Little surprizes

Look at the new visitor! He's a Golden Crowned Night Heron

I was really thrilled to see this guy stopping by at the pond. He's sure grumpy.

Oh Joy! Who knew? Thursday is Farmer's Market day in Cruz Bay. I'm very glad this is a regular happening, this was great to see. More often these days the traditional cultural events you could always take for granted are disappearing.

LOOFAHS!

 Local fruits in season, homegrown veggies, hot sauce, herbs... very cool stuff and always different.
Ever see a loofah? I mean the plant itself, not the Bath & Body Works shrink wrapped stuff. Check this out... loofahs before and after!

Our days are dwindling, another month has passed. This is our last weekend, since we leave next Sunday, so we start thinking of "lasts" - the last yoga class, the last lunch at Miss Vie's, the last hike, the last beach visit, the last water pick up. There is still a lot going on - the Old Time Fishfry on the East End, the send off party for Mo at Skinny's, people to call, maybe a STT trip. Something happens daily, whether it's part of the plan or something that pops up spontaneously. There are always these little surprizes. Like having the Golden Heron show up, or the bees that decided they like the lemongrass plants in the plastic cup of water next to my chair. How about how when I closed down the Crab Farm once the big guys left the really cute tiny ones moved in? 

 This guy would fit inside my ring!

Here's the Pincushion plant that suddenly burst into boom overnight!

 Little surprizes.  And some not so welcome. 

Shredded Wheat With a Side of Arachnid, Please!

Also in the 11th hour we had a surprize visit from a realtor and a nice couple who are interested in buying the house next door. This isn't a good thing.  Short version - in the island way the property boundary line is merely a suggestion. The house  has indiscriminately had its driveway partially built on our land, as well as the builder having violated the shore access easement with a retaining wall. We have to now get this dealt with. It's because of live-for-the-moment acts like this that the titles here are so convoluted. People come in to buy a property and there are a zillion snafus to unsnarl going back to 1780. New people would only complicate the issue. In the States a builder would never think to put part of a house 20 ft. onto your land then put up a wall and landscaping. The repercussions are too great. No one cares here. If you can get away with it, you do it, then see how bad the fallout is. We have their attention now - no sale till you listen to us, no more ignoring because it will go away. It feels violating when someone just takes what's yours. Why do people force you into spending money on attorneys and turn you into a Nasty Nellie? Why can't they have just done the right thing?

So it's coming down to the wire, here's to a smooth send off and hopefully there won't be many surprizes of the unwelcomed kind.

Bubble Update!

White Cliffs and Kenny

What a wonderful hike! 

First the hiking group, some of their family and friends, met at Lameshur Bay for breakfast. Bruce made pancakes and bacon, and there were Mimosas. I didn't participate in the meal, it was a social snack for me because I wasn't going to hike on a loaded stomach. 

After a gab fest, avoiding one politically opinionated loud-mouth and making some group decisions, 11 of us set out for the White Cliffs. The loop covers about 4 miles of pond, beach, one steep climb and the view south across the Caribbean Sea from atop the rugged "white" cliffs. At the Reef Bay ruins we got onto the Reef Bay Trail (yes, I'm back on the RB trail, AGAIN) we followed along till we took a shortcut and picked up the Lameshur Trail, the 500ft elevation steady climb up - then down, down the rocky descent to the beach.

When we were about halfway along the White Cliffs we lost all but 3 of us. Heinz, who is 82, cut his leg badly enough to be bleeding through his pants, his wife had already turned back at Europa, Friend Steve got stung on the head by something, Bruce had his 13 year old granddaughter in flat soled sneakers and as white as this page. The others, George, Su and Bob just decided to go back.

Orchids were blooming, the wind had picked up, there was a luscious cloud cover to keep us cool when otherwise it's relentlessly hot and sunny. I couldn't believe when we were suddenly back at the beach, it went so fast.

Too bad it's been so overcast and hazy. It's good for hiking but not for pretty photos.

Nothing tastes better after a hike than sliced naval oranges! 3½ hours later, everyone was still at the beach; poor George was stuck there because I had the car keys.  Some of the people were making a full day of it. They had chairs, umbrellas, and the BBQ was smoking. Time to go......

