Is Anyone Else Paying Attention?

This really isn't a political blog. No, really, it isn't. This is just the wandering mind.Today the NTUCB (National Trade Union Congress of Belize) is calling for a protest march in Belmopan. Calling all of the trade unions in solidarity, especially the Teacher's Union, to protest the government budget hearings which do not adequately provide for the barest minimum living wage for teacher's salaries...

To Be 4 Years Old Again

Oh to be 4 years old again and wearing party hair. UNBaby is ready for a friends 4th birthday party. The group of preschoolers are going out on a glass bottom boat to see the sharks and rays, and then will be coming back to gorge themselves on pink cake and soda p...

Smart People Don’t Make the Same Mistake 3 Times

What’s a wasles? It reminded me of the story my grandmother told me about when she was a little girl growing up in Mississippi, on the river, or next to the river, the Mississippi River, or maybe it was Arkansas. My grandmaw Florence was born around 1910, so the story she told had to happen in the early1920s because by the late 1920s she was married and having babies. Her mother was a cook for...

Photo Friday - March 15 - Heat

Habanero peppers on a handmade raku plate by Belizean artist Phillipe Zetina. Shot in the late afternoon on a grass mat by the back door with my old Sony Mavica about 3 years ago.Habanero SalsitaCoarsly chop 2 cups of fresh tomato, squeeze in the juice of a large lime or 2 small limes (about 1/4 cup) add about a teaspoon of salt, or salt to taste and black pepper, then pulse in the blender, leaving...

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

Chef Toni is making carrot cake this morning for the cafe. I'm getting myself awake and stirring around to shake off the cobwebs of last night. Her startled voice juks my brain as she announces that on KREM Radio, the Communications Workers Union has given the BTL phone company until noon to reinstate the workers that were fired last week. After noon, they have not announced what will happen, but we all know... already, the internet is running real...

No One Ever Expects the Spanish Inquisition

We're staring down the pike at an impending phone strike here in Belize. What that means is not only no phone service, but also no cell phone service, no long distance to the U.S. or the rest of the world, no internet or email, for however long it takes for the Communication Worker's Union to settle with BTL (the local phone company) which is short for Belize Telecommunications Limited or Beggars, Theives and Liars, depending on which side of the...

Illustration Friday - February 23 - Communication

This is essentially a watercolor on Arches paper that I've added oil pastel and prismacolor pencil to. Its one image in a series that is called On the Shaman's Trail which I painted a few years ago while traveling through Guatemala and parked myself in a little village called San Marcos on Lake Atitl...

Photo Friday - Feb 23 - Textured

Tye dyed silk sarongs cast a translucent shadow on the stucco house.Check out more Photo Friday submissio...