It's Time...

This blog was started purely as a way to keep everyone at home in touch with us as we embarked on this grand adventure of moving to Water's Edge. During the past 3 years that the blog has been around several things have happened... Facebook has become ubiquitous and taken over as an easy way to keep family and friends up to date, Nassau is a small island so we have run out of new things to share, but most of all... this has become home. Home, although wonderful, gorgeous and lovely - doesn't seem like much of an adventure anymore. This is evidenced by the lack of posts in recent months!

Not to say we aren't still feeling adventurous!

This month we put this fabulous house on the market. We hope to sell it at a price we can live with. If we can, we are off for a year of road-schooling Emily through Europe, if we can't, we will need to have a re-think. Although we love Nassau (and especially Water's Edge) it is becoming clear that we would like for Emily to go to high school in the US so we expect to head back there.

I have found a website that will allow us to print out this website as a book. I think we will do that for Emily to keep, and then delete it.

Moving on... to the next adventure!!!

The Ninth Life

It was the scales that tipped me over.... tipped so unexpectedly in one direction that I fell off. Tumbling down an unexpected abyss that had appeared out of nowhere.

I couldn't exactly say that he was a good cat. He really wasn't. My earliest memories after bringing him home are those of pain. He earned the name "Ow".

As a kitten, only days after he arrived, he tortured me through lonely nights. He pounced on even a fraction of exposed skin, biting so hard as to wake Sleeping Beauty from her slumber - and in a steamy old Victorian townhouse in the middle of Jersey City, I was no Sleeping Beauty. No air-conditioning, just a playful kitten with no manners in 100 degree temperatures. And how I loved and hated that sheet that suffocated me. It locked the heat and humidity against me and keept me from even the stale, lazy breeze from the tired fan - yet it protected me from him - from his claws and teeth as he tried desperately to keep me awake.

He made friends with no one... Not the other cat, shocked and dismayed to discover she would have to share her space... Not me, after he leaped at my wedding veil (hung on the wall to ensure the drying of the fresh flowers) leaving torn ragged shreds of tulle... and not family and friends who only felt the pain of his attack in response to efforts of friendship.

He was always there - hissing, growling, spitting. Yet, occasionally and unexpectedly, he would crawl up on to my chest in bed and throw his paws around my neck. Sometimes he would flop over on to his back for a 10 minute belly rub from my daughter. Sometimes he would walk up to the other cat and give him a big, old affectionate head rub. He was there - around for 16 years... but then he got old.

I wasn't happy about taking him to the vet. He didn't like the vet. But he didn't look well. He looked skinnier than his usual 12 lb frame and maybe he needed antibiotics. Something was up with him, he obviously didn't feel good. But it was the scales that did it.

"What's his name", said the vet.

"Ow", I replied, "as in ouch that hurts".

"Hmm", said the vet as he plopped a cartoon version of my cat, all bones and tufty, crazy fur on the scales.

"Well Ow weighs 7.2 lbs"

The scales tipped, and I tumbled. I thought he just needed antibiotics.

It turns out he's not invincible, that mean, nasty, lovable, incredible, wonderful cat.

RIP Ow - died in his sleep peacefully today - at home and loved.

Maturity

Emily: "Some of my friends have boyfriends but I don't like boys they are too annoying."

Lisa-Marie: "Don't worry Em you will - they will grow-up. Boys just mature slower, they are a little behind... right Mark?"

Mark: "Hee, hee - you said behind."

Hola!

The instant that Mark dropped Emily and I off at the airport we knew that he should have made the decision to come with us. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity - time with family at a wedding in a gorgeous farm in Las Pampas, Argentina with time also to explore Buenos Aires again. We learned a lesson here.

Moments from our trip...

Emily discovering "Submarinos" - a full glass of frothy steamed milk with an accompanying bitter-sweet chocolate stick to dip and stir until it melts in to chocolate Heaven.

Meeting my wonderful new sister-in-law (Emily's new Aunt) Vero at our first "all meat" dinner in Buenos Aires (there were lots of all meat dinners to come).

Vero and Family at the farm - a very lovely group of people who made us so welcome and felt immediately like family.