George and I decided to stop at the Tourist Trap for lunch. What a find! Nice people, cheap food, the right portions and all freshly made. I had homemade key lime ice cream for desert. I could have scarfed down a gallon of it! It was creamy and just the right amount of sugar to the tang. NOM! NOM! I am such a sugar addict. 
We now have a second favorite lunch spot.

HA! Driving back home from the Tourist Trap we pass Kenny sitting by the side of the road with a small gas can. He waves us down. George knows Kenny from his morning trip to Sena's market to get coffee. Agnes is the St Lucian woman who sells the coffee, and Kenny is her whack job boyfriend. George always said Kenny was in the store every morning drunk, but it turns out Kenny is just out there, might as well be drunk, but he isn't.  You know the kind of person I mean.  We give him a ride the ¼ mile to his car, he tells us he'd wanted to drop off the empty can. Uh, ok.  It took longer to get him in and out of our jeep than it would have taken him to walk. He gets out, he and George do the fist bump (Whoa... George is getting cool!) and Kenny disappears, already forgetting about us. 

So another day has passed, doing things you can only do here on this island; all unique, with unique people to do them with. We're living here for our own reasons, brought together for a short time or intermittently intersecting like George and Kenny, and it works. It has to work, or why bother? Isn't that true of everything? STJ is a little world, small in some ways but just right in others.

Except for the Earthquake, It's Just a Regular Kind of day

EaRtHqUaKe!

Well, it wasn't much to write home about. I was lying in bed, almost 6AM, and it sounded like a truck was driving by. Then some things in the room rattled and that was that.  Here's the typical report:

 Magnitude    3.4
Date-Time  Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at 09:54:30 UTC
                    Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at 05:54:30 AM at epicenter
 
Location    18.621°N, 64.558°W
Depth    32.2 km (20.0 miles)
Region    VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
 18 km (11 miles) N (4°) from East End-Long Look, Tortola, British Virgin Islands,
 20 km (12 miles) NNE (18°) from ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands,
 23 km (14 miles) NNW (327°) from Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands,
 50 km (31 miles) NE (53°) from CHARLOTTE AMALIE, US Virgin Islands  

   
We had signed up for "disaster notifications" through email and our cell phones. After a while we had to disable the function, there were too many notices. Earthquakes occur fairly often here, they're usually unnoticeable. I always think they're exciting no matter how uneventful. It's the power of the earth, way beyond our self focused human sense of importance and control. It's always good to be reminded of our insignificance.Later it gives you something to talk about... "Did you feel it?" "Yeah! I was just.... and then...."

More important than death by tsunami is the spider that had been living in our kitchen table and decided to come out as I was sitting there. I said "had".
George says "Move back, there's a spider under the table and it's heading towards you." Well, what can you do with that information? I slip my shoes on (first line of false security and defense) and slowly back away. He's a big bugger too, fast, a scurry-er, and has really long legs compared to his body. He reminded me of the first stage of the creature in "Alien". He can flatten himself to disappear on a level surface. G gets the vacuum and he's sucked up. Bye bye. Poor spidey.  The end of his reign of terror.

Speaking of terror, I'm on Toxic Watch again. Seems I exposed myself to some Christmas Bush, the same stuff that turned into the flesh eating virus a few years ago.  We'll see just how bad in the next few days. The active chemical irritant is urushiol, which is also found in poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, cashew nut shells and in extremely small amounts in mangos. Maybe it was the mango. I love how they tell you the best way to deal with it is through avoidance. Kinda late for that, wouldn't you say? Don and Bob, who were also on our hike, got it as well. They took the macho way out and broke all the blisters "draining the oils and toxic fluids." Uh... I don't think so! Man, it sure itches. I was up at 4.30AM trying to calm it down.

BUBBLES!

The Soufriére volcano residue continues to encase us, but there was a bit more breeze today. I had lunch at the Ocean Grill with Friend Tam. Tam has lived here almost 40 years. She's a real estate agent and a rental property manager. That's a very good business to be in here. If I lived here, which I wouldn't, I'd watch people's rental houses. Tam is busy so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like. I think of her as elusive. She is always calm, rational, with a good island attitude towards madness. I like to ask myself "WWTD"?

