May Day!!

May has started out well. First, on May 1st my husband and I celebrated 30 years together! Neither of us can believe we have been together that long. Time has flown by so fast and we have been lucky enough to have experienced a lot together.

To celebrate I arranged for a 7-course lunch at George & Ginger's Clearwater Paradise Resort. As usual, G&G did not let us down. The day was beautiful, the sky pristine and the water calm and blue. G&G have done a lot to the looks of their resort since our last visit; one thing being a new, beautiful stone walkway up to the house. It was beautifully done and, as I guessed, a lot of hard, back-breaking work had gone into the construction. Rocks were brought over from a hillside across the bay and had to be broken up (by hand), carted to their boat, brought over to their shore, unloaded and broken up again to fit into the crevices waiting for them. Sorry, I did not take a photo and should have. But, if you want to see it make a reservation and come on down!

We started the meal with a lovely fruit and cheese appetizer and mimosas. This was followed by homemade french bread and roasted garlic to spread on it. We next had a chilled pea soup which was absolutely wonderful and then a beautiful romaine lettuce salad with pickled beets, walnuts and a tasty dressing. The main course was fresh green beans out of their garden with a Dijon mustard sauce and slices of chicken breast rolled and filled with vegetables and popovers fresh out of the oven. The outside of the chicken was coated with coconut and the whole thing topped with a tempting raspberry sauce. This was a new specialty of George's and worth the effort he put into it. Desert was a lemon soufflĕ which was light, fluffy and the perfect ending to a wonderful meal.

Our host and hostess did everything to make our day special and we enjoyed visiting with them after the dinner was over. To top the day off, there was a spectacular sunset on the way home which my husband managed to catch on "film."

Then, this week, we were rewarded with rain! We are in the dry season and our lawn and plants were turning a dangerous shade of brown. Along came rain Monday night and lasted through Wednesday mid-morning. I had to miss my Yoga class on Wednesday as I did not want to go out in the rain and be drenched before I got there, but this was a small price to pay for the rain. Do not fear, I did my Yoga routine at home. Maybe the fact that I did my laundry Monday and left it hanging out had something to do with the rain??!

There was a surprise on our dock this month also. I may have mentioned it in a recent blog, but in case I did not, we found two baby boas at separate times out on the dock. These were not on the shore, but out on the dock on a post over the water. Each time we encountered a snake which was about 4' long and quite young. My husband, who has a knack for naming animals/pets christened the first snake "Bucky Boa". Bucky I and Bucky II were captured and taken to Manati and given to Annette to be set lose to reduce the mouse/rat population under the restaurant. However, Bucky III was found last week on the dock resting on the same piling which is partially covered by a plank. It appeared that the snake had just downed a meal and was digesting it. The photo here does not do the snake justice and its position was so that it made it difficult to photograph, but I did my best. The snake stayed on this same post, throughout the rough weather and high seas for 5 days digesting its prey.

On the sixth day it had taken its leave and was nowhere to be seen. Well, that is until this morning when we returned from the Cay after our weekly grocery shopping trip. We had some carburetor trouble coming back so, while I drove, my husband attempted to check out what was wrong. Lo and behold after completing the task he announced that he had found Bucky III - he was coiled up on our battery! The snake had to have slithered out onto the dock and across the rope tying the boat to the dock. It somehow missed the water which collects where the bilge pump is to get to the top of the battery. How it endured the boat ride to and from the Cay I do not know, but there he was all curled up. By the time we docked he had slithered to the far side of the battery and could not be seen. I guess he'll come out when he is good and ready.

In the meantime, CocoNut, our dog, stands guard on the dock waiting anxiously to greet Bucky III!