Barbon Beach – Mermaid on a Raft

Planes, boats and fins

04/30/2017 First of all, I apologize to those of you who received an email yesterday saying that a new blog was published, only to have me take it down. Somehow the post got published and wordpress wouldn’t allow me to get it back to a draft so I had to trash it and do a shabby copy and paste into a new blog. Our internet has been shit so that may account for it.

Saturday afternoon was the first I stopped and relaxed in a solid week. Remember, I’m O L D. Very old. Don’t misunderstand me, I had a blast entertaining Jillian and Justin this past week. Jillian is my great niece (well, Bill’s really, but I claim her as mine) and Justin is her boyfriend. It was Jillian’s second visit and Justin’s first. In fact he had to get a passport to come visit. We’re happy that he made it to Roatan. So are the dogs, especially Lola, she really liked Justin.

I picked them up at the airport on Saturday. I’m a weirdo who loves to go to the airport to pick up friends. I see so many people I know that it’s like a big party, this Saturday was no different.

Once Jill and Justin got through the insane immigration lines, we headed east, stopping at Eldon’s for them to get some food. After getting settled we all retreated to the pool, it has been so flipping hot that being in the water is all you can do.

Sunday we made the routine Mega Paca shopping trip then came home and got ready to go to the Reef House on Oak Ridge Key. We parked the car and went by boat for the short ride there. I was excited to see my dive friend Caroline there, haven’t seen her for months. We spent some time in the water then I got out and wandered around talking to friends. Tim Blanton, who lives on Roatan and is an exceptional photographer was there with his drone. He made a short video of the Oak Ridge area and hovered over the porch where we all were posing. Check it out HERE. Beautiful video of the area.

Monday we went to Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. I didn’t know until Justin and Jill got here that Justin’s favorite animal was the sloth. It was a no brainer that we would go there first. When we got to the farm Preston was waiting to give us one of his exceptional tours.

One of my favorite animals is the Coati. They are a part of the raccoon family. Two of them live here.

The first cage we got to go in was the monkey cage. The white faced Capuchin’s are named after the cast of The Jersey Shore, AKA, Snookie, Vinny, JWow, Pauly D etc. These monkeys are very friendly and love to interact with people.

They were particularly fond of Justin’s curly hair.

They are like kamikaze monkeys. They vanish and then out of nowhere come flying onto your shoulders. They were so much fun.

Next we looked at the spider monkeys but they are not very friendly so guests don’t interact with them.

When we were ready to leave Justin walked over to look at the water again and the monkey grabbed his sunglasses. He finally managed to get them back, all in 1 piece.

Next stop was the parrots, the Red and Green Macaws. These birds are so stunning. There is only 1 green one, Fiona, from Shrek. Her colors are so intense that she doesn’t seem real.

I think the red macaw is named Rose from the Titanic and the other is Fiona.

We saved the best for last, the sloths. These are all 3 toed sloths and are all rescues.

Jillian and Olivia the sloth. The sloth is adorable but Jillian is gorgeous! Love this young lady!

The sloths mostly live in the trees and venture down to the ground once a week to poop and pee. Their only defense is camouflage, they do not use their claws except to climb and grab leaves.

Just an FYI: Daniel does not buy animals, every animal he has is a rescue and they are treated very well.

After we saw all the animals and were getting ready to leave, Daniel arrived. He invited us to go on his maiden snorkel trip on his new snorkel barge later in the week. We said sure, something else fun to look forward to.

We went straight to the Iguana Farm, critters to critters. It was a hot sunny day and there were iguanas all over the place. Jillian and Justin fed them, Jill wasn’t ready to get up close with them though.

This is a black spiny tailed iguana, indigenous to Roatan. This one is molting, shedding it’s skin. Black spiny-tailed iguanas.

This dude just chased another male out of his tree. Sam (Arch) said they are very territorial, especially during mating season.

Look how long the spines are on this guy’s back!

We had a great visit at the iguana farm, especially because we got to see Sam. Sam and Daniel (sloth farm) are 2 amazing young islander men (and cousins) who work very hard and are quite successful. I am blessed to have them as good friends.When we left the iguana farm I called my friend Marcia to see if we could come kayak and snorkel and she said sure. The 3 of us went home, changed, ate and left for Carib Bight and Marcia’s house.

An extra bonus of going to Marcia and Dennis’s home is I get to see one of my puppies, Duke and their other 2 dogs, Shay and the new rottie, Luna. Puppy breath is the best.

Justin, Jillian and I went down to the water and got the kayaks down and set off for the mangroves. It was a little later in the day so there wasn’t much boat traffic. We kayaked all the way through the tunnels and back.

We then tied the kayaks up to the broken down dock and snorkeled out to the reef. For some reason it was extremely murky and stirred up and the visibility was not very good. And, my camera battery died. bummer.

Once I got more puppy kisses we came home, all got showered and went to Cal’s for dinner. We had an excellent meal, as usual. It was a busy day and we were all tired so it was early to bed that night.

The view from Cal’s and my friend Linda’s house.

The next morning we stopped at Jessica’s school to see why she was absent Monday. The teacher said her mother’s lame assed boyfriend kept her home from school because they all overslept. I’d like to lynch him.

From there we drove through Punta Gorda to hand out some of the toys that Liza and Mike brought down for the kids. Once again, it got crazy. The kids were grabbing out of my car, the ones I gave toys to hid them and said they didn’t get any. It became bedlam so I did what I had to do; I closed the trunk and left, no more for them. We passed out a few more along the way, choosing wisely where we stopped.

Jillian wanted to go to La Sirena in Camp Bay, it’s pretty much a must see spot. We all had onion rings and rum punches. My friends Don and Janice were there so we sat near them and chatted for awhile while watching the wind surfers. {side note, I bought a new camera, a Nikon CoolPix B 500 with a 40X zoom lens on it} I am still learning to use the camera and did not have it on the correct setting so these photos aren’t the best.

It must be so amazing to be wind surfing at Camp Bay, it’s one of the more pristine spots on the whole island.

Jillian and Justin at my favorite beach on the moon.

Alligator Nose, just seeing it makes me miss the Duchess of Camp Bay and her husband.

Almost every day when we came home from our activities we jumped in the pool to cool off, rinse off the salt water and visit with the dogs. On Wednesday I thought we could go to The Buccaneer in French Harbor for something different. If I had known they charged $5.00PP entrance fee I would have stayed home in my own pool.

It’s a nice place but it isn’t worth the entrance fee.

They have an area roped off from the sea and pretty much protected from the waves. There are huge decks, swings in and out of the water, hammocks, floats. It’s just not the beach to me.

Floating their hectic career/school lives away

Unicorns, flamingos, swans and penguin floats. I can’t imagine what it looks like with all of them floating around,

Very colorful and somewhat tropical. I liked the ceiling at first but then I didn’t. It’s trying too hard.

I did like the hand painting on the wood deck

I think the painting would have been enough without having fake flowers and dried up leaves on the ceiling.

Not sure where these are going but I liked them.

Jillian was interested in seeing Cattleya school so I made arrangements with Connie to go there after lunch. When we arrived the students were with Kamille learning ASL. Afterwards they split into groups and did various projects.

Cattleya is a school for physically emotionally and mentally handicapped children. It’s an amazing school.

We watched the 3 different teachers conduct their classes and learned what each one was doing. The little girls flip-flops on the floor in the photo are some of the ones I donated to Cattleya, thank you Kelly. I’m still passing them out. I also donated the 3 games that Kelly brought to Cattleya.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in our pool at home. We had big salads for dinner and drank some wine on the roof.

Thursday morning we hung around the house, in and out of the pool, waiting to hear from Stephanie and Daniel. We were going snorkeling with them this afternoon. As soon as they called we went over to the sloth farm. I sat and chatted with Daniel’s Mother until they arrived. Stephanie’s parents were here visiting and they had been touring the mangroves, zip-lining and then going snorkeling. We were fortunate to be invited and very excited to go. Daniel just built a new snorkel barge with The Steelers (as in Pittsburgh) and Big Ben stenciled on the sides. Nice boat with an easy access ladder.

