What's this sound?

Rain? It doesn't ever rain here, does it? The cabbie said October and November were the only months when it rained. This is a color photograph...We did get mostly a nice day of sun and the water was swimmable today. There were several showers that sent us running for cover and then it settled in to a period of off and on drizzle and rain. We had to watch the "sunset" from undercover. There was one bright spot for a minute or so.

Woke to blues skies - headed to breakfast and then to the beach!

A few days ago we walked through the bird sanctuary. I hope to do it again before we leave. Look at this cutie. It only took me about 10 minutes to get this shot. Mike was very patient.

Shirley Heights

I think that is how it is spelled. If it was up to us, we would rename the place T-o-u-r-i-s-t space T-r-a-p. Actually we ended up enjoying the evening there, but it was not what we expected. Shirley Heights is at the south side of the island and includes a bar and some covered areas for bands. It looks out over English Harbor. On Sunday evenings they set up a steel band and barbecue and entice tourists from all the resorts to take shuttles there to see the sunset and enjoy a local band. There were hardly any locals there, but we learned later that the soccer match between Antigua and Puerto Rico may have been the explanation. The other two couples who went with us also wanted to leave early so we made it back in time for our 8:30 dinner reservation. It was lively, just all tourists. The steel band played all kinds of music including Elvis songs ...

Here is Mike standing next to a funny sign showing someone falling off a cliff... If he had fallen, he might have landed in Eric Clapton's place.

The view was fabulous. The sunset fell right over Monserrat, the island that had to be evacuated in the 90's because of the active volcano. Now there are only about 400 scientists allowed on the island. The 70,000 or so people who lived there were sent to England.

I have approximately a million photos of the sun as it makes its way down to the horizon. At our hotel we noticed that the sun moves to the right by a noticable amount each night - about the width of the sun as it hits the horizon. Here are two of my favorites from last night...

We are extending our time here by two days so we'll be back in Austin on Thursday. (Two more sunsets!!) Occupancy is low and they cut the rates significantly and made it impossible to say no.


The moon has finally appeared after a week of being missing. Here it starts high in the sky and travels down to the horizon changing from bright white to warm orange. Really cool!

sailboat trip

We went out on a sailboat on Thursday with another couple from our resort. The seas were rough but it was a really nice 4 hour trip. Here's our captain Lenny and his girlfriend Danielle. Interesting stories from both of these two.

And the crew who we called Freestyle, but we learned later his name was Freeston or something like that.

Too rough for snorkeling, but we got a quick swim in when we anchored.

Here is our resort from the sea.

I'm taking too many photos to post on blogs so I will set up a photobucket or something with all the photos.

Having a wonderful time, wish you were here!

A Perfect Day

It is surprising that with nothing to do I have so little time to blog. Sorry, but I am sure you understand! Yesterday was the big day for us and it all turned out to be just perfect. At one point it looked like a huge storm was going to roll in and the power actually blinked off for a few seconds making us fear that we would have to go to Plan B. Whatever Plan B was. Fortunately we stuck with Plan A which was getting married on the beach by the sea. Even the minister removed her shoes and stood barefoot with us in the sand. It was perfect. We persuaded a couple we met also getting married this week (today, in fact) to be our witnesses. Dave and Ann. They were wonderful and the experience gave them an idea of what their ceremony would be like. Spur of the moment, I got my hair styled with a flower. We sprung for a photographer who will produce an album and digital prints for us by the end of the week. Afterwards we took the cake (which was gorgeous and made on site here by the pastry chef) to the main bar and shared it with everyone. This is Tascha our favorite bartender. She made us Irish Flags.
Which we tested out and they were just fine!

The sunset was gorgeous!

We made so many new friends this evening. Everyone wanted to share their best wishes with us. It was a lot of fun and we could pretend that everyone here was here helping us celebrate.

We had dinner back at Ismays and then went back to the main area to dance to our favorite band - H2O.

Close to midnight we wandered back to our room and found these lovely surprises waiting for us from Mike's brother Peter and some friends at work.

Did I mention how perfect everything was? Now we're off to watch Dave & Ann's wedding and then hit the beach!

We are here

not many words, just pictures for today. It took a long time to get here. I didn't get enough sleep and started to get one of my headaches. I tried one of my new pills and it worked miracles - why did I suffer with migraines for so many years?!!! We flew from Dallas to Miami and then here to Antigua. There was a looooong line to clear customs, but there was a band to entertain us in line. Then an interesting van ride to the hotel. Mike got in the water while I painted my toenails and waited for someone to come change the lock in the safe. The water is pretty blue and warm.We sat by the water in the Adirondack chairs, drank beer/wine and watched the sunset. Now we're back in the room showering and getting ready for the 8:30 sitting at Ismael's restaurant. This place is pretty close to perfect. Paradise as they keep telling us. It will be great to wake up tomorrow and have nothing to do and no where to go!

We're on our way!

