Always Expect the UNEXPECTED (and remember to scroll down)

Photo Friday - Travels

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Love in the Afternoon Plus a Little Input from the Tax Man

The dress was bought, deposits paid, arrangements made, and then they ran Turbo Tax. Oops. It was better to get married in 2010 than to wait until 2011. In fact, it was so much better to get married in 2010, that the difference actually paid for their trip. So, Pam and John had a simple outdoor wedding with a few friends in the frozen landscape of Lake Taho, complete with fur hat and boots, before heading off to paradise for their destination wedding on Caye Caulker. With no family and no stress they enjoyed each moment of their day. And I enjoyed spending those 3 hours with them as I twisted and turned them this way and that like gumby. Actually, they were super easy to photograh, as HAPPINESS is the best makeup.

Photo Friday - Tranquil - Dec 10, 2010

Tranquilo

Behind the Scenery
Just a Little to the Left
Randomness
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Sondra

Sondra created quite the "scenery" as a little crowd drew on the street. She had arrived from Belize City on the Trickster barge, and was carried from the pier to the gallery on a trailer pulled by a golf cart. Important things were happening, such excitement. She was uncrated, de-doored and lifted up the stairs one grueling step at a time. 3 men including a tourist from Denmark, and an hour and a half later she was standing re-doored and all shiny. And I hugged her like she was a tree. I love you Sondra, I said to myself. Its o.k. to love an appliance.

I had remembered everything... that is, except to measure the width on the verandah door. Snap snap went the pinch bar and tap tap from a hammer popped off the moulding, and she slipped right thru. Lovely.

Shirlene poses next to Sondra. "She's pretty noh tru miss Lee, and so BIG."

Where is Old Delia? Old Delia has been relegated to a corner because of her bad ways. Old Delia doesn't like to work, is constantly hot, spoils things and has had many many many many repairmen inside of her. So, unplugged she stands in the corner waiting waiting waiting for the repairman to come to the caye. With Sondra so pretty and cold and big and new, things will never be the same for Old Delia.

Some Fun After a Very Serious Ceremony

Just a Quick Hello from the Peanut Gallery

Caribbean Colors reopens on Caye Caulker

I was two years in Mexico. Two years, wow. Seems like yesterday I closed my store on Caye Caulker and was moving over the border from Belize into Chetumal during the rains of November 2008 which washed away the Northern Highway, like a refugee. Err... I mean, full time artist.

The first few months were exceptionally difficult, not speaking Spanish, and on my own most of the time. Then came the Spanish Teacher with his dry sense of humor chiding me "Miss Lee Ann you are scaring the people again." and "You have to deal with these people and their attitudes with your elbows out, Miss Lee Ann stick your elbows out and establish your space." and my favorite thing he ever said was "Mexicans (read: Catholics) love an apology, so start any sentence with an apology for your bad Spanish." The tutoring always started with a 1/2 hour psychiatric counseling session and ended 2 hours later with my promises to study. I am a terrible student.

Friends were few and far between. In Chetumal there really isn't an expat community, not one that I could find anyhow. Where were all the white people hiding? After two years my neighbors went from fear of the apocolypse to a grudging admiration for the white lady who could now speak her crap Spanish (after the apology) to buy a coke light at the corner store.

I would be exaggerating if I said I did not make ANY friends at all. I was accustomed to meeting new, interesting people every

day on Caye Caulker. After a couple of months I met a couple of cool Belizean ladies living in Chetumal, an American retired real estate agent (soon to move to Corozal) and an American lady living in Corozal who had loads of tips and tricks for traversing the border, essential info for me moving to and fro as I was. And that was it. Four ladies in two years. I found myself going to Chedraui and walking around with my shopping cart looking to bump into English speakers. That worked, but mostly I was beggining to be the weird American lady. As if...

And then came the dengue fever. 14 days sick with it, 10 days on my own, too sick to get out of bed, too sick to go to the doctor, high fever, rash, swelling, constant nose bleed. Trying to stay asleep as much as I could until it passed, IF it would pass. And then not feeling better after it passed, exhaustion, I found out that I had developed a heart problem, an arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. The depression that followed, made me realize that I NEVER wanted to be in that predicament again. I began to wonder if I needed to be on an antidepressant. But Ifelt like my depression was the situation, and I was the ony one that could change the situation. Alone in a foreign country, few friends, no one checking on me. Isolation. And while the isolation was good for me to be able to create new things, to have the mental space. I can't handle continual isolation. Who can? Ask someone coming out of solitary confinement.

So, I packed it in, and packed it up. Carload by carload and boatload I moved back to Caye Caulker, and still have some belongings in Mexico strewn across the city with friends. The last time I moved I said "I will never own this much junk again." and here I was, packing up boxes of all my "good stuff." I had decided to reopen my store in the Alamina Beach House apartment, which is located above the Sports Bar (next to the Police Station) It is the same property where my store was before, just in a different location in the building.

I got a lot of encouragement from my artist friends and other gallery owners in Belize to reopen. A good friend in San Pedro talked at length with me and told me some of her back story, which I didn't know. It was a story about having to pull herself up out of the toilet over and over, and reinvent herself, and to isolate the people that are making you crazy.

The biggest gift came early though. I am going to be 50 on November 25 (yes I am a turkey baby) and a friend here on Caye Caulker loaned me her handyman for 2-1/2 days as an early birthday present. So, Lenny painted and hammered and painted and hammered. Thank you Doris. This same friend also came over nearly every day to make sure that I had changed out of my PJs, taken a shower, combed my hair and made progress. She doesn't know that I know what she did, so don't tell her that I know she was checking up on me, but friends like that I am grateful for.

The first couple of weeks back on Caye Caulker, people who had heard of my demise, were surprised and pleased to see me. I simply told them "I am hard to kill." and wiggled my eyebrows, and then did the crazy eyes thing I am so good at.

Two years in Mexico made me realize that I need my people, even if the people on Caye Caulker are nosey and interfering. As I put on my old tear up clothes with 1/2 the fringe missing, nobody looked at me sideways.

So I got Shirlene to come back to work for me again. We are like Thelma & Louise, except we aren't going to commit suicide at the end of the movie.

I have very few regrets in life, and I don't regret closing the old store in 2008 and moving to Chetumal. It was an essential part of the journey.

But it appears that you CAN go home.

If you're confused about where I am, follow the pink.

What's in a Name?

I recently referred to someone as a "douche bag." Not to their face of course, because then I couldn't have the satisfaction of having a passive aggressive rant behind their back. The name fits. This person is irresponsible, a jerk, selfish, and in general a jerk. Whopsydaisy, I used the word jerk twice. Now, I know what a douche bag is in real life. Its a very clever invention for cleaning your tarantula. But the use of it to describe a person and their behavior, where did that come from? Any of you experts on word or phrase origin, feel free to pipe up.
I found this interesting urban dictionary entry: meaning of douche bag

45 Lessons of Life

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. To celebrate growing older, she wrote the 45 lessons life 1.
Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come...
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

I'll add one more that is mine....
46. Always be prepared. Stop slobbing around in your nightgown. Get up, take your shower, brush your teeth, comb your hair, and put on clean clothes.

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