Heated Pools Rule!

It's getting to be a little chilly here in Nassau the last week or so (if you can call 73 degrees chilly). Our pool is too cold for swimming just now, although the ocean is as warm as a bath (?), so this past weekend we decided to go out to Cable Beach and borrow the heated pools out there. Emily met a friend to play with in the pool and we had a little picnic. Emily's favourite pool bar is in the first photo - she has a strange fascination with them and getting a fruit punch at the swim-up bar is her Cable Beach treat. You can see the clouds covering up our nice warm sun.

Meringues & Gluten Free from Sara

Our friend Sara, of "Sara and Thomas" fame, had the good fortune to spend a month at home with her Parents in Italy last month. She came back armed with gluten free pasta and lasagna noodles (something Lisa has been craving since her last package from Sundie's visit ran out) and some gluten free chocolate cookies. It was wonderful of her to remember Lisa and here is a big, public THANK YOU!!! Mark has made Lisa a delicious lasagna already, plus we have discovered the first gluten free pasta ever that you can cook, put in the fridge and then eat the next day without choking on the dryness. It's on our Italy shopping list from now on.

Sara came over one evening last week to give us a meringue (also gluten free) cooking lesson. They turned out wonderfully and Emily was the hit of her school when she brought some of them to her class the next day.

Dolce enjoys Emily sneaking her a sample.

Emily and Dolce decide cooking is too boring - playing is better!

The Extent of Mark's Medical Care

This is about as close as Lisa can get Mark to a stethoscope since he refuses to pay for insurance. Dr Kelly isn't as good-looking as lovely Mary and doesn't make Mark's heart beat quite so fast.

Not sure what things are like where you are but The Bahamas is very, very quiet. Yesterday Atlantis laid off 800 workers (down from 1600 reported lay offs after the government got involved). We heard that Atlantis is at 14%, yes 14%, occupancy - so if you are in the mood for a bargain Atlantis will practically pay you to stay there :-) The Scottish Bahamian Society Curry Night which managed to draw 80 people last year only managed 40 last weekend ($75 is a bit steep for a curry). The St. Andrews School 60th Jubilee Ball at the Atlantis was supposed to be a record breaking fund-raiser this year (for the building of the new auditorium). But it looks as though the only thing it will be breaking is "even" - if the school is lucky. Even our business is not where it should be for this time of year.

As Mark says we have decided to "fiddle while Rome burns" and head off to Scotland for Christmas and New Year. Emily is spending the Holidays with her Dad this year. We had made a pledge to save our air-miles for emergencies but, hey, if this economy isn't an emergency what is. So everyone take care of yourselves - if anything happens to anyone we can't afford to leave the island and we have no miles left to fly. :-) Let's hope there are no big hurricanes on the way.

Catch Up

Lisa here. As we prepare for our busiest season blogging has unfortunately dropped to the bottom of our priority list. I would post lots of pictures of my trip back to PA and my brand-new lovely twin nieces - but on my flight back my camera was stolen out of my checked baggage. Silly me to put it in my checked baggage but I was trying to fit all of the bootie and wasn't thinking straight. Mark is not very happy as this is our 2nd camera stolen. I left one in the private hotel car on our trip to Vietnam and apparently the private hotel drivers are not as honest as the hotel claims. So - no pictures for a while I'm afraid. Not until I can convince Mark that I am trustworthy enough to own a camera!

Here are some quick catch ups of our recent activity in bullet form.

Lisa's trip back to the US was successful. The distribution center for the Holiday season is getting there. We are about half way through packing the 4,500 boxes.

Emily had a wonderful Halloween but wouldn't let her embarassing Parents go with her this year. She went to her friends "gated community" where there was a 40 minute car line at security of Parents with kids trying to get in to trick or treat. Needless to say she had a great time. She was Hermione again and was thankful for her cloak because believe it or not...

It's been cold here! We have been suffering temperatures in the mid-70s and the ocean and wind have been out of control! No sitting out on the back patio - too winding plus the risk of getting a wave soaking. We can't see through our back windows because of all the salt.

Mark and I had a late Halloween night at Crazy Johnny's. There were lots of costumes and even though we weren't dressed up we enjoyed ourselves. We haven't been out taht late in years!

Emily is starting to do some work for the Proud Paws organization. They are a great group of people and are really enjoying Emily's ideas and particpation.

Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone

The worst thing a person can do is to take things for granted. We've sacrificed and worked hard to get where we are today. We live in a lovely house in a lovely place and we're thankful that we can peacefully sit out in the dark night and look over the ocean. We can see the moon glistening over the calm sea with a quietness broken only by the lapping of the waves. A scene that can't be captured by camera nor film but can only be experienced. Another experience that can't be captured was during Mark's 50th birthday football odyssey when we passed through Rome. After a 4 hour train journey we arrived exhausted into Rome station then went out to a small trattoria for some wine, cheese, salami and bread - fabulous.

