I feel the need to write

I have neglected the blog for over a week now. I do have a good excuse as I was in Minneapolis visiting family and friends. I decided to surprise my parents and arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday of last week. We had a great time shopping, eating, and relaxing.

I did enjoy the luxury of taking long showers and using a dish washer. Meanwhile, Ryan ran out of water and had to call a water truck. We had to get 3 loads of water costing us a whopping $210! We do know that we won't have to get water every month or even every other month, so we can handle the cost.

Unfortunately, I don't have an update on anything new in Bermuda. Hopefully there will be more to come this week. I did start a 3 night a week boot camp exercise class this week and am volunteering at the Centre on Philanthropy. Hopefully these activities will keep me busy and will allow me to meet some new people.

Until next time...

Crazy Ducks

I have included the first video on my blog. Today Ryan and I went to Paget Marsh which is a 25 acre nature reserve. There wasn't too much to see, but there were some crazy ducks. After some research, I think they were Muscovy Ducks. We brought some bread and as soon as the ducks heard the crinkle of the bag, they were right at our feet. We couldn't get rid of them. They followed us all along the bridge into the nature reserve.

You can watch the video to see Ryan feeding these crazy ducks.

Until next time...

The Waving Bermuda Man..

I have been meaning to tell you all about the waving Bermuda man. When I used to take Ryan to work every day, I would see the same man at the roundabout on the way into town. Through the thick rush hour traffic you could see a happy Bermudian man waving and kissing to everyone that rode by. At first Ryan and I thought this man was crazy. After some research, we have found that Johnny Barnes is famous. Yes, you are famous if you have your own Wikipedia page.

He is so famous that he even has his own statue. The statue is life size and looks just like Johnny waving at all the people. He is out at the same roundabout every Monday-Friday from 3:45am-10:00am. He is retired and has found joy in sending some morning cheer to people on their way to work. If only I could find something so fulfilling!

Until next time...

Summer is on its way...

Ryan and I had a good Easter weekend. We went to Horseshoe Bay on Good Friday to see the kites. People make intricate kites out of tissue paper. There was of course the typical plastic kites as well. The weather was beautiful, but there wasn't much of a breeze, so it was difficult to get the kites real high. The beach was busy and it was fun to see so many people out. The posted picture is from the beach on Friday.

I found out that it is a Good Friday tradition to eat Hot Cross Buns. I guess I thought Hot Cross Buns was a song I used to play on my recorder during elementary school. Anyone else remember the song? Anyways, people eat these buns with fish cakes. It seems weird because Hot Cross Buns have raisins or currants and sometimes icing. Sweet buns with fish doesn't seem like a great combo. Ryan decided to relate it to putting meat in jello. You just don't do it!

Limerick officially has the darkest suntan of the family. She has been laying outside almost every day and loves laying directly in the sun. Her belly is now brown and tan. We decided to google this to see if it was truly a suntan, and an interesting yahoo post came up. It recommended that we use dog sunscreen. I am not sold on that yet.

Tourist season is fast approaching Bermuda. There was a cruise ship in the bay over the weekend. It was neat to see such a huge ship so close to town. The resorts and restaurants are also starting to open up their outdoor seating on the beaches. It will be just as much fun for us as it will for the tourists to see what Bermuda is like in full tourism season. Summer will be fun.

Until next time...

Easter is For Kite Flying...

This weekend we went to a hat party. The party was a fundraiser for the Mariners Rugby Club. While we both decided that we would not be joining the rugby club, we did meet some nice people that gave us other ideas of what is fun on the island.

We went for a stroll on Warwick Long Bay this weekend. The sand was pink. While I had been told that the sand is pink in Bermuda, Warwick Long Bay Beach was the first beach where I could really see the pink in the sand. According to an article by Keith Archibald Forbes, "Beaches begin with tiny single-celled animals, Foraminifera, in particular, homotrema rubrum - or forams - dark red skeletal animals that grow profusely on the underside of Bermuda's coral reefs. When the red forms die, the skeletons plummet to the ocean floor. Wave action erodes the forams. They become mixed with other debris on the seabed such as the white shells of clams, snails and sea urchins. It is at that time that Bermuda's white sand takes on its characteristic pink hue." The beach was beautiful and I am told that many locals go there and it doesn't get crazy busy in the summer like some of the other beaches. The attached picture was from the beach.

Limerick and I have been continuing our walks. Today the roosters and hens were out in full force. While Limerick has always been intrigued by them, today was quite the spectacle. The birds usually hang out in a field below the trail. Since someone was mowing the grass in the field, they were hanging out on the railway trail. Well if you can picture this, I was trying to take pictures of the hens and their babies. They had at least 10-12 babies each and they were so cute. In my effort for a photo opportunity, Limerick stuck her nose a little to close and the hen was not happy. She ballooned up twice her size and chased us a good ways down the trail. We will be staying away. For anyone that went to Iowa State, it reminded me of being chased by Sir Lancelot and Elaine!

Everyone around Bermuda has been making their kites for Good Friday. It is tradition to fly kites at Horseshoe Bay in the afternoon of Good Friday. People make intricate kites or you can buy them at about any store in town. Yesterday we even saw someone selling kites with Obama's face painted on them. While I was tempted, this year Ryan and I will not be the two white Americans flying Obama kites on the beach. We actually haven't bought a kite yet, but will go down to the beach to see it all.

I am still staining our patio table and six chairs. We bought high quality marine stain and have given it three coats in order to protect it from the salt, wind, and rain on the island. What a pain it has been, but it looks great and will hopefully hold up through the elements.

Until next time...