We went out in front of CocoView and snorkeled there. It was beautiful.

Daniel had my camera for a few minutes and snapped a pic of me.

Four eyed butterfly fish, Daniel may have taken this photo.

These are amazing Spaghetti worms (click on the name for a fascinating video on the worms). They are alive and move along the sand getting food to take back to their hole.

This was the biggest Porcupine fish I had ever seen.

They can puff themselves up to 3 times their normal size by drawing water into their abdomens. Once inflated their spines stick out and they are quite long and very sharp. They do this to protect themselves from being eaten by other fish. Then we moved to a different spot to snorkel, looking for lobsters.

Juvenile French Angelfish, Daniel took this

A school of grunts and Daniel took this too

Love to hate, hate to love. The Lion Fish. Beautiful but venomous if you get stung by them and they are decimating the reef by eating all the small fish. They are the only fish you are allowed to spearfish (with a permit). Kill them all.

A conch slowly trucking along. I swam past him on the way out and on the way back he had barely progressed.

Daniel and Dustin (red shirt) wrestling underwater trying to pull each other’s mask off.

Beautiful day with our heads underwater with friends, can’t beat that.

I dropped Jillian and Justin off at Cal’s at 6 so they could have a nice dinner together, then Bill went down to get them when they were finished. They were done in less than 45 minutes, I thought something was wrong but they said it was all good, he just wasn’t busy.

The next morning we left here at 8:45. We stopped and got Ann then took Jillian and Justin to zip-line at South Shore. Ann and I sat and watched them zipping along under the canopy of trees.

Justin seeing the trees from a different angle

As soon as they were done we went to West Bay Beach, grabbed some chairs at Bananarama and waited in the water for Sean (my friend from Canada) to meet us. Soon as he arrived we walked down to Infinity to snorkel.

I think this is a longspine squirrelfish

I love when I see an opening out into the deeper water. Really feel like a mermaid then.

I was swimming around in the shallows looking at little things and hoping to find this big Parrot fish. I swam around a coral chunk and there he was in all of his magnificent glory. I was lucky enough to be able to swim with him for several minutes, watching him do his thing.

Mr. giant Parrotfish, I was looking for you.

You really can’t tell the size from this photo but this guy was almost as big as my dogs.

He had several fish following him as he gnawed on the coral so he could then poop sand. I know the best facts!

Such a beautiful beach. After snorkeling we ate at Bananarama then floated our cares away.

Ann walked up to a restaurant called Nice and Spicy to get her husband some dinner so we ran Sean over the hill to the place he is staying, then went back and got Ann and took her home. We went inside so I could meet her new kittens and I wanted Jill and Justin to see her place and her view. After that we made the long drive home. As soon as we opened the gate to come in the driveway the power went off.

Wonderfreakingful. Bill was making pizza. He got the dough rolled out and partially cooked on the grill before it got dark. Then we put the stuff on the pizza with the LED’s for the lightsource. It was so windy that Bill had to cover the pizza with another cookie sheet just to carry it out to the grill.

Nothing says romantic better than glaring LED’s. I lit candles several times, only to have them blown out by the wind.

Miraculously, the power came back on just as it was time to eat. We ate and cleaned up the kitchen and all ran to take showers while we had water pressure. Not long after that, the power went out again. It wasn’t only us, it was island wide. Just a 36 mile strand of darkness in the Caribbean. It really wasn’t a big deal because there was a very strong wind blowing through the house, keeping temps cool.

We hung out here the next morning, watching Flightstats to see what was going on with Jillian and Justin’s delayed flight. Once we saw it was airborn we went to the airport and got them checked in. The line for departures was long so I took them for a tour of Coxen Hole, the “downtown” center of the island. We drove all along the waterfront and stopped to take a photo of the new sign by Petro Sun. I dropped them off at the airport with time to spare before their flight. We enjoyed having Jillian and Justin and look forward to them returning.

I started talking to them about diving. I suggested they do the course work at home, then get their certs with my friends @ Blue Island Divers when they get here. I need to get Jillian’s sister to do this also, she will be here the end of June.

It’s been unusually HOT. 90 degrees with 85% humidity. Despite the insane temps the wind has been blowing hard and steady, keeping the air moving and keeping it cool inside. If there were no breeze we would either have to remain in the pool 24/7 or melt. The wonderful wild and crazy wind is blowing so much dust and dirt around that my screens are filthy and everything is covered in an inch of dust. Lola is sneezing and Barrio has goobers in his eyes, I think it’s allergies for both of them. Tomorrow is Max’s last day of meds, keeping my fingers crossed.

I have a busy few weeks coming up. A friend is coming for a few days to sign the papers on the land she is buying, another friend is coming to stay with us for 2 weeks while she sorts things out with her house building project. I am helping at a fundraiser for Cattleya for Mother’s Day and am also helping Nidia with a Mother’s Day luncheon on the 13th. TOMS shoe delivery will start in June, super late start this year due to some customs snafu.

Off to find something to watch on the computer. I hope everyone had a great weekend, it’s kind of quiet around here. Jillian and Justin, maybe you should come back.

The “after company” let down

13179325_1264685736893509_4469429168352604729_n 06/29/2016 Having company is wonderfully amazing, I really enjoy it, but it’s also a lot of work. I always go out of my way to show my guests a good time, making sure they see the highlights of the island, the must sees and must dos. Sometimes, more often than not, I am successful. I previously had company for almost 3 weeks, then they left, I had a 10 day break and then my youngest son and his friend Maureen came for 10 days. To say I was excited to see him is a bit of an understatement. I stood at the doors to the immigration building on high alert, waiting to catch a glimpse. I told Kevin, an airport employee who was at the door with me, that I was waiting for my son and he kept asking did I see him yet (at least I think that’s what he was saying, my Spanish sucks, as does his English)? I said, when you see tears (pointing to my cheeks) you’ll know it’s him. And yep, I cried when I saw him.

Trace and Maureen had traveled all night to get here, leaving Vancouver, BC, to Calgary, Alberta, spent a good part of the night in the Calgary airport, then Houston to Roatan. It was Trace’s second visit, Maureen’s first. Trace came in Jan 2015 and I think it rained almost every damn day he was here. This visit was the opposite. It was H O T. And H U M I D. Crazy humid.

Our plans were to go to West Bay Beach on Sunday to do some snorkeling and beach it for awhile. We got to the beach around 11 and started snorkeling right away. The first things of interest that I saw were some squid, I think there were 7. They are so cool, they change color if they feel threatened and they do a little “posturing.” Trace and Maureen were not very close to me, the squid were in the sandy shallows, Maureen was putting on her fins and it was just enough of a distraction to ruffle their tail feathers. Just a little bit, they didn’t move so they obviously were not threatened, which is good. I don’t make a habit out of threatening anything, in the sea or on land. Except Scorpions.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — They are Caribbean Reef Squid. They change color and camouflage quite well.

In all my years of snorkeling and the years that I dove, I never saw a Scorpion fish, they are so well camouflaged. And isn’t it odd that at my age I can find something like that WITHOUT corrective lens. The mysteries never end.

After we snorkeled we went to Bananarama Beach and Dive Resort and hung out, had lunch there too.

Nights were spent on the roof or the porch. We mostly hung out, ate and talked.

Monday eve there was a Full Moon, Summer Solstice party at Wendy and Andrew’s lovely home situated high on a hillside overlooking the azure North shore in Punta Blanca. There was a large crowd there, nice to visit and chat with everyone. They served Greek chicken and pork souvlaki’s. Excellent. There was a huge variety of other foods there and then Wendy made to TO DIE FOR FLAN CAKE. It was about 24″ in diameter and absolutely perfect. Perfect, not a crumb out of place. I could have laid down on the floor and had someone feed me ALL of that FLAN. You know it must have been good because I rarely speak of food. It doesn’t interest me. We had an excellent meal, hung out until we had to leave to come home and feed the dogs. Yes, I’m the one that leaves the party because my dogs are hungry. It’s their dinnertime. No, they can’t wait.

