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I am very pleased to report that the Old French Bakery which is still open in Cayo is now in San Pedro as well at the Hacal Kiik building on Chicken Street. This is the area just across from where the airstrip ends as you are heading into town make a left going past Tropic Cargo, and go 2 streets down towards the Lagoon.

While Dick and I were driving around looking at Boats yesterday we happened to pass by Hacal Kiik and he noticed the open sign, since we were planning a bakery run we decided to stop and see if we would get lucky here. Boy did we ever, I had not realized this is the spot The Old French Bakery was going to be, or that it was their opening day and that there would be a delicious selection of samples awaiting us. It felt like we had stumbled into a secret party.

Sean and Blanca were delightful. Everything we tried was top quality, and we were both very excited to find real bread. Dick purchased 2 loaves of bread, french sticks and some walnut sourdough. All were delicious and it is hard to pick a winner, but I will say the raisin bread did not even make it to the toaster at dinner last night and we all went back for seconds on all of the bread choices.

I highly recommend stopping by the Bakery to enjoy their wonderful selection of goodies.
You can reach them at 600 - 9896

Please help spread the word this is a much welcome and needed addition to our food options.


Sean and Blanca

Great Selection

Snack time

Buying bread

What a treat

Sweet Bread

Sourdough

Olive Bread

French sticks

Sub buns

Oatmeal Rolls

Spent they day joy-riding with Paul, Dick, Cindy and Molly. We all had a blast. Dick is on a mission to find a boat so after our ride north, we got to go all around the lagoon area looking at boats.

Back at Dick and Carole's now. Dick and I shopped and prepped while the 2 Pauls did some things they needed too. We are about to go and pick them up for dinner.

Diner was great we watched a funny movie after and Cindy joined us after work.

Fund raiser Events

Help us raise funds for surgery for our friends,
Drummer Dan Van Patten and Miss Trudy.

Saturday September 1st- 7 p.m.
Raffles at Crazy Canucks Bar
Music with Dennis Wolfe
and The Usual Suspects Band
Many surprise prizes such as dinner at
Lily’s Restaurant

Sunday September 2nd- 2:30 p.m.to 6:30 p.m.
B.C.’s Beach Bar
Jam Session with The Usual Suspects Band
All musicians are invited to participate
Dinner BZ$10.00 featuring
Cajun Don Seruntine’s famous Gumbo
Or Choice of :
Pork Roast / Roast Beef / Creole Shrimp
Mashed Potatoes and gravy or Spanish rice
Tossed salad or Parmesan vegetables
Sweet corn, Dinner rolls
Key Lime Pie or Black magic chocolate cake
For reservations call 663-9615

There will also be a small auction
We will have raffles and yard sale items
during the day

Drummer Dan at Canucks with Cindy and Molly after Hurricane Dean

I was able to make it up to the school today and see how San Mateo fared during the storm. The school was fine and most of the lake that was there after the storm has gone away, the ground is still soft though. San Mateo has a lot of standing water and is a bit worse for ware if that is possible.

Along the way I took some pictures of Boca Del Rio area and just across the bridge.

I walked 8058 steps on my journey which came to 46 minutes of aerobic activity and 4405 aerobic steps.

To see pictures of the school after Hurricane dean please go to http://www.holycrossbelize.blogspot.com/

Cleaning up debris

Some debris

River boat

Tranquil River

Some debris in yard

At the bridge

The cut

Wonky power lines

Looking out from Holy Cross


Smiling fireball

Always

Enjoying a walk

Dreadys Coco Loco

MMMM Dande's

Main road

Roof metal

Boat in yard

Some rubble

On the prowel

Lunchtime


Boat's safe

Tidy yard

Antijitos is in good shape

Laundry time

Here are the few thoughts about the hurricane some of it is from my notebook at the time and some added in after the fact.

Jock is here now, we met him at Marina's and he agreed to bring our last minute provisions to Cindy's house and her and I booted it back there getting totally drenched in the rain.

We are organizing inside now with all our supplies. I was laughing telling Cindy earlier that I bet she did not expect to have a bag lady over for the hurricane, she did agree to many of the things I had set aside to bring when she was helping us cart it over. Cindy is cooking some pasta which we all really need right now. Last thing I remember eating was pizza last night. Lunch is served adios.

We saw Jim Janmohammed earlier and he told us about the mandatory lock down from 8 pm to 9 am. It was reassuring to walk with him on the dock and hear what he had to say. Reef Radio was also wonderful to listen to because the coverage was local it made me feel like they were able to tell us straight up. Paul was upset at the weather Channel and wrote them because they kept failing to mention Belize when Dean was clearly headed right for us. I got an email from CNN to do an interview the night of the storm but how could I possibly get back to them when we were hunkered down. I would no trade those moments on Cindy and Pauls balcony that night for an interview. I wonder why they did not send a corespondent here our neighbor said Jamaica, Dominican and Puerto Rico all got one.

Maya and Colette just called to say that waves are through the gate at Royal Palm and wish us all safe.

We had a great group of people to be with during the storm it was Cindy Paul Jock Paul and myself. Lots of food and drink and games to play. we hung out on the balcony as long as we could talking, enjoying fresh air and watching the night sky.

