More Changes for The Parker Family

The last few years have been full of changes for our family. Most were full of positives but some caused much sadness. This month is no exception. I would say that April 2011 is a historic month for change in the Parker household!

First- April 1st my son Brennan moved into his own apartment in Des Moines. Okay- that may not sound like much to you but Brennan is thrilled to no longer be living with a brother or sister. He is on his own and ready to fly! I am so proud of how much he has grown in the last year and I know that he is discovering how much he has to offer the world. He is finding his own path.

Second- My daughter Abbie made her first "big girl" purchase. She bought living room furniture! Okay- so you are already finding this blog boring and wondering why this counts as an historic change. But have you ever gone shopping with Abbie??? Making decisions about things like this is painstaking for her! Fortunately she had the help of a special someone. Maybe that is the real news:)

Third- hold on to your hats for this one. We are moving back to Iowa. WHAT!!!! Yes, you heard correctly. We are leaving this wonderful island. I know - you are thinking we have gone absolutely mad. I have been reminded about Iowa winters and the fact that I have only 3 cold weather outfits and only two pair of shoes that cover my toes. Believe me- the decision was not an easy one. Let me try and explain.
Life on this island is not only expensive but also limited. We knew that getting into this adventure. But we did not count on the economic collapse and we were also too idealistic about our options. I have been fortunate to work in a wonderful little school that has given me an opportunity to take on a lot of responsibility. But, like many places, they are having a tough time making ends meet. Our new head of school is making hard decisions to help the school be more financially stable. One of those decisions involves health insurance. To quote her "The school needs to get out of the health insurance business." Don't get me wrong- the school will still arrange for the family health insurance but I will have to pay for it and it is VERY pricey.
I was suspicious that this might be happening back in March. So one day I started looking around for jobs. I looked locally at the public school and university but also stateside. A few jobs caught my eye. I sent off some resumes just to see what might happen. I figure that at my age there are few schools that would want to hire me. I am more expensive and just too damn old! I was pleasantly surprised. I had a nice email chat about a curriculum director position at a private school near Boston, a call from a school south of Kansas City needing a reading teacher and a lengthy conversation from a school in Eastern Iowa about a literacy coach position. I dismissed the Boston job (not that great of pay and who do I know in Boston?) as well as the Kansas City job (better pay but didn't seem very challenging). The Eastern Iowa position was intriguing. I had a wonderful discussion with the curriculum director about all that the job would entail. It was my dream job - it had all the things I have always wanted to do professionally.It made me realize how much I missed the challenges of public education. I still figured that it would not pan out. I arranged to interview with the school via skype and in less than 20 min. after the interview they offered me the position. I was very flattered but torn. Did I really want to leave this lovely little island for the Mississippi? I told them I needed to know the specifics (salary, benefits, etc.) and I also wanted to talk with my little island school. After much soul searching, tears, pleading with my friends for advice, and driving myself crazy I decided to take the position. It was just too hard to turn down. The school was willing to put me at the top of their salary scale, the family health insurance is hundreds of dollars cheaper, and I can continue to add to my Iowa retirement program. But, most importantly, it has a job description that has all the things I always wanted to do in my career. When I went to talk with my little island school I was told that they hoped to give me a raise to cover health insurance costs and hoped to work out a job description for me that would meet both our needs. Too many hopes. I guess I am a person who needs assurances. The final decision was Blake's. I told him I was chickening out on decision making and that he just needed to tell me what he thought we should do. His response was "I always wanted to live on the Mississippi." That sealed the deal. I know he has felt at loose ends here and misses being a real lawyer. Call us workaholics. One thing we discovered during this adventure is that we love our jobs and miss the challenges of our professions .
What about our house in the islands? How are you going to do this move? Where will you live? What about the fact that you gave everything away and own nothing in Iowa? Too many questions that we just aren't sure of yet. We are hoping to keep the house and rent it out for the next few years (the dream is still there - just a little different now). The U.S. Postal Service will be our friends again. We hope to rent - we are a bit reluctant to invest until we know that this is truly what will work for us! I will be scouring garage sales, second-hand stores and asking for handouts this summer when I return to Iowa.
And to answer your biggest question - yes, we are crazy.

