Photo Miscellany 2

Some older pictures:

On the hike up the Quill.

Taken the day I saw my first waterspout. I sprinted home for the camera and headed up a hill for a better view. By then it was either gone or just obscured by this huge column of rain.

Sometimes when the sun sets, the ocean turns metallic blue. It's one of my favorite things, but this is the best picture of it I've been able to get. Sorry :-(



This picture is not dedicated to Kelsey. These birds fly over the ocean and make the most horrific noises. Pretty, though.

Local women fishing at Zeelandia. They told us that just the night before there was an 8-foot shark feeding in the shallows. When we asked if it was safe to eat any sort of fish caught off the shore, they replied with an enthusiastic 'yes', followed by a little contemplation, then a list of the fish that will kill you if injested.

I love this picture, but maybe only because I know that he's standing at the highest point of the Crater Rim Trail, only a foot away from a sheer drop into the center of the volcano. That makes his noble pose just that much better, doesn't it? Doesn't it??

For Annie

No one get overexcited. There are only a few of these on the island, and supposedly they’re owned by Kings Well Hotel. Oftentimes we can see (and hear) them from the beach - always too far away to even consider breaking out the camera. But Saturday we heard them quarreling as we were headed down the hill, and only had to go slightly out of our way to spot them.

Now the rest of the post is for everyone (Sorry Annie, it was short-lived.) It was our first beach day since being back on Statia, and we picked a good one. Sunny, breezy, big waves. My hair will be sprinkling sand for days.

Some other pictures from our Saturday of Fun, aka the walk down to the beach and back again:

Should have kicked that beer bottle out of the way...

Plans for the week: Jon studies for upcoming exams (Monday), Jessie meets 'Snoopy', the tiny dog currently being pet-sat by a friend.

Babble

It rained yesterday, all day. At some points it was coming down so hard we couldn’t even see the ocean, which gave me the perfect opportunity stay in bed and attempt to stave off what seemed to be threatening to turn into a full-blown UTI with 2 liters of cranberry juice, 12 hours of sleep, a few episodes of Mad Men, a couple of movies, and a rambling blog post.

Here it comes.


1) A few nights ago as I wandered around the house getting ready for the tri-annual school party celebrating the beginning of a new term, Jon came across something interesting on the local Statia channel. I can’t even really describe it. It seemed to be some sort of 80’s public service announcement declaring the dangers of unprotected sex, set to music. With dancing. And chanting. At one point the entire cast participated in a ditty entitled “Uncontrollable Urges”, but my absolute favorite part must have been when the main character announced to his friends ,“I’ve got all the tools I need riiiiight here” and the camera zoomed in on the crotch of his acid wash jeans. We sat and watched for longer than I care to admit , mouths agape, shaking our heads in bewilderment.

2) This happened.



3) Sometimes, when I’m moments away from sleep, I have the sudden impression that OH MY GOSH I HAVEN’T FED PENNY IN WEEKS. It only takes a millisecond for me to realize that she’s at my parent’s house, happy and loved, but by then it’s too late. My heart is racing and sleep is miles away. Anyway, so JUST IMAGINE my delight when my sister Annie, out of the blue, mentioned to me that she still sometimes has dreams that she forgot to feed the bird she had back in high school. (Annie loves birds. As in, there is a picture floating around my mom’s house of 10 year old Annie wearing a hyacinth macaw t-shirt with Sunny the cockatiel perched on her shoulder. She had a subscription to Bird Fancy and everything. How cute is that??)

4) WE GOT AN ATV. It’s old and corroded, the engine dies when it idles, it’s physically painful to ride, and it might not start tomorrow, but it’s OURS.

It’s a beautiful thing, having transportation.

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Edited to add: It didn't start :-(


Also, lately I've been getting tons of spam, so I'm putting captcha word verification up on comments JUST FOR A WEEK OR SO to hopefully deter them. I'm torn up about it, because I srsly hate those things. But I hate the constant spam even more. Kthxbai.

Worse than Pert Plus

Well, we made it to Statia. Again. Our trip back was mostly uneventful, but we procrastinated buying our puddle-jump tickets and as a result had to spend a night in St Maarten. It was sort of nice, though it set us back about $200 for the hotel and taxis. (Our place was fairly decent and right on the beach, but they offered up what must be the cheapest shampoo-and-conditioner-in-one available that left my hair so destroyed my only option was to try and remedy the situation with a bar of soap. Yes. I washed my hair with a bar of soap. I felt so ashamed.)

Anyway, the point is, we're here. And also, Jon wore a Speedo.

There is no charge for awesomeness

My mom dragged my box of archives up from the basement the other day. There wasn't much (just one box full; The result of a life in the Army that sent us moving across the country every couple of years), but I had a heyday sorting through it all.

The best thing I found was a picture I drew at church of "My Earthly Family" when I was a Sunbeam (the Sunday school group for 3-4 year olds). My teacher filled in my family members' names for me, and THIS is what's written underneath the portrait of my brother:

Jacob

With 3 mouths and 2 noses -

the whole class wants to meet him!

...Jon and I taught the Sunbeams for over a year in Tucson and suddenly I'm so disappointed that I never thought to send their drawings home with added commentary.

Picking up where I left off

My brother Jake and his wife Serena couldn't make it down from Alaska this year for Christmas, so they sent the next best thing:

Fifteen pounds of king crab legs. Drool. They were amazing.

Love this picture: Jon and the General preparing a black powder musket for shooting, Kyle tweeting about it. (PS - Jon's sweet denim coat was borrowed from my parent's hall closet. Just FYI)

Amateur video effort:

Family shot inside of a cowboy themed restaurant in Driggs. The amazing food caught me off-guard, considering I had to stare at a tiara-adorned mounted cow head whilst eating it.

Lastly, Corinne asked for an 'amigurumi' book for Christmas. It's this method of crocheting cute little anime-looking creatures. When she opened it up, she could not control her excitement and held up the entire present-opening process to flip through each page. Kyle rolled his eyes and said, "She used to work in finance...." and Jon completed the sentence with, "Now she's crafty". Anyway, I mention it because LOOK AT WHAT I MADE.

That's an octopus with six legs. And a chick. I've never been more proud of myself.