- More to come I am being flooded with msn and yahoo pops and conversation is too good / busy to chat and blog at the same time -

After we had to come inside everyone got to playing poker, I was too tired and just faded in and out with Molly and basil on the pull out couch.

We got to look at the storm through the bathroom window as it had wood hurricane slats on it which allowed us to watch the trees dancing in the wind and rain. everyone lay down for a bit and Paul and I were listening to the Mayan crystal skulls on my mp3 player. I woke up noticing Cindy was dealing with water on the front area so I went to help her on that. A few major crashes startled us that night but over all we slept through the worst parts.

The morning after we all poked our heads out the door to see how things looked. As soon as the curfew was lifted, we headed for the beach to take pictures and see who we could find. Along the way we ran into many friends and everyone was happy and glad to be greeting each other exchanging stories of how we all came through it ok. It was not long till Carole and Dick came back from Flores and met up with us in town as we were finishing our walk and getting ready to head back to Paul and Cindy's. Town got power and water very fast and we decided to go back to our house and get life back to normal.

- more to come -

It has been just over a week since we were hit by Dean, and we were very fortunate to come through this one in as good shape as we did. Tazmara from Barefoot Books said from the state of things up north we really all should have left the island, and she is likely right but I feel that this is something we needed to experience and learn how to prepare for in the way we did. Unfortunately many places did not fare as well as Ambergris Caye. Nancy told me of someone in Corozal who lost his house.

This one goes out to Colette, Stacy and Cindy who we all celebrated Thursday night. It was officially Cindy's party but I had to add the other 2 in there as we missed them due to Dean and all the hustle and bustle.

Happy Birthday Girls.

Due to Dean we just missed Colette and Stacy was the night after so we missed her too. Cindy said lets go to El Divino at Banana Beach and have drinks so a bunch of us met there to celebrate.

Unfortunately drinks were not something I was supposed to be having. While it was fun at the time I sure paid for it the next day and am still trying to loose the stomach ache today.

I still need to do my Dean write up soon too, I had my, Party Samurai Jack note book during the event and was writing down some stuff for my blog.

Back hoe moved a but during storm

Water

Water by the lagoon
Boats all safe

Before and after shot of this place almost same except for extra water

Fire truck

In good shape

Chris from Casa Picasso

Water

Saying hi

Tin roof

Not so bad

tree down

Tree branches

Vehicle Parking

Road puddle



Saw Elizabeth and some of Brahma Blue gang

Dive shop

Sand was washed up high

Cindy Jock and Paul

Yay we are all safe

Royal Palms beach area

Royal Palms

Royal Palms

Royal Palms Beach

Royal Palms ahead

Mata Rocks

Mata Rocks

Mata Rocks

Banana Beach

Grand Colony

Grand Colony

Grand Colony

Grand Colony

Grand Colony

Small bite out of sign

Beach at Banyan Bay

Banyan Bay

Lost Souls are safe

Fence gone

Fence gone

Fence gone

Dock Down

First Plane

Xanadu

Debris

Small palapa roof gone

Tree's blown

Cindy Jock talking to Alex and the 2 Pauls behind them

Light down

Xanadu Dock

No Entry (that includes you Dean)

