FEATHER RIDGE

The Holidays Are Upon Us!

2009-12-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

I have been amiss on keeping up with my blog and decided to bite the bullet and sit down and write.

Once again a year has passed and we are into the season of reacquainting with old friends, attending parties/dinners/get-togethers and wishing each other health and happiness for the New Year.

This year the season has brought more than that. It has been an unusual winter season with temperatures still hanging in the upper 80's without a breeze. Normally it is a lot cooler this time of year with the wind picking up and the seas rolling in in waves of 3-5 feet! We have had rain but not the normal amount, which in a way is good as sometimes it rains a little too much.

My plants are happy and growing well, especially those I put into the ground beside the walkway up to the house. My tomatoes have expired and are not doing as well as they did in the past; our two lime trees are not producing as many limes as they did last year and we have yet to figure out why. We put in citrus tree spikes to fertilize but the trees, evidently the trees have other plans and are not willing to give up their fruit.

Regarding plants, I have one of the few Rosemary plants on the island (at last count). The poor thing is struggling to keep alive and I don't know what to do for it. Maybe I should pay more attention to it, but when I do try and "take care and baby them," things usually croak. I was recently in Florida celebrating my birthday with family and friends and, while visiting a wonderful dear friend of mine, I happened to walk out into her back yard. What did I see there but the biggest Rosemary plant I've ever run across. My friend raises a variety of herbs (although her herb garden did not get planted this year due to unplanned events) and this particular bush she has had for a few years. I was amazed! As you can see from the photo - it is quite healthy. My daughter, who is about 5' 10 1/2" is standing next to it, so you get an idea of how tall it is!

As I said, I was in Florida to make purchases for my home on Guanaja, visit family with special thoughts of reacquainting with a friend of mine that I had lost contact with for over 20 years. Living on a remote island, it is difficult to stay in touch with loved ones in the States. Since the Internet finally became available here, it has made it much easier. I have ready access to a lot of people, but there are still some who don't utilize the Internet as I do and, so, sending them a note is not a sure sign that they will read it anytime soon! My Grandsons are a good example. The oldest is in the Marines and the youngest just graduated from High School. They, evidently, do not have a lot of time on their hands and because they live in the States and contacting people is so quick, painless and easy I don't believe they have time for the Internet. Others are generally too busy and by the time they get home from work, the last thing they want to see is a computer. So, communication with these people is a once-in-a-while thing. Still, I do not give up and keep hoping that they will suddenly find the time some day to write.

However, as I was saying, I had been out of touch with my friend, JoAnn, for years and this past year, on my return from Europe and while I had a few days in Florida, I picked up the phone book and through a little searching finally found her. Unfortunately when I did get in touch with her I was leaving the next day but we promised to write one another via e-mail.

Imagine how wonderful it is to be in touch with someone on a weekly (or in our case, daily) basis after many years of separation? She is retired and even though she is an active woman teaching students Raw Uncooked Foods as a certified Chef and keeping up her attractive lake front home, but she still manages to find time to correspond with me! Of course we had years of events to catch up on and, so, our e-mails have been filled with reminiscing of days when we lived in the same neighborhood. She and I are so much alike in dislikes, likes, hobbies, opinions of things that it is simply scary. The advantage she has over me is that she has a memory like a steel trap and can recall things that I still don't remember!

JoAnn, my daughter, Tami, and I met one day for a lovely lunch in a Tea Garden! I have never been to a Tea Garden for lunch and it was the epitome of femininity! Lace, flowers, old china, etc. graced the restaurant - even the bathroom was feminine! We had an amazing lunch with the most delectable food imaginable! We went shopping in quaint shops in Mt. Dora, Florida and had the nicest day I've had in years.

A good friend of my husband and mine, the best man at our wedding, Joe, took me in for a couple of nights at the beginning of my trip and was generous enough to help me with the planning and execution of a "family gathering" for my relatives and friends. He had recently moved into a lovely home, which he is fixing up and doing a wonderful job of it, and the area he lives in has a clubhouse, swimming pool and cookout area! The clubhouse was perfect for my plans and he and I shopped, cooked and set up for the affair. The weather was perfect and everyone that was able to come had a wonderful time.

I spent several days with JoAnn shopping, going to lunch, gossiping and staying up late to chat! She showered me with unexpected gifts "welcoming me to her home" and went out of her way to see that my trip was the best ever. And it was! I have her, my daughter and my friend, Joe, to thank for a wonderful vacation in Florida.

I then spent time with my daughter, Tami, in Plant City. She and her husband took me a Gator game in Gainesville, Florida (the Gators won, naturally) and I was given the honor of baking pumpkin bread (a family tradition during the Christmas season) for her. My daughter assisted by assembling the ingredients and waiting by with a finger and spoon to lick the bowl! I had fun with my two adorable Grandsons, Ryan and Kyle, who have anointed me with the the awesome title of "The Nana that can fix anything!"

When my birthday came around, some of us met for dinner at a really unique restaurant in Mt. Dora (they are filled with unique restaurants there). Joe, my stepdaughter, Sharon, JoAnn and her husband, Brad, enjoyed a delicious meal and wonderful conversation.

I managed to get quite a bit of shopping in (due to JoAnn's willingness to drive me around) and bought enough to pack into 4 large boxes to ship to myself via DIP. In checking, the boxes are due to arrive this week so we will have Christmas early.

All of the celebration and fun I had was due to the fact that I have Internet in my life. I can do so many things I could not do before. I can check on-line for medical problems, I can access information about various plants, I can keep in touch with friends and family and people I don't even know who stumble upon my Blog write me from time to time. I can even keep in better contact with people on the island who have Internet. We now have cell phones, but they don't always work well and the only sure thing seems to be Internet connection.

Anyway, we are looking forward to a wonderful holiday season here on Guanaja. Some of the people that live here part-time will be returning and some, like me who had to return to their home country for one reason or another, will be returning to the island. We all plan on meeting at Manati to celebrate the Christmas season and even, when it is time, to usher in the New Year.

I want to take this opportunity to wish the best of the Holiday Season to all who read my blog. My original thought was simply to keep track of things that happened to me while living on an island, never thinking so many people would read it! Thank you for hanging in there with me and providing me incentive to continue blogging!

October and time to plant

2009-10-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

The best time of the year to set out plants, at least on our side of the island, is October. I say "our side" because on the West side the storms (known as "Northers") come in harder and everything comes to a standstill over there. On the East side we may get the same amount of rain but while the seas are rocking and rolling on the West side, they are generally more subdued on the East side.

With this in mind, and knowing that rains will start about mid-October, I prepared to do some much needed landscaping. We had recently returned from La Ceiba where I purchased 20 good-sized plants to plant on either side of our walkway. This area is shaded and being on a 30-35 degree angle, it is hard to get water to absorb into the clay base it runs down hill quickly in a downpour and little goes into the ground. Lighter rains are more effective but with the huge trees lining both sides of the walkway, light rains do not give sufficient moisture to the plants.

The garden center I chose in La Ceiba was Plantas Tropicales, located on Calle 19 in Barrio Alvarado and it was a neatly arranged, well-stocked center. The young man working there, Jose, was very helpful and showed me the variety of plants that do best in shaded areas. I informed him that they must be somewhat drought tolerant. With his suggestions, we managed to pick out plants that, hopefully, will stand the rigors of our environment at home.

Among the plants was a Split Leaf Philodendron, some lovely Anthurium Andraeanums which produce a heart-shaped pink flower, some Dracaena Deremensis, and a plant I have yet to discover a name for as I was unable to read the writing on my invoice!

This is a photo of the unnamed plant which, I was told, will get bushy and possibly about 1-2 feet tall.

Planting on the island can be very, very time consuming and difficult. You see, where I live I have no water source other than a creek at the back of the property which, after your reach the 65' crest of the hill behind the house, you must walk down hill about 600 feet to reach the creek, which is at sea level. We use a pump to pump water up to three 55 gallon barrels along with a large 500 gallon tank we have in back of the house. This we use during the dry season to water plants. However, water pressure is slight (being gravity fed) and the hose does not reach to most of the plants in the front yard. Therefore, I must fill water cans (4-5 gallon ones) and walk all the water I wish to use down to the planting area when preparing to plant.

Also, the clay is very hard and holds the water for a long time. Most plants need loose soil to aerate the roots so I mix the clay with bit of sand. I then add fertilizer as the clay has almost nothing in it for feeding and producing a better plant.

Digging is another problem in that the clay is hard and their are many rocks embedded in the soil. This task I leave to my worker. I mean, after all, he must earn his pay! He generally likes to make a hole that a plant will just fit into and is never happy when I make him dig a much larger hole that I can fill it with looser soil to allow the roots to spread and pick up the nutrients easier. Also, it took years for me to train him that when you transplant plants they should 1) be well watered first, 2) fill the hole at least halfway with water before placing the plant in, 3) tap down the earth around the root ball thus eliminating any air pockets, and 4) water the plants to settle the dirt to again eliminate any air pockets. When he first started working for me, he would just pull up a plant not paying any attention to handling it carefully so that dirt remained on the roots, thrusting it into a small, dry hole, placing dirt around it and walking away. The theory was that eventually some plants might make it!

He has now seen that more plants live planting with my method, even though it requires work. I even get him to water plants when they are starting to droop as he always feels Nature should take care of that task without any help from him. Pulling weeds is something he puzzles at regarding the rationale behind this task. In his mind, they are just going to grow back!

When I plant, I also try to use driftwood, stone or some other type of natural product to produce an area pleasing to the eye. I am working on laying various pieces of driftwood on the gravel pathway from the dock to the base of the concrete walk leading to the house and, at the top of the walk, I have managed to mount a huge tree trunk and decorate it with plants and orchids.

All 20 plants were put in and I added some crotons that I had started from cuttings to the base of the sidewalk hoping for some color when coming off the gravel path. I want to plant some succulent plants in the sunny areas as fillers. I also have a lovely green ground cover which has small yellow flowers to fill in the "dirt" areas between the sidewalk and the new plants.

In my vast variety of plants I have purchased very few, only about 6 while building our home. Instead I was lucky to receive cuttings from friends. I have Aloe, Allamanda, Elephant Ear, Red and White Ginger, Pineapple, Bamboo, Bougainvillea, Rubber plant, Poinciana tree, Spanish flag, two types of wild Orchid, Australian Pine, Cactus, Lime tree, Autograph tree, Tamarond tree, various Hibiscus, Coconut palms, several varieties of Crotons,Ti plants, Dumbcane, Lobster claw, Heliconias, Spider Lily, Minature Ixora, Crepe Myrtle, Banana plants, Frangipani, Traveler's Palm, Moses-in-a-Cradle, Sugar cane, Mother-in-law's-tongue, Starfish flower, various un-named flowering plants used for boarders, Spider plants, Kalanchoe, Areca Palm, asparagus fern and other plants I have not identified here, all of which I planted while building our home. This is the first time I have made a major purchase of plants! So, all in all, I've been very lucky.