Made it to Dallas just fine. It was a long, boring drive with frequent unexplained slow downs all the way up I35. But we made it and now we are staying in the Hyatt hotel that is in the airport. Tomorrow morning all we have to do is take the elevator down and wheel our luggage about 30 feet to check in. The room is really nice for an airport hotel -2 rooms and a nice bathroom with yummy shampoos and even a tube of toothpaste.
Tomorrow at 6 a.m. we will be on one of these....Now, we are off to find a restaurant and bar to watch basketball.

Here's an update since my original post. We found out that we can get a pass from the hotel to get through security so we can eat in the delicous airport restaurants. The only catch is the mandatory pat-down of all hotel patrons. Yes, we both got the "treatment" but mine finished first and I tried to catch Mike's pat-down in progress but I was too slow with the camera. Here he is reassebling himself. The sunset from inside the airport was beautiful.

See you in the morning for the sunrise...

Day 1

Day 1 of my house being on the market, that is. And it will be shown at 6:15 this evening for the first time. It is 5:45 and I better get out in a minute or two! Tammy showed us some stats that houses in our price range are averaging more than 365 days on the market. Yuck. I have high hopes but low expectations that mine will sell fast.

I think the house looks as good as it has in a long time. Yes, there are flaws, but I just hope that some family with a couple of kids fall will in love with the house and the yard and the potential to live a fun life here. We have had some really good times here over the 16 years that we've been in Austin. I will miss it but it is time to move on.

It is hard work making the house look presentable at any moment and I have only been doing it for a day. Please keep your fingers crossed!!

The National Holiday

Yesterday was an important national holiday you know. March 17th is right up there with Christmas to Mike and he was determined to get as many of his friends as possible to go to Mother Egan's to celebrate this very special day. Lots of people were there - there was even a line to get in when we left. There were many live bands - some even played Irish music. Mostly we could hear the drum beat from where we were standing. There was a fundraiser going on where you could donate $ and get your head shaved. The line to do that seemed to get longer as the evening went on. Hmmmm, think there is some correlation between wanting to get your head shaved with drinking a lot of beer?! Missy brought us blinking shamrock necklaces that got brighter and more obnoxious the darker it got outside. Mike bought us new Life Is Good shirts for the day. Mine is perfect for a music lover like me -it says "Shamrock On!John, a friend of Missy's from her running group, joined us. David B was there too but managed to avoid my camera.
There was a bagpiper in a kilt (isn't that Scottish?) and everytime I tried to get a photo he passed me before I could dig my camera out of my purse. But here's his back.
Happy Birthday to one of my college roomies, Laura!!

done!

I will be glad to go to work tomorrow so I don't even think about any more home projects. My knees are so sore from bending and kneeling and going up and down ladders. The walls now look all plain and hopefully attractive to potential buyers. I kinda like it myself. Not pictured is the newly painted laundry room. I had to laugh - I painted that room a few years ago, but I couldn't be bothered to get a ladder so I only painted as high as I could reach. The upper 4 feet or so of the walls was still the original pink color they were when we bought the house. Steffi cracked up when she realized she had never noticed. No one did and eventually I forgot too. Yes, the whole house - WHOLE HOUSE - had light pink walls and the carpets were gray downstairs and mauve upstairs and the steps had both gray and pink. What a way we've come since then! Steffi helped me hang pictures. The bluebonnet picture is now on the large wall all by itself. I wasn't going to put the duck plates up again, but Steffi talked me into it and she helped me measure and arrange them. I like them where they are now better than before.

I am one of those people who makes lists. It always feels like I've accomplished something when I put an X or even a / next to an item. As I go through the list I put "/"s next to the items I start. Then they get the other way slash and become X's when they are done. Here is my list for the weekend. And I did more things from last weekend's list. Pretty good considering by Friday night only one item had a /.

I am done for the weekend, and ready for the photographer to come tomorrow, but no where near finished or complete....

New sleeping arrangements

Remember last weekend I got the old "dog sofa" out of my room and mentioned that I bought some new dog beds? Well it has pretty much taken all week for the girls to realize that these were theirs. Choco had been coming into my room every night and just sitting and staring at me like "where's my bed?" Now that they've figured it out they sure look like they are comfortable. Topher of course, still sleeps like a prince in my bed. He can't get up or down by himself, but once he is in bed he is a snuggle puppy.

And another project...

I just can't help it. Mike is out of town and it is raining, so what would you expect me to be doing? I know...there are lots of other things I could be doing. But the photographer is coming on Monday to take pictures of the house and I woke up this morning motivated to do a project. That was in the morning though and after getting my work work done I had a little less motivation, but Steffi wanted to run an errand (see her blog tomorrow) so I purchased some paint. They say a fresh coat of paint in a neutral color helps make a house look more presentable. That's my trusty drop cloth up above. You can see that it has participated in so many projects in this house!

Now ....out with the wine colored walls...

but first a coat of primer is needed

all primed!

Now I am too tired to do any more painting so I will just have a glass of wine and catch up on some old TV shows. Night!