Boarded up

Caribbean Villas area

Coral Bay Villas

Fence down

Looking North

Tire stuck in

Debris on beach

Trees blown

Bite out of sign

Clean up started right away

Palapa down Victoria House

Beach clean up time

Lots of sea grass

Paul and Nancy

Rick and Paul

Headed for Canucks

Crazy Canucks beach

Enjoying a beer

Canucks

Beer time

Canucks Beach

Beach at Canucks

Drummer Dan Cindy and Molly

Only dead fish I saw

Beach needs a clean up

Detour

Under construction

Heading toward canucks

Blue top of Banyan Bay roof

Yacht club dock

Changes in Latitudes street

Street Beside BYC

BYC

Green beach grass

Inside Tropical Touch

Lots of Debris

Tropical Touch

Island Academy fence

Water over sea wall

Tree down

First boat we saw

Iguana

Belikin dock

Fence needs work

White house beside Ramon's

Dock

Ramon's

Ramon's

Boardwalk

Ramon's

Ramon's

Ramon's

Ramon's Dock

Ramons

Ramons

The Palms

TMM

Tim - Joely - Island Dog

Chap

Wonky dock

Lots of seagrass

Sign gone

BC's

Blue Water Grill

Police

Searious

Cannibals

Raking the beach

Holiday Hotel area

Bottom Time Dive shop


Side street
Water Taxi Terminal

Dive shop

Tackle Box

Pro Tech

Pier Lounge

Sign down

Estelle's

Army

Old Barge dock

Old Barge pier

Big Daddys

Mary

Tree down

Island Ferry dock

Fido's

Fidos

Boom box

Alex and Marisol's table table

Steve

First step under sand at Fidos

Steling

Amigos Del Mar

Mayan Princess

Perk

Sign down

Front street

El Dorado store

Plastic bucket shop

Our building

Looking at Lagoon

Ramones

Ramones

Boats still there

Belikin distributors yard

Yard work time

Near Pedro's

Cart roof

MR. Deli

Wet Ride

Signs blown around

Marina's

Sign still standing

South area Lagoon side

Sherry's house

7 people on Cart

Back to Paul and Cindy's

Back at home base

Cindy and Jim

Tackle Box

Cindy

getting ready to board the boat

Getting on the boat

Coast Guard

Beach

Pier Lounge - Caliente - Spindrift

Beach heading North

Pro Tech

Water taxi

Town Hall

Kasbah

Front street

Post Office

Statue

Front street heading North

Church in town

Front street near Perk and Sueno Del Mar office

Aida's shop - Coral Beach realty

Front street

The hub is Battened down

Lions Club

Coco Net

Lagoon finger

Lagoon finger

Fire Coral Street

South east

South east

Lagoon

Lagoon

Mini storage

Lagoon

Lagoon side

Lagoon finger

DFC


Paul and Cindy's we are all ready to hunker down

Lagoon side

Lagoon side

Massive Crock in lake / pond

On the beach

Banyan Bay


Water
Colette - Maya - Cindy

Cindy - Maya - Wade - Brad



Paul and Cindy

Hi all, just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that we are ok. Just got back to our apartment after staying at Paul and Cindy's place. Will have lots to say and many photos coming soon when we are all organized and settled. Thanks to all for all your support.

10:59
Go to Ambergris Caye Message board
for information. I am going out with cindy for golf cart ride.

10:31
load two over to Paul and Cindy's. TV is now bagged and ready to go in the shower. Cindy will do final load at 12:20 pm. At this time we will shut down all electrical and pack up our lap tops and router.

10:02
Cindy and my Paul moving first load of stuff. I am organizing more to go and getting last things above ground.

9:20 am
It is so surreal right now. These may very well be my final comments as I am ready to go at a moment's notice. We are moving to phase 3 alert, the storm can hit with in the next 24 h. Thank you to all who are making paypal donations it is greatly appreciated right now. Cindy just came but she will come back in 20 minutes to start moving our stuff. She has Bob's golf cart till noon.

Super hot on the island very humid.






7:45 am

it is official we are staying.

Paul is going to help Beto board up, while I will try to get supplies to Paul and Cindy's house asap.

Thanks to all who are making paypal donations envisionyourfuture@hotmail.com and saying prayers for us.

Thanks for keeping emails down to a bare minimum.

Paul and Beto boarding up

Diane came by for reading Material


We are prepared and feeling very positive

Bikes will go here

This list will be updated on Monday morning.

post comments to leave info for people.

Big John went to Miami yesterday (Sunday)

Carole Goudreau Mattis and Dick Mattis are going on the 2 pm tropic plane and heading to Flores

If you are hunkered down and still have power and manage to find this here are tips.

Lara said - " We all have to make he best decision we can with the information we have at the time. "

Roll a towel up tight and then place it inside a garbage bag. Take the edges of the garbage bag and wrap them around the outside of your door(s). Then close your door. The wind and rain will blow the bag/towel into the door and (hopefully) keep water from coming in.

Sunday / Monday night 12:33 am

This is a list of who is staying that I know of right now that We worked on earlier.

If anyone has a correction or name to add please post a comment. That goes for all posts.

Colette - Maya - Peter - Aida - Fred & Lorraine Sommes - Bob - Tammy - Jim - Zoe - Dave - Randy - Joe - Rhonda - Pelican Properties - Diane Cambell - Nancy - Rick - Scott - Herb - Joely - Tim

Monday

Beth Hart, Sharon Boyde stayed at Banana Beach.

Chris Barenfanger, Mike Madrid, Linda "Wonderwoman" Carter, Kathy (Beach'n Kitchen), Glenn & Colleen (Rendezvous Restaurant), Bernie & Gordon.

Tammy and Jim, would this be Tammy Peterson?

Lara Goldman is heading into town to Andrea's place with her cats soon. She is packing up her pc.

Electricity in the air - by Tacogirl

Words cannot explain what it is like here on the Island right now so I have been posting as many pictures as I can to show you all. Here are some pictures I shot tonight that show what it feels like.

Friends are all meeting up and making sure everyone is set

Energy in the air - Animals are restless or gone

Poly Clinic

Julia Gardens

Movement

Simon posted this:
Listen to Reef Radio at http://ambergriscaye.com/reefradio/ for regular reports. I'm told the 10 to 6 report will be very important tonight.

We are going to Paul and Cindy's tonight for a get together.

We are listening on the Crank Radio Erin gave us. I will bring it with us tonight.

Beth just popped us and said Sharon Boyde's house is being boarded up now.

7:23 pm
Carole coming to get us to go to Paul and Cindy's. Just talked to Lara at Bc's and she said there is a party at Wet Willy's tonight.

12:39 pm
One of the topics of conversation that came up tonight was that people are noticing changes in Animals lately. This is a way for us to track what is going on as animals always know ahead of time when something is coming.

We are not playing Go Big or Go Home right now. Everyone is solidifying plans and we've got the network ready to communicate in msn messenger tomorrow morning to get a final tally.

Cindy - Paul - Herb - Zach - Carole - Dick - Lara - Paul - Myself were the people at Cindy's tonight. Colette called to check in.

Carole's Bag was just Stolen - She lost $600 - phone - camera if any of her friends and family out there want to send her a donation via paypal please mention her name in the headder.

