Autumn Beauty

It is a beautiful autumn here. Our trees are just beginning to turn. (Click on photos to enlarge.) This is such a contrast to our island home where we are surrounded by tropical splendor year round. We are very happy that it has warmed up here in the midwest. We've been up in the 70s the past two days and projected to stay that warm for several more days, with lows in the 40s. We're beginning to get acclimated to the cooler temps. We have a lot of yard work to catch up on. Our lawn guy has done a great job of mowing and trimming, but we have bushes to cut back, flower beds to clean up and 50-60 huge bags of leaves to rake up. We do use the large brown paper bags which decompose easily and these bags are taken to a separate landfill along with other yard waste.
I'm going to take a hiatus on this blog until January when we return to the island. In the meantime, I'll be blogging on Multiply.

Mild Culture Shock

It just gets colder here every night, 30 degrees last night. Don had to have a nice big fire this morning. I was tempted to not even leave the house, but I had a 9 a.m. doctor's appointment and then Ladies' Class, and I knew all the women were waiting for my return. They were as thrilled to see me as I was them.

It is a bit overwhelming to be back in the land of plenty though. The stores are huge, brightly lighted, and the selection of goods available is just unbelievable. You all know this, of course, but for me just coming back from Honduras, it is incredible.

The traffic has been another adjustment. I drove the short distance to the doctor's office in rush hour traffic. Lots of impatient people out there. One thing about Roatan is, with the possible exception of the taxi drivers, the people tend to be very patient; they're used to waiting in lines. I'm also not used to stop lights, there are none on the island, and, good gosh! there are a lot of them on Manchester Road. Then there is the noise from so much traffic and the smell of exhaust fumes. But I did enjoy the nice, wide, smooth road surfaces, unlike the beach road after all the torrential rains. (sorry about the sideways picture - I had rotated it but it flipped back). Click to
enlarge photo.








It seems odd to see everyone wearing such dark colors, lots of black, winter colors, and wearing dress boots and coats. (except for the Michigan people who don't think it's at all cold yet). I still think it's summer, but I'm not about to go sit on the deck in shorts, tee shirt and flip flops. And everyone is talking about Christmas shopping; I'm really not ready for that!

Going Nowhere

Man, it's cold here! It's been in the 40s all day and we are having a tough time adjusting. And yes, Judy already told me that's it going to be even colder tomorrow. Ugh.

The car problems have continued. Pearl (my car) wouldn't start this morning, even after being on the charger all night. The poor battery is just shot. I was hoping to drive up to Sam's Club and have a new battery put in. This was a problem. Only one car, our wonderful neighbors have moved out of state, so I started making phone calls. Called my friend, Deb, who said she would be happy to take me if she was here, but she was in Abilene, TX. Called several other friends and neighbors before I found someone who was both home and available. While we were off at Sam's buying the new battery, our neighbors 2 doors up got my message and came over. Don was able to get Jim and Kathy's new phone number from them and called to see if they had the car keys or knew where they were. Jim had put them in a safe place in the garage. Whew!

So, armed with a new battery and car keys, I finished making out my grocery list and looked through the pantry to see if there was anything else needed. That's when I noticed a big black gooey mess on the pullout shelf where I keep canned goods. One of the cans had sprung a leak. Don offered to clean that up while I drove off to the store.

American grocery stores are just amazing. What a selection. And what good looking meat! I did have sticker shock on some things, like fresh vegetables that I had been buying on the island for cheap. I mean really, $2.00 for one avocado?? Other prices were quite a bit less than what we have to pay in Roatan. As high priced as cereal is here, it's still less than $7.00 box. I also noticed the cheap gas prices while I was out. We had been paying over $5.00/gal. on the island., I don't know if prices have dropped there as well.

No mail yet. I went to the post office to see about getting it delivered here again instead of being forwarded to Rachel. They said if I had put a start and stop date on the request form, it would automatically resume today. It didn't. Either we really didn't have any mail or someone got their wires crossed. Not even a piece of junk mail. Oh well, I'm not used to getting mail anymore anyway. Perhaps mañana.

brrrrr!

We're back home and it's rather chilly here. We heard that it was in the 40's in St. Louis, but by the time we landed, it had "warmed up" to 57. There we were, dressed in short sleeved shirts and sandals. Don had one pair of long pants with him and wore those today, but I only had shorts or capris. I don't know why it didn't occur to us that it might be cold at the end of October.

