25 Jan, Wed

Wed, 25 Jan i apologize for the delay in posting anything to my blog. i've been busy (imagine that), and haven't been able to get to the internet .... Madi returned yesterday from Chetumal. she was sick most of the time she was there and still was not feeling well when she arrived. she did come in and finished her scarf that she started over a week ago. i think she was pleased with the result. i worked on projects all day again today, weather continues to be hot and sunny. and i continue to be amazed at how dirty i get, and how wonderful that cold shower feels !!!!! ..... honest, i do like it ! Patti from Canada arrived yesterday to stay at Madi's. the 3 of us went to a Cuban restaurant where Manuel (the guy who helped with the roofing project), just started working. we wanted to eat at Wish Willy's so we just had a Mojito, ... an expensive Mojito at B$12, (a rum and coke is B$5) ... and it was just so-so ... : ( on our way to Wish Willy's we passed these 2 little guys going down the street on their bicycle cart. the littlest one had the task of making sure no eggs were broken during the trip. then we went to Wish Willy's for dinner. he knows us pretty well by now, so when we get there, he just brings us dinner, we don't even need to order. it's always wonderful and this time he brought us 2 pitchers of rum punches as well, and we sat around a visited with him until closing. he offered to take us out on his boat on Sat for a snorkel trip. i'm not sure i can afford the time off my last day at Madi's ... we'll see how things go. when i got home, i put the fixative on my 'abstract' scarf.

24 Jan--Cats Scarves Projects

Tues, 24 Jan morning feeding went quickly, practice does make perfect; or at least lessens the time you have to spend. i retreated to my 'studio' and put the fixative on the 2 scarves that i had finished. here are the finished products. i am reasonably happy with them ... i still have a lot to learn; but am really enjoying this art form.

i started another scarf; this one abstract. i just did about 1/4 of it to see how it would go. the thing about abstract art, for me, is when i look at it, i think, 'that's not so hard, i could do that' ... but i think it's actually is harder than an image that you have structured. at least you have a ''pattern' to work with to guide you. it is especially difficult when working with dyes on silk, the dye just spreads and bleeds out and you don't have much control over it. you just have to try to get your colors to blend and hopefully not end up with 'brown mud' ! around 1pm i stopped and went out side to build a door into one of the catteries. this should have been pretty simple, and it wasn't too bad. i finished up around 4pm, as Madi returned. she can't talk and is pretty tired. i kept my distance from her. i don't want to get sick! Alex started the routine, and i ran to the hardware store to get some PVC fittings for another door that i want to do tomorrow. when i got back i helped him finish up, took a shower and washed my hair(s) ... all of them ... i went to Oceanside to use the internet, then called it a day.

23 Jan, Mon

Mon, 23 Jan after morning feeding, i worked a little more on the scarf that i started yesterday and got it finished. so now i have 2 scarves that need to go through the final process of setting the dye. hope to do that tomorrow. before Manuel got here, Alex gave Eddi and i a lesson on the Almonds that come from the Almond Trees they have here. i knew they had almonds, but for some reason i didn't think you could eat them. Alex was using a hammer to get to the nut. here is a picture of the leaf, an almond, and the nut inside. they were very good. Manuel came over and we continued with the roofing project. here are a few 'before' pictures. Madi had piled lots of 'stuff' on top of some plastic to keep it from blowing away in the high winds during hurricane season. Manuel is amazing. he worked really hard for us. i learned somethings from him; like when you attach roofing, you put the nail or screw on the 'up' ridge, not down in the 'valley' .... makes perfect sense coz the ridge gets less water. unfortunately the guys that did the other roof that i worked on didn't do it right, so i didn't either. :( we had to cut some of the tree limbs over the fence roofing before we could start i was actually happy to see that i wasn't the only one having difficulty getting screws in this damn 'hard wood'! Manuel was struggling too! the most difficult section took some time because the current 'roof' has a MAJOR slant in the opposite direction of where we want it to drain. so we had to be inventive. after that part was finished, the other two sections went together rather quickly; and we finished up around 3pm ..... Eddi went to the market and brought back some beers and a coke for me. isn't Manuel photogenic, he's a happy guy and everyone around here knows him. here is the finished project at 4:30pm we did the evening feeding again. Madi was supposed to come back today, but she never showed up. i had received an email from her yesterday that she got sick while she was in Chetumal and was still sick with a fever, etc..... 4 days later! i hope she isn't contageous when she gets back here! Eddi and i went to Marin's for dinner. i did not have lobster :) i had fish.

22 Jan--Madi's Cats

Sun, 22 Jan cat feeding the morning. Manuel had another job to do, so he couldn't help us today; maybe tomorrow; hopefully tomorrow. so i was going to do some projects; but i was kind of on a roll with my painting, so i decided to paint today. i put the fixitive on the scarf, this sets the dye so it doesn't rinse out and fade and is washable. so, ..... i have officially finished ONE scarf. YEAH ! ... it's a copy of the one i have at my house ... turtles ... :) ... except it has "Belize" written on it in 3 places for the tourists ( i hope ) i also started a third scarf today. Eddi and i talked a bit about price, marketing strategy, etc. ... well not in that detail; ...but she will be checking out the artwork on the island and noting prices. the place that i thought we might be able to sell them for us ... declined :( at one point in the early afternoon, i took a break and photographed Madi's Mom. she rakes the leaves every day .. all day ... she has job security ! ...... she is so sweet ... she says she is Sweet 16. some of the cats: this is Ojitos ... he only has one eye :( Munchkins ... one of my favorites ... his ears are crinkled and his face is all scarred up; and he has such a pitiful look on his face .. gotta love him ! i think Snowy is one of the most beautiful cats anywhere ! if she looks certain ways, she is cross-eyed i couldn't stop taking pictures of her ... she was being so cooperative, just posing there ! this is Flower ... it's such a rough life at Madi's ... and Joy (or is that Pride?) is having an unusually stressful day, as you can see Sheba woke up long enough to yawn and she was a little put out that i woke her at 4:00pm, i emerged from my room, did the evening feeding of the cats, took a shower, and heard my name being called. Eddi and Alex were outside laughing and telling stories. i laughed til i cried; Alex is very entertaining! went to The Enjoy Bar for .... hummmmmmm, grilled lobster :)