For instance - later in the afternoon we held our annual St John Land Conservancy board meeting. I feel it went well. A lot was accomplished and I passed my personal challenge to not get any buttons pushed by idiocy. Mine or anyone else's. The organization is building in it's own time, the people who are working for it as a team with the mission in their hearts are doing an admirable job. Most of what gets done is invisible.
Have you seen our web site? George did it, pretty much out of necessity. It's a beautiful site and we're proud of it. The first person who we asked to build it was bleeding us dry, combative, aggressive to get her own way and not giving us what we wanted despite being told what to do. She did us a favor. We're learning.

www.stjohnlandconservancy.org

People reveal themselves if you just listen and watch.  It's always best to reserve your own opinion and see what others have to say. You'll learn more. If only that the other person is so busy yakking about themselves you might as well not be there.

 After the meeting we went to Cruz Bay, to the Coconut Coast Gallery for their nosh, champagne and a musical evening among the art. 

 This artist hand paints colorful island scenes on tile for use in kitchens, bathrooms, countertops, murals.

The gallery has a tin roof and when the skies suddenly opened letting loose a monsoon of biblical proportions, you couldn't hear yourself speak, it was like a train rumbling through.

Earthquake, flood... what's next? Frogs?

So rain meant we couldn't have dinner at Rhumb Lines, because the restaurant has no roof. I guess that didn't matter to Renee Zellwegger and Kenny Chesney when they got married and had their reception there, or maybe it did since the marriage only lasted a whopping 6 weeks.
Ok, Plan B - on to Italian at Café Roma. We didn't get home home till 10.30, just in time for some quiet reading and a peaceful sleep. Except for the itching.
It's been non-stop, but really just a regular day.

   

   
   
   

Words on a Becalmed Day

George & ElBananaKeet, 1964

 What happened to the images of my island world? It's all gone retro! 

This is not a B&W photo, this has not been retouched. This is truly how it has looked for the last two days. There is so much stillness and haze, the air has become a veil. There is no visibility, no sound, no movement. The money in my wallet has become limp, the pages of my book are soft and mushy. The bay is a lake. Color has been drained leaving only a pallet of brushed grays. Compare this to earlier Blog photos. What gives?

It's not raining, , in fact the sun is shining though you wouldn't know it. A single sailboat soundlessly motors back to Coral Bay, barely leaving a wake. 

Su said it might be the smoke from Montserrat, but I was skeptical because usually you can smell that and the ash lands on everything. Like the Sahara Dust. I looked into it and she's right. The volcano monitoring site http://www.mvo.ms/ confirms there was an "ash venting activity" on Friday March 23. There you have it. 

The Culprit

Poor Montserrat. A series of volcanic eruptions beginning in 1995 devastated the lower two-thirds of the island. Whoever didn't die, lost everything. Animals, plants, farms, people - all gone. Horrible. A modern day Pompeii.  By 1997, the only significant town, the capital of  Plymouth, was an ash-covered wasteland. I have never been there, but I hear it was beautiful. 

That's where Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo had their sensual island weekend fling in the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair". But I digress......

Meanwhile, it's been stifling hot with the wind gone.Air movement is vital to survival, for me, anyway. We drink scads of water here, a little dollop of key lime juice is a healthy addition, I think it helps de-toxify and quench thirst better than plain water especially when hiking or working. 

 Do you see the ant in the picture below?

 No? Look again............

 I really do have too much time on my hands sometimes. 

But water gets boring so I make my own honey green tea. Lately I've been substituting a bag of Celestrial Seasonings Country Peach Passion (you use and get creative with what you can get here) but I'm not sure if I like that as much as the simple Green Tea flavor. I also use either the Bigelow Jasmine Green or Earl Grey Green. The Earl Grey Green hot is also surprizingly good.

ElBananakeet'S ISLAND GREEN TEA

4 Tea Bags of a green tea

2 cups very hot nearly-boiled water

2T of honey

2 cups cold water

Lemon slice and lemongrass

1. Boil water for 2 cups of tea using 4 teabags
2. Infuse for 3-4 minutes
3. Remove tea bags
4. Allow to cool
5. Pour tea into a pitcher and add 2T of honey
6. Stir to dissolve
7. Pour in 2 cups of cold water
8. Chill in the refrigerator
9. Serve in a tall glass with ice cubes and garnished with lemon slices and/or lemongrass

It's very strange, as if the animals and insects are sensitive to the climate. Sounds are muted but carrying as if being funneled , almost like a ventriloquist. It's hard to tell where a sound is coming from.I hope this doesn't last too long.

