V - E - R - Y . . . . . . . S - C A - R - E - Y ! ! ! ! !

One of the less attractive aspects of life in the tropics, if you happen to be moth-phobic, is the presence of big fellas like this, shown here on an ordinary business-size envelope. The screens on my doors and windows are not so much to keep out the mosquitoes as to stop terrifying (to me) creatures like this getting into the house.

I went out to the car yesterday afternoon and found it on the garage floor between the driver's side of the car and the wall. Although it was completely still I wasn't sure if it was dead, so I got into the car through the passenger side and clambered (at the second attempt, having removed the steering lock!) over to the driver's side.

By this afternoon it still hadn't moved so was presumably dead. With great skill, daring and trembling I flicked it onto the envelope to photograph it. I then courageously carried it to some grass so that I wouldn't have to look at it each time I got the car out.

Later I noticed that it had disappeared and I am now terrified all over again - in case Lazarus has brought it into the house and I step on it in my bare feet.

Most St Lucians are terrified of frogs, so I'm not the only one with irrational fears here!

Hole and wedding (no pic of kneecap!)

Yesterday I found myself unexpectedly up at SLAPS because of Elaine's illness. I remembered to take the camera and shot these photos for you.

I also managed to upload the video clip of Derek and Anne's wedding vows. (Click on the photo, then on the Start arrow below it and wait while it buffers.) Sorry if this embarrasses you, Derek, I think it's very moving.

The Hole

This picture of the hole was taken from the SLAPS balcony. You can imagine Elaine's disbelief when the 2' hole morphed into this whilst she wasn't looking!

Yesterday I noticed that the bottom is beginning to fill up again with earth - so we shan't have as far to fall if we do tumble in.

The 'Crust'

This is the 'crust' of track over the hole.
Scarey!

The track beyond SLAPS

This is the track as it continues up from SLAPS. It's a lot worse than it looks here, and the track from the main road to SLAPS is a lot worse than this bit - but difficult to photograph as it bends.

Wedding Video Clip

A SLAPS WEDDING !

Anne, one of the vet nurses coming over for the recent spay and neuter clinic, brought her fiance Derek as they wanted to get married in St Lucia. They wanted a simple ceremony, not the lavish kind of thing that takes place in hotels here, so I offered the use of the gazebo in my garden.

They wanted a St Lucian ceremony (which they got, with knobs on - see the cake ceremony below) and also wanted my St Lucian friends and neighbours to be invited.

I roped in Catherine to decorate the gazebo, Pam made the cake, Ken lent his windchimes, Pat cut the coconut branches and bamboo and Vel and Merle helped when I ran out of time for food preparation. A real community effort, as most things are here, and very much appreciated by Anne and Derek.

As I was, kind of, overseeing operations I missed out on some photo opportunities but hope you will enjoy the ones below and forgive me for the ones I missed. I also took a brief video of the exchange of vows but couldn't get this to load on Blogger.

It was a truly magical occasion, which I hope will come across in the pictures.

Preparing the gazebo

Catherine had come up with some wonderful ideas for decorating the gazebo so I left the whole thing in her capable hands.

Here are some of her helpers getting on with the work.

Lazarus is wondering how he can help.

...and adding the finishing touches

Marie-Ange from Martinique (in front) and Catherine's sister Vel (behind) put the last pieces of decoration in place, watched by my tenant, Marcella, who was on sick leave that day.

It felt very sad to have to take all this down afterwards!

Derek meets Penny and Lazarus

Derek arrived at my house in full sartorial splendour. Rory and Neal, the vets (no pic of you, Neal, sorry about that!) were also ready for action.

Not so Anne and Clare. They arrived in 'mufti' and retired to my spare bedroom to get ready. Anne didn't emerge until the last minute, so I didn't get a chance to take a photo of her before the ceremony.

Here's Derek asking for reassurance from two of my dogs.

Any minute now, Derek!

Marjorie, the Marriage Officer, arrives and we are about to begin.

The Ceremony Begins . .

This was simple, but beautiful and very moving.

Four-footed guest - or an extra witness?

My four dogs were present throughout the ceremony. Although normally boisterous and determined to make their presence felt, they seemed to know that this behaviour was not appropriate on this occasion. They lay still and quiet, watching and listening but not distracting us. They were stars!

'I now pronounce you man and wife'

A Surprise Contribution

Andrina then rose to her feet and offered a song and a poem that she had chosen especially for the occasion.