13497564_1712850708968053_3903169505837287254_o — Wendy and Andrew’s large porch, it’s beautiful. Trace and Maureen in the lower left.

13497894_1712850578968066_8872500600961236865_o — Marilyn and I, photo by Maureen, I believe.

The next day we went to the Iguana Farm and checked out the lizards. There were lizards everywhere. Sam said it’s still mating season so they haven’t stopped fighting over the women. Some looked rather battle weary.

After we left there we went to Little French Key. This is somewhere I stopped going for many reasons but I did want Trace and Maureen to enjoy it. I’ll be going again with Chance and the girls. I was obviously un-enthused since I only took 1 photo while there.

That evening we went to Isery, the closed nightclub that was owned and financed by a big shot with the Sinaloa drug cartel. We planned on just taking pics but the guard gave us the grand tour. And I mean tour, we saw every inch of that place. A freaking mazing.

We were given tickets to opening night, which never happened, shot glasses and maybe a turtle.

13557925_10153921260468533_3583939760860940888_n — a ticket

It was really interesting inside of there, I think this place will end up vandalized to the point that it collapses. Maybe that’s wishful thinking. It’s an eyesore.

One morning Trace, Maureen and I walked out on Oak Ridge Bight, the kids walked to the end and I stopped and chatted with Sandy Byrd. After that we went and found Everald for a Mangrove tour.

13510996_10208331533478186_8770793899883992247_n — Photo by Maureen

13494912_10208331534678216_2254312218354308251_n — Photo by Maureen

13516698_10208331537038275_5462514765063560816_n — Photo by Maureen of our guide Everald.

Wednesday eve we all went to Cal’s for dinner. Haven’t been for a few weeks, although, we stopped earlier that day and I cleaned his cats ears. The view was great, a beautiful night, I am such a slacker lately with photos, I apologize. I think I get burned out.

Friday was BJ’s and the day before my friend Marilyn left the island for 2 months. I had to go to see her before she went to the US. Trace, Maureen and I drove out to Pandytown to see if school was in session, it wasn’t, so we just headed to BJ’s. They had quite a good crowd and as usual, it’s always fun to be there.

13494915_10208363227670521_8174854863671516826_n — Selfie by Maureen, love this photo of the two of them.

That evening Trace and Maureen had Bill drop them at Cal’s for dinner. They ended up getting their food to go because the flies were so bad and they walked home and ate here. There must have been a hatch, they’re not usually very bad.

Sunday was funday at The Reef House resort. We got to BJ’s around 1 and were waiting for a boat to take us over when John and Debbie passed by. They stopped and picked us up and we were off for a day of fun in the water. I was extremely happy because my partner in crime has returned to the island, the Duchess of Camp Bay is back!

Monday was Mondays Don’t Suck but the kids had enough sun and wanted to just hang out here instead of going anywhere. Since it was their last day here, that’s just what we did.

The day guests leave is always a drag. You sit around and wait for the time to take them to the airport. Their flight was at 1 so we got to the airport around 11 and the United line was long, as was the immigration line to leave. Once they were checked in we ran into Coxen Hole to the meat market and got dog meat. Well, meat for the dogs, 3# of heart and liver. That should keep the boys and girl well fed for awhile.

We then took the kids back to the airport and through tears I said good bye. More than anything in the world I hate saying goodbye to my kids. I wish they were here or I was there, I never ever get tired of being with them and miss them so damn much.

We were in Madeyso waiting to buy screws and bolts and stuff when I heard their plane fly over on it’s way back to the USA.

In 2 weeks Chance and his family will be here, I am so excited for that. We can’t wait to see the girls. It will be their first island visit, hopefully the first of many!

I’ll leave with a few pics of the water dogs. Oh my gosh, they LOVE the pool.

I’ll leave you with this post I found on VRBO about a house that is for rent here on the island. Seriously? You post this on VRBO? Obviously this homeowner has a serious issue with prostitutes. My question is: How do they determine if someone is a prostitute? Medical exam before you can rent? Police record? I died laughing a few times over this. What if their grandmother WAS a prostitute but stopped hooking, is she allowed to stay there?

Only guests disclosed to us are eligible to stay on the property. If the property is already at the maximum, the guests will be asked to leave by security no exceptions. If the property is not at its maximum, and “additional” guests arrive, the per guest fee changes from $55 to $100/per night per guest. Prostitutes are not allowed to be at the property at any time. No exceptions.

I’ll be back soon, I’ve got more to say about something very ugly.

Smells like dead lizard

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02/17/2016 Today I went to my local bank to withdraw $$ from the ATM but it was down, AGAIN. So I used the blank check in my wallet to get money out of the account. I made the check out to myself and signed the back of it. It was for Tres Mil, 3000LPS or about $150.00. I handed the teller my Honduran resident card and my debit card for this account. He started filling out paperwork and on the back of my check he wrote my account number. Then he flipped the check over, looked at it, at the back of the check, then at me again and said DEPOSIT? OMG, NO. Why would I deposit a check drawn on my only account into the account it is written on?? This was after waiting 35 minutes..seriously??

I haven’t been in a blogging mood lately, sorry about that. I’m depressed. My house in the US was always clean, windows, floors, curtains, clean. I am physically unable to keep this house on the hill clean no matter what I do. I dust and the next day it looks like I invited the Sahara desert over for a freaking windstorm. I shit you not. You can write your name on any and every piece of my furniture. My window tracks are disgustingly gross, filled with dead critters and mud. I just cleaned them again yesterday and as soon as it rains they will be muddy again. Does it rain dirt on this island? Cleaning my window tracks is an all day job, I have 16 windows on the second floor that open. They are filthy all the time. Add to that a husband who is not Mr. Clean and 5 dogs and a cat and it’s a lose lose situation.

Last week a few nights in a row when I crawled into bed I smelled dead animal. I was convinced there was a dead lizard somewhere under the bed. Bill looked all over for it but didn’t see anything. We pulled the mattress up and looked under it, nada. I opened my nightstand drawer and found a pile of stuff that smelled like dead something. Whatever it was it was disintegrated into a mound of pulp in the drawer. I took the drawer in the bathroom, emptied the contents, scrubbed it out and put it back. Then I went back in the bathroom to clean up the mess and was assaulted by the SAME DAMN SMELL. I finally realized it was the bag of cat treats still setting on the counter that smelled like dead lizard. That’s what the mound of stuff was in the drawer that smelled.

Last Sunday we had no power due to the rain and winds. So, what do we do when the power is off, go to Mega Paca and shop. Marilyn, Carmen and Carmen’s parents picked me up on their way to town. First thing I scored was a Kate Spade wallet. It was $1.50.

We all had a blast shopping except it was hot in there with no A/C (power was out island wide). We made a few stops before they brought me home. I think power came on later in the day but it was off for a loooong time.

Monday was another beach day. I picked up Carmen and Brett and Karon and Ron (Carmen’s parents) and we drove out to Camp Bay beach. We had a pretty good turnout, we floated, played volleyball and had a few drinks.

Then the 5 of us went to La Sirena for rum punches, well I didn’t drink any because I was driving and they are STRONG. I just devoured my onion rings, so yummy!

We had an epic Tuesday, really we did. Marilyn, Carmen and Karon picked me up and we went to Coxen Hole to get Nidia. We were on our way to see Doña Maria. I had sheets and a blanket, shampoo and conditioner and 2 bags of coffee for her. Marilyn had a new pillow, more sheets and a roll of chicken wire that a friend of hers donated. After we got Nidia and the chickens that Daine gave us we went to the grocery store where Carmen and Karon bought Doña Maria all kinds of things, cereal, milk, oil, salt, sugar and coca cola. Then we went looking for feed for the chickens (that were in a pillow case in a box in the back of the car), got that at the 2nd store. We then drove around some more looking for a corn grinder for her. Marilyn had gotten one before but turns out it was a meat grinder. After looking several places, we had one more place to look. That was the golden ticket, Nidia found a beautiful grinder there for Doña Maria.

We headed back to the path that treks through the jungle and started walking up to her house. When we got there we were disappointed because she wasn’t home. ~~Martha Stewart~~ Marilyn, in her pink Polo wellies, started building a chicken coop for the new chickens.