Atlantic Bank

Middle street heading south

Middle street

What a day

Waiting for a boat

Looking South
Heading North

Cindy

Paul gets a guitar

Cindy and Tim

Lovely day for a swim

Be here now



Cindy - Paul - Joely - Carole - Richard - Steve

Music - Zac and herb

Enjoying the moment

Beach

Wet Willy's

Gorgeous San Pedro day

What a day

Reflecting

Beach day

Practice makes for sore abs

Show time

Ocean bath

Beyond Bridge is Holy Cross and San Mateo

Skinny dipper

Big Tree boarded up

12:20 am
I planned this beach party, because Beth is here and Carole and Dick would be back, also it was time to let loose on the beach with all our friends. This was before I knew about Hurricane Dean.

After the past few days and what all of us have been through we earned this party big time. Mayan Weather Gods if you are listening send is a beautiful day San Pedro Style. I packed up my party supplies tonight and put then to higher ground, I did keep the twister board out for the party tomorrow.

We have rain now, the sounds is back and forth from light to medium. Now it has stopped. Oops spoke too soon it has started again this is all in the space of about 13 minutes. Now I know why the storm reports keep changing so fast.

Paul just got home from Pedro's The Hurricane is heading south again and we are back in the cone.

2:00 am
There is lightening and thunder happening over the lagoon but no rain right now. I have been watching a movie while waiting for my coast to coast downloads to finish. Pail napping on the couch. Middle street is very quiet. Back to fluff tv.

Wow I just checked stats and had 182 visitors to my blog yesterday. So exciting.

11:20 am
Joley and Tim are here they are now at the Belizean Reef and have offered us to go there if we need to.

http://acerfriends.blogspot.com/ go to this link and get on the list of you are on the island

12:00 pm
Dick and Carole are coming over to discuss plans. Dick is going to see if Tropic will let them stay here he will know more when he goes to work at 1 pm.

12:36 pm
Everyone is all a buzz right now. I am talking to Stacy Lynn Floyd. She and Jack Burnett have boarded up and are not sure.

Rebecca just popped me now she is in changes in latitudes right now and thinks she is staying and most likely at BYC now.

Paul is packing our grab and go suitcase right now. Carole is just driving Dick to work and she will come by on her way back to pick us up for beach Party.

Here are the list of two options Paul and I are taking - Leave The Island - Bring all our hurricane supplies to Paul and Cindy's or hunker down there.

Carole Goudreau Mattis just stopped by after dropping Dick off - note her friends and family she is having trouble getting on messenger right now. Carole said front street is very quiet right now and all closed up.

We are in ok shape. We have Three 5 gallon jugs of water, enough drinkable water in the fridge for next couple of days so we do not have to open them. When we get back from the beach we will deal with the small stuff to pack up. We have a good start on our grab and go bag. Dick is finding out what they are doing and will let us know asap.

Colette and Maya are all hunkered down and helping neighbors today. They will not be at beach party. good luck Girls.

Lara Goldman on msn now she had this to say... i think i am in a good place...i have dry food already over there, i am taking more supplies over today. i was staying here in my house, i'd be ready except for that one window bit more complicated cause i wont be staying here. need to see if cabs will still be running tomorrow i'll figure more out when i get into town today She will come to party for 4 pm at latest.

Jan from Portofino posted this..
Just listened to the radio announcement of NEMO, and there is no evacuation order at this moment. The next radio announcement will be tomorrow (Monday) morning at 8am. Reminder to all keep your radios turned to reef radio via internet http://reefradiofm.tripod.com/

1:15 pm
I am signing out now to go get ready. Will not be on line for a while now I need a break and taking pictures of friends on the beach is just the thing.

Next time you take a shower really take a minute to enjoy it. Sometimes we take things for granted when we use them daily.

http://muppetsgowild.blogspot.com/ is another source for information. This is Cindy's Blog about her and Paul.

At the beach Steve said the power will go out 3 or 4 h before a storm is to hit.

Tim Anderson, Julie Downing, Laura Goldman, Cindy Vigna, Paul Hampson, Henry Zacharias, Herb, Sharon Boyde, Beth Hart, Dick and Carole, Steve Demaio and Richard were at the party.

Dick said they are going to Flores for sure now and will leave sometime tomorrow afternoon. Carole said she is willing to be an email contact for our families so we will try and get some names on it asap.

The weather Channel keeps failing to mention Belize. I am posting local information more so keep that in mind. The website we are all using here is: http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200704.html

Side street

Bikini weather

Side street

Bright sunny day

Saturday afternoon

Say prayers for us

Perk gang

Looking North outside of Island Perk

Front street

Ecologic in town boarding uup

Central Park

Heading north

Boarding up

Crystal delivery

Mangrove

Driving north along beach

Battening down the hatches

Paul and Carole near Roy's land

Protech boat

Side street

Middle street

Some boarding up in town

Heading south

south island

Pedro's - a bunch of us meeting there tonight

Heading south - crystal water trucks out in full force belikin ones too

South of town - lagoon side

Cindy and Pauls house

Nancy's Cabana's

South roads are blocked off

Diane's building getting boarded up

Changes in Latitudes - we did not stop but saw a couple of people in the yard preparing

Heading back into town

Heading back into town


Tropic hanger

10:04 am

It is a beautiful hot sunny august day here in San Pedro, we are all in crunch time now for preparing Dean's arrival

I hope to get everything we need to done today. We are gathering all important documents now and putting them in zip lock and in a knapsack packed for being on the move just in case. We plan to stay at our place but have had a few offers to go elsewhere thanks all for those offers.

