Switching Gears

To all my blog friends and my family, as I countdown toward retirement and moving, there are just some things that have to give as I make the transition.  I'm taking a little blog hiatus to put most of my energy into planning my exciting new life. For the first time in 45 years, I will not be going to work everyday, and I will be able to spend a lot of time becoming healthy again, and that means re-building my energy and emotional levels so that I can come back to share this wonderful transition time.
I will be stopping by all of your blogs, and commenting!  You are all such an important part of my life! I wish you well and promise to be back as soon as I am able.
Happy Summer....Love and peace to you all.....and you can reach me through e-mail at morsekittyl at yahoo.com  

Back to Eleuthera, etc.

I think dreamy, warm vacations are available so we have delightful memories to drift back on when we are once again home facing interminable winter....and there are also delectable memories to remind us to save each week that we might enjoy treats like stone crab once again. We ate so much of it on the island!  Simple, delicious and healthy on its own, of course we did make some delicacies like crab cakes.

YUM.....thank you to David's friend, Mark, a commercial fisherman, for leaving us several huge bags of frozen stone crab

Now back to a bit of touring - I'd heard about the "best place on the island to get pineapple tarts". My daughter developed her keen ability to seek out the best treats from yours truly, so I knew I could count on her word that we needed to visit a tiny bakery in Gregorytown. Alas, no pineapple tarts were available that day but we were advised to arrive the next morning at 10 am! These flowers were growing with wild abandon around the front door. Beauty to also warm one's heart and soul.

We did go back to get those tarts the next day and they were so delicious. Years ago, Eleuthera was home to huge pineapple plantations - not so much, anymore.

Our guys were most anxious to continue their search for the perfect fishing spot so we did a bit of touring in Gregorytown that morning.....this old church sits right on the edge of what looks to be an active conch fishing site.  The town has seen better days but made us happy as a stop for delicious treats and my favorite gift shop.



This huge pile of shucked conch shells was left along the shore line and we couldn't linger long as the smell was so strong.

As we headed back to A & D's house we stopped once again at Alicetown, one of the spots the guys had fished the day before.

David ventured out to fish, while LM stood on the rocks spotting (actually his feet were very sore from the all-day guided fishing trip). We learned after the fact that cotton socks inside the Teva closed-toe sandals would have saved the day.



LM high up watching for bonefish.

Anne and I went riding through the little town to find lunch while the fishermen worked on their elusive quest. We came across two baby potcakes (Bahamian dogs) on a little porch.

Once we had gathered a little picnic lunch, we were back to retrieve the guys and head to the Alicetown dock to enjoy some relaxing time at the tables overlooking the harbor. Many large sailboats were coming in to ride out the storm at sea.



View from the Alicetown dock.

Never giving up the search for fish!

Friends stopped by the say hello...Frances, the owner of The Front Porch, where we enjoyed such a delicious meal the night before.

Soon we decided it was time to head home, gather the beach stuff and go to Cocodimama for the afternoon....my feet loved walking across the soft needles of the casurina trees and heading to the pink sand.



David gathered some driftwood and built us a fire



Making sure we had plenty of "fuel"

Guess who was fishing!!

Interesting skies.......



I LOVE this photo - took it from my spot on a blanket...

Another lovely view of that same sky...always dramatic

Gazing up at the casurina trees from my comfy spot laying on the beach.

As we left the beach we stopped by to view what is left of the US Navy presence of WWII.  There was once an active pier here but it has now just about rotted away.

We returned back to the house for showers and a nap, and after dinner we could be found enjoying great music at The Rainbow Inn.

Not sure what day this was, but one morning a soft rain fell, so we decided to drive north on the island take a short ferry ride to Spanish Wells. This is the dock.

The water was beautiful that day.

On the ferry

Spanish Wells is a tiny little fishing port but very active.  The houses are painted beautifully bright colors and tended so nicely.

While we were there, a large ferry from Nassau came in and we were fascinating at the pilots ability to swing that thing around in such a narrow channel. It was packed with trucks, cars and pedestrians.

These cute shore birds were enjoying some time on the dock....seemed to be looking for handouts!

Taking a stroll

Then we took a stroll around the little village

You could walk in minutes from one side of the island to the other.

This house was so pretty

Love the gate

A perfectly sweet island home

Anne and I were back at the ferry dock, while David was in search of boat parts, and this man drove up in his golf cart to show us this little Pomeranian.  So funny...

.....and soft!

He loved all the attention and reminded us of a very sweet stuffed animal to cuddle.

Back on the ferry

Saying good-bye to Spanish Wells

Our next destination was to show LM Preacher's Cave. It is the site of the original Eleuthera settlers, and very interesting, but first, we'd heard the stories about the mysterious "blue holes" so we were soon driving down a very narrow road into the woods to this spot. David says he has jumped into this hole and found the bottom to be covered with shrimp. Anne would like to try a jump, too, but so far she's been forbidden. You would not catch me jumping in to that murky water. 

Scary

The pathway to Preacher's Cave, site where the first settlers of Eleuthera landed.

Heading in to the cave

I love these holes that allow the light in...so eerie

As we were leaving the cave we spotted this snail track. So interesting.

Walking a short distance from the parking area we were on this beautiful beach....

The blues!!! One of my favorite trip photos.

The feeling of the water rushing around my feet and legs was heaven.

Footprints and shadows...

On the way back....You know I am donkey crazy, so we had to stop and take a photo of this abandoned truck....

Road Donkey!

These next few photos were taken from the car as we drove over Eleuthera's famous Glass Window Bridge

This is a very fragile area and a point where the Caribbean flows through to the Atlantic. Storms rage here and the road has been washed out many times through the years.

In the distance is a large clipper ship that was sailing the waters all week. They were staying near shore due to the huge Atlantic storm that was giving a blizzard to New England.

Hard to see but the mist in this pic is coming from a blow hole in the glass bridge and the water crashing onto the rocks below creating a mist as it come up to the surface. Again in the photo below.

White cows again. They are all over the place near Hatchet Bay. Driving at night, it was not unusual to see them in the road. At least they are white!

On the way back we stopped to buy tomatoes and David met a potcake friend

A tired potcake....he is guard dog and greeter.

I am a tired potcake these days, too.  Packing for my big move, working full-time and spending my spare time exercising, doing PT to regain the strength lost while I have been so sick, and working on 2 quilts.  Getting better feels so good, and when I saw my doctor yesterday, she was thrilled with my progress.
Being retired becomes more attractive everyday.  Tomorrow I will be moving the first of my things to Jason's. Feels so right and I am ready to dig in to creating my new self.

The coming week will find us attending the wedding of LM's daughter, Meaghan and her beloved, John.  The wedding will be Thursday afternoon at the harbor in Hyannis. Kristi will be coming and we are really looking forward to seeing her after all the time she has been living with her half-brother and wife in southern RI. She'll stay about a week with LM and we hope to get her around to all her favorite places and see friends.

I still have more trip pictures to come and will fit it in soon. Meanwhile, happy weekend and love to all!