Beautiful Barbados

Today we ran out of milk and the fridge is looking pretty bare so I guess we actually have to go shopping again. But later, much later.

Our usual housekeeper, Brenda, came back from a 4-week holiday and it was so nice to see her again.

We started the day as usual, my typing away, Tom checking email and we decided to go out to L'Azure for breakfast. They have a really nice buffet-type spread so we got lots of good stuff to eat, with a nice view.

When we got back, we found that Brenda had cleaned out or coffee pot, our supply for the day was gone and we hadn't gone shopping yet. Oh, no! I need my coffee and I'll drink day-old, cold, I don't care as long as it's fully caffeinated.

Tom managed to get some last coffee out of our container, enough to tide us over a little.

I went over to Reception and did my daily email, Facebook, Cushing's news and bios, the usual daily routine here. I saw Mel again from the other day and he actually remembered my name, probably because I'm the only person in Barbados walking around with a laptop all the time.

We were going to go to the store but decided to go later (everything in my life is becoming later and later!) and take the opportunity to go in the pool. Tom had a book to exchange so while we were over by the big pool we noticed that no one was in it so we settled into our private space. After reading for a while, we went in and swam for a bit, then went over to the pool complex and tried out a couple of those pools that we hadn't been in yet this year. Pictures were taken.

And I finished my third book for this trip.

We decided to go back and get to the store. We had decided on the little general store here. Surely they had milk, coffee and spaghetti sauce. The paperwork said they were open until 9, so no rush. We got there just after 7 and they were closed for inventory. There had been no announcement, no sign earlier. Luckily we had the rental car. Otherwise, I guess we'd have had to eat at one of the restaurants. Not a bad thing, but something I like to plan for, to look forward to.

So, we went back, got the car keys and headed to Emerald City again. We got more than we would have gotten at the general store and it probably cost less, so it all worked out.

Today's pictures: Click the cover one to see them all

Yet another lazy day. I'm turning into a sloth! More of the reading/napping stuff. Today's big news is that I finally got on Facebook. I got nearly through the identification of the avatars, mainly by guesswork, then I came to one that I got entirely by accident. Thank you Becky B for using your yearbook picture with the tiny name written underneath!

Sandy Boone, former assistant pastor at my church had gone out on a leap of faith to start a new waterfront ministry in Baltimore. She sent me a copy of her new website for review/critique and that made me feel good, to be trusted to have possibly-useful comments and thoughts. :) The new site is supposed to go live today or tomorrow. Sometimes these things take a while to propagate, though. In case it's today, the URL is http://www.watersedgepartnership.org/ . We miss Sandy terribly at Pender UMC but I'm sure that her Waters Edge Partnership will exceed all expectations. When I go to my doctor appointments at Johns Hopkins, I'll be able to check this out, too!

Tom came over to Reception while I was doing my daily online routine. He had sent me some PDF files that he couldn't open. They were all financial reports about The Crane, some sent by a new man named Mel. While we were reading, Mel came over and introduced himself.

On the way back, we stopped at the village branch of Cave Shepherd and got that bathing suit Tom had wanted from the first day but didn't come in his size. They had sent one in the right size from another branch.

We were out of some basic stuff again, so it's off to Emerald City for shopping. I always feel like my name should be Dorothy when I mention or write about this store. LOL

Back home I was reading (or napping) outside when suddenly a huge rain cloud rolled in from the ocean. I don't remember seeing if there was a hurricane at sea or not. I thought the next one wasn't supposed to be until the 30th but one could be sneaking up. I went to get my camera but by then, it was really coming down.

About 10 minutes later I got these great rainbow pictures. I don't know if it will show up but the rainbow goes all the way into the sea.

I have a special “thing” for rainbows. Way back, we were in Florida, on the beach. My dad was terminally ill with his second bout of colon cancer. I was feeling guilty being on the beach while my mom was taking care of him in their home. Tom and our son were in the water and I was on shore praying for my dad, that everything would work out ok. It was a beautiful sunny day but all of a sudden there was the most glorious rainbow. I called to Tom and Michael so they could see it, too, and to prove to myself that I wasn't seeing things that weren't there. They both saw it too. I really felt that this was an answer to my prayers, that things were going to be ok. Since then, I've always looked for rainbows :)

No surprise but Tom spent a lot of time at his local “office”.

