A busy day - Wednesday was!

Today, Andrei and Lisa left for St. Lucia. We got a call later that they were delayed in leaving Anguilla, and would miss their connection in Antigua. However, they would be staying in Antigua overnight -- and they'd be put up so all is not lost.

I emailed their guest house in St. Lucia that they'd be arriving tomorrow instead of today and got a lovely email in reply. Impressive.

And today was one of those days when nothing goes as planned. Theolinda and her daughter, Aline, arrived unannounced this morning about 9:30 and stayed till about 11:30 so we had no recourse except to visit. But that was quite productive and a very good visit.

Theolinda is the owner, and it's nice to deal with her on occasion. She brought a curtain for the bathroom and brought the parts for the hot water heater. She brought a new motion sensor light (the previous one had been stolen!!!) and she brought us a new working wall clock.

Before that happened, the guy for the screens arrived at 7:45 a.m. to measure the windows in the addition for screens. Then he left and promised to return this afternoon with the finished screens. To our great surprise, he did just that. So, now we have screens and we can open up the windows in the addition.

After everyone left, I tried to sit down to work but our neighbour, Pearl, dropped over and we had to have a wee visit as well. She is leaving tomorrow for three weeks to visit her sister(s) and brother in New York. Ed, her husband, is staying here by himself -- so we will look in on him, I'm sure.

And in the afternoon, we had to take Lisa and Andrei to the airport. I'm being an ass in this photo, showing off my new lime-green shoes -- fake Crocs I got in SXM yesterday!



They were very excited about their trip to St. Lucia!

Here they are at the airport. We left them to wait for the LIAT flight to Antigua and then on to St. Lucia.













I am excited because now I feel that I am living in luxury -- so much more than what we had last year. I really do feel COMFORTABLE.

I have my table with the legs we brought from Canada -- but the table that Sir Ralph built for me.

We have the cable television and the Internet - and so far, the Internet is excellent. There was, as always, the setup that was a bit of a hassle, but now I have things sorted out well enough.

I have my keyboard and a brand new EXCELLENT stool that is adjustable and very comfortable. (If I could only find the time to practice...)

We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms -- and the new bathroom is twice the size of the other one -- and it's NEW!

The shower heads are NEW in both bathrooms -- and the water pressure is great! We are still working on cold water (which here is not really cold, but just "not hot") but that is a temporary thing and is quite manageable in the interim.

Our location right on the beach is just the best!

We have a family of puppies outside that we can feed. They will have to go to AARF shortly. I'm working on gaining their trust so that I can catch them. In the meantime, they are just adorable!

We have a new barbecue that we got yesterday in St. Maarten. We have a porch where we can actually sit outside in a protected area -- so we could invite friends over!

We have the use of a washing machine two doors away (with Andrei and Lisa) and laundry becomes very manageable.

We discovered the Merchants' Market and got chicken last week that will do us for a while. That's a very good place for us to shop.

We can get excellent Gouda cheese here -- in large wheels -- and it's cheap compared to what we would pay at home.

I've been able to make a mean chicken stew so that we can eat a very healthy and delicious and easy-to-make supper on top of the stove.

And life is good! It's just good!

Wednesday, December 12

Yesterday was Tuesday, and we went to St. Maarten. Surprisingly, even though we expected a serious lot of traffic, we were pleasantly surprised. We were able to negotiate the trip very easily in our rented car.

The sad thing is that the car rental has increased from $30 to $40/day because of an increase in taxes. Of course that is on the French side, and we know that some time ago, the Euro and the U.S. dollar were roughly equal. Now, we are told that the Euro is devalued so $1.45 or so is what is required to match the dollar. (I hope I have that thought out correctly!!!!)

Regardless, the main point is that the French find it more expensive to shop, and I imagine that is what has happened to the car rental rates on the French side of the island.

We dodged the rain effectively, but there was a fair bit of rain all day -- both in St. Maarten and in Anguilla.

We found the brand new ACE Super Centre -- and we discovered that yesterday was the first day it was open -- so we chose the right day! An excellent place to shop!

It was a good day, and we managed to get everything on our list quite easily. We didn't have everything on our list, unfortunately, but that is not so important! We had a great and successful time.

This is Ralph in the rain in St. Maarten -- Philipsburg - by the welcome sign.


Here he is along the boardwalk where we had an excellent lunch.
And I went along too.

Tuesday, December 11 - Sint Maarten trip

Happy Tuesday, December 11 --

Sir Ralph and I are going to St. Maarten this morning, but not too early. We have heard horror stories about the traffic over there, and we do want to make a trip for a few things before Christmas. So, the closer to Christmas we go, the worse it will be. That’s why we are going today.

