So it's been nearly 2 years since I have been able to motivate myself to keep up entries, but I made a New Year's resolution to write at least one entry a week - if only to remind myself what a rollercoaster ride living in Bermuda has been.
We're in Canada right now (yes, I'm crazy, but I really wanted to give Rod a birthday present that would really mean something - a party with his family) just outside Bonnyville, Alberta. We went from 18 degrees in Bermuda to MINUS THIRTY TWO FREAKIN' DEGREES.
Needless to say, we're not spending much time outside.
I do apologize for any of my family members who are reading this and wondering why didn't I tell them we were coming through Edmonton. Long story short, this weekend (and it is just a weekend) is for Rod, and I wanted him to be able to spend as much time as possible with his family - which meant forgoing the trip to Calgary to see you. We will be home in the summer, and will be able to spend time then.
Right after we get back to Bermuda from this trip, I have 1 day at home before I'm off on a buying trip with my boss, Dawn.
We are flying to the UK, to 2 shows in Birmingham. After 5 days there, we fly via Amsterdam to Nuremberg, Germany for another show there. All in all, I will be gone for 16 days, so I want to blog about that as well.
More later (and yes, Steph, there will be more later and it won't take 2 years to do it)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Picture me smacking my hand...
I'm sorry to all of you who are starving for news from us! I have been very lax in keeping up, so be prepared for a novel of an entry now. Here's the rest of our adventures in Barbados (I really think we should cut off the cable tv...)
We landed at John F. Kennedy airport at around 10 in the morning. We collected our bags and went to find transportation to Manhattan. The taxi charged a set rate and took us by sights like the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station and the Midtown Tunnel, as well as the site of the 1964 World’s Fair (which everyone who has seen Men in Black would recognize – part of it is the globe the alien space ship crashes through at the end of the movie). Since we had almost 24 hours in New York, I thought it would be criminal (and really, it would) not to spend some time soaking up the atmosphere in the “Big Apple”. The chance to do some serious shopping also played somewhat of a factor…
We were lucky to be able to check into our hotel early – the folks at the Westin Times Square really outdid themselves. We were given a nice room on the 11th floor so we dropped our bags and headed off to find some lunch.
At McDonalds.
Laugh if you must, but Rod and I had developed serious cravings for Mickey D’s since moving to Bermuda (there isn’t even one drive thru restaurant here, and very little in the way of fast food, except for KFC).
After we’d had our fill of Quarter Pounders (sticking to vegetarian eating went out the window) we headed off to see the sights. A quick taxi ride from the hotel landed us at the Empire State Building.
And a two-hour lineup just to get to the elevator to get to the observation deck.
Luckily, we found this tour company called Sky Ride. You pay a little more than you would just to get to the observation deck, but you also get a virtual reality/IMAX fly over show of Manhattan. Lots of fun.
After seeing the IMAX movie, and waiting in a much shorter line up to get to the elevator, we crammed into the elevator like sardines for the trip to the observation deck on the 86th floor. Our ears popped about 4 times during the super-fast elevator ride to the 80th floor. Once there, we had to go through a metal detector and get on a different elevator to the 86th.
It was a wait, but boy was it worth it! The view from up there was fabulous!! It was freezing and very windy (you can probably tell from the picture of Rod and Jean) but we could see almost all of Manhattan and even the Statue of Liberty was
visible 
in the distance. It was very worth it.
After we dropped Jean off at the Westin, Rod and I headed to Macy’s (the largest Macy’s in the world, by the way). They have an entire floor dedicated to women’s shoes!! It’s about seven stories in total, and to get from the 5th to the 6th floor, they have a wooden escalator (I’m not sure of the story behind it, but it’s probably a hundred years old and been part of the store forever). I didn’t buy as much as I wanted to, but the store was crammed – Thursday shopping before Good Friday.
We decided to walk back to the hotel down Broadway – so cool! Once we got to Times Square we walked around it as well. At one point, a fire truck was trying to (we think) reach an emergency (if the siren was any indication) but there was nowhere for it to go. The traffic was practically grid locked. New York is a fun place to visit but I think my head would explode if we lived there. It truly is a city that never stops.
We decided to try authentic New York pizza for dinner and found the absolute best “by the slice” place a half block from the hotel. We ordered a pepperoni and a Hawaiian and while we waited, we looked at autographed pictures from Ron Howard, Sidney Poitier, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Harry Connick Jr., and Bill Cosby, all endorsing it as the best pizza in New York.
