March 29-30, 2011: Group Posting
Tuesday, March 29, 2011:
I think the mosquitoes crawled up my pant leg last night, cause I got eaten up! And I even sprayed down! (except up my pant legs!) Guess I’ll have to wrap myself in plastic to keep them from biting me!
It’s a little windy and some storm clouds are coming in…not a good day to go to the beach. We watched a cruise ship come in, a big storm cloud passed and then a beautiful rainbow came out. It was originally a double one, but by the time I got the camera out and on to take a picture…it was only a single one!
How’s this for a morning view!
Today Judy and I have lunch with Monica and then we have the pool party at Tom and Linda’s place. Judy and I get ourselves ready and the Boys drop us off downtown. They are supposed to drive around the island a little then go to Tom and Linda’s, which is not too far from downtown, and we will call them to pick us up when we are ready. There are 4 large cruise ships in town today (including a Disney one, which surprises me) and a monster mega yacht. Today is going to be busy on Front Street!
Judy and I walked up and down Front Street until it was time to meet up with Monica at her store. The crowds weren’t too bad. It had started to rain so we hung out in Monica’s store and dried off a while.
**Judy at our favorite place!
Monica came in and Judy made some final purchases (I didn’t make any =( before we went to lunch. The skies had cleared, and we all headed down to the Kangaroo Court restaurant, which is right next door to the Courthouse. (Get it? Kangaroo Court? Next to the Courthouse? The Pun was definitely intended.) As always, lunch was fabulous! We had a monster sized salad and Monica forced us to have a piece of pecan pie with whipped cream and a scoop of ice cream for dessert. I love it when she forces me to do that! =) It was all so good! We had a lovely lunch and I told Monica since we would be here a couple months, I would probably be down to say hello from time to time. I also told her that if she needed help in the store, for anything, to let me know and I would be glad to help! I don’t think I can stand to go to the beach every day for 2½ months! (maybe every other day!) Hopefully she will ask me to help do something…I think that would be FUN!
After lunch, Judy and I walked down the street towards Pasanggrahan, where we were supposed to meet the Boys to pick us up. We wanted to check out the Flip Flop store we’ve seen advertised. It’s a new store and they have every kind and type of flip flop there, and some are scented like coconut! Had to go see that! We went in and it was great! WALLS OF SHOES! I’m in my element! They did have every imaginable kind and brand! Plain…fancy! Even had clips to dress your flip flops up! (Girls only please!). I had my hand on the package for those…but ugly dark rain clouds were coming in again and it started to rain…so we needed to call the Boys to pick us up. We stopped in at Pasanggrahan to say hello to Janet and then met the Boys in front of the hotel to pick us up, and we headed up the hill to Tom and Linda’s place.
Everyone was there hovered under the gazebo hiding from the rain. It had cooled off significantly and the mosquitoes came out in full force! It rained off and on all night! But that didn’t stop us. We ate the goodies that everyone brought and then Gerald got his guitar out and played till about 8:30! I think everyone had lots of fun!
Pictures:
** Gerald with Bob (aka the percussion section)
**Gerald with The Linda’s as backup singers and dancers
**The gang:
Debbie, Paul & Tom
Rob, Mark (The Cook), Bonnie
Tomorrow we will plan on seeing everyone at the beach, then after beach time, we have all been invited to Mark and Bonnie’s for a feast for dinner. Bonnie promises that there will be nothing low calorie served … my kind of feast! Tomorrow is also Tom and Linda’s last day on the beach. =( They are leaving Friday and will be spending the day on Thursday packing … I don’t envy them! It will be sad to see them go!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011:
Up this morning and the sky is full of clouds and rain. Yuck! Hopefully it will clear up for a nice day at the beach. I see a break coming…hopefully it will last! The weather has the seas a little rough. You can hear the waves pound against the wall outside our condo.
The cruise ships are coming in. The paper says there will be 5 in today! It’s going to be busy at the beach! Better get our stuff ready and get out of here so we can get a good spot!
