until they either go to seed (grass) or
produce something that looks edible.

Inch by inch

I figured it was time to take a picture of the bell pepper, since this
was about how big the others were when the iguana decided to tear them
all down. Here's hoping for better luck this time. I love the rain
drops still hanging from the leaves!

Inch by inch

I can't believe all the jalapenos we have this time around. What a
great plant!

Inch by inch row by row

Our chard literally exploded overnight -I couldn't believe what it
looked like when I came out tonight! It's nearly doubled in size from
a couple of days ago. Not too much longer and we'll have some good
eats! It looks a bit flattened in this picture - it rained like crazy
this afternoon

"I am just so HAPPY"

That was my favorite quote from last night's birthday bash at Ola
Lolas. I got to meet Elizabeth and Mike, new island transplants who
are staying at Shacks until they move into their house (just across
from us) at last night's pig roast. Elizabeth and I had been talking
for a while when we both just stopped and took in the scene around us.
Every single person had a huge smile on their face, and those who
weren't in the midst of an animated conversation were enjoying a dance
with their friend, youngun, or mate. Elizabeth, beaming, looked up and
said "I'm just so HAPPY"! I thought it was the perfectly succinct way
to sum up the night.

Nighttime was not when an iPhone was meant to take pictures, and this
is the only one that came out even halfway decently.

Home again

Steve and I came back home Friday night. One of the great things about
flying into and out of Aguadilla frequently is the fact that you get
to know the flight crews that always bid the trip. This Friday, one of
Steve's favorite captains worked the flight, so we ended up hanging
out with them as soon as we got into own. Yesterday, steve and Mark
(the captain) went diving - I snorkled, since I'm still trying to kick
this stupid sinus sniffle. We introduced Mark to the Blue Hole, where
he found a 7' moray swimming freely in one of the caverns! I got a
huge kick out of watching Steve swim in and out of the hole 30 feet
below me and sign to me what the eel was doing. For the record,
laughing into your snorkel will produce spluttering.

Diving at Shacks

Steve and Justin went diving at Playa Shacks today. They said the visibility wasn't the greatest in the world, but they had a great time anyways. I, on the other hand, remain curled up in the corner of the couch, snuffling, sneezing, and trying hard to remember that this is the only cold I've had in almost a year. That's darn near a record. But I still want to go out and play with my friends. :-(

Miami sunsets are pretty nice...

This is really a nice way to rack up Marriott Points

Apparently, I was dressed for a blizzard...

...in my jogbra and shorts.

Miami beach mornings

I love how inviting those chairs and umbrellas look! Especially given
the fact that this was taken after my morning run - 7.5 miles this
morning!

Steve did better than I did

That's him sitting and waiting for a good one - no one had to tell him when to paddle....

And, Steve going after a puffer fish in the bottom pic. There wasn't much room under that rock, but there sure was a huge puffer wedged under it!

Learning to surf.

Yeah. I got back to the beach and fell asleep in 15 seconds flat. Steve thought I was dead. Last picture is post-nap, and feeling much better. And for the record, the hat's legit. That's really what the call the stuff. It's for your surf board. It's Steve's hat...

Learning to surf

Ok. This was hard. Really hard! I did get up, but don't think you're going to see a picture of it - they haven't come out with a camera with that fast of a shutter speed yet.

Incidentally, isnt' that the prettiest, clear water?!

Playa Jobos

This is the best spot around here to learn how to surf - the water currents swish around kind of like a toilet bowl, so if you get on one side, the current will help you paddle out to where the waves are breaking. Behind me, you can see El Pozo de Jacinto - which is a big spurting well. You can see two people standing behind me; the white in front of them is water spurting up. The first one is a small spurt, the second one is more impressive. I look a little brain damaged in the second. It was a hot day.

The legend is, Jacinto was a farmer who had a favorite cow. He tied himself to the cow wiht a rope while he was pasturing his herd around the cliffs so he wouldn't lose her. Said bovine got too close to the edge and tumbled into the sea, taking poor, hapless Jacinto with him. Today, you can stand at the edge of the cliff and should "Jacinto! Dame la vaca!" (give me the cow) as the spray comes up for good luck.

A Fantastic Weekend!

This has been such a great weekend! And, that's really saying something, given the amount of near catastrophies we managed to scrape by... I started out the tone for the weekend when I went to pick Steve up at the airport on Friday. Now, as many of you know, I have a knack for ruining Steve's sunglasses. I've sat on them. I've dropped them, I've scratched them... you name it, I've done it. So, Steve shows up Friday wearning a really nice, brand new pair of shades. They look great on him and I compliment on him, spurring him to hand them over to me so I can check out the beautiful high-clarity lens. Within a blink of an eye, a force field develops between his hand holding the sunglasses and my outstretched paw, shooting the new glasses up, up, up in the air and crashing down to the concrete parking lot where they skidded to a stop. On the lenses. I am completely and totally aghast. Steve just smiles and says "they're legendary in their scratchproofing". He was right, they're still sharp, clear, and I'm not touching them again. Ever.

We then met Jimmy, Arlene and Savannah at the bowling alley for a little 10 pin. It was a great night; Savannah and I were putting a hurtin' on the boy's team (she's right - the bumpers really DO help) and I ended up losing my voice from hooting and hollerin... all up until somewhere around the 8th frame of the last game. Steve went up with panache to prove that boys could do better than girls... and with truly amazing velocity, lubbed the ball straight into the striker arm. So. We broke the bowling alley. Now, as a kid, I remember thinking that management at Maroon Lanes might really and truly make my group of friends PURCHSE the whole dang business when my friend Derek lost his footing and slid 6 inches onto the perfectly oiled lane. I was bracing for the worst - but all they did was roll their eyes and tell us to hand in our shoes, since we put that section of the alley out of commission. Really, they're great people.

