Nobody here but us and a couple of lizards!

Today was a holiday here, Christmas 2nd day. I'm not kidding, it's true, it's really a holiday and that's what they call it. It was a day off for us, but HoneyBunch/Rudy and I went to work to take care of a couple of things. I happened to look out the window and spotted 2 big iguana frolicking in the parking lot. HOLY COW!!!!! Was I excited???? You better believe it!! I ran in and alerted HoneyBunch/Rudy, we grabbed our camera and snapped them in action. We threw them a couple of Christmas cookies, but they opted for weeds instead. It was quite an amazing site, they looked so happy to have the parking lot to themselves, not having to dodge customers and cars and heavy equipment. I think they were truly enjoying their Christmas 2nd day ... I believe it might be like a day at the beach for us. Good times!

Christmas in paradise

Christmas in paradise ... it's a beautiful thing! We found one of the most spectacular lighting displays on island, they even have Christmas music playing in the back ground.

Christmas day we went for a dive at Cane Bay, very nice. We saw a big barracuda and a couple of manta rays and a whole bunch of beautiful fishies ... what a great way to spend Christmas Day.

The beach was definitely the place to be on Chrismas Day. As we were exiting the water after our dive, Diane, our favorite waitress from Cane Bay Beach bar came up to greet us and give us a big Christmas hug!  She and her family were camped in the shade on the beach, sipping holiday spirits, enjoying their Christmas feast and playing in the sand. What an amazing site, watching all the families and friends enjoying the holiday together at the beach... this IS paradise!

 

Empty nest

The hummers have both flown the coop ... the nest is empty and all is quiet. I saw both babies fly away on different days ... not a smooth first flight. In fact, the first one flew out and landed on the porch and I scooped it up and tried to place it ever so gently back in the nest. It wouldn't stay and eventually took off into the wild blue yonder. Actually, it landed in the bushes at the edge of the driveway and I couldn't find it again. The 2nd baby left a couple days later, again, not a pretty first flight. It went in the same direction as it's sibling, so I'm thinking they stuck together and are learning the ways of the land side by side. Mama hummer was back a couple of times and has since been spotted feeding from the flowers around the porch. I'm hoping she'll use this nest again next time. It was a great experience watching them develop ... my oh my .... I think I'm suffering from empty nest syndrome!

Full House

Feathers and beaks ... no room for mama!

I'm not your Mama!

Look at that ... they've got their mouths AND their eyes open! I took this picture this morning, while Mama Hummer was out getting breakfast. Apparently she's not spending much time in the nest these days, probably a little too crowded, with those big beaks and all. In fact, yesterday morning I hadn't seen the mama hummer,  she didn't sleep in the nest at night, causing me a bit of panic. I was thinking perhaps something had happened to her, nabbed by a cat or grabbed by one of the local kestrel's that hang around the casa. Fortunately she reappeared and is continuing to take good care of the twins. Lucky for them, I don't think I could possibly take over the feeding ... it's a full time job for her.

Hummer growth

I do believe the little hummers are getting cuter by the minute ... NOT! But I do see wings and cuteness in their near future ... any day now ... I'm sure!

Pretty night blooms

The orchid cactus was in bloom last night, I snapped these photo's very early this morning. I guess insomnia isn't always a bad thing! The blooms only last 1 night and then drop off. I see more buds, more blooms are on the horizon ... YIPPPPEEEEEE!

How small is small?

This picture really puts into perspective just how small small really is! Rudy's pointer finger next to the little nest ... amazing, huh?

Baby hummingbirds ... YIPPPEEEE

I'm soooooooooooo excited ... I checked the nest this morning and both eggs have been replaced by 2 little hummingbirds. Not the cutest baby animals I've ever seen, but I'm sure they'll be getting cute any minute. I'll check again tomorrow and see if they're cute. Stay tuned!

Deck the hummer halls!

It seems mama hummer has decided to deck the halls! I noticed this evening she's placed some greenery on the front of her nest, I think it might be a Christmas wreath or perhaps it's her Christmas tree  ...  it's soooooooo cute!