They weren’t wrong. We scarfed it down like the gourmet food it was. We also picked up a couple of hot pretzels (low-carb meal it wasn’t) since I thought is was sacrilege to be in Manhattan and not sample those.
We retired for the evening, full of delicious junk food and looking forward to the flight to Barbados the next morning. Long story short, we almost missed the flight due to a glitch in American Airlines flight tracking system. A recorded message called us in the middle of the night, saying our flight was delayed 2 hours. Luckily everything was closed the next morning and we got to JFK early only to find out the flight was not delayed, but on time and we had about 5 minutes to check in or miss the flight.
Jean was a trooper – we had a long walk to get to the gate, but she kept up. The moving sidewalks really helped as well. Once we boarded the plane (a 767 this time) we were off to the tropics.
After an almost 5 hour flight, we landed at Grantley Adams International in Barbados. The weather hit us like a wall as we walked down the steps to the tarmac (they don’t use jet ways, either in Barbados or in Bermuda. Not worth the expense when the weather doesn’t merit it).
Once we collected our luggage and cleared customs, we found a taxi to take us to Coconut Court Beach Resort in Christchurch parish. It was lovely. Not posh like the Westin, but clean and inviting and right on the beach. We ate in the restaurant hotel that night (it was pretty good food, but I missed the pizza).
It was an early night for us. The next morning, we picked up our rental car and started exploring. We had rented a Suzuki Swift (which turned out to be not so much unless the air conditioning was turned off) and started exploring the island after stopping in Bridgetown to do a bit of shopping before everything closed for Easter weekend.
Did we get lost! That may sound strange to some of you, but we found that sometimes we’d pass through a roundabout (traffic circle) and the map would say we were still on a highway, but the potholes and ruts and turns and twists made me long for the relative pavement of highway 36 to Ormiston!
I was lucky to do most of the driving. I’m looking forward to getting my license here and it was great practice to drive for 4 days while we were in Barbados – I think Rod was happy to navigate and run the camcorder (and side seat drive sometimes – but sometimes I welcomed it). The rules of the road there are the same as here (left side, right hand drive and the pushiest driver wins).
We saw some sights, that’s for sure. We started off driving up the west coast of the island, stopping at one place to try our luck at the slot machines. Mostly we just fed them quarters and after about an hour, we pressed on further north. We went through Holetown and Speightstown after navigating through Bridgetown (the capital of the island) and stopped for lunch at their version of McDonalds, called “Chefette”. After that, we turned inland and saw some really amazing rainforest type scenery.
We were gone almost six hours (yes, some of that involved getting lost – my nickname that weekend was “Wrong Way”) but eventually found our way back to Coconut Court and were in bed pretty early. It was a nice surprise to find we enjoyed the resort enough to spend time (and eat meals) there. It was definitely not fancy, but it was clean, the service was pretty good, and there was a lot to see.
Sunday we were up early and tried to drive up the east coast of the island. The scenery of the island changes much more than Bermuda (it’s also a much bigger island – 266 square miles to Bermuda’s 21). The east coast is very rugged with rough surf, jagged cliffs and not much in the way of beaches. The west coast is flatter and has the majority of the beaches.
We stopped for lunch that day at a small roadside restaurant called the Sand Dune. It had about six tables in it and we had a fairly hard time understanding the waitress/hostess’ accent, but we managed to place an order and settled in to watch the ever-present cricket matches that seemed to be the only thing on any television we saw.
An enormous amount of food arrived, including a serving each of macaroni pie (mac n cheese casserole – home made and very good) and I think we all had trouble finishing everything.
After that, we pushed on to find the Barbados National Wildlife Reserve. Our tour was very educational and we enjoyed seeing all the animals resident there. I think the strangest of them all was a creature that had the rear end of a rabbit and the front end of a deer (no, I did not have too much beer at lunch – they were really there! I’m sure I have a picture of them somewhere…). However, they also housed green monkeys, tons of turtles, too many bird species to count, iguanas and a gigantic reticulated python.
We spent an hour or so there, then made our way back to the hotel to have an excellent buffet and listen to some average steel drum music. We turned in early that night – as we did most nights. The heat, sunshine and fresh air had us all yawning by 8:00 most nights (except for the nights we found places for Rod and Jean to try their luck at the slot machines).