Writing a blog is difficult literary work. A verbal challenge sometimes. To not sound repetitious, and bore myself,  I have to come up with an interchangeable list of adjectives that describe my world on St John.

1. BEAUTIFUL

beauteous, bonny, brilliant, comely, dazzling, devastating, excellent, fair, famous, fine,  gorgeous, handsome, heavenly, impressive, lovely, out of this world, pretty, ravishing, remarkable, royal, sensational, smashing (too British) , spectacular, striking, superior, wonderful, amazing, astonishing, astounding, bemusing, bewildering,  confounding, overwhelming, paralyzing, petrifying, awesome (no... too childish), fascinating, incredible, marvelous, prodigious, shocking, stunning, surprising, unbelievable,

 amazing, astounding, bewildering, breathtaking, extraordinary, impressive, marvelous, miraculous, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, stunning , stupefying, stupendous, wondrous ........  breathe............

2. WARM     balmy, broiling, clement, close, flushed, glowing, heated, hot, melting, mild, perspiring, pleasant, roasting, scorching, sizzling, summery (right), sunny, sweating, sweaty, sweltering, temperate, tepid, thermal, toasty,  moderate, moist, pleasant, refreshing, temperate, tropical (that fits).......

3. PEACEFUL quiet, amicable, bucolic, bloodless (huh?), calm, collected, composed, constant, easeful, Edenesque, equable, gentle, halcyon, harmonious,idyllic, irenic, level, mellow, neutral,  placid, quiet, restful, smooth, steady, still, tranquil, undisturbed......
 

4. INSPIRING   absorbing, affecting, arresting, august, awe-inspiring, consequential, cool, deep, dramatic, effective, eloquent, excited, exciting, extraordinary, forcible, grand, impassioned, important, imposing, impressive, intense, lavish, luxurious, majestic, massive (nope) , momentous, monumental, moving, noble, notable, penetrating,  profound, remarkable, rousing, splendid, stately, stirring, striking, sumptuous, superb, thrilling, touching, towering, vital, amazing, astounding, bewildering, breathtaking, extraordinary, marvelous, miraculous, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, stunning, stupefying, stupendous, wonderful, wondrous 

WHEW! I'm collecting these words so anyone have any to add , give me a shout. As for me, I'm off to Tuesday evening Yoga because it's (see 1-4 above).

Itching for a Break!

I am hiding in the house because  I am being eaten by things and I can't take it anymore.

Listen; yesterday I was outside just standing under the trees. I looked up at the sky, the sun, the singing birds. I watched the lizards playing, felt the gentle breeze, I could hear the distant waves. Spring is coming, soon I'll be home. Life is good.  Aren't I lucky to be able to live here? Isn't it a wonderful world? 

 UNTIL MY FEET CAUGHT FIRE.

I looked down and I was standing on an ant nest. I'm in flip flops and they were all over my feet. I'm stamping, brushing swatting and they're biting away. Ever stand in acid? Ever stand on a lit BBQ? It's like that. 

Actually it was pretty funny in an ironic way.  To be in the Zen moment, lost in the idyllic splendor of an Eden-like place, being at peace with your world, connected to the universe, then be jumping around like a madman because that same world turned on you.

The Ant Nest

 And it wasn't enough it happen once, it happened again this morning. This time I had shoes on but they got inside the shoes!  And no, Wise Guy, I was not standing in the same place. I got on THIS nest by avoiding the OTHER nest. It was too much to take. I had to grab the hose and blast the little chompers and my shoes, then rip the shoes off and wait for the sting to subside all the time massaging my feet. You see people walking around barefoot, wearing skimpy sundresses, sitting on the ground watching the waves - all MISTAKES. 

Not all ants bite, the medium black ones do, the red fire ants, the small red ants. I don't know about the mini mini ants. What am I saying? Who cares about who bites and who doesn't? Biters, non-biters.... they ALL bite and you will be bitten!!!! You ... can ....not .... win.

