Whodaknown?

With the exception of very agitated and agressive TSA agents in Miami who nearly shoved a wand up my whoseywhattsit, the trip back to aMerica was almost unremarkable, however long and uneventful.

I can blame it on the fact that I live in a cave and only watch MTV (The Hills), Channel 5 News in Belize, the Caribbean News Roundup from Barbados and Bravo TV, but somebody forgot to tell me about the No-liquids-allowed-on-flights because-you-might-light-someone-on-fire policy. And the people in Duty Free were liars also, btw. Chug-a-lug.

Anyheeww, I'm here in Michigan, unjetlagged by now, and having a great time chilling my brains. UNBaby is cold and walks around with a blankey around her shoulders. She can't wait to see snow, we've described it to as just like sand but very very cold. I'm like a bag lady going from daughter-to-daughter's house cooking Mexican Chicken soup. In the past week I've had KFC, Subway, Steak and Shake, McDonalds (2x), Wendy's and I can't button the top botton on my pants.

One last travel tip:
All conch shells must be with your baggage. No carry on blunt trauma weapons allowed.

An Experiment on Ebay

I'm trying something new. I'm selling a couple of paintings by Nelson Young, a local Caye Caulker artist, on Ebay. Click on the painting title below and it will take you right to the ebay page.

Slumber

Untitled Fishes

Taking a Vacation from my Vacation

The Last Days of Summer
Friends came for a little going away party and Supergirl took some photos I'll share with you. You can't help but feel nostalgic.

Supergirl, UNBaby and I are going to cool our brains in aMerica for a while. UNBaby is going back to civilization to start school. Quite a change from being a wild girl living on the beach to a being a city girl. I don't think she remembers what snow is. Supergirl and I are going to civilization to eat IHOP Fruit Crepes, and to see all those new fangled fancy cars they have in aMerica. So we packed the store up like a hurricane was heading for us. It was easier this time, practice makes perfect. This 6 weeks trip will refresh and rejuvinate us. Bigness told me not to come home unless I bring him a bucket of KFC Original Recipe. Awe... he's so romantic. He'll need some rejuvination when we get back because he's on a big remodelling project and roof replacement project. every year at this time he repaints everything and if there's anyting big and important that needs to be done with hammers and drills, he does it in September and October. Can I compare him to a pig in shit on this or will someone call him on his cell phone (again) and tell him that I'm calling him bad names on the internet. Anyhow, you get the picture. He's in his glory, there's lots of drywall stacked everywhere, piles of brick pavers and roofing. Cans of paint and mud paste stacked in rows like soldiers waiting for orders. And I'm so glad I'm going to miss out on all the "fun".

On Being A Bag Lady - A Cautionary Tale

I had a big throwing out party (with myself) today. I am an admitted pack rat. My theory is that mentally I'm very organized, so my environmnet doen't have to be. I appreciate organization and I try to surround myself with organized people, because lawdy, I don't need anyone else like me junking up the place. Today I threw away 5 garbage bags of old clothes and junk (some of it was good stuff but I did it anyway) My excuse has been that its so hard to get anything here that if something was slightly broken or had a little bit of coffee on it, I could fix it or dye it or remake it into something useful. Well, that just silly. I have so much stuff that's been hanging around taking up space. Supergirl promised me that if I threw away some of my old tiedye painting t-shirts that I've had since 1998 she would tell me where she hid my black and white lizard print stretch capri pants that I like to travel on airplanes with, because they are so comfy. But it turns out that she's a BIG LIAR. A BIG BIG LIAR AND PROUD OF IT!

Don't Do That Again

Its been 2-1/2 years since I've been back to aMerica, 2 years for Supergirl. I'm looking forward to using my new e-passport. You know the one where they implant the computer chip so they can track you. I'll let you know how that turns out. I'm not a glutton for punishment so this trip I'm NOT going to pass thru customs entering aMerica wearing a tiedye t-shirt, flip flops and a silly straw hat. Maybe it was the picture of the 5 leaf plant painted on the back (just kidding). They weren't buying it that I was just a starving artist living and working in Belize. That wasn't fun, let's NOT DO THAT again. I tried to pull strings telling them that my parents both voted for George Bush, but they didn't care and wanted to examine EVERYTHING. I knew I was in trouble when the agent put on latex gloves...

Deserted Island

We tired of our own company, so Supergirl, UNBaby and I headed back to Caye Caulker on Friday morning. We expected to see lots of locals taking the plywood off their windows and resuming life as normal, and instead we met an island that looked like a hydrogen bomb had gone off. Lots of empty buildings and no people. It looked like everyone else had the same idea and didn't rush right back either.

Yesterday was a little better, plywood coming down here and there, more foot traffic and a few tourists showed up. A boatload of of tourists coming in was big news on the conch shell telelgraph making its way from the peir down to the split. Today more people, and now there's a local volleyball competition going on at the beach next to the police station to get the juices flowing again. The base from the boom box DJ on the beach is deep reassuring noise that we're gaining speed and not teetering to fall.

I'm O.K., You're O.K. but Nicaragua isn't o.k.

The second time in two weeks that we evacuated ran nearly the same only quicker than the first time. Practice makes perfect. I'm glad the government and The Weather Channel errors on the side of caution and we won't have the likes of Hurricane Keith (Sept/Oct 2000) sneaking up on us again.

For another point of view south of us in Honduras, check out La Gringa's Blogicito.

I feel sorry for the poor people of Nicaragua. Its such a poor country, much poorer than Belize. Its been 2-1/2 weeks since Hurricane Dean and the reconstruction effort by the Belize Government and other disaster agencies in Corozal is well on its way. At least that's what I'm hearing on local news, as I've not been up there to see it myself.

After Felix we decided to not hurry back but to give ourselves a couple of days down time, mental relaxation. Maybe we'll go back to work tomorrow, maybe we won't. Let's see how the weather fares. UNBaby has a cold and fever, Supergirl is crocheting a baby blanket for a friend due in a couple of weeks, and I'm using my time wisely of course, re-reading all the back issues of The New Yorker that MB has sent over the years. No one is on the Caye right now, the whole island emptied out again and this time of the year it's mauger season (translates into "hungry") so it will be days and days before we get any new tourists.