A little windy

First - how cool is this? This rainbow was present Monday, Wednesday and Friday this past week in the same spot, around the same time - about 5:15 pm. The picture doesn't quite do it justice - it was really vivid. It looked like it was either coming from or going into the mountains right in front of me. Amazing!!!

Okay, now for the wind. You probably know that hurricane Tomas just whisked by us - a little to the south - it hit St. Lucia and St. Vincent apparently - we got some big wind and rain - no damage though. It was pretty wild yesterday and last night. I had a bit of a door problem - the wind slammed my door shut and the lock stuck. I was stuck inside. I had to call John, next door, and ask him to remove the lock. That was fun. Just another part of living here I guess. It was interesting for a while and I ended up missing the neighbourhood Hallowe'en pot luck. I sent my dish though - caponata - yummm. Renneth will replace the lock tomorrow. There were also power outages but we have a generator up here so we are fine. It is interesting to look down at Portsmouth and see it all black when we have power up here on our hill.

Don't worry about me - we are quite safe and just fine. The storm has passed.

A cruise ship just went by very close to shore. It must be closer in to land than planned because of the hurricane in the Caribbean Sea - which is a category 3 now I hear. It is winding itself up over the water.

It is a grey day - good day to hang out and watch a movie. See ya.

Early morning beauty

This is what it looked like this morning over the hills. It is really beautiful when the mist and the clouds move over. That is the view from our hill looking south. It is so nice to see the water one way and the mountains the other. If I look east I see the high peaks and can watch the rain moving over them.

It is still hot here - over 30 every day. It is a bit weird being my first fall here. It doesn't seem like the end of October.

Right now looking at the view in this picture I can see the sun shining on the green with misty clouds right behind. Very cool.

We had dinner at Allan's last night and each contributed something. I made coconut brownies that we had over bananas flambe with ice cream for dessert. Mary brought homemade bread with carmelized onions as an appetizer and Allan made a pasta dish and salad for the main. We talked again about having our progressive dinner party. We'll have to get on that one soon.

It seems as though we have all settled in now and everyone seems pretty comfortable. People are kind of doing their own thing and that is good too. Now that we've all gotten well into work we are pretty busy. There never seems to be a dull moment - lots going on.

There have been a number of changes in my dept and we are trying to adjust. I had just gotten used to things and now they are different. Ah well, it keeps you on your toes.

I am making a curry chicken dish tonight with eggplant and pumpkin. It sounds really interesting. It is in An Embarrassment of Mangoes - Ann Vanderhoof's first book.

As usual we went to the market yesterday morning. A number of the vendors seem to know us now - one guy from whom I have bought lettuce ran out by the time I got to him. He saw I was disappointed and said he would save some for me. He seems to have the nicest lettuce. I was busy buying the coconut bread that I really like. That and the French coffee that one lady brings in from Guadeloupe. It is really good - even better than the coffee from here - and less expensive - if you can believe it. It is a lot of fun to shop at the market - we see a lot of people that we know - Dominican and ex-pat - faculty and students.

Okay, off for a little walk now. We may pop down for a swim - or a sea bath as they call it here.

Hope you're enjoying reading.

Later,

The famous Nica

Here she is - the famous Nica. I thought it was time I posted a pic of her so you can see how pretty she is. In case you forget, she is the dog that Orlando Bloom adopted as a puppy when they were here filming Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. He couldn't take her back to the U.S. because she was under a year old, so Renneth kept her.

She is the queen of the neighbourhood and comes to my door every morning and night. She makes the rounds of the neighbourhood and visits everyone. She gets treats and love. She doesn't just want treats either - she really likes the love too. She is such a sweet dog and she really guards the neighbourhood. She knows the cars and the people that belong here and lets us know when something is amiss. Like this morning, someone walked by with another dog and she let us know. Last week she chased a stray dog off the street with gusto - that dog yipped and tore out of here. Like I said, she is the Queen and rules the neighbourhood. She has put all the other dogs in their places too. Mary and John's dogs - Sandy and Pebbles, and Allan's dog - Taffy - have all been educated. She is very good natured, but definitely in charge.