Monday the shops were still closed due to the long weekend, so Rod and I headed out to Carlisle bay to try snorkeling. It was fun, but there wasn’t a lot to look at unless you were out more than 100 yards – not my thing.
After that we went back to the hotel to pick up Jean so we could head off to the horse races at Garrison Racetrack. It was the first race of the season, so we didn’t know what to expect. Of course, Jean immediately found a woman sitting behind us who was really in the know – she owned a racehorse. We got all sorts of tips from her and Rod picked a forecast (getting 1st and 2nd horses in order) and won a bundle!!! All in all it was a good day. Then we had another fabulous barbeque at the hotel.
Tuesday was shopping day, and our last full day with the car. We had a look at the shops at the Sheraton Mall, advertised as Barbados’ largest shopping mall – it would have fit in West Edmonton Mall about 20 times over. Then we headed into Bridgetown to try spending some money there. We found a couple of souvenirs, but there were three cruise ships in port that day, so downtown was way too crowded for us.
Tuesday night we started to pack up for the trip back to New York, and turned in fairly early after having one last meal at a pub across the street from our hotel, called the Red Rooster. I wouldn’t say the food was inedible, but I’m pretty sure I could have made a better pizza than we had, and the chicken fingers were more like toes. However, it’s all an adventure if you’re trying new things!
Wednesday morning we finished packing up, had one last sit around the pool, and headed to the airport.
After an uneventful flight, we landed in NYC once again, this time to stay at the Ramada close to JFK, as our flight was early the next day.
I'm really sorry I don't have more pictures of Barbados to upload, but we brought the wrong (small) card for the camera (and didn't bring anything to unload the pictures to) so most of our memories are captured on camcorder (are they still called that?)
This trip in wasn’t so much fun. It was cold and rainy, and it had been a fairly long day. The shuttle took forever to arrive (should have taken a taxi instead) and was packed full of people (so Rod and I immediately made a game plan that had me dashing off the bus the second we got to the hotel to get checked in. It sort of worked, except for the very pushy redheaded woman – but I’ll get over her terrible behaviour). By this time it was close to midnight and we were absolutely famished, having not eaten for close to 8 hours.
We had a good meal in the hotel bar and turned in right after that.
We got back to Bermuda that morning (no problems through immigration for any of us – Yay!) and grabbed a taxi and headed to the apartment.
All in all, it was a fabulous trip! I definitely want to go back to New York, and we will likely be back in Barbados – I’d recommend it over Mexico any day.
Hugs to everyone at home (I'm sure from Daisy as well, but she's napping at the moment)
Us.
We landed at John F. Kennedy airport at around 10 in the morning. We collected our bags and went to find transportation to Manhattan. The taxi charged a set rate and took us by sights like the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station and the Midtown Tunnel, as well as the site of the 1964 World’s Fair (which everyone who has seen Men in Black would recognize – part of it is the globe the alien space ship crashes through at the end of the movie). Since we had almost 24 hours in New York, I thought it would be criminal (and really, it would) not to spend some time soaking up the atmosphere in the “Big Apple”. The chance to do some serious shopping also played somewhat of a factor…
We were lucky to be able to check into our hotel early – the folks at the Westin Times Square really outdid themselves. We were given a nice room on the 11th floor so we dropped our bags and headed off to find some lunch.
At McDonalds.
Laugh if you must, but Rod and I had developed serious cravings for Mickey D’s since moving to Bermuda (there isn’t even one drive thru restaurant here, and very little in the way of fast food, except for KFC).
After we’d had our fill of Quarter Pounders (sticking to vegetarian eating went out the window) we headed off to see the sights. A quick taxi ride from the hotel landed us at the Empire State Building.
And a two-hour lineup just to get to the elevator to get to the observation deck.
Luckily, we found this tour company called Sky Ride. You pay a little more than you would just to get to the observation deck, but you also get a virtual reality/IMAX fly over show of Manhattan. Lots of fun.
After seeing the IMAX movie, and waiting in a much shorter line up to get to the elevator, we crammed into the elevator like sardines for the trip to the observation deck on the 86th floor. Our ears popped about 4 times during the super-fast elevator ride to the 80th floor. Once there, we had to go through a metal detector and get on a different elevator to the 86th.
