Beautiful Barbados

For some reason I didn't sleep well last night. The last time I remember checking the time was at 3:45 so I guess I slept well after that, at least until 9. Not enough! The sun streaming through the windows is just too inviting to resist, though.

So, another lazy day. A little reading, a little napping, a little online stuff. We went in the plunge pool here then went over to the pool complex and went in a couple different pools. I think I might have napped a bit there, too :)

We split a club sandwich – for some reason not a club cutter – then back into the pool even though my Mom always said I had to wait a half an hour before going in. She hasn't been here since 2001 so she probably won't find out, either!

There's a niggling thought in the back of my mind. In 1984 we were on vacation and I knew that as soon as we went back I had an appointment at NIH to see if I'd be accepted into a clinical trial for Cushing's. I was terrified that I would and terrified that I wouldn't. Now I'm reminded that as soon as we go back I have an appointment with a new specialist, a pulmonologist. I guess I'm thinking of this today especially because of the article I posted with info from Dr. Mary Lee Vance at UVA about growth hormone and cancer. I've already had cancer. I hope that the lung nodules and enlarged mediastinal lymph node aren't heralding either a metastasis or anything new.

Time to think those happy thoughts again!

It's time for the street fair over in the village. This is new this year so maybe I'll check it out. Or maybe next week. This chair is just too comfy to get out of right now.

About an hour later, I did get out of the chair and we went to the street fair. There were some interesting local arts and crafts and stuff. Tom got some stuff for people back home and a replacement magnetite bracelet for himself. I also got an ankle bracelet since I never found one at home before we came.

We stopped in the new Italian restaurant, D'Onofrio's, for dinner. Turns out Paul was there with his family and he had some good recommendations for us! I had chicken scallopini with lemon sauce and a rice with peppers. Tom had spaghetti carbonara.

Dessert was a weird thing for me – something called beehive ice cream and liqueur. Gloria, our server, said that beehive was a kind of liqueur but I'd never heard of it. I had assumed that anything called beehive would be made of honey or at least be sweet but it wasn't. Actually, I found it kind of bitter.

The dessert was the beehive ice cream in a pastry shell with the beehive liqueur, whipped cream, pirouette cookie and garnish of strawberries and blackberries. How that can't be sweet was beyond me. So, now I know that I won't be getting that again! Live and learn...

Tom had plain vanilla ice cream, an old standby for him.

Back at home we watched the movie Up and had some popcorn before bed.

Today's pictures. Click on the cover image to see the rest of them. Today Tom got hold of the camera so there are lots more pictures than usual!

So last night I was making heating dinner. When I went in the kitchen there was a crab by the sink. When we tried to catch him, he scuttled under the dishwasher. Later, when scooping out ice cream (coconut cream) for dessert he reappeared and was caught. Tom released him back to the sea.

When we used to stay at Coral Point, we would regularly have larger crabs climbing the wall. We would just sweep them off with a broom and out the door.

That place, just up the coast, was so cool - literally. Most of the front and back walls were huge doors that could - and were - open all day so we had all kinds of wildlife crawling and flying through. It made such a nice breeze, though.

That was the first place we ever stayed in Barbados. It was next door to Sam Lord's Castle and we had privileges there. We rented bikes that year. Big mistake. It's nice flat land and would have been great if it were about 20 degrees cooler.

This is kinda silly but I discovered a lip balm, chapstick-y product in Sam Lord's sundries store that I haven't found anywhere at home. I am able to still order it online and I usually get about 10 at a time. It's all I use now - it has SPF, a bit of color and feels wonderful.

Sam Lord's is closed now but has been bought by another hotel company and should reopen...sometime.

Sam Lord was a pirate way back but not the kind that went to sea. He stayed at home, in his castle, and put lights on the coconut trees so ships would think that it was Bridgetown They came close, crashed on the cliffs and Sam added to his treasure.

Today is going to be kind of slow for me. A little email, a little blogging, some Cushing's bios and stuff. Tom has a teleconference at noon so if we go out anywhere, it will be later.

It's ok, though - I can nap and read or float around. Some of my favorite things!

I don't know what possessed me but I signed up for that helicopter tomorrow. Me, who is afraid to fly. But last summer in Alaska, while I was in the restroom, Tom signed us up for a flight plane and it was kind of cool. I was very surprised and shocked when one just like it crashed a few weeks later.

It was fun though and I figure if I can do that, how hard can a helicopter be, anyway? We see it go around the island most every day while we're here so this year we'll be on it!

I was just reading an article about singer Rihanna in the Ins and Outs of Barbados magazine. In it it says "...few could have missed the blue and yellow paraphernalia that adorned photos captured in magazines across the Caribbean, North America and Europe..."

Rihanna chose those colors because they're the colors of the flag of Barbados. I'm wondering if I chose those colors for the Cushing's website in 2000 because I was subconsciously thinking of Barbados, too. I'll probably never know but it's an interesting thought.

Of course yesterday didn't go as planned. After much haggling with his wi-fi in the lobby, Tom got a network cable from the front desk. The rest of the afternoon he was online or making phone calls.

I spent the time dipping in the pool, reading, napping. I did something I have never done here - I got a sunburn! The weather was so breezy and cool and I was out in my bathing suit. It never occurred to me I might get a burn.

Since Tom got online there was now no need to go shopping...so we didn't.

At night Tom started a schedule with 33 slots so we could fill them in with things we wanted to do. AACCKK!

At night, we watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, had dinner and I was off to bed. I tossed and turned a lot - the sheet was uncomfortable on my sunburned feet.

Today looks like another lazy day. I went to see Theresa (concierge) to set up the various trips and stuff we wanted to add to that schedule.

We were going to go on the Tiami but are going to try Cool Runnings this year instead. We're going to the Plantation Bajan Roots & Rhythms show again and on the Island Safari again.

New to us will be the helicopter around the island plus the Barbados Concorde Experience. We had planned on doing the Concorde anyway. We were here the day of their final flight out of Barbados before they stopped service.

I found out that one of our favorite lunch places, Cocomos, has gone out of business and has been reopened as another restaurant. This is sad on several levels, one being that this was where Sue (SuziQ) took us for lunch when she was here with us before she died. So many places here have memories of Sue. The year she died she'd been planning to come back with us again but never made it. Seeing Cocomos gone is like another part of Sue's memory destroyed. I miss Sue so much as a special friend and as a Cushing's advocate.

This afternoon we got our schedule all squared away. We found that the Garrison Savannah Horse Races were rained out last Saturday so they're rescheduled for this week. They've never run while we were here before so we changed out Cool Runnings to Friday and will go to the races on Saturday.

We went to lunch at Cutters. Cutter is the Bajan word for sandwich. After that, back to Emerald City for stuff we forgot Saturday and more milk.

Now, pool and naptime! I can never get enough of either.