Sea-Side Cottage

Now we live here: 

In front of our house is this:

We have a lot of this going around the outside of our house:

Painted on the front of the house are these:

At the end of the driveway is this:

It's a lovely change and totally worth the extra walking (no hills!) to get to campus.  I assure you, I will show you inside pictures at some point when there are not random things strewn about the apartment.  It may be a while.

There Was a Little House in the Middle of the Woods

This is where we used to live:


It looks kinda cool all surrounded by trees and stuff, right? However, perhaps you can tell by the angle of the shot that it was up a bit of a hill. I never loved that. It also wasn't big. There weren't a lot of chairs. There were only windows on one side and thus very little breeze. There were many great things about the place (like security, quiet, great landlords, proximity to the annex, etc.), but this is obviously not the place for mentioning them, as I am telling you why we used to live there. Soon, I'll tell you where we live now. It's pretty cool.

More Red Rock Madness

The Caribbean Pizza was delicious, as promised.



One of our friends kids asked Wonderman the other day why he was so white. It's a valid question.

He looks happy, right?


The views were breathtaking, as were the overly rambunctious waves.



Wonderman was sure tuckered, but it was a good day all around.

Where Southern Utah Meets the Atlantic Ocean

Red Rock, Dominica

I only wish I had a thousand pictures, because words cannot describe its beauty.

Late Bloomer

I may have mentioned before that here in Dominica I get bitten by a lot of mosquitoes.

"Would you say I have a plethora of mosquito bites?"
"Yes, Jefe, I would say you have a plethora of mosquito bites."

Smiles all around.

Except that no one smiles, because mosquito bites suck.

I often complain (in a very sweet and endearing manner, of course) that it isn't fair that Wonderman never gets bitten. Every once in a while he shows me a bite that itches for a few hours and tries to say that I'm not alone. I never buy it. My suffering is always worse. It's a given. Or so I thought. On Christmas Eve, we went to the beach for a bonfire with friends. It was delightful. Especially since as an added bonus, the waves were about 75 times bigger than normal, so it was excitingly violent as the sea crashed on the shore. I only wish I had pictures. The only downside to the trip to the beach was the horrible little bugs that looked suprisingly like mosquitoes, but seemed immune to the bug repellant I had, with great foresight, applied to my feet and legs. On coming home, I began to pity myself, as I had lumpy red itchiness all over my little (relatively speaking) feet. I even continued the pitying of me for a couple days. Somehow it either took a while to develop, or I am such a lame wife that somehow I didn't notice this on my lover's legs:
I'd like to think that they took a few days to develop, because it makes me look less lame. Either way, I've tried to curb my complaints. Poor Wonderman. The itching even woke him up in the night.

Conclusion: Bonfires on the beach are awesome, but full coverage may be necessary to combat the evils that accompany dusk.

Fry Twice, Add Bacon

Sounds healthily delicious, right? Tonight we made Mofongo. It's a dish we tried in Puerto Rico and both loved, so it seemed the natural choice when Owen gave us a lot (and I mean a lot) of plantains.

It was a little labor intensive and didn't turn out perfect, but we will definitely try again (please note our awesome use of the LED lantern; our fluorescent light is flickering to the point that I'm sure it will cause an epileptic seizure soon, and there's no chance of buying one until tomorrow, although we're moving in just a couple days [have I told you that? I'm so excited], and I'm not sure it's worth the expense).

To do better next time: 1 - yellow plantains are too sweet, use green; 2 - raw garlic in large quantities is too strong, use less and cook it first somehow; 3 - bacon is only necessary if the mofongo is going to be the main dish, when eaten with chicken it's a little too much; 4 - it's worth using 27 paper towels per plantain slice, if that's what it takes to drain the oil off them after frying.
Conclusion: Trying new things is always an adventure, but there is much to be said for experience, which only comes from trying again. And again. And again (ah, that New's Year's resolution list looks like it's going to have to include exercise).

Counting Blessings

It's not quite the same, but today I was really grateful for this eggnog flavored drink. It filled a need and made me feel a little closer to Christmas. Next year, I'm going ALL OUT on the eggnog. All out, I tell you.