We went over to the pool area and all the pool chairs were wet from the storm – just like they were at our place. We went in the jacuzzi instead of one of the pools. The jacuzzi is in special location. Way, way back, when this was a hotel, the jacuzzi area was a stable. When my friend was here in the 1990s we were exploring and the stable was abandoned, with all kinds of junk in it and overgrown weeds and stuff. Nowadays, thanks to Paul's vision, it has been expanded, the roof removed and it houses a huge open-air jacuzzi where you can sit out and gaze at the stars.

The expansion – it was about doubled – looks so natural that no one would know. There are 6 large open window cuts on the shorter sides and 6 plus doorways on the longer sides. I'm guessing that the coral stone removed to make these open areas are what was used to make the expanded section but I'm not sure. However it was done all the coral stone looks to be the same age.

Similarly, the old carriage house has a new incarnation as the Carriage House Bar and Grill where we had lunch the other day.

Immediately after dinner I feel asleep on the sofa again. I don't see how I can sleep so much when I'm not doing anything!

The weirdest thing happened. I had been needing a nail file since we got here but I always forget when I'm in the store. Just after we paid at Ganzee the other day, I noticed some with souvenir pictures right near the cash register but I didn't want to start a new transaction. Then, I remembered in the jacuzzi.

When I went to bed, there was a brand new one, not in any packaging or anything, on my side of the bed. Tom didn't put it there – I'd never even mentioned one to him. I supposed that housekeeping maybe found it somewhere and assumed it was mine but I would have thought that they might put it on the bedside table.

Cue Twilight Zone music...

Today's pictures.

Friday, August 20:

I had an early morning appointment to get the stitches out of my back, then I came home to await the UPS delivery. It arrived at 3:00. Whew! Then to start set-up and adding my favorite programs that I need for the trip. Installing applications is a bit different from Windows but I finally got that figured out ok.

Took Mimi to her sister's for her vacation then home to pack. Our flight was out of Reagan, further away from us than Dulles and it was at 7:10 AM so it was to be an early start. Got everything packed and got to bed sometime after midnight.

Then, I got up and repacked the backpack. I had been going to take a larger one, intended for the Gateway but I realized that the Macbook might fit into my favorite backpack – and it did. So, smaller and lighter all-around. YEA!

Saturday, August 21:

The taxi arrived at 5:00 am and we got to Reagan just about 5:45. Plenty of time. The one main suitcase was 40.5 pounds so we didn't have to pay for overweight luggage. The first flight to Miami was uneventful. Our connecting flight was the next terminal over and we had about 40 minutes to get there so we really hustled. Thank goodness for rolling bags and my lighter backpack!

Along the way, of course I lost my neck pillow. I seem to lose one per trip. I vowed that the next one would have a bungee cord or something to attach it to my bag. Luckily, the little news shop had one with a snap at the front so I could snap it onto my bag and around my neck on the plane.

The flight crew was coming from elsewhere and they were late clearing customs/immigration so we didn't board the plane until an hour late. We didn't have to hustle quite as fast to get there.

On flights I almost always get Mr. and Mrs T's Bloody Mary Mix to drink. It's like a spicy V-8 and most flight magazines list it as an available drink. Our stewardess seemed amazed that I wanted that. Then, my husband wanted one, too, and she acted like she'd never heard of people drinking the stuff. Oh, well. She gave him a can, anyway.

I watched a movie and promptly fell asleep. The flight from Miami is about 3.5 hours which is a long time to sit in an airplane seat. My legs kept falling asleep, too.

We arrived in Barbados an hour late, of course, but we got here! So did our luggage. A major plus. Cleared customs and immigration with no problem and headed over to Stoute for our rental car. We've been renting cars from them for 12 years or so so we might own one of them by now!

