Merry Christmas

We are ready for Christmas, last night we joined Tim's Mum and family 15 in total for a wonderful turkey dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thank you Judit for inviting us it was lovely to see everyone again,

Tonight we are going with Stefanie, Tim, Buster and Judit to look at some of the more spectacular light displays around Burlington and then supper at our place, no Turkey though something a little lighter.

Doug took a couple of pictures of the Mall in Trinidad decorated for Christmas, note the locals in their shorts.

Wishing you all a wonderful day tomorrow, we hope Santa is good to you all.

Ancaster Craft Show Pictures

A little overdue but here are some pictures of the goodies we were selling at the Ancaster Christmas Craft Show.

I need some sunshine and warmth

I arrived in the UK to a severe hoar frost which covered the trees and fields, it looked like a scene from a Christmas card very pretty but much colder then Canada.

The day after I arrived my Mum and I got up in the morning to find her boiler not working so no heat or hot water. We survived for a couple of days before we could get a plumber to check it out. Fortunately we had a gas fire and portable oil filled radiators. You don't realise how you much you are used to certain things until they are not available. The cause of the problem was the severe cold weather and condensation had frozen to block a narrow outside pipe.

Whilst at home I managed to persuade my Mum to at last have a lifeline installed, she has been fighting us for a couple of years but thanks to support from Keith & Viv we managed to persuade her it was the best thing to do as she is now 90 years old and we all worry she may fall and at least with the lifeline she can summon help immediately. Of course she tells anyone who will listen that she is not at all happy about it.

Doug arrives this evening we will both return to Trinidad on January 4th. I am still trying to figure how to add the pictures of the craft show and open house. I didn't take them Stefanie used her camera and emailed them to me. Maybe Doug will help me out.

Wishing everone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. See You in 2011.

Busy time in Canada

I arrived back last Wednesday evening and have been busy since. Stefanie and I are participating in the Ancaster Christmas Craft Show this coming weekend. I had made a lot if things in Trinidad that needed stuffing and finishing off I have been working on those and am almost done.

Yesterday evening Stefanie and I went for a pedicure, we managed to relax for an hour and felt much better afterwards, I have also had my hair done since arriving back. I really need to find a hairdresser in Trinidad.

Keep you fingers crossed that we will do well at the show, I will post some pictures of our booth.

I still have Christmas shopping to start, Christmas cards to write and baking to do, wonder if I will get it all completed before I leave for the UK?

Orchids

We stopped at a local garden centre on our way home at the weekend.

Along one wall in place of a fence were orchids, they are not planted in soil they just grow with the warmth and constant misting with water. It was amazing, my pictures do not do them justice.

Brunch at Chagaramus

At the weekend we had brunch at Chagaramus where we sat and drooled at all the yatchts and catamarans. Had a good brunch, a few drinks and watched the local fishermen in their boats.

Did a lot of people watching and before we left a steel pan band set up in the restuarant and played Christmas songs. Frosty the Snowman doesn't sound quite the same when it is very hot and the only thing that was frosty was Doug's beer mug.

It has been a while

The month has flown by since I returned from Canada and I will be heading back again on 17th November to help Stefanie with the Ancaster Christmas Craft Show and Open House at her home. I am then flying to England for a short visit with my Mum and family then back to Canada to spend Christmas with Stefanie, Tim and Buster. Doug will fly to Canada December 18th and we will both return to Trinidad in the New Year.

We have been enjoying shopping at the local markets and trying different foods, we have made some mistakes but mastered others. They have so many starchy root vegetables which we are working our way through, we like the Casava but not sure about the Trinidad Sweet Potato, I think a small spoonful on the plate would have been enough. We just bought dried pigeon peas today to make curried pigeon peas.

I miss the soft fruits like Ontario peaches and raspberries, blueberries etc but we have discoverd new fruits like the Paw Paw

Thanksgiving at the Beach

Doug & I celebrated thanksgiving on Maracas beach.

We filled the cooler with everything we would need for the day and decided to relax on the beach and in the sea. The water was lovely and warm, we had a few showers as it is still rainy season here, in between the sun was shining with a gentle breeze to keep us cooled down.

We met a group of people who are with the Australian High Commission, one of whom previously lived in Calgary and knew it was Canadian thanksgiving weekend. We chatted for ages and even exchanged emails with one person who is involved with the Canadian Womens Club (she was adopted as the Ausralians don't have a club). Hopefully this may open some doors for me to get to know some more Canadians living in T&T.

We arrived home about 5pm tired out from all the sun and fun we had had. A perfect way to spend thanksgiving. There was just one thing missing though...............Family.

A busy time in canada

Originally I was returning to T&T on September 27th but had to extend my ticket by a week and actually returned on the 2nd October.

