Once again, I have let far too much time go by between posts.  I think I need to try to be less ambitious about the importance of each topic, and instead just write little entries more often.    Ms. YingYang, fellow blogger and one of my (online) Grenadian guides has committed to being a more regular blogger as well, so I want to try and follw her good example.

We’ll see how that goes!

Breck and I had a lovely vacation here in Grenada, beginning when his semester ended shortly before Christmas.  We had some visitors during Breck’s first two weeks off–Aaron, Sarah, their son Benjamin, and Sarah’s mom, Carol, and then my mother.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoy the island, and we were very glad to have them all!

The following 2 weeks were very uneventful, although we were lucky enough to have access to a car while some of our friends were away for the holiday.  So we had some nice dinners out, spent time at the beach, but mostly enjoyed doing a whole lot of nothing together.  During this time, I have continued to whittle away at my Divemaster training, and I think I can finally see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.  With a bit of luck, I think I can complete my certification by the beginning of February, and then I will finally get to have a regular schedule of only being at the Dive Center 4 days a week, rather than 7.

This week, Breck started what is considered to be his 3rd semester.  In terms of hours spent in class and studying, it should be less demanding than last semester was, and what 4th semester will be (which begins in about 4-6 weeks).  4th semester is notorious and dreaded by SGU medical students, because a massive amount of class, lab, and study hours are required to do well, and it lasts 6 WEEKS longer than all the rest of the semesters.  He won’t be finished until the end of June.  So if you want to contact Breck, please do so now, as he will probably be unreachable quite soon.

In other news, I am now the newly-elected President of the Significant Other’s Group.  Hooray!  I think.  As some of you know, I’ve had lots of complaints and ideas about how things are done by and for the SO’s, so now I’m going to try my hand at coming up with some new ideas and activities for everyone.  And then other SO’s can complain about what I’m doing with the group!  It’s only a semester-long position, but it should be a fun and interesting project, and help to keep me even busier than usual, while Breck is swamped with school.  My first order of business is going to be to try and think of some new places to visit around the island, (farther away from the cocoon that the university can be at times) to give us all more of an appreciation for and understanding of the wonderful country that is now our (albiet temporary) home!

We’ll keep you updated as to how it’s all going, of course.

Happy American Thanksgiving! to those of you who are celebrating today.  For those of you, like me, who are not eating themselves into a food coma for one reason or another–Happy Thursday!

There are so many reasons that I have not been good about updating the blog for the last few months, so I won’t bore you by rehashing it all.  But in my own defense, I was in the States for 3 weeks–visiting friends, family, and attending two weddings of very dear friends.  And then right after I returned to Grenada, I started Divemaster Training, which is a very time-intensive endeavor to say the least.  So I’ve been feeling a bit tired, discombobulated, and haven’t really had that much to say.

But, today I took the day off because I have some sort of cold that I hope does not reveal itself to be the sinus infection that is making the rounds among my friends.  So blog I will!

The rainy season here is slowly, but surely coming to an end.  June and November are the rainiest months, and it’s not over soon enough.  Really, I shouldn’t complain.  The island rarely gets hurricanes, as we are too far south to be in most of their paths.  And, you know, the rain is good for making our lives better by enabling flowers and food to grow.  And most of the rest of the year the rain we get is barely noticeable.  But from mid-October until the end of November, the rain just pours and pours, day and night.  It encourages the mosquitoes to breed wildly, and they become REALLY terrible.

I can barely get any laundry done during that time because we don’t have access to a dryer (which normally, I love–drying clothes outside really makes the clothes smell nice and saves electricity, which is VERY expensive here).  There have been mornings when it looks like I might be able to get a load done, and so I get all excited and put some clothes in the washing machine.  But before it can finish, the sky goes terribly gray and it starts to rain sideways.  Which means the wet clothes sit in the washer and grow mildew and then must be washed again.  OR, I might actually get some clothes out on the line, but then it will rain for 36-48 hours straight without a break. Luckily, my wonderful friend Karen has a washer AND dryer at her house that she lets me use when I need to (although, last time it took a ridiculous number of hours to get 3 loads of laundry done, because a landslide near the local water supply station dramatically decreased water pressure in the area, causing it to take over an hour to fill the washer with water for each rinse cycle).