Folks at home as time goes on Please remember to keep emails down to a minimum for people who are here.

Cindy and Paul got the rest of the boards they needed and are boarding up their house right now. Nancy was finishing up boarding hers this morning as well.

Got Cindy Beth and Colette / Maya on msn now

Keep us in your prayers... word on the ground (from someone in NEMO) is that we will expect a large storm surge from the back...5-8 feet is the forecast for now

11:29 am
Talking to Carole now and letting her know I spoke to Janet her mother-in-law this morning. Carole said she had a hard time getting on line.

12:33
Lara has popped us and is starting an email contact list for Melinda who is staying with a friend on an army base on the mainland. So she may be our vehicle to get accurate news back of what is really happening - as we all know the news sometimes likes to scare people. Set that in motion right away, Both our moms and Dads and Carole and Dick's mom Janet.

Back to work I am organizing bedroom and making stacks of sheets and blankets. I will also clean off top or wardrobe and we will start putting stuff on it that needs to be highest ground.

1:24 pm
Just got word from Laura the Coldwell Banker people are going to be sheltering at Iguana Gardens. Emily Jones and John Vorus are leaving - John has to go with the boats to Belize City. Sterling Vorus is staying on the island.

2:47 pm
Spoke to landlord - he is looking to board us up on Monday. Talking to Carole Goudreau Mattis and going to get space. Taking a walk to Perk with Paul and see what the word on the street is Carole will meet us there.

6:10 pm
At perk we saw Zac, Jim, Coleen, Sharon, Dave, Jason from Customs, Bernadette and family, Sonny and friend. After Perk went around town with Carole and shot pictures. We stopped to see Paul and Cindy and Nancy and Rick, wanted to go further south but main road was blocked and we needed to get back and do stuff before we all meet up at Pedro's tonight. Talking to Lara Goldman now in messenger. Some people are starting to board houses up now but the word is that it is still safe to do so on Monday. We will finish our inside work tomorrow morning so we are prepared for that event. I hear saws cutting wood and dogs are barking a bit more than usual. Molly was all over us when we arrived.

8:15
Carole here off to Pedro's to meet the gang

The beach party at Boca Del Rio Park is still planned

Sterling Vorus just emailed and said first aid stations will be maintained at Island Ferry dock, the Palapa Bar /Beach n kitchen area.

Cleaned shower and got all laundry buckets ready and waiting to be filled

Sheets and pillowcases are all in plastic and stacked on table started putting to go clothing bandannas and other items for my grab and go bag

Here are photos of what it looks like around town

battening down the hatches of the book store

Beer sales went up

Looking south from balcony

Middle street

Balcony shot


Just part Tropic air heading south



Not so many boats

We are all hoping for a safe passage through this storm. As of this morning it seems like the storm is heading a bit to the north. Hurricane Dean is a cat 2 status right now and closing in on cat 3 now. The map shows moving due west at 21 miles per h right towards Jamaica.

So far today's activities include coconut phone conversations to see where everyone is at, include more laundry, doing sheets now and ready to move onto Paul's stuff soon. Off to Super Buy in a minute to get that extra spray bottle I saw. I think it can come in handy for doing dishes if need be.

Today we will really get to more cleaning and organizing.

weather channel saying Yucatan on Tuesday at 2 am

12:34 pm
According to NOAA looks like Dean moved north a bit more. Paul is going to walk over to Island Perk to see what the word on the street is.

Please keep in mind if power goes out we will loose touch temporarily please do not send emails, I will update my blog as soon as I can. I am also doing time line posts now so you can all keep up on what we are up to all friends here are pretty much on same page right now.

Paul just got back and word is most people are staying. He has not run into anyone who has said they were going yet. He picked up three one gallon crystal jugs. Our friend at Changes in Latitudes suggested to freeze some and use it for the coolers. Brilliant idea.

4:31 pm
Beth just turned up. She is going to get a massage shortly at Sol Spa and had her nails done yesterday as part of her hurricane prep. Carole is coming by soon and we are all going to walk over and see Lara and maybe Video Paul at BC's to check in with everyone.

6 pm
Carole is here and we are off to BC's beach bar to have a pow wow.

Saw Lara, Simon, Andrea, Melinda and more at BC's. Carole got Dick and brought him for his dinner break and we all hung out discussing what everyone is doing.

Dick and Carole and Andrea might end up in Flores, Guatemala because their work at Tropic Air will get them there. Nothing is for sure though still to early to tell. Same for storm - it has changed again and we are not in the clear as much as we were. They are letting people with Pets evacuate tomorrow. That will likely be the one chance to leave if you are taking your pet with you.

8:22 pm
Eating the last of the cheese cake wow that lasted long and chatting Chloe in big chat.

10:20 pm
Talking to Nancy in msn and going over what we are both doing. She invited us over as she will have a full house but I think we will stay here have to talk to Paul on it tomorrow as he is resting now.

Left a pop for Stacy but she did not answer. Saw Renita earlier on the street she said they were prepared.