The next project will be in back of the house going up to the top of hill where we have cleared all the brush and excess trees and started planting last year. I had to wait until the rains returned and now is the time to get started. Busy months ahead!

Northers Are Back!

2009-10-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

In the fall and early winter, the island is subjugated to "Northers." These are cold fronts that come down from the north bringing with them cooler temperatures, rain and rough seas. We get several at this time of year; sometimes mild, sometimes quite fierce.

The Northers affect the West side of the island more as the seas come rolling in, crashing upon the beach and reshaping the seashore. People on that side of the island are pretty much prisoners of the sea during a Norther as one does not want to risk launching their boat. People bring their boats up to land or secure them in coves or anchor them out off their dock hoping the anchors will hold.

When the seas start coming out of the south on our side of the island (the East side), we can expect trouble, especially when the waves start building. We have had several Northers over the years here - the worst ones, of course, after hurricanes have passed.

We have a place to haul out one of our boats out of the water to avoid its destruction or damage to the dock. The larger boat is strapped to poles and is in partial suspension between the dock and the poles. Normally, when we know a storm is coming, we prepare the smaller boat, the skiff, by tethering it off one of the large dock posts with the back end held fast to the shore by a series of ropes tied to a tree. This is for mild storms. In more severe cases we must pull the boat up on shore, rolling it out on a series of posts laid out on the beach. Both of these precautions are time consuming and laborious.

Unfortunately, this past week a Norther approached which was stronger than expected. It appeared to be a mild storm and this early in the season my husband did not think it necessary to secure the boat and left them both tied to the dock. The first day was not bad but by the end of the second day, late into the afternoon, it was quite apparent that we had to get the boat tethered to the land by ropes attached to a tree. We did not have the luxury of pulling it up out of the way as the seas were too rough by now.

In hauling the boat around to the north side of the dock we discovered that one of the posts was weak and during our efforts, it broke off and part of the dock collapsed but not into the water, as the photo will show.

Also, during this time, while I was attempting to get the boat off one of the bumpers located next to the skiff, the boat slid off so I was left with one foot on the dock and the other on the boat! I decided it was not a good idea to fall between the boat and the dock, so I fell into the boat landing on my shoulder. Luckily I was not hurt, bruised maybe, but okay for the most part. The real problem was standing up in the boat which was now bucking like a wild stallion! It took several minutes to regain my feet and then a few more to time my jump from the boat to the dock, something I really do not want to do again!

With great effort we managed to get the boat around the end of the dock and tied the bow to the dock and its stern secured to the shore. The storm roared through the night and died down the next day. We awoke to sunny skies and calm waters.

My husband, our worker and me then proceeded to make repairs the dock. It is serviceable now after my husband spent much time in the water jacking up portions, nailing boards in place and securing what he could. We will definitely have to put in a new dock next year. This one lasted 11 years so we cannot complain. The creatures of the sea have eaten away at our support posts and it will be a small miracle if the dock can stand many more Northers that most certainly will be heading our way.

But, if one lives on the ocean one must put up with the small "inconveniences" to enjoy the beauty of it all!

Whales!

2009-10-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

Besides the beauty of the ocean at our front door, we have wonders beneath the sea which, on rare occasions, present themselves for viewing.

It is well known that Whale Sharks swim off the waters of the Island of Utila. The Whale Shark is the world’s largest fish. The most common size seen in the waters around Utila is between approximately 6m and 10m (10 ft. and 33ft.), weighing around 15-20 tons.

Although more frequent in the months March-April and August-September, the Whale Shark is regularly sighted around the Island of Utila. Unlike dolphins or other fish which tend to school or travel in pods, Whale Sharks are solitary. However, it is not uncommon for 5 or more singular Whale Sharks to be sighted in a single day along the northern shores of Utila. It is thought that Utila to be home to an annual rendezvous of these presumably migratory creatures who have been recorded traveling 8,000 miles.

One possible reason for the congregation of these sharks around Utila is oceanography. Being located on the extreme northern margin of the Honduran shelf and unlike the other Bay Islands which are separated from the shelf area by a deep-fault controlled trench, the tropical island has shallow banks to the south and a very large bank to the north. Whale Sharks, however, have been sighted off the coast of Guanaja, but not with any regularity.

Just last week an extraordinarily rare occurrence took place in the water surrounding Guanaja. A pod of about 8 Pilot Whales was sighted off the shallower waters of Soldado Beach. The islanders were treated to an exceptional sight as these whales are generally found in deep water.

Long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) are one of the largest members of the dolphin family. The pilot whale, like the Killer Whale, is a member of the dolphin family, and is second only to the Killer Whale in size. Males can reach lengths of about 25 ft (7.6 m) and weigh as much as 5,000 lbs (2,300 kg), while females are generally smaller, reaching lengths of up to 19 ft (5.8 m) and weighing as much as 2,900 lbs (1,300 kg). They have a bulbous melon head with no discernable beak. Their dorsal fin is located far forward on the body and has a relatively long base. Their body color tends to be black or dark brown with a large gray saddle behind the dorsal fin. They are polygynous (males have more than one mate) and are often found in groups with a ratio of one mature male to about every eight mature females. Males generally leave their birth school, while females may remain in theirs for their entire lifetime.

They prefer warmer tropical and temperate waters and can be found at varying distances from shore but typically in deeper waters. Areas with a high density of squid are their primary foraging habitats. The short-finned pilot whales are found primarily in deep waters throughout tropical and subtropical areas of the world. There are four recognized stocks in the U.S.: West Coast, Hawaii, Northern Gulf of Mexico, and Western North Atlantic.

Partly because of their social nature, pilot whales are often involved in mass strandings. In this century, mass strandings of as many as several hundred pilot whales at one time have been recorded. Although no one knows why these beachings occur, some may result from persistence to keep the group together. Other reasons may involve mis-navigation when following prey, when traveling (possibly due to irregularities in the magnetic field), or possible parasitic infections resulting in neurological disorders.

We do not know why these beautiful creatures were so close to shore and a group of boaters spread out along the length of the shoreline attempting to stop the whales from beaching, if that is what they actually intended. I must assume the effort was a success as eventually all the boaters left to go home after taking the photos you can see them at - just cut and paste into your search engine:

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1049603695800#/album.php?aid=2019562&id=1317235539 .

Another creature seen off Guanaja is the Hammer Head Shark. Hammerheads are found worldwide in warmer waters along coastlines and continental shelves. There are nine known species of hammerhead ranging from 3 ft. to 30 feet in length. all the species have a projection on each side of the head that gives it a resemblance to a flattened hammer. The shark’s eyes and nostrils are at the tips of the extensions. I have had reports from friends who actually saw a Hammerhead from their boat but, to date, I have not glimpsed this creature.

I have experienced green moray eels up close and personal on several scuba dives off Southwest Cay and, thankfully, my husband was there with his camera to record the event.

The reefs of the Bay Islands are a treasure trove for photographers; lobster, cleaner shrimp, sea anemone, nurse shark, grouper, Angel fish, turtles, sting rays of several varieties, and the list goes on and on.

To look out on the water after a rain, on a calm day is to see the ever presence beauty that lies just below the surface and all the unexplored areas that are to be found is a delight. The colors of the water from deep blue to aquamarine to a greenish tint are a sight to behold and with the sun rising in the morning lighting the sky a dusty peach color, the spectacle is amazing.

Nature - ain’t she wonderful?

Caution!

2009-10-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Living in a third world country is an adjustment. One must forget most of what one took for granted in the United States or any developed country. Expecting what may seem normal to the average person in developed countries is considered an extra special treatment here.

For instance, if you employ legal help in this country, never expect your phone calls to be returned or the person stating they will call you back to follow through. If you find an item in the store that you haven’t seen before (I.e., a special mstard for example), buy up plenty because chances are you will never see it again, or, at least for a long time. If you pay your electric bill in cash, or even with a check, keep your receipts for at least 5 years. Many times the electric company will state you have not paid something 2,3 or 4 years previously and you are expected to produce documentation that you paid. One would assume that if you had not paid that specific bill being several years old, they would have shut your service off long ago.

If you have funds wired through Western Union from the States to Honduras and pay extra to make sure they get there at least by the next day, do not expect that to happen. Once I had to wait 5 days for the money. The excuse….the bank receives the money and they are holding it!

If you purchase an airline ticket, confirm the reservation at the counter for the return flight and reconfirm when you arrive at your destination just to make sure it was taken care of (which many times it is not), do not expect to make your flight you want to leave as they may cancel it without reason. Such was our experience this past week when we flew to LaCeiba on a Wednesday to return on a Thursday. We booked our tickets from Guanaja, had the return confirmed and when we arrived in LaCeiba we re-confirmed our reservation going back.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the airport on Thursday at the appointed hour, we were met with nothing more than “your flight has been cancelled.” Normally, the people behind the counter (who are poorly trained in serving the customer), expect people to accept this statement, turn around and return the next day in hopes of getting on another flight. Rather than stating the obvious: “I’m sorry but we had to cancel your flight due to ______________ but we want to assist you in getting another flight or a room at a hotel, etc.” No, there will never be a “I’m sorry”, you will not see a smile nor will there be an offer of help. You simply get vague excuses.

This time, however, between my husband, myself and one other passenger (a Honduran), we pressed the agent for information. She did not want to say why the flight was cancelled and, so, we kept asking. She finally said there was a problem. We asked what was the problem, which caused her further stress as it was apparent that she did not want to be forthcoming. She finally said, a problem with the plane. We asked what is the problem with the plane? She is now stumbling around for another excuse. She finally said, there is a problem with the airport in Guanaja. We said what is the problem with the airport in Guanaja as we know a plane just landed in LaCeiba from there 3 hours ago. She finally admitted what was actually was at the heart of the matter: there were not enough people to fly to the island and come back. Of course the 3 of us asked to speak to the manager because this was unexceptable. The one gentlemen had driven 2 hours to get to the airport and to turn around and go back was not an option, neither was staying overnight in a hotel. We did not want to leave the next day as it would incur more taxi fares, a hotel stay and meals, an expense we were not ready to deal with.

She said she would get the manager, although we never saw him. We stood for about 15 minutes and I finally asked if they were taking care of our problem. She said that their people were talking with Rollins Airlines to see if they would be willing to fly the 3 of us over to the island. After about 25 minutes we learned that Rollins would take us using Sosa’s tickets. We later learned, on arrival at the Guanaja Airport, that Sosa is planning to cancel all the afternoon flights to the island beginning next week due to low volume. They are supposedly going to keep the morning flights to and from but nothing more. Of course, all this can change in a day or two or a month…..schedules are not carved in stone and not necessarily adhered to.

If you order something from the Mainland and describe it complete with part number and then make the deposit into the businesses’ account before they will send the item, it does not mean you will get want you requested. They seem to send whatever they have on hand or what they “think” you will need. Once you have it, you are stuck. No money back, you have to pay shipping to return the item and them pay to have someone receive it and then HOPE they will send the right part without asking for more money. Then you have shipping costs to pay once again.