It was a wait, but boy was it worth it! The view from up there was fabulous!! It was freezing and very windy (you can probably tell from the picture of Rod and Jean) but we could see almost all of Manhattan and even the Statue of Liberty was
visible 
in the distance. It was very worth it.After we dropped Jean off at the Westin, Rod and I headed to Macy’s (the largest Macy’s in the world, by the way). They have an entire floor dedicated to women’s shoes!! It’s about seven stories in total, and to get from the 5th to the 6th floor, they have a wooden escalator (I’m not sure of the story behind it, but it’s probably a hundred years old and been part of the store forever). I didn’t buy as much as I wanted to, but the store was crammed – Thursday shopping before Good Friday.
We decided to walk back to the hotel down Broadway – so cool! Once we got to Times Square we walked around it as well. At one point, a fire truck was trying to (we think) reach an emergency (if the siren was any indication) but there was nowhere for it to go. The traffic was practically grid locked. New York is a fun place to visit but I think my head would explode if we lived there. It truly is a city that never stops.
We decided to try authentic New York pizza for dinner and found the absolute best “by the slice” place a half block from the hotel. We ordered a pepperoni and a Hawaiian and while we waited, we looked at autographed pictures from Ron Howard, Sidney Poitier, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Harry Connick Jr., and Bill Cosby, all endorsing it as the best pizza in New York.
They weren’t wrong. We scarfed it down like the gourmet food it was. We also picked up a couple of hot pretzels (low-carb meal it wasn’t) since I thought is was sacrilege to be in Manhattan and not sample those.
We retired for the evening, full of delicious junk food and looking forward to the flight to Barbados the next morning. Long story short, we almost missed the flight due to a glitch in American Airlines flight tracking system. A recorded message called us in the middle of the night, saying our flight was delayed 2 hours. Luckily everything was closed the next morning and we got to JFK early only to find out the flight was not delayed, but on time and we had about 5 minutes to check in or miss the flight.
Jean was a trooper – we had a long walk to get to the gate, but she kept up. The moving sidewalks really helped as well. Once we boarded the plane (a 767 this time) we were off to the tropics.
After an almost 5 hour flight, we landed at Grantley Adams International in Barbados. The weather hit us like a wall as we walked down the steps to the tarmac (they don’t use jet ways, either in Barbados or in Bermuda. Not worth the expense when the weather doesn’t merit it).
Once we collected our luggage and cleared customs, we found a taxi to take us to Coconut Court Beach Resort in Christchurch parish. It was lovely. Not posh like the Westin, but clean and inviting and right on the beach. We ate in the restaurant hotel that night (it was pretty good food, but I missed the pizza).
It was an early night for us. The next morning, we picked up our rental car and started exploring. We had rented a Suzuki Swift (which turned out to be not so much unless the air conditioning was turned off) and started exploring the island after stopping in Bridgetown to do a bit of shopping before everything closed for Easter weekend.
Did we get lost! That may sound strange to some of you, but we found that sometimes we’d pass through a roundabout (traffic circle) and the map would say we were still on a highway, but the potholes and ruts and turns and twists made me long for the relative pavement of highway 36 to Ormiston!
I was lucky to do most of the driving. I’m looking forward to getting my license here and it was great practice to drive for 4 days while we were in Barbados – I think Rod was happy to navigate and run the camcorder (and side seat drive sometimes – but sometimes I welcomed it). The rules of the road there are the same as here (left side, right hand drive and the pushiest driver wins).
We saw some sights, that’s for sure. We started off driving up the west coast of the island, stopping at one place to try our luck at the slot machines. Mostly we just fed them quarters and after about an hour, we pressed on further north. We went through Holetown and Speightstown after navigating through Bridgetown (the capital of the island) and stopped for lunch at their version of McDonalds, called “Chefette”. After that, we turned inland and saw some really amazing rainforest type scenery.
We were gone almost six hours (yes, some of that involved getting lost – my nickname that weekend was “Wrong Way”) but eventually found our way back to Coconut Court and were in bed pretty early. It was a nice surprise to find we enjoyed the resort enough to spend time (and eat meals) there. It was definitely not fancy, but it was clean, the service was pretty good, and there was a lot to see.
Sunday we were up early and tried to drive up the east coast of the island. The scenery of the island changes much more than Bermuda (it’s also a much bigger island – 266 square miles to Bermuda’s 21). The east coast is very rugged with rough surf, jagged cliffs and not much in the way of beaches. The west coast is flatter and has the majority of the beaches.
We stopped for lunch that day at a small roadside restaurant called the Sand Dune. It had about six tables in it and we had a fairly hard time understanding the waitress/hostess’ accent, but we managed to place an order and settled in to watch the ever-present cricket matches that seemed to be the only thing on any television we saw.