But there is another screw in the works that we have to work around. We want to go to a Rotary training session in St. Thomas on the weekend of January 11. I have never been to St. Thomas, and this will be an excellent opportunity. But to do that, we have to have our passports. So, what is the problem, you ask...

We come here for 30 days. That’s the maximum they will allow you unless you apply for an extended stay. To apply for the extended stay, you have to fill out the application, submit 2 photos (passport size) and turn in your passports until they prepare the forms. That will take up to a week in normal conditions – but this being Christmas, you can bet it will take longer.

We also need our passports to go to St. Maarten – so we have to go to St. Maarten BEFORE we turn in the passports – and we want to have the passports back in plenty of time to go to St. Thomas in January. Our 30 days would expire on January 5. So, with a careful workaround – like going to St. Maarten today – we can probably manage to have the passports back and our stay extended in plenty of time. Keeping our fingers crossed.

**********

We are already enjoying the sunshine. I wish I could send some home for everyone. However, December seems to be the rainy season – and there has been quite a bit of rain already since we’ve arrived.

Here is a website for photos that I've created:

http://ladykit.winkflash.com.

(I've listed the link aboave on the top right in the list of my favourite links.)

There are three “albums” available, but the one you will be most interested in is the Anguilla one. I’m going to be adding photos regularly there.


Here is a photo of me yesterday morning – wet hair after being in the sea for my daily “float.” I was wearing my new colourful wrap to walk to Johnno’s for Jazz. We took the camera with us and took a few photos of changes to the beach since last year.

Here is my first You Tube effort:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=G78yHlDE2ig

I took a video with my camera on Sunday at Johnno’s down the beach, and uploaded a video to You Tube. It was my first try – with both the video and You Tube, so the quality is not the best. But I see what is possible now, and I will improve and upload a few more videos during the winter while we are here. That will also be a way to share what we are doing.

You Tube is phenomenal – but of course you do need the high speed connection.

Anguilla, December 5, 2007

We arrived in Anguilla!

The flight left Buffalo about 8:30 a.m. after de-icing. We flew USAirways to Charlotte where there was an overcast sky but no snow. It was quite pleasantly balmy in Charlotte.

We left Charlotte on time for St. Maarten -- and when we land in St. Maarten, that is always exciting. Sunshine. Blue water! Wow!

And this time, we sat in the new St. Maarten airport for about an hour -- and had a look around. It was our first time there. Last year, we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and from there straight to Anguilla -- so we missed the "experience" of the SXM airport.

The flight from SXM to AXA this year was in a Britten Norman Islander -- a flying bus with very little room for your head, let alone for any carry-on luggage. But the flight was about 10 minutes long, and it was at least half an hour earlier than we expected -- and we were the only passengers -- AND we had all our luggage! So, this was great!

It's now Saturday and we have been in Anguilla since Wednesday evening. We have gone shopping. We have met Maria from St. Maarten and we have paid our rent. And tomorrow, we are meeting up with Maria Forman to go and hear Sprocka at Johnno's for Jazz on Sunday afternoon.



The wee goat from last year -- who last year lost a week-old baby and who was totally dejected last year -- a heart-breaking sight -- has two brand new babies this year -- so I am very happy for her.



And there are three puppies in our area. Here are two of them with the mother -- at our door this morning.

I haven't decided whether I should attempt to feed them or not -- but I will let Maria Forman know about them and she can decide what to do. I'm not sure that anyone owns them, and perhaps giving them to AARF and putting them up for adoption would be the best idea. They are just skin and bones at this point. We think the pit bull behind the other little house is the father.

And that's about all that's happening at this point. We have bought a stool for my piano, a low beach chair, and a lounge chair so we can enjoy the sunshine and be comfortable.


The house is gorgeous. Twice the size of last year. A new bedroom and new bathroom were added. So, this is just great!


Here is a photo of the outside.


And here is the living room in the next two photos.


These are not the best photos, but you may be able to see that there is more room because there is less furniture. The windows are visible without all that furniture!

Ralph is sitting at the computer desk. We brought the legs for the table top with us on this trip -- an IKEA purchase! And behind Ralph is the hallway to the new bedroom and ensuite bath. The new bathroom is twice the size of the old one!

We have walked the Salt Pond twice already -- yesterday and today -- and we have been in the sea floating both days as well.



Life is good!

We met Maria last night at the English Rose. Unfortunately, Sprocka's is not open yet so we were unable to go there after the English Rose. But we did go to the Malliouhana to see Sprocka for a few minutes. And we are going to Jazz at Johnno's on Sunday -- so that will be great.

Lester is off-island for the weekend, so Maria will come with us on our own.

As I write this, I hear rain outside again. More rain. It is intermittent and very pleasant -- but this seems to be the rainy season.