A Quick Blurb

Well, we have been really busy since coming home to Illinois. Just a quick update. The plane ride home was hell with security, but we made it through. Registered the kids for middle school. Yes, both are in middle school this year. Michaila joined the volleyball team and Nolan has gone out for cross country and soccer. School has started as well.

Today, Brian and I ran 10 miles. Just 3.1 miles short of the half-marathon. So, as long as we stay healthy, October 1 should be a doable feat. Our pace is steady. We did nine miles two weeks ago in 1 hour 36 minutes. This week we did 10 in 1 hour 47 minutes. We haven't been pushing at all - just doing the distance like all the training websites say to do. I think we could run faster, but I want to avoid the injury. We tried Jelly Belly sport beans and PowerBar Gel (ick!) and they seem to help with the stamina issue half-way through the long runs.

Otherwise, we are getting home projects finished before Brian leaves on 9/3.

Last day in Nevis

Well, today is our last full day and the weather sucks. There is a tropical wave going through and today has been cloudy and rainy. Last night I started packing. But lo and behold, I had to repack due to some freaking idiots trying to blow up planes. So, all that rum we bought to bring home has to be checked through as well as all shampoo, contact lens solution, shaving cream, etc. Absolutely no liquids are allowed in carry-on baggage. I even had to empty my purse of lipstick, mouth wash, and hand sanitizer. This is a pain in my a**.

Anyway, tonight we are heading to Rumours for dinner. Hopefully, they have conch chowder tonight. We plan to meet up with friends and maybe head to Oualie for a few beers. I have a feeling we won't leave Rumours LOL as it's usually the place to go after exams. BTW - Brian did really well on his exams so one more term and we are out of here!

For those of you stateside, see you soon! (Assuming security in San Juan doesn't pin us down and torture us. - LOL) As for Nevis. . .goodbye. I will miss you. See you in December!

Last Tuesday at Oualie

Tuesday was Med5 basic science graduation. Afterwards we headed to Oualie for one last night. It was really fun. A lot of graduating students showed up. Ben Turner played his bagpipes at graduation and then played three songs at Oualie. He was a hit. I helpd him out on "Scotland the Brave" with the drum beat. That's the song you usually hear the bagpipe bands play in parades. Turns out Ben's "family name" is Nisbett, which is one of the plantation families on the island.

Afterwards a few Hindu students sang a traditional Hindu song and then a few more current tunes. They were excellent. Then, the usual band played. It was a fun party and we danced and danced and danced. It was a sad goodbye for me. Sorry, this thing is refusing to let me load pics so you will have to wait.

There's a First Time. . .

. . .for everthing.

Well, today was a long run day in our half-marathon training. So, we were good kids last night and went to bed around 9:30. We woke up this morning around 7:00 and were on the road around 7:30. Around here you either run early or sweat way too much. Our goal was to go from our house to the Oualie parking lot, back to the Anglican church past campus (the end of the "good" road), and then home. After we ran it, we drove it = 8.5 miles.

So, it was a bit of a rough start. Both of us were stiff in the knees, but soon got warmed up. We were cruising along at a relatively easy pace around the airport, which is a solid mile from our house. About that distance I start to warm up, and I was feeling pretty good. So, we are coming around to the small hill that leads up to Cottle Church (about 1.5 miles into the run), and I am bringing my left leg up to hit the next stride when my toe finds a loose rock. It was like a slow-motion dream. I was in mid-stride, so there was nothing I could do but land on my left knee. My leg went down, and then my hands and forearms went down too. Fortunately, Brian was next to me and not behind me or that would have been real bad.

So, I am trying to keep the damage to a minimum, but we are on asphalt, and that kind of fall is pretty nasty (having experienced that on bikes as a child). I roll over on my back and Brian says, "Get up, get out of the road." So, I stumble over to this area where cars sometimes park for Lover's Beach. My knee is screaming and my hands are stinging. I pull Brian's shorts over to dab to blood off my knee, but he pulls out the washcloth we carry on long runs. I have nasty skin (not too much) pulled off my right palm and blood oozing out of my knee. About that time, the hospital van passes us and backs up to see if I am okay. (Sad coincidence) Fortunately, I can move and the damage is relatively minor, but I hurt like hell. I ask the guy in the van if he has a band-aid (not that it would stick since I was sweating, but I am sure it would make me feel better), but he says the HOSPITAL VAN DOESN'T HAVE A BAND-AID!!!!!! So, he drives off. Luckily, I didn't have a displaced patella or a broken bone because I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO THAT HOSPITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I dry off the best I can, and we finish our run. It took us 1 hour 36 minutes to run the 8.5 miles, and that includes the stop for the fall. So, I am hobbling around here with a bunged up knee, scrapes on my hands, and contusions on my left forearm. Somehow I don't think this is a serious injury, but it is not really something I need 8 weeks before a half marathon! Anyway, Brian says it is probably good I am strong so I could prevent myself from skidding more than I did. (I think it also helps that I am slow LOL). He is probably right though, I was able to steady myself on my hands pretty darn well and keep the forward momentum to a minimum. My left knee is pretty damn stiff though. So, that is my Mary Decker moment. Thank God this wasn't a race for the Olympic Gold Medal!

