Lest anyone think that we haven't adapted well to our new environment, here's a brief description of JimBob's Thanksgiving dinner. Oops, dinner? We spent all day at the beach below our new lot. We had the place completely to ourselves. Jim knitted, Bob drank wine. Anyway, it was a wonderful day and we did not watch football games. Since Thanksgiving dinner is usually in the afternoon, we extended afternoon to be six o'clock. Remember, island time! So we get home (which is now a temporary Condo in Cruz Bay) about seven. Here we are at the kitchen table. Hey, where's dinner? Oh yes, we need to cook something. Where's the turkey? No turkey, Jim?
         Ok, Jim begins to prepare the official Thanksgiving feast. Let's see. Oh yes it's about eight o'clock. Bob, get your hands off that wine glass! Save some to go with the meal. As for the said meal, we have bought two lobsters and sundry fixings to accompany them. The lobsters get plunged into boiling water for one minute, then rushed out to the grill for a few minutes on each side. They are filled with herbed butter. Yum.
          Now it's about 9:30 PM. Still cooking. Jim has made a beautiful citrus, nut, spinach salad. There is wild rice on the stove and asparagus steaming away.
Off we go to the dinner table. Salad, lobster right off the grill. What more could you ask for?

Here's the completed dinner plate as presented by master chef Jim. Everything was fantastic.
Hey, what's for desert? Well, it was a lovely pecan pie with ice cream. Where's it's picture?
Come on, it was almost midnight. I ate it and went to bed. No picture!

Three thousand miles, three thousand dollars.

The Jeep be in de islands, mon. It got de coloful plates with de fish and flowers. Apparently the Jeep had a nice, safe trip south while Jim and Bob had to deal with hurricane Sandy. Then there is the story of picking up the Jeep and getting it to St. John.

     Bob took an early morning ferry from St. John to St. Thomas to pick up said vehicle. The ride over was beautiful. (what did you expect, we're in de islands) Bob hops into a cab for the short ride to the transporters office. But the cab driver can't find it. So Bob gets left off by the side of the road and heads for the waterfront on foot. Finding a bar, Bob borrows a cell phone from a friendly (drinking in de morning) native and calls the office. Can barely understand, but it sounds like a short stroll to the office. An hour later, and less ten pounds of sweat, Bob arrives. The friendly transport agent takes Bob to the bank to get money to pay for the 'road' tax. Then off they go to the DMV. The lady at the payment window is out for lunch, but she "will be back in ten minutes". An hour later the payments are made and we have license plates! Now back to the waterfront where our happy Jeep is sitting in a holding area. Wait half an hour to find someone to open the gate. Whatever. On go the plates, and off goes Bob with the Jeep. Finally!
     Once onboard the car barge Bob orders a rum punch to celebrate. Yum. Bob meets a nice young fellow traveling over to St. John and they pass the trip with conversation and rum drinks. Here's a photo of the Jeep on the ferry. Cool huh?
     The best news is that the Jeep looks great. No scratches, no dents, nothing. And the car cover hidden beneath the back seats is still there. By the time Bob gets back home it's after six in the evening. Where is Jim to make dinner? Oh yes, Jim is in Boston.
     Hey, look. The Jeep has a garage. What more could you ask?

We be on de island again.

 Well it took over ten hours to make the trip, but we are back on St. John. I suppose a five hour lay-over in San Juan didn't help. Then once we got on the ferry to St. John it started to rain. Thankfully our rental Jeep was ready and waiting for us near the dock. Then we drove way out to the east end of the island where Tropical Manor is located. 

The drive up to the house was a little scary. Especially since it was pitch black by the time we were making it. But the caretaker had left all the lights on, so we settled in quickly. At the left are a few photos I took the next morning. First is the gate from the road that leads down to the entrance. Next is the courtyard just inside. Then, of course, our new view. Amazing.
The house is even nicer than we expected. Four bedrooms and full baths to match. A hot tub. No pool, but there are plans in the works to add one. We made a trip to the post office to get mail, then stopped by our storage locker to pick up a few boxes. Everything survived the summer in great condition. Tomorrow our Jeep arrives. It seems the ship was delayed because of the storms up north.
Jim is making his first trip off-island to Boston tomorrow. Didn't we just get here? Anyway, it's a quick one and he will be home for the weekend.
The tradewinds are blowing a nice gentle breeze. The sky is spotted with puffy white clouds. The temperature is around eighty-five degrees. Are we missing Connecticut?   Not!
Stay turned for new adventures to come. Did you notice we changed the masthead photo? The new one is taken from our lot....
house planning and building plans are next on the agenda. We can't wait.
A big 'thank you' to everyone who helped us out as we were packing to leave. Please come visit us! Your wine glass is waiting!

We're outta here!

