A tree glows in Calabash Bight

12/11/2015   I went up on the roof and had a Dos Equis the other night, it was a beautiful evening and the view was as amazing as ever. We really have the best of both worlds, being able to see the N and S shores of the island. Sometimes the weather can be completely different if I turn around.

The dogs are having some issues running around up there, it’s much more slippery than when it was regular old concrete. But it looks so much better, they will just have to chill the hell out..

A friend sent me this video, it’s pretty amazing, especially if you are a skier. Check it out here. I think I have watched it 11 times already, it mesmerizes me… not much does.

Sunday morning it freaking poured buckets. It was raining so loud it woke me up. Usually when I get up I can get 1 minute before D O G S happen, this morning they were inside and there was no escape. It’s ok though, they’re not a bad thing to wake up to, unless they are barking incessantly. Which they sometimes do. I ran to Mega Paca and grabbed some baby toys for the upcoming Christmas party then went and got groceries too. It was a crappy day earlier but it cleared up enough that I was able to walk 4 of the 6 dogs, Bill walked the other 2. Nothing like making 4 trips down and back UP our driveway.

Monday came and went and I did nothing except clean up the kitchen and cook eggs for the week for my breakfast. Bob and Rosalie stopped by so Bill could see if he was able to fix their generator. (He did)  Rosalie and I visited while they were doing guy things. Tuesday was another do nothing day, the concrete bags were delivered and stored in the downstairs living room. Come on, isn’t that where YOU store your concrete too? Cement mixer and drill press in the kitchen, dog meds in the 1 bedroom, soccer jerseys in the other and a couch for a friend. I will fall down on my knees and praise the Lord when Bills’ shop is done. Just an FYI, it’s not started yet..Need to get our permit and to do that they want hair from your first born during it’s first 2 weeks of life and 3 sets of scorpion pinchers, other than that, no big deal..

Wednesday I met my friend Jan at the bottom of her road. She was going to Ceiba Thursday for her residency and was going to check to see if our cards are ready or not.  If not, I have a friend going next week who will also check for us. Super pain in the ass. They sure don’t make it easy to live here or do business here.

We had a visit from Dave Symons, he brought me a gazillion candy canes for the Christmas parties Nidia is doing, along with a bag of toys that I picked up earlier. Thank you Dave and Trish!!  I was going to take the canes the day I took the toys except I had errands to do and they would have turned into peppermint syrup in my car, and yes, it is December. Dave, Bill, 2 other guys who were here and the neighbors worker hoisted the couch over the deck railing and onto the porch, then inside. YAY, my couch is inside. AND THE DOGS THINK IT’S FOR THEM. They are not allowed on this or the other couch, especially not this one. It’s a game, they think. So happy to have the couch inside!

One of the people I met through my blog was Sean from Canada. Sean and I messaged/emailed often about Roatan and many things on the island. He and his wife were here over Easter last year (busiest week of the year) and decided to come again this Dec. They arrived, along with 2 of Sean’s wife, Caralee’s friends. Sean travels like Bill does and like Mike does, with sister wives. Kinda, but not. Anyhow, Sean and the group arrived on Monday. We were hoping to get together so we could at least meet. He messaged me today, “We are going to Parrot Tree, may stop at Cal’s for lunch.” I responded, “I’ll find you.” I ran and met Jan, then went to the ATM, which was down again. damn banks.  I had to go inside and to me that is a hateful experience. I got done with that and then went to Parrot Tree to look for Sean. They weren’t there so I went home. I had a yogurt, loved the dogs and went back to look for them. On the way I noticed an X-Terra that could have been a rental (Sean’s car). I got to Parrot Tree, walked down to the water, no Sean. So I drove over to the other side of PT and checked out my friends house, looked at a house that has been being built for a long time and went back to the lagoon. I noticed the X-terra from Cal’s was there. I thought for sure that was their car. Seriously, I should have been a detective, I really like looking into things, getting to the bottom of it.. Anyhow, the super sleuth in me knew I was onto something. I saw a guy that looked like Sean with several women on the other side of the bridge that goes over the lagoon. They started to walk alongside the south side of the lagoon, thinking there may be beach on the other side of the wall, but there isn’t, it’s ironshore. By this time I knew it was them. They were walking W towards the N shore of the lagoon. I started walking W towards the S shore. When we were close enough to be heard I yelled, “You must be Sean, you’re the only guy on the beach with 3 women following you.” He gave me a big hug as did his wife Caralee. I liked them instantly. Caralee’s friends were very cool too. Funny thing is, all 4 work together in IT in a big bank in Canada. Bankers to Bankers..