I think I need to rig up a clothes line in our living room before next June, because we just don’t have enough doors and chairs to hang things on to try and get the laundry to dry.

Thank you for your attention to The Laundry Report. Now back to more interesting updates from the island!

Just like in the States, Grenada is getting excited for Christmas.  Decorations are going up all over the place, and Christmas music plays all of the time on the radio.  Usually, it takes me about half a day to get completely sick of Christmas music.  But here it’s nice, because most of the music is written and produced by Caribbean artists, and so is very different than what I would hear at home.  Of course, you will also hear some popular covers of American Christmas songs by local musicians, but it sounds different so I enjoy it a bit more.

To me, the most interesting thing is that there are certain holiday songs by artists from the States that are played on the radio PRACTICALLY TO DEATH.  And when I say that, I mean that the SAME EXACT SONG will be played once an hour, every hour, every day.  They include the following:

Once Upon a Christmas by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers

All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey

I think that Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers must have done a Christmas Album together at some point, because I hear a lot of holiday songs from them these days.  Who knew?

Breck is studying for finals right now, and should be done by the middle of next month.  We’re really looking forward to spending the month he’ll have off doing some things together–like diving!  And we’re also excited that some folks will come visit us during that time, like my Mom, and Batman and Sarah & their sprout and Sarah’s mom.

As I said, I’m in the middle of Divemaster Training, which takes about 5 weeks to complete with Scubatech.  They’ve struck a lovely deal with a couple of my friends and me, where they will train us free of charge, and then we’ll work the training off leading dives for them over the course of the next year.  If anyone is really interested in what I’m up to with that, I’ve started a section detailing what becoming a Divemaster is all about.

That’s about all for the moment.  But here are some questions for you to ponder until my next report:

Why are there now chickens living at the Texaco station?

What happened to the sheep that lived across the street at the Coast Guard Station?  Were they impounded?  Were they eaten?

Why is was it easier to get rid of the ants in our kitchen than those that are infesting our clothes closet?  Why for the love of little green apples are they living in our clothes?  How can such small ants bite so VERY HARD?  Can they be stopped?

Can my husband and I make it until the end of the no-tomato season here in Grenada without going insane with WANT of them?  They really are the best tomatoes we’ve ever had.  Ever.

Hi all!

Yes, I’m slow.  VERY SLOW at posting more things from Japan.  You don’t have to tell me.  So I promise more photos and thoughts are forthcoming, perhaps this weekend.

But for now, you should go here and have some fun:

Modern Day Gilligan

This is a photoblog created by the husband of another SGU student.  I’ve never met him in person–I stumbled onto his site today while making my rounds of the internets.  His name is Josh, he is from Minnesota, and his wife is from Trinidad.  He is an outstanding photographer (I think he’s a professional), and his photos really show just how beautiful life here can be.

I’ve linked to his very first post from 2005.  Under each photo there’s a “Next” button.  Just keep on clicking it to see everything up until now.

I’m pretty sure I have sciatica, which wasn’t helped by all of the walking we did in Japan.  And then, in Tokyo, my terrible habit of sleeping in my contact lenses finally caught up with me, and I think that I may have scratched my cornea (goodness gracious! did that hurt a lot).  So, along with all of the exhaustion from jet lag, I arrived in Grenada feeling like a total mess.

But one day after we returned, Carnival was beginning to ramp up and go into full swing.

In many countries, Carnival takes place around Lent (like the one of the best-known celebrations in Brazil).  But in Grenada, like some other Caribbean countries, Carnival is in the late summer or early fall.  I still am not sure why, but (as you might guess) I’m working on finding an answer.

Carnival weekend is four days long (with Monday and Tuesday being national holidays), so people do all sorts of things to celebrate the event.  Some people  have parties with family.  Some people visit friends and neighbors.  And of course, some people drink lots of rum and dance in the streets.

The biggest night of Carnival happened very early on Monday the 11th of August, beginning at about 3am, and it’s called J’ouvert (or Jab Jab).  I heard this song outside our bedroom window at about 3:45am, as it blasted me out of a dead sleep.  It’s called “Blame de Rum” by Lavaman, and he’s now my very first, very favorite Soca artist.

