cats

We Be Een A Hurricane, Mon!

September 15, 2014 by Leah Leave a Comment

Well guys, today was a total washout…literally. Last night there were insane crazy thunderstorms that sounded like we were gonna fall into the sea. Forget “angels bowling” thunder. This was more like “angels are ticked off” tropical storm thunder. So we woke up to gray skies, but no rain where we were. We got to the harbor, got on the dolphin/whale watching boat, and it started to pour. So before we even left the
harbor, everyone on the boat was huddled under the half of the boat that was covered. At the harbor there was trash and garbage floating everywhere, and yes, it looked like people live in these houses.

One thing we’ve sadly noticed here is that there is garbage everywhere. It’s very disconcerting. For an island that claims to be extremely concerned with the environment, that message hasn’t quite sunk in. There is trash all over the harbors, trash along every roadside, trash in fields, trash in the rain forest, trash EVERYWHERE. Our boat took us 3-4 miles out to sea today and there was trash floating all over the ocean. My heart was breaking. You know how you always hear people talking about how evil plastic bottles are??? Well, plastic bottles are floating all over the ocean and lining the roads of St. Lucia. I can’t stand to see that kind of disregard for nature. It also appears that the bathrooms on the boats plunge waste into the sea. Don’t swallow when you swimmin’, Mon!!

Ok, so the boat ride took us about 3-4 miles out to sea and down the same side of the island we were on yesterday. Except we could see some major storms brewing on the horizon and, holy crap, we ended up right in the center of one. No joke. We were in the middle of the sea, couldn’t see more than 20 feet, maybe less, on either side of the boat, gale force winds, streaming sheets of rain, crazy waves, all of us holding onto whatever we could grab….here I’m thinking WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE, OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING TAKING US OUT IN THIS?!?!?!? And Rob’s all like, “Well, they don’t seem too concerned, we’ll be fine.” I kept thinking of the story of that couple in Florida whose boat sank like 2 months ago and they floated in the sea for 2 days before being rescued…and I’m like, ok, no prob, I can float in this water…how hard can it be to float to shore, right? What direction was it in again?

So anyway, we finally got out of the storm into calmer rain, but higher waves…see, a tiny wave in the middle of the ocean feels rather large…and eventually I look out and see a fin and I’m pointing and Rob’s like, what I can’t see anything, and other people are starting to see. It was a small pod of about 4-5 dolphins. Rob was never able to see them, but I kept an eye on them until they faded out of sight, which was pretty fast. We were told they are grampus dolphins who are very unfriendly and don’t interact with humans much at all. The other types of dolphins on the island usually put on a good show. However, we didn’t see any of those. We saw tons more flying fish, which are seriously the coolest things ever. We’d come up on a school and all of them would go flying in different directions. I couldn’t get a picture of them
because they are like the Jack in a Box of the sea, you never know when they’re going to jump up and then go away pretty fast. They are truly beautiful though, watching them glide over the waves like birds.

The trip was a total bust. Next time we’re going whale watching off of Montauk. This sucked. The weather made it freezing and miserable and not seeing any big sea life within easy viewing distance was totally
disappointing. The really magical thing about the boat ride that we didn’t see yesterday was the fact that after it rains here, the coast is peppered with waterfalls. They are everywhere. It was so beautiful, and the trees looked so much greener in the fog. It’s everything you’d imagine a rain forest to be.

So when we got back we took a walk on the beach and hung out with today’s cats. They are so cute. They like to chase crabs on the beach. So below you can see some very determined kitties sitting next to a crab’s hole, staring down there like Alice and Wonderland, hoping a crab will pop out. The crabs are smart though. They all have an exit strategy, so the poor kitties are all tense and ready to pounce while the crab is like, doo doo doo, scooting out his back door like 10 feet down the beach. You can see this in the pic with the black kitty.

We had dinner at the hibachi grill with some other crazy couples who were trying to get as drunk as possible. The food was great even if the company wasn’t. This poor couple was sitting at our table who were celebrating their 25th anniversary. We’ve been hearing a lot of “happy life, happy wife” around here. Rob knows I hate this phrase. They always say that on all the DIY cable shows when the wife is totally mean. I mean, I’m pretty sure a happy husband counts for something! Happy husband = lots of home improvement 😉

I’m ready to get out of here. It’s pretty, but when we got here I was like, eh, we should have just stayed
in Montauk. The only way for us to see the island was to spend a lot of money on a tour. I did read a brochure on the Sandals Foundation tonight. Guests are able to donate some money from their stay to this organization and they contribute to the community in huge ways, like building schools, sports programs,
gardening lessons, and environmental stewardship. It’s very encouraging to see that Sandals is trying to make a difference in the local life here.