We started the day out with a bang. We heard Rachel and Lance's phone ring in the adjoining room at the Doubletree in Houston. We looked at the clock and it read 4:45 a.m. Man, why were they getting a wake up call so early? Don got up and hopped in the shower while I made some coffee (which was very good - Wolfgang Puck coffee made in one of those single cup machines). Rachel opened the connecting door and asked how we were doing. I hopped in the shower and thankfully, decided not to wash my hair, because as soon as I got out Rachel asked if we were about ready to go. "WHAT?! I asked. It's 5:15." "No, she said, it's 6:15." "No, it's not, I said, not on our clock." "Well, your clock is wrong. It is 6:15, we've gotten our wake-up call and we need to be down on the airport shuttle at 6:30." Boy, did we hustle. We threw everything together and hauled suitcases out into the hall. The door slammed shut behind us just as Don said "oh no! I still have one suitcase in the room and I left my key inside. Who has a key?" No one. We went to the elevator, thinking we had to go to the desk to get another key, and that's when I remembered that I had put my key in my purse when we went down to dinner the night before. Don went back to get the suitcase and Rachel waited for him. Lance and I went down to grab the shuttle and get him to wait. It was chilly when we stepped outside. That's when I remembered that I had left my longer sleeved shirt up in the room and just knew that Don would never see it. Otherwise, I was wearing onl a tee shirt. I met Don in the hallway, got the key and went up to the 7th floor to retrieve my shirt. The shuttle waited. This was way too much commotion before a second cup of coffee.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We arrived in St. Louis, got our luggage, got picked up by our friends Pat and Carl. They took us home to drop off bags and change clothes and then we took them to lunch at the Pasta House. Once back home, I looked in the empy fridge and realized that someone had to go to the grocery store, at least to get the essentials. Don opted to clean our shower, which had dripped and molded, and I (wisely, I thought) had elected the grocery run. Only I couldn't find my car keys. Anywhere. Jim and Kathy had taken us to the airport 3 months ago in my car, and we had asked Jim to drive my car once in a while. I called Carl to see if Jim had passed the keys on to him after Jim and Kathy moved away. No, he didn't have them and never had. Well, this was not good. I couldn't find the piece of paper that I had written Kathy's new cell phone number on, and they hadn't yet moved into their new villa in Illinois, were staying with various relatives and so had no landline or e-mail. Bummer. I found a spare key, minus the key fob, and went out to start the car. Nothing happened. Ok, this was getting worse by the minute. Don came out, checked under the hood and discovered that the battery was nearly dry. He filled it and put it on the battery charger. We sold Don's car before we went to Roatan and are now a one car family, so no grocery run today. And I still have to track down Jim and Kathy and the missing key fob.

It's kind of surreal being back in the States. The heat's on, the air is dry, and our skin, eyes and throats already feel the difference. We were surprised and delighted to see that the trees had not only not lost all their leaves yet but were just turning colors. Nice. I'm sure tomorrow won't be so nice; it's supposed to be even colder, and I'll have sticker-shock when I get to the grocery store. We'll see if my peaceful, laid-back mood lasts when I take to the road again.

Traveling

It's Saturday evening and we're back in the States, in Houston. I've just demolished a plate full of Texas ribs! Yum!!
We had another interesting day. It was dry all night and early morning. We had lots to do to close up the house for a couple of months. Don and Rachel walked up the hill to Dennis' house to borrow his ladder so Don could put up the hurricane shutters. The rain held off, the gate was still closed and locked but Dennis came down to unlock it just as they approached it. It did start to rain as they were hanging the shutters, but not too hard, and then stopped.

We did some laundry, washed some dishes, covered all the furniture, emptied the fridge and freezer and gave the contents to Merlin or Kaleen, and emptied the trash and garbage. All the deck furniture got moved inside and the propane tanks, too. Merlin came down to say good bye, then Colin stopped by. Next Kaleen and Kelly came down. We hated to say goodbye, even for a couple of months.

We threw a few things into the suitcases and were ready to go when Dennis came to get us. (Don had moved our car up to Colin and Kaleen's garage.) It was still dry as we threw our bags into the back of Dennis' pickup and climbed inside. Just after he dropped us off and we were standing in the line to check in, the skies opened up and it poured.

The Continental line was long and slow moving. We noticed that there were some angry people ahead of us. Security had sent them back to check some items: an umbrella (a weapon!), a ceramic pot (?!). Whew. Were they ever ticked off. We finally got checked in and then went through immigration, paid our exit fees and went to security. We all made it except for Lance. He got sent back to check his hammock swing. Apparently the wooden poles were weapons! They wanted to charge him $26. to check the chair. He refused, saying he would just as soon break the poles off over their counter as to pay an additional $26. They went ahead and checked it without charge or comment.

We had a little snack of empanadas and bean quesidillas and something to drink before boarding the plane. Our flight was on time and our boarding process was smooth. The final screening before boarding includes a manual search of all carryons, but no one was wanded, no shoes removed and nothing was confiscated that I could tell. Nice. It was still raining, although not pouring, as we walked out across the tarmac and climbed the stairs to the plane. No lunch served on the flight, only a tiny bag of peanuts and something to drink. The flight to Houston was full but uneventful. No movie, just a bunch of old reruns.

Landed a few minutes early. The customs agent studied my passport, looked at me, looked at my passport, typed something into his computer and then stared at the monitor. It took a lot longer than usual. I thought he was thinking that I no longer looked like my 9 year old passport photo. Don thought that he was checking to see if there was a warrant out for my arrest (ha ha, very funny). He finally let us go.