In other events here in paradise, last night I noticed what looked like a big black butterfly fluttering around our back porch. It landed and I grabbed my camera and snapped some photos. I was really surprised to see the intricate designs and beautiful colors of this critter in the close up shots. Turns out it's some kind of moth, and one of the local gecko's decided to check it out. Apparently when the gecko was close enough to see clearly, he decided to high-tail it out of there, a little too big for his dinner plate I suppose. When the moth decided to take flight, it fluttered around the porch light, capturing the attention of a couple of our cats, they were ready to pounce. I quickly ran indoors, grabbed my butterfly net, yes, I really have a butterfly net, but that's for catching sick kittens ... another story for another time. I flung the net over the moth, and then stood there ... not sure what to do next. HONEYBUNCH to the rescue! Rudy carefully captured the moth inside the net and we took him out to the front porch and set him free. Awwwwwww ... I love happy endings!

The Adventures of Maully & Mr. Stinkers

Hummingbird video

And then there were 2!

I'm sooooo eggcited!

YIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEE! She did it, Mama Hummer laid her first egg, and it's a beaut! I noticed yesterday and today she was still adding more bits and pieces to the nest. When I checked this morning I was so surprised to see she'd laid an egg. Perhaps, if I give her some privacy, she'll lay another egg or 2.

5 years ago!

Holy Cow! 

It was 5 years ago today, I moved to paradise! Seems like only yesterday I was packin' up my dog, Shilo, my cat, Mr. Stinkers, and my worldy possessions and headin' for St. Croix. Time flies, I'm definitely havin' fun!

Catching up

    

HOLY COW ... I've been back for 2 weeks and the time is flyin' by!

It's another beautiful day here in paradise, warm already, with pretty blue skies and puffy white clouds ...

Observed at: St. Croix, Virgin Islands Elevation: 62 ft / 19 m

82 °F / 28 °C Partly Cloudy

Time to get showered and head to Cane Bay for breakfast. It's a great day for hittin' the beach, perhaps we'll take the pups for a short road trip later today.

BIG NEWS: The hummingbird has continued building the nest on the front porch, I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! I'll be checking for eggs and takin' pictures. I think the little hummer used some of the dryer lint I put out for it ... awwwwwwwww, so cute.

Enjoy the day, more later!

Sittin' in Miami airport

That means I'm almost home .... YIPPPPPEEEEEEE! One more plane ride and I'll be in beauuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful St. Croix .... hallelujah ... yabba-dabba-dooooooooo and woooooooohooooooooooo!

Sittin' in another airport

I'm sitting in the DFW airport, patiently awaiting my next flight to Miami. No place to plug in, I better keep this one brief.

It was a good flight from PDX to DFW, I caught some good Z's and I bet I'll be catching some more between Dallas and Miami. I've got time for breakfast, I guess I'll wander around and see what sounds appealing this morning. Caffeine would probably be a good thing right now, I don't want to fall asleep in a corner and miss my flight, KWIM?

Alrighty, tallyho!

Sittin' in the airport

I'm sittin' in the PDX airport, on the floor, plugged into an electrical outlet ... my laptop, not me. It's very quiet here, a good time of day/night to be flying. I'm looking forward to a nice long nap on the plane.

It was a really great visit here, it's always a little sad when I say goodbye to my Mom & Dad when they drop me off at the airport. They'll be coming to St. Croix for their annual visit in March, so it's all good.

I just called Rudy, to see what he's doing ... it's about 2:00 a.m. there, and he's sleeping! I hope he gets back to sleep easily, he did sound pretty sleepy. I can hardly wait to jump him in the STX airport and give him a big huge hug and a big ol' kiss. OH BOY!!!  Alrighty, time to put my stuff away and get ready to board the plane. Zzzzzzzzz ....Zzzzzzzz.

Time to head back to STX

It's almost time to jump on the plane and head back to St. Croix, the time has passed so quickly here. I've REALLY enjoyed spending quality time with my Mom & Dad ... we do have fun together; we spend a lot of time laughing .... at anything and everything ... GOOD TIMES!

Time to head for the airport ... more later

Beautiful weather at the Oregon coast

8th Annual Mother/Daughter beach trip was lots of fun. More details to follow ... later

Brrrrrrr ...

Nuff said!  

Dateline: Paradise in Portland, Oregon

Yahooooooooo ... I'm in Oregon, enjoying the gorgeous fall colors, and cool autumn temperatures ... Note to self: buy some big warm socks today.

 

I arrived yesterday, after an overnight stay in Dallas, TX. It was nice to break up the flying into 2 parts. It was sooooo nice seeing all the beautiful fall colors as the plane descended in PDX ... very pretty. I noticed, as the plane taxied up to the terminal, all the airport staff on the runway area were bundled up in big, heavy, warm clothes ... not accustomed to seeing that! Glad I found my supply of winter clothes; I like wearing warm, fuzzy sweaters and jeans. I'll adjust to wearing shoes vs. sandals ... that's something my feet don't care for, they really prefer to be bare or not suffocating in closed shoes for long periods of time.