FINALLY- the biggest change of all. And maybe this one is the news that cemented the decision to move back to Iowa. I am a grandma!!!! Judd and Stevie welcomed Emery Kathleen Parker to their family 0n April 14th. She is a perfect, beautiful, intelligent, and (most importantly) healthy baby girl. Here is a picture of our little darling:


She is the best reason of all to move back to Iowa. Even though I will still be a few hours away from her it will be so much easier to hop in a car and go get my Emery cuddles!

Speaking of cars- does anyone have one for sale???

I am going to miss island life, most of all snorkeling with the fishies. Last week I watched in awe at this octopus showing off for us:

To prepare for the move I am watching the eagle cam. I guess I will be changing from island girl to river rat.

Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.

The Highs and Lows - A Year In Review

What a year.
Unfortunately this was the year when I had to say a lot of good-byes.
The lows.
It started with saying good bye to my friend Nancy who had battled with cancer for way too long. She could always make me laugh and provided me with great reading lists. She was one of my wonderful librarian friends. If you are ever looking for a great friend- check out the library. I swear librarians make the best friends.
In the spring it was time to say good-bye to our big droolly dog, Thor. I will never forget that big lug. When I went through my cancer treatments Thor was always there to snuggle with. He listened to my whines and rants and never once told me I was just a worry wart.
This fall was the worst. As soon as we came back to the island, Blake's mom's health began a steady decline. At the same time my oldest sister struggled with her own health problems. After a terrible week of non-stop rain on the island we had the worst of weekends. On a Saturday morning we received the call that Blake's mom had died. The next day we were awakened with the news that my sister had also died. I immediately headed back to Iowa but Blake waited. We had already made arrangements to go back in a couple of weeks and so Blake stuck with those plans. He would be there in time for a lovely memorial but most importantly be there to help his dad.
Just when things began to seem normal and happy again my mom fell ill. I was so fortunate that my other sister was there to help with all the day to day details. She was fabulous- getting mom the attention she needed and finding a place for mom to end her life. I can't say enough about how well the hospice house treated my mom - and God knows that wasn't an easy job! They gave her the respect she deserved and the comfort she needed. I flew back just in time for us to say our good-byes. Mom had a list of things to be done and said and I was apparently the last on her list. The first night I was there she was ailing but talkative. The next day she could say very little but was still listening. She died a few days after I arrived. The day after Christmas. She had told everyone she was going to go as soon as she saw me and she was a woman of her word.

But, thankfully, this year has many wonderful highs as well. Here is my "list" of happy times that keeps me going:
* In January we welcomed a naughty little beagle into our lives named Bailey. I am a sucker for a dog.
*In February my daughter landed her dream job. It is so wonderful to see her happy and successful. Way to go girl!
* This year was a big year for my eldest son - an engagement, a wedding and now expecting a baby. WOW! A lot in one year. We are thrilled with the man he has become and so glad to welcome his terrific wife into our family. I am so lucky to have another fabulous daughter.
*My youngest son came back with me after my sister's funeral. He kept me company while Blake was in Iowa helping his dad. I don't know if he knows how important his being here was to me. I miss him and worry so much about him. Our time together helped.
*Our daughter joined our youngest on island just before Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic 3 weeks together. I hope she can make this a yearly trip:)

There are a lot of other highs (ans lows) to the year - but I won't bore you with more. Let's just say that Blake and I have had interesting years with our careers.

So what will happen in this next year? I am thrilled to become a grandma, I am tickled that our daughter has a new special someone in her life and I am excited to see where life takes my youngest as he starts the year off with a new job and lots of possibilities. There are still many unknowns for Blake and myself. We are just taking one step at a time and keeping options open. You just never know do you? Life is messy sometimes.

