Twas Two Nights Before Christmas

...and the tourists magically appeared.Santa wore a blue suit (sorry no pictures).And the joint was jumpin, not a moment too soon.We're ready, we have more purified water in stock in 5 gallon containers than most grocery stores, we won't get water delivery again until Thursday.Bigness did the shopping and Cousin Rose is going to do the cooki...

The Learning Curve

I like to write my own stuff, but when Supergirl sent me this, I thought, I couldn't have said it better.I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in...I've learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets.I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just jackasses.I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy...

Funniest Thing I've Heard All Day

The new CD from SuperG playing on Reef Radio in San PedroThe lyrics in the chorus sound like this...White mon pay de billsSpanish mon build de houseChiney mon cook de foodBlack mon lay de p...

The Upside and the Downside

Haad reeeyn aaaaall deeeeyFree baytheFree ayer cundishunMy new Columbia rainjacket from Angler's Abroad (near the split) got its first real workout today on a quick trip to San Pedro. I'm happy to report that it passed with no drip or rips. No more wearing hefty bags on the water taxi.Several flights leaving Belize for Huston were cancelled today and postponed until tomorrow stranding more than 300 people in Belize City. Too bad they weren't stranded...

Contentment Cards

Mrs. Drama Queen was in the police station yesterday causing a ruckus. There are certain people that when I see them heading for the station, I don’t even wonder what’s going on. Their life is a constant drama of he did this and she said that. I sigh and shrug and close the kitchen window while I’m mixing up the batter that’s soon to become banana cake. I really don’t want to know. Really. And please...

Photo Friday - December 15 - Sunrise

I shot this photo standing on the verandah that then became my office and now is a posh spare bedroom. I shot this before the Fisheries Department built their office dead smack next to the fence, in the police yard, blocking my view to the main water taxi bridge. To see the boats come and go from the main bridge, I now have to stand at the kitchen window on my tiptoes. The building of the Fisheries...

Everyone Loves a Parade

For child awareness week the Caye Caulker primary school organized a parade. Dressed in the national colors of red and blue, and carrying the Belizean flag, a group of older ones led the parade. It stretched on for BLOCKS. And a well organized event it was. Where did all these kids come from is my big question? During the day they are hidden away at school and in the evenings they are dispursed throughout...

Photo Friday - Primitive - December 7

This carved palm stump sits next to the pool entrance at The Inn at Robert's Grove in Placencia. Check out more Photo Friday submissio...

A Very Belizean Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous, the best since I moved to Belize seven years ago. Not that I had much to do in the preparation of it, just in the eating. Bigness went to the city and got a turkey and a ham and Cousin Rose took over the project. What a feast she prepared. Between our kitchen and hers (across the street), she seasoned, basted, baked, mashed and boiled for the better part of a day. The turkey was stuffed with sweet peppers and onions,...

Photo Friday - Two - November 23

This photo could be subtitled Strawberry and Chocolate. Jelly Bean and UNBaby ramp up for Jelly Bean's birthday party. They have their hair-doos from Miss Myrna's hair braiding and fresh fruit stand, their party dresses bought at the Tucan Giftshop, on and Jelly Bean found some big ole dangle earrings in my jewelry box. They are ready to par-tee. This photo was shot this summer whild Mal was visiting...

Well That's Not Nice

From Channel 5 Belize:Guatemala bans Belizean commercial flightsBelize’s two local airlines are feeling the pinch following the banning of Belizean commercial flights into Guatemala. According to spokespersons for Tropic and Maya Island Air, the ban, which was instituted on November fifteenth, involves the upgrading of Guatemala’s civil aviation standards: specifically their requirement that all airlines flying to the country have a valid Air Operator’s...

Garifuna Settlement Day in Orange Walk Belize

Take a look at Leonardo Melendez's blog at Take Ur Vitaminz for pictures of Garifuna Settlement Day in Orange Walk Belize.I spent the morning of Settlement Day painting pictures and draping soggy laundry over door tops, shower curtain rods, backs of chairs and door knobs from the decision to wash laundry during a torrential downpour which lasted into the night.It looks like Leonardo had more fun and...

Photo Friday - November 16 - Travel

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Illustration Friday - November 16 - Superstition

According to Wikipedia, Superstition is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like.Superstition indicates something standing above, or set up above. The earliest English uses of the word in the modern era refer critically to Catholic practices such as censing, rosaries, holy water...

DJ Play Your Music

Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve rings from the IPOD that we have hooked up to the old DVD/CD machine with surround sound that we used to have upstairs hooked to the TV. When the last CD player went the way of most electronic devices on Caye Caulker (the dump), Carlos from Carlos Eco Tours recommended that I load all the CDs onto an IPOD and use the DVD player as an amplifier. This discussion went...

Weather Report

Looks like rain for the next couple of days. Bad for hanging out laundry, good for staying in and drinking coffee (hint hint).A change of plans came about today because of the weather. Bigness and I were scheduled to be in Sarteneja to shoot photos for an updated website. A last minute call to check the condition of the road, a peice of important information, revealed that the roads in were impassible...

Jewelry Party!

If you are in the metro Detroit area, check out the jewelry show.Caribbean Colors Art Gallery proudly presents its exclusive line of jewelry inspired by the sea, sun and sand of Belize. Please join us for our first holiday jewelry party. This handcrafted jewelry is made with sterling silver, freshwater pearls, crystal and Murano glass. All items shown are for immediate purchase, no waiting for orders...