An enormous amount of food arrived, including a serving each of macaroni pie (mac n cheese casserole – home made and very good) and I think we all had trouble finishing everything.
After that, we pushed on to find the Barbados National Wildlife Reserve. Our tour was very educational and we enjoyed seeing all the animals resident there. I think the strangest of them all was a creature that had the rear end of a rabbit and the front end of a deer (no, I did not have too much beer at lunch – they were really there! I’m sure I have a picture of them somewhere…). However, they also housed green monkeys, tons of turtles, too many bird species to count, iguanas and a gigantic reticulated python.
We spent an hour or so there, then made our way back to the hotel to have an excellent buffet and listen to some average steel drum music. We turned in early that night – as we did most nights. The heat, sunshine and fresh air had us all yawning by 8:00 most nights (except for the nights we found places for Rod and Jean to try their luck at the slot machines).
Monday the shops were still closed due to the long weekend, so Rod and I headed out to Carlisle bay to try snorkeling. It was fun, but there wasn’t a lot to look at unless you were out more than 100 yards – not my thing.
After that we went back to the hotel to pick up Jean so we could head off to the horse races at Garrison Racetrack. It was the first race of the season, so we didn’t know what to expect. Of course, Jean immediately found a woman sitting behind us who was really in the know – she owned a racehorse. We got all sorts of tips from her and Rod picked a forecast (getting 1st and 2nd horses in order) and won a bundle!!! All in all it was a good day. Then we had another fabulous barbeque at the hotel.
Tuesday was shopping day, and our last full day with the car. We had a look at the shops at the Sheraton Mall, advertised as Barbados’ largest shopping mall – it would have fit in West Edmonton Mall about 20 times over. Then we headed into Bridgetown to try spending some money there. We found a couple of souvenirs, but there were three cruise ships in port that day, so downtown was way too crowded for us.
Tuesday night we started to pack up for the trip back to New York, and turned in fairly early after having one last meal at a pub across the street from our hotel, called the Red Rooster. I wouldn’t say the food was inedible, but I’m pretty sure I could have made a better pizza than we had, and the chicken fingers were more like toes. However, it’s all an adventure if you’re trying new things!
Wednesday morning we finished packing up, had one last sit around the pool, and headed to the airport.
After an uneventful flight, we landed in NYC once again, this time to stay at the Ramada close to JFK, as our flight was early the next day.
I'm really sorry I don't have more pictures of Barbados to upload, but we brought the wrong (small) card for the camera (and didn't bring anything to unload the pictures to) so most of our memories are captured on camcorder (are they still called that?)
This trip in wasn’t so much fun. It was cold and rainy, and it had been a fairly long day. The shuttle took forever to arrive (should have taken a taxi instead) and was packed full of people (so Rod and I immediately made a game plan that had me dashing off the bus the second we got to the hotel to get checked in. It sort of worked, except for the very pushy redheaded woman – but I’ll get over her terrible behaviour). By this time it was close to midnight and we were absolutely famished, having not eaten for close to 8 hours.
We had a good meal in the hotel bar and turned in right after that.
We got back to Bermuda that morning (no problems through immigration for any of us – Yay!) and grabbed a taxi and headed to the apartment.
All in all, it was a fabulous trip! I definitely want to go back to New York, and we will likely be back in Barbados – I’d recommend it over Mexico any day.
Hugs to everyone at home (I'm sure from Daisy as well, but she's napping at the moment)
Us.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Sometimes public transport isn't so bad...
I have decided I can’t complain about having to ride the bus any more. Riding the bus gives me insight about the people and the culture of Bermuda, and today I got a rare opportunity.
I met Johnny Barnes.
I can hear all of you at home saying; “who?” or “why is this so monumental?”
I’ll tell you why. Since arriving on the island, I have seen 2 bronze statues of men who are important to Bermuda.
One is Mark Twain.
The other one sat next to me on the bus today.
I did not immediately recognize him, but I did notice him when he got on the bus. An immaculately dressed older gentleman, he wore a perfectly pressed tan suit with a formal pink shirt, and immaculately groomed hair and beard. I didn’t think much when he sat next to me, except to wish him a good afternoon. He made a comment about the beautiful weather and I agreed.
We continued to make small talk until we reached the Harbour road roundabout and then he asked me if I knew who Johnny Barnes was and had I ever seen him.