It was a great day on the beach. Everyone was there and in good form. The Lindas were well behaved and staying out of mischief … that was until happy hour at the Perch. Well, actually they were still behaved at happy hour, but then in the last minutes remaining of happy hour, Rob had the brainy idea to get them a third Bushwacker! It went downhill from there. Not quickly, probably more like a slow downhill slide for the duration of the evening. Not that anything too awful happened mind you … except Gerald’s only good glasses getting sat on and demolished … but the results of the evening would prove to be the cause of my sore throat and aching side the next day (from laughing!). It was just the winding up for the evening!
We all left the beach a little early to get cleaned up to go to Mark and Bonnie’s place for dinner. We were all taking turns with the sink and showers at the beach bathroom. That’s when Gerald’s glasses got sat on and squished. He had put them on the ledge where we were putting our bags and people were sitting. Unfortunately he didn’t put them in his bag, and they were under something and Linda sat on them! Luckily he brought his work glasses…but they were back in the room! Bob is going to have to drive now. We finished getting cleaned up and then all headed over to Mark and Bonnie’s place. They had left the beach real early to get things together.
We got to their place and had to walk what seemed like a mile to get to their room! I don’t know how Bonnie did it with her bum foot! The walkway consisted of a rock sidewalk, and not smooth ones either. Perfect for a secondary twisting of the ankle! Walking slow was in order. Then we got to steps and there were lots…and not one of them was a normal height. Some were shallow and some were very deep…deeper than the rock I walked off of in St. Croix! Luckily I had Linda Lou there to help me. But since Rob’s contribution of the 3rd drink at happy hour, Linda Lou’s sense of balance and coordination were a little skewed! I was holding on for dear life! Judy was in panic mode watching from behind! But Linda Lou got me there safely. And I am thankful!
We got to the room and there was a beehive of activity! 12 adults in this studio apartment buzzing around like busy worker-bees, and all the while Mark was trying to cook a huge feast in the kitchenette! He was excited because this unit had a full refrigerator and stove, but in the midst of preparing dinner, the stove went out and he was trying to finish everything in the little microwave! But he didn’t skip a beat and had the meal set out in no time! We had a ham, deviled eggs, carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, bread and butter! All the lovely potatoes! I was in heaven! We even had ice cream and Toblerone’s for desert! It was fantastic, and was the best meal I’ve had in a long time! Just like being home for the holidays!
After dinner we sat around and talked, listened to music and had our fun! At one point, when The Linda’s went outside on the deck to smoke, we all left the apartment and turned off the lights! They came back in to a dark and empty apartment! Then, without missing a beat, they came out the front door dressed as gypsies … they had grabbed some towels and tablecloths and wrapped themselves up before coming out! We all laughed at ourselves acting like school kids!
More laughter and frivolities occurred and the consensus was that the intelligence levels increased with every glass of B&B and Jamieson! So we dubbed the combination of BB&J as “Smart Juice!” The “Smart Juice” brought on conversations of war, politics, music (and singing) as well as Canada bashing (Rob and Linda are from Canada) and southern state bashing (primarily Arkansas) – no one was safe!
The Linda’s were fighting over who would get to sit next to Gerald, eventually calling a truce and having Gerald sit in the middle. (Linda Lou is in love with Gerald because he sang her a love song on the beach! =)
I don’t have enough time to go into all the details about what occurred … cause mostly I don’t remember all of the details (evidencing a good time was had), plus I’m sure the FCC would require me to install an age limit acknowledgment and access window on my blog page, but I will tell you we laughed and laughed hard. We’re betting on how many will make it to the beach tomorrow…you know how the sun and heat hurts a hangover!
It was getting late so we said our goodbyes to Tom and Linda, with promises of potentially seeing the others at the beach! Back at the condo we quickly fall asleep.
**
PS:
As we have taken our rides back and forth to the beach, I’ve noticed more of the island in anticipation of writing for my blog. In a couple of weeks, Gerald and I will take a drive around the island, take some pictures and show you what is here…and why we fell in love with St. Maarten initially. I’ve tried to take some pictures, but the guys are in a hurry to get to the beach…and it’s difficult to get them to slow down to snap a good shot! I’ll post those later!
The crime has increased tremendously, and may affect our decision to retire here permanently, but so far everyone has said to just take the normal precautions and we should be fine. I hope so! The little condo we rented has 24 hour security, and Tom and Linda (who are staying there now) said they have been fine. It’s on the 3rd floor again, so back to steps…but you don’t get the good views on the ground! Wish me luck!
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