What's cool about all this is when I go back to the States there is nothing that scares me. I am prepared. I am desensitized. I am a warrior. Carpenter bees, paper wasps under the shed roof, Stink Bugs, hornets, ants, Wolf Spiders... bring it on! They've got nothing on these bugs.The mosquitoes at home are slow and you can see them coming a mile away. Not like the invisible stealth skeeters here that carry Dengue Fever and you don't realize they got you till you feel that intense itch and burn.

 I was doing some outside work and broke into this termite cafeteria. I saw what had happened and was able to step away but if I hadn't there would have been hell to pay! You get termites in your pants and you will know about it. If Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt, your pants will be off while you try to find the little chewing machine. They do an impressive job on trees, your butt is no challenge. While they bustled to repair the damage about 5 lizards came to pick them off. The lizards were getting bitten, making them jump and shake their feet.That could have been me.

I hear termites are high in protein.

What are these red, hard lumps?  They don't itch, they just sit there forever. They don't change and they don't go away. What is doing this and when? What if they turn into some kind of weird island tropical cancer? What if something laid eggs in my skin? I've watched the Discovery Channel, I know about these things.... I don't want to be on the menu, I'm losing control!

This is what the internet says:

Fire ants are distinguished by their aggressive behavior, particularly if their nest/mound is disturbed. When this occurs numerous fire ants will quickly rush out of the mound and attack the intruder. They are notorious for their painful, burning sting that results in intense itching and a pustule that resembles a painful pimple.
Infection may occur if it is broken. People unlucky enough to disturb a fire ant colony are seldom stung just once; dozens or even hundreds of stings can be inflicted in a very short time. Some people can have an allergic reaction to fire ant stings that range from rashes and swelling to paralysis or anaphylactic shock. In rare cases, severe allergic reactions can cause death.


Oh great.

I really should avoid the internet. 

But these weren't fire ants. Just mean black ants, and face it, I was pretty dumb to be standing on their nest. 
The Travel Doctor explains the difference between a venomous and non-venomous bite or sting. Basically, a venomous bite can cause a toxic reaction, a non-venomous one can cause an allergic reaction. Both are annoying and unpleasant, even if you don't get some incurable disease that shows up years later caused by a protozoan parasite, you're someone's lunch. One wants to get you because you made them mad, the other wants to suck your blood so they can live to make more biting things.

Oh geez... now I have one on my FACE! It's been 6 days and it's not going away, not doing anything - just this red, hard lump. It's still there; a red... hard... lump. It makes me look like an idiot.

All this ant talk reminds me .... who remembers the 1950's movie "The Naked Jungle" with Charleton Heston ? He had to protect his plantation in the Amazon from the army ants. That was a GREAT movie. Heston did a typically wonderful Heston job in this, you love to hate him. I love Charleton Heston, what a hunk.

 

I had bugs on my face in my dreams last night. You know how a beetle has these sticky barbed feet? Doesn't feel good , does it? I felt this on my face under my eye. I went from sound asleep dreamland to waking nightmare. I was rubbing my face and brushing the sheets in case whatever it was was now in the bed. I go to bed every night with a sense of dread, not the soft relief rest brings. My toes scratch my itchy feet activating the toxins, my fingers itch between them, I had a bite under my rings and had to take them off. And you don't want to open the bumps scratching.

I was doing email when a movement caught my eye; a creepy flat spider thing about 2 inches long goes running in a mad dash SIDEWAYS across the wall.  After a while living with bugs one on one, it gets on your nerves. Mine anyway.

George is not immune either. When I told him about this "bug on the face" event last night, he said he was "dreaming"  someone was pulling the sheets off, that the sheets were moving on his body. He woke to find himself standing on the bed ready to fight. Standing! Well yeah, it's those cockroaches, Palmetto bugs. Whatever - they're big and gross. This is why I never walk from the bed to the bathroom in bare feet.

Actual Size

We don't usually get so nutty about bugs, I don't mind bugs, snakes, crawlies as a rule. But when there are always so many and each one is a crunchy infiltrator who wants to drink your blood so you get these unpleasant reactions, then we start to get paranoid and touchy. The house is really better than a lot of people's here, we work at it, but you can't stop them all. 