I bolted out of bed in time to see a number of construction-sized flatbed trucks full of people going by our house on their way to St. George’s, since that’s where the party ends up every year.  For about 5 minutes, I thought seriously about waking my husband, throwing on some clothes, and running out into the night to join the fun.  But, very quickly, my eye and my back reminded me that I wasn’t really fit to spend the next 6 hours dancing in the streets.  So i watched the trucks pass and then quietly went back to bed.

Bah!

The origin and meaning of J’ouvert are still a bit muddled for me, but I’ve definitely read a few explanations that included mention of former slaves celebrating emancipation, or those who were still slaves mocking the extreme high fashion of their masters, so there might be some of that going on.  See one such explanation of J’ouvert here.

A big part of going to J’ouvert is getting covered with different colors of paint–I’ve also seen lots of different explanations for that as well.  It seems that each community in Grenada has a different tradition, so depending upon where you might choose to celebrate J’ouvert, there will be different colors of paint, and even white powder, used by the participants to paint each other.  And then, of course there is motor oil that is still used by many to paint themselves.  A lot of men go to the party covered in motor oil and wearing something like a Viking helmet on their heads.

This is definitely a prevalent theme that I’m still reading about, so don’t ask me yet what the significance is.

Here’s a good video that I found first on Ms. YingYang’s Blog:

Most people will bathe in the ocean after J’ouvert, and then go home to rest before mas.  Mas (possibly named because some participants wear masques on their faces) takes place later on Monday and all day Tuesday, when participants dress up in costumes that they’ve worked on for months, and dance through the streets to be judged in the Parade of the Bands contest:

Pretty tremendous, right?  So you understand why I made my commitment to go to out for Carnival next year.  Especially the Soca Monarch competition!  Watch here to see Lavaman get the crowd TOO hyped up, descend upon the judges area, and consequently get himself disqualified for the 2nd year in a row.

For more good info on all of the official events (since I didn’t go out), please read the Grenada Tourism page about Carnival.

We returned from our 3 week holiday in Tokyo over 2 weeks ago, but I haven’t felt sane or rested enough to write until now.  I felt a little like I needed a vacation from our vacation, especially since our door-to-door travel time from our friends’ house in Tokyo to our house in Grenada was a whopping 45 hours.

In case you are interested, our house sitter left the place as neat as a pin (almost putting me to shame) and the cats were happy.  So he is aces in our book.

My husband had this very perfect thing to say about the country of Japan:

Japan was/is weird, interesting, frustrating, cool, not cool, hot, humid, historic, futuristic, organized, clean, polite, off-putting, easy to get around in and yet difficult to navigate, expensive, and far.

I concur wholeheartedly with his estimation.

I’m still wrapping my head around the whole trip, so I can’t really give you a full picture of it all quite yet.  But I will start giving you links to our photos at least.

Soon.  Very, very soon.

What I CAN say about Japan, is that it is completely similar to and different than anyplace I’ve ever been.  Like New York City, it has lots of tall buildings, a large underground subway system, millions of people, interesting food, and tons of things to do and see.

Unlike some places I have been, a very small portion of the population speaks any English, many things are how they are without any reason that I could discern, especially since I didn’t meet any Japanese folks I could hold a conversation with (due both to my minuscule knowledge of Japanese, and their lack of English).  Do you understand?  Maybe not, and I’m not quite sure I did/do either.  I’m still processing it all.

The hardest part of the trip for me was that I wasn’t able to interact with that many Japanese people.  Other than drinking and eating local foods and beverages, I like to ask lots and lots and LOTS of questions about the places I go and the people I see.  Our friend Chris, who is massively fluent in Japanese, could offer his take on any situation.  But since he isn’t a permanent resident of Japan (and more importantly, he is not Japanese), there are still assumptions and guesses that he has to throw into the mix of explanations that he gave me about things.  I’m sure that my questions of “Why This?” and “Why That?” must have gotten boring, but he was–as always–a very patient and competent tour guide, as well as were his wife Beth and their son Max. They let us take over their lives for 3 whole weeks, and we hope they aren’t worse for the wear.

Spending time with our friends was the centerpiece of the trip, since we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like, but it’s always lovely to spend time with them when we can.  The only drawback was that since Max is only about 18 months old, we’re pretty sure he’ll forget what good buddies he became with Breck and I this summer.  But these things tend to happen when hanging out with a toddler.

Hello All!

I have a moment to write as our time in Tokyo is winding down.  It’s gone much more quickly than I imagined it would, but all vacations are like that, aren’t they?

