2007.01.16

Happy birthday Allan...8 inches of snow in Montreal, sounds like winter has finally arrived and is making up for lost time.

We have not blogged for 4 days... I just don't know where the days go!!! of course everything is on island time....

Let's try and give you an idea of where time goes..

Two days ago J & I made sour dough baguettes.. well we started the night before making sponge with our starter (yes I have a starter like the American pionners, reminds me of Michener's Colorado !) .

Then, the next morning, we started the mixing, kneading and most importantly the rising.. the first rising, punching it down, then the second rising (sounds almost like a religious happening!) then third.... etc.

We baked 2 in L'Equipe's oven and 2 in Soli's they all came out pretty delicious but mine were a little funny looking!

They were declared a success... I guess anything is better than what you find here ... white sweet doughy bread....so our menfolk are pretty supportive and appreciative...also it is a wonderful satisfaction to know "I made this!"

We had started at 0800 and finished around 1500... at which time we went to the beach for a well deserved walk...that's how one day vanished!!!

Yesterday, needing some fresh provisionning, J & I decided to go into town without the guys, they had their own chores to do ... Heinz, yes you guessed it ,was varnishing the brighwork ... must be on coat number 27!!!

First I had to do my rope walking trick to get off the boat... getting quite good at it...

So we went to the bus stop at 1000 only to find out the next bus was at 1100...we got on the 1100 bus, which arrived at 1130, which is the same one as usual.. the driver picks up the kids at home and Joshua and Willie go for a ride with Daddy....yesterday the Mama came too!

They have the most amazing long curly eyelashes and we cannot keep our hands off their velvet pudgy arms and cheeks.

We went the Fedex office and then had a quick lunch , as you can see, it is 1230 and we have not gone anywhere near the store yet!!!

Then off to the cell phone store to find out why we cannot receive calls from the UK... not their department ...it's up to BATELCO and they won't talk to you on the phone (Bahamas Telephone Company!!!!) they need to see your face to discuss anything with you... I asked for the number anyhow!

Finally Winn Dixie here we come...now we have to keep reminding each other ... we have to CARRY what's in our baskets...

I wanted to buy some sweet potatoes but one package had a nice size chunk nibbled out of it and I sort of lost my craving ...

When the young woman at the cash saw us packing our bags & knapsacks she said "you have a car?" when we said no she looked at us as if we were insane "oh man!!!!"

Then off to the bus stop to wait for #16 with all the school kids....it is by now 1500! and we are trying to stay in the shade to keep our fresh stuff fresh!!

#16 finally arrives... late of course and looking quite FULL...and here we are with all our bulky bags... it looked like mission impossible... but they worked magic , shuffled some of the kids around, stuck us all the way at the back as we were getting off last and here we were crammed in with bags under our legs and on our laps. Then this big woman sat next to me squeezzing me onto J as her little boy was doing a tap dance on my feet !!!

A couple of kids just in front of us were fascinated by J & I speaking French and finally Casey turned around and said "Bonjour" .

Anyhow after we had dropped off all the other passengers, we went by a dock where some fishing boats had just come in, we asked the driver if we could buy some fish so he stopped and we bought 8 red snappers for $20. ...they still needed cleaning (an extra $5.00...well spent money) ...as we were worried about our food needing refrigeration, he dropped the fish off to be cleaned and then took us to the marina... we arrived AFTER 1700!!! the guys weren't even worried.

David had done the most awesome job on Soli's hull she was is clean and shiny and will be well protected against salt water.

The fresh cleaned fish was delivered by our friendly bus driver and we had a delicious meal of baked snapper with cesar salad and boat baked baguette.... which started with our usual toast "ASDIP" !!!

So that is how another day vanished!!!.

Oh !!! and, btw,I forgot to tell you, on Sunday I learnt to ride a bike.... we had gone into the village on a tandem and were having lunch on the beach when, in a moment of shear madness, maybe feeling bold with a rum punch in my belly, I went and got on a bike (a child one) and off I was... I figured if I could learn to walk on ropes and bake bread I could learn to ride a bike... Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks!!!

The other good bit of news is that JEM is finally on their way here ... we finally contacted them last evening ...they were planning on leaving West Palm Beach at 0400 this morning to do the crossing ...they should be here in plenty of time for sundowners.

And finally, I have it from a very good source, although I have not seen it with my own eyes nor taken a pic... a shark was seen swimming around the harbour ... we are told they only do this when they are hungry.... did Heinz bait the harbour with our red snapper remains last night?

Karina, get well soon and thanks for proof reading this...