I have a few sources here that are dependable even via the internet and I treasure these. We have a grocer on the Cay who is willing to get products we request if they are available. I have two doctors who I can reach by phone or e-mail; the rest ignore their e-mails or never seem available for phone calls.

Schools can close at the whim of the teachers and their Union. Banks (at least the one on the island) follows different policy than that on the Mainland for new accounts. We have an Immigration office on the island but one has to go to the Coast to renew their residency card. If the machines are down and the cards have to be processed on a different day, they will not send your card to the Immigration office on Guanaja. You must return to pick up your card. In the past, all Immigration matters could be handled here. I can understand that one would have to have their card made up on the Mainland because we do not have dependable computer service here not trained personnel. Buy why they cannot send the cards to the office here and one pick them up from the Immigration officer is beyond me.

Telephone service is not always dependable. Many times I have to dial the same number 5 times or more to get through. It is not because the lines are down or the weather is bad or that I don’t have time. It simply disconnects. Internet service is also slow and spardic.

Even medicine is limited here on the island. You can buy aspirin by the individual tablet but not the bottle. Generally they have one bottle on hand to sell by individual capsules. Once I found someone who had a brand new bottle of aspirin and I bought the whole thing!

Workers who say they will work for a certain amount of money on a job generally try to collect before the job is done and then don’t complete it or don’t show up when they are suppose to. If they feel they are working to hard, they don’t return, even though everyone on the island is clamoring for jobs.

And, if you were not “born here,” why they think you have no rights to anything, even if done legally. They bash foreigners for not contributing to the community when we are the ones paying taxes, buying gasoline, groceries and other goods locally to give the community an income, sending Island children to school, clothing them, furnishing special assistance for children with special needs, employing the locals and even contributing to projects that will help the community like the machine to crush plastic bottles. We go to local restaurants to give them business when we could just as well stay home, like a lot of the Islander’s do because of the expense involved. If you take a stand against drugs, you are verbally threatened.

So, any service you take for granted is something special here. The people are friendly for the most part and we enjoy our lives here. Living on an island without roads and without conveniences is not for everyone. Some of us, however, feel it is worth it and so, join our Honduran brothers in their frustration. You see, at least everyone here is treated the same - whether or not you have money and whether or not you were “born here!

Some things never change .... ? !

2009-09-27T14:25:00.001-07:00

People, by nature they say, are reluctant to change and, for the majority, fight it tooth and nail at every opportunity.

I have seen "similar" situations played out in various parts of the world and it just tells me that people are the same all over, no matter where they live.

For example, I have found here on the island, on the mainland of Honduras, in cities in the U.S. and Europe, wherever there is a doorway, people stop, block the way for others to chat, give greetings, say goodbye or whatever strikes their fancy. I try, especially when I'm departing from a plane, to I wait and perform my hugs and kisses of greeting away from the ramp where everyone is exiting. Also, when people are waiting to board the plane they all swarm to the attendants' desk waiting anxiously to board. Now, I ask you, we all have assigned seats and only one person at a time can walk down the isle and they board us so that we don't have to jump over other people to get to our seat. So, why the rush? Years ago, when we came to Honduras, seats weren't assigned and everyone rushed to get on first so that they could put their carry on luggage in the overhead bin. Of course, most of the people returning to Honduras carried about 4-5 extra shopping bags per person and overhead bins were filled up quickly. Now, however, with assigned seating and a limit as to what you can take on the plane, that should not make people over anxious. But they are still operating on former experience from pass flights! They just won't change.

Change is being forced upon people every day vis a vis the computer! It is a constant frustration to some people (understandably so) to have to re-learn computer commands that they have become accustomed to. Thankfully, I worked as a legal secretary in an office and short cuts with the computer were a real time saver. As an example, one of the easiest functions: copy and paste. I click on the portion of the text I want to copy, scroll down to cover all I want and then use "Control + C". I then go to my blank screen or wherever I want to insert and do a "Control + V" and there it is. I do not have to right click, go down the list, click on copy and then go to the second screen, right click and click on paste. Plus, before I go to the next screen to paste, I can hit delete to delete that portion I have just saved. I usually do the delete after I have pasted, just in case something goes wrong however! It saves a few seconds, but makes life easier. The same for when I type my sign-in name at a site. The minute I start typing the word(s) I use, the same word pops up below my typing. Just click on it and it is entered! More time saved. I could go on and on but then some people never worry about saving time nor using a short cut because it would mean change.

When we came to the island, we had to make a lot of changes, i.e., the way I cooked, the conservation of electrical power and water, even to the point of scheduling when we would bring things up to the house so we could do it all at once, with our helper present, and not have to run back and forth to town because we forgot something. List making was way up on my list now which meant changing my thinking from running to the store for every little thing or just jotting it down for my next shopping date. I had to change my plans for any craft item if I could not get something and had to use a substitute. Living here, we have all become great at substituting, which means changing our thought process. Of course it also means I have to remember to bring my list! Another change in my life!

Honduras is in a political conundrum which is going to take a lot of work by the people to retain the democracy 80-90% of the people want and to rid themselves of a thoughtless President and to establish a new President with their elections. No matter what the world may think, the Hondurans know what they want and, in spite of outside pressure, I applaud them for not straying from their course. The downside is that people, again as they do all over the world, have decided that even though the upcoming election is important, all the candidates are bad (although none of these people we have spoken to understands just what any of the candidates stand for) and, therefore, they are not voting. Change is at hand and Honduras has a chance to make a difference but it needs the voterse to get out, take an interest and vote. I explained to several people who stated they would not vote that if everyone had that idea and if the party wanting a communist rule convinced their people to go out and vote, that party would win and they would be stuck with a President leading them into communism! If they want a democracy, they must change their way of thinking, read up on their candidates and vote so as to let the government know what they want. With the ouster of ex-President Zelaya, Honduras has a chance to make some good changes and get their government back on track by improving the lot of the people. This requires change - are they up to the challenge? I hope so.

One more stage of change is attitude. I have noticed that people all over the world have the same problem. Thankfully it is the small, tiny minority who are like this. There are people out there that have no interest in their job and make life miserable for you when you have to deal with them. They just cannot see that changing jobs would make a difference in their life, even if they would have to go without a job for a while. They prefer to sit at their desk, run their cash register, fill out paperwork, etc. all the while making whatever they have to do for you a long and arduous task. What a wonderful place it would be if people would remember that their job is to serve the public, generally speaking. A smile always does more for business than a frown and improves every one's attitude. Maybe some people are just stuck with a frown on their face in the their heart.

I am sure that everyone has faced changes which, for the most part, has not been easy. But, eventually we have to change because change is part of our makeup - I mean, we aren't monkeys any more are we?

Hog Plums

2009-09-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah! It is that time of year! The hog plums, most commonly known as "hobos" (the "H" is silent) are ripe and dropping to the ground.

This little fruit has a unique taste which may be described as a cross between peach, orange and a red plum, but I'm not an expert when it comes to sorting out flavors. It is something I look forward to every year. Around August/September the fruit ripens and falls from the tree. The plums are about 1" to 2"in circumference and bright orange-yellow in color. The first time I drank the juice on the island, I was bowled over. So now, every year, I anxiously wait for our 7 hog plum trees to start dropping fruit. I was informed too that this fruit is exclusive to the island as no one on the mainland had seemed to hear of it. Yet, again, maybe they call it something else.

The trees are really tall, so picking the fruit is out of the question. As you can see, in the photo above, the hobo tree, the one in the middle, is quite tall. The branches are at least 30-40 feet from the ground. Of course, one or two of my trees are not full grown but picking this fruit is not my choice, as the ground will become covered with them in a short period of time. Below is a photo of the beginning of the dropping of the fruit, with a few plums on the ground.

Of course, as in all fruit on the island, it is mostly seed and it takes a lot of these little suckers to make enough for a half-gallon of liquid sunshine! My worker will bring me sacks of these fruit for me to wash and then squeeze.

The women of the island put them in a huge bucket or pan with water and then squeeze them with their hands, which becomes very time intensive and laborious. I have two ways of doing it. One, I can put them in a "V" shaped colander and then smash them with a wooden mallet that is specifically shaped for the colander. Or, two, I can place it in the top of my huge kettle that has a special insert for steaming the fruit and collecting the juice in the bottom. Depending upon how many hog plums I have in a day will determine which method I choose.

Of course, then my day is devoted to juicing the plums. Once I have obtained the juice, it is just a matter of placing it in Zip Loc bags for freezing. I once made jelly with the juice, but since we don't consume a lot of jelly at our house, I do not do that anymore. I still make a jar or two and like to make it up like a hot pepper jelly to use with cream cheese on crackers. Yummm!

One year I decided to sell the juice already prepared and packed in Zip Loc bags. Everyone was very enthusiastic about wanting some; not so enthusiastic about paying for it! The second year there were less buyers and I decided it was not worth my time and trouble to try selling it on the Cay, even though people still ask about it. They figure if it grows free here, why should they pay for it even though someone has done all the work for them!

If you ever get to Guanaja this time of year, remember to get some Hobo Juice, a/k/a Hog Plum Juice. Or, stop by my house and enjoy a ice cold glass of a taste you won't forget!

Random Thoughts

2009-09-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've never reported on the goings on of the people on the island and started thinking that some people who read my blog are interested in what is happening here and now.

So, here goes!

First, Sept. 5th, we all celebrated the wedding of Roland Rumm and Rodie (a Guanaja citizen). They have been together about 3 years living and working on the island of Cayman and decided to make their union official. The wedding was attended by lots of locals and us "gringos". Claus and Annette cooked a whole hog for the affair and salads and accompaniments were provided by many of the women guests. As it always goes, the food was great and there was little left at the end of the day. The bride was gorgeous and, as you can tell from the photo, the groom was smiling and proud. A further photo of the whole family is shown below.

Congratulations are in order to Darien Conlee of Half Moon Cay. Darien studied for and took her test for Honduran citizenship and today, Sept. 8, 2009, is attending a swearing-in ceremony in the capital of Tegucigalpa. Yeah team! Now she doesn't have to be bothered with her residency renewal anymore!

Our fingers are crossed for Captain Al. Captain Al is one of the "original Gringos" who came to Guanaja many, many years ago and settled here, got married, had two children (one of which is a grown man now, married with children and runs the business) and ran a dredging business, the airport bar and was an all around source of information about living on the island. Capt. Al (as he is lovingly known) is now 81 and recently suffered a stroke while in the United States. He spent time recovering and returned about a month ago. He has had trouble for the past 5-7 years with failing eyesight and his hearing isn't all that it once one but you will always see a smile on this big giant's face! He is doing better now that he is back on blood thinners but a problem with his back has cropped up and he has been absent from the Saturday crowd at Manati. He did briefly attend the Rumm wedding and we all wish him the best.