21 Jan, Sat

Sat, 21 Jan up and helped feed the cats again with Alex and Eddi; then put Hiccups in the cat carrier and walked him down to the vet. the vet took one look at him and said, 'i can take care of that right now'. he returned with a pair of forceps, we held the cat, and he yanked the tooth out. told us to continue with the Amoxicillin 2x/day and sent us on our way. nice to have a vet right here on the island; even if it is only occasionally. while Eddi was out yesterday, she returned saying she had a guy that would help us with the roof. .... and we didnt' have to pay him. way to go Eddi ! so we met Manuel at 10:30am to get started on the roofing project. we all walked to the hardware store and bought sheets of roofing, nails, and had them delivered. we actually followed the 'delivery golf cart' to the house, unloaded. then walked to the 'lumber yard' and had them deliver the wood on the 'delivery bicycle cart' then it was time to eat ... i thought i should feed my help ... next to the other hardware store to by regular nails. back at Madi's we started on the roof; and in an hour or so Manual had the roof on the first (and easiest) structure. that's him at the top. it was around 4pm and time to feed the cats, so we quit for the day. Manuel wanted to fix dinner for us, so he and Eddi went to the market and i actually got to work on a scarf!!!!!!!!!!! time is getting short here, and i've not done a very good job of painting on those scarves ... and it's starting to stress me out. at Manuel's i walked downstairs to the store and bought rum and the mix (coke, water, and pineapple juice). we sat outside on a 'porch' while he prepared his 'fresh salad' all fresh veggies with lime juice and sea salt. God, i hope i don't get sick from this ..... :( he asked us if we we wanted him to put a habanaero pepper in the salad. we both said yes. ...... oh my ... Eddi and i were both speechless as we sat there, with our mouth's on fire ..... it took about 1/2 hr, but finally it stopped burning ... again, i hope i don't my stomach doesn't act up with this meal. i wouldn't have normally eaten this type of fresh uncooked food ... but he wanted to fix a meal for us .... soooo ... i ate it .. and it was delicious Manuel is a very nice man, ... he is Mexican, .....sometimes when you talk with other nationalities, they don't get some of the jokes or comments. (and i'm sure we miss all of theirs) ... but he never missed a one . ....we laughed a lot. ......interesting guy.... came back home and finished a scarf !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...and i like it :) got to bed at 1:30am :(

20 Jan, Fri

Fri, 20 Jan Eddi helped me today and we got a lot accomplished. Lonnie and Jolene brought me some self-drilling screws that i wanted. so Eddi was inside the cattery pushing up on the tin roof, and i was on the outside on top, drilling the screws so they would be tight together. we got it done. next we moved on to another area where a board was rotten and needed to be replaced. but of course, the old rotten board was nailed and screwed and wire was attached to it on all sides. and we could only access it from one side. it was a difficult job, we broke Madi's mom's little step ladder in the process :( ..... but we got it done :) Eddi took a walk to find out who could help poor little Hiccups with his 'snaggle tooth' ... she found out the Human Society had a vet coming in tomorrow, Sat, and she made an appointment to have his tooth pulled. she is reallly good at meeting people and getting them to help. she is quite the net-worker ... so glad, coz i am not! in fact, i never left the yard yesterday. so we will take Hiccups to the vet at 8:45am tomorrow. then we helped Alex feed the cats in the evening and then went to Wish Willy's for dinner. Maurice is such a nice guy. we had a great dinner and 3 rum punches for a very reasonable price ... i think he wants us to come back again :) no pictures today ... but you can look at these

19 Jan, Thurs

Thurs, 9 Jan today was a great day. Lonnie and Jolene (from Kzoo) are on their way to Guatemala and are spending a few days in San Pedro; and today they came to Caye Caulker to spend the day with me. Jolene was one of the 10 girls that came to Belize for a birthday celebration over 3 years ago. Lonnie had never been here before, but he said he really like it here ... even better than San Pedro. :) i showed them around the catteries, and i think they were overwhelmed by it all, as everyone is. Lonnie took a picture of Swiper. while we were standing by the sea, we saw this 'barge' carrying sand ... it was so cute with the little awning on it. ....riding pretty low in the water ! then we walked down to The Split and Jolene and i posed in the window of the Lazy Lizard. Jolene liked the second balcony upstairs at Lazy Lizard that wasn't there when she was here last time. it's a beautiful view from up there. those are picnic tables in the water where we ate lunch and had some fu-fu drinks :) it was nice to have another day off :) i waited with them for the 3:30 water taxi back to San Pedro .... it was windy out on that dock! the beautiful photos are compliments of Lonnie ... thank you ! after they left, Eddi and i helped Alex with the feeding ... it went much better tonight with us finishing before dark. i noticed that Hiccups didn't eat all his food last evening. in the morning, with better light, i checked him out. his big bottom tooth is sticking straight out of his mouth ... like it's broken, but still connected. his gums are black (maybe they are normally black, i don't know); but he has really bad smelling breath, which i'm sure means it is infected. now what do we do? i gave him some Amoxicillin this evening. we'll see what happens tomorrow. he has a good appetite, but of course can't chew. i'm giving him canned food with water and he is eating it... that's a good sign.