But the thing is, unless you have someone to share all this with then it is meaningless. Whoever it is - friend, partner, family - the experience needs to be shared to be special. The best is if you can share with all 3 - someone who is your best friend, confidante and advisor, partner and love, and the closest family that you have.

Lisa comes back to me on Saturday.

Visitors

It has been a busy week trying to catch up after having our visitors last weekend. We had a great visit with Mum and Dad and their friends Wayne and Cheryl. When we have visitors Lisa feels personally responsible for the weather and she was very upset when it looked as though it was going to rain for the 5 days while they were going to be here - but once again The Bahamas proved itself unstoppable in the sunshine department! We knew we lived here for a reason.

When they arrived on Thursday we all went straight for a swim in the sea which was like a pond. Mum brought enough water shoes for an army so we are stocked. All of you who have a scheduled visit can leave your water shoes at home! When Emily arrived home we went on a search for dinner - we had planned the Green Parrot but it was ruled out due to the rain. We ended up having a great meal in the Cricket Club.

On Friday Dad and Wayne spent the day fishing and Mum and Cheryl lay by the pool. We went over to Atlantis in the evening, strolled past the yachts and enjoyed the aquarium - Dad got in some gambling.

Emily and I took Cheryl and Mum on a walk to the end of the island on Saturday morning so that Cheryl could go shell hunting on Emily's shell beach - she got some nice ones. Then we took Mum and Cheryl over to Cabbage Beach which they loved. Wayne wanted to walk in the steps of James Bond so we headed over to The Ocean Club for a drink at the Dune Bar on Saturday night. Mark and Lisa had actually never been and it proved to be a gorgeous place as was expected. Dad said we could go to dinner at the Dune Restaurant next time they come which would be a real treat. We had fabulous Brazilian Barbecue and strong Caiparinhas for dinner (The Humidor at Grey Cliff Manor) and Emily thought she had died and gone to heaven with all that meat :-)

We ended the trip on Monday night with the required dinner at Lucianos and it was wonderful as always. We had a lovely time and hope that they all come back soon!

We would love to post some pictures but Lisa couldn't get them on Mum's fancy new camera. You can see some of those photos on Dad's New Blog as well as photos of our gorgeous new nieces Olivia and Katie.

Thank You For The Music

We had a really lovely visit with Lisa's Mum and Dad and their friends Wayne and Cheryl over the past week (and will blog about it soon), which is why we have been awfully quiet on the blogging front. Since they left yesterday we have been trying to catch up with work and get ourselves back in our routine. Tonight Emily and Mark blasted the iPod, and danced around the living room for ages. Mamma Mia reminded Lisa of when Emily first discovered, and fell in love with, Broadway music and she started performing in theatre. It is a shame that there isn't an outlet here in The Bahamas for Emily's theatre passion.

Lisa went and dug up Emily's practicing for her Reston Players audition. She was just 8 in this video. It's a year after she blew away the First Grade Talent Show with, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend".

Turn up the volume Nan....

Weekend Wonderful

We had a totally relaxing weekend. Saturday night we had our friends John and Tricia over for dinner and their kids for a sleep-over with Emily. Mark made an absolutely amazing Beef in Red Wine that cooked the whole day and was super tender and delicious. The kids preferred Tricia's Banana Toff pie though :-)

Sunday morning Johnny called and Rose Island beckoned. We had a fabulous day with Johnny, Mary and their friends visiting from Texas. Emily was especially thrilled that Johnny brought 3 of his dogs (he has 9) along for the trip. We ate, swam, snorkeled, strolled on the beach and read in the shade.

The spots in the ocean in the front of this photo are Johnny and Mary. If you look at the darker part you can just make out Emily and Mark snorkeling over the reef.



When we arrived at the house we were greeted by the resident Osprey. A husband and wife has made Johnny's house their home.



Apparently Angus can get a little too enthusiastic about the boat ride and once had the misfortune of falling out. Mary is so anxious about it that now she makes him wear a life jacket. Does he look embarassed?

Just a tad terrifying...

A shot of a small portion of our product shipment on the way from China. Imagine this in your basement Deb?

Morning Has Broken

We woke up to this today...

Preparing Grandad's Rock

You may think that slapping down concrete is pretty basic....well, think again. Its really a study in alchemy. To attain the "seven-per-cent solution" you need car loads of sand and cement, just the right mixture of seawater, a thorough knowledge of the tides, perfect weather conditions and a decent labourer. That's where Mark comes in.