Rather than leave and not get to see Doña Maria we decided to hang around until she came home. We wandered around checking things out, waiting for her when all of a sudden she comes walking up the path with a cardboard box balanced on her head. In the box were scraps of wood for her fire that is always burning. She had walked all the way into Coxen Hole carrying a hand of bananas to sell. Doña Maria weighs all of 75# soaking wet and she carried the bananas down the path, walked along the highway into town, they must have weighed 30# at least. She found a buyer for her bananas, the lady took them and then said she didn’t have the $$ to pay her. All of that for nothing, she came home banana-less. Doña Maria was so excited to see us. We made her close her eyes and then Nidia walked her to the chicken coop, she was thrilled that we got her chickens. Nidia showed her the gorgeous corn grinder that Marilyn bought for her, I know it’s something she will really use a lot. We gave her all the things we bought for her, I think it may have been overwhelming. Carmen had a padlock with a key for her door and a variety of food stuff. Doña Maria showed us her sugar came press that her son made for her.

12736830_1253824311298179_1618025403_o — Nidia climbed up the hill where they planted corn and took this pic. There is a chicken coop behind Carmen and I, but the chickens belong to someone else.

12716165_233243630343690_6008552429899569101_o — Carmen, me, Karon and Nidia

She wants to get her hair done again so Nidia will follow up on that. After I posted some photos on FB I had a friend here on the island who wants to pay for and build her a table and bench to use as a kitchen table. I’ll probably get her a few plastic chairs too. We are also inquiring about building her a better home. She doesn’t own the land so we have to get permission from the landowner.

After we said our good byes to Doña Maria we dropped Nidia off in Coxen Hole and headed home, sort of. We got diverted and went to Romeo’s in French Harbor for lunch and wine.

I don’t recall what I did the next few days, one of them I tried, again, to pay my friends property tax, only to be told this time I needed copies of their RTN’s. They did not say I needed them the last time I tried to pay, each time I go there, it’s something different. You would think that they would make it easy to pay your taxes, especially since the many on the island don’t pay theirs. UGH!

Friday was BJ’s and on the way there, I paid our taxes. The last 2 times I tried to pay them I couldn’t wait any longer because of Spanish class. This time I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Then I was off to BJ’s with the crew. It was anther rainy shitty day but we still had a good group of people.

And the rains continued. When I got up Saturday morning and looked out the windows, first the south shore and then the north shore, I realized I couldn’t see either. We were socked in with no visibility and a very low cloud cover. The tower at the airport is not equipped to do IFR landings so unless the pilots can see the runway (Visual landing as opposed to instrument) they can’t land.

I got to the airport at 11:15 and we were told it was closed. No flights coming in or leaving. Really? We had 2 AA, 2 UAL and a Delta flight coming in and an airport full of stranded delayed passengers. I got the PAX counts and ETA’s from the desks and we waited to see what was going to happen. The first flight was due in at 12:30 but it was “late.” We stood outside the back of the airport facing the runways and watched the Delta and the 1st United circle overhead. Then we heard that the United diverted to San Pedro Sula. Soon after that, out of seemingly nowhere, the Delta plane landed. The runway at RTB is right smack next to the water and we could barely see the water. As the PAX were de-planing and I was welcoming them at the immigration door I saw the American jet come in, almost land and abort at the last minute. OMG, the passengers were probably freaking out. It went to Belize instead. We were told the other American also went to San Pedro Sula. After waiting around the American from San Pedro and the United finally came over from the mainland and landed. The 2nd United flight was cancelled and we heard the American wasn’t coming. I went into the office and signed out and was getting ready to leave when the airport guys said the American that went to Belize was due in at 6 PM (only 5 hours late). I signed back in and 4 of us went to wait for the plane to come in. The runway lights were on, waiting for the flight from BZE @ 6 but at 6:10 PM it was cancelled, still in Belize. As it turns out, there was no room in Belize for the plane so they refueled and took those poor passengers back to Miami and they were bringing them the next day.

12728856_10153595817543533_912436818591423482_n — It’s rare that a plane lands at night in Roatan, as it turned out, one didn’t land this night either.

It was an exhausting 7 hour day at the airport, the only good thing I can say about it is, I love meeting the new people coming to the island and I love the ladies I work with.

A few shots of random stuff before I wrap this up and go read.

This is the ARK they are building in Politilly. It is going to be a nightclub??? I’ll snap some more pics on Friday when I go to BJ’s, they have done a lot of work on it. I don’t remember who took this photo but I did not. 12671619_1697270283861936_4166679552789434544_o

12657378_1743377865892901_1440531157699557451_o — This is my niece Devon, my brother PJ’s daughter. She is at the Night to Shine event at a church in Montoursville, PA. This is an event sponsored by the Tim Tebow foundation and it is worldwide..Devon had a blast at the party, I so wish I could have been a fly on the wall.

12249983_10153599895213533_5794753807831936733_n — Dog origami, on the roof.

12087973_1091100230899989_8939742309565076685_o — Trace took this pic of his sweet girlfriend Maureen. I love it! We are anxiously awaiting for them to come visit us soon. (Hint hint Maureen)

12694718_10204944700128691_2210976706250918842_o — My friends Jill and Rick Jackson own Las Cabanas de Loreto ( a fabulous vacation spot) in Baja, Mexico. Rick, as you can see, is a professional photographer. He snapped this photo while they were camping in Baja on Valentines Day. To see more of Rick’s work go to http://www.soulcatchingimages.com

Yes, we have bananas, lots of apple bananas. The dogs are still enjoying them every morning with peanut butter, I’m eating them and Bill makes a smoothie every night. Sure hope we have some when our guests arrive in March.

And that my friends is a wrap. I’m off to the couch. If any of you have any hints or tips for my house cleaning woes, I’m ready..

Signed:

Disgusted with the dirt in Paradise

Misfits and Mayhem

pirate2 02/06/2016 The front of the house is finally fenced in; however the fence was not yet concreted to the cinder block base and we are still waiting on the metal sliding gate to be finished. Bill made a temporary fence gate to keep the dogs in. The other day the pups were outside running around playing and next thing I hear is Bill yelling, “the pups got out!” They pushed the fence away at the bottom where it wasn’t finished and escaped like greased pigs. Luckily they ran down through the woods and not down towards the main road. Alexi went chasing after them and I ran down the driveway (well, fast walked, I can’t really run) and they were all running back up to me. Highway was the only one who didn’t escape, well, he and Frito, who was inside. Bill finished the fence the next day so they can no longer escape through the bottom. That was a little excitement that I didn’t need, I would freak if anything happened to any of them.

Brett and Carmen rode with me to Mondays Don’t Suck. I’m so glad they came because it was an awesome day on the beach. We had a huge group of people enjoying MDS. The Duchess of Camp Bay’s friend (and my friend) Skip arrived on Saturday and was there for the day along with so many other people, some I didn’t even know. We played volleyball, swam and floated AND we did a conga line on the beach. I think it was going on 5 PM by the time I got home. I was exhausted from all the fun.

079 — Game 1, Carmen displaying her perfect form. I too played a round of volleyball but, for some damn reason, I couldn’t stand still, I had to dance. There was music playing and it was dancing music..Once I start I have a hard time stopping. Dancing that is, not playing volleyball. While looking at this photo, please imagine that I have the same ultra perfect form that Carmen does. I’m sure I do. Really.

So many fun people, it was an awesomely amazeballs day.

There are 2 videos of the conga line..I was going to post one of them but then decided that nobody really wants or needs to see my boobs almost popping out of my suit. So, you’re welcome, I saved you from the retina burner. Skip, thanks for the TIME and People magazines w/ Bowie on them. Prized possessions..I still owe you a drink or 3.