Got the car and headed out – remembering to drive on the left side – to The Crane, our home-away-from-home.

Everything keeps changing here and it's all for the good. When we first bought in 1998, we were staying up the coast at a place called Coral Point where we'd stayed since 1996. We had actually wanted to buy that place but we would have had to buy outright and have to rent it out for the times that we weren't here aka most of the year. That place was beautiful and private but really too big for us. There were 4 bedrooms which is normally 3 too many. Even with guests, it would be 2 too many. But we looked into it and it would cost quite a bit plus we'd have to pay someone (Stoute, again – they do lots of stuff here!) to manage the place when we weren't here. Tom had seen a lawyer about buying here and it is very hard for non-locals to buy property in Barbados.

We went to lunch at The Crane just up the beach, a beautiful old hotel and restaurant built in 1887. A Canadian man named Paul Doyle had bought The Crane and he had big plans. We looked over the site maps, the plans, talked to Paul, liked what we saw/heard and bought 4 weeks worth.

When we came back in 1999, we had to stay in the original hotel but it was on the second floor and had a wonderful wrap-around rooftop verandah. The only bad part was they were constructing the building which we had bought and those workers started up early in the morning!

Tom had some all-important work to do in the states so he left me alone in Barbados but I had friends come down for a week. I dropped Tom off at the airport and got the only flat tyre of my life. I drove the car back home and called Stoute. They brought me a replacement car within the hour. Great service! The next day I picked up my friends and we spent the week tooling around the island. Took them back to the airport and picked up Tom.

We also had other guests that year.

2000 rolled around and we decided that maybe 4 weeks was too long to stay so we sold off the 4 weeks of our lock-off apartment and used the proceeds to buy an additional 2 weeks at Thanksgiving. We use those 2 weeks plus the 2 weeks we don't stay in our apartment in the rental pool so our place makes us money all year long. Good deal!

In 2001 my mother and our son came for a week of the 2. Michael was attending college and he had to get back to Massachusetts. It was a complicated plan but it worked. He and my mother flew back home – he helped her navigate the airport and customs and all. Then my friend who had stayed with me in 1999 picked them up at the airport and took my mom home and him to our house, then took him to the airport for Massachusetts the next morning. A really good friend!

Tuesday of that year we were out on a 4x4 jeep tour with our favorite driver, Zario. He picked us up and them we got a couple from New York City. We started the tour and got to the first stop. He'd been listening to the radio and said something about the World Trade Center. He was always joking and we thought that this was another story he was going to tell. As the day wore on, the news grew worse and worse. By the time we got to lunch, they had CNN on and all eyes were glued to it. No more funny stories, people laughing about their day. The NYC couple was worried about friends and family as was everyone.

The rest of the week was spent trying to call people at home, listening to news, reading the newspapers, emails, worrying. We didn't even know if we could get home. Paul said if we needed we could stay here. We were able to get out on Saturday to go to Puerto Rico. No one knew what would happen after that.

The airport at Puerto Rico was jammed with people who had no where else to go – the hotels were full, airports closed at home. We were very lucky. We got on the first American Airlines flight out, headed home. The crew came marching up the hallway with a huge American flag which they draped out the window on take-off and landing. It was so dramatic, with all the passengers cheering. They cheered, too, when we had a fighter plane escort into DC airspace. Most people seemed to think that they were there to protect us rather than shoot us down if we veered from our flight plan.

That was our most memorable year – hopefully there will never be another one similar to that!

Over the years we have shared Barbados with other friends and that has been nice but the nicest is that since we've sold the lock-off we are here by ourselves. Guests could sleep on the pull-out sofa but no one has done that yet.

This year when we arrived we got to see the new Crane Village. We'd seen the fences around the construction before and now, the real thing! As always, Paul did a fantastic job designing and building this to look like it's an old Bajan village. There's a town hall, Cave Shepherd (department store) , general store, Italian restaurant, beachwear store, jewelry store, gym and more. Reception is also in the Village so we checked in there and headed to our place.

