Adorable October in the Wacky Caribbean

Here are just a few adorable wacky things you sometimes are guaranteed to see in the Caribbean.

•  Donkey on the beach...looking for a snack in your beach bag.
• Large turtle in the middle of the road eating an entire baguette.

• Laid back dudes...chillin' on the sidewalk.
• Dean's amigos from Venezuela...long story!

• Swimming in the ocean with a horse??

•  So fun to watch...until he pooped...in the ocean...sick!

• Fake dude at a rum store. 
• They add rum to EVERYTHING!

•  Dutch cheese...WHAT IS THIS?

•  The world's smallest bar.

• Abandoned hotels and homes everywhere...some weren't even finished before they were left behind. 

•  Is it a car...is it a golfcart...what is it?
• Roads blocked because of construction...the locals just go the other way around the island!

• Caribbean chickens.

• Abandoned vehicles...everywhere!

• Low flying airplanes...heads up!

After all...it's the Caribbean mahn!

Garlicks of the Caribbean

You would think a charming invitation from my handsome hubby to spend a week in the Caribbean would be easy to accept. But because of this reason and that reason...and really no good reason...I seemed to be slow to get on board a trip to paradise.

Until we arrive...and then it's sunshine and sandy beaches, for glorious day after glorious day.

Dean likes to snorkel in the ocean paddling around in search of pretty fish, majestic sting rays and graceful sea turtles; and me...

 I like to spend my day just soaking up those adorable rays of sunshine!

There is ample time to remember my girl,

 and play with the Nikon.


Every day the agenda is nearly the same. Wake up to an ocean alarm clock, breakfast of flaky French pastries on the balcony overlooking the Caribbean sea, and then decide among a myriad of beautiful beaches where to spend the day. It's a rough life...I know!

 This is a view of Happy Bay on St Maartin.

 it certainly is a happy place.

St Maartin is 37 square miles of island paradise with an average year-round temperature of 85 degrees. Split right down the middle with one side owned by the Dutch and the other side owned by the French, St Maartin today is the smallest landmass in the world to be shared by two sovereign nations.

The beach at Phillipsburg where the cruise ships stop. There is also the very popular Orient Bay beach...aka Nakedness beach...no photos were taken there, thank goodness!

Of course we would plan a day to do one of our favorite activities. Hiking through plush island jungle vegetation with temperatures hovering around 85 degrees and intense rays of equator sunshine is similar to trudging through a sauna...but we had a pretty place in mind we were trying to get to.

 At one point we wondered that a machete would come in handy.


Lizards, cactus and land crabs dot the trail along the way.

About 3 miles into the hike, the sweltering jungle heat seems almost unbearable, until the slightest of ocean breezes kisses our skin...

and the foliage suddenly melts away revealing an incredible view of our destination... Petites Cayes.

where we would bathe in sunshine and soak up the ocean waves all by ourselves into the early evening.

Petites Cayes is one of our favorite beaches in the Caribbean.

 It just doesn't get any sweeter than this.

On this day, we booked a sailing adventure around the island with the Random Wind, a 54 foot traditional sailboat that's been around the world twice.

 Our host Diane lives on the boat full-time with her two young children and invites guests to join her for a day of sailing. Finding herself a single mom, she began this business to support her little family. During sailing days she takes on the title of First Mate and hires Captain Trevor to crew the sailboat. It's hard work...and Diane has the upper body strength of a man! I admire her tenacity and attitude...plus, she can swear like a sailor!

 Angel fish swimming near us in the ocean.

Captain Trevor is beating the heck out of an anchor that won't catch the ocean floor because the tines were bent during the last outing. Yo ho ho ho, a pirate's life for me!

 I love watching him play in the water...

 diving in,

 just like he's a teenager.

On the second stop of the day, the spinakker pole on our sailboat is dropped revealing St Maarten's only Tarzan swing.

Captain Trevor came up with the idea after chatting with his girlfriend whose family works in the circus. You meet the most interesting people in the Caribbean!

It really was a riot...and yes I'm plugging my nose. I just hate saltwater up there!

This is Dean showing us how to do a backflip...out of courtesy to my sweet hubby, I left out the next photo that shows him landing flat on his back as he hits the ocean water. Backflip...fail!