The next morning, Steve and I got up early and headed out to Shacks Beach for some snorkin' and scootin' - it was time to give the new underwater scooters their maiden voyage. Ergo, you have this set of pictures. The water was beautiful. I'm talking, make you giggle with glee every 2 minutes kind of beautiful. (and that tickles underwater) It was crystal clear, and just perfect. So, of course, the first thing we did was scoot right out to the Blue Hole and start exploring. We found some previously unexplored (by us) sections of reef, and some truly amazing huge fans. So, we did lots of skin diving. Chasing schools of fish under ledges. Head down to the bottom; head up to the surface. Again and again and again. Now, typically, we ALWAYS tie our car keys into our swimsuit. Typically. This day, after swimming until both the scooter batteries, and our own calorie-fueled batteries had been depleted, we slog out to the car, talking about how absolutely famished and thirsty we are, and how great a big, cold 5 gallon jug of Gatorade is going to taste. When we get to the car, which is parked in the broiling sun, Steve looks at me incredulously, because I'm not fishing out the keys to unlock the doors and get us to food and water. I look at him with exactly the same expression. About 50 lbs of gear is instantly dropped on the ground as we frantically check every possible place for keys. And then, I head back out to sea with my sorry little snorkel and fins, while he goes in search of a coat hanger or a slim jim. It should come as no surprise that 45 more minutes of snorkeling did nothing to retrieve our keys from the ocean. In fact, I'm quite sure that their shiny glow is in the gut of a baracuda as I type. Hallelujah for our wonderful friend Darryl, who came along to save the day. We left Steve at the car with a coat hangar (that didn't look suspicious at all...) and Darryl ferried me back home to fetch a spare set of keys. What we really didn't think of at the time, was how difficult it was going to be to get back to the house. There's a lot of security where we live. The car has to be registered. Darryl's car is not our car. You have to have a military id. Mine is in the house. Once you get past the gate, you have to hope that you left one door or window unlocked. We did not. You then have to call the OOD to come let you into your own house, but that requires an id. See previous line for location of ID. Suffice it to say that by the time I finally got into my house, Steve had already broken into the car and was on his way home. Many, many thanks to Darryl and Keith, the OOD for being so gracious in helping us out! So, it was a great day of snorkeling, we have the pictures to prove it. But, in light of the past two days events, Steve and I decided to forego the party we were supposed to attend that night. Instead, we drank about 4 gallons of Gatorade each. Ate pretty much everything in the fridge. And didn't move from the couch (which we lined with pillows, just to be on the safe side).

Flame Colored Tanager

Ah ha! That's what it's called! Just looked it up online, and it just so happens to be the state bird of Puerto Rico. Huh. Go figure. It's a beaut!!

I missed the bird...

So, I walked out of the front door yesterday afternoon and was greeted
by the prettiest bird song - kind of similar to a red winged
blackbird. I looked up in this cluster of palms in our front yard and
found him - it was one of those beautiful bright orange birds. (one of
these days, I'm going to figure out what they're called) he cocked his
head and looked at me while I was pulling out my camera, then flew
away just as I was aiming. Bummer. But I thought the afternoon sun on
the palms was still pretty, so there you go.

You can see that these guys are covered with seeds - and they spit
them all over our front walk. Getting to the front door is somewhat
treacherous these days - it's like walking on marbles. Or like being
on one of those big roller conveyor belts that brought you cool stuff
from Service Merchandise. Only without the belt :-)

Clear clear water

This morning was spent conversing with the fish - and what a grand morning it was! With the exception of a couple of divers and one spear fisher, I had the entire beach totally to myself, and it was some of the cleanest, clearest water I've ever seen. These pictures were actually taken around high tide, and I can't believe how sparkly it was. I usually wait until low tide takes all the sediment out with it, but there was no need today. It was a lot of fun to be able to swim through places that are usually poking up out of the surf. There is always an east/west current, and I typically start out swimming into the current because it's so much fun to ride it back. It wasn't too strong this morning, but if you suck in your tummy and shimmy over some of the shallower reef, you can do a little bit of zookin. This morning, while drifting through a little channel lined with fans, I got goosebumps of happiness - I am so grateful to be here in such a truly beautiful place! Life really is good.

For the record...

... This was what the back yard DID look like...

oops - well, not the last picture. That one snuck in somehow. It's from a totally different day.

The second picture "Steve's Bad Idea" was when he was trying to put the top on the gazebo. It cracks me up every time I see it because it reminds me so much of one of my favorite Far Side comics; the giraffes out in the middle of nowhere, all taking turns to stand on a tiny little step stool. I love the absurdity.

To a Stopping Spot

 
 
 
 
Wooo-weeee! Finally - the back patio is at a spot where we can start enjoying it, and stop working on it all day long. There's still a lot of work to do - still need some more sand, fill dirt and sod to finish plantings and filling in holes, but for the most part, the patio is laid and we're using it for dinners and late night, bug free storytime. I think that also means that it's time to get back in the water!

Good eats

Oh my, but did the Demi glaze ever pay off - tonight we went over to
Angie and Luis' to taste the fruits of yesterday's labors, and Luis
used it on his specialty; rack of lamb. Here, he's playing a
delightful Julia Child; showing us how to make monfongo - a local
favorite made from plantains. Both were too good to sit still and
eat. Pair this up with the excellent snapper in coconut rum sauce that
Justin and Leslie cooked for us last night, and I am one well-fed,
happy girl this holiday weekend!