Another note, we haven't heard a word from Linda Murski who had to leave the island August 15th to fly to Texas where her Step-Mother, Beryl, was ill. We all hope that she and her Step-Mom are doing well and that they got Beryl back on her feet.

Sad note, too, was the news of the passing of Anke's father, Helmut, in Germany. After a long bout with throat cancer, he passed away last week. We all extend our sympathy to this warm, witty, happy and intelligent man's family.

We didn't get our yearly summer visit by Joan and David Cobb this year. They were planning to arrive in July but David ran into a few health problems and ended up having surgery on his heart valve in Cleveland, Ohio. He came through with flying colors and, from all reports, is up and around doing what he does best - smiling! The doctor was not happy with the thought that he might be spending some time on an island without easy access to medical assistance so he and his wife returned to Zagreb, Croatia and, hopefully, got a much needed vacation touring parts of that beautiful country. From e-mails I've received, they are both back at work and looking forward to making their return trip in December. Good luck to the both of them. We certainly missed them this summer and will all look anxiously to their return.

And, this summer, only 1/2 of the Monroe team showed up on the island's shores. Dick Monroe

arrived sans Jennifer. Apparently, their youngest was getting ready to go off to college when he got stage fright and his Mom decided to spend the last "free summer" with her off spring. We hear they had a fantastic time while Dad returned to Guanaja to make sure their island home was still functioning. We enjoyed visits with Dick during his brief stay and look forward to both Dick and Jennifer's return soon.

Among some of the local news, Globalnet (the local inter-net service) was down for about two weeks. Evidentially lightning struck the roof of its offices on the mainland and they were scrambling to get back up and running. I know everyone was dismayed at the time it took, but everyone seem to take it in the spirit of manana!

Kate O'Driscoll returned from a trip to Canada where she saw many of her friends. She spent some time with Angela Cooper who once lived on the island with her husband. Angela has since relocated to Canada and after the death of her husband keeps busy with her immediate family and her lovely apartment. We all know that Kate's husband, Bill, is very happy to see her back, as are we all.

Another "islander" who was gone for quite a while this past winter was Renate. A German who lives on Hendrick's Cay with her husband, Hans. Renate had to return to Germany due to a problem with her rotor cuff in her shoulder. After several months she returned to our flock not any the worse for wear! We are all happy to have her smiling face back and wish her well with her physical therapy swimming!

Due to the economic crisis in the States, we haven't seen near as much of Bill and Martha Pullum who use to fly here at least up to twice a month. They have been busy building townhouses at Brick Point but had to slow down and wait for the economy to rally around. They were here for a few weeks last month and we were most happy to have them back. We look forward to their return possibly in October and wish them the best in their endeavor.

Also, a Minnesotan, Dale, who is building a home near Bo Bush's Island House returned for a few weeks to frolic in the sands of Guanaja. Dale has been constructing his "concrete castle" here for the past two years but is in no great hurry!

Another couple on the scene, who are also "revamping" their property near Bo's, is Eric and Tami who hail from Florida. Eric gets down here more often than Tami who must keep the business running so Eric can go off and play! My husband and I made a stop over to their house on the "other side" recently before the couple had to leave and we had a nice visit. We look forward to their return and hope that when they come back they'll have time to come over for lunch and meet some other islanders!

There were many more "summer" visitors here this past season, too numerous to mention, but we had a wonderful time with all of them and as always continue to await their return when we can once again renew friendships!

Of course the political scene regarding the ouster of President Zelaya has everyone captivated. It has not really affected the island but we are all looking forward to the upcoming elections and hoping that everything will return to "better than normal."

So, that is the latest. I'm sorry if I forgot anyone and hope you won't be upset if I did.

Well, that's life on the island!

Wok your heart out!

2009-08-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to figure out how to put a slideshow in my Blog without it showing up on every single blog I create! The last time I tried a slideshow on glass blowing in Venice, the darn thing showed up on all my blogs, past and present! So, this is another attempt and I hope it works.

We recently went back to George and Ginger's to celebrate her birthday and George treated everyone to a "Wok" meal. The Wok he used was large but, as he said, not one of the largest ones available for restaurants! He cooked up a scrumpuous meal for about 25 people. It was fun to watch him and even more fun to eat it. I love the smell and the taste of this type of cooking and especially love the colors of the vegetables. He made it with chicken and every type of vegetable we could get on the island!

I have always like cooking in a Wok. Heck, everytime I go to San Pedro Sula (twice a year) I get a variety of vegetables, especially snow peas and bok choy, etc. and make a big Chinese-style dinner when I get home. I had been doing this for years until last year when my husband suddendly announced that he really didn't like that type of meal! Of course it took me 22 years to learn he really doesn't like soup either! He's really not fussy and will eat anything but I guess he decided he had had it with this particular fare. Having this meal was a real treat for me and for the others present and my husband even enjoyed it.

Ginger's day was perfect - good weather, good food, and good friends to help her celebrate. So, again, Happy Birthday Ginger and many more!

Next is a wedding! Yummmmm

Just Another Day!

2009-08-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

It would have been just another day in "Paradise" but something special was happening. Our

friend, Claus Rumm (the famous "Have Fun with Rumm") turned 49 on August 15th and to celebrate my husband and I took Claus and his lovely wife, Annette, out for lunch the following Monday.

A new resort has been in the making on the other side of the island near Mangrove Bight, "Clearwater Paradise." The owners, a husband and wife team (George and Ginger), have been working feverishly since they began at the end of last year. Of all the people building something on this island, they have gotten the most done in the least amount of time. They are hard working, imaginative, friendly people who had a dive business in Florida and decided that they wanted to retire to and open a dive business here on Guanaja. Our gain for sure!

We have been over to George and Ginger's a couple times during construction and were amazed at what they had accomplished. Plus, Ginger had the biggest, most productive garden I have ever seen on this island! She had peppers, broccoli, okra, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, green beans, tomatoes, dill, parsley, greens (yes, she is from the South), black-eyed peas, to mention just a few.

Anyway, they are now open for business (even though they are still putting the finishing touches on many rooms) and when they don't have guests, which unfortunately at this point in time is the norm, they serve full 5-7 course meals. Hurricane Mitch took a terrible toll on the tourism business here 11 years ago and the island really never recovered. Now with the political upheaveal concerning former President Mel Zelaya, people are not inclined to visit a country where they feel there might be political unrest, especially when it is a third-world country! Which is sad, because life on the island is pretty much the same with no problems regarding the political chaos taking place in the capital of Honduras. Plus, diving here is a wonderful, relaxing experience. Normally dive boats take 25-30 people out on one dive. Here, 1-2 people is the norm! We have beautiful reefs, caves, corals and sea life to see. Snorkeling is a plus too for those who don't dive. But, the word has to get out that the island is still in the diving business and if people want a laid back vacation, there is no better place to come.

Well, back to the lunch! George and Ginger offered a wonderful chance to sample some excellent cooking in beautiful surroundings. I called them and arranged for a meal for the 4 of us (Claus, Annette, my husband and myself) on a Monday. Monday is Claus and Annette's only day off from their restaurant/bar, Manati.

The day started off windy and overcast and when we went to take off in our big boat, the battery was dead! We had no option but to use the skiff. This boat is large enoughto transport several people but not as comfortable to ride in! Have you ever been in a flat-bottomed boat in rough seas? It's like a truck with no shocks riding a road full of pot holes at 30 miles an hour!

We picked up our guests and by the time we got to the other side of the island, the skies were beginning to clear up. Lucky for us, when the seas are rough on "our side" of the island, they are generally calm on the "other side". This day was no exception. It turned out to be sunny and calm, perfect weather for dining out.

We got to G&G's, docked the boat and could hear music playing from the house. We traversed a shade-covered walkway until we came out onto the open landscape of the resort. As you can see, it is a beautiful three-story building in a huge open area. We walked up the curving walkway which was surrounded by flowers and lovely tropical plants.

Ginger has been working very hard on the landscaping, along with her garden. If the gardener had not quit recently, I am sure that all the tall grass which has been growing up around her landscaping in the front and the grass and weeds overtaking the garden would have been neatly trimmed. However, one cannot work around the clock finishing up various rooms in a resort, cook meals, perform all the cleaning chores necessary, shop weekly for groceries, and then tend to the garden and planting of new plants while doing all the "extra" outside chores too! So, for a while, the garden will have to be covered over with grass and weeds and the landscaping will be put on hold for a while.

A lovely table had been set with a beautiful arrangement of flowers from her garden. We were then taken on a tour of the Resort. From what I could see, they will have, at minimum, 4 separate rooms, two of which were completed. They have a lovely bar stocked with ample liquor, a game room upstairs in the process of being readied, a large kitchen in which to prepare meals for their guests, a laundry room, a special guest room on the third floor for their friends and one side of the building on the third floor which is used for their living quarters.

On the third floor there was a compass inlaid in the tile floor. George and Ginger plan on adding to the plan with designated points (North, South, East and West). This same area is a sundeck where their guests will be able to sit in the evening enjoying the setting of the sun while being served a variety of drinks from their hosts.

We were served drinks (beer for the men - their choice) and Margaritas for the women from George's own recipe.

For the first course, we were served a refreshing cold tomato soup which had been made by Ginger with tomatoes out of her garden. It was the perfect start to our meal. At first I thought it might be a Gazpacho but Ginger said no, it did not have the various vegetables one puts in a Gazpacho. This was a basic cold tomato soup with just the right touch of herbs.

We then moved on to wonderful pieces of marinated King Fish served on a bed of shredded carrots. The fish was perfectly seasoned and served cold. Small dishes of hot pepper salad were served for those who like a "touch of fire". George had made these concoctions from the peppers in their garden. There was one dish with not-so-hot vegetables and one with "fire" hot vegetables.

For a salad they presented us with a Cesar salad with lovely Romaine lettuce and croutons topped with a great Cesar dressing. We were also served fresh tomato bread baked by Ginger.

For the entree, we were served George's speciality - smoked Red Snapper. George has been smoking meat for 30+ years and has mastered this art to a perfection. The fish was perfectly done, just moist enough with the flavor of the smoke evident throughout. We had scalloped potatoes and lemon green beans as an accompaniment. The lemon green beans complimented the fish perfectly and the potatoes were just right - not too moist nor too dry.

We questioned George about the type of wood he uses for smoking. He gave us a lesson in smoking and the various woods that he has used throughout his years of cooking and said that he was currently using red mangrove wood. Hurricane Mitch literally destroyed the Mangrove areas around the island and dead wood can be found in these once lush patches of trees. New trees have grown up, mainly through the diligence of many people on the island who replanted. The old dead wood is not going to waste however. Islanders collect it for their cooking fires and George has found this dense, hard wood to be perfect for his smoker.

Our final course was, of course, desert. A light, lovely cake was served with a egg based cream sauce. A wonderful end to our meal.