 

Today my Mom and I will go by my house and take a little peek; ensure the current tenant isn't tearing the place apart ... not worried about that. Then perhaps we'll do a little shopping. Yesterday we ventured out and I drove and never once did I find myself driving in the left lane ... not even once. My mantra: stay to the right, stay to the right, stay to the right.

 

So the weather here is cool and crisp ... but feels downright   cold to me, I'm enjoying the change. Back in my other paradise, my Honeybunch said there was a HUGE thunder and lightning storm last night .... louder than ever! And rain aplenty, with more to follow. I just hope they don't have a hurricane without me.

 

Time to hit the shower and get the day started. I'll take some pictures of the pretty colors and other stuff here in PDX and post them later, it's really green and pretty here.

 

I miss my HoneyBunch!

Happy Friday the 13th!

It's a great Friday in paradise! We started off the day by turning off the alarm and snoozin' for an extra hour and a half or so ... WOOOOOOHOOOOOO and HUBBA HUBBA ! Normally we're up between 4:30 and 5ish and exercising at 5:30. This was a much better way to start the day.

 

This weekend HoneyBunch and I will probably continue our mission to make a habit of going to Full Moon Beach Bar for eggs benedict. YUM!  I'm hoping we'll get to the beach and soak up some rays, but there's a little tropical wave/blob thingie on the radar coming our way ... looks like rain, and that's ok, too. Probably not a good weekend for diving .... DARN!!! I know we'll think of something fun to do.

 

I'm gonna start throwin' stuff in a suitcase tomorrow, gotta find my warm winter clothes for the trip back to Oregon. BRRRRRRRRR!!! I can hardly wait! I'll get to spend some quality time with my Mom & Dad and family ... I'll be taking PLENTY of pictures, so be prepared and stay tuned.

Happy Columbus Day!

 

It's a Federal holiday, which means a day off work for me ... YIPPEEEE! Speaking of Columbus, here's a bit of island history:

Christopher Columbus visited St. Croix on November 14th, 1493 on his second voyage to the New World. Columbus named the island Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). The explorers anchored off a natural bay west of Christiansted, known today as Salt River. Some two-dozen armed men from Columbus' fleet went ashore to explore. These men were met by defensive arrows to which they retreated. The Salt River site is the first and only positively documented site associated with Columbus' exploration of the New World on what is today a U.S. territory.

Perhaps today I'll celebrate the holiday by lounging in the pool. I did a little pool lounging yesterday after our dive, very relaxing. As I was drifting in and out of a restful slumber, I noticed the clouds drifting by ... and of course I thought "Hey, I should take a picture of those" ... but I didn't. I think today I'll snap some photos of the view from the pool, from my air mattress, maybe a video.

Perhaps I'll go downtown and do a little shopping, wander around Christiansted and see if I can find anything I absolutely can't live without. There's always something! It's a cute little town, maybe I'll take some pictures.

 

Perhaps I'll go have a pedicure, it seems like a good day for a little pampering.

 

Perhaps I'll change the ring in my navel. I had it pierced probably 6 or 7 years ago and I've never changed the ring. Possibly because it makes me queasy to even think about it! I have a really cute dolphin ring, and another with pretty purple stones .... feeling queasy ... I think I'll skip this one.

 

Perhaps I'll finish taking pictures of the rest or our cat family, there are many left to be snapped in a Kodak moment; some are pretty camera-shy.

 

Perhaps I'll take some pictures of our puppies, they LOVE having their picture taken. Zoe prefers no flash, it's too much like lightning and makes her head for the closet.

 

Perhaps I'll go jump in the pool now and get my day started; it's gonna be a GREAT day!   ENJOY!!    

Ants in my pants?

Nope, but I did have an ant farm in my BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) .... EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.... HOLY COW .... YUCK ... WTF? ... GROSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! 

WE FINALLY WENT DIVNG TODAY .... "WOOOOOOHOOOOO", as my HoneyBunch would say! It was a great day of diving, the water was 86 degrees, so many fish it was mesmorizing, and pretty good visibility. We spent about 50 minutes under water at Cane Bay, doing a shallow dive today ... I prefer staying shallow when I haven't dived in a while, plus there were so many fish and critters at that depth, it was phenomenal. I'm hoping this will be the beginning of our new habit of diving ... 1 down, 10 to go and it will be a habit! 