It's really true what they say...romantic getaways are simply the best in the Caribbean.

On our last day we hopped on a ferry and cruised across the ocean to spend the day on the fabulous and ritzy island of St Barths. Other than the two of us...we didn't see anyone famous over there. But we did see a LOT of money being thrown around.


We went super high class and opted to see the island via ATV.


I tried several time to get more of my face in the mirror in this shot...finally gave up and settled on this one. I highly recommend this mode of transportation...and remember you can never get lost, it's an island!

Just a peak at the runway on St Barths...in case you are thinking of landing your private jet here in the near future!

We saw cars randomly parked at a dead-end street and ended up hiking a trail around the outside of the island to another hidden and beautiful beach, only accessible by this trail.

But the best part of the day happened to be the most romantic lunch spot I've ever seen...here is the view! 

Apparently the French waiters are used to the rich and famous and treated us accordingly.

Lunch was divine. I had a Snap Pea Salad and Dean had a hand-thrown pizza.

But the pièce de résistance  had to be desert! The most outrageously expensive and completely delectable cupcake I've ever tasted...about 12 euros or around $17. Worth every penny, say I!

So the next time that alluring Pirate you love and adore invites you to pillage and plunder the Caribbean with them...put on your sea-legs, and go in search of that horizon...shiver me timbers!

Aye!

Aunt Helena

With gentle time-worn grandmother arms she welcomed me into the family. The first time I met Dean's Great Aunt Helena she had just purchased herself a brand spanking new Macintosh computer.

Being that Aunt Helena was around seventy years old at the time, and the Mac was new to the world...I was instantly intrigued by her brave advance into technology.

Helena Dorothea Daniels Brown Watson born in 1915, passed away this summer at the very young age of 96. Funeral services for this remarkable woman were held just a few short blocks from where she was born and where she lived most of her life. After introductions to some of Aunt Helena's family the day of the funeral, I found it illuminating to see just how much my immediate family resembled Helena's...

from the red hair to the thousands of freckles! But it wasn't just the physical characteristics that were similar, there was the gardening, love of learning and literature, work ethic, and family values. 

Aunt Helena was the seventh and last child born to parents Jethro and Emma in the old rock house on Farr West Drive. Her parents instilled in her the value of hard work, importance of education, and resilience in adversity. After moving away from home for the first time in her young adulthood, Helena met the love of her life...Odell.

Helena and Odell were living the American dream raising five daughters and twin sons, when tragedy struck. Helena's husband whom she affectionately called "her Watsoni" passed away from leukemia...a "downwinder". Catastrophe often defines a person whether for good or bad. In Helena's case...true character emerged. 

While raising seven children as a single mother, Helena earned a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and became the only woman Principal in the county. Character and strength...I tell you! In her spare time...she gardened, studied genealogy, and wrote poetry. Her career as a teacher and educator spanned decades and her influence is still felt among so many of her students even today. Aunt Helena was a woman of the ages who left an indelible mark on the world.

Helena second from the right, posing here with her sisters. Dean's grandmother is on the left.

While Aunt Helena wrote a volume full of poetry, perhaps my favorite is the one she wrote for 19 year old Dean.

 Dean O. Garlick
(written January 1979)

Born of goodly parents
In good old Farr West town,
Dean O. grew up happy
With friends that gathered 'round.

He liked his country living,
Farms and pastures on each side,
Where the rugged, rocky mountains
Hem in the valley wide.

He roams the fields together
With dog, Rufus, and his gun.
He likes to shoot at pheasants
As through the grass they run.

He loves to go out fishing
And climb Uintah Mountains high
Where the trail is rough and dangerous
Up near the clear blue sky.

With aching bones and blisters
His most challenging hike did make
From the beautiful Beaver Mountains
Over into Rainbow Lake

Skiing is a favorite sport,
Dean rides the slopes with skill.
For two years he'll miss these things.
Ah yes, I'm sure he will.

Chasing 'round in his loved Jeep
Dating girls and such,
These sacrifices he'll learn to make
For this he loves so much.

His family all will miss him
And his ever hungry face.
There will be more food for Rufus
If he eats at Dean O's place.