By the time we return to Grenada, we’ll pretty much have seen and done everything in and around Tokyo that we came to see and do.

Japan hasn’t been as mind-boggling as I thought it might be.  It’s very familiar in a way.  Not so unlike New York City for the most part, but then you turn the corner and find something completely unexpected that no one can explain.  Like this for example:

Here I am out having yakitori (which is absolutely delicious, by the way).  I’m eating a sausage, and holding it by the bone.

Wait, what?

Yes, you read that correctly.  Grilled sausages at yakitori places have a random bone shoved into the end, which you hold to eat them.

Hold on a minute…why would they….  I don’t…but…really?!?  Uhh, okay….

And then, of course, there have been many experiences that were completely different and new.  One of our very favorite parts of the trip so far took place at this onsen.  They have a bathroom that I’d happily spend the rest of my life in.

So, that’s it for now.  We’ll share many more stories and photos after we get back and over our jet lag.

Fig. 1: My birthday was even better than this hippo’s.

Wednesday was my 35th and it was head ’splodingly awesome.  Let me tell you how much.

Wednesday morning, Abeni and I took the Osprey to Carriacou (pop. <5,000), a part of the nation of Grenada (the NDC won, so new people are in charge now, btw) and the largest of the Grenadine islands. I have no idea if the islands have anything to do with the cherry syrup, so don’t ask.

We got there and found a bus to take us to the southern end of the island where, in the Alexis grocery, we met Beverly, proprietress of several shops and 4 guest cottages. She gave us the key for the one we were renting. Location was key: we were just a short walk from Lumbadive with whom we had booked for two dives on Thursday.

We got to the cottage, unpacked, and walked down the hill to the Lazy Turtle, a really good little Italian food spot, and there we ate delicious calzones bigger than your head. I made all gone because it was my birthday eve and because it was delicious. Then we were sleepy.

It’s a lot hotter in Carriacou (maybe because of all the volcanos — see Fig. 2), so we went to the cottage, turned on the A/C, watched TV for the first time since January (it still sucks, to my lack of surprise) and had naps.  Sweet.

Fig. 2: This is Kick ‘Em Jenny. It’s underwater between Grenada and Carriacou. If you’re driving a boat that way, you have to avoid it. It makes the water nice and warm and bubbly even miles away.

Then we showered and went back to the Lazy Turtle for dinner and desert. I had creme brulee and Johnny Walker Green Label (best Scotch they had available, and in the upper half of nearly any selection anywhere, so no complaints).

The next morning we went on two dives, one to Mabouya that had a little tugboat wreck where a big school of yellowtails lives…

Fig. 3: There were lots of these. They are delicious.

…and some parrotfish (not exactly this kind, but you get the idea)…

Fig. 4: These guys are colorful. Some captions are obvious.

…and a couple spotted morays doing their best Jimmy Durante impersonations.

Fig, 5: Hot-cha-cha!

Then we had to surface because, you know: air. Before we could dive again, we had to float around topside for a while so our blood wouldn’t get too nitrogen-ey. So we went to a beach. Booo-ring!

Fig. 6: Boring.

Then we went to the next dive site, two uninhabitable rocky islands called the Sisters. These islands are volcanic, and much more obviously so than any of the dive sites around Grenada proper (that we’ve been to so far, anyway), with steep thermoclines, and shimmery areas where the temperature was 10 or more degrees Farenheit warmer than that only a few feet away. Also, the sea floor literally bubbled from volcanic gasses releasing from the vasty depths beneath the vasty deep.

But the fish we saw there is the most awesome part. First off, dozens of barracuda:

Fig. 7: Yeah, dude: dozens of these.

I used to be terrified of barracuda. They’re pretty menacing. Thing is, even when they get to full size (about 6 feet long), they’re so skinny you’re not really frightened of them any more, fearsome maw or no. Plus, they really don’t care about divers. If anything, they might think you’re a bigger, badder predator (and if you have a spear gun, you are) and they might follow you around in the hopes of picking up some leavings.

We also saw the biggest trunkfish we’ve ever seen, some 18 inches, easy. These guys are a new favorite, and it’s easy to see why:

Fig. 8: The one we saw was way bigger, and had horns over its eyes. This one is just a baby, I think. These guys are like the big fat fuzzy yellow bumblebees of the sea.