I was so busy when I was home and still cannot believe all that I achieved. First Stefanie and I took part in the Milton Farm Craft Show, one of our favourite shows. The weather and atmosphere was perfect, the crowds were amazing and our sales were wonderful. It is always so good to meet friends and customers at this show.

Since moving to Trinidad we have had our home for sale without much interest so we decided to try and lease our home whilst we are here. From making the initial enquiry once I was home,things moved very quickly. I moved us into a small condo which we will use as a base when we go home to visit Stefanie and Tim. I contacted the moving company who came in and packed up the remainder of our belongings which will be stored until we return, listed the house with the leasing company, leased the house from the 1st October to a family moving from the UK. Everything was completed by the 30th September and the house passed to the new tenants on 1st October. I had one day to myself and then returned to T&T.

I still cannot believe all that I achieved in such a short time. I could not have done all of this without Stefanie and Tim's help and Matthew who helped on moving day, thank you to you all, I promise my next visit will not be as hectic.

I have attached some photos of some of the goodies we were selling at the show and we are already looking forward to the next one in November.

Back in Canada

I arrived back in Canada for a couple of weeks. Stefanie and I will be at the Milton Farm Craft Show on the 18th & 19th September, usually our most successful show of the year. Fingers crossed again for this year we have a lot of unique items which we have been working on. Stefanie has excelled this year as I have been away she has more or less taken the reigns and produced some amazing one of a kind items. We are looking forward to seeing everyone there.

I have missed having a barbeque, Stefanie & Tim had a barbeque on Labor Day which was so good, I had forgotten how good it tasted. We had corn cooked in there husks, ribs and Tim made his sliders, everything was wonderful.I hope they do it again before I head back to TT.

I think Buster was pleased to see me he was at the airport when I arrived. Stefanie called last night to say he had been sprayed by a skunk last night when they let him out. Fortunately it was a baby skunk although he was still a very stinky pup.

I have been working in the garden and bought some Mums and ornamental kale. I will miss seeing the leaves turn this year, fall is always a nice time of year. I will be going back to the rainy season.

Independance Day

August 31st was Independance day in Trinidad and Tobago. 48 years ago they obtained independance from Britain and every year there is a parade and fireworks to celebrate.

The Parade starts at the Savannah with the armed forces, coast guard, fire service, police, mounted police,red cross nearly all of them have a marching band.

We found out that the parade came right past our appartment building and finished at the Police Academy which we overlook from our balcony. Doug & I took our chairs and joined the locals to watch the parade. We took bottled water as it was so hot but these Trinidadians like to party and although it was only 10 am they were all having a good time. One man standing next to us had a bag with a bottle of whiskey, soda, cups and a huge bag of ice. His group really were enjoying themselves.

Fort Charles from the Beach

Fort Charles

In the grounds of the hotel were the remains of an old fort together with the cannons. Where it was built you could see for miles out to sea. I doubt that any ships tried to invade the island they would have been seen well before they reached shore.

Colonial Building

This was another lovely old colonial building in Bridgetown.

Bridge town the capital of Barbados

I took the taxi with Doug one morning, dropped him of at the bank and set of to explore Bridgetown the capital of Barbados. You can see the very British influence in the city. The buildings are very grand and colonial, although you know you are in the Caribbean.

The people of Barbados are always happy and smiling and very welcoming, I spent the morning people watching, checking out some of the shops and did a little shopping. I bought a Christmas gift while I was there, and also something special for Colleen.

I met Doug for lunch and then got a taxi back to our hotel, I was exhausted, as well as the heat I had done a lot of walking. I just had to relax by the pool with a book and a drink.

Caribbean Sea

Another view from our balcony

View from Hotel Room

I spent so much time enjoying myself in Barbados, that I have only just got around to downloading some photos. We had a wonderful view from our balcony overlooking the pools and the beach and of course the Caribbean Sea. The sand was white and warm on our last morning there Doug and I were in the sea about 7am we were the only people there except for the occasional crab on the beach.

I am on the beach in Barbados

Doug had to come to Barbados for some meettings so I tagged along. What I have seen so far is beautiful. We are staying at the Hilton right on the beach in St Michaels.

I am spending the day around the pool and on the beach I have a good book to read and am going to peple watch and soak up the atmosphere. The sand is white the sky is blue and the Caribbean sea is turquoise.

Absolutely beautiful will post some pictures later.

Went to the market

Everyone has been telling us about the fruit and vegetable market which you have to experience. We were advised to get there early. The area is full of everybody and anybody selling Fruit & Veg from ther vehicles, from a small table or even on the ground. We are not sure if you have to be licensed to sell at the market or you just turn up and hope for the best.

It was very interesting we saw lots of vegetables that we did not know and were not brave enough to buy to sample, although we did buy tomatoes and some very interesting beans which were very tasty we had a good time taking in the atmosphere.