Lisa, and Emily, has been moaning for some time now about how Grandad's Rock (the rock leading into the ocean from the patio) is too rough to walk over and wouldn't it be nice if it was smoothed over with a slab of concrete..."oh, and you can do it Mark, I know you can." Well the thing is, the rock in question is only just above sea level and, indeed, twice a day is positively under sea level. So the mission is, should Mark chose to accept it (and he really has no choice anyway), to lay concrete over the rock between tides and ensure there is enough time for the cement to dry.

In true maverick style Mark embarked upon this challenge with gusto. It was the first time he has laid concrete so the result was all a bit unknown. After several failed attempts to mix cement then see it wash away into the blue yonder, a study of the tides revealed that he had a couple of 8 hour periods each day in which to work. And so the regime began; wake up at dawn to study the tides, review the weather site for conditions, check out the wave action and decide...do you feel lucky? Anyway the experiment proved a success and the results (before and after) can be seen below.

Now we have a concrete plinth (we think its a plinth) that even Lisa can lie out on. Now the next task....to fix a fishing rod holder into the concrete in time for the arrival of the fishermen (Grandad and, his friend, Wayne) in 10 days time!

Hey Dad - There are plenty of fish in the sea...

Lisa here. Mum, Dad, Wayne and Cheryl arrive in just a few weeks. I am sure that Mum and Cheryl will want to lie by the pool or on the beach with their books, but Dad and Wayne will want to fish. Well the fish in these photos aren't big enough to catch - but they do remind you that there are plenty of fish in the sea!

Yesterday as I was emerging on to Granddad's rock after a quick cool down swim in the gorgeously still ocean, I looked down to see thousands - and I do mean thousands - of little silver fish swarming around our patio. They were streaming in from out at sea in a long column. They spent about an hour with us gliding like clouds from one side of the patio to the other. I even had to call Michael and Cindi to come outside and check them out they were so spectacular. Mark jumped in and swam among them for a few minutes and said that there went 12-15 levels deep.





Emily came home late from school yesterday because she spent the afternoon with her friend Claire going door-to-door in Treasure Cove educating our neighbours about their new "Save the Puppies" Club (more on that later). They collected $17 in donations so she was very proud of herself. Anyway - we decided to go for a "before-bed" swim. The moon was out - it was like daylight. If any of the photography blogger readers out there can tell me how to take a photo in the dark without it going all fuzzy it would be greatly appreciated.

Weekend Cocktail Hour

...with our books and a view. OK - Em gets lemonade in a fancy glass but you know what we mean...

Business As Usual

Things around the place are getting back to normal. Luckily we were spared the hurricanes so far this season with both Hanna and Ike skirting the Bahamas. This weekend has been spent tidying up - sweeping the patio, brushing up the sea grapes, clearing the debris from the garden and cleaning the pool. We are even confident enough to erect the Lion Rampant - even though we are officially only half way through the season.


Mark preparing for the the unfurling.

Mark saluting the flag - obviously sporting a pair of his Dad's footie shorts.

Una Bella Notte

We had a great night this week when or friends, Sara and Thomas, invited us for dinner. A main reason was that Sara taught us how to make homemade tortelli. This was a laborious process and one where attention to detail was essential. Emily made her contribution rolling the dough, cutting and then filling the tortelli. They were delicious. Here are some of the participants and stages.

Warning: don't try this at home!

Mark and Emily is concentrated effort.

Thomas hard at work.

The finished product!

Our Poor Seawall

Even though Hurricane Ike has by-passed us and is now causing untold damage to Cuba, we are in the midst of a sea swell and high winds that come with the storm's periphery. Although nothing too damaging or harmful, these winds certainly make things extremely uncomfortable. We can only imagine the force that a direct hit would make.

So, no damage so far but the constant pounding at high and low tide must be taking its toll on the seawall. Mark will need to carry out a thorough inspection in a few days once the winds clear. Meantime we'll just hunker down and enjoy the sights.

The Wee Dog Story

Lisa and her friend Karen were enjoying an after-work Friday glass of wine in Karen's kitchen last night while Emily and Karen's daughter (Emily's school friend) Claire were down the street at the local playground. We had only had about 3 sips worth of conversation when we hear Claire, "Mom...can you guys come out here we need to show you something." Claire and Emily were standing at the door clutching a teeny, tiny, flea-ridden, mangy Rottweiler mix, but clearly Bahamian potcake, puppy.

Apparently Emily and Claire were playing when they spotted 3 or 4 puppies running out of the woods. The little one they had in their hands was running toward them while the rest of them ran back in to the woods. Karen quickly called her dog lover friend for advice and she advised that we bathe him in Joy detergent (and boy did it kill fleas) and then see if we could get him something to eat. After he was all washed and dried we left him in Claire's capable arms and Karen, Emily and Lisa went on a puppy hunt. Well - to be completely truthful Emily went on a puppy hunt, Lisa and Karen stood on the edge of the thick woods and called out encouragements/distractions.