Watching Emily follow Diego (Vero's brother) climbing through an electric fence in to a muddy field full of nervous cows - she tried her hardest to pet one but did not succeed.

Emily discvering the farm's kittens.

Standing in the back of the pick-up truck with Emily looking out at the road ahead over the top of the cab. Driving bumpily down the dusty dirt road in the sunset and feeling like we must be on a movie set.

Seeing Vero in her dress and having to leave her room so I wouldn't cry.

Watching Con and Vero get tossed in the air by the wedding guests.

Con dancing.

Diego helping Emily make friends with the small children at the wedding - watching them play together all day even though they couldn't speak to each other.

Emily's face when Jimmy (Vero's Dad) suggested a midnight bike ride through the farm.

A moonlight armadillo hunt in the back of the pick-up truck instead.

Emily making friends with the funny deer, rabbit, kangaroo animals at the zoo.

Learning to Tango.

Wat Is?

Overheard in the stands at Mark's football game last night as two young Bahamian guys discuss music.

"My Girl" plays softly from their radio.

Guy 1: "Wat dey call dis kinda music again?"

Guy 2: "What kinda music?"

Guy 1: "Dis kind. Wat is?"

Guy 2: "Don't know"

Silence for a few minutes....

Guy 1: "You know...listen - it's got these loooong notes"

Silence for a few minutes...

Guy 1: "I remember now... It's called Opera"

Haiti Relief

We volunteered (and Mark even played) in a footie benefit game in Nassau for Haiti Relief on Sunday. The event proved a tremendous success with a total of some $11,000 raised for the fund. A very commendable event - there were concession stands, face painting, raffles, 2 games (ROW Vs Jamaica followed by Bahamas Vs Haiti), food and drink. All good stuff but it got us to thinking.

The Haiti tragedy was close to The Bahamas in several ways. Physically the quake happened a few hundred miles away and too far to have any effect whatsoever. But emotionally and demographically it was extremely close. The Bahamas has been regarded in recent years by Haitians (and other less fortunate island countries) as a land of opportunity and prosperity. As such there is a huge Haitian immigrant population, mostly illegal, that carry out the tasks that Bahamians won't - mostly gardening and labouring. As a generalisation, they are tireless workers and responsible for much of the "heavy lifting" round here. Most are low down on the totem pole and make little money (much of which is sent back to Haiti). Most reports were that Port-au-Prince was a seedy, dangerous impoverished city with little saving grace. The city and country is so poor that people regularly take their lives in their hands to make sail on hardly sea-worthy sloops for the Bahamian coast. If they make it, and don't get caught by the authorities, they make contact with some acquaintance and start the daily trudge of grinding out a wage in some backyard in the baking sun.

All the more poignant then that this awful natural catastrophe should happen to such a country and people. As I see the horrendous images from Haiti and read the heart wrenching reports I can't help but wonder "there but for the grace of God go I." Sunday's relief event was terrific not for the money it raised - the massive international relief funds will hopefully take care of that - but to make us all stop, think and consider how fundamental life can be and how a tragedy can turn a world upside down.

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

MLK weekend came round and we made our way out to Las Vegas again. Every year Mark has the footie tournament for the "old crocks" - teams are over 45 and over 50. Mark still kicks a ball around and so competed with the over 50's team. This is a bunch of old mates from Virginia who feel compelled every winter to don their boots and shin guards, stock up on Aleve and prepare for copious amounts of alcohol, late nights and long days. This year didn't disappoint with its usual trials and tribulations of disappearing players (AWOL), mystery injuries (after a hard night at the tables) and boisterous team talks (that no on listens to).

Vegas really is a kooky, surreal place. A real, live Sodom and Gomorrah: if God is looking down he must be saying "I'm warning you guys, you know what happened last time." It is an exciting, effervescent town but you can only take a weekend of it before you're wishing to be turned into a pillar of salt. For all its sins, we had a blast. The Cabrellis don't gamble but that didn't diminish at all from the enjoyment. We really enjoyed the footie during the day and the glitter during the night. We had the added delight this year by having our great friend, Grant, making his way out. It was tremendous to see him again and hopefully we get together again sometime over the summer.