I didn’t even bother putting a picture of us from today. Just imagine us tired, wet, and grumpy.

St. Lucia: Day One In Paradise (Sort Of)…

September 12, 2014 by Leah Leave a Comment

So, we got married! I will talk more about this later when I have real pictures to show, but let me sum it up by saying that the week before was perfect, the weather was as incredible as anyone on Long Island could ever hope for, being with our friends was so fun and amazing, having so many loved ones join us in celebrating nearly made my heart explode, and I ended up with the best guy ever. It rained on the day we took people to the airport, like the atmosphere was exhausted and petering out from putting forth all that effort to make everything beautiful for us.

Two days after the wedding, we left for our honeymoon in St. Lucia. The blogs I’ll post over the next couple of days are from some emails I sent out, so forgive the improper tense. Also, the spacing is totally screwed up and I can’t change the formatting. Lord help anyone who reads this. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

On the plane ride we were next to each other, but separated by an aisle and surrounded by couples in love. GAG!!! It was gross, they were everywhere. Blonde chicks with rhinestones on their butts and boobs that said “bride” or “mrs.” I realize we are one of these couples, but I hope we don’t make people this nauseous. The couple sitting next to me seemed normal and not 22 years old. They kindly gave us two dramamine pills before we got off the plane, and thank God they did because we would have been tossing our cookies on the van ride to the hotel. Rob and I had a hand on each others knee and would squeeze really hard when we got scared…needless to say, we practically cut off our circulation. The ride was kind of terrifying. We were on the opposite side of the road, the curves were insane, we almost plunged to our death like 8 times, and I just had to keep my eyes on the banana trees to avoid freaking out. We did see some giant ferns though!

The island is very poor. Like, heart-wrenchingly impoverished in some areas. Many of the homes here are built with plywood, have no windows, are covered in sheets of rusting metal, or just look very dilapidated. We are staying in the capital city of Castries…a “city” that looks rather rundown upon first glance. We will not be exploring the way I thought we would. They do have a Best Buy and a Home Depot though…the Home Depot sign is painted on metal, not orange, and has sticks of lumber piled around it. We also passed a woodworking/furniture shop, covered with rusted metal and plywood, but inside we got a peek of some lovely pieces being built.

Our resort, Sandals Halcyon Beach, is on the outside of the city and we felt this very odd paradox when we
arrived in this luxurious place that exists in the middle of poverty, shutting it out with pretty landscaping and helping us to forget it exists by plying us with alcohol and hospitality. We talked about it that evening and said how weird it feels to be on this compound, knowing what exists just down the road. A friend who has traveled all around the world gave a really good perspective on it. She said that much of the world is like this and that Americans bring commerce and money into the economy. At some point you tune it out knowing that your dollars are helping a little bit. Sandals also has a foundation that gives back to the island, which is really encouraging to see.

Our room is gorgeous with a vaulted ceiling and a view of the ocean. I think they upgraded us actually.

Somehow, we ended up in a resort that has cats everywhere! They are adorable. They greet you at the restaurants, hang out on our porch, and frolic on the beach. I’m sure they are considered a pest here, but are so cute and pathetic, I want to take all of them home.

We got a tour of the resort and saw the most incredible caterpillars! I freaked out, you know I love a good
caterpillar. They are the size of a man’s finger and are all over some of the flowering trees here. I looked them up and they are Frangipani Hawkmoths. So cool, I’m geeking out. Rob keeps telling me to stop
taking pictures of the flowers, but they are all so gorgeous I just can’t help myself.

We went swimming today. The water is warm, but you know me, I’m always freezing. We made a reservation to go snorkeling at 8 am tomorrow. 8 AM!!!!! We are stupid. Apparently, they only go snorkeling later on Mondays and Saturdays. So tomorrow we will freeze and probably drown, but maybe we’ll see a cool fish or two. We also went paddle boarding today, which was so fun…it’s like being
Jesus for a minute. Forget walking on water, he should have just used a paddle board! Rob ended up with one that had a broken fin, so he gradually drifted farther out to sea while I was like “doo doo
doo, this is so awesome…” He made it back in to shore, but was generally annoyed by the experience.

Later on in the day we took a kayak out to the island you can see below in the pictures. The island has a couple of TOTALLY CREEPY buildings on it that some nuns used to live in. Like real life Ghost Adventures stuff here, folks.