After the dive we had brunch at Cane Bay ... YUM ... Juevos Rancheros ... really, REALLY good. I'm ALWAYS starving after we go diving and this is such a nice way to follow a dive; so relaxing to sit and watch the ocean and the blue sky and the clouds and the people .... I can hardly wait for next time.

Sooooooooooooo ... to follow up on the ant farm incident, we haven't been diving since February ... lots of excuses. This morning we packed up our gear and were putting it on and I noticed some ants on my BCD. Rudy mentioned he had some ants on his and I thought I'd just brush off the ants on mine and we'd be off into the wild blue yonder. I opened the pocket of my BCD and pulled out my gloves and there were a bunch of ants. OK, I've been stung NUMEROUS times all at once by fire ants, but these were just the small ones that don't sting or bite or whatever they do, so we brushed them off, sort of ... but I was somewhat concerned. I pulled out my weights from my BCD and HOLY SHIT ..... there were thousands of ants and ants with eggs and ants-a-plenty! Not one to FREAK OUT ... but I'm not wearing a BCD that's also an ANT FARM ! I rented a BCD and we went out for a really nice dive. I guess to prevent this from happening again, we need to go diving more often .... lesson learned!

I'll add a couple of pictures from when we were getting geared up and ready to dive ... didn't get pictures of the ant farm. Also, some pictures of the really cute goats on the way to-and-fro the dive site. AND our pineapple farm .. it looks just like a regular little pineapple now, but it's sproutin' some weird growths out at the bottom.

Today is it!

This is it ... October 7th .... Happy Birthday Dad and Brian! I hope you both had a most excellent day! My brother, Brian, was born on my Dad's birthday! 

Tonight we took Brian, the birthday boy, out to dinner at TuTu Bene .... YUM!!! The food was fantastic as usual.  

Tomorrow, we're going diving! YIPPPPEEEEEE!

 

  

Happy Catmas!

Happy Catmas everybody!

These are all pictures from my cell phone, so the quality is not so great.

And these are only a few of the bunch, there's more where these came from .... stay tuned!

HAPPY FRIDAY ... AND IT'S A 3 DAY WEEKEND!

I'm really ready for a nice long weekend, it's been one hellacious week. Plenty of insomnia, thunder & lightning, wind and rain, dogs hiding in the closet ... I'm ready for winter! It's been too freakin' hot here. Not one to complain, but HOLY COW, it was really hot and humid this morning ... just another day in paradise.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD & BRIAN

I might not make it back here tomorrow, on your birthday, so here's your wishes a day early! We'll be going out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Brian's birthday. Dad, I'll be seeing you and give you a big belated birthday hug on the 17th, I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!! Oregon, here I come ... YIPPEY-YI-YO-KAI-YAY (sp?) .... get along little doggie!!!

Gotta get ... more later!

 

 

Beautiful sunset

Here's a pretty sunset, as viewed from our front porch last night ... but I think the picture is bigger and prettier here ...

http://stormcarib.com/reports/current/stcroix.shtml

A view from paradise

Testing the video thingy

Breakfast in paradise

Yesterday HoneyBunch and I went to Full Moon Beach Bar for breakfast, 8 more times and it'll definitely be a habit! Once again, we had eggs benedict and it was most excellent. I took pictures of our breakfast, my Mom requested that; she's famous for taking pictures of her meals. She's not the one that's taken a picture of every single meal for the last 27 years, but she's a contender. It's TOOOO cute! When they come to visit in March, we have most of our meals documented and it's a wonderful thing. It's nice to be able to look back on our culinary delights, there are many when she and my Dad and Aunt Jan come to visit. GOOD TIMES.

 

I also took some videos of the restaurant, and driving on the left; the drive along the North Shore is gorgeous. I'll try to post the video here, and if that doesn't work I'll put it on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

 

And now we've gotta go to the store and refill our water jugs. Later I'll tell you about the water situation here, it's very different; cisterns and 5 gallon water jugs are very important!

 

 

Note to self ...