Oh, the football - here's a pic of Mark in action. Enough said about the tournament result me thinks - in all decency that should stay in Vegas.

Happy New Year!

Yes that's Emily behind all that sparkle!

It is a beautiful New Year's Day 2010. Two years ago, having just begun our Bahamas adventure, we hitch-hiked downtown from our brand new home that had no furniture, no water, no electricity, a lot of dirt and a lot of very large resident cockroaches (yuck!) We caught the very end of the Junkanoo celebration and felt as though we had moved to another planet. Everything was new, a challenge and strange. It seems like yesterday, it seems like forever ago.

These past two years have challenged us - both as a family and individuals. Emily had to adapt to a new school and culture. Mark stressed over having too much time on his hands. I had to deal with a myriad of business challenges. All of us had to adapt to "life on the rock".

The Bahamas (and this house) are now very much our home. I am currently sitting out on our back patio looking out over the gently rolling warm ocean, listening to the splash of the pool waterfall. There's not another sound except for the wind rustling the palm leaves. It's warm and sunny and I am still in my pajamas :-)

We are very, very fortunate to have had the opportunity for such an adventure. We got here because we had goals and targets and we never took our eyes off of them no matter what. We love The Bahamas - we have amazing friends here, Mark's enjoying his work, our business is growing, Emily loves her school, Mark has football, I have book club, Emily has endless sleep-overs and a real BFF. But... now we know that we want a different high-school experience for Emily, it's time to dust off those goals and targets.

The year ahead is going to be the most important year ever for our business. I will need to hunker down here and focus every ounce of energy and passion on achieving the (as I think of it now) seemingly impossible. While I am working on the business our family will also be working on planning the next few years together. And as we have learned - once we know where we are going - we are bound to get there.

I wonder what's next...

The Calm After The Storm

The Holiday Season was crazy busy but now that Santa has come and gone things have calmed down a little in the Cabrelli household. As a surprise for Emily and Sundie we presented them with a gift of a quick 3 day cruise to Florida starting the day after Christmas! They were thrilled and we were all excited as Emily was the only one who had experienced a cruise before. We were also excited to find out a couple of days previously that Emily's BFF Serena was going to be on the return leg of cruise (quite by coincidence).

Here are some photos of our visits and the cruise to catch up from the last 2 months!

The girls on our patio...



Our first Christmas dinner (on Thanksgiving)...



The Fam at The One and Only...



Mum and Tina gettin' down to that crazy Junkanoo beat!



Sundie arrives! Having dinner in the front garden (too windy for the patio that day)...



On the cruise in port in Nassau...



Two "step-up" pals walking the Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale (I snuck up on them for this one - they were swinging their arms and everything)



BFFs...



BFFs...

Lieutenant!

Emily was very, very lucky to have been given a Flip camera for Christmas from Nanny and Granddad. She is flipping out an filming all over the place. In this video she

Tis the Season

I have approximately 36 minutes before people get to work and the Emily Rose phones start to ring off the hook. Not that I'm complaining!

We have a had a lovely past few weeks with visits from both Lisa's Mum and Dad and Cousin Tina. Busy... but very fun. We will post photos of the shenanigans when we have some more time. Mark's Mum arrives on Tuesday for an extended Christmas stay so we are very much looking forward to her arrival. Amongst all of the visitors Lisa is dealing with a crazy and successful Holiday Season but enjoying the hard work this time because at the end of her long days she gets to be with family. The first Holiday Season with Mark and Emily in 3 years!

Lisa had a tough week last week with a major blog mishap. Her technical guy didn't back up a database and the blog (over two years worth of posts and rankings) was lost. Mark knows how to cheer her up though and snuck off with Tina and Emily to bring home the very first Cabrelli Family Bahamian Christmas Tree. We had a lovely evening of trimming the tree - here are Mark and Emily adding the angel (Mark half dressed for his football game :-)).



It is wacky time here at our house and Emily's school had a very appropriate uniform release day today... Wacky Day! Here is Emily completely wackified... yes she went to school like this!

Just For Fun

The skill, beauty and coordination of Emily and Mark doing their synchronized swimming routine...