In all the time I have lived on the island I never expected to get such great food at a restaurant here on the island! We have been served fabulous meals of course, but this is when we attend parties thrown by friends or have people over to our home for a meal. The food that day was outstanding, served beautifully and done to perfection. Each course complimented the last one and we were delighted at the efforts of our hosts.

I, along with our guests, thank George and Ginger for providing a wonderful "get away day" of celebration. We will be back for more and will anxiously look forward to their wonderful cuisine.

Hmmmm, Ginger has a birthday coming up......

Slideshows to my Blogs

2009-08-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have since been able to review my Glass of Venice Blog and have discovered that one must double click on the title: Glass Blowing by Sharon in order to be taken to the proper web page and my slideshow album.

Sorry, but this was an experiment and I still have some fine tuning to accomplish.

Sharon

The Glass of Venice, Italy

2009-08-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

The other day, while placing my garden flowers into the vase I had purchased in Venice, Italy, I remembered that I had not mentioned this particular experience on my Blog while vacationing in that city. It was an interesting part of my travels and I thought, even at this late date, that I would share it with everyone.

Venice is famous for its fine glass products. Hand blown pieces of beauty are found in the many shops of Venice.

These creative pieces of glass are manufactured in Murano. Murano was a commercial port as far back as the 7th Century, and by the 10th Century it had grown into a prosperous trading center with its own coins, police force, and commercial aristocracy. Then, in 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered glass makers to move their foundries to Murano because the glass works represented a fire danger in Venice, whose buildings were mostly wooden at the time. What made Murano's glass makers so special? For one thing, they were the only people in Europe who knew how to make glass mirrors. They also developed or refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Their virtual monopoly on quality glass lasted for centuries, until glass makers in Northern and Central Europe introduced new techniques and fashions around the same time that colonists were emigrating to the New World.

If one takes the time to visit the ubiquitous glass shops on Murano or in Venice, and you'll find countless paperweights, glass beads and necklaces, knickknacks, and items of glass jewelry. Some are amusing: e.g., colored fish in transparent glass aquariums, or wrapped hard candies of multicolored glass. Others are pretty--glass necklaces and beads, for example.

These artists are allowed to let their imaginations run wild and while I found some items to be rather comical and "tacky", for the most part the products displayed in the showroom of Vetri Artisans were beautiful works of art.

I wandered through the several showrooms and was amazed at the workmanship, quality and beauty of all items displayed. Of course, most were 1)not within my price range and 2)would be hard to display in my home that is, for the most part, devoid of direct sunlight in which to display a piece. I finally settled on a beautiful flower vase (as pictured above)which was on sale and a perfect piece for my dining table.

I have a series of photos depicting the glass works shop and am experimenting, through this medium, with sending these photos via a slideshow. I have read many sources to embed a slideshow into my blog but I cannot review the final result until I post my blog! So, here goes. I hope you will see a video at the top right of my blog for you to follow. It shows the glass works and a master creating two objects. I have discovered that if you double click on the slideshow, it will take you to my Picasa Website. The album on glass blowing will appear and all you have to do is click on "slideshow" if you wish to see it in a larger forum.

Good luck to all of us!

Credit Woes

2009-08-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Living on an island leaves one isolated from the use of items that make life easier and less complicated. Internet, telephones, shopping, availability of a variety of items and credit cards.

Yes, credit cards, even though they sometimes have a bad rap, they certainly can make one’s life a little easier. Especially shopping on the internet, which is what I have to do for 90% of the purchases I need to make. From prescriptions, dog medication, clothing, computers, movies, books, sewing material, tools, parts, solar panels, etc., it is far easier to shop on-line and find a way to get it here than try to find it on the Mainland or the island.

For years we could not use a credit card on the island and there was only one that could be used to get a cash advance at the local bank. Lately, a few more businesses have been accepting the cards and, even though I seldom use it on the island, it is nice knowing that if an emergency arises, I have back-up financing.

That being said, it came as a surprise the other week while ordering a replacement computer part on-line that my card was not accepted. I felt all they had to do was resubmit the information and all would be fine. I was on another site ordering something and the same thing happened….the card was not accepted. We have been with this same company for 40 years and have never had a problem with our card, so this came as a surprise.

I finally contacted the credit card company and was asked if I had recently made a $1 charge to my account on a specific date with a specific company. I replied “no, I had not”. I was then informed that a practice has been uncovered of late wherein someone will get a card number and pertinent information for use on-line and to make sure the card works, they will charge a small amount to see if it goes through. If it does they will then proceed to make larger purchases. Evidentially my card had been used for just such a practice run and my credit card company was suspending use of my card and re-issuing another in its place.

Now, most people would not find this disconcerting or inconvenient. But to have a credit card reissued presents a real problem for us. First, just getting it here is the biggest problem. I have to go through a lot of hassle just to convince the credit card company to send it to an address other than my billing address. When they do, I have to send it to someone who will be coming down here within the next few weeks so I will not have to wait months to get it. Lastly, the option they gave me of getting it reissued on the coast was totally out of the question.

To get a card issued on the coast would be an exercise in futility. Just spending $200 airfare to go to the Mainland and, most likely having to stay overnight would be a huge expense. Plus, I have never had luck with a bank in this country following instructions to the letter without incident. They invariably get my name wrong, account numbers wrong, tell me it will take several days to accomplish the task and then when you return they have done nothing during that time but wait for you to return and announce that you are there for your card, or whatever it is you have requested. They will then, and only then, proceed to try and take care of your request.

So, I pointed out to the woman at the credit card company that she would have to take my word that this way was not an option. The only way I would get the card quickly and without incident would be to send it to the address I supply and they would bring the card to me. Of course the woman on the other end of the phone did not believe what I was saying and after several wasted minutes explaining the plight of doing business here in Honduras, she finally relented and did as I requested.

I guess it is understandable that people living in a country where one can just pick up the phone, jump in your car or have items delivered without incident, cannot conceive that the simple act of obtaining an item could be so much. But, this is just one of the things one must live with if you want to live on an island!

Things just keep getting better!

2009-07-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

As a young girl I was thrilled when I got my first camera. It was a Kodak Target Brownie Six-16. It took black and white photos and the subject was hard to see through the small curved window on top of the camera. It was not difficult to load, but it had to be done in the dark so as not to expose the film and ruin it. There was also a viewfinder on the side which would allow one to take a photo at a different angle. This camera allowed me to preserve the memories of my childhood which were cherished throughout my lifetime. I still have that camera, as can be seen in the photo above, and I'm sure that if I could obtain film for it, it would still work. I also have many, many clear photos that I took with it.

My next camera was a Brownie Hawkeye and was far more sophisticated with a view lens that was a little easier to see through. The camera was comfortable to hold but still had to be loaded in a dark room. Again, photos could only be taken in black and white but they were superior to those taken by my previous camera.

I had this camera for several years and I do not recall what type of camera I used next when color film came into being.

I do remember the excitement caused when the Polaroid Camera was developed. Both the camera and the film was expensive but, wow, you could see your picture in 60-seconds! My parents purchased one and we spent a lot of time snapping photos and watching them appear. Of course, the first photos were, again, in black and white and it would take several years before the color version of film was available. These pictures, for some reason, did not last as long and I don't believe I have any photos left that were taken with it.

Over the years I had many cameras which met my needs for preserving scenes in my life that were important at the time. I never took pictures for the "art" of it; it's use was strictly one of capturing moments in my history.

When we came to the island, I had a camera which, at the time, was functional and provided me with an excellent photo. The drawback: it still required film. I could take photos to share with my family back home who, at the time, were fearful and upset that I had moved to a third-world country where contact by phone was extremely difficult at the time. Since there was nowhere on the island to develop my photos, I had to either 1) send them back to the states with someone to mail to my family who would get them developed and return the photos to me. Or, 2) go to the coast and find a film store and have the film developed. This was costly as flying to and from the mainland was not something one could afford on a regular basis. Plus, the film developing was questionable and finding a store with personnel that knew what they were doing and could develop the film with accurate coloring was a challenge.

Still, I managed for several years to take photos, get them developed and share with friends and family.

Hallelujah! The onset of digital photographs! What an inventio! Now I could purchase a camera that would not require film, would have the best lens I ever experienced and I could snap photo after photo from which I could select the perfect one I wanted or - the best was yet to come - I could put them on my computer, digitally make corrections and wipe out backgrounds, make people look younger, even change the shape of something! I was now ready to take photos for "art" purposes. I did not need to incur the expense of flying to the coast, waiting for the film to be developed, checking the photos to see if I got the best shot. Best yet, I could share my photos on the Internet with friends and family.

I was in heaven. Of all the things that we have managed to acquire on the island to make our lives easier, this, along with a computer and Internet service, were the best things that ever happened to me.

My husband has a much better eye (and camera) than I and is constantly taking photos which he publishes on his own website. One can view his photos at: http://www.fotolog.com/feather61/. He prefers to take photos of sunrises/sunsets, birds, animals,flowers, inanimate objects, etc. and has captured some wonderful shots of life on the island.

I prefer to take photos of my friends and pets and, occasionally, I will branch out and try shots of still life, sunsets, flowers and food!

I continue to play with my camera and have used it and past photos to create a book of my family tree, a calendar with photos of my home which I gave to my friends and family last year, and as a tool of presenting my visual thoughts on my blog. I am planning another calendar this year and I hope to make myself and members of my family a cookbook containing my recipes accompanied by photos of some of the dishes.

So, a camera has been a fulfilling part of my life; it has recorded my memories and kept me in touch with my family and friends. People can see how I live and play and maybe enjoy, through me, the experience of living on an island.

Things that go through my mind!

2009-07-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Sitting here on the island, after returning from LaCeiba this week, I thought I'd share some observations.

My husband and I flew to LaCeiba on Monday afternoon to take care of some errands. While there we noticed:

1) The soldiers in the airport were still standing around looking bored.

2) The cab drivers were honking their horns with as much frequency as before.

3) Shops were closing at the same hours as always - the curfew had been lifted.

4) Hotel clerks and room service personnel seemed unchanged.

5) Pizza Hut was busy.

6) People in the park were sleeping on benches or strolling through the park uncaring.

7) The crowd in the Mall was light, but then it was a Monday evening.

8) The roads had the same number of vehicles and horses as always.

So, no one seemed too upset that Mr. Zelaya had been taken out of the country in his pajamas and sent to Costa Rica. No one seemed concerned that President Michelliti was in office and running the show. And no one seemed bothered that there were guards standing outside all the banks, restaurants, hotels, public places, etc. In other words, people were going along with their daily business much as before. Now, our taxi driver was rather opinionated and voiced his agreement that Mr. Zelaya should have been removed from office that it was for the good of the country.

What it boils down to is that your basic human just wants life to go on smoothly, with as few distractions as possible. He wants to keep earning a living, put food on his families table, have time to enjoy life and live in peace. It seems that when people get power they forget all the basics.