I've been pondering, as I so commonly do, about what to share next. I was almost listless ... NOT! I've made a list and my list is growing and growing! I see so many sights and things that are noteable ... at least in my mind! However, I'm quite easily amused and for that I am very thankful! So, before I forget, here's the partial list of things I'll be telling you about later:

Driving on the Left: HOLY COW ... I'm hoping I can provide some video clips, it's a freaky sight to be coming through an intersection on the left and have the traffic on the right ... no longer a heart-thumping experience for me, but it's quite a sight when you're not accustomed to it.

Cat-A-Log (catalogue) ... I brought one cat, Mr. Stinkers, with me when I moved here from Oregon. He's an indoor cat and was probably at least 112 years old then, five years ago. He's still alive and living a happy life as our only indoor cat. Outside, that's a different story. When we moved here we found a couple of cats residing here, one we call Pootsie-May and another we called Tiger (now called Tigress, she's a girl!) which now lives with our friends, Rich and Lisa. Pootsie-May is still here and she's a sweetie; I think she was abandoned by the previous tenants (nasty word goes here). Now, for the somewhat shocking part; we have approximately 10-15 other "feral/I've named, tamed and love them/had them fixed, " cats that have adopted us and live outdoors. It's a long story, so I'll save it for later, and provide a "Cat-A-Log" of all our feral friends. Quick note: we haven't had a dead rat in the pool since our furry friends joined our family ... YIPPPPEEEEEE!

Ok, that's it for now!

Eggs Benedict, Pretty Clouds, and baby horses

This morning my HoneyBunch, Rudy, and I went to Full Moon Beach Bar (formerly Cane Bay Beach Bar) for breakfast. YUM!! This is the 2nd consecutive Saturday we've dined there for breakfast, I hope it's becoming a habit now. Although I think it's after 11 times that something becomes a habit, isn't it? I digress. I wish I'd taken pictures, the view there is beautiful; the ocean is right across the road from the restaurant. The food is good, too, we both had eggs benedict ... YUM. Next week I'll get pictures of all of it: the view, the beautiful ocean, the beach, the eggs benedict ... YUM again!

 

On the way back we drove along the North shore road, stopping to take pictures of all sorts of lovely sights. I found myself intrigued by the beautiful clouds today ... I couldn't stop snapping pictures of them ... you'll see. I LOVE pictures of pretty puffy clouds. A little further along the road we passed 2 young boys on horseback with a baby horse following ... awwwwwwwwwwww ... I'm such a sucker for baby horses, and baby goats, and baby lizards, and baby cows, and baby kittens, and baby puppies ... do you see a pattern here? I snapped a picture as we drove past the boys, then Rudy stopped and the little boy with the baby horse following came back so I could take a picture ... how sweet is that? Bless his little heart, he was so cute, and so determined to get the horses positioned for a picture. This had to be done rather quickly, as we were stopped in the middle of the road for this brief photo shoot. That's very common here, people stop in the middle of the road for all sorts of reasons; to talk to someone they know driving in the other direction, to talk to someone they know walking along the road, to talk to someone on their cell phone - the list goes on and on ... and once again I digress. So I finished taking pictures of the little boy and his equine and baby equine; we gave him a couple of bucks, since he was so thoughtful and determined to help us capture the "Kodak Moment". The really, really sweet part; his eyes just lit up when I offered him the bounty .... SOOOOOO CUTE!!!! He happily accepted the offering and said "Thank you, now my friend and I can buy a cool drink" ..... awwwwwwwwwww, bless his little heart. It's moments like that, that just tickle me pink! KWIM?

Lizard Under Glass

Have you ever opened a kitchen cupboard and had a cute little lizard (think Geiko, only not quite as cute) jump out and scare ya til ya scream? That happens routinely here, and I've gotten to the point, sometimes, where I don't even let out a scream anymore; it's more like a small yelp. Getting more brave and strong every day!   

 

I have a process for capturing and setting free the little rascals, as they're much happier outside, without all the screaming! I quickly place a plastic cup over them, scoot a piece of paper beneath them and very carefully transport them outside. They look so very happy running off into the wild blue yonder, little lizard smiles ... precious!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  

That's right ... HAPPY NEW YEAR .... YIPPPPEEEEE .... WOOHOOOOOOO!

This is the first week of my new year and I'm makin' some resolutions. It's gonna be a GREAT year!

 

We've got papaya!

Greetings from Paradise!

Lots of fun goin' on around here. First of all, my birthday was most excellent - every year seems to get better.

The pineapple is growing and blooming and looking as pretty as ever. I'll include a picture.