Island Fever

The common misconception about living in a tropical place is that life is a constant vacation. It's not. We are by no means insinuating that we don't have an amazing life - we do and are extremely thankful for it - but we are definitely not on vacation. Now that Mark has officially started his job and Lisa is gearing up for the Holiday season work is becoming pretty all encompassing. It doesn't help that Emily is gone one or two evenings during the week so it is very easy to just keep going... and going. Even on the weekends the lap-top is not far from reach.

Last week Lisa had a sudden bout of island fever. An unexplainable and overwhelming need to get "off the rock". Spirit airlines to the rescue!!! A quick half hour flight and Mark and Lisa were standing at the Avis counter arguing with the clerk on why we should have to pay the taxes on rewards vouchers :-) We spent an evening in Miami and then trekked on down to Key West. The wind streaming in through the car windows and the CD player blasting - oh what joy to be able to drive more than 35 miles per hour and more than a 20 mile distance.

After an initial bad experience with lack of promised wireless access (a must for Lisa) and a permanent pile of the last guest's smelly dinner dishes piled outside our room - we were kindly upgraded from our teeny patio single (paid with points no less) to an ocean-front suite overlooking Sunset Island. Score!! We ended up staying a 2nd night - de-stressing and unwinding. We sipped a bottle of wine on our patio and Lisa ate a pound of "peel and eat" shrimp from Conch Republic as we watched the famous Key West sunset. Gorgeous.



We did manage to get in a bit of shopping (we arrived armed with "requests" from our Nassau friends) and found Emily a jar of her beloved Nutella. Unfortunately we were trying not to check luggage ($25 a bag!) and the airport security guy removed it from Lisa's bag after the x-ray... straight in to his pile of requisitioned "goodies". She was not happy (Emily that is - not Lisa).

Now the island fever is cured and we are happy to be home. Stay tuned for news and hopefully video of Emily's Survival Unit at school and the exciting school pool raft races.

Sunrise

Yes - this is the sun rising. We got up early this morning to let Emily say goodbye to the puppies before school. All 3 have been adopted and will go off to their new homes tomorrow morning (Emily won't see them as she will be at her Dad's). We have a few fun videos to post from the weekend but we think this sunrise deserves a post of it's own.

No We Are Not Keeping Them

I know you are doubting us right now because we are obviously madly in love - but they are all up for adoption and nearly ready. Know anyone?

Emily and Lieutenant



Mark holding The Princess



All of them growing up...

Fish Are Jumping

Lisa-Marie here - I know there is probably a quick and easy way using my Mac to edit this video and only keep the end part where you can actually see the fish jumping and don't have to experience all of the dizzying zooming that I was doing - but I am not friends with my Mac yet and am not spending time with him (at least I am assuming it's a him - he's stubborn and willful like a few other men that I know), so therefore you will have to get sea sick as you wait for the good bit.

The fish and seagull video was filmed at the request of Mark only so he could say to my Dad - "the fish are jumping in to the seagulls mouths but you still can't catch one!", to which Dad replied something that is unprintable on the blog but included the frequently uttered words "...only a bloody Scotsman".

But there's more... yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day here. The ocean was as still as a lake for most of the morning. Tricia came to pick up Ali from her sleep-over around 11:00am and casually threw out a challenge we could not refuse. It was such a beautiful day why didn't we row our little dinghy down to their house? It's not far and the ocean is so calm today. Emily spent the trip diving off the side of the boat to get in some good snorkeling and then taking a little nap when she got bored. Mark and I alternated rowing but it was mostly Mark since I am so obviously an unfit under-exercised weakling. We arrived at John and Tricia's house (barely) after and hour and 40 minutes of rowing - Mark has blisters on his hands - only a few seconds before an amazing storm hit during which you couldn't see more than 4 feet in front of you out on the ocean. Can anyone say... lost at sea? I have attached the route we took and advise no one try this at home!