Of course there is Dexter too - Renneth's other dog, but he is just a little mop and spends most of his time in the house. Nica is an island dog and is outside pretty much all the time. She goes around and lays in different spots, depending upon where the sun is. Sometimes when you come down the street she is lying right in the middle of the street and because she knows the cars she doesn't move. She will lay there and wag her tail. I have had to get out of the car and coax her to move. She is really funny.

Speaking of dogs, I get pictures and reports from Dave and Deb about Jimmie and Tess. They are doing really well and are very happy with Jasmine and Amber . The crew - as they are called - all get along very well. That makes me feel a lot better. I really miss them, so I am happy to have a lot of dogs here to love - especially Nica. Sandy and Pebbles roar over here every chance they get for a visit and treats. It is not far from my door to theirs and they are like rockets.

Okay, that's it.

Later.

Thought you'd like to see...............

.............. the sunset last night from my upper deck. Isn't it gorgeous? I thought so. There are a few more pics but I won't torture you with them.

As you can imagine the weather is still gorgeous here. It is still over 30 during the day but it is now cooling off a little at night and we get a breeze so I can keep the windows open rather than run the air in my bedroom. I like the breeze, the sound of the tree frogs at night and the birds early in the morning. I can also hear the waves on the beach down below me, depending upon the surf.

So, I didn't go to Les Saintes yesterday because I was a little under the weather but I am told it was lots of fun. I will have to catch the next trip there and tell you all about it then. I just stayed home and hung out - a nice quiet day.

Mary and John, next door, have a friend from Canada visiting so I went over there for awhile to visit.

I think we are going to go for a little swim and/or snorkel on the beach just down from us. It is another beautiful day - just like every day. We haven't had any real rain for a while now, so that is nice. We may still get a little shower during the day but not much.

Hmmm.... lets' see what else can I tell you? I really feel at home here now. I have settled in quite nicely and I am really enjoying myself. I plan to have as much fun here as I can while I can. It is still so amazing to wake up every day and look out at the beauty of this island. I appreciate how lucky I am to be here and I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

There was another spa day this week for the girls - not at my house this time. I had to cut out of work a bit early on Wednesday to get my hair done again - it sure needed it. I got a quick mani and pedi too - much needed.

I have tried not to miss anything from Canada but I was thinking yesterday that I would really like zucchini to make ratatouille. I have everything else but that. I am not sure why they don't grow it here. I will ask at the market next week. Ah, well, not a big deal. I may just have to improvise and add christophene or something similar. It's not like we don't have lots to choose from. We were talking about that last night - the mistaken notion that you can't get everything here. That's not true - you can get most things, but you may have to improvise a little sometimes. Not a big deal. You make do.

Lee is here now to wash my car. He comes every second Sunday to wash it for me. He vacuums it, does the interior with Amour All and washes the outside. Dominicans do like clean cars and since Lee wants my car when I leave (open-ended) he has a vested interest in keeping it pristine.

Okay, enough for now, the sea beckons.

bye

Oh, btw - is everyone tired of commenting on the obvious or have you stopped reading????

First Canadian Thanksgiving in Dominica

Well, we had fun.

We had 16 people - some Canadian and some American that we deigned to invite. We had a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, etc.. and pumpkin pie with real whipped cream for dessert - just like in Canada.

We did have to endure a couple of questions from some Americans, like - what do Canadians celebrate? Duh??

The other good question was - do you celebrate pilgrims? Uh, no............

That was interesting. We explained that we celebrate the harvest.

At least we can say that we have enlightened a few. Good thing.

It was fun. I made a lovely cinnamon cake with the two kinds of banana jam - the regular and the dark chocolate one. They wanted something other than pumpkin pie that Mary made.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving - give thanks for what you have and the people with whom you have it.

Love to all

D.

Nothing too exciting to report

Awwwwwwwwwwwww gee, I don't have anything exciting to report this week- except it's raining - a lot!!

I do have links to pics from our snorkeling trip last week to Champagne Beach and to Scott's Head. One of the couples on the trip took these and forwarded them. I don't think I have to, or can, say anything - they speak for themselves. Enjoy!!!


Champagne: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202319&id=654363989&l=143abe5c95


Scotts: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202301&id=654363989&l=b3913ecd9a