Catherine knew she was going to do this but I didn't! It was a beautiful thing for her to do and the couple were very touched by her generosity.

The Formal Photos

Of course we had to have some formal photos for the albums. Somebody took one of Anne and Derek with me but I don't have it here to include in this section.


So here we go:

The Happy Couple

Perhaps unfortunate that on this occasion Derek was standing in front of the English flag! Just glad it was over, I guess.

You can see one of the St Lucian flags on the right.

The first thing Derek did after the photos was to remove his shoes and socks and replace them with (unlaced) walking boots

With the witnesss

Here are the newly married couple with their witnesses, Rory and Clare in the middle

With Marjorie, the Marriage Officer

Marjorie sounded very austere on the phone in the morning but she was absolutely lovely for the ceremony. Made it feel personal and special but reminded us that even if it is not in a church is still legally bindingl

Note the English and Scottish flags that Anne and Derek brought with the. There are crossed St Lucian flags behind Marjorie.

With Andrina

Here are the bride and groom with Andrina, who sang and read for them so beautifully.

The Cutting of the Cake

As I haven't made a cake since my kids were small and don't think I'd know how now, Pam kindly made them a cake to cut and share.

At this point we learned about a faintly disgusting St Lucian wedding tradition. When the cake is cut, the bride takes a small portion, puts it into her mouth - and then transfers it to the mouth of her new husband!

Hysterics all round at this point!

They cut the cake . . . . .

You can't see in the picture, but Lukas was lurking below, hoping someone would drop a crumb.

Anne takes a forkful . . . .

She looks as though she's about to spit it at him, doesn't she??

The face in the background is George.

. . . . and gives it to Derek!

The camera shake here is because I couldn't stop laughing!

Dusk after a thunderstorm

We are currently suffering from a tropical depression - strong winds and torrential downpours. A couple of days ago we had the most severe thunderstorm I have ever experienced. The lightning was flashing every few seconds and the thunder, rolling around the mountains, was deafening, even to someone with my impaired hearing. As our electricity supply went off and then came on again the lights went on and off and so did the gentle hum of the fridge. I was thankful that I had switched off and unplugged my computer as the storm must have been directly overhead.

The dogs hated it and were petrified with fear. I thought it was magnificent! When it was all over I took the photo below.

I freely admit that this photo has been 'doctored'. There isn't really any water in the foreground, just the road. But I think it looks more dramatic like this!

Who's in charge of the asylum here?

Every time I try to exert some control over Lazarus he somehow manages to leap-frog me and remain 'top dog'. This example is typical of the kind of thing he does.

The dogs' cushion which sits in a corner of my study dates back to 1998. Over the years it has been pee-ed on, thrown up on and, finally, chewed to within an inch of its life. As I am currently taking 3 weeks' break from client work I decided it was time for an overhaul.

Having stupidly taken my most of my old sheets to a flea market about 6 months ago I had to buy some furnishing fabric with which to renovate it. However once I took the permanent outer cover off I realised that the inner cover, which actually contains all the foam rubber pieces, needed to be replaced as well. I had enough old sheet left to make this and, once I'd managed to transfer all the stuffing, stitched the last side firmly and put the cushion on a chair where, I innocently thought, it would be safe from doggy depradations whilst I made the new outer cover.

The next day I wandered into the dining room for something and saw what you see above. Laz, who can now jump in one go straight onto the dining room table, had seen what looked like a comfy place to sleep and launched himself into it. Thankfully, at the moment anyway, he seems to realise that it is somewhere to sleep and not something to chew, but it really demonstrates how excellent he is at problem-solving, particularly when the 'problem' has been created by me!

When he does something dastardly I can't whack him a) because this isn't, and never has been, the way I discipline my dogs and b) because he's so small that I might hurt him unintentionally.

Scolding him and shutting him outside for a period have little effect. He is chastened in the moment but is soon strutting around again, insouciant as ever, determine to show that 'the world is his, and everything that's in it'. And usually succeeding. Suggestions, anyone?

Big Girl's Blouse

It's always been difficult to stop Lukas removing his own stitches after surgery. Last time a muzzle did the trick but this time, because the wounds were on his chest, he couldn't bite them but could reach them with a hind foot to scratch them. A T-shirt seemed to provide the best protection.

However when Dr Lee said yesterday that the stitches needed to stay in over the weekend, I'd run out of T-shirts and the only answer was to sacrifice an old blouse.