Now to a funny (or not so funny) island story. This year I learned what happens when you miss the last ferry.
On this last trip back from Iowa my flight was delayed by over 2 hours thanks to a computer malfunction on the plane. This meant that I would be cutting it awfully close. You see, the last ferry to St. John is at midnight. Miss it and you are screwed. My plane landed at 11. There was hope. I was able to get off the plane and get my luggage in record time when you factor in the island time mentality. I was still hopeful. Got to the taxi stand and pleaded my case. Four others in the same predicament joined me. We were hurried into a taxi but....where was the driver? He was checking for others. Probably a nice gesture but we needed to go NOW. Unfortunately one of my taxi-mates decided that swearing and banging on windows would be the best way to get the taxi driver motivated to get going. I have never thought that this kind of behavior was effective and down here in the islands it is counter-productive. I slowly was losing hope. As soon as the taxi driver started on the road I did my best to be encouraging, polite and to let him know a big tip was in his future if he could get us there in record time. Unfortunately the rude guy just kept up the taunts, swearing and derogatory comments. Hope was quickly fading. We arrived to find the ferry dock locked up tight and the boat rounding the point. Now what. I tried calling the after hours water taxi companies but they told me they couldn't find their boat captains. The taxi driver had a small but vocal mob of angry customers. He asked what we wanted to do and I told him to just drop me off at the ferry dock - he said it was too dangerous. He did suggest that the loud mouth would be fine there. Instead he took us to the first hotel/resort and dumped us off. This guy just wanted us out of his taxi! He did tell me he was sorry and hoped I would be okay. Fortunately there was room at the resort. Unfortunately, the cost of the room was over $250 a night. The others took rooms. I looked around the lobby and noticed that it was well lit, had a nice couch and was very quiet (except for the jerk who was still bitching up a storm). I quickly calculated that this room was going to cost me about $50 an hour so I asked the clerk if he minded me just waiting until morning on his couch. He told me it didn't bother him in the least. I think the security guard felt sorry for me as well. These two wonderful gentleman made sure I had something to drink and was safe. We all pulled out our books and spent the next few hours reading in total silence. It was a long night. I know, I could have splurged for the hotel. If I had been feeling adventurous I could have found a bar and gotten plastered. I also could have ranted and raved like the idiot on the taxi making these last hours even more miserable. But, I just decided to go with the flow. Maybe the lesson I have learned this year is that some things are just out of your control. You can't always fix things and there are times you will have to learn acceptance. But, it doesn't last forever. You move on. There would be another ferry in the morning -I just needed to wait and get through this the best I could.

Off to the beach....I know there is a turtle just waiting for me to join him in a swim!

Summer recap and back to school we go!

Where did the summer go?? My last post talked about upcoming summer plans and now it is already Labor Day. I guess it is time to recap the busy (and often lazy) days of summer.
I headed back to Iowa at the end of June to visit family and friends. It was fun catching up and just laughing. Abbie was busy with her new job and so I saw her for brief moments in between campfires and camp registration. That meant Brennan was stuck with me for the majority of the time:) I gave him breaks from this mother and son bonding time to visit friends in Dodge and Clear Lake. Even made a trip to the Twin Cities to hear a friend of mine from college play in a band. Blake joined me after the July 4th holidays for more family time. The highlight of the trip was our son's wedding. It was beautiful. I am so happy for him and his new bride. Good choice Judd!











We headed back to the islands shortly after the wedding. It is always bitter sweet when we come back to our new home. It is so hard to say good bye to everyone and doubts about the move tug at my heart. Don't you just wish you could package all the good times up in a nice little box and climb in - never letting anything change? Then I am reminded of this saying:

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.
— Author Unknown

We arrived back on island in the midst of a raging rain storm. It took us over 5 hours to just get from the airport to our home. The next couple of weeks brought more rain so I spent a lot of time reading, preparing for my new job and tutoring a few kids in reading. Blake will tell you that I spent most of my time making honey-do lists! I was reading to get projects around the house completed. Well, mostly I was motivated to have HIM do things;)
While we were gone, one of the Iowa State students had spent some time helping us with our landscaping. He had many things started and now it was up to us to finish. I wish I could say that we can cross that task off our to-do list but I think it will be a never ending process. But, I now have the following planted:
2 limes, a grapefruit, a couple of mango trees, passion fruit, pomegranate, pineapple, hibiscus, jasmine, avocado, banana, and a variety of other things that I have borrowed from neighbors for ground cover. There is no such thing as a lawn down here and mowing is basically hacking down a jungle with a machete. Things grow very quickly and what you don't want growing can easily get out of hand. I spent one day being attacked by fire ants and entangled in catch-and-keep. My hope is to get a ground covering that will require less work. I have learned that it is easy to get plants started by stealing clippings, etc. from others. Blake laughs at me as he watches me eye neighbors landscaping and "borrow" parts of the plants I like. I just stick them into water and before you know it- they are sprouting roots! One day, after a nice swim at Maho Beach, I made Blake go back into the bush with me where I had spied some coconuts beginning to sprout. Because we have such poor and rocky soil we then had to go get "ghut soil" from an area that gets the water run-off in big rains. It is filled with a silty-sandy soil that should be good for growing palm trees. We shall see.
By mid-August our banana tree had fallen over leaving us over 100 unripe bananas. Blake hauled them inside and we waited for them to ripen - as well as scouring cookbooks for what to do with 100 bananas!