Tuesday I went to Mega Paca to get some bedding stuff for Doña Maria. We are planning to go see her on Sunday, weather permitting. I got her a few nice things then went to the store and got her some staples like coffee and shampoo and conditioner. The group from Live Again Ministries are on the island and paid her a visit last week, they are building a bench for her. More on that in the next blog..On the way home from shopping I stopped at the Stihl chain saw place to get a new wiper and ended up sitting there pulling ticks off their puppies eye and out of her ears. {I bought some worm medicine and stopped the next day to worm her.}

I came home and did some laundry and was sitting here at the computer reading something when I heard a loud rumble. I thought it was a severe wind gust. Then the whole damn house shuddered, TWICE. The dogs freaked out, Barrio cried, and it was over. Earthquake!! At first they said it was 4.7 and upgraded to 4.9. It was so weird to hear the rumble, thinking it’s something else but then realizing just what the hell it was. No injuries or damage reported on the island. I have a big art piece that needs realigned, but that’s it.

I don’t work at the airports on Wednesday, but I was there. I went to meet a new friend who is active in animal rescue and was coming to the island for vacation. She brought along a donation of many collars and leashes for the upcoming vet clinic and I offered to meet her at the airport to get them. Thank you Brenda, I know they will be appreciated! I also got to meet Carmen’s parents who arrived the same day. I spent most of the afternoon Wednesday trying to decide on a costume for the Pirate party. I’m not much for costumes but having gone to the party last year and seeing the way people were dressed, I had to give it a shot. I tried on so many damn black dresses, red bra on top of tank tops (looked like a poor hooker), swimsuit cover-up (fat), skirts, back to dresses, started feeling like a nitwit and thought maybe I should just go to the party and not worry about a costume. I decided to make rum balls and have a drink instead.

Thursday morning I got up and all I could think about was a pirate wench costume. I somehow managed to go from pirate girl to wench overnight, funny how that shit happens. All of a sudden I had an epiphany. My boots, I still had my boots. Never forget that a good pair of boots can make you into a slutty pirate in no time. These boots took me months to decide on, the boots that I may have bought 9 or 10 different pairs, only to return them all. The boots that I finally had to special order. It became a joke with my friends back in the states, especially Teri B who happened to be with me for many of the search, buy and return scenarios.

I’ll admit it. I used to have a very serious addiction. To black shoes and boots. Truth be told, moving to the island was the only way for me to escape the chains of my addiction and get on with my life. I only brought 2 pair of black boots and probably a dozen pair of black shoes, 10 pair which I have not worn since I’ve been here.

Anyhow, so I have these kick ass black knee-high, heeled boots. They’re not a spike heel so they can go dressy or slutty..I chose the latter. By 10AM I had my outfit chosen and I was feeling pretty good. Only issue was MY FEET. They thought they were dying in properly enclosed shoes, it’s been a few years since they have seen anything like boots. I sucked it up and pulled those suckers on, zipped them up, grabbed a Stronghold headband, my wine and wineglass and we were good to go. Oh yes, I also had on a pirate shirt and my tutu, of course. All slutty pirate wenches wear tutus.

For all of you curious souls, no Bill did not wear a costume, but he did go with me. Alexi, our helper was here and when he saw me he got this big shit eaten grin on his face and said, “you look cool.” I knew I did something right. We got to BJ’s around 10 to noon and were picked up by boat to get to the party. I believe we may have been the first guests to arrive. Francie was already a gorgeous slutty pirate wench but Franklin wasn’t in his Johnny Deppish clothes yet.

P2040138 — Big Rock (If this looks familiar, it’s is the same place that we had spa day recently)

12647133_10153548374248318_6623269172240513909_n — Photo by Rosalie Dickson Boileau. Rosalie took this photo of her husband Bob (L) me and Joe.

Funny thing, at the semi end of the party they announced the winners for best costume and Bob won for the men and I won for the women. We each got a Pirate shot glass. Francie said I won b/c of my boots, Bob won b/c he had cute red lips..

This was seriously the best party I’ve been to since ever..the food was spectacular, as is the location, superb hosts and an amazing cast of fellow pirate friends..an epic pirate party!

12669556_1040716325993933_1289815722642409963_n — Rosalie posted this on FB the day after the party. It’s so perfect.

Brenda, who I met at the airport (collars and leashes) on Wed. messaged me Friday morning to see if I was going to BJ’s. I was debating because I didn’t have the energy. I knew that excuse would not cut it with Jeanie so I fed the dogs a late breakfast, showered and dressed for the day. I got to BJ’s a little after 1 and there were only a handful of people there but soon the place began to fill up. Francie and Franklin came so I ran to my car to call Bill to see if he was on his way. He made an enclosed bulletin board for Kat’s Rise Up Roatan center and he was going to help Franklin hang it.

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This is the building where our Spanish classes were held, coincidentally, it’s right across the road from BJ’s parking lot..

I hung out at BJ’s, got involved (sort of) in a meeting with PIER (Partners In Education Roatan) and some friends, then went back to BJs. Brenda and her friends were there, Jeanie, Roger and Skip had arrived, the place was packed. I got an order of fries, finished my wine and went home. Before I left I told Brenda about Cal’s Cantina. We were going there for dinner with Jeanie, Roger and Skip. We got to Cal’s around 5, a perfect time because there was already a table of friends, more came in, then another table, then Brenda and her friends, then our neighbor John came, before long, the place was crowded. We had a good meal, as always, and then came back here for Skip to meet Frito and we did sips of Damiana.

I woke this morning to a chilly cloudy rainy day. My mind went to the people coming in for vacation, on a dark, damp, cool dismal day. You know most of the people just left somewhere very cold and were hoping to arrive on a bright sunny island. Not happening. I didn’t realize just how bad the weather was until I got to the airport and heard it was closed due to a low ceiling. Avianca going to the mainland sat there, fully boarded for over 90 minutes waiting to take off. AA from Miami was late due to mechanical issues, United arrived first, after circling for 15 minutes. Soon after that 3 more planes landed, (one of which aborted their first landing here and went around again), at the same damn time almost. It was a long day but I did get a guy to sing to me and then he kissed me, all to get in the express lane..Some people will do anything…and I’m just the girl to make them.

TV tip, just watched Twinsters on Netflix, I really enjoyed it. True story about twins separated at birth who find each other 25 years later. Great story and the real twins are the stars..

It’s past my bedtime, stay tuned..I’m hoping we don’t get blown off this hilltop, it’s pretty damn windy out there.

P.S. I was going to post this blog this morning but I woke at 5 AM to no power. It just came back on around 4:30 this afternoon. Island wide outage, always happens when a Norther rolls in..

The Planking Sisterhood

bruises

01/31/2016 Saturdays have become a blur to me. This past one was no exception. The weather on the eastern side of the US was causing a major upheavel to the flights arriving from and departing to the US. Many passengers did not make it off the island on Sat., therefore missing all of their connections in the US.. That’s just the way it goes when you travel, Mother Nature is the Ultimate Bitchacha. She wins all the time.

Monday Bob and Rosalie and Marilyn picked me up for our Mondays Don’t Suck days in Camp Bay. We had a great turnout because Franklin and Francie’s kids were here. (3 of them were to leave but couldn’t due to weather) We played some volleyball with the young ones putting us to shame. We forget they can run and we’re old. Well, I should speak for myself, I can NOT run, not even if Channing Tatum was at the finish line. But believe me, I can crawl really fast.

After Volleyball we all cooled off in the angry sea. The waves were pretty high and there was a strong current pushing us westward, it still felt marvelous. We had food, drinks and music. At one point I began a congo line and the women joined in. We danced down around the volleyball net and back up the beach. We plan to do a synchronized version tomorrow that will be filmed.

Wednesday I went to Coxen Hole muni to attempt to pay the property taxes for my friends. The place was packed. Nidia followed up on it and we need more info than I had because it’s their first time paying. We’ll get this figured out yet.. After that I went to my hair gal Nadia to get my roots corrected.

Thursday Carmen and I had a day of fun in the sun planned, however, there was no sun. We went to Mega Paca looking for accessories for the upcoming Pirate party and actually scored some cool stuff. After that we went to Arch’s Iguana Farm and ran into Mr. Arch himself. I also got to meet my friend Gale’s (Sam Arch’s sister) daughter, Derricka. Oh my, what a doll she is. After that I gave Carmen a tour of Parrot Tree, we checked on my friends home for her and then went to Cal’s for garlic bread and wine. It was a wonderful day spent with a good friend! While taking Carmen home we saw an unusual sight and I was fortunate enough to catch up to the guy.

