Weekend Activities

For my birthday, we poured cement. And as it sounds, it was hard work. I think a mixer should be on our list of things to buy. We mixed the old fashion way with hand and shovel: part sand, part gravel, part concrete until we got it to a cookie dough batter consistency. And all this was done in the mid-day hot sun. But, our outdoor shower needed a floor. Ethan told Steph that I was in charge of decorating the cement, so her birthday gift to me was some of her amazing chaney collection to press into the cement. It was a wonderful gift to pour cement with Ethan, then have Krissy, Steph, Scott, and Glorymar come over to help press the chaney into the quickly drying cement.

Chaney (or cheney) was the china carried as weight and dropped by ships in the 1800s into the harbors of the Caribbean sea. If you dive or snorkel or dig in coastal areas here, there will always be chards of antique china, which we call chaney. There are jewelers here that specialize in making chaney into beautiful wearable art. But, ours became the floor of the outdoor shower. Steph has been collecting it for a while and I am honored that she shared it with us. (I must say I am shocked to not see more about chaney on the internet...I googled it and came up with very little)



Then after the chaney project, Ethan cleaned up the lot and let me go with the girls to the beach. He met us in a little bit but I got to do some swimming and our favorite form of laying out in the sun (see picture), then the band was pretty good, we continued to dip back in the ocean, had lunch, drank some cocktails, and helped Krissy sell some of her jewelery. And Ethan bought me a fabulous piece from her. I am sad she is leaving the island, but I know she'll be back and I am glad to have her as a friend.





This is the only picture I got of Glorymar. Steph what are you doing to her?



I am not a big birthday person, but this one was good. Thanks for letting me share the pictures of it! I have included two recent sunsets. The pinker one was last week Sunday's sunset and the more orange one was my birthday sunset. Almost every sunset is fantastic and worthy of a few ooohs and aaaahs and honestly, I don't think I'll ever get enough. I mean, can one ever get bored with such a view?

New Pictures to Post of Our Island

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I don't have much to say today, instead I will share some new pictures with you. I compiled an album of St. Croix pictures (I will label them eventually) but they show everyone our beautiful island.Click this for Pictures of St. Croix.

Thank you to the collaborators (Steph and Liz), even though I didn't tell them until now. And don't forget to comment!!!!

Girl Empowered with a Pressure Washer

So, I had some time to think alone on Sunday of Labor Day weekend as I pressure washed the prosperity house and cistern outside. Ya know, moving up from rock mover on Saturday, this was a big promotion in the house building thing for me. But seriously, I think that all women should get involved with manual labor and doing renovations on their houses. Who needs a gym when you can get buff and increase the value of your home at the same time? This is actually fun and rewarding at the same time. I gain a nice healthy glow of a tan, build new muscles (believe me those I feel working), and get to spend the weekend with the man I love. We take breaks together and enjoy the slow appreciation of this house project. Gayle comes and joins us, sometimes brings us lunch (which we are always grateful for), and we all sit around for a bit and ponder plans and ideas. Then back to work. The other big improvement on the house this weekend is our shanty-style tarp roofed shelter. During the heat of the day, there is no shade and at my insistance, Ethan put up this great tarp roof for us to sit under. It was most useful on Monday when we had a few people over for hotdogs and hamburgers. Then back to work on Monday.


I've been asked a lot to write more about the house project and I know there at least a few people out there like to hear about the details as we move forward. I can only write about the parts I understand it, but if you have technical questions, you'll have to email Ethan. I know next is the forms for the wall so he can pour the cement and then roof. Oh, I just can't wait until we have a roof!


I thought I would also mention that the sugar apple tree produced a sweet and lovely sugar apple for us to munch on this weekend. Anyone know anything about this fruit or where it comes from originally? I don't think we had them in Samoa.



On that note, have a lovely day and don't forget to comment. Thanks Lowell for your commenting on the blog and letting us know you are reading.

Cheers, Peace Out.

Labor Day Weekend in St. Croix

Today in Sunday, September 2nd. Yesterday, Ethan and I worked on the house all day. I am trying to understand his work more, but really I should get him to post about the specifics of what he is doing. From what I understand, he took out a chunk of the wall so that he can reinforce it with rebar and pour it with concrete tying in the brackets for the roof. But, me, I'm just a rock moving machine. Yup, I moved rocks all day. Well, I got a tan too. The bonus of helping on the house is the weight loss regime of working in the hot sun and sweating pounds off and the tanning plan too. I get to be outdoors, since I now work an indoor job.

Im going to post some new pics tonight of progress on the house. But, besides that, there isn't a lot new. This time of year is when everyone from St. Croix goes away on holiday. We stopped at Rainbow yesterday and oddly enough there was noone on the beach. We may have a BBQ for the us stragglers left on the island on Monday on the lot...so if you're reading this, come on over!