11:13
Downloading coast to coast am radio archives to load on mp3 player.


http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200704_5day.html#a_topad

Organizing food and supplies

crank flashlights, small mag lite, medical, flasks, buckets with lids for water (that I won at the fair)

My handy survival bandanna that I won for $5 on eBay


Red & white bottle is our new dishwasher in case water goes out. Blue & white is our shower and I have a green one with 1/2 hydrogen peroxide for hand washing. Coconut rum to go with floaty rings in case of emergency ha ha

San Pedro is a buzz with talk about Hurricane Dean.

I am defrosting the freezer now and Carole is going to pick us up in the golf cart to do some shopping at Santiago Castillo and Sausage Factory. Paul just called Paul and Cindy and they are at Super Buy and will come over so Cindy can go to Santiago Castillo with us and Paul can return borrowed cart. Cindy said the barge has stopped as of today so I think it is wise to get stuff sooner than later.

Back to the freezer before everyone arrives.

Got some shopping done, still have more to go. We picked up an extra 5 gallon water, some beef sticks and jerky. Stopped to drop Cindy off and watch a bit of CNN to see what the storm was doing. Off to Super Buy while pictures load.

More supplies food stuff, bleach in case we have to purify water, extra lighter, headache pills and stomach settler.

There is so much talk back and forth about what is going to happen and if the storm will hit or not. Everyone is watching the storm sites and CNN, earlier it was supposed to be Cat 4 and now I just found out tonight from Dick it may be a 5.

If you are reading this please send out some positive thoughts for all of us that we safe and hurricane free.

1:11 am
I am talking to Jovany in messenger. He popped me tonight asking if I had plans and what they were. He is not sure if he is leaving the island or not yet but told me some mainland options to consider.

I should get to bed because of Tai Chi class in the morning, but I just started 2 buckets of laundry now so hopefully it will be dry by morning. I am cleaning as much as I can in case of water shortage and doing that with buckets and a laundry rack I need to start a few days ahead to get it all done.

2:17 am
Laundry in rinse cycle, time to rinse and hang. Still chatting with Jovany about the hurricane and life mixing in hurricane jokes. Like naming hurricanes after rappers, and that the comedy channel is oblivious to our situation and are airing a girls gone wild infomercial. Jovany said his friend joked that the hurricane hasn't even hit yet, and they're acting like we're already off the map. Jovany commented here we are, smack dab in the middle of what looks like the hurricane's path, and the Weather Chanel people refuse to say the name 'Belize' - How weird is that? If you hear them mention Belize proper please post a comment on my blog and a short report on what you heard


Sausage Factory

View from Cindy and Pauls Balcony

View from Cindy and Paul's Balcony

What a busy day, been working on my blog and getting a new blog ready to launch, organizing all the bill and rent receipts, made a new budget in excel with 5 pages taking us right up till the end of the year. Now I have to go get Charlie's birthday present before Dick and Carole show up to drive us over for decorating. What perfect timing for them to have rented a golf cart.

We had had 3 invites to go out to tonight. Peter got us first with an invite to his dog Charlie's birthday party, Colette and Maya sent a text early this morning to go to dinner for Colette's birthday at the new Greek restaurant. Last came this afternoon from Zac, he emailed about go to Holiday hotel for live music and onto the Latin club. Since we do not have clones, we ended up at Charlie's bbq. Hope you had a happy Birthday Colette, catch up with you soon.

Charlie

Charlie's friends came to celebrate

Charlie getting her presents

Dick and Carole

BBQ time

Charlie's friend Jackie

Party people - enjoying a temporary power out

Having fun

BBQ was delicious

One of the short bread bones disappeared

Charlie comes out from under the poker table for some cake

Cake fight

Tim - very warm

Joely - getting colder

Getting warmer

Girls got in on the game

Charlie got lots of presents

JD finishing the evening drinking his jager shot after pinning the tail on the donkey

Just about to head off to the 1 year anniversary party of Island Perk.

The count down is on Carole and Dick will arrive back on the Island in 1 h after a two month trip of packing up, selling off and work courses for Dick from Tropic air.

More to come....

Party was great so many people showed to to celebrate Perks one year anniversary an event that some said would not happen. We had no doubt with great staff and Coleen's attention to detail that Island Perk would be well loved by locals and tourists alike. The constant crowd of people that turned up to celebrate was testimony to that.

Carole and Dick came, very happy to be back and see us all after their long stay away. We all were glad to see them too.

After the party we decided to go for last few rounds of bingo at the Pier Lounge, stopped to get a taco on the way.

Perk Party

Food was delicious

Many regulars came to celebrate

Coleen throws a great party - Cheers

Perk party was hopping



Perk Staff

Everyone enjoyed the celebration

Gang is all here

We love our perk

The boys do too

2 of our 4 cards for black out game ended up needing the same number 72

Paul won 50 quarters on slots

Laura and I were chatting on msn messenger aka coconut phone today, she works at Coldwell Banker around the corner from us. She mentioned we should come over to visit and said that she had some real New York cheese cake from Carnegie Deli in New York City.

I do not have a huge sweet tooth often Paul cashes in and gets 1/2 my dessert , but living on an island there are certain things you just do not come across to often and this is one of them so I was glad for the offer. I told Paul when he was ready for a break we should pop over and say hi.

We chatted for a while then Paul left to go do something and I hung out a while longer. Got to see a nice rainbow, I always consider that a good omen.