Look! a baby pineapple!

What to do with all these bananas! And this is only 1/2 of them:(

I started back to school August 23rd. I am a bit nervous about my new position and still feeling out what my role will be. I spent the first week learning about writing, meeting our new staff (I would say there are more new people than returning ones!) and testing students who are also new to our school. As always, that first week is filled with the hustle and bustle of getting classrooms ready. There just never seems to be enough time. School was to start on Monday and I spent a good chunk of the Saturday before the start trying to ready my little space. The new teachers I am working with had that panic look in their face of wondering if they will ever be ready to go. The, on Sunday, the word came- come ready your room for Hurricane Earl. All that work and now we are told to move everything from the floors and away from windows. Cover it in black garbage bags and plan on no school for a couple of days.
While I was readying my classroom - Blake was readying the house. I arrived home shortly after lunch and together we put on the hurricane shutters and moved all our furniture, etc. off the porch and into the center of the house. Next came the hardest part- waiting.
We lost internet and phone early Monday morning. All day long the electricity flickered on and off. By 2:00 the power was history. The winds howled and we watched as trees were whipped around. By 6:00 p.m. we decided we better close up a bit tighter and not risk gawking at the weather. By 10 the worst seemed to be over and we were able to open a door or two to let in much needed fresh air. The storm brought little rain but lots of wind. The morning after was spent sweeping up leaves, clearing trees from the road and checking out for damage. My school suffered little damage and we began classes on Thursday. Much of the island had power by late Tuesday but ours didn't arrive until Thursday afternoon. We have a small generator that we used to keep the fridge cold and provide us with morning coffee! The worst was not having water for showers. The island now looks like fall- dead leaves line the roads. It even has that autumn smell. The beaches are lined with browned trees and we can now see places we have never seen before because of the lush canopy. But, we survived and are spending the weekend putting our house back together. Here are some scenes from the road leading to our house:


Now to end with the best news of all- just before Earl hit we received a call from Judd and Stevie letting us know that they are expecting their first child. Yep- Blake and I are going to be grandparents! I have been looking through my knitting books for projects and secretly making plans to spend next summer teaching a little one how to say "grammy."
Until then, we are hoping that the parents-to-be will be able to visit us in January and Abbie and Brennan are trying to make plans for spending a long break with us over the holidays. These trips mean a lot to us. Our hope was always to share this island with family and friends- not keep it to ourselves! So---come on down!! We miss you all!
Time to head to the beach- until next time....

Ready for summer!

School's out for summer! The last day of school my little Maya did her best Alice Cooper impression for me. I countered with a little Pink Floyd and Teachers...leave those kids alone! Maya wanted me to find the songs on youtube so we could really rock out! Here is a picture of this little cutie at Family Beach Day:

Yes, as is the custom at my school, the last day is spent at the beach. For awhile it looked as though beach day may be cancelled - a storm cell hit the island with a nice show of lightening and thunder. But, in the nick of time, the sun cam out and a rainbow appeared. Family Beach day was on! Here are a few pictures of the day:















Here are some of my lovely co-workers as
well as my principal:















This ending to the school year was a bit bitter sweet for me. I will be returning to the school not as a classroom teacher but as their new literacy coach/learning strategist. My role will be to help improve reading instruction for pre-school through 5th grade, mentor new teachers, and work with classroom teachers to create learning goals for all the students. I will miss having my own classroom but look forward to the new challenges. My school also has a new Head of School (superintendent) so it should be an exciting year!

Our school has also started a horticulture/sustainable agriculture program with Iowa State University. Yep. Moved all this way only to be surrounded by Cyclones! Blake and I have had a great time going hiking and snorkeling with the 3 ISU students and their prof who have been working at the school the past 6 weeks. A new group of students will arrive in August. This is a 5 year commitment and Blake and I are happy to be surrogate parents to a great group of kids.

Speaking of kids- I head back to Iowa on Tuesday to spend a month with family and friends. The big event is Judd and Stevie's wedding! Blake will join me in July and I know it will be a special time.

I had high hopes to spend my first free weekend lazing on the beach. Unfortunately it has rained non-stop for the past two days. I should count my blessings- this front started as a potential hurricane. The first of the season. While June is the start of the season, most hurricanes develop in August and September. It has been predicted that this should be a very active season. The water has been unbelievably warm - about 4-5 degrees hotter than usual. That is not a good sign! Thankfully we will have a house sitter while we are gone so someone will be here in case hurricane shutters need to be put up!