As well as Fruit and Vegetable there are other stalls selling meat products and salted fish. We took this photograph of this very happy vendor selling his Pig Snouts, Pig Tails and other Pig parts that we couldn't decide what they were.

I now have a Trinidad drivers license

But what an experience to obtain it. I had to get up early and go to work with Doug to get a driver to take us to the Licensing Department, we arrived at the department by 7.30 am. Already there was a long line up at the door that does not open until 8:00 am. This should have been a good indicator that the process was not going to be easy.

Firstly we had to go have some photographs taken so after taking our lives into our hands by crossing a very very busy 4 lane highway (this is the main road in and out of Port of Spain and of course it was rush hour) we arrived at a very dismal looking building and climbed the stairs to have our photos taken. $80 TT dollars later we were both the proud owners of 4 questionable photos each (we only need 2 for the license). We risked life and limb to cross the road again.

We followed our driver's instructions and went to the appropriate line up, when it was our turn we were told that we should have made an appointment to take the test. All is not lost as our driver Anthony made a quick phone call on his cell phone and like magic we were processed - apparently he knows the person in charge. We were eventually ushered into a room, not unlike a school room with small desks, and were told to take a pencil.

The written test began, the first part was multiple choice - no problem I know I got 100%. On to part two where it told you you were only allowed 1 incorrect answer - these were all questions regarding hand signals with true or false answers. HAND SIGNALS.........no one told us about these, in Canada we do not use or are tested on hand signals. I was desperately thinking back to the UK driving test and trying to rack my brain for the answers, I know I failed this part miserably. Third part was road signs and you were allowed two incorrect answers. Pretty easy, and I was quite confident with my answers. We finishd and then had to wait for the test to be processed. Meanwhile our Canadian colleagues who were taking the test asked what the heck are hand signals? They had no idea, and everyone of us agreed we had failed. Our driver asked how it went and we explained, he said "weren't you given a list of the hand signals beforehand"? There were quite a few open mouths at this stage. Once again the trusty Anthony called his friend and told us everything was Ok and don't ask.

So we waited probably 1 1/2 hours or more before obtaining a pass, we then had to go to another building and line up to pay our fee at the cashiers office - there were probably 30 people ahead of us and one cashier open. Another hour later we had paid out $535 TT each and then had to go to another building to have a photo taken for the license (the two spare ones couldn't be used. It was now approximately 11:00 am and we had to wait until our names are called. The waiting room had standing room only, and as you can imagine, we waited a long time before we were called. We then had to go through a very strange process, plus photographs, and at approximately 12: 30 pm and $1150 TT lighter we were the proud owners of a Trinidad Drivers License.

Missing Stefanie

Stefanie went home yesterday, I have really enjoyed her company this last 10 days. We have eaten too much and drunk too much wine but I think she also enjoyed her visit.

We managed to get to the Trinidad Zoo which is very small compared to the North American Zoos especially Toronto. However one advantage is that you can get a lot closer to the animals, the day we were there a group of children were visiting so we tagged onto the end of their tour with the Zoo Keeper.

We did get back to Maracas beach on Saturday, there was hardly anyone on the beach as most people in Trinidad work on Saturdays and head to the beach on Sundays. The Carribean Sea was warm when you went in, very beautiful. We spent all morning there, I can't wait until we go to Tobago which is the more picturesque of the two islands.

Doug is in St Lucia for a couple of days it is a bit lonely being on my own as I am not used to it so I can't wait for him to get back. I think he has another trip planned at the end of August to Grenad I think so I may tag along with him.

Today I am catching up with laundry and ironing.....yes you still have to do it in the tropics.

I bought a local cookery book and am hoping to work my way through it, I don't think Doug will like the Pig Tals and the Cow Foot Soup.

Needed one of these

Carib is the local beer and we sure needed one of these after our experience clearing our items through T&T customs. Not a computer in sight, but they do have a lot of carbon paper, the customs officer spent more time making sure the carbon paper was straight in the four part document we had to sign. We arrived at the bonded wharehouse at 8:15 am and left arround 12:30pm - frustrating, but welcome to island life.

On a more positive note, all the boxes are unpacked and the appartment is begining to look a little more like a home.

We have arrived!!

We have arrived in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Although it is the rainy season, it is very hot. Doug has started his new job with RBTT which has already taken him to St. Maarten for a week, and next week he is off to St. Lucia.

Stefanie arrived last Thursday for a 10 day visit, and brought me some things I was missing from home! We did get good news today, our Air Freight has arrived and after I have cleared it at customs tomorrow, will be delivered to our new home...it will feel like Christmas unpacking all the boxes, and I can't wait to have familiar things around.

Although being so close to the Equator the sun sets much earlier than Canada, the sunsets are breathtaking, as seen in this picture taken from our balcony overlooking the Gulf of Paria.