If you notice, anyone who has authority over you usually does not like to be told what to do, how to do it or take suggestions on getting the task done easier. They have reached this position of "power" and they want to take advantage of it. The more power, the harder it is to convince that individual that there are two sides to every story. Oh, I'm not saying that some people are not willing to look at both sides and try to work out an agreement; I'm saying that, for the most part, it is hard to get people to do this once they believe they have the power. So, the saying "Power to the People" I believe, is a dangerous thing. Once people believe they are better than others or superior in some way, it is hard pulling them down off that pedestal, even a notch or two.

Maybe this is why governments and their representatives have such a hard time agreeing on anything. They think they know what is best for the people, even if the people have a different view. It takes a large group of people, all agreeing on an action, to convince one person that the view that person holds may not be in the interest of all the people. It must be a hard position to be in as people on one side are telling you what they feel is right and people on the opposite side are also saying they are right. I guess that is why the majority rules. However, in some cases even the "majority" is hazy. You can have polls that put the percentages high on one side and another survey that says the opposite. Of course, that is why we have laws.....to make sure that the grey area is a little clearer.

But, wait. When someone breaks the law they are, in a democracy, innocent until proven guilty. But in some countries - they are guilty until they prove their innocence....makes one's head spin. If they are in power, they feel they are sometimes above the law and ignore all the rules. Now, we all know that if the ordinary citizen breaks an iron-clad law, there is no argument. But if someone in power does the same thing, then they call for the world to set it straight - at least straight for them! No matter what they may have said before, no matter what actions they took before, if they feel they broke the law and should not be questioned, then they will try their best to rally anyone to their side in order to get what they want.

So, sometimes it is just a question that is resolved as it was when we were children - will the bully win or will the children stand together forcing everyone to see the reality of what is going on?

Right now, I'm going to "convince" my husband that we have a job to get done upstairs and that I feel it is important!

Birds of a Feather

2009-07-08T12:43:00.001-07:00

As I have stated in past blogs, we brought 4 tropical birds with us to the island and while here adopted one more bird, a Yellow-Naped Amazon, Lupita, when her owner lost his home and returned to the U.S. after Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Since that time we have acquired many bird friends; hummingbirds, of which there are two varieties on the island: a Fork-Tailed Emerald and Green-Breasted Mango. We started out with a couple feeders and gradually, over the years, built up to a total of 6-7 at any one time. going through about 12 lbs. of sugar a week. More and more hummingbirds have arrived and some even stay through the year ignoring their instinct to migrate. Of course this keeps my husband and I very busy keeping up with the feeding of the birds.

On the 17th of June, our worker found a baby bird that had evidently fallen out of its nest. My husband and I went back to check out the little guy and found that 1) the bird was about 2 weeks old due to the small amount of pin feathers it had, 2) the nest was too high in the tree to reach and put him back and 3) ants were starting to attack the poor little guy.

So, we did what was necessary - took him in. Since we feed our parrots a variety of foods, one of which is a processed, hard nugget which is vitamin enriched, we decided to grind up this nugget, add mango juice or water (depending upon what was available) and feed the little guy through a syringe. My husband and I had raised two of our parrots in the states this way, so we were familiar with what to do.

Luckily, we were successful and the baby took to the tube attached to the syringe like a duck to water! Since that time he has been growing, getting feathers and is now flying. He is a little bigger than a hummingbird and we are not sure what type of bird he is. At first my husband thought he was a Yellow Breasted Fly Catcher as the nest suspended from the tree looked like it may have belonged to that family. However, this bird is much smaller than the ones we have checked out on the Internet. Right now he is about 2" tall and it doesn't seem like he will get much bigger. My husband has seen what he feels are similar birds feeding on a wild hot pepper bush but has been unable to get a photograph of them.

Originally I named him Jumpin Jack Flash because he was hopping around so much. I renamed him Twitter because of all the peeping he makes when we walk up to the cage he is now housed in or when he is getting ready to be fed. Plus, we were spending a lot of time on the computer watching the political unrest and were constantly being referred to "Twitters". I thought that this was an appropriate name. He eats well is flying short distances and eventually will build up his muscles for longer flights.

We are now in the process of teaching him to eat on his own by putting ground up dried food in his cage along with some seeds. Eventually, our goal is to get him to eat on his own, know where his cage and food are and then open the door and let him fly out into the wild. If he can't forage on his own, the cage will be there for him to return to and get his food.

This may or may not work, but at least we gave him the opportunity at a life; better than being eaten by ants!

Update on Guanaja's Reaction

2009-07-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a photo of demonstrations on the island of Guanaja! We have no curfew, our flights still come in, all businesses are open and operating, the military is wandering around like they always do, seemingly not know what they are doing, and the police are still sitting in their little office next to the jail passing the time of day.

Nothing has changed on the island. We are waiting for the vegetable boat to come in today or tomorrow so we can get our shopping done. Many of us are spending more time at our computers watching what is being reported in the news about the "mainland" 40 miles off our coast.

I guess we are the lucky people in Honduras who continue on with life regardless that Michael Jackson has died or that Mel has been removed.

The government pretty much neglects the islands, except for Roatan, and they bring in a lot of tax money. We don't get much aid here for emergencies, we take care of our own problems and we are just concerned with our day-to-day lives.

Is that sad? I don't know. I do know there is concern for what is going on with the government and we all hope everything can get back to some normalcy so that maybe, just maybe, the new government can take an interest in its people and start doing all the things that have been promised over the years. But, we don't hold our breath.

We do agree, on the island, that Chavez is not the way to go, that democracy needs to rule and that the President of this country is not above the law, even if he does wear a white hat!

Trouble in Paradise

2009-07-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

Generally speaking, I try and stay away from political discussions as 1) it seems to be a dead end if one is trying to discuss their views with someone with opposing views 2) I am not as up on “politics” as many people who vicariously read and study the subject and 3) I am not a Honduran citizen and, as such, have no say in what the leaders of this country say or do.

However, ever since June 28, 2009, I have been sitting at my computer scanning the news, blogs and various reports on-line about the supposed “coup d’état” by the Honduran military against President Mel Zelaya and his subsequent arrest and removal from the country to Costa Rica.

This country elected President Zelaya 3 ½ years ago and, through his own admission both verbally and in print, he used corruption to gain the slim 49% vote he won to gain office by purchasing the people’s votes.

During the 3 ½ years, slowly but surely he has strayed from his commitment to the people by seeking rather to gain more and more power for himself and neglecting his promises to the poor and democracy.

During his term, President Zelaya’s government allowed the telephone company, Hondutel, who wanted competition out and total control of the country’s communication system, to raid the offices of the competition, seize their records and equipment thus destroying their business. The government made no move to have Hondutel return what was basically stolen, thus making these small companies fold.

Not too long ago, the minimum wage was raised from L. 3,500 ($185.00) per month to L. 5,500 ($291.00) a month. That is about a 60% increase. The minimum wage need to be raised, but this huge increase was 3 times more than the labor unions were requesting (20%) and 6 times more than the business organizations had offered (10%). These increases caused tremendous layoffs on the mainland. Many maquillas (garment factories) began to move to Nicaragua because the cost of business in Honduras had gotten too high. So, there was another huge drop in jobs. Remember, the average Honduran lives on less than $100 a month. I know, it is a shame and unbelievable, but these people, for the most part, are uneducated and untrained. Yes, they deserve more, but not at the risk of losing jobs because no one can pay the wages. If the new minimum wage was paid the businesses would have to raise prices of goods thus, in effect, putting the earning power right back where it was.

He saw that “transparency laws” were passed in January 2008 which was in violation of international conventions on freedom of expression and against corruption, and created loopholes for preventing the declassification of “reserved” or restricted information. Virtually any document can be classified as reserved. Any minister can do this if he or she considers that public access to that information may be prejudicial to humanitarian aid, national security, economic stability or governability, among other vague criteria. Under the new law, all information about humanitarian aid is secret. The amounts of aid received and the uses to which they are put cannot be divulged. This means that it won't be possible to investigate what happened years ago, and not even last year or this year. Congress had blocked a proposal for such a law since 2004. In effect, the presidents of the three branches of state, their ministers and advisers, and mayors, city councilors, and deputies are excluded from the scope of the law. This is an open violation of the constitution and the convention against corruption.

Under his regime, school teachers went unpaid for months and months at a time as did various other government workers.

President Zelaya wanted Honduras to join ALBA, a collection of countries that was formed by Cuba and Venezuela to counteract NAFTA/CAFTA from the US. When this was announced, there was a lot of concern especially from the business community who were largely opposed to it. The Congress would not consider ratifying this treaty for 6 or 8 months as they wanted to study the plan. Again, less than a week later President Zelaya got the treaty ratified by the Congress, mostly, it is rumored, by buying their votes. In one instance a cash payment of Lps. 1,000,000 (US $53,000.00) was paid to congressman to approve the ALBA. The center of this sudden push was from Chavez of Venezuela who was backing Zelaya in this endeavor.

The Honduran Constitution says that each year the President presents the annual budget to congress for approval. If the approval is not obtained by a specific date, the budget from last year will be used until the new budget is approved by congress. The President never submitted a budget for 2009; hence the Congress was left with working with the 2008 budget. Mel would like to stay in power past 2009. The budget in 2008 did not include monies for an election, so in essence there is NO money available for the 2009 election because they were operating on a 2008 budget!

Suddenly, months before re-elections were to be held in this country, President Zelaya discovered that the Honduran Constitution was “out of date” (27 years to be exact) and needed to be rewritten. Of course he has never said what parts of the Constitution were not democratic nor has he ever given any information as to what he wants to insert into it to make the Constitution “more democratic”.

President Zelaya decided that it was in the country’s “best interest” to place a referendum on the November ballot (a fourth ballot box) to let the people decide if they wanted the Constitution to be rewritten. His proposal to have a fourth ballot box in the November elections for the purpose of allowing the citizens of Honduras to have a say regarding whether or not the constitution should be revised sounds like a democratic measure. However, the real motive behind this issue was to change the constitution to allow Mel Zelaya to continue in power as President, a la his amigo Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. The Constitution expressly prohibits this and declares any efforts to change those parts of the constitution as illegal and punishable by criminal action. There has been no indication that the people will be allowed to approve or disapprove of any recommended constitutional changes. They are merely being offered the opportunity to give a blank check to those in power.

In an effort to legitimatize the fourth ballot box, Zelaya's latest plan was to hold an official public poll on Sunday, June 28th, allowing the people to vote yes or no on whether to have the fourth ballot box. This effort was declared illegal by the Congress, the Supreme Court and his own party, but seemed to be going forward as Mel led a gang of protestors/supporters to a military base where the ballots were being secured and took them by force. By the way, these ballots were printed up in Venezuela!

The ultimate result of this action was the Supreme Court of the land ordering the military to arrest the President. He was removed from his home and flown to Costa Rica. Whether this method was the right one, is in the eyes of the beholder. Had Zelaya been put under arrest, this country would have seen violence break out through his supporters and bloodshed would have occurred. As we watch the reports from around the world of demonstrations in the Capital, they are only reporting the actions of those people supporting Zelaya (in the hundreds) protesting in a violent manner as opposed to showing the people who want him out (in the thousands) marching peacefully in the city streets!