Then, the good stuff. Sharks. First time I’ve seen any sharks. Sharks are cool as anything. Sharks are an awesome reason to dive. They are beautiful in the water. And majorly awesome. We saw a nurse shark. They’re like little kitty-cats. They’ll even let you pet them. The one we saw was a little over 3 feet long, and a foot across at its gills.

Fig. 9: They’re pretty much like a giant plecostamus. It’s a good first shark to encounter.

Then we saw real Blacktip Sharks. Two of them swimming in tandem. The big one was 6 feet, easy (maybe 6 1/2 feet) and the “little” one was over 4 feet. I first confused these for great big barracuda, but then our guide Blaine (who is from County Cork, Ireland, but was dragged along to Carriacou by his parents at the age of 15) pointed to them excitedly and put his hand up in the signal for “shark”.

Fig. 10: Turns out these guys can be pretty aggressive towards divers sometimes. Good to know.

The second dive finished up soon after, and we were well pleased. We will be back.

The ride back on the ferry was not as pleasant as the ride up, mainly because we chose to sit in the cabin rather than on the top deck, because it looked like rain. There was no rain and the cabin was stuffy and full of seasick children.  Shrug.

The plan was to go see Iron Man (it just got to Grenada) when we got back, but the last showing was as soon as we got home, basically, so showers and Manhattan cocktails took its place. That’s fine. Any more awesome and I’d need a bigger backpack to carry it all around in anyway. In the meantime, however, I declare my birthday not over until I see this, so there’s still time to send gifts!

Fig. 11: My birthday is so not over until I see this.

To guide your last minute shopping: I like cash, fine pencils, and Esterbrook fountain pens.

Last week, my landlords (Mr. and Mrs. Forte) went up to the market in Grenville, and they invited me to come along.  Grenville is the second largest city on the island, and at about 20km/12-ish miles, it takes almost an hour to get there.  But it’s a lovely ride through the country, and now that it has stopped raining and the entire island has turned green, it’s almost a completely different drive than the first time I went a few months ago.

Grenville is actually not very big, and only has about 2,500 people living there.  It’s maybe 1/3 the size of St. George’s, but their fish market is terrific, and Mrs. Forte thinks that the ladies that operate the fish market in St. George are a bit too “cheeky”, so she prefers to go to Grenville when she can.  And she also thinks the prices are better in Grenville as well, which I can certainly appreciate.

The Fortes have a car, but Mrs. Forte doesn’t feel comfortable driving all over the island yet.  I don’t blame her with how hilly and loaded with blind curves the roads are.  So for our trip, she had a family friend (Elvis) drive us.

The market in Grenville also has folks that sell local vegetables, but just like in St. George, almost everyone has the exact same things to sell.  Unless you have a favorite merchant to patronize, I didn’t see much difference in the quality from one potato to the next.

I really only went up there for the fish though.  And I like the Fortes.  They are lovely, kind people and they also constantly crack me up.

The first time I ever went upstairs to their apartment for something or other after we moved here, Mrs. Forte had me come in and sit down.  She made a little polite small talk, but after a few minutes Mr. Forte said in a loud voice, “ARE BOTH OF YOUR PARENTS ALIVE?”  Mrs. Forte immediately looked a bit embarrassed and said back to him, “Alvin, are you going to ask next what color her knickers are?”  I knew right then we were all going to get along just fine.

I’m not sure exactly how old they are, but I’m guessing that they’re in their very late 60s.  Mrs. Forte is from Jamaica, but spent most of her life in England, and so retains a strong English accent.  I find her to be incredibly patient, since she takes care of the house, and her husband (who became disabled after a stroke a couple of years ago).  And, of course she deals with the endless parade of unreliable plumbers, contractors, and other handymen that she needs to keep this place in shape. She’s always in good spirits, and I am impressed because I think with just having to deal with the repairmen, I would get pretty cranky some days.

Mr. Forte was born in Grenada (they met in England and settled there), and even though he was away for many years, you can still hear his Grenadian patois.  He is as pleasant and jolly a man as I’ve ever met.  Because of the stroke, Mr. Forte is also quite hard of hearing.  So throughout our ride to Grenville, Mrs. Forte would say something to him, and he would not respond, so then she would punch him in the shoulder and he’d turn around with a big grin.  Then she would repeat herself, and he would answer.