Scots Omen

In the midst of the finale of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, it was very appropriate that The Bahamas should host their own 7-a-side World Cup last Sunday. For his sins, and we can't really fathom how it happened, Mark was in charge of putting together a Scotland team for the event. Mark eventually managed to cobble together 4 true Scots and then had to rely on Bahamians with Scots last names (not a difficult thing given the Scots propensity to "land" in all corners of the world). So there were 9 countries represented in total and split into 2 groups then play-offs. Here's the setting: the sun was baking down all day and kick-off was at noon, all the younger teams were out limbering up well ahead of time, the Scots team appeared from the shade right at kick-off decked in their navy blue and looking like they would rather still be in bed having their fried breakfast. You would think this would end in typical fashion with the Scots as usual leaving early with several players failing drug tests - but no, not this time.

In a ground breaking start, the Scottish team beat Brazil (the first game) then went 3 games undefeated and advanced from the group stage for the first time in World Cup history. Unfortunatly the gallant Scots succumbed to very able (and young!!) Bahamas team (the eventual winners) in the semi finals. Anyway, here is a picture of the Bravehearts before collapsing from heat exposure and retiring for a (several) well deserved beer. (Pic to follow)

Now if that story is not inspiration to thump Holland at Hampden on Wednesday then I'll eat my Dutch cap.

Puppy Feeding Time

This video is for Maggie as per Michelle's request. They are eating us out of house and home - well OK that would if we regularly stocked goat's milk. They are probably twice the size they were when they first arrived.

Scots Omen

In the midst of the finale of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, it was very appropriate that The Bahamas should host their own 7-a-side World Cup last Sunday. For his sins, and we can't really fathom how it happened, Mark was in charge of putting together a Scotland team for the event. Mark eventually managed to cobble together 4 true Scots and then had to rely on Bahamians with Scots last names (not a difficult thing given the Scots propensity to "land" in all corners of the world). So there were 9 countries represented in total and split into 2 groups then play-offs. Here's the setting: the sun was baking down all day and kick-off was at noon, all the younger teams were out limbering up well ahead of time, the Scots team appeared from the shade right at kick-off decked in their navy blue and looking like they would rather still be in bed having their fried breakfast.



You would think this would end in typical fashion with the Scots as usual leaving early with several players failing drug tests - but no, not this time. In a ground breaking start, the Scottish team beat Brazil (the first game) then went 3 games undefeated and advanced from the group stage for the first time in World Cup history. Unfortunatly the gallant Scots succumbed to very able (and young!!) Bahamas team (the eventual winners) in the semi finals. Anyway, here is a picture of the Bravehearts before collapsing from heat exposure and retiring for a (several) well deserved beer. (Pic to follow)



Now if that story is not inspiration to thump Holland at Hampden on Wednesday then I'll eat my Dutch cap.

The Bizarro World of Nassau

Just when you think that you are exiting The Bahamas "twilight zone" - Rod Sterling appears from nowhere to haul you back in. There is story in today's paper that you may have trouble believing. The amazing thing is not that it is true but that the press deemed it newsworthy enough to stick on their front page. It really sums up The Bahamas - its inefficiencies, the bureaucracy and the laissez-faire attitude. We sometimes think that the sun and sea air combine to gnarl the brain.

The story goes under the heading: "Prisoner never escaped, police now confirm". You probably get the drift already. Anyway what happened was that a dangerous criminal was taken downtown from the notorious Fox Hill prison with a bunch of other prisoners to his court hearing. No slight matter - the guy is "up" for armed robbery and possession of dangerous drugs! While in custody in town he "escaped" by apparently "walking out of lockup" and vanishing into thin air. Bahamian PC plod immediately sprung into action issuing an "all points bulletin" and carrying out an island wide manhunt. This went on for 48 hours. Well, I guess just as the police were about to chalk up another unsolved mystery it appears that the "escaped" prisoner was identified in his cell in jail! How come I hear you ask - was it some kind of David Copperfield illusion or Caribbean voodoo.......I'm afraid not.

What happened was that the prisoner felt it was time to break his custodial monotony and give the police a wrong name at round up at court. The cops accepted this, threw him back on the bus to jail (even though his "new" name wasn't on the roster) and started looking for the "fugitive". A day later, after "conducting an intensive inquiry on an individual who was in custody who fit the description" of the criminal (I couldn't make this up) the police made the connection. And all was well again in Nassau.

The coup de grace at the end of the article states that in addition to armed robbery, the prisoner "will also be charged with deceit of a public officer." Obviously not a difficult thing to do!