Illustration Friday - Scale - November 9, 2007

This hand-painted silk painting is available through River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte, Michigan. River's Edge Gallery was voted "Best Gallery in the Detroit Area" by the Detroit News. So, as of last month, they are representing me in the U.S. Check out my newly updated website, several peices are already in the US. and available for sale. I'm scheduled with them for a joint exhibition, that opens...

Shaken but not Stirred

“How was your trip back from aMerica?” my friends all ask.“Inconsequential except for the bus accident in Mexico.” I reply.Bigness has accused me in the past of being a drama queen and making a big story out of a little thing. Well, he would say that as he’s usually the driver of the vehicle hurtling down the road with me as the paralyzed scared passenger most of the time. I find its best to take my glasses off and just look out the side window....

Chastisement

Cousin Alvi was out on Caye Caulker the other day complaining that I hadn’t updated my blog in so long he thought I was still in the U.S. When he rode by on the golf cart he thought he saw a ghost. He also chastised me for watering it down, as you all know I’ve let up on the hard copy gossip because Bigness was getting phone calls and complaints from people with no sense of humor at all. I take certain creative liberties in my stories, some of my...

I Promised Myself

I promised myself that when I was in aMerica with all those good DSL connections and easy access to technology I would update the blog regularly. Yea, right. I was lazy as ever chilling my brains. I avoided buying long pants by not going outside, glued to the TV watching reruns on A&E of Dog the Bounty Hunter (Dontcha luv him? And what about his wive's ginormeous boobs, aren't they amazing? A story in themselves) Several nights Adria and I were...

Show-N-Tell

I’ve set up a temporary studio in my oldest daughter’s sun room on the back of her house. The light is northern and very constant. With so much sunshine, I've ben able to log quite a few studio hours preparing new work for the gallery to start the season off. It’s 3:45 p.m. and I hear the front door to the house slam, clomp, clomp, clomp, books being deposited, refrigerator door opens and then closes,...

The Perfect Roomate

I've come to realize that my perfect roomate is a 7 year old girl. That's the thing about being homeless in aMerica, you never know where you're going to crash. When I sold my home in aMerica in 2001 I didn't worry about where I was going to stay when I came to visit. And here I am bouncing from daughter's home to daughter's home, being homeless aint so bad is it? At my oldest daughter's house I share a room with May-the-seven-year-old. She and I...

Whodaknown?

With the exception of very agitated and agressive TSA agents in Miami who nearly shoved a wand up my whoseywhattsit, the trip back to aMerica was almost unremarkable, however long and uneventful.I can blame it on the fact that I live in a cave and only watch MTV (The Hills), Channel 5 News in Belize, the Caribbean News Roundup from Barbados and Bravo TV, but somebody forgot to tell me about the No-liquids-allowed-on-flights because-you-might-light-someone-on-fire...

An Experiment on Ebay

I'm trying something new. I'm selling a couple of paintings by Nelson Young, a local Caye Caulker artist, on Ebay. Click on the painting title below and it will take you right to the ebay page. Slumber Untitled Fis...

Taking a Vacation from my Vacation

The Last Days of SummerFriends came for a little going away party and Supergirl took some photos I'll share with you. You can't help but feel nostalgic.Supergirl, UNBaby and I are going to cool our brains in aMerica for a while. UNBaby is going back to civilization to start school. Quite a change from being a wild girl living on the beach to a being a city girl. I don't think she remembers what snow...

Deserted Island

We tired of our own company, so Supergirl, UNBaby and I headed back to Caye Caulker on Friday morning. We expected to see lots of locals taking the plywood off their windows and resuming life as normal, and instead we met an island that looked like a hydrogen bomb had gone off. Lots of empty buildings and no people. It looked like everyone else had the same idea and didn't rush right back either....

I'm O.K., You're O.K. but Nicaragua isn't o.k.

The second time in two weeks that we evacuated ran nearly the same only quicker than the first time. Practice makes perfect. I'm glad the government and The Weather Channel errors on the side of caution and we won't have the likes of Hurricane Keith (Sept/Oct 2000) sneaking up on us again.For another point of view south of us in Honduras, check out La Gringa's Blogicito.I feel sorry for the poor people of Nicaragua. Its such a poor country, much...

What, Me Worried?

You better Belize it! I was sweating bullets for a while.Bigness and I were already on the mainland with UNBaby when the evacuation order came down on Sunday. A couple of days before we had decided to give Supergirl a break and take UNBaby with us to our little house in the bush. She promised not to color on the walls with green crayon again.At noon on Sunday hurricane Dean drifted downward and directly in the path of Belize. Supergirl called me...

The Long Walk Home

Caye Caulker in Black and WhiteAfter shooting a sunset wedding way down the beach, I started walking home... with the late afternoon sun behind me, its my favorite time of the day to sho...

The Civilization of UNBaby

In an effort to get caught up on all the news, here are photos from UNBaby's preschool graduation (Miss Sue's Preschool). And as you can see from the photos, she sat still and did everything the teacher told her to do, patiently waiting while mayhem and hysteria erupted all around. She totally disproved Bigness's theory that she has chiggers up her batty and can't sit still. She looked to sweet AND...