Friday was the last Spanish class for awhile. After that, it was off to BJs with my newest Mega Paca score, a brand new Woozie (wine glass koozie).

Bill wasn’t working at the house so he planned to come to BJ’s also. When I got out of class Roger said Bill called and there was a dog fight and he got bitten separating the dogs. I didn’t have my phone so I used Rogers to call him back. Apparently Frito got loose and went right for Lola’s throat, for no reason other than hate. In the process of breaking it up, Lola bit him pretty hard on his thumb. I convinced him a beer would make it feel better so he came over for a little while. Frito just hates Lola’s guts because the puppies (Frito’s pups) adore Lola.

When I got home around 3:30 I was so tired I laid down on the couch and slept until 8:30. I woke up, ate yogurt and went to bed. In the morning I was kind of surprised to see my leggings where they were. Oh well, it is what it is.

Saturday I was at the airport until 4:30. The Delta flight was 2 hours late leaving Hotlanta (Atlanta) because the galley oven wouldn’t turn on. What a shame, without it the 5 first class passengers would just have to go without their reheated previously cooked bland nasty food.

Sunday we took the boys swimming @ Parrot Tree again. My new friend from Canada, Diane and her husband Andy are staying there so they walked over to the lagoon and met us. The boys played for about an hour while we chatted. They slowly started to get tired and once they reached the point of groveling in the sand, it was time to leave.

We came home and I bathed all 3 of the dogs, did some laundry and we all napped for awhile. At 4 we had to meet our friend Miguel in Oak Ridge. We found another bag of soccer jerseys buried in the spare room so we ran them over to him. This is the progress on the Ark disco/casino/nightclub. It’s going to be quite the place.

Last, but certainly not least, my poor 90 year old Mom fell and broke her wrist. She was at the computer, the desk chair is armless w/ wheels and they have a mat under it so it rolls easily. Obviously it rolls too easily and got out from under her. She went down on her wrist and broke it in 2 places. They don’t want to operate so they put her in traction and set and cast it. She’s in a lot of pain right now and her knee is bothering her too. I imagine she wrenched that when she fell. So thankful for my sister who got down there as soon as she could safely drive. Hoping things get better and her wrist heals up quickly.

Next week is action packed; hopefully I am not too tired to blog about it. Being retired and having this much fun every day is hard work..I’m trying like hell not to be boring.

Sting me baby one more time

age

1/6/2016 Happy Birthday to me, I swam in the sea, with thousands of Jellyfish, all stinging my ass! It sort of rhymes..whatever.

I worked at the airport on Saturday, once again the last 3 flights landed at the same time, fun afternoon spent meeting new people. It was just Ana, Lisa, Caroline and I working but we did great and got the people in and out of there by 2:30.

Sunday we were invited to Marcia and Dennis’ home so I could do some snorkeling with Marcia and her sister Kande for my birthday. It was my second time on a sea kayak. On the way out we saw Moon jellyfish everywhere we looked. We were hoping once we got into deeper water there would be no jellies. Hah, WRONG!! We kayaked out to way past the reef and the point where normal people would not venture, tied the boats up where the dive boats anchor and slithered into the water. We were surrounded by jellyfish everywhere we looked, thousands of the suckers, Moon and Comb jellies, and other different, unidentifiable to me, smaller ones. I was just in a swimsuit, no shirt, nothing. {It’s a mermaid thing}. Now, I’m not a fan of being stung by jellyfish but after the first dozen stings you just become a BADASS NINJA MERMAID and say f*ck it, lets snorkel. We weren’t thrilled with the first buoy we tied up to, there was nothing to see, so we decided to GET BACK ON OUR KAYAKS in water that was 11 miles deep. {Remember, this was my second time kayaking.} I got in the boat and proceeded to tip the sucker over. In that process I managed to ruin my 2 extra batteries for my camera, still not sure why I even had them with me. Stupidity I guess. It took 3 of us to right the kayak. I got back in it and FELL OUT AGAIN but didn’t tip the kayak. I got back in it the 3rd time (not bad for a 21 year old after 100 attempts) and didn’t move my ass one inch for fear of tipping again. We kayaked over to a shallower spot and tied up to go snorkeling again. We were hoping to get away from the jellies but the closer we got to the wall and the drop off the more jellies there were. I decided screw the fish, this was a jellyfish adventure.
While getting stung, (it feels like a shock, some stronger and longer than others) I managed to get some good shots.

We got in the water at 9:30 and got out around 2. I was so exhausted, my arms hurt from rowing, my legs hurt from kicking. At that point I wasn’t aware of the other bruises I had incurred on my adventure.

Monday was Mondays Don’t Suck. I snagged a ride with Bob and Rosalie out to Camp Bay. We were the first ones there and hoped we wouldn’t be the only ones. The sky was very dark at the horizon, almost black in places but we could see the darkness moving east. Marilyn and Alex came, along with Jeanie, Francie, Franklin and Carol and Tom (Francie’s Mom and her man). We sat around and talked and ate, it was not a normal sunny day, in fact, it got kind of cool, cool enough that people were wrapped in towels and nobody ventured into the water, although I felt it and it felt warm compared to the air.

Jeanie had been complaining about not being able to get her toe nail polish off so someone brilliantly suggested using Off insect repellant containing Deet. Jeanie got a rag from ??? and sat down and sprayed insect repellant on her toenails and tried to rub her toe nail polish off. It did not work. Her toes will never be bitten by bugs again, they are Deeted.

So, my friend Denise from Williamsport got this message:

Hey Denise,

I hear that Deb DOrazio is in Roatan! We just flew through there yesterday on our way to la ceiba!

We will be back in Roatan for Thursday & Friday then we leave on Saturday! Give her my info and we can try to meet up.

Happy new year!
Peace&love ☮

It was from a guy I haven’t seen since the late 80’s. He owns a very well know bar and restaurant back in my home town. He is traveling with his daughter right now on the mainland. If things go as planned they are going to hang out with me at BJ’s on Friday and maybe do dinner Friday night. I hope I get to see them (Fred and Giavana) this week!!

I’m currently recuperating from a bruised rib (under my right boob) from my numerous unsuccessful attempts to reinsert my fat butt back into the kayak and a bruise on my back that is quite mysterious. I didn’t even know I had it, my friends told me about it Monday, Hmm. Love not knowing what I did.

We went to a cocktail party at my friend Judy’s last night. Alex and Marilyn picked us up and we drove to her very secluded incredibly fabulous home high on a hill, over looking the water. Her house looks like something out of a magazine. While there, my friend Caroline and I decided we would just volunteer for Sat. at the airport again so I emailed Milesse last night. The 4 of us didn’t stay late, we had dogs to feed and Marilyn and Alex still had a drive and a boat ride home.

Looking forward to Spanish classes with Francie and BJ’s later on, hopefully hanging with Fred and Giavana on Friday, Sat at the airport and Sunday on the Free Radical catamaran for 7 hours partying and snorkeling with friends.

Here’s to the weekend, hope you all have a great one!

Friends make the world go round

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11/18/2015 Life is strange. It’s strange the way we meet people in our lives and what influences or doesn’t influence that a friendship ensues. What traits do we look for in a friend, is that how we do it, looking for “traits”? I don’t think I look for traits or tendencies, like oooh, are they OCD like me or not? Do they eat peanut butter with a spoon? If my friends were like me I would not like them much.

Last Monday I rode with Marilyn and Alex to Barbon beach for Mondays Don’t Suck. shortly after we got there it rained, then the rain stopped and it was semi sunny. Only a few people showed up but it was fun nonetheless. The women floated for awhile on our matching rafts and the men prepared the fire for lunch.