Real cheese cake - it sure was tasty going for a bit more of my half now

Rainbow from the balcony of Coldwell Banker

We were not planning on doing anything tonight, Beth was chatting with me on coconut phone and suggested to meet up at Pedro's for pizza. Since it was to hot to feel like cooking and Cindy was working I thought that was a great idea and Paul agreed.

We were sitting at the bar playing poker dice and all of a sudden some said "you are taco girl aren't you?" It was Joely from the message board and her bf and Tim, she had recognized me from my blog. I got razzed a bit over how many times that has happened and I told Cindy what does Paul expect we met in a chat room that is a big clue lol. We all laughed about it. Joely and Tim were nice and we enjoyed hanging out with them.

Played a few rounds of wii bowling and Tim and Paul played golf for a bit.

Aida won big at poker and bought us a drink. Pizza was great, we had the usual 1/2 bbq chicken 1/2 garlic shrimp.

Walter told Joely and Tim they should check out Fido's so we said we would take them there. Walter ended up having to drop off a couple of pizzas, caught us along the way and we all piled into the golf cart.

Fido's was bust we ran into Laura, Lyrical King Capt Jeff and Steve, which was handy as we had just finished pointing out coconet to Tim and told him Steve was the man to talk to on fishing. It was handy to be able to introduce them.



My fav shot of Peter and Charlie - both smiling

Pictures of today's Tai Chi class. A woman who is staying at the Sunbreeze came to watch us and so I asked if she would not mind taking a couple of pictures for my blog.

Brush knee and push

Capturing opponents staff

I today copied the qi gong warm up during class to make for easier practice at home. We do about 15 different moves before we start practicing the form. In some of the exercises you can really feel the energy moving.

Some benefits of of qi gong include:Increased flexibility and movement, improved strength and stamina, lower blood pressure, relieves stress, improves nervous system, promotes better sleep, improvement in hormone stability, improves posture and back/spine problems, clears negative emotions, reduces anxiety,increased respiratory capacity, meditation and movement in one exercise, and so much more.

Beth invited me over for lunch and a swim today. She had me stop along the way and pick up our lunch from Ali Baba.

We had chicken , salad and nan all delicious. Then we went back and forth from the pool to the lounge chairs and back to the pool again. The afternoon sun was very hot and it never took long before we were ready to take another dip.

It was a great way to spend a Thursday afternoon, and a well needed break. I was cleaning up my pc this morning and almost lost some files, I had to restore all that was in my recycle bin to find them again and as a result undid a bunch of my mornings work. Tomorrow I will start again and hopefully be able to find and re-delete everything.

I am trying to get this over with asap so I can back it all up on our external hard drive. I do not back up as often as I should but at least I am making an effort to organize it all so backing up will be easier and I can do it more often.

My pink bike outside Ali Baba

Capt Jeff took his entourage to Casa Picasso tonight and it was a fun time.

We set out on our bikes and figured we would catch Sharon and Beth before they left as they are just around the corner from the restaurant. After locking up Sharon told us all to jump in her golf cart, she said we had to drive because she had told Capt Jeff we would be late because traffic was bad which is too funny.

Capt Jeff, Clarissa, John and Kris were already there, Steve turned up not too long after. Maya and Colette were a bit delayed.

Although I have not been drinking for a long while now, I could not resist ordering One of Casa Picasso's famous mohitos. I opted for a regular one, but a few of the group had the special which was dragon fruit and they looked really good.

The food was great, and service was excellent Chris and his Staff made sure we were well taken care of. We started with bread and baked garlic next came a mixed appetizer plate that had meat cheese, artichokes, olives, tomato with fresh mozzarella on top, that was followed by Caesar salad. Then I had 2 breaded lobster tails. Some of the other dishes ordered were flank steak, pork tenderloin, seafood pasta, pesto pasta, chipotle chicken. The food came fast and even though Maya and Colette ordered after we did, they still got served with us.

We had cracked coconut for dessert, it was delicious.

http://ambergriscaye.com/casapicasso/index.html

Ordering our drinks

Appetizer plate

Paul Maya and Steve

My lobster tails

Sharon and Colette

Cracked coconut

Capt Jeff's entourage

Capt Jeff Chris and Sharon

Headed back to Royal Palms

Going to Sharon's to get our bikes

Hi all at Pedro's right now enjoying Beth's party.

We came early to decorate, and Sharon kept Beth busy till 7 pm. I spoke to Beth earlier on messenger and she said they were going to Pedro's to practice wii bowling. I told her we would likely come by because we were going out with Capt Jeff tomorrow and would not make bowling night. Another thing that helped was that we had already celebrated her birthday at the stuff swap on the actual day even though she was not in town at the time.

When they arrived and everyone shouted Happy Birthday she was definitely surprised.

I am off to finish my cake and enjoy the party.

Waiting for the Birthday girl

Beth and Sharon

Paul giving Beth a big birthday hug

Maureen Paul and Zac

Beth Julie Sharon

Bet enjoying presents

Hand Made soap

Beth opening Capt Jeff's present

Beth and Colette

Beth and her Pinata

Capt Jeff was in town to come celebrate with us

We saved you a chair

Sharon and Beth

Capt Jeff

Indian food was tasty

Beth and Walter

Rock star

Sharon

Beth

Zac doing a jager shot

Beth Jd Sharon

Beth whacking pinata

Cindy takes a turn

One armed swing

Ana takes a swing

Pinata finally broke open

Aftermath of Pinata

Jd

Walter

Sharon

Walter and Beth

Herb won a Jager shot for pinning the tail in the right spot

Jd and his true love

I am playing around with the Digg option on my blog. It is on the right side of page and down a bit.

