Friends at Fifty

We laughed. We laughed so hard we cried. We laughed some more. Here’s to forty-five more years of friendship! 

Merry Christmas

We haven’t left the house since we landed Thursday night. We have spent the days wrapped in blankets, watching tv, cooking great food, and spending time together. Today we popped open the Prosecco for mimosas. This weekend has been an introvert’s dream!

The oddities of this year’s Christmas continue. We had a white Christmas, a first, for me anyway, in Tennessee. Church was online, so we didn’t even have to get out of our pajamas. The Mavericks played an afternoon game, and Vikki was able to spend the day with us. She surprised me with a ticket to see Morgan Wallen in St. Louis in July. 

The boys opened their stockings from Santa. Keagan got grip socks and a harness for spring time walks with Smokey. 

Evan got dress socks for formal events at school and a Smokey belt. 

Wes got a Blackstone. We got him good when he opened the griddle cover. We had him believing we ordered a griddle cover instead of a grill cover. I think he was a bit disappointed he got a griddle cover for Christmas and no griddle. When Vikki arrived, we asked him to help her carry in some things. He found the Blackstone in the Tahoe. Thankfully the weather should warm up and we might be able to fire it up at the end of the week. 

Smokey’s first Christmas was spent much like ours - cozied up with a blanket. (He’s dreaming of his spring time walks in his new lime green harness.)

Merry Christmas! 

Christmas Eve

This was a Christmas Eve like no other. First, we woke up to the house temp reading 47 degrees. I slept hard in the cold, but Wes did not. He was on the phone calling for help before the sun rose. We had a technician at our house at 0900, and at 7:30 this evening we finally reached a temp of 65 degrees. 

Our road was cleared of the two day frozen slush at around 1:00 this afternoon, but by that time our Christmas Eve candlelight service had been canceled. This is my favorite Christmas tradition, and I hated we missed it. 

For the first time since we lived in Germany, my sister celebrated Christmas Eve at our house. She wore a Sherpa lined jacket and brought two blankets for fear she would be too cold. Truth be told, even if our heat was functioning properly, she would have dressed the same. She thinks the house is cold on a normal day. 

I spent the morning in front of the warm oven making cookies for the boys; peanut butter blossoms for Evan and oatmeal for Keagan. 

We had loaded bake potato soup, sausage balls, and Italian pull apart cheese bread for a late lunch. That’s a tradition that Evan says we can’t ever break. Wes wants to know if we have to wait another year to have the bread again. 

The Cowboys beat the Eagles in an exciting game, and the whole house celebrated! Christmas Eve can be a joyous day if we win, and it seems like it has been a while since we have celebrated a win on December 24. Losses really put a damper on a couple of peoples’ moods.   

Tonight Santa comes! 

Tennessee Tundra

We landed last night in Nashville and it was 50 degrees. On the drive home, the temps fell 15 degrees and it began sleeting. Three hours later, with a car full of groceries, it was 25 degrees and snowing. The streets were slick, and I couldn’t believe I was on the roads in the mess. But we had to have food.

It’s -4 this morning and we have no heat downstairs. And guess whose propane tank is empty. That means we have no working fireplace either. The city is completely shut down. Nobody is going anywhere today. 

Evan, in the coldest room of the house, woke up at 0630 shivering and took refuge in Keagan’s room, the warmest room in the house. He took a shower and said the shampoo came out of the bottle as a solid. He said climbing the stairs to Keagan’s room was like entering a new climate zone.

I took a shower to get out of one pair of pajamas to only put on another pair. After making breakfast, putting dinner in the crockpot, and making Christmas tree cookies, 

I’m snuggled on the couch with a book.

Tomorrow night Santa comes! 

Last Day in Paradise

Four cruise ships docked in the ports today. That means the population in town increased by at least 30,000 people! 

We thought we would be smart and hit a small beach on the bad side of town. Surely those 30,000 cruisers wouldn’t find us there! 

And they didn’t. Until they did. 

Coki Beach was beautiful, though, until the people arrived. So perfect, it might have been a favorite. Bad side of town or not. When a party of seven plopped themselves within inches of me, Wes and I loaded up and headed back to the house. 

We found the boys playing a combo of football and wrestling in the pool livin’ their best lives!

We opted for a late lunch and drinks at the resort. My shrimp tacos were excellent! The boys headed back to the house to watch a soccer game; I headed to the beach with the iguanas, ducks, and chickens as my sidekicks. 

Tonight’s sunset was so perfect, the birds joined me. 

I’ve got an early morning planned so that I can get one more walk with the sand between my toes before we board the plane and return to the snowy tundra of Tennessee. 

Charlotte Amalie

Travel goals. We all have different ideas of what a vacation should look like. Some of us like adventure and seeing all the sites. Some of us want to live on the water swimming and snorkeling all day. Some of us want to hear the history of the city and drink fresh fruit juices. Some of us only want rum punch and sleep. We got to do all of this today, so everyone was happy. 