After we claimed our bags and went through immigration, we walked out and got right onto the Doubletree shuttle. I didn't even have time for an asthma attack! (Houston polution.) Warm chocolate chip cookies awaited us at the Doubletree as we checked in. Then we discovered that our new credit card had apparently not been activated by our banker and it was denied. So Rachel put both rooms on her charge card. We got up to our adjoining rooms and she got a call saying that there was a problem with her card, so back down she went to straighten that out. Sheesh!

We were starving, having had no real lunch, so we headed to the grill and I had fantastic Texas barbequed ribs. Yummmmmmm!!! It was a great meal for everyone. And then we all went back to our rooms and crashed, too tired to stay up for the BBWS, which Lance said was the big, beautiful women [something] Halloween party. Nope, way too tired for that.

Running Around

We started out yesterday with stormy skies and threat of more rain. We had errands to run, so we didn't let that stop us. On the drive to French Harbor we drove through a little rain and then the sun appeared. We all had to break out the sunglasses.

Next stop was Coxen Hole for the weekly fun at the bank. While waiting in the older persons line, an elderly woman in front of me said that she had stopped at the bank in French Harbor but it was closed because it had been robbed the night before, so she had to come on to Coxen Hole. Rachel said she had seen the yellow police tape across the driveway.

Next stop was Yaba Ding Ding for some gifts to take home, then the New Souvenirs across the street which was crowded with cruise ship people. Don and I bought a couple of beautiful paintings by local artists.

Our favorite restaurant in the Hole was opened but had no cook, so no yummy Black Angus burgers today. We decided to go to the Half Moon Bay Cafe in West End. The view from there is beautiful and was especially good today. The seas were very rough, lots of waves and whitecaps. Rachel and Lance were glad they had chosen not to dive today.



Late in the afternoon, we walked up the hill to visit Dennis and Merlin. Merlin gave Rachel and Lance a tour of the newly completed hilltop house and then the still-under-construction "over the hill house". While we were up there, the sun began to set, affording us this view.




You must be flexible to live here. Last night was a case in point. We had planned to go to Blue Bahia for dinner and to hear Deb sing. Just as it became dark, the power went off. The west end of the island was completely dark, then a few lights came on as generators kicked in. We weren't sure if Blue Bahia would be open, but I figured it was worth a try. Nope. Not a single light on. So we drove on down to the West End where we knew several places that would be opened. We went out armed with our headlamps, flashlights and lantern. You just never know what you might encounter while walking. We didn't even get off our deck before coming across this tarantula. (Click on picture to enlarge!)


He ran into the corner of the step and then froze in our lights. Thankfully, he was gone when we returned after eating pizzas at Pura Vida, and the power was back on!

On the way to the West End, Don drove over a huge white crab skittering across the road. The road in West End was just a washboard of potholes from all the rain, so we parked at the Baptist Church and walked down to Pura Vida carrying our various light sources. It is still a challenge to walk around the potholes without turning an ankle. We saw an amputee on crutches on the way there, and an amputee in a wheelchair on the way back. It's even more of a challenge to navigate that rough road with an assistive device.

You have to go with the flow here.

The Lottery

We get such a kick out of our friend Merlin. She has been telling us some interesting stories about her dreams and the lottery. It seems that she will often have a dream about numbers. The other night she dreamed of the numbers 14 and 41. Now, that sounds kind of weird in and of itself, I mean, who dreams about numbers? But the stranger part is that she will wake up, still thinking about those numbers, and one of her friends will call asking if she's had any dreams.

I need to explain (no doubt poorly) about the lottery on Roatan. There is a twice daily lottery and then a weekly lottery. They are different from any in the U.S. that I know of (I don't play so I'm no expert) in that you can pick your number and it can be just a two digit number. Also, any number of people can choose the same number and if it is a winner, each one receives a full share, you don't split the winnings. Also, you can spend as much as you want on your lottery ticket, and the more you pay, the more you can win (or lose). The pay out for the daily lotteries is 60 to 1, for the weekly lottery it is 150 to 1. The lottery machines are all over the place, even in some of the small pulperias (tiny convenience stores), making it convenient for you to play (sort of like Las Vegas!).

This is where Merlin's friends come in. They frequently call and ask if she's had any dreams. If it's for the larger weekly lottery, they will often pay her a cut in exchange for her "tip", the number she saw in her dream. Now, this does sounds far fetched, but she's amazingly correct, which is why her friends call. The first weekend that we were here, she and her friends won a pretty large amount. She used her winnings to pay for their new wrought iron fence from the road up to the new hilltop house, a distance of several hundred feet. Sometimes, she'll just save the money from smaller winnings and use it for eating out. She even treated us to a lunch out that first week.

We think she's one of those rare people who are just incredibly perceptive as she often "predicts" or just knows that something is going to happen or someone is in trouble. She has told us about several dreams she's had in the past about someone dying shortly before the person did. She describes it as "just a feeling". Dreaming about numbers is apparently an extension of that ability. Without a dream, she will never bet on anything.