I am off to pack- next time I post will more than likely be at the end of the summer. I hope all of you have a wonderful time enjoying family, friends, nature and a good book or two this summer. Take care!

Good Bye Thor

Sad week for the Parker clan. We had to say good-bye to Thor. He had been failing and it was time. I wish I could have been their to help Abbie and Brennan through it all. It is never easy.
The upside was that I was back in Iowa last weekend and was able to give him one last snuggle and share a little snack with him. He was a great dog. We will all miss him.

I spent the last week in April stateside. I spent the first half at the International Reading Association conference in Chicago. I felt fortunate to listen to experts on reading as well as meet tons of authors. I couldn't believe the amount of free stuff that I accumulated. I had to get a box at the post office so I could get it all back! The conference took up the majority of time so I didn't get much chance to enjoy Chicago - except for the pizza! My first night I bought a medium Chicago deep dish pizza from Gino's and it became my nightly meal for the next 3 nights. I never tired of it:)
After the conference ended I hopped over to Iowa to do a little mother-of-the-groom dress shopping with my future daughter-in-law. Abbie had prepared her on what to expect - I am not the easiest person to dress shop with. Stevie was wonderful and patient and by the end of the weekend I had bought 2 dresses - still can't decide which to wear. Abbie has reminded me that I also have to buy shoes and that I can't wear my comfy sandals. Do you think she will let me wear my new Crocs?
I also had a chance to see Abbie and Brennan's new place. It is charming with lots of space and has a lovely backyard. Abbie and I hosted a bridal shower on Friday night and were so pleased (and surprised) that so many made the trip to her little house in the woods. It was great seeing friends and family. I sure miss them all. I hope they come to visit me soon!!! (hint, hint)
The best part of the trip was dinner with all my kids. We went out for a belated birthday dinner for Abbie and Brennan and had a great time. My kids have become wonderful adults. I sure enjoyed being with them and hope we can all get together in the islands (another hint, hint).
So what about Blake? Poor guy had to stay back and work. He surprised me with a new railing and a completed dog fence for Baily. Things at the house are coming along ...slowly. For example, we bought a t.v. in January. Our plan was to put it in the living room but have it connected to the Internet. Our t.v. watching is thanks to HULU and T.V. Shack and so far has been on a small computer screen. Well, we now finally have it all set up. It only took 4 months!
So life goes on the island.

Spring Break!

Today is the start of Spring Break. My plans? Not much. Blake is working so I don't have a snorkel buddy to play with. I am hoping to use this time to get lots of projects done at school and at home. But mostly I intend to be lazy:) I asked one of my students what she would be doing over spring break and she said that her family was just taking the boat out. I asked here where she liked to go and she listed many places. She was shocked when I told her I had never been to them and told me how easy it was to get there. I responded by telling her that I didn't have a boat so I couldn't go. She looked at me and said "Oh, Ms. Terri. You just need to find friends!" Maybe that will be my spring break goal - find friends with boats!

It has been a very busy month. Blake's parents and brother surprised us with a visit at the end of February. We were delighted to have them but worried. This island is not easy - especially for people in their late 80's! Alas, we were correct. It was hard for Blake's parents to negotiate stairs, beach, etc. There were a couple of spills that fortunately were not too serious but did make for a less pleasurable stay. We did have some fabulous meals and the weather was beautiful - better than the cold and snow they left behind. Thanks Byron for helping bring the 'rents to the islands! Hope you can come back next winter and experience more of our island!
Here are a few pictures to share:





The beginning of March started off with the celebration of Sr. Seuss's birthday! Here is a picture of my class in their Cat in the Hat hats (Thanks Candy!):




Every week this month has been busy with all sorts of events. Most have surrounded my school. We are hiring a new Head of School so there have been meetings, dinners and interviews. There were also two big fund raisers beginning with the school dinner/auction. Blake and I were spotters for the auctioneer - there were lots of bottles of champagne being sold at $125 a bottle! A little out of my price range! More my speed was the Blues Festival. Our school sold burgers, hot dogs and gyros all night long. Blake grilled and I took orders. Best of all- great music to listen to as we worked! The month ended with our furniture (that we ordered in January) FINALLY being delivered. We now have a real "living room" rather than Blake's wood working area or what I called the dance floor. Here is a picture of the new stuff:


When we ordered the furniture we also bought a t.v. Our plan was to use it with the internet/computer. Judd had set us up with all the gizmos but because we had no furniture in the room we were in no hurry to set it up. So, the tv sat in a box for 6 weeks. I finally suggested to Blake that we should go ahead and set it up and just pull in chairs to watch. Blake wanted to run the cables under the house which meant that we needed to drill holes in the floor. Drilling through concrete is not an easy task. Blake talked with our wonderful neighbor -Driveway Dan- and borrowed the tools needed. Two weeks later the holes were drilled. Then the furniture arrived and it seemed only right to set things up. Unfortunately, we are missing one small plug or something. Guess we can wait a little longer. Want to place bets on how long before this tv ever gets up and running???

Our next project is putting up a fence area for our dog Bailey. Bailey is all beagle and loves to explore the bush. Most of our neighbors love her visits. She knows to go to the folks above us for bites of bologna and likes to snoop around Pirate Bill's non-conforming home. When Blake's parents were visiting she took every advantage of a door opening to escape and explore. Unfortunately we have one neighbor who is not so happy. It seems that Baily is chasing here chickens. Our island has lots of wandering chickens. They are everywhere. Our neighborhood has a rule that there are to be no chickens but this women has a few that she "rescued" and allows to run loose. Beagle Baily has enjoyed visiting these chickens and chasing them through the bush. She hasn't hurt them- just playful! Most of the neighbors find this pretty comical- but to keep peace we are building a fence area to corral our little girl. Building this fence is no easy project. I spent most of yesterday hauling wood up a hill side to clear an area. Our land just has NO FLAT area what so ever! Another project - how long will this take us?

In between all the projects we have tried to make sure to snorkel a few times a week. This weekend was BEAUTIFUL! It was also very busy. The Spring Break crowd is here! On Saturday we were snorkeling at Maho and had to dodge the tourists as we swam. We had to chuckle as we listened to the comments. Here are a few:

"This water is way too salty today. I don't think it was this salty yesterday!"

1st person: "When we were on our cruise they took us to a place where there were lots of rays swimming. "
2nd person: "Yeah, maybe we will see some rays on this trip."
1st person" "We should ask someone where the cruise ship people go to see rays."
My response: "Look down." At that moment there were 5 big rays swimming.


"I didn't expect fish to be swimming so close to the beach!"

And so life goes on the island.

Paradise isn't always easy!

My friends back home have been battling the weather. Snow days have piled up and school will be going a bit longer. They have had a rough winter. I have had many any email or txt complaining about the snow (except from my friend Laurel- she still loves a snow day!) and wishing they were here. I completely understand- the weather is beautiful and the ocean soothing. But life in paradise isn't always easy. Take this weekend for example...

My weekend started off okay...went to a nice party up the road. The neighborhood I live in has an eclectic bunch. Some live here year round where others come for just the winter. Some live in basically shacks where others live in extremely nice homes. Regardless of your circumstance, the neighbors are very nice and welcoming.

The problems of the weekend started when we got home. Our new little beagle -Bailey- must have decided we had not been giving her enough attention. When we got home I found that she had taken a nice bite out of my cell phone. It was ruined. This being Valentine's Day AND President's Day weekend I wasn't sure if I would be able to get a new phone. They love their holidays down here! I figured if I couldn't get one on St. John I could on St. Thomas. Blake needed to go over to look for a car part anyways. So, Saturday we headed to Cruz Bay. We had about 45 min. until the next car barge and there was no line so we decided to first check the cell phone place in town. It was due to open at 9:00. We waited for about 10 min. then left- I have decided that signs stating store hours are just a suggestion. It is like the stores are saying "We know we should be open these hours and we will try...but we just can't help it if something else comes up now can we?" So back to the barge. Oops. Now there is a HUGE line. We crossed our fingers and almost made it. Guess we will just sit and wait an hour until the next one. No reason to get upset. Nothing you can do. GRRRRRR....

Finally get on the barge and it is very crowded. Hmmm....what is up? Well, it seems that everyone is heading over to St. Thomas because St. John is completely OUT OF GAS. Yep, bone dry. With the long weekend it probably means that the gas stations will be closed until Tuesday. God help the tourists who take these things for granted. I add "buy a gas can" to our shopping list.