It was a fabulous day on the beach. The next day I was meeting my friend Milesse at the resort she owns, Barefoot Cay. As soon as I got there the sky opened up and it poured. I had to take a barge across to the Cay, so I waited until the rain let up a little bit before I crossed. We went to Milesse’s house and ordered lunch from the restaurant menu. Let me just say this: Milesse has a fabulous home and Barefoot Cay is amazing. The grounds are spotless, the bungalows are decorated elegantly, it’s really an amazing small boutique resort. and you are very catered to when you stay there.

I had a great time with Milesse, we discussed the airport gig and what needs to be done to make it an even better experience for the arriving guests. {Milesse is the one who started the volunteer greeter program at Roatan airport}. After a great lunch I got a tour of the resort, it really is a beautiful place away from the hustle and bustle of the popular beaches.

Friday found us back at BJ’s, of course. Out of nowhere and after a few glasses of wine, Jeanie said, “lets plank here.” So I grabbed Marilyn and Bill and my camera and we planked. It’s funny but nobody really pays any attention when you are being crazy. It’s obvious that insanity is what I look for in my friends.

I go right for the craziness, the impulsivity, the we’re ready for whatever attitude. They are the people I like to hang out with. The adventurous ones. I like true friends, people who you can hang with so comfortably that they feel like home. What blows my mind is the life situation that we have on this island that gives us this type of friends. The people we are friends with here are ready to go to the beach with 7 puppies, tie up a kayak and snorkel to the reef, take a boat to Helene for the day, eat dinner standing around our kitchen island when we had to come home because our dogs were barking so much. There are women who will plank with me and those who will spend all day passing out shoes or an afternoon downtown providing fun for the kids. And their men look and watch without passing judgement. We are expressing ourselves.

12255491_10206342979952386_751822866_o (1) — Jeanie in front, me in pink, Marilyn, in black and white. Planking BJ’s!

12200435_10206342976952311_1491299075_n — Then Jeanie says, “Take our picture” to Bill, “DO SOMETHING” to Marilyn and I. So Marilyn and I cracked up!

12235684_10206342986032538_1558589497_o — ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!! Marilyn in her throne.

Actually, Bill made the chair for Santa Claus’ arrival at the Christmas party in Fiddlers Bight next month. Marilyn was taking the chair home to paint it. She may have it permanently affixed to the boat because she looks pretty freaking regal sitting there. Get that lady a crown.

My fabulous lady friends and I are going to start having Adult Coloring sessions. I got a few books online and I told Jeanie to buy one also. We plan to get together and color and drink wine and solve every issue in our little island world. During these times we may also vote people off the island..You know, like Survivor but without money. These are the coloring books that I bought.

Friends. I love my old friends, the group of people we partied with in the states. So many years with those people and so many memories. I love my new friends too. We are making memories here every day. Crazy fun memories. My good friend just returned home last Saturday, back to her island home. I was so happy to see her walking into the immigration building I wanted to turn cartwheels across the tarmac. I refrained because they would frown on that and I’d more than likely kill myself with a cartwheel. Faceplant much? However, I would like to try one. Just to see, without anyone else seeing.

I find it very interesting that people from my previous life are now a part of my current life because of FB. People that I used to hang out with when I got out of High School or after my sporadic college career {that spanned way too many years) and resulted in nothing being learned except life lessons. Hard taught life lessons. I haven’t seen some of these people for 25+ years. Some WAAAYYY longer than that. Friends I’ve know since 4th grade. Friends from my past, from the life I led before I became a Mom. Even after having the boys many of these people stayed in my life. Some went in other directions, some I haven’t really “talked” to in decades but we are in touch via Facebook. I love that I am able to be a part of my friends lives, to be able to see photos of their children/grandchildren growing up, to know what they are doing and to comment on each others daily happenings. It’s a good thing.

My friend Dolli just posted this photo of me on Facebook. I think it’s 1968?

12226951_1020720861284814_592970750427198164_n — Umm, yeah, I was a Hippie chick! I’m top left, with a cig in my hand. This photo is amazing..

One of my friends, Keri, from Snohomish, WA., sort of started the Pastafarian religion on Roatan. When a few of our friends went to visit Keri, they wore colanders on their heads. This article tells about a girl who is allowed to wear a colander for her drivers license photo because it is part of her religious headwear. My friend Llyn has to get her license renewed here on the island and I’m going along for the ride because she is going to wear a colander on her head. I’m going to take pictures and laugh my ass off.

Sunday we picked up Nancy and Chuck and they rode along with us to deliver Jeanie’s new cupboard to Camp Bay.

Once Bill and Roger got the cupboard hung we all went to La Sirena and had lunch and rum punches. Always fun to hang out there and Jeanie and I even planked, again. This time it was my idea.

We got home late afternoon and hung out with the dogs for the evening. At around 1 AM I woke sick to my stomach and spent most of the night awake and feeling like shit. It wasn’t the food from La Sirena, but some turkey breast I made a sandwich out of. I know this for sure because Bill had a sandwich Monday night and was sick all night long. When I woke Monday morning I had a headache, fever and was coughing, the start of a mysterious island illness. This is day 3 and I am beginning to feel human again, although I think Bill may be getting it now. Time will tell.

The guys are here fiberglassing the roof, finally we have had some dry weather so they can get this done. Sam said it will take about 4 days to do and then we will be waterproofed.

I have given up fixing dog toys and resigned myself to the fact they can not have stuffed toys period. The only toys they don”t decimate are Kongs, Nylabone and Skineeze.

The pups are seven months old and weigh: Gringo, 49#, Barrio 45# and Maxillicious 39# and Lola who is 1 year old weighs 44#. Highway will be 3 Dec 1 and weighs 51#. I’m thinking Gringo is going to be our hefty one..He is solid as a bull..I bought bananas for the dogs, sliced them and put Xylitol free peanut butter on the slices for them. They love them. Then they stole 2 whole bananas from the counter, they ate 1 banana, skin and all. I only found a part of the other banana peel. Nice healthy fiber. Damn them. They eat everything. I did not take a picture of their latest destruction because I was disturbed that they did what they did. They ATE the heavy wooden cistern cover. Yes. No joke. You could see down into the cistern. Really, honestly, they were that DAMN bored that they ate the cistern lid. Needless to say, this did not make Bill’s day. I’m sure it was all 3 boys and Lola. I think Highway watched with dismay. Dogs, man’s best friend.

I haven’t mentioned this next thing because I didn’t want to jinx it but these people are coming to visit us this summer.

chance fam — Our oldest son Chance and his wife Alecia and the girls. I am BEYOND excited to see them and am already planning lots of fun things to do while they are here. Neither of the girls have flown before and Alecia doesn’t like to fly so I really appreciate her willingness to put her fears aside and come to the island.

Alexah’s school pic. What I love most about this photo (aside from the fact it’s of Alexah) is that she isn’t afraid to smile with her braces on. She is a gorgeous girl!

Chloee, another beauty, she is growing up so fast. They both have their mother’s beautiful blue eyes!!

12063839_1037582972953154_1447987568694135576_n — Chance and his girls being goofy

One last thing, I am also helping out with the kids Christmas Party in Fiddlers Bight, a community accessed by boat. Last year Bill and I bought toys for the party and I helped wrap the gifts one day at BJ’s. We also went along with Santa to the bight for the festivities. This year Bill made a sturdy new chair for Santa which he desperately needs because so many women want to sit on his lap AT THE KIDS CHRISTMAS PARTY. This group is different from Because We Care. This is a smaller group of children, but still kids in need. If anyone wants to donate, $10.00 gives an island child a Christmas gift. Believe me when I say it’s the only gift they will get. You can donate for free to my PayPal account, just be sure to mark the money as a GIFT. I promise, 100% goes to the kids..my email for PayPal is ledfutt@gmail.com

And, I am off to bed, this cold/flu has kicked my butt. I really do not have time to be sick!