Hey diddle diddle

Well, yesterday I had laundry on the line, and it started to rain. So, we brought the clothes in and hung them up on the line in the bathroom and on hangers in the closet door frame. (This story is leading somewhere.) The rain eventually stopped, but it was too late to put the clothes back out. That, and we were heading to this really nice restaurant at the Four Seasons to meet Jaime, our friend that we went to St. Maarten with. (Danielle and Julian already left the island for home, so they weren't there :(

Mango is located on the beach overlooking the Caribbean. You can see the lights of Basseterre, St. Kitts at night. The food was pretty good. Brian had swordfish that was served on a bed of greens. I had a steak and, believe it or not, corn-on the cob. Micha had conch chowder (Yes, Danielle, soup again!). Nolan, the big pig, had a shrimp skewer appetizer AND a full plate of ribs! The appetizer was pretty cool since it was skewered with sugar cane. I think Jaime had the ribs too. Overall, nice meal. Anyway, during dinner conversation turned to MUA gossipy stuff, which was VERY interesting, to say the least. Anyway, Brian and I had a nightcap at home - a bit of Brinley's Gold coffee rum on ice, very nice :) So, this morning we get up around 7:30. We have this little routine. Brian gets up and puts on the coffee and starts a shower while I try to force myself out of bed. I make the bed and turn on my computer, etc. Brian gets dressed and we sit in the kitchen and have our coffee and chit-chat about plans for the day while Brian checks the news and email on his computer. Well, today, I was also taking down the laundry from yesterday since it was all over the house while Brian was in the shower. We have a closet in the hall just next to the kitchen where the kids keep their clothes. So, I am putting away their stuff. Then, I turn around and there IS A COW LOOKING AT ME THROUGH THE KITCHEN WINDOW! I about jumped out of my skin.

Around here, one gets used to animals just roaming around. Yet, you don't expect to see a huge animal staring at you through your kitchen window. That's Nevis I guess. And it is also a reason that when I come back to this island, someday, that we will live in a place with A FENCE THAT WORKS! In the meantime, we have one week left before we fly out so we plan on enjoying it as much as possible :)

TS Chris Update

Well, yesterday was interesting. Blue skies, calm waters, hot sun. The kids and I spent the late morning and early afternoon at Oualie swimming around. We actually got a little bit of a sunburn. Yesterday was hot, hot, hot. I even spent a good portion of the time in the water. Oualie is usually very calm, but yesterday the water was a bit churned up.

Around 2pm, we had to pick up Brian at school and I noticed that the clouds were moving backwards. In fact, all day the planes had been landing and taking off in the opposite direction of normal. So, all the tradewinds had shifted and were flowing from west to east into the storm. (The tradewinds usually flow east to west.) Around 4pm, Brian and I went for an easy run (4 miles - 39 minutes) and the winds had shifted again, this time flowing north to south. It was weird.

After our run, Gary and Michelle Brown brought our car back. Michelle had borrowed the car IN APRIL, and some local guy hit her. This car has been at the mechanic, Men at Work (no kidding), since that time! We finally have it back, which is a good thing. Actually, it looks pretty good, considering. Anyway, I followed Brian into town to get some gas, just in case he ran out. Passing Oualie, all of the boats had been taken off the dock and anchored in the bay, just in case. Around 8pm we got a nice, easy rain shower. But the most interesting things were the clouds over the ocean that were feeding into the storm. I took a few pictures, but I don't think the resolution really shows how cool they looked.

Around 10pm there was a bit of lightening and thunder, but we passed the night without incident. Ends up, TS Chris tracked a few degrees of latitude north of the original path. So, right now the tradewinds are flowing northeast as the back end of the storm strengthens and sucks up all that good Caribbean Sea moisture. We are expecting clouds and showers today, but the TS warning has been lifted. So, that's the good news. The bad news is that the storm is expected to strengthen into a hurricane within the next few days. Currently, projections have it entering the passage just south of the Florida Keys and into the Gulf. So, this one will more than likely hit the USA sometime next week.

Trying to reason . . .

. . .with the hurricane season.

It's a nice little Buffett ditty about being a lazy, drunk loser and watching a hurricane come into the Florida Keys.

Right now, the sky is blue and the sea is calm. However, we have been put under a tropical storm warning as Tropical Storm Chris is currently located about 135 miles east of Antigua.

According to the National Hurricane Center:

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ISLANDS OF ANTIGUA...BARBUDA...ANGUILLA...ST. KITTS... NEVIS...SABA...ST.EUSTATIUS...ST. BARTHELEMY...ST. MARTIN...AND ST. MAARTEN. ATROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

and. . .

CHRIS IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 9 MPH...15 KM/HR...AND THIS GENERAL HEADING IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...CHRIS IS EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER OR NEAR THE NORTHERNMOST LEEWARD ISLANDS LATER TONIGHT OR EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH...65 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

So, basically, we are expecting a lot of rain and wind. But, since the sky is blue right now, the kids and I are headed to Oualie to enjoy the calm before the storm.

Karaoke

Well, Monday night is karaoke night at Chevy's, which is a beach bar/restaurant. I have gone down a few times. Last night we went down with the Mankoffs and Elizabeth Turner. Bob is a psychology professor at the school and his wife, Rachel, is down for a visit. Our friend, Elizabeth, has a phenomenal voice which she lends to various songs. Last night she put in Sheryl Crowe for me to sing, "All I wanna do". Well, I am NOT Sheryl Crowe, but I did okay. I particularly like the line in the song: "I like a good beer buzz early in the morning". Not that I have experienced that personally; it is just a funny song line.

Conch

Brian caught a nice conch while hunting for lobster. He tried to open it up, but the little bugger refused to let go. I wanted to have the shell cleaned to bring it home, which is required here or else they don't let you take the shells out of the country.