We hung out along the lagoon for awhile talking. Then I thought I would let them relax and come home to see what the dogs were up to. They said they had some toys for the dogs and would come over when they left PT. Now when these people say they have a few toys, prepare to be floored. A FEW TOYS??? My dogs got a whole aisle of a dog toy store. All super tough, chew resistant (really a myth) toys. Actually, these look like the strongest toys the dogs have ever had. I’m keeping all the toys inside and only giving them a few for now, although I did give them an adrenalin rush and gave them all of the toys at once. They freaked out.

Needless to say, these toys are a huge hit, they are loving them.  Thank you again so much Sean and Caralee!! Hope to see you on Friday @ BJ’s.

On Wednesday I got a call from my hairdresser to see if I wanted to come in the next day. Did I need my hair done. Turns out she was leaving the island for a month and wanted to do the people she knew would need to have color. Poor Nadia, how selfless of her, her brother was murdered in Italy and she was trying to take care of her customers..Love that woman so much. She is off to Italy tomorrow, safe travels my friend..I went early Thursday to get my hair done and to hug on Nadia.

After I left Nadias’s I went to Plaza Mar to buy rice and beans for the Christmas bags and then went to Nidia’s to drop off the toys and candy canes from Dave and Trish, my super awesome friends from Canada. They are also the people who brought 2 suitcases full of new soccer uniforms. We hope to pass those out while they are here this visit..they also donated 3 bags of syringes for Clinic Esperanza, I dropped those off when I took Mike and Liza there. Mike and Liza brought a few dozen bottles of OTC pain relievers for the clinic. Liza said when she bought all the meds in Walmart the guy really looked at her strange, like, “are you really sick?” Mike and Liza are going to gather medical supplies while at home and start bringing them on their future trips here. Dave and Trish always bring something to benefit the people of the island. Thank you Mike and Liza and Dave and Trish. .

I got my errands done in Toxic Hole and headed home to pee, kiss the pups and get more ice water. Then I drove to BJ’s and was picked up by Carmen with the ever dashing boat guy Brett of the long eyelashes, (Carmen’s husband), escorting us to Miss Marilyn’s place on Calabash Bight. We helped Alex get the stuff out of their attic. Honestly, I had no clue people had attics on Roatan, interesting. Marilyn had a freaking shitload of Christmas lights. I mean, a SHITLOAD. Some worked, some half worked, some didn’t and were crap and we wanted to crush them. Well, I did, Carmen was more reserved and Marilyn kept pulling bags of lights out of I don’t know where, a secret light storage closet that she didn’t tell us about. Some were brand new, in the box AND THEY DIDN’T FLIPPING WORK. Let me state this: Christmas lights that don’t stay lit if one bulb is missing are shit. Lights that flicker are shit. Lights that don’t work are total shit. LED lights are the way to go.

After 2 bottles of wine the tree was up and decorated, it took a 3rd bottle to finish talking about it, have a yummy salad that Alex made and wonder why the hell Marilyn was still bringing out ornaments for the tree.

Friday was the gift wrapping party at BJ’s. We had Spanish class at 12 and then right right to the bar. Several of us took tables so we weren’t wrapping on bar stools like last year. The tables worked perfectly..We got all the gifts wrapped, re-bagged beans and rice into individual ziploc bags to be passed out, gifts sorted by boy/girl and age group. While I was wrapping I noticed my friend Woudsin from Helene sitting at the bar. I went over to talk to him, give him a big hug and condolences for his Dad passing away. We chatted for a bit then I went back to wrapping.. A little bit later he called to me and I went over. He introduced the guy he was with and it was someone I knew from 40 years ago in Williamsport, my home town. Small freaking world..When I was walking in the door he was going out and I thought, he looks familiar..Nice to see Rick Benedict,  I knew his wife Marika better than I did him, but still, to run into someone from home is random. He was here finalizing the sale of the property he owned with my friend Perry Adelson on the island of Helene.

I love Fridays at BJ’s. I love my east end friends, everyone is so chill. It was muy caliente in Spanish class, {no electricity} and hot hot hot wrapping inside BJ’s, lots of bodies, lots of activity. I was sweaty in my Christmas Story t-shirt. It was appropriate for the holidays but it was hot.  Really good to see some people, like Kathy and Marcia. Hopefully I’ll be snorkeling with Marcia soon..

It’s Friday night, I got home around 4 from the afternoon festivities and laid down on the new couch. I knew I had to meet Jan at 5 to get our temporary residency papers back. Somehow my mind woke me up and I jumped off of the couch at 4:57, I grabbed my keys and ran to Cal’s to get our papers. Grateful to Jan finding out about them. I think I was still in a sleep stupor when I went down to Cal’s. Day drinking, even 2 glasses of wine, does me in.

Sometimes my age shows..