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