Lots of little stories

Injuries

Neither Chris nor I had ever an injury on the boat – in all this time – a miracle considering the places poor Chris had to crawl into, weights he had to lift, electric cables he had to fix – a miracle, as I said. Well this does not include the land injuries we had – Chris fell of the bike once with Jackie in his kangaroo pouch he carried her in, I fell once on the street – with NEW pants of course, I fell once on Christmas over a sprinklerhead in St. Petersburg – also with new pants. I fell off the bike once into a two lane highway loosing some skin on my knee and arm; and there is of course the time I tried to separate Jackie from our friend’s dog when they were “discussing” their territory. In that little fight I lost a 1 inch piece from my lip and chin, which got stitched back on by a master. After a ride back with the boat from a little island, a dinghy ride and an ambulance ride across the island of Guadeloupe we found “my hero” – a vascular doctor at the hospital who took more than an hour to sew the missing piece back onto my face. After two months it looks already great and I am so thankful that the doctor was diligent.
No more injuries – we say – and hope that Murphy will listen!


November 22 THANKSGIVING


Thanksgiving for non-American’s is not quite the same, or so we assume, but we did our best to celebrate Thanksgiving in style; maybe not traditional but never the less with lots of wonderful food and great company. We spent the evening with our friends from “Eyes of the World” eating duck (we called it a turkey in the making), Scottish Salmon, great fresh veggies from the island and of course, French Champagne and Wine.
We are in Martinique since about a week now, enjoying the second French Island on our trip. We just don’t seem to get away from them. We LOVE everything about the French people; their wines, their food and of course their bread. The marina we are in is next to “Paul’s”, a bakery that has been in business for more than 150 years, the bread is to die for – we are in heaven. We have to stay here for a while because we are waiting for a spare part from France – poor us, but we will suffer through it.
The hurricane season went by so quickly; the four month in Guadeloupe seemed like we were only there for a short time. We miss the new friends we made there - we felt that we had a new home for a while. Even our French was getting a little better. Since Guadeloupe we are traveling with a second boat, “Eyes of the World”, a Catamaran, with Rick and Jim and their dogs Coco and Cooper – we have been very lucky to have met them and enjoy their company very much. It was been very nice to share new adventures together or have the “occasional” drink and dinner together.


Earthquake on a boat

We stay at the marina in Martinique for a few days to get laundry done and enjoy a little more of the French islands – we are worried we are running out of wine and cheese – so we actually stay almost two weeks. One afternoon around three the boat starts to shake violently – we run outside and see that the two feet in diameter steel pilings shake like crazy and the very long and wide floating dock was going up and down like a snake. Wow – we had a 7.4 earthquake. I have never been in one – very strange and “cool”. I think Jackie knew for a few days since she was very scared and skittish and did not want to go outside.

Josephine Bonaparte

We visited the home of Napoleon’s Josephine, originally Marie Joseph Tasher, who was born right here in martinique. The main house was destroyed by a hurricane in 1772 but the kitchen was renovated and made into a museum. What a lovely place. We had a very nice person giving me three books, novels that are the “diaries” of Josephine. I love them – and now I can picture all the places she talks about, the places she grew up and spent her youth; what a women.

November 31, our first Christmas party

Since neither of us is in the corporate world anymore, we rarely get invited to Christmas parties, so we decided to have one on Lucky Star – a very early one. We had a great standing rip roast with wonderful local veggies, smoked trout from France, scallops in garlic butter and fruit and vanilla yoghurt for desert. This of course with lovely French wine and a beautiful Martinique aged rhum that tastes like any great brandy. It was a blend we bought from the Clement Estate and it was the 1952, 1972 and 1976 vintage. What a life!