No-See-Um Zillion Times Bigger

So I'm staying in today. It's a steamy and thick 85 degrees. We've got some AC on to dry the place out, get some relief. With the AC on the outside world disappears, which isn't why you're here. If you want to sit in the AC, go to Philadelphia, but damn it, if I don't get away from toxic things crawling on me and biting me to the point where I'm jumping out of my skin if even a stray hair falls across my arm, I will be driven insane. 

Tomorrow I'll be ready to re-join the battle. 

Kayaking and the Flotilla

The Coral Bay Yacht Club presents the 16th "Almost" Annual Flotilla to benefit the local Guy Benjamin Elementary School. It is FUN! In the morning, sailboats taking school children and party-goers parade the sound before mooring at the beach for an afternoon of food and the best music ever (I'm biased) by INNER VISIONS. Seeing these sailboats gliding across the bay in an almost choreographed display is like watching moving art. The scene is topped off by the pride of the fleet, the 110 foot, 100 ton pirate ship Silver Cloud - blowing the conch and firing her cannon.

  Built at the turn of the century in  Canada, Silver Cloud  was originally a pilot boat, a working boat meant to transfer captains to shore during storms. During WW1 and II she was pulled into service as a fire boat. But soon after, she fell into disrepair, and in the 1950’s she actually sank to the bottom of the sea, I don't know where. In the 1960’s a Christian missionary raised her up, restored her, and put her into service running eyeglasses and supplies for ministries between Canada and Haiti. The ship eventually wound up in the Bahamas, where she got involved with some unsavory characters. The Coast Guard ended up towing her to Florida after she was abandoned once again, after a failed marijuana smuggling adventure. Silver Cloud was run ashore after Hurricane Marilyn in 1995, and stayed ashore for the better part of a year, caged on the rocks. The whole community pitched in with elbow grease and money, jacked the ship off the rocks and soon the Silver Cloud was back in the harbor. The Silver Cloud only comes out for funerals (ash scattering services) , weddings and special occasions such as this.

Friend Su arranged to borrow Friend Steve's kayak and go to the party, but first we spent a half hour or so snorkeling in the bay in front of his house. The water was a little cold but there was a lot to see - parrot fish, wrasses, damsels, tetras - some swaying, undulating sponges, fans and bright fire coral. It's very quiet underwater, except for a "tinkling" like glass crystal wind chimes. I wonder if other people hear this too?

Then we took the two-man kayak across the bay to the party. Su was in front. I made her paddle while I took the pictures.

The water was so clear you could see the bottom. Gliding along was mesmerizing, I'm addicted.

Friend Steve

Have you ever seen water this color?

The beach party has an admission price of $20 a person going to help the elementary school. There were two food stations - one was West Indian and the other was American. Which one would YOU take? Of course... the West Indian! They had 4 kinds of chicken; curried, BBQ, fried and jerk. They had curry slaw, pea beans and rice, ribs, Johnny cakes... can you say "YUM"?

The American food was grilled burgers and hot dogs with bag of chips and iceberg lettuce. Come on, people, this is a no brainer! There were drinks, beer, rum, other mixed drinks and water. Inner Visions didn't disappoint. as always they were rugged, tight and motivating. But no one danced! What was the problem? No one even bounced, everyone sat around or went to the beach. They were pretty much ignored, which I didn't get. 

These inseparable girls were so sweet! Really intent on their food and each other.

After a couple hours we headed back to Friend Steve's. Su asked me to take her picture in the kayak, so I did. It would have been better if she'd been out in the water paddling or something, but I just do what I'm told.

I'm in Front This Time

The View From Friend Steve's House

It couldn't have been a better day - no drama, no tipping, no sunburn, nothing stung or sliced us up, lots of laughs, a couple Corona's and some good food.  Maybe next year we'll have our own Flotilla.

End of a Perfect Island Day

The rain from the last couple days held off, but by evening the air was a damp 70 degrees and a light drizzle moved through. A tiny sliver of moon was gobbled up as the sun set.

George has started watching "Storage Wars". I don't think I can take it.

Don't forget to click on the lower right corner "square" to see the Flotilla movie full-screen.

http://youtu.be/oUrWH-MPtts