Monday, March 19, 2012

St. Patrick's Day, Cruising and More

Busy few days -

-- The 43rd annual St. Croix St. Patrick's Day Parade was Saturday (on St. Patrick's Day itself, isn't that nice?) and as always, it was a ton of fun. Especially so this year since our friend Mike, who goes by the pirate moniker of Cap'n Killy, was the grand marshall. Mike's a great guy, and you've never met anyone so excited by the honor of being grand marshall. He had a great time, must have posed for a couple of hundred pictures, because everyone wants her picture taken with the pirate.

You can look here for the story I wrote covering the event for the Source. And if/when you come visit, you might want to plan your trip to coincide with next year's St. Patrick's Day.

-- Tori is off on her cruise. She, the other chaperones and the kids all flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday morning to catch the cruise ship - Carnival Victory. They were supposed to tour historic old San Juan but there was some kind of marathon going on so they went to the mall and saw the movie John Carter instead. Tori said it was surprisingly good. I may take Max later this week. Anyway, they got to the ship and got settled in amid all the usual first-day confusion. I talked to her briefly last night. They had just had the lifeboat drill. She said it was very impressive. All the passengers, close to 3,000, on deck lined up five deep down both sides of the ship from stem to stern.

Today they'll tour St. Thomas, which considering that's part of the territory and most of the kids have probably been there repeatedly, they'll probably skip. Maybe go to the beach, but that's about it. Then they'll spend Tuesday at sea, arriving for a Wednesday visit to Barbados.


-- There's plenty for me to do while missing her. I got the latest and we all hope last revision notes on Chrissie Warren: Pirate Hunter, and I want to have them finished by the time she gets back. Then it's time for Eddie the Agent to sell the book. Man, this is a long process. This is the book I started writing in Fall 2009. With luck it'll be sold before Fall 2012, but you just never know.


-- Still limping along. The Macbook died an inglorious death with a spilled Coke. I have been trying to replace it with a refurbished model, but the fact that I'm on an island makes everything more difficult. I'm writing this on a PC, and let me tell you, the difference is incredible. Everything that should be so easy is so difficult on these damn machines. Can't wait to get an old Mac, because it's so much better than this new PC. Hell, even the water pump is making a funny sound!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Birds/Reminders

I glanced out our bedroom window this morning, which looks out over the top of a flowering tree growing beside the house. A hummingbird was flitting back and forth between blossoms.

I love watching hummingbirds, although they're kinda hard to focus on because they're so darned fast. And, like the others I've seen on this island, it was bright green, emerald really. I watched for a few minutes, and the green reminded me that this weekend is St. Patrick's Day, and the St. Croix St. Patrick's Day Parade is something not to be missed. Especially this year, since our friend Mike, who goes by the pirate moniker Cap'n Killy, is the grand marshall.

Then I went downstairs, into the kitchen. And in the backyard there was a rooster crowing. And crowing. And crowing.

It reminded me to take the chicken out of the freezer so I can fry it later today for dinner.