This went on all morning, and was pretty hilarious.

Fishing boats come into Grenville almost every hour (from very early morning until about noon).  So there is  great deal of fish to be had.  I got steaks from a whole barracuda and a whole tuna for the equivalent of about $16 US, so I was very happy about my purchases.

Here are some photos from the day:

There are about 6 stalls like this, next to each other right next to the docks, with people selling fish all day.

I didn’t realize that there was an “Authorized Fish Cleaner’s Station”, so I gave over my fish to the first kid that hustled up to me and asked if I needed my purchases filleted.  There seems to be a group of teenage kids that comes to the docks and cleans fish for tips.

All of the guys who cleaned fish there did the entire job with a machete.  That is amazing, I think.  And they did a very good job.  Some guy came up and started an argument with one of the fish cleaners.  But in my opinion, you do not argue with the man who has the machete.

Sometimes, living in a new country makes me feel like this guy (who has evidently carved out quite a career for himself in Branson, MO):

Especially today, which is ELECTION DAY here in Grenada! Woo-hoo!

Now, since I’m not a national, that means very little to me in theory, although I would like to try and learn all I can about my temporary home. However, reading the local weekly newspaper is a little bit difficult, because most of the articles are written in a manner that assumes a basic level of understanding of the nuances of the Grenadian political system. I need a lesson in Grenada Civics 101.

I’m also trying to do some research online but, well, not a lot of locals are online. So, the internets have not been too much help either.

My confusion specifically about Election Day is as follows:

I thought that Election Day was a national holiday, and all businesses would be closed. But then I remembered someone telling me that the day AFTER election day might be a national holiday. Instead? Also?

So, I called the pharmacy, knowing that if they didn’t answer the phone, then it is indeed a holiday. But they did answer the phone. So I started asking the nice lady on the other end of the phone questions, knowing that Grenadians are, by and large, extremely helpful people.

She explained that Election Day is not traditionally a national holiday, although some businesses do choose to close for the day. But tomorrow might be a holiday. Or not. It all depends on whether the current party (the NDC. Or the NNP–I get confused between the two) is re-elected or if a new party comes to power. If the new party comes to power, then there will be a holiday tomorrow. But if the same party is re-elected, then Friday will be a holiday.

Aside: When I went to the NNP’s website, there is a strange video feed on there that I do not understand. Mostly, it seems like a record of Grenadian political discussions. But I also watched an extended section that documented a local bodybuilding competition. Huh?

She told me that votes should be counted by midnight, so I could listen to the radio and know what is what by late tonight.

There actually are 4 political parties here, but like the US, only two parties really have a major following. There is also the Grenada United Labor Party (GULP), which currently holds no seats in Parliament, and the People’s Labour Movement, which also currently holds no seat in Parliament, and has no website.

If anyone out there is in the know about any of these things, please feel free to enlighten me.

Hello All!

I haven’t written in a while, and that’s completely due to my decision to sink into June and be completely, unbelievably lazy.  And it was great!

June is the official beginning of the rainy season here in Grenada.  The rainy season here is not to be confused with monsoon-like weather.  For the most part, you can just expect less than an hour of rain a day (or even just a little sun shower), and then everything clears up and is bright and sunny again.  I am also told that June and November get the most rain, which would appear to be true, because we did experience many gray days with rain throughout.

In a way, though, since we were pretty committed to spending most of our time at home–both to complete Breck’s recovery from the semester and to save money for Tokyo–the increase of not-so-nice weather was welcome, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this month.  You can spend an awful lot of time reading books and surfing the internet, and I actually feel more informed about world news (as well as useless junk) than I have in a very long time.  And I’ve also had fun doing a lot of yoga at home, and I’m starting to feel like I’m really getting somewhere with my practice.

Now, as we move into July, it’s almost like a switch has been thrown.  Everything is terrifically green and lush, and sunny days abound.  I’d like to get to the beach a few more times before we leave for Japan (less than 2 weeks left!), and we’re planning on taking an overnight trip to Carriacou next week, to go diving and celebrate Breck’s birthday.

As June has been pretty uneventful, I don’t have too much to tell you.  But I always have opinions about everything, so I will post a couple of more things before we leave.  I’m going to add a section on Tokyo upon our return, as I’m sure I will have plenty to report about that.