Rocking the Radical Catamaran

02/20/2015 What an epic week this has been! Last Thursday Jeanie and Roger brought their BBQ grill to our house and cooked dinner here. (yes we have a grill but Roger is a BBQ Nazi and must use his own) I made a big salad and we had roasted baby potatoes and RED MEAT. Now I haven’t eaten RED MEAT in years, don’t like to chew the stuff but this was good RED MEAT brought from the states and covered in pink peppercorns before grilling. The smell was wafting past my nostrils and when Roger sliced it and I saw how perfectly done it was all thoughts of my chicken breast that he cooked for me went out the window. I wanted RED MEAT. OMG, it was delicious. This does not mean I am a carnivore by any means. I don’t think eating red meat once in 3 years makes me a meat eater. We finished dinner with rum cake and some Mango Rum. Yummy meal but even better was the company, it was fabulous. It was so much fun to hang out with Roger and Jeanie!!

I picked Nancy and Chuck up on Saturday at the airport, we stopped and got Nancy some snorkel gear @ Barefoot Key in preparation for our Sunday excursion on the Radical Catamaran. I dropped them off at their house Saturday afternoon only to pick them up again at 8:30 Sunday morning to go to Oak Ridge to get on the boat. We set sail soon after 9 AM and were off to the eastern end of the island. It was a gorgeous sunny day, made even better by warm pineapple muffins served by the crew.

I know I’ve said it before but this is a first class operation, Ed and Julie provide an exceptional day onboard their gorgeous boat! After sailing for awhile we stopped to snorkel again at the Cow and the Calf. I told myself prior to getting there I was going to snorkel the calf but I went right to the cow again.

After snorkeling the Pina Coladas came out in full force. Sun, boat, gorgeous water, crazy people and booze…

We stopped for another snorkel at the Horse shoe. It was a swim over there but worth it.

After snorkel stop number two we broke out the wine and lunch was served. People were perching all over to eat their yummy lunch consisting of salad, rice and beans, chicken and shrimp skewers, home made rolls and dessert. All washed down with some chardonnay. After lunch we stopped at a wreck for snorkeling but I lacked the energy required to get my gear on again so I stayed on the boat and had some more wine. That took way less energy. The day was drawing to a close and nobody wanted it to end. Seriously, this is the most fabulous way to spend a day on the water with a group of friends. I would do it weekly if I could.

We all drug our weary butts off the boats and back on to shore for the drive home. I dropped Nancy and Chuck off and headed home to pass out from all of the excitement.

Monday morning once again and we were off to Mondays don’t suck at Barbon beach in Camp Bay. Today I picked Nancy and Chuck up at 11:30 and we started the 30 minute drive east. We were there before most everyone else but they all began arriving soon after we did. There was some Sargassum weed in the water so we moved further down the beach to avoid it.

I still have sand in my suit after washing it twice. I think I still have sand in various parts of my body also. I pulled my camera out the other day and sand fell out of it too. It was rough and crazy and so worth it. We hung out on the beach until around 3:30 and then made the difficult drive home. Anytime you are driving west in the afternoon prepare to be blinded. Between the sun and the shadows you can see nothing. Luckily there isn’t much traffic! Another fun day, another day I went home and crashed.

Tuesday morning I had my teeth cleaned, the first since I’ve been here. I know, that’s way too long to go without doing it but I hate going to the dentist. They said my teeth were in good shape, not much plaque at all. I didn’t tell them I use the sonic care twice each time, sometimes maybe 3 times because I FORGET WHERE I HAVE BRUSHED so I do it again. and again. Lack of focus on my part.

Bill got his truck back but something weird happened. I know, weird and on Roatan, how unusual. Prior to the head gasket blowing the alarm never worked. Never. Now it does, WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING OR STARTING IT OR JUST ANYTIME. Nice feature to have. Needless to say it is back at the mechanics, something about the glow plugs and the alarm issue? Well, they are disconnecting it. When in doubt, disconnect.

There have been lots of police stops lately and I seem to be quite lucky. I pull up with a big HOLA!! The other day I saw my buddy Ronald. I pulled up alongside him and he came over to shake (hold) my hand. He said he needed to come to my house. I said REALLY? He smiled and said yes. I slapped his hand and told him he was bad. He just smiled. I saw another road block this morning on my way to French Harbor and I pulled up and said Hola and the one cop said Hola Sweetie!!I don’t even have a license plate, there aren’t any in Honduras. Rumor has it that there will be some available this year. HAH!! No license plate and the papers for my car are still in someone elses name, hopefully I’ll get a proper registration for my car soon. Speaking of cars, I still LOVE mine!!

I’ve been having a pain in my upper left arm for over 8 months now. It hurts to get dressed, dry my hair, roll over in bed, just hurts all the time. I finally decided to do something about it and went to a physiotherapist here on the island. He is very good and for the first time I am able to lift my arm up without it hurting. He has an office in Coxen Hole. For a 60 minute treatment it was $60.00. He taped my shoulder like the therapists used to do in Everson for my knee.

My arm feels so much better. He said not to use it, no lifting, no swimming, just let it relax so the tendonitis settles down.

I was supposed to go to Cattleya school yesterday to help with an art project but the one lady who was doing it is sick and it’s been postponed until next week.

We have banked with Banco Lafise since 2011. I’ve wired money to them from BoA since 2012 with no issues, until a few months ago when they returned my wire TWICE because my name wasn’t first. It’s been coming with Bill’s name first for 2 years but they decided this one time they didn’t like it. I had to change the way the wire was being sent. Aside from the fact that they are the slowest tellers on the face of the earth, things usually go smoothly. Last week I went in and a new teller asked for my passport. I don’t carry my passport, I am a resident. She then took my residence card and my passbook (yes, they use them still AND carbon paper) and turned {with her back to me} to the supervisor who began doing stuff online. I said is there a problem? The teller shook her head YES. Well, WTF is the problem? This infuriates me to no end because you never take someones ID without telling them what the issue is and what you are doing. I left the teller window and went over to a girl I knew at the bank and asked WTH? She said there was a new system and they had to update. I went back over to the window and finished my transaction but then had to go fill out a form. Once the form was filled out I asked the girl “will my husband have to do this too?” Yes, when he comes in. Bill ran to the bank to get some cash and they told him HIS NAME WASN’T ON THE ACCOUNT. F’ing idiots. He just took $$ out last week so they must have screwed something up. He came home and got me and we went down to the bank. I told the girl I knew what happened and she looked on the computer and said he wasn’t an “owner” of the account. Then why the F did they give him $$ last week? Yes, he is an owner, always was. So she was fixing that and I went to withdraw money. The teller told me it didn’t show we had an account. By that time I was going to murder the next person I looked at. They finally got a manager out there who was LOOKING IN TO IT. All this time there was another gringo couple in there having the same issues. Only idiots are allowed to work at Lafise. They got things straightened out, I got my money and paid my light bill. We left there and went to Davivienda Bank and opened an account there. The young man, Noe, who helped us was polite, professional and knowledgeable. We now have a Lempira checking account and got a debit card and checks in 20 minutes. The next day we ran some errands and went in to Banco Lafise to close the account. I went up to the idiot teller and said I want to take all the $$ out of my account and close it. There was several thousand dollars in it. She got the deer in the headlights look on her idiot face and I almost punched her. She once again turned her back to me and she and 2 other women and 1 guy started talking. That really pissed me off. I told her that the least she could do was tell me what she was doing. The guy next to her said to me, “she needs to know why you are closing your account.” I said, “BECAUSE YOUR SERVICE SUCKS.” LOUD and with a big smile on my face.. He smiled and I heard someone giggle. It took them awhile but finally I walked out of there, cash in hand and happy because I never have to deal with those f’ing idiots again.

I am one of 4 women on this island who write for Women Who Live on Rocks. Another is Amanda Walkins. Amanda has her own blog, Awalkontherun which I follow regularly. Amanda also writes for International Living and The Huffington Post. She recently did an article for The Huffington Post and used some photos from people who live on the island, me included. Check out the article @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-walkins.

My friend Nancy brought me some Chai Green Tea that I sent to her in NY. I am addicted to STASH green and regular chai tea. I wanted a cup the other night but it was after dinner so I looked on Amazon to see if there was caffeine in it. This is what it said:

Enjoy this calming and stimulating tea with milk and sugar

Kof-K Kosher certified, contains caffeine, ships in Frustration Free Packaging

Calming and stimulating at the same time? No wonder I’m a whack job!