The palm trees have really grown up outside the patio making it even more private – I like that! We can see some of the pool complex still and the ocean, of course. New pictures will be coming in a day or so to compare with the ones from past years.

We went out to the Emerald City grocery store to stock up on supplies for a few days. On the way we ran into Paul and we told him (again!) how pleased we were with the changes. He remembered us walking on the floorboards in the skeleton of this apartment while it was being built and that was cool.

We bought essentials including salt bread, tutti-fruiti milk, rum punch, coconut ice cream and other, more real, stuff.

By now I was exhausted. I'd missed a real nap for 2 days and hadn't slept well/long the night before. We stopped at Chefette for roti for dinner.

When we got home we had the roti and coleslaw. I was too tired to even finish my roti so I saved most of it. I fell asleep fully dressed on top of the bed and didn't wake up until housekeeping knocked on the door the next morning.

Sunday August 22:

At some point Tom told me he was headed out to meet some friends and that he'd made coffee. I'm sure I mumbled something in return before going back to sleep.

The next thing I knew housekeeping was here so I got some of that coffee and sat out on the deck. That's when I learned that there's wireless when the wind is blowing my way. We have a cable connection at the desk and wireless is better there but who wants to sit at a desk all day? I'm very familiar with taking computers over to Reception and using the wifi there but it will be even better if I get it here. Supposedly, at some point the whole place will be wireless and that will be nice but I'm not holding my breath! Everything that was promised to be done has been so I'm sure that this will come, too.

Tom got back and we got his computer and our internet phone set up then we went out to explore the new Village more. We bought the required t-shirts but Tom couldn't find a bathing suit in his size. Then we went down the glass elevator (new since we've been coming here – we used t have to take stairs down the cliff) to the beach. After walking on the sand and in the water a bit we came back for much-needed naptime.

And I started writing and writing...

WooHoo!

Our cab yesterday was for 5:30 so it was a very early start. Everything went smoothly, though. Not a long layover in Charlotte, either, which was good. I got a small nap on the second plane and I was surprised when we started the descent nearly an hour before our published time of arrival.

Customs and Immigration were faster than normal, too, but the rental car was slower. We had a reservation for a couple of months. Until this year, someone with a placard with our name would meet us right outside. We'd give him the credit card, get our car and go.

Now, in an effort to "modernize" I guess, they have an indoor office like they do at other airports and you have to wait in line with others including those who have no reservation at all. Oh well - "no problem, man".

In the Crane lobby we got to give Theresa a big hug and talk a little to Paul. If I were him, I'd avoid check-in days like the plague.

After we got here and unpacked a little we went grocery shopping at Emerald City. That's so much closer than when we had to go to the JulieN. I got my beloved salt bread (it was commercial, though. It was too later for homemade. Drat!) and a bit of rum punch. I'm so glad to see that Tutti Fruitti milk is still here. I have always loved it but 2 years ago they didn't have it anymore. There were even articles in the newspaper about not having it. That and vanilla milk are 2 long time favorites here.

Tom realized he didn't bring a network cable so he can't go online with his laptop in the room. I didn't bring one because I don't need one. So, I imagine we'll be on a mission to buy one of those here. I imagine when we go to SuperCenter in Warrens later today they'll have one.

He went over to the lobby to check his mail and I fell asleep by the pool. I was exhausted. We had a very easy, fast dinner and I was heading to bed by about 9PM. I went out to say goodnight to Tom and he had fallen asleep while channel surfing LOL

I didn't wake up until around 8AM. Tom was already reading, of course, and had made coffee (YEA!). I debated going back to sleep but got up anyway. Tom's at his regular Sunday morning meeting in Six Roads. I'm sure the woman with the coconut bread will be there and Tom will come home with a loaf. Tradition!

After that, off to SuperCenter for stuff we forgot yesterday and that cable. They're the only store open on Sundays here. Then maybe, finally (finally? we're only been here less than 24 hours LOL) we'll go in the pool. Or I could go now...