There are large land hermit crabs walking all over the woods!! They are adorable! It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat after seeing them for sale in mall kiosks. I had one when I was in college and I kind of feel bad that he ended up walking around on my dorm room floor instead of living the life in a tropical forest with haunted buildings on an abandoned island. Our arms almost fell off on the way back. We were against the wind and the current, but we worked dinner off before we ate.

We got dressed up and had dinner at the dockside restaurant…that blue one in the water that you can see below. It was really nice and the food wasn’t bad! Rob’s been eating lots of fish and I’m trying not to eat scary meat. So far my favorite thing I’ve eaten here has been the banana ice cream with hot fudge.

Time for bed…must be awake for snorkeling at the crack of dawn (what were we thinking?). It’s a good thing I brought 8 bathing suits because I wore two today and they’re not dry yet. We also almost used an entire bottle of sunscreen today trying not to fry in the sun. Everything is nice, but we’re looking forward to seeing the other two resorts because this one is a bit limited in food options. Tomorrow we have a
reservation for the Italian place at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian.

The crickets here are ear-peircingly loud. They sound like electronic beeps. The first night we were like, what the heck is that crazy LOUD sound?!?!? I thought maybe frogs, but they told us they’re crickets. I haven’t seen one yet, but I can only imagine they are the same size as the cats. Thank goodness we’re so exhausted or we’d never get to sleep with all that racket!

A Terrifying Event

November 12, 2012 by Leah Leave a Comment

Sometimes you buy a house and things like this show up inside of it. They have evil glowing orbs for eyes. Their very existence terrifies the crap out of you, scares you to tears even, but you still have to deal with them.

And your lazy, useless, good-for-nothing cats just sit there like, “What do you want us to do about it?” Heartless bastards.

So you get the fly swatter out and hack at the thing like it’s about to eat your next of kin. Little pools of blood appear on the linoleum. And then you think, “What if there are more of them?” So you begin to move the mountain of tools that have accumulated in your dining room and lo and behold, TWO more of these creatures have been exercising squatters rights in YOUR home, like that woman in New Jersey who just moved into this other person’s house after finding out they were in Europe for a year. I digress…

You see one heading for shelter beneath the fridge and grab the nearest weapon handy…the vacuum. You suck the living daylights out of the creature, only to realize that it is not making its final appearance in the canister of your very expensive Dyson vacuum. At this point you ask yourself, “What good is a Dyson vacuum with its super duper cyclone technology if it can suck up piles of marbles and yet can’t banish an arachnid?” You heard it get sucked into the hose. You continue to let the vacuum run, staring pensively into the canister, willing the creature to appear. Nothing. You empty the canister. Nothing. You take the trash outside, just in case.

You lose sleep for the next two weeks.

The end.

An Ode To Moving With Cats

June 1, 2012 by Leah Leave a Comment

For those of you who own cats, you understand the challenges involved with changing their environment. They are sensitive little creatures who resist change and live contentedly, staring out windows and watching life pass by. My two little bengals are quite pleasant to live with until I do disrupting things like take them to the vet, bring them to work when I get my carpet changed, or move. To give you an indication of what the past couple of days have been like, I present you with Maddox and Myrtle.

There have been some tense times over here at the new house. They arrived just before midnight on Wednesday after all the furniture had been moved. Meows were heard round the clock as they adjusted to the new planet they had just landed on. Myrtle discovered she fits under my bed, which is a good place for her to hide since Maddox has taken to beating her up while belligerently hissing her out of every room in the house. Maddox walked around growling and being cranky in general. The introduction to the new home did not go well, and as their “mom” I couldn’t help but feel guilty for screwing up their little world.

People would say to me, “Oh, they’ll love all the extra room they have to roam.” Or, “They’ll enjoy having a yard and lots more windows to peek out of.” Sadly, these perks seem to have escaped their notice at first glance. They seem to be starting to slowly adjust though as they figure out where the furniture has landed.

When morning came they finally realized there are lots of new windows for them to explore!

I’ve dealt with my own guilt by being rather lenient about things like sitting on the dining room table, but if I’m honest, this is a habit I have never been able to break Maddox of no matter how much yelling and shenanigans I put on. Look how smug he his about it!

They really do bring so many smiles and much joy to me. If you’re a cat lover, I would highly suggest reading James Herriot’s “Cat Stories.” The book is absolutely endearing and made me appreciate the little critters even more. Hopefully all of the madness will pass quickly and we will go back to being the happy little family we once were.