Well, of course I’d seen him; I’d even waved to him a couple of times. The man then pulled a postcard out of his bag and gave it to me. It was of Johnny Barnes standing next to his statue. I thanked him and started to slip the postcard into my bag but he stopped me. He asked me to take a closer look and my jaw dropped.
Only then did I realize I was sitting and chatting with a man who is as much representative of Bermuda as Longtail Birds and the privateers!
What a treat to get such an up close and personal visit with the man known as “The Spirit of Bermuda”. Most weekday mornings, he stations himself at the last roundabout before entering Hamilton from about 6:30 until 10:00 am. He waves and smiles and wishes everyone who passes good day and God Bless.
He is someone who does not seem to have an ounce of anger or resentment or mistrust in him. He has a genuine wish that everyone in the world try harder to get along. He is a man who has lived a long time and seen many things and still he wishes only peace and happiness for his fellow man.
Don’t get me wrong; there’s no message from me in this blog entry. It just really gave me a warm fuzzy both to meet a Bermuda icon and to find out he’s such a pleasant and warm person.
PS. More chapters from our adventures in New York and Barbados to follow. They just need one more edit…
I met Johnny Barnes.
I can hear all of you at home saying; “who?” or “why is this so monumental?”
I’ll tell you why. Since arriving on the island, I have seen 2 bronze statues of men who are important to Bermuda.
One is Mark Twain.
The other one sat next to me on the bus today.
I did not immediately recognize him, but I did notice him when he got on the bus. An immaculately dressed older gentleman, he wore a perfectly pressed tan suit with a formal pink shirt, and immaculately groomed hair and beard. I didn’t think much when he sat next to me, except to wish him a good afternoon. He made a comment about the beautiful weather and I agreed.
We continued to make small talk until we reached the Harbour road roundabout and then he asked me if I knew who Johnny Barnes was and had I ever seen him.
Well, of course I’d seen him; I’d even waved to him a couple of times. The man then pulled a postcard out of his bag and gave it to me. It was of Johnny Barnes standing next to his statue. I thanked him and started to slip the postcard into my bag but he stopped me. He asked me to take a closer look and my jaw dropped.
Only then did I realize I was sitting and chatting with a man who is as much representative of Bermuda as Longtail Birds and the privateers!
What a treat to get such an up close and personal visit with the man known as “The Spirit of Bermuda”. Most weekday mornings, he stations himself at the last roundabout before entering Hamilton from about 6:30 until 10:00 am. He waves and smiles and wishes everyone who passes good day and God Bless.
He is someone who does not seem to have an ounce of anger or resentment or mistrust in him. He has a genuine wish that everyone in the world try harder to get along. He is a man who has lived a long time and seen many things and still he wishes only peace and happiness for his fellow man.
Don’t get me wrong; there’s no message from me in this blog entry. It just really gave me a warm fuzzy both to meet a Bermuda icon and to find out he’s such a pleasant and warm person.
PS. More chapters from our adventures in New York and Barbados to follow. They just need one more edit…
Friday, April 20, 2007
Holy smokes, where do I start? It’s been a whirlwind of a time since Rod’s mom arrived. We can’t believe 3 weeks have gone by already. I’m going to post this in installments, otherwise there will be a novel to read.
We picked her up at the airport on April 2, and after she’d peeled off her patch and had a smoke we climbed into a taxi for the ride to our apartment.
It was a long trip for her, having left Regina on Sunday night, flown to Calgary and caught the overnight flight to Toronto to connect to the once daily morning flight to Bermuda.
We arrived at our apartment and brought her bags up the stairs and settled in, catching up on Hesterman family news until Jean was ready for a much-deserved nap. We waited until she’d got her bearings here before springing our big surprise, which I’ve already let out of the bag in a previous entry.
We had a couple of days here before leaving for New York. The night we left, we had the MacDonald family over for dinner (they looked after Daisy for us while we were away). Chris, the husband, is the operations manager for Switchworx and his wife Kathy and their kids Victoria and Riley were really looking forward to having Daisy for a visit.
After they left on Wednesday night, we packed our bags and tried to get some sleep. We’d booked a taxi to pick us up at 5:00 Thursday morning, and boy, did it come early!
However, we were really excited to be off on this particular adventure. We got to the Bermuda airport and had plenty of time to grab a coffee and do a bit of duty free shopping before we boarded a 757. Next stop, New York City! This picture doesn't look like much, but we're on
approach to JFK. Look at the houses packed in.