Exciting new news: I'M A PAPAYA FARMER! Yahooooooooooooo! Here on St. Croix, this is really a non-event, HOWEVER, I have been trying to grow papayas for almost five years now! They grow wild all over the island, but I just haven't had good luck. We've pulled up plants growing wild along the roadside and brought them home to live at our house, but they've always turned out to be the wrong sex. They have beautiful blooms - I'll include a picture of the big bloomer that will never grow fruit, I think it's lovely. You can also see the new papaya growth ... I hope it grows quickly, I'm hungry for papaya ... YUM!

The hummingbird nest has been a baffling situation. He started it last weekend and I've been watching all week and it doesn't appear he's been working on his nest. We put new food in the empty feeders last week, and I'm thinking he might be having such a sugar rush he can't focus on finishing the nest. Perhaps he takes weekdays off and only works on the weekends. I spotted him today, Sunday, and it looks like he's added a couple of twigs and stuff. I'm thinking about tossing out some lint from the dryer, maybe he's short on building materials. I don't know, but I'll certainly continue to ponder and take pictures.

Speaking of hummingbird feeders, I found a cute little critter sipping on the food from the feeder. I've seen this before, apparently these little lizards have a sweet tooth!

I'll throw in some pictures of other pretty stuff that's blooming; the Datura/Trumpet plant has a bunch of blooms. Also, some pictures of the passionfruit farm - no blooms, but plenty of fruit ... YUM!

The End.

It's official ...

Today I am halfway to 98.

 

This is my last halfway to double digits.

 

From here on out, I'll be halfway to triple digits. 

 

49 years ago today, I was born in a Walgreen's. Actually, I was born in a hospital, which has since been torn down and a Walgreen's built in it's place.

 

HOLY COW!  It's gonna be a great day!

Final 40-anything!

I've been doing a lot of pondering lately, as is my nature in general, about the last year of my 4th decade. I'll be 49 this week ... HOLY COW!

F O R T Y  N I N E!!! 

It seems every time I have my last birthday of the decade, I start to get a little panicked. The realization that I'll never have another 40-anything birthday ever again is a little daunting. Another end of a decade is coming to a close ... HOLY COW again!!!! I'm excited about the BIG 50, I can hardly wait, but 49 is FREAKIN' ME OUT!

 

Deep breaths ... ok ... I'm better now. Never mind!   

Wonderful weekend

What a wonderful weekend, especially Saturday! Rudy and I spent Saturday together, doing island t'ings and I LOVED it! We started with breakfast at Rumrunners, then wandered through town doing a little shopping. After that, we decided to head for home and fill up our water jugs, throw on our trunks and go for a drive to Annally Bay and the beach. We brought dear Zoe with us, she LOVES going for rides ... it's so cute the way she scampers over to the vehicle and waits for the door to be opened for her. We drove up through the scenic route, good ol' number 58; the views are spectacular from there. Reminded me of when I came here for the very first time to visit ... ahhhhh, fond memories.     We stopped along one of the roads and went for a hike, downhill was fairly easy, coming back up was a good, sweaty workout. Zoe was so cute, when we finally made it up the last hill and the vehicle was within sight, she started running for it! She was ready for some A/C and agua!

During the scenic drive, we spotted a dome house across the valley, a work in progress. Quite an amazing site to see something like that in the middle of nowhere. I'm very curious about it .... I'd like to see what' it's like inside. Maybe next time we'll find the road leading to the dome and have a closer look.

Another exciting event ... and I'm so very excited I can hardly stand it. We have a little hummingbird that's making a nest right on our front porch. YIPPPPPEEEEEEE!!! We have lots of wind chimes on our front porch, and Saturday we discovered the beginning of a tiny little nest on one of the hooks that holds a wind chime. It is soooooooooo cute, I hope the little hummer will finish the nest and start a family in it. You KNOW I'll be documenting that, for sure!

Got to ski-daddle ... more later.

Pretty Pineapple

Every day the pineapple just seems to get prettier and prettier. I had no idea it would squirt out these pretty purple flowers! Who woulda thunk it?

They're baaaaaaaaack!

