Have you been wondering about me????

I bet you have, haven't you?

Well, guess what, I am in Canada. Yup, right in the middle of the snow, freezing my butt off. I'll start back since the last post. It was a very busy time in Dominica and a lot of things happened. I have taken some time off work and I helped Anne to move back to Canada and to bring her cats back. It gave me a chance to come back to get some things done here and to have a visit.

I would have preferred that it not be in the middle of snow storms, but it does remind me that it is so nice to be in Dominica, despite some of the hardships we have to endure. I know, you are saying "what hardships" but there are some. I think it will be really nice to finally have a real grocery store in Picard/Portsmouth rather than scrounging in the little grocery shops that we have now. I miss the sun but I hear that it's raining there right now anyway.

I had a great long, leisurely lunch yesterday at Windermere Manor, sitting in front of the fireplace, eating a steak sandwich, sipping red wine and watching the snow fall through the windows. That part was really nice. It is hard to adjust to the dampness- a fireplace here at my mother's would be really nice.

Dave and Deb are bringing the "crew" by today. I am really looking forward to seeing Jimmie and Tess. I really miss them. I hear that Nica misses me back in Dominica - I'm told she was looking despondent laying under my car.

It's hard not having a dog. Alicia from Pagua Bay tried to get me to take Spade ( a really cute black puppy with a few white spots on her chest and belly - did I say really cute???) when Anne and I stayed there the night before we flew out. We had a great evening. Rick made homemade ravioli for us and we drank way too much wine. He then made us an amazing breakfast and drove us to the airport. They are so wonderful. It's nice to have friends like them. I think I will have to invite them up to dinner on a Monday when I get back. I'll cook something lovely for them.

Oh, geez, it's snowing again. Better go make some more tea.

Speaking of cooking, I just got back from the grocery store and I am doing a prime rib roast tonight. Mmmmmmmmmmm............... it will smell heavenly in here in awhile. Sure wish I had a fireplace.

Okay, I'm going to play with food now. See ya.

Sunny Sunday

I won't post a picture of the beautiful sunny day it is here today so that I don't torture those of you back in Canada who are still up to their knees (thighs?) in snow.

It is a hot, sunny day and I am just hanging out at home enjoying it and trying not to sweat too much. There's nothing earth shatteringly important to share this week except that we are closer to getting the pool done. I know, I've said that before, but it is tiled now and hopefully it will be ready shortly. It would be great to go down there for a swim today, but we will have to go down to the Caribbean Sea for a sea bath as it is called here. We have had a lot of wind here lately - and I mean wind!!! Today is much calmer. There is only a light breeze rather than the gale force winds we've been getting.

For the foodie following, last night I barbequed a nice fresh organic chicken that I got at the market yesterday that I rubbed on top of and under the skin with a nice mixture of bacon fat, onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil, jerk seasoning and a little five spice powder. The two halves were bbq'd on a low heat. I served the chicken with mashed sweet potatoes, infused with roasted garlic and green beans tossed with sun-dried tomatoes, bacon and a sprinkle of parmesan. Yummm. For dessert we had French Vanilla ice cream sundaes, with chocolate sauce, peanuts, and bananas.

Tonight Mary is doing a pork roast and doing the mango crisp recipe from Embarrassment of Mangoes. We are just coming back into mango season and it will be really nice to have them again. They are so delicious here.

So, as you see, we still keep having rotating dinners here in our neighbourhood. It's great because after I did dinner last night, Mary is doing it tonight.

We also had a Euchre game last night and the girls beat the guys two games to one. They were gluttons for punishment.

I met a chef who has returned to Dominica from New York and plans to open a restaurant. She is the sister of one of our counsellors at work. This should be fun. We had a great chat about food and cooking on Friday after the White Coat ceremony - that is where the new students - all 425 of them - get their white coats put on them by MD's and pinned by Ph.D's in a big ceremony. It is symbolic of the profession they are entering and is a big deal every semester. It's a lot of pomp and circumstance and all the who's who of the island show up.

Okay, I guess that's it for now. Till next week......................

My Paintings

Well here are the paintings I mentioned. These are the ones done by Annika Wide - she is very talented and well-known here. These paintings represent Dominica in several different ways and I really like them all. I bought two of them for myself for my 50th birthday and the third was a gift.

First, the pelican (the gift) - you know I have written about them and posted pictures of them at Toucari numerous times. I really liked it when I saw it but I bought the other two - they spoke to me more. Little did I know that it was purchased for me.

The next one is one of the public water taps that you see here on the street. Many people don't have running water in their homes and use these for water, washing, bathing, brushing teeth, etc. It is very interesting to drive by someone using one. It really represented this aspect of life here in Dominica to me and I just love the painting. I have it on my easel just at the bottom of my stairs.

The last one is one of the multi-coloured fishing boats you see around. Note the three dimensional aspect of the painting - the boat, the rocks, etc. I'm not sure if you can see the detail, but it is amazing and so Dominican.

Annika goes around the island taking pictures of things - life here in Dominica - and then paints the ones that she likes. She has some amazing paintings. She recently sold one of an iguana that was incredible.

I am waiting for her to make some calabash masks and I will get a couple for my office. This will be my birthday present from my dear friends in London - Cori, Linda, and Helen. Cori contacted Annika to buy me a painting but she told them that I had already bought two and a third had been bought for me. I truly appreciate the thought that went into this gesture - I love you guys!! I will be really happy with the calabash masks and I will post pictures of them when I get them and put them on the wall in my office.

Bye for now,

Love to all

50th fun

So, here's what we did for New Year's Eve and on my birthday -yup - my 50th.

First, we had a dinner get together - this picture is nibblies before dinner - at my house. We had some great food and lots of champagne.

Next is a swim yesterday - I got close to my pelican pals at Toucari.

There are a lot of pelicans there - they nest in the trees, catch lots of silver sides right there in the bay and then sit on the poles for siestas.

The last one is the view of our houses from the beach across the bay. If you look at the row of houses in the middle of the pictures - they are all different colours - mine is the blue one. It's a bit hard to see in this picture but it is in between the two sailboat masts in the middle. There is the big yellow house - that's Renneth's and mine is the next one to the left.

Today is a quiet day - just hanging out around home. Geez, I have to go back to work tomorrow. This time off has been nice.