This was not a coup d’état as defined in the dictionary:

“Politically, a coup d’état is (usually) violent political engineering, yet, is different from a revolution that effects radical change to the government (who rules), not to the form of the government (the political system). Tactically, a coup d’état involves control, by an active, minority of military usurpers, who block the remaining (non-participant) military’s possible defense of the attacked government, by either capturing or expelling the politico-military leaders, and seizing physical control of the country’s key government offices, communications media, and infrastructure.”

In this instance we had ALL leaders of the government and judicial system upholding the law of the Constitution removing the man from office who was blatantly disobeying the laws of the land he vowed to uphold.

The Attorney General says that the President has committed treason and asked for him to be removed from office. The congress created a commission to examine Zelaya’s actions and they determined he must be removed from office. From information gleaned by me, there is no clear means to impeach a sitting President. In a lot of constitutions, the impeachment of a president would be done by the legislative branch. In Honduras, there is no such structure. There could be criminal charges brought against the president and the trial would be handled by the judicial branch.

Once Zelaya had been removed, the President of the Congress (Roberto Micheletti) was sworn in as the new President of Honduras. This was exactly the person that is indicated by the Constitution. It was a proper and legal succession of the presidency. The first thing that Micheletti did was confirm that the regularly scheduled elections would be held in November. His post is temporary until the new President was duly elected.

It would be fairer to Honduras if the press would research their subject more rather than acting on a “knee-jerk” reaction and then only showing anything that might indicate violence as violence draws viewers! Most of the news filtered to the world does not take the picture as a whole and reports only on the incident, not the facts behind it! If you want to follow what people who actually live here are saying, join the Yahoo Group of Honduras_Living and you can read first hand the events of Honduras as seen by people living here.

I only hope that this problem will be resolved in a legal way and that a democratic form of government is allowed to remain.

Life Goes On!

2009-06-24T12:32:00.001-07:00

Well, now that I’m back on the island I can report on things that are going on here before I put up a few more blogs regarding my trip to Europe.

In late May, before I returned to Honduras, the island experienced a 7.1 earthquake. We have “tremors” quite often. I have noted that from January to about March/April, we may have a little jarring once a month – nothing huge, just something that lets you know Mother Nature is still awake. From that point on, it’s anybody’s guess as to how frequently we will have these occurrences. I have always felt these were good things. In my mind, if small releases occur frequently, maybe it is like letting a safety valve release so that the build up is not there for the “big blast”. Anyway, nothing in our house suffered; i.e., nothing broke. A few small items fell to the floor, but that was all. My friend on the other side had a couple broken pottery items which she is gluing back together.

Then we had an incident on the Cay one Friday on shopping day. We have never felt threatened (at least during the day) on the Cay. We generally leave our groceries at one location, unwatched, where we all meet when we finish shopping to have a drink and talk. I have had a bag stolen from there, but it was from someone new in town who did not live here – the people on the island refer to them as “Spaniards”. We’ve had two bank robberies over a period of 6-7 years but that was about it. The bank was robbed twice by pretty much the same people (men from Savannah Bight) and a couple of them were caught and sent to prison (but not for very long!). We have had shootings and “incidents” with a machete, but these usually happen in the “Disco” late at night when the men are drunk. We do not go to the Disco late at night!

Anyway, at about 10:30 a.m. one of our group was walking along side the place where we gather when someone jumped her from behind pushing her into the wall. She fell and he tried taking her “fanny pack” from around her waist. She started to scream, 3 men came running and chased him finally catching him. She, in the meantime, got up and went and got the police who returned and arrested the man. He was from the coast (another “Spaniard”) and known to drink excessively. He was put in jail and finally shipped back to the coast.

The vegetable boats usually come on Friday but lately they’ve been coming on Thursday or whenever they get here! This has caused some stress for us shoppers – we never know when the boat will arrive and rather than sit on the Cay all day waiting for them to unload a boat, we would much prefer that we know exactly when it arrives. This means making a lot of phone calls to one another to see if anyone knows if the boat is in! Our social hour on shopping day has been impeded and I, for one, am not happy with this! Plus, I sent some boxes from the States before I left and, normally, they take about 3 weeks to reach us. Evidentially there is a problem with customs and our shipper is having to rework a deal with them to pass the shipments through. I now hope to get the boxes this week; 4 weeks from the time of shipment.

Also, the school teachers must be striking again because for the past 1 ½ weeks, the public school was not in session and children did not have classes. I heard it had something to do with the minimum wage being raised and some argument about the raise teachers should get, but I haven’t gotten all the facts so don't know if that is the problem. I don’t know if the public schools on the mainland were closed as what happens there does not always affect what goes on here.

Our weather has been unusual too. Normally, this time of year there is a strong wind out the East which keeps us fairly comfortable. We are in the dry season so that is not unusual and rain is pretty scarce. We did have some good rains before I returned in May but are in need of some more. This month the winds have ceased for a few days making it feel like August or September, which is when we generally experience the wind dying down. During those months one simply lays under a fan during the day reading so as to escape the heat. We have had several such days this month. This past weekend, when rain was predicted, we had high winds and threatening skies, but only received about 50 drops of rain.

With the lack of rain, my plants are suffering. However, on a walk of the back of the property, I found that the bamboo we planted last year is thriving, along with three palm trees and some other plants. On the downside, we lost about 4 palm trees on the beach due to lethal yellowing. In spite of our regiment of injecting the palms, we are still losing some to this disease and to palm beetles. Almost all the palm trees in the back of our property have died.

I spent some time this week expanding our pet cemetery. With the death of Cocoa in April our small plot needed to be enlarged. We have three dogs buried there; Cocoa, Pepper and Winken, one cat – Midnight and my lovely bird, Sienna. So, last week we went to a local area and gathered up some white granite to use to enlarge the boarder of the plot.

Next, my pineapples are starting to ripen and yesterday, after picking about a dozen, I decided that I would juice some and cut up the larger ones and freeze them. Our pineapples do not get very big and are just enough for two people. They are very, very sweet and I did not want them to go to waste. My worker has planted about 200 plants in back. Unfortunately, because of the location, the rats are eating up all the pineapples. Neither the dogs nor cats go back there so there is nothing to keep the rats at bay. We have a few bananas putting forth fruit, so we will have to watch those plants too.

Also, before I left, we installed new Pella windows on the second floor to replace some of the wooden louvered windows. Now, with all that glass, I have lots of sunshine streaming in and have to make curtains! I sent, via a shipper, some reflective film for the windows to keep it a little cooler upstairs. This will come with the 4 boxes sent to myself before I left! Also, we put in a new door which has a window so my husband is busy making a frame for a stained glass picture to hang in the door.

Otherwise, things are back to normal; my husband gets regular meals, the laundry gets done, the bird cages get cleaned out, the furniture gets dusted, etc., and I can blog once again!

Returning to Honduras

2009-06-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

My journey began on April 21st and ended with my return to Guanaja on June 2^nd. I visited Tampa and Orlando in the U.S.; Zagreb in Croatia; Frankfurt, Berlin, Nuremberg, Munich, Schwäbisch Hall, Stuttgart and Künzelsau in Germany; Rome, Orvieto, Florence and Venice in Italy. My visit to Europe was something I had waited for all my life and if it were not for the generosity of my son who volunteered to accompany me on this trip, I still would not have made this trip and for that I thank him. Together we toured Germany by train and Italy by plane and car and saw sights only read about in books, seen on T.V. and in the movies. It was a wonderful experience I will never forget. It gave me much to reflect on concerning the people, customs, food, and the way of life of people different from my country.

I must say that overall, Croatia and Germany were the most impressive countries. Italy was impressive in that there was much to see of the past relating to the architecture and the art of the masters of that time. However, Italy was way past expensive, the people were not as friendly as in other countries (except for our gracious and accommodating tour guides), the food, for the most part, mediocre, and the wines that are said to be some of the finest in the world were a disappointment. All hotels we stayed at everywhere were excellent. The rooms well appointed, the breakfast they offered was varied and bountiful and the staff at each hotel was polite and helpful. The difference came in the attitude of the people and the appearance of each country as a whole.

I tried to cover as much of my trip in my blogging as possible and, again, I have to thank my son for bringing his computer with him so that I could accomplish this task along with being there to help me with the connections in each hotel and any problems I had with said computer.

I plan several more blogs on areas that I have not already covered, but what I want to reflect on now is my return to Honduras and the thoughts I had upon arrival. I love living on the island of Guanaja. It is not for everyone but for those who are willing to return to basics, live a quiet and slower-paced life, this is a beautiful place. However, living in a third-world country is a wake up call. There are any number of reasons why people in third-world countries live the way they do; poverty, lack of basic needs such as food in great bounty, poor housing due to the fact that most construction is learned by the “seat of one’s pants” as opposed to a established education regarding that profession, lack of good planning and maintenance of towns and their infrastructure, lack of building codes, regulations and/or enforcement of laws and the distain of the government for its people.

Along with this, and maybe because of it, the people in Honduras do not have pride in their country, at least that is the feeling I get when visiting the Mainland. Even though one constantly sees people sweeping streets and sidewalks and mopping floors wherever one goes, the basic landscape is littered with garbage, construction materials, dead vegetation, shacks put together with anything that is available and built wherever anyone wants to build one, along with miles and miles of ugly, overhead and dangerous wiring.

For example, workers on a construction site have no rules to govern their work or safety. People work unprotected, on poorly lit sites which are rarely cleaned up on a daily basis, thus making injury a more plausible possibility. There is no organization such as OSHA in the U.S. to set rules so that the common laborer is protected against injury. Thus, with no rules and no pride in their work, they leave tons of material scattered about scarring the landscape and offering an invitation to accidents. Laborers have no recourse when injured; if a worker is injured on the job due to the inefficient, sloppy work allowed by the builder along with improper supervision, the worker is left to his own devices.

Everywhere one looks, no matter what the status of the neighborhood, one sees trash. Sidewalks are poorly maintained offering more opportunity for injury. Buildings are in a broken-down condition due to misuse, lack of maintenance and poor building codes (although I really don’t believe there are any building codes in this country – or, at least they are not enforced). Vendors are allowed to set up stalls anywhere thus impeding traffic and contributing to the ugliness of the area. Beggars are everywhere. People wander among traffic peddling cheap goods and food mindless of the danger they present to themselves and drivers. I have never been in a building, even a brand new one where I have not found examples of shoddy construction; bathrooms not functioning, poor construction and fixtures that do not work.

I seriously believe that this simply represents a lack of pride in one’s country. Everywhere I went in Europe, things were clean and maintained. All over Europe one constantly sees restoration going on representing the pride of the people in their past. Parks are offered which are beautifully kept and thoughtfully landscaped. Every town has a market square which is clean and attractive to the eye. Even in the oldest of towns (much older than those of this country), there is pride shown in the care taken with old and new buildings. These towns were not always rich; they all started with the basics. People realized that the care of the things around them would make for a better community and show the pride they felt. Even “beggars” are artistic by offering music or posing as mimes to entertain and rarely did I see someone sitting on the curbside or sidewalk with their hand out expecting you to give them money.

