It's 2011 and in spite of the beautiful sunshine and balmy temperatures we did not have a perfect day!
First, the good things so far about this new year. One, our two lime trees are pumping out limes until we no longer have anyone left to give them to! I have frozen lime juice, used it in drinks, made pies, use the juice as an accent to food, given them away and they are still coming. We did notice that once some of the smaller ones fell off the tree (they were growing in clumps of 3) the remaining limes were able to take up more nutrients and became considerably larger!
We have also managed to stay pretty healthy over the past year and hope that 2011 will grant us the same good health this year.
Next, the weather at the end of the year and today has been perfect. Wellllll, the seas are a little rough and there is quite a wind blowing but the rain has not been coming in torrents - yet.
We had planned to attend a Black-Eyed Pea lunch with George & Ginger of Clearwater Paradise Resort today. I made some sausage-cheese balls this morning to take as an appetizer and we were looking forward to a visit with people on the "other side" that we don't see often.
We headed for the boat with our cameras and standard German Shopping Carrier* in hand, loaded everything up, started up the boat, untied the lines and were off. Well, we were off for about 3 1/2 minutes. Suddenly the engine started sputtering and coughing and not acting right. Since the seas were rather rough we decided that it would be best to head back to the house and take the bigger boat so as not to get caught out in the open sea with no way to propel the boat.
We returned, tied up the skiff, transferred everything to the big boat, cast off lines and then checked the gas level. We did not have enough gas to get us to the other side of the island. Our big boat has been out of commission for about 1 1/2 months as we have had problems with the tilt trim motor. Finally, the other day, my husband was able to cobble together a set-up for the switch that evidently had gone bad and we could now get the engine up and down. So, the boat has sat dockside and we have not kept the tank "topped off." Because of the holiday I doubted very much that any of the 3 stations were open but we headed to town on the off chance that someone would be open. My assumptions proved correct - no gas for sale on New Year's Day. We returned home and I tried to call our hosts on their two separate phones and was sent to "message" and I also tried to call a friend I knew who would be at the party.....no luck there either.
We unpacked, I stuck the appetizer in the freezer and proceeded to make own Black Eyed Pea dinner. I called our hosts once again, about 1 hour later and finally got through. It seems they had been trying to reach us because they were worried when we didn't show up. The phones on the island have a peculiar habit of doing whatever they feel like. Many times I'll be talking to someone and my phone suddenly and inexplicably decides that I have talked long enough and I am disconnected. I had no "missed calls" on my phone and no announcement that anyone had called me. Our host offered to come and pick us up but the seas were rough on our side and the distance was too far and I unhappily declined his most generous offer.
I guess the bright side of this episode is that our engine did not act up when we were returning home last night from a New Year's Eve party late at night, in the dark, on rough seas!
In order to make good of a bad thing, I did manage to hit some on-line sales for baby yarn as I am now crocheting baby things for Judith in Germany who is expecting the end of July this year. I have already made a Teddy Bear and a Bib with a cute fish button closure. I want to make a baby blanket, booties, wash cloths, a towel, etc. to send off before the baby arrives.
So, while we were unable to visit with some of our friends on the first day of 2011, especially since this is 1/1/11, a special occurrence date wise, our dogs/cats/birds are happy we are at home and I had time to surf the web for sales! Because I had free time today, I also decided this was a good time to take this opportunity to wish my family, friends and readers a very happy and successful 2011 topped off with a dollop of good health.
The Best of 2011 to Everyone!
*I bought one of these carriers in 2009 on my first trip to Germany and loved it so much that when I returned in 2010 I purchased another one. It is quite sturdy and a really handy thing to have when grocery shopping on the Cay.
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