Buttoned up along his back I think it looks very smart, but Lukas is just embarrassed. Which is why I had to take the pic when he was eating and didn't notice!

New Dustbin

Those who have been to my house here will remember that the lid of my dustbin got smashed by a falling coconut. I wasn't going to replace the bin until the tree was down in case it happened again, so the lid has been wrapped in black plastic to keep the rain out of the bin.

One evening last week some guys turned up to cut the tree down for me. First they attached a long rope to the top to make sure it fell away from the house, and took down part of the fence to avoid it being smashed.

A sharp cutlass and a bit of muscle soon take a sizeable wedge out of the tree trunk . . . . .

And down she went - right on top of Roger's precious paw paw tree (snigger, snigger)!

Today I went out and bought a brand new dustbin!

Sefton and Lisa's visit, March 2007

Sefton and new girlfriend Lisa came for a couple of weeks in March. I was surprised and impressed at how much Seff remembered about roads and where places are since it's 2 years since he was last here.
In this pic he looks as though he's asking Lisa to bring him a drink!

Lisa had never been here before (or met me before!) but she fitted in straight away and she and I became firm friends. She wasn't used to dogs either but soon made friends with my four and they with her.

All the pictures I am using this time are ones that they took, including this one looking down on Castries harbour . . . .

. . . where Lisa spotted the very same cruise ship on which her parents had visited St Lucia two years ago.

We went to Marigot Bay so that Seff and Lisa could enjoy some scuba diving with Lincoln. It was the first time for both of them (see pictures below of Pia and Paul doing this) and they both want to do some more when they come back.

We did the same boat trip with Gibbs that Pia and Paul did, and had lunch at Smuggler's Cove in Soufriere. Here is a view along the front in Soufriere with Gros Piton peeping in the background.

I took them to the famous sulphur volcano, just outside Soufriere, with its ghostly vapours of vile smelling steam. It looks solid but the crust is dangerously thin so the public is kept well away.

. . . then walked up through some rain forest (here is a paw-paw, or papaya tree - Pat has planted two of these in my garden for me and they already have tiny fruit on them) . . . . .

. . . to bathe in the naturally warm spring, from which you are said to emerge looking 10 years younger. It is also supposed to send you to sleep, so I didn't go in because I was driving!

Exploring on their own

They rented a car so that they could be independent of me, a little Terios like mine, but the new model. Just as well it was a 4 x 4!

They visited parts of the island that I have yet to see myself . . . .

Like Cas en Bas beach on the north-east (Atlantic) side of the island . . . . .

. . . . . where they saw some riders taking their horses into the sea for a swim!

Fun with the dogs, of course. On the beach . . . .

Elaine came too with Buddy Boy, the last one remaining of a litter of six pups she had raised in her tiny apartment. Her own four cats tolerate these intruders remarkably well.

Buddy Boy had never been outside Elaine's apartment before so this was a big adventure for him!

Buddy thought the beach was wonderful!

He enjoyed playing with my dogs too.

Buddy and Lazarus having a romp in the shade.

BB and Penny. Buddy's not quite sure about the water.

Penny and Lukas keeping an eye on Buddy Boy

. . . . . . and elsewhere

Laz wonders if what Sefton is doing on the kitchen counter might mean FOOD coming his way.

Lukas knows better and isn't interested.

Fifi had something important to tell Seff.

Sefton and Lukas having a water fight.

No wonder the pool 'deck' is permanently wet!

And Finally . . . . . . .

The time came for them to go home again.

I was sad when they left but I somehow think they will be back again before too long.

Exactly what it says on the tin?

This is one of the delicacies offered in our local supermarket. It's made in Jamaica.

I finally gave in to temptation today and bought a packet to photograph for you.

Whether I shall get round to trying it is another matter!

Pia and Paul's visit, February 2007

Pia loved the boat trip we did with Gibbs last time she was here, so we did it again with Paul. The boat is kept at the Vigie marina.

This is the view across to Elaine's and my favourite restaurant, The Coal Pot, on the other side.

Our second favourite, Froggie Jacques, is behind where we were standing. We all went there for dinner on Valentine's night.

Lunch at Smuggler's Cove

After stopping for a snorkel at Anse Cochon we went on down to Soufriere for lunch at what used to be the old Courthouse. The loos are now where the cells used to be, complete with heavy door and high, barred window!

The food is delicious and here are Pia, Paul and Gibbs, our boat's 'captain' enjoying a drink whilst our lunch was prepared.