We started our day with a walking history and food tour through the downtown area of Charlotte Amalie. We launched at Fort Christian where we got to taste a beef pate. I loved it because it was much like an empanada and empanadas are my love language. 

We learned of the significance of the conch shell and the history of the music produced from the shell. I was actually quite intrigued with how the shell was used to communicate with others throughout history. Our next food stop was a tea house where we were served cold fruit tea and salt fish quiche. This was fantastic! 

We walked the beautiful Main Street area and learned how the 2017 Cat 5 hurricane decimated the island. They are still rebuilding. We stopped at a bakery, My Brother’s Workshop, that mentors young teens hoping to venture in the restaurant business or culinary school. We had a bite of rum cake. Another great choice! 

We walked down Main Street trying to avoid loads of cruisers jewelry shopping and made our way down an alley for a stop at Gladys’s Cafe for the most authentic taste yet. It was fungi (fun-gee), a cornmeal mixture added to kallalou, an okra, spinach, and beef stew. This was a hit for me, but nobody else much liked it. 

Another alley took us to an outdoor bar shaded by palm trees. We had painkillers, and Keagan found another fruity drink that was “fire.” 

Our guide dropped us off at a portrait studio where we sampled a Christmas wine made from guava berries and cinnamon. This was a hit with everybody - especially Keagan. We then walked to the famous 99 steps. At the top is Blackbeard’s Castle, but after yesterday’s death march, I wasn’t about to suggest we climb them. 

We returned home bellies full and decided to spend the afternoon at the beach playing football, snorkeling, and drinking rum punch. 

Do we have to leave? 

St John

Today we ferried over to St. John. We planned to hike “the moderate in difficulty” Reef Bay Trail to the bay. We’ve climbed Macchu Picchu. I work out four times a week. I live for a challenge. Moderate? Oh please! 

We noted kapok trees, lime trees, wild pineapple, and mango trees. The hike is smooth sailing. We even took time to note the huge crabs, spot the termite nests, and look for the bee colony. 

We found the remnants of a homestead that dated back  to the 1800s. The people living on this side of the mountain had their own gardens, cattle, and pigs. We stopped for water. It’s only 82 degrees. This hike is a breeze. 

Next we followed the trail to a waterfall and a holy pool of water that had petroglyphs that dated back to the Taino Indian days. The waterfall was more like a trickle - nothing to see there but history. Keagan stopped to refuel. 

My hair is a mess! It’s just the humidity, though; it has nothing to do with any exertion on my part. We continued on the path to the remains of a sugar mill. This would have been fascinating if I knew anything about the fermentation of sugar. But I don’t. 

After an hour of hiking, we were rewarded with this coveted view. Keagan was a bit disappointed saying, “Is this all?” I know he was thinking that was a lot of walking to just see the beach. 

Keagan went in for a quick snorkel, but he only saw a few fish.

Then it was time to head back out on the trail. Let’s talk about the 45 min hike back to the Jeep. Who rated it “moderate?” It was horrible! It was straight up. Up the side of a mountain. My legs were jelly in the first 15 minutes, but I could hear cars up ahead. I just knew I had to be close to the end. I kept climbing. What’s that ahead? A switchback? Another? Fifteen more minutes uphill and I’m pretty sure I’m dying. I think now the cars must have been my imagination. I think again I’m going to die right here. On this trail. My knees are locking, my blisters are bleeding, and I have one collapsed lung when I finally make it to the top of the God forsaken mountain. Moderate? I think not. I need to talk to the local hike rater. 

We had lunch and drinks on the water in downtown St. John to try to recover. I had a painkiller and that was not strong enough to kill any memories of that mountain climb. We hiked so long we were now in Happy Hour, so I ordered another. That did the trick.

Fearful we would miss the last car ferry, we were first in line to catch the 5:00 to St. Thomas. We made it home to catch another sunset. 

The best one yet. It was God saying he didn’t forsake us on that mountain after all.

St Thomas Day 4

Today started with brunch at a restaurant just steps from the house. It was highly suggested that we eat here for Sunday brunch. Brunch is my favorite meal, so this became a quick must-do. 

If the view was not reason enough to visit this restaurant,

then it was the coconut spritzer and shrimp and grits I ordered. It was fantastic!

After watching the marathon World Cup game at the house and celebrating Messi’s win, Wes and I spent the afternoon at Limetree Beach. 

The beach had no daytime cruisers, the sand was white and smooth, and the rolling waves were music to my ears. The breeze made the afternoon perfect! I finished a book and then watched the horizon as sailboats floated by. 

Today’s sunset. 

We grilled chicken and made pasta for dinner. We went on and on about how good the key lime pie was last night; we all said it was the best we have ever eaten. We asked the waitress if they made it in house. She responded, “Oh, no! We buy it in the frozen food section at CostULess.” 😳

Guess where we went today.