We picked her up at the airport on April 2, and after she’d peeled off her patch and had a smoke we climbed into a taxi for the ride to our apartment.
It was a long trip for her, having left Regina on Sunday night, flown to Calgary and caught the overnight flight to Toronto to connect to the once daily morning flight to Bermuda.
We arrived at our apartment and brought her bags up the stairs and settled in, catching up on Hesterman family news until Jean was ready for a much-deserved nap. We waited until she’d got her bearings here before springing our big surprise, which I’ve already let out of the bag in a previous entry.
We had a couple of days here before leaving for New York. The night we left, we had the MacDonald family over for dinner (they looked after Daisy for us while we were away). Chris, the husband, is the operations manager for Switchworx and his wife Kathy and their kids Victoria and Riley were really looking forward to having Daisy for a visit.
After they left on Wednesday night, we packed our bags and tried to get some sleep. We’d booked a taxi to pick us up at 5:00 Thursday morning, and boy, did it come early!
However, we were really excited to be off on this particular adventure. We got to the Bermuda airport and had plenty of time to grab a coffee and do a bit of duty free shopping before we boarded a 757. Next stop, New York City! This picture doesn't look like much, but we're on
approach to JFK. Look at the houses packed in.Chapter 2 to come...
Hugs to everyone,
Rod n Karen (and Jean)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Back from hiatus
Hi everyone!
Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks, including our St. Patrick's Day/housewarming party on March 17. Rod and I made a ton of food (including Rod's now famous hot wings) and most of his co-workers and their spouses/girlfriends showed up for an evening of great fun (and Lori playing the spoons while Steve played the guitar).
Life has settled into somewhat of a routine, but that should change now that Rod's mom is here! She arrived yesterday, after having travelled from Regina to Calgary to Toronto to Bermuda. All in all, a very long flight, but it was the only way to avoid having her stay in TO for the night.
But Jean had adventures of her own this morning. We had to pick up some groceries, so she borrowed my helmet and climbed on behind Rod for a quick trip to Marketplace (it's not everyone who has a mom/grandma who is so cool!!)
It's been a while, but I am managing to avoid our zillion cable channels and actually sit down to write something.
Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks, including our St. Patrick's Day/housewarming party on March 17. Rod and I made a ton of food (including Rod's now famous hot wings) and most of his co-workers and their spouses/girlfriends showed up for an evening of great fun (and Lori playing the spoons while Steve played the guitar).The last guest departed about 3 a.m. and we spent the next day being very quiet ;-)
Daisy has been to the beach again, and she's decided it's not so bad, although she's not ready to go for a swim yet. The last time we were there, dozens of man-o-war jellyfish had washed up on the beach. Hopefully it's a weird tidal thing and not a hint of the summer we can expect. For those of you not in the know, man-o-wars are the worst kind of jellyfish - their sting can be extremely painful.
Here are a couple of pictures - they're the things that look like weird blue shells (they look more like very strange-shaped plastic bags if you encounter them floating in the ocean or washed up on the beach.
Here are a couple of pictures - they're the things that look like weird blue shells (they look more like very strange-shaped plastic bags if you encounter them floating in the ocean or washed up on the beach.
I love the sunsets here. It's hard to believe, since I thought prairie sunsets were the prettiest in the world, but every so often if the cloud patterns are just right at the right time of day, we have the best view - right from our balcony.
Life has settled into somewhat of a routine, but that should change now that Rod's mom is here! She arrived yesterday, after having travelled from Regina to Calgary to Toronto to Bermuda. All in all, a very long flight, but it was the only way to avoid having her stay in TO for the night.She also rode back on the same plane with Nick, one of Rod's co-workers who had been home for the weekend so we all shared a taxi into town. We dropped Nick off and continued on to Casa
Hesterman.
We were out for supper last night at Island Cuisine, a low-key restaurant not far from our apartment. They have a good menu, decent prices and they're one of the few places who don't automatically include the tip for the wait staff.
Then it was back home for an episode of "Deal or no Deal" and off to bed.
We did have one surprise up our sleeves, though. When Rod put his house up for sale, we agreed that we would take a portion of the proceeds and have fun with it. Well, Rod's house has sold and we have booked a long weekend away and Jean's coming along. Thursday morning we leave for New York (and shopping in Manhattan - WUHOOO!!!!) for a day there, and then we're off to Barbados for the weekend!! There will defintely be posts of our adventures (and pictures) next week.