When we decided to pull up roots and move to St John, little did we know we'd have help with the root pulling. Thanks to hurricane Sandy—that bitch.
Back last summer we took the first step booking plane tickets for our return to Paradise on November first. Then we sold the house—Whooppee! As we were packing boxes and Bob was purging the garage of 20 years worth of knick knacks and bric-a-brac while Jim was filling boxes for Goodwill with clothes...and more clothes, we got the word that Frankenstorm was coming just in time for Halloween.
We spent Sunday moving the first floor furniture to the second floor and a garage full of packed boxes on top of the relocated lawn furniture—oh, our aching backs—then went to the local fire station to fill sand bags, which was a heartwarming experience. We found a huge pile of sand surrounded by volunteers helping potential victims fill bags and load their cars. Next, Jim sealed the outside of the doors with gaffer's taped and piled up the sand bags. Then we climbed in a window, packed an overnight bag and went to bed with visions of destruction in our heads. Monday we evacuated to a neighbor's house on higher ground. The day was spent watching the weather service track Sandy, and watching an assortment of movies. The wind howled, trees began to snap and fall everywhere, sewers backed up and the streets flooded. We knew the biggest danger was not rain, but the 90 mph wind and a perilous storm surge. While the weather service predicted a 12' to 15' surge along our coast of the Long Island Sound at high tide (thanks to the dual demons of a full moon and little ole Sandy), our house is only 11' above the high tide. We agonized. We considered nail biting. We had bouts of nervous diarrhea. About 9:30pm, 3 hours before the peak of the tide, we braved the flooded streets dodging fallen trees (water up to the bumpers) and slowly drove to view our house. What we saw in the headlights as the wind slammed us was a small lake which covered our cul de sac and lawn. After that we tried to sleep—ha, ha, ha!
At 7:30 the next morning we returned to discover the house's fate. There were huge trees across streets and mud, sweeps of sand and debris everywhere. The lawn was covered in tree branches, a giant one blocked the driveway. Bob climbed in the window and discovered a miracle—the house was dry. We walked around the property. Not a bit of damage. We didn't miss the irony in the fact that just 3 days before we're scheduled to head for a place known for annual hurricanes we get slammed by a hurricane. The night before our host showed the movie, The Perfect Storm. It turned out to be perfect for the occasion—all the stars of the movie drown. I was reminded that houses are replaceable, but lives aren't. That my life doesn't revolve around an escrow, but rather a guy named Bob. I hugged him tight and fell asleep. After discovering the miracle of the next morning, we were especially silly all day long. I'm certain it was not because the house was safe, but because we're safe. Living in each other.

On de road home. Next stop St. John!

First stop on the way home is Cuttyhunk Island. Remember it? We stuffed ourselves on clams and oysters once again. Can you tell that Jim is away from work. At least for a while!



While sitting at our mooring, a nice looking power boat came up and took the mooring next to us. I looked at the couple on board and didn't think much about them. Then I hear, "Bob, Bob Phillips?" OMG, it's a woman I worked with at FCB years ago. We were great friends but had lost track as time passed. Here she was with her great husband Steve on the maiden voyage of their new boat. Surprise! We had cocktails on each others boats. It was a million laughs. Jim and Steve were very nice to listen to Nancy and I tell advertising horror stories.

The next morning it was off to Newport, Rhode Island. The weather went downhill pretty fast. However we were lucky enough to grab a mooring in Brenton Cove. Lots of lovely boats and tiny houses. Check out the photo at right. Tiny was about 10,000 square feet! We were feeling very Gatsby and Jim cooked a fabulous dinner. Again, we took off early in the morning for our next stop...Block Island. Haven't we been here before?

As we passed from Newport to Block Island we also passed a friend. One of my neighbors was sailing from Block Island to Newport. I tried to hail him, but he was too busy talking to his guests. Whatever. But what are the chances of running past someone from home out in the middle of the ocean? Anyway, back on Block we settled in for a fantastic sunset. Never get tired of those.
Next stop, Mystic, Connecticut. We had some battery issues and made an overnight stop on the Connecticut shore for repairs. No big deal. 

The next day we sailed away in a thunderstorm. Well maybe not a storm, but the first time we sailed in bad weather. After seven weeks that's pretty good odds. One more overnight in Westbrook, Connecticut and we headed home. Would we do it again? Maybe a shorter trip is in order? Who knows? Next stop (in November) is St. John. We love de islands! Follow us!

The island on an island.

 Last posting, I mentioned that we made a trip out to the home of Jim's client. Here are a few shots of the place. It's located on Esther's Island, which is a tiny spit of sand way out on the west end of Nantucket. Can you say Private? The view from the deck is of a private beach and the Atlantic. We brought our lunch with us as we walked 20 minutes out to the house. No car access. The owner has a boat mooring out front. So we assume that's how he gets to the home. But how was it built? Do refrigerators swim?
Check out the outdoor fireplace and the beautiful living room. It's very 'Architectural Digest' to say the least.

So then it was back to reality. And Jim was back at work in Edgartown. A group of 12 meter's boats arrived for a series of racing. These are all older 'America's Cup' boats from years past. Among them were Courageous, Intrepid, Westerly and others.
After Jim's work was well in hand we decided to begin our trip home. We got up early and headed out of Edgartown harbor under a beautiful, but cloudy, morning sky. Next stop...Cuttyhunk.

More work? Not so much.

All work and no play...but you've all heard that before. Finally, Jim got to get a bit of R&R. Here he is enjoying the view from the Wauwinet Hotel way out at the tip of Nantucket. We rented a SmartCar and drove out on a Sunday. Drinks and munchies were definitely in order. Previously that day we we lucky enough to visit a private home on the extreme other end of the island. This is the home of Jim's client. Built on the spit of land called 'Ester's Island' the place is extremely private. We had to make a twenty minute hike on the beach to get there. No cars allowed. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sun and open breeze. Very quiet and peaceful. The home is the model of 'living off the grid'. Solar power etc. Pictures coming.

On our way back to the boat we toured the town of Siasconset. This is the town famous for rose covered cottages. A true beach town sitting directly on the Atlantic. Here's Bob standing by the local timekeeper. It may be hard to tell in the picture, but the clock is really a giant sun dial. No working parts, just shadows.
Our final stop was to a beach bar/restaurant closer in to town. Once again it was drinks and munchies. All the fabulous and beautiful people were gathering for cocktails. It was fun to see people dress up for a change. No swimsuits and t-shirts.

Oysters anyone?