Earlier this week, when I was taking Barklie for his morning constitutional, I noticed the Frangipanni caterpillars are back. I think these creatures are so amazing, and they're HUGE! There were only a couple of them munching on leaves, so they've got their work cut out for them! In previous years, there have been many, many, many on all the frangipannis ... truly an amazing sight. The first time I saw them, I was afraid they'd kill the plants, but they don't. They just eat all the leaves, fill up their bellies, grow to gigantic proportions, then burrow down in the dirt to start their next stage of transformation. I think they become hawk months. A couple of years ago, I captured a caterpillar and put it in a container with some dirt and leaves, so I could observe the entire process. Well, it became a full time job of adding new leaves and cleaning out the droppings ... YUCK! They eat a LOT and they seem to poop even more ... they are pooping machines! TMI? Needless to say, I set the caterpillar free and didn't get to witness the full process. Maybe I'll try again, I'm still very curious about them.

 

Our pineapple farm

Ok, it's not exactly a farm ... we have 5 plants started from tops of pineapples and one of them has sprouted the first pineapple. YUM!!!! It's growing fast, I can hardly wait for some fresh, home-grown pineapple. It's a beaut, isn't it?   

More pictures of things in paradise

These pictures are from my archive of favorite photos, back when things were blooming like crazy and looking really pretty.

My favorite monarch butterfly pictures

The BIG news for this week ...

Rudy's birthday is this Friday ... September 1st .... WOOOOHOOOOOO .... YIPPPPEEEEEE ....

Happy Birthday HoneyBunch!

Favorite photos

These diving photos are from my "under the sea archives" - so you've quite possibly seen them before, but it's always fun to take a trip down memory lane, isn't it?

I think the first one is probably my all-time favorite picture. We were diving out at Cane Bay and found this school of spade fish at around 80 feet down. Simply breathtaking, I was sooooooo excited to see them.

The second picture is a BIG barracuda ... YIKES!!!! In the beginning, I was very afraid of them. Now, I simply hide behind Rudy if they get too close!

And some turtle pictures. Haven't been diving in months  :-(

And some flowers and puppy pics.

More pictures to follow.

 

Where does the time go?

Good golly, here it is, August 25th! Where does the time go? I seem to have neglected this space again. Imagine that.

I'm really trying to become more self disciplined these days, and it's been going great in some areas, and not so good in others. Keeping up with my email and updating this thingamabob are on the "not so great" side of the equation. That's my next goal, to stay connected a little better.

So now I'll try to catch up on what's happened since last time:

One of the very best things, last month I was able to go back to Oregon and visit my family and friends. The time passed so very quickly, as it always does. While in Oregon, we celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary. What a fantastic milestone, especially in this day and age, when it seems that marriage has become such a disposable event. I'm so very proud .... way to go Mom & Dad! I love you and I sure do miss you.

Also visited with my Aunt Jan and had a wonderful meal at her house. Good to see my cousins again, haven't seen them in FOREVER!

Visited with Aunt Donna in Sheridan and Rudy finally got to meet and hug her. She's been waiting five years for that hug!

I also was able to visit with my friends from Intel, what a fun time. My dear friend, Kathleen, threw a party at her home and many of the ol' Intel peeps were there. I sure do miss you guys, even you Weasel-Jim! And once again, Kathleen outdid herself; the food was fantastic and a good time was had by all. I have finally transferred the pictures from my camera, I'll be throwing an album together soon ... really. Thank you again, Kathleen and all my peeps in Oregon.  

After a week in Oregon it was on to Kentucky, Rudy's old stompin' grounds. We spent about a week there and had a great time visiting with his kids and grandkids and friends. We also saw some landmarks along the way; Mammoth Caves and Lincoln's birthplace. Also took a little roadtrip over to Indiana to visit Rudy's friends. The temperature reached 102 on the drive over .... phewwwwwww! Kentucky is another beautiful state, we had a great time there!

 

Time flies ... I MUST be having fun?

I haven't been keeping up with this ... imagine that! But I've been taking lots of pictures of things that appeal to me ... sooo many pretty sights to see.

I think soon I'll need to post pictures of our monarch butterfly habit. We have lots of new plants for them to feast on and lay eggs.

I guess I better get busy journaling and blogging. I'm using the IM thingie ... I wonder how this works. I guess I'll press send and see ...

Beauuuuuutiful sunrise in paradise

30 days behind

I was planning to start a blog at the beginning of the year, but it seems I'm almost a month late ... imagine that! So much to do and so little time.

It's Monday and I'm taking a break for lunch and pondering.

Which keys do I tap on next? Lookie there ... it's a different font. Much better.

Ok, the first order of business is probably to post a picture or 2 from our first crop of bananas, harvested this past weekend .... YUM!!!

I think that's it for now.