What Emily found in the woods - after crawling through thick bracken and poky things - was obviously a common dumping ground for abandoned puppies. There was an empty fridge there and a small, dirty pond that the dogs had been drinking from, but the most telling signs that this was a common dumping grounds were the puppy skeletons spread throughout the clearing.

Through much petting and coaxing and crawling Emily managed to capture 3 more of the litter. Claire and Emily had a very solid try at the rest but it was getting too dark and they were headed too far back in to the woods.

Lisa went home to fetch Mark's help and all 4 puppies were bathed, dried and cuddled a lot. They ate their rice and cat food dinner as though they hadn't seen food for days (which they probably hadn't) and curled up together in a big puppy ball.

Karen was brave enough to keep them overnight and Emily stayed to help until this morning. All is well that ends well - the puppies went to the Humane Society this morning and two of them may even get adopted by our friends Tricia and John.

Mark took Emily straight to Wendy's for a Frosty treat as an award for a job well done. You should have seen the determination and grit as she marched in to those woods to save the puppies!

A word on dogs in The Bahamas. We have found that the majority of native Bahamians are very afraid of dogs. Probably because there are so many strays (potcakes) around. As pets they are rarely spayed or neutered, and although there are some obviously coddled and cared for family pets, a lot of the dogs owned here are not treated very well. From the plumpness of these puppies it is our guess that they were just finished nursing and then taken out and dropped in the woods in the midst of a field of skeletons. The dumper knew they would probably die. On this occasion, Emily Claire and Karen managed to save 4 very lucky dogs but why the dumper didn't just take the pups to the Humane Society is beyond us. There is a lot of work to do here in the dog department. We thought it would be great to set up a shelter that would ship these gorgeous potcakes to the States for adoption. Anyone want to start a new charity??

Pictures of the adventure are below. We sent Emily back in to take photos this morning. I warn you that the dumping location pictures are disturbing.

The fridge that was the main shelter for the puppies.



The entrance to the woods.



The dirty pond the pups were drinking from.

Puppies not as lucky as the ones below.

This one we named fluffy - he was the cutest in terms of looks.

This one is Mangy (for obvious reasons) - he was the cutest in terms of personality.

Emily is bathing her last rescue (I think she named her Toffee)

She didn't like it very much.

Mark's best friend Mangy.

Chow time!

We had to stop them from climbing in the food.

Looking Good!

It looks as though Ike has decided to pass us by. Although I shouldn't say looking good, as it loooks as though the Gulf Coast will get yet another visit which is terrible news. Hopefully he will go the way of Hannah and die out before he really impacts anything.

Off to the Cricket Club for the Scotland - Macedonia game, but check back later today for the wee puppy story. It's developing as we speak.

The Calm

Hannah never actually arrived but the stormy weather has lasted 3 days and has wreaked havoc on our patio. We won't veen talk about the mess of our pool! The worst victim of Hannah was our flag. Mark went out and took a photo last night so here is what 3 days of strong wind can do.



Emily is pleased to be back to school today and we were all thrilled when we woke up to an ocean of glass and a gorgeous sunrise.

Dissed

Dissed but very happy! Thankfully it looks as though Hannah has decided that we weren't cool enough to party with and she has veered off to towards North Carolina and up the East Coast (sorry Mum!).

However - this is the projected path of Hurricane Ike. See that little dot that says Tuesday 8AM? That's us directly under that dot. Hey, we're happy, it was a category 4 an hour ago! We are definitely not in agreement with Emily who says she hopes it stays a category 3 because that would more exciting!!!! Oh to be 10 and so unshakeably confident about everything.

Emily and Mark are off on a quest for milk as we have been unable to find it for two days - well actually Lisa did find it two days ago but it was $9.85 a Gallon. Lisa thinks if any store got a morning delivery it is long gone. Thanks goodness for Sundie and her foresight in bringing us powdered milk from Scotland... just in case.

Classic Bahamas

While Emily was off at her last day of school for the week, we took a drive this morning to run some last minute errands before Hannah arrives for her visit. We have been advised to listen to the radio so as we were driving we turned it on. The first thing we hear:

"An important announcement from BTC. The "911" emergency number has broken down and is currently not working. If you have an emergency, do not call "911". Thank You..."

Classic Bahamas - There are 3 major storms headed directly for the Islands and "911" doesn't work. You just have to laugh.

We also spoke to another Bahamian who assured us that there would be no storms, "the Republicans just puttin' that stuff on TV so you get interested and watch the politics."

Hmmm...

On the way home we stopped by our boarded up shopping plaza to get our mail. Even the Starbucks is boarded up.






We stopped to see how the ocean was doing. It is quite angry today. Mark got soaked.