What contributes to this attitude? The leadership of the people of each country. Here in Honduras, those in power only care for themselves and the money they can put in their pockets. Advanced countries have a government that, over all, cares about its people. Education is one of the top priorities in Europe and North America and all developed countries, not so in Central America. Rules and regulations apply to everyone and are enforced in developed countries, not so in Central America. Laws are enforced and made to protect the people and the country in developed countries; not so in Central America.

I have seen the beauty of other countries, from the smallest village to the largest city and then have returned to a country that does not seem to care for its people or communities. There is a great deal to be said for regulations and laws and leadership. With a concern and pride for one’s country, the country will prosper. Maybe not in material ways but the pride will be shown in the overall appearance of the people and its country. I am not saying that to be beautiful the country must be wealthy. No, beauty is shown in the way people treat their land, their homes and their fellow citizens and the concern or the lack of it shown by the Government. As a good example, take Copan. It is a very old town but when you go there you feel the pride of the people, you see the pride in the way they care for their town and the fact that laws are laid down and enforced to encourage keeping the community something to be proud of.

In the 12 years I have lived on the island, conditions have improved as far as the attitude of the people towards their community. Streets are cleaner, buildings have been repainted and there has been an effort to keep them in repair. The overall attitude of the people here on the island is friendly. Here you do not find a lack of caring. Yes, buildings are old, wiring is haphazard, some areas are more than run down, but through a strong effort by the community, the island is, basically, clean and kept presentable – at least as best as finances will allow. However, the government of this island allows projects to commence because enough money was paid to those in charge to look the other way concerning various building “codes”. These projects begin and then shortly thereafter lay unfinished when funds are exhausted or interest is gone. These projects are abandoned leaving the ugly remnants of an incomplete project scarring the land. Drugs have infiltrated the island and in spite of the fact that many people believe this helps the economy here by providing jobs and income for the community, it does not. It provides the few people who are dealing with the drugs an opportunity to make money which they do not spend here as there is not much here to spend it on. Thus the money does not stay on the island to help the community. These people employ a small gang of thugs who terrorize those who are opposed to drug trafficking. People will not stand up to those few who are polluting the island and little help is offered to the people who use the drugs to encourage them that this path will lead to nothing but hopelessness. The drug trade is a jumping off point for increased thievery and murder.

Meanwhile, the politicians on our island are no better than those on the mainland. They are not concerned about their fellow citizens, only how much money they can put into their pockets during their brief term of office. Corruption in Central America is at a pinnacle and shows no sign of decreasing. The rich have distain for the poor and believe they are not worth saving. The poor are downtrodden and believe they can do no better, so they don’t! I.e., no pride in their country, their community or themselves; greed is the name of the game.

Do not misjudge what I am saying. I am glad that I live on the island where, for the most part, the main body of government of Honduras is located on the mainland and does not concern itself with a remote island. If more people on this island would learn to respect all walks of life, have more pride in their community, ban together to make and enforce laws and not allow lawlessness to prevail, demand that more care be taken in the maintenance and building of their community, then this island would take on a beauty it deserves. If they insisted that their children receive a good education and that those same children must follow rules set down by the establishment, then the island would benefit. It is not outside the realm of possibility that these things could happen. The citizens of this island stand a better chance of making it happen here because of their remoteness and the disinterest of the mainland government. I believe these people are capable of such action; they simply need to ban together and make it work. People here are friendly, family-oriented and religious; they simply need the courage to make things happen. Pride needs to be more of a focal point in this community.

It would be my wish that the people of this island could one day see how a government could work for them and not against them. If they had exposure to other cultures and countries that have persevered and ultimately allowed their people to take control and establish pride, then they could see it would be possible for their country. How, with perseverance they could make this island a jewel of the Caribbean, for themselves and for generations to come.

Flowers of Europe

2009-05-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

One of the things I was most impressed with was the abundance and variety of flowers one finds in Europe in the Spring. From the fields of Rape to the many different tulips and the flower vendors in the market square, Europe is filled with beauty and color this time of year:

Even the lowly Dandelion and its seed are prevelant in the landscape and lend their own beauty and color.

Everywhere you look, in every space, you will find green trees, plants or a profusion of flowers. Europeans know how to decorate using nature as their backdrop.

Germany, especially, is rich in gardens, parks, tree-lined boulevards - a truly "green state" and I will miss it.

Guanaja's Big Shake

2009-05-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, it was not a volcano but the latest news is the my island received a 7.1 earthquake and that is news.

Normally we have little shakes now and then just to release the pressure and it has been a long time since the island had something that would cause items to fall off the shelves and walls! However, this morning at 3:24 a.m. (according to the news reports), the island receive a good shaking. The jolt woke people from their sleep, threw items off shelves and walls and, in general, gave everyone a good scare.

Reports were that the center was located 80 miles NE of LaCeiba which would put it pretty much out in the ocean. A friend of mine spoke to me on the telephone this morning and by his figures the center was about 30 miles away from the island.

Since I am still in the U.S. I am depending upon newspapers for any and all reports. Reportedly 4 people have died in Honduras with a possible 40 injuries. Guests in the Gran Hotel Paris were said to have been heading for the doors and water could be seen coming out of the pool. It was also reported that the bridge in Progresso collapsed which means the connection between that town and San Pedro Sula is blocked!

Reports from Guanaja were that two after-shocks were felt. Supposedly many phone connections have been lost but, fortunately for me, I was able to reach my husband this morning who, at the time had no reports of any damage to give me.

So while the Cay, pictured above, is still reeling from the shock of being shaken out of bed with an early wake-up call, so far I have not heard of any deaths or injuries and hope that this report will not change.

As my husband says, "It's always something."

2009-05-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

Franfurt Skyline

I have returned to Florida and still have a bit to report about our trip to Europe. However, it seems that the health Gods have given up on me and since they allowed me to take my whole trip without a sniffle, I am now at their mercy.

Frankfurt Train Station

I left Frankfurt on the 21st. I decided (with the aid of my son) to take the Underground to the airport. Price wise you can't beat Euros. 3.70 for the train against a cab that would have cost more then Euros. 36.00! Of course I had to be at the station by 5 a.m. so I had an early wake up call. We only had a block to walk to the station but, as is my nature, I anticipated something going wrong.

The Underground in Germany is one of the cleanest I've seen (although, I must admit, I haven't seen many) and even at this hour there were people awaiting for their trais. With the aid of my son, we deduced that I had to disembark at the 6th stop of the train. We spoke with an English-speaking German who reconfirmed our thoughts and he reassured me that I would not have to change trains. The train was there all of a sudden and I barely had time to hug and kiss my son goodbye. So, I will take this opportunity to thank him for making the trip with me.

Well, I made it to the Frankfurt airport, found the right terminal, caught my plane and flew to Heathrow where I had to collect my luggage, find a bus office to buy a ticket and board the bus for a 45 minute ride to Gatwick. It was a pleasant ride and the weather was not too bad for England; chilly but partly cloudy and no rain!

Again, upon reaching the terminal, I had to figure out what gate my plane would be leaving from, find my way there and await the departure. Once on board, it was a 9 1/2 hour flight and I would arrive approximately 4 hours after I left England due to the time change.

The plane was met with thunderstorms and lightning in Tampa which delayed our arrival at the gate and further delayed the transfer of our luggage from the plane to the terminal. Most of the computers were down at Immigration and processing over 300 people took time. But, it took less time than getting the baggage which was delayed due to the lightning, and that was an hour wait.

Met my daughter in the main terminal and we were off, albeit in rush hour traffic.

So, now, after 3 days, I have a cold, sore throat and body aches. I'm hoping that it will pass quickly as I am going on to Orlando to visit friends and family. I hate that I have this now as I certainly don't want to pass it on to my daughter, her husband and her children. But, as she said, its better I have it now rather than in Europe and spoil the vacation.

So, I have a couple more days of rest before I go to Orlando for 5 days. I should be blogging but just don't have the energy and, quite possibly, people may be tired of reading about my experiences!

Either way, I want to thank all that have followed my trip through my blog and made comments either on the blog site or to me personally in an e-mail. It has been an experience and one I hope to repeat next year by attending the wedding of the young German couple that chauffeured us around in their home town.

Oh, and now I have Euros to get rid of! Any buyers?

Buying Power!

2009-05-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

While in Europe one may wonder just what purchases they should make that would make a lasting impression when they return to their home land.

Like America, Europe has many possibilities open for the buyer. In my travels I have found that purchases that can be made are just as varied as those in the States:

For material things, there are objects that can only be bought in Europe:

A Bavairan Hat:

Masks from Venice:

And, for Gator fans, a Gator mask:

Certain beers, although unusual, and wines direct from the winery. I know, there are wineries in California, but I’ve never been there!

And things I wish they sometimes had in the states: Musicians entertaining on the streets:

Quality travel by train and comfotable train seats:

Of course there are things of necessity:

Euros:

Vegetables and fruits sold at open-air markets in the center of town. Also, the sale of Rhubarb (which only people from the northern U.S. will recognize. I had a wonderful desert in Germany of rhubarb and strawberries which brought me back to my childhood!

And artfully prepared dinners and scrumptious deserts:

Of course, I could not buy an Ostrich, but I was able to buy ostrich steak at a restaurant outside Schwabisch Hall which was delicious and had a light beef taste to it. (No, it did not taste anything like chicken!).

Some things we can get, but not in the size I ran across:

King-sized lemons and homemade cheeses of good quality:

Now, I know you can buy crocs in the U.S., but wooly crocs?

Of course we can find bikinis, scarves, ties and leather gloves, but a wooden motorcycle?

And Disney stuff can be found, but her in, Italy, Pinocchio is the real thing!

There are other things that one cannot replicate: a view of the city

Surfing lessons in the middle of Germany:

And, certain varieties of flowers not available at least in Florida:

There are vegetable and fruit markets in every town I visited; wandering trucks that sell cheese and eggs and bread and sausage. There was even a stand that sold coconut water! Maybe Guanaja could make a small fortune off running water over raw coconut – as shown in the photo:

And let us not forget, CHOCOLATE!

Seafood is in abundance and is displayed in many areas, unlike Florida where it is just advertised on the menu or sold in the grocery store:

And, I doubt that the Roman soldier was for sale, but how many do you see on the street corner in the U.S. of A.?

In Europe, they even have to make their ballpoint pens fancy encrusting them with fake jewels on the top. A little tacky for my taste, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

There are a lot more things available here but, unfortunately, I was busy taking photos of ruins! Go figure.

Venice Glass Blowing

2009-05-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Venice is famous for its fine glass products. Hand blown pieces of beauty are found in the many shops of Venice.