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!