Maggie's Here!!!

Our kitchen sink makes a great bathtub.

Mags loves the water! She has many layers, b suit, long sleeved top, neoprene flotzenjammer, hat and ladybug floater.

Heres our girl ready for bed. Grandma has put two clips in her hair for styling purposes. We are having a wonderful time with Chris, Amy, and Maggie.

I think Margaret Lynne is a real little beauty but I am very biased I admit.

Better Quit Squeezin the Charmin

Belleayre Mountain

Hey All...Hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of winter. I went up to Belleayre Mtn in the Catskills last week for a little snowboarding trip with some of my chums. I can report no sustained injuries other than the expected bumps and bruises. All in all it was a beautiful mountain and not that crowded, which was nice.

Keepin' it real

I'm going to keep posting pics/videos of my kid if I don't see some recent happenings on this here blog. Mom and Dad, pics of Puerto Rico? Neeley, pics of St. Croix? Bill, pics of Laura's progress? Anyone, anything? Have the winter blues set in?

new Pa and G'ma

hangin' w Harper

Meditation for Feb.19th Jack&Isaac'sBay

Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out, I smile.

Dwelling in the present moment,

I know this is a wonderful moment!

As we follow our breathing, we can say, simply, "Calming, Smiling, Present Moment, Wonderful Moment."

Thich NhatHanh

why we read the good stuff... over and over

Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance; that alluvion which covers the globe, through Paris and London, through Boston and Concord, through Church and State, through poetry and philosophy and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we will call reality.

HD Thoreau. Walden. Chapter Two. Where I Lived and What I lived For.

Elizabeth Visits Pa

it had been a while since elizabeth had visited pa. she was frightened of him and his wheelchair. seems to be over that now and today they had a fine time together. pa told her she was beautiful, and several times he ordered her to quit running around fearing that she would trip and fall.

pa checks out big mama's swollen belly (he had a lot of interest in that protrusion)

pa hams it up for the camera

writing down our names so pa knows who we are (the old boy can still read, so long as you keep it simple)

wbs well into his 92nd year

Mary Needs to Stop Knitting

S.C. Agrifest (Ag Fair) 2009

The Ag Fair opened yesterday for 3 days. It is the biggest in all the islands and people come from St. Thomas, St. John, the British VI, St Lucia, Grenada and others to display their produce, animals, take part in the dancing, and eat, eat, eat. I love it! The clothing, the hair styles, the language, plus all the stuff I just mentioned is lots of fun to see and be some part of.

Quadrille dancing still lives on. Its very much like square dancing and the ladies wear these costumes with headpieces that are starched and look like birds getting ready to fly off their heads. These are checked, but many women at the fair (not just dancers) wear skirts and headpieces made of different madras plaids. The ladies who sell cake and wonderful food are always dressed this way.

Heres a phenomenon we noticed all over the fair. Young girls( best buddies it turns out) dress exactly alike. We saw this all over, but by the time we thought to ask if we could take their picture our battery was out. These young ladies were so cute. They were proud to pose. We saw one duo with white jeans, silver suspenders and silver sequin cowboy hats.

I can't get this to rotate. This display was done by a couple from Grenada. Notice how skinny the pineapples are.

There were so many beautiful peppers, lots of hot ones!

Steel drum bands from many different schools come and compete.

We were not sure why all these children were dressing as clowns but they were having a good time.

Heres what I had for lunch. You pick a main part (like fryed fish, pork, crab&kallaloo, etc.) and then you get 4 sides,( mac n cheese, cole slaw, beans, seafood rice, etc) also you better get some johnny cake which is like a little disc of raised dough that they fry. Its not greasy tho, really yummy!

3 Generations

Super Grammy visits

Live from Nanaimo: the beautiful Harper Louise, her ma, and her Granny

Dave just sent me this and asked me to post it. 

His stone-age computer wasn't up to the job.

Happy Birthday, Bob.

Under the Rug

Here is some exciting news from snow country: We are getting new rugs! Oh, I mean carpets, in the loft where C. E. (Cedric) Brooks and his carpenters used to practice their craft. I just pulled up the old rugs, the ones we put down in '86. (It saved me 75 dollars. I'm cheap, as you all know.) This is what the floor underneath looks like. I had forgotten. There is a mouse hole. There are nails, screws, tacks and other such artifacts hanging loose betwixt the floorboards. There are shards of glass. Maybe from beer bottles and an occasional shot of brown, although those guys probably didn’t drink much on the job. A lot of good work was done up here by local craftsmen. Cedric was considered the best around. Lobsta boats, cabinets, windows, furniture. He did it all. It’s a museum of sorts. A lot of paint was spilt. Some blood too, I imagine. Now it’s a bedroom, built in large part by the equally talented Jace "Lotsa Big Nails" Ericson. WB II was conceived here and has slept here and in the adjacent room his whole life. Sara and Maia slept up here too, for many years. Soon Sara and Dave will complete the circle when they move in with young Harper Louise. I am excited and can’t wait to hold my granddaughter. Mary just went out to B.C. today for a visit. She’ll get to hold the little rascal first. That’s OK. Wait till she sees her new room. Too bad she won’t be able to see what’s under the rug. Wait, she will. I'll frame these pics and hang 'em on the wall.

Sunday Feb 1

Rainbow Beach in Fredriksted

Chicken Charlie's Chickens. You get red beans n rice and 1/2 a bird for $10.

I'm posting again. Where is everyone? They are too busy facebooking to put some photos on here. I predict a vicious facebook backlash or maybe its just me. I'm starting to hate it with a big hate. I think I will go hang some clothes up, its what I live for now. I would like to run a little laundry right here. That and my minnie golf dream on de island, my last hurrah.