I got am email about Digging from someone who wrote to share blog stats and tips with me after seeing a few of my posts in Google forum. Mitch said it is good to Digg certain articles and that gets them out there more. I thought since most people could likely use a virtual vacation why not give it a try.

I am relatively low tech and I do not know much about Digging and did not want to ask Paul what the heck it was all about I decided just to play around with it myself. As you can see by the 2 posts below I quickly learned if you digg with blog option, they show up again on your blog as a new mini post. Next time I will try it just as a regular digg and see what happens, I think that might be the way to go.

We went to Tai Chi today and were a few minutes late. There were 7 of us in total and it was a really great class. Zac was calling us his senior students today and we all had a laugh at that one, but we did manage to get to single whip on our own while he was showing the newer students the first moves. The we decided to join them and start at the beginning again.

This is about a fantastic Sunday boat trip to Coral gardens on the Caribbean Sea. Come for a sail, snorkel and delicious bbq.

read more | digg story

It has been a weekend of tedious chores first came cleaning the bathroom yesterday and kitchen sink. Always so much cleaning here with the dust.

Today I decided to do something I have been putting off for a long time...

go through 23 pages of emails and do some hardcore deleting. I swear they multiply faster than rabbits.

I managed to get down to 15 emails from 552

We are just getting ready to go to Zac's birthday party, this one is not a surprise though, he organized it and his friend Ana, offered to host at her place.

...

Ana's place she is renting is really nice, lot's of space for a party. Met some new people and we all had fun. The food was great, we all enjoyed the jam session and twister was a hit.

Jam session

Enjoying the music

Zac brought lots of instruments for people to play

Elizabeth with shaker

Everyone took turns making some noise

Lord of the Flies - those shells really make strong vibration

2 muppets aka 2 Pauls

Dancing and having fun

Zac enjoying his party

Cake timeTwister

Getting twisted

Pretzel boy

Zac opening a present

Did not make it to tai chi as I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and was feeling low energy. I recharged a bit then knocked of some of my to do list and managed to get out for a bit this aft. I did 1.55 miles or 5483 steps on my walk today. That equals 2767 aerobic steps and 26 minutes of aerobic activity.

Here are a couple of pics from this evening by the park.

Ordering bbq

Holy Cross kids watching the show

Musicians at the park

I walked 2.03 miles today. That works out to regular 7148 steps, 1409 of those steps qualifying me for 12 minutes of aerobic activity because my journey to the school for the advisory board meeting was a bit stop and start.

Just as I was packing up to leave SweetJane and Bruce called to stop by for a visit. Perfect timing on their part as they just caught me, and lucky I was ready over an hour early so I could easily put one of my stops to the way home and enjoy a visit. They did not stay too long, we made plans to meet up at Wet Willy's tomorrow night.

I decided I was going to walk along the back road so I could take some pictures, some for myself and some for a friend. It was sunny and very hot, as I walked along I could imagine how lizards feel some days. I like walking the back way it feels like a secret route and there is usually not much traffic. I found it hard to get the right shots that really describe what I see when walking that way, but I managed to a couple.

I turned off to go back to middle street around Dready's Coco Loco, so I could snap a picture of the new Warumguma restaurant, although I have not eaten there yet but I am guessing it is the same people as the ones right down the road from us, They make Big Burritos and really tasty Shrimp Ceviche.

The advisory board meeting went well. The school is working on putting a fire plan in progress. They are setting up first aid training for the teachers, this is very important because a couple of the kids have seizures so they need to know how to handle it. So far there are 416 students registers that is a jump from last year because they are adding in 5 new grades and have done enough work to make a full primary school up to standard 6. It aways amazes me how much is being accomplished every time I go up there.

On the way home I took the beach into town, the water was really nice. I made a stop at Dick and Carole's place to see what has changed since they left, the landlady is adding some nice green accents to the building. Last stop on the way home was Transylvania tech to get a dvd copied. When I got home Paul was watching a movie and I quickly got caught.

Walking along the back road heading north

Warguma has new digs to the north for people staying that out way

River along my walk north

Bags of new uniforms for upcoming School year

Walking home along the Beach

Coconuts

When I got to Tai Chi class today I was glad to see that besides Zac there were 2 new girls there. Nothing against our regular group but today was a perfect day to start at the beginning. I knew that Zac would explain more because there were new people there and as a result I would get something from it.

Because I was approaching today's class with beginners mind, I learned some new things about moves that I have been practicing all this time. I found myself more in touch with my breath in regards to doing those movements.

Often we do things by routine and do not give enough thought to what we are doing because our minds are elsewhere thinking of things like laundry that needs to be done, what we will make for dinner, where we are going after we finish what we are doing. All this chatter makes it hard to really get into what you are doing and observe yourself in the moment.

If we stop and approach our tasks with beginners mind like a child, we can see that something we have done countless times over and might consider ourselves an "expert" at can still be fresh and new and we can still learn something from it.