First stop in St. Thomas is the cell phone place. Hallelujah- it IS open, no line and looks like this is going to work out just fine. I don't have many cell phone options but settle for the cheapest replacement. If you call me, please be patient. I am either a complete idiot or this cell phone is the quirkiest one ever. Don't answer that.

Onto the auto parts store. Did get the gas tank but they didn't have the part. Onto the next auto parts store. Nope. Not there. They direct us to a third. Not open. This island is FULL of island Suzukis yet no one seems to have the right part. Guess we will have to have Judd go get one to ship down to us. Hopefully the car will hang in there a bit longer. Blake is frustrated.

Next stop...or should I say stops...furniture shopping. I ordered furniture a month ago for the living room but we are looking for a dresser for the bedroom. This is mostly so we have something tall to put things like cell phones and watches on. You see, not only did Bailey eat the cell phone but she also took a bite out of my watch! Went to 3 places and nothing that will work. I can of course order something. And wait another 6-8 weeks. AARRRGGHHHHH!

Alright. Calm down. Nothing to worry about.

Now onto K-Mart. Need basics like pet food, cleaning supplies, etc. And, of course, a new watch:) The worst part about K-Mart is the check out line. You can easily wait 45 min to an hour. I am not kidding. What will often happen is that the person in front of you is actually buying for 3 or 4 people. They have to ring up each of their friends or family items separately. So you can feel so close yet be so far away. Made it in and out of K-Mart in 1 hr. and 15 min.

Better fill up the gas tank. WOW!!! Gas has gone up. Guess with our little gas shortage people are taking a bit of an advantage. Paid $3.60 a gallon. Fortunately we live on a little island so a tank will last me a bit longer than back in Iowa. Although it is all "city driving" - I don't think I have had the car go over 30mph yet! Today is no exception...the traffic is terrible. It takes us forever to get just a couple of miles. Lots of people in the "big city" today. And, every corner has people hawking valentine presents. Need a big heart balloon or a stuffed animal? Look no further! About every 15 feet someone is trying to sell you one. I tell Blake that I am low maintenance and he can pass on the ugly valentine presents.

After a relatively quick stop at Home Depot we were onto Cost-u-less. The big box store. It is definitely cheaper but you have to buy in bulk. It is also hit or miss as to what will be there. After this stop it is the smaller grocery store. We have found that we need to do both. We hate it but we have learned that we save so much more this way. For example, an 8 pack case of green beans averages a $1.20 per can at Cost-u-less and one can of green beans at the regular grocery is $2.25. If we buy that same can on St. John it is probably $4.00! Blake went to buy a can of sauerkraut on St. John one day and it was $6 for one can! We could buy two bottles of rum for that! So- canned foods, cheeses, booze, beer, etc. buy in bulk at one place and then produce and things you don't want in bulk at another place.

We look at our watches (including my new, $5.00 K-mart special watch) and decide to bag the rest of our shopping list. If we left now we could get the next barge. If we didn't- it would be another hour. And, we knew with all the cars that came over with us that we didn't want to risk getting stranded. You see, the last car barge is around 6:00. I say around because sometimes a barge is down or they change their times. The last barge is supposed to be at 7:00 but it hasn't ran in sometime. USUALLY there is a 6:30. But, not always. With the load we have I don't want to get stuck. You see, if we miss that car barge we have two options-one is to spend the night in St. Thomas (and it being high season the hotel costs will be $$$$- that is if there is an open hotel room!). The other option is to leave the car in St. Thomas, take the people ferry over to St. John and then hitch a ride across the island, take a bus or hope for a taxi. With the island being out of gas I doubt if the bus is running or if a taxi would take us. So..the lesson is :Don't miss the barge!!!"

As we were heading across our little island we noticed a haze and our windshield began to get spotted. Yep- Montserrat blew again. So to finish the day we have a coating of volcanic ash on the windshield!

http://www.montserratvolcanoobservatory.info/

After a long and tiring day we make it home. As we pull into the road leading to our neighborhood we spy an elderly couple waiting by the side of the road. We recognize them as neighbors. We ask if they are okay and they announce- with big grins- that the island is out of gas and they are waiting for friends to pick them up. They are car pooling to a local bar/restaurant. They seem to love the adventure. I, on the other hand, just want to go home and have a nice cold beer. I have had enough adventure for the day.

So, next time you envy me remember that paradise isn't always easy. But, it is warm and the ocean is so soothing.

Until next time...