But Jean had adventures of her own this morning. We had to pick up some groceries, so she borrowed my helmet and climbed on behind Rod for a quick trip to Marketplace (it's not everyone who has a mom/grandma who is so cool!!)I followed on foot, since it's only a 15-minute walk and we had to buy enough that we needed a taxi home.
Once I got to the store we got everything we needed and Rod took the bike home and we followed in the taxi.
Rod and Jean are now busy making perogies! And cheese buns, if I have anything to say about it.
Hugs to everyone at home. I'll try not to stay away so long next time.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Musings on Bermuda
So I've found some things I love about the island (the weather, the immaculately dressed school children, the pace of life, watching the endlessly changing blue of the ocean, and driving a bike) and I've found some things I don't like so much (cockroaches, weird spiders that have the biggest webs, and humidity so thick some days you sweat even when you're standing still).
That being said, it beats snow and wind and ice and cold hands down.
I have now driven into Hamilton twice - I'm such an adventurer! Of course I wait until the morning rush hour is done and then it's fairly easy if you pay attention. Yesterday I came into town to meet Rod for lunch and try to get his suit dry cleaned (it got a bit mildewy - go figure). I haven't found a reliable dry cleaner or seamstress yet. You'd be surprised how much that matters when you don't have one.
That being said, it beats snow and wind and ice and cold hands down.
I have now driven into Hamilton twice - I'm such an adventurer! Of course I wait until the morning rush hour is done and then it's fairly easy if you pay attention. Yesterday I came into town to meet Rod for lunch and try to get his suit dry cleaned (it got a bit mildewy - go figure). I haven't found a reliable dry cleaner or seamstress yet. You'd be surprised how much that matters when you don't have one.
It's been a while since I last blogged - I have to admit to some homsickness and a little bit of lonely. However, Rod and I went bowling tonight at Warwick Lanes - 10 pin - and it was fun, and not too expensive. There's more to settling into a new country than I remember from being a kid in Florida. Of course then I was in school within a week of arriving - not nearly as much time on my hands as I have now.
However, we're having some people over on Saturday for a St. Patrick's Day/Housewarming party. It's all Rod's co-worker's and significant others. Hopefully it's as much fun (almost) as the last party we threw.
Daisy and I went to the beach the other day. It's pretty obvious she loves it here (see photo if you don't believe me)
. Overall, it's still the most fun I've had in a long while - but I'll be glad when my paperwork is in and I can start applying for a job.
. Overall, it's still the most fun I've had in a long while - but I'll be glad when my paperwork is in and I can start applying for a job. Well, that and waiting for summer weather so we can spend time at the beach!!
Hope everyone at home is good. Danielle, if you're reading this, I hope you are fine and everything is progressing as you'd hoped. You'd better send pictures in about 49 days!!
Hugs to everyone at home.
R & K.
Monday, March 5, 2007
A Car in the Works?
We've been scouring e-moo (the Bermuda online classfieds) to find a car. Bikes (scooters) are fun, but not when you're picking someone up from the airport with luggage or you have a big grocery shop to do.
I've just heard from someone who's selling his Mitsubishi wagon (go ahead, laugh) because he's moving in with his girlfriend. The price seems like a steal, so hopefully it's what we are looking for (even though we'll have to get him to deliver it since neither one of us can drive legally yet).
I'm on pins and needles waiting for Rod to get home. It's pointless calling his cell phone when I figure he's on the bike - hard to answer the phone while wearing a helmet and needing two hands to drive - so I'll pace until he gets home.
I practiced some more today on the bike - got groceries for supper tonight - having a ball!!
We miss everyone at home, but we don't miss the weather (feel free to swear at us now).
love,
Karen & Rod.
I've just heard from someone who's selling his Mitsubishi wagon (go ahead, laugh) because he's moving in with his girlfriend. The price seems like a steal, so hopefully it's what we are looking for (even though we'll have to get him to deliver it since neither one of us can drive legally yet).
I'm on pins and needles waiting for Rod to get home. It's pointless calling his cell phone when I figure he's on the bike - hard to answer the phone while wearing a helmet and needing two hands to drive - so I'll pace until he gets home.
I practiced some more today on the bike - got groceries for supper tonight - having a ball!!
We miss everyone at home, but we don't miss the weather (feel free to swear at us now).
love,
Karen & Rod.
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