If I Had My Camera...

I would have taken a picture of...

LissaLou wearing a cardigan and pulling our huge suitcase telling me she was off to see her BF in England
CassCass wearing her fairy dress for church today - I was a bit concerned people wouldn't approve but she got so many compliments!
Baby JoJo sitting in his Bumbo stuffing his face - he has tasted lentils and baby pasta for the first time this week and loved them both.
Baby JoJo climbing out of his Bumbo, being caught by his mum seconds from impact! Time to get a highchair...
Me getting a lesson in preparing fish from my MIL. She buys it whole, then takes off all the scales, cuts it open and removes the guts (in true Heather style I commented that I didn't realised fish had guts! As ever, I plead my ignorance on my London upbringing!) and it was quite a sight to see me trying to imitate her! She was the height of patience with my fumbled attempts though. Personally, I think I would abandon frugality and pay the extra €2 to have the fish person do it!
The delicious gateau au yaourt et citron I made, which sadly burnt to smithereens! I am constantly asking Bertie if the burning smell is from us or the in-laws, and as it is generally from them, I have given up asking. Unfortunately this time it was us! I will have to adjust to a far hotter oven (is it affected by the outside temperature?)
The temperature outside the Town Hall today saying 18 degrees! And they call this the Caribbean?!

Catching Up On Comments

I have had fun for the last hour reading through all the comments that you have left since our arrival here, many of which I didn't reply to - munch munch through humble pie as I give my profuse apologies...! Out of interest a query to you fellow bloggers, is there a limit on how far back you look at comments - sometimes I am tempted to leave one on a older date but I don't know if the writer will ever see it. And for blog-readers, if you leave a comment, is there a limit on how far back you check to see if it has been answered? Sometimes I am late reading them and then I don't know whether to respond or not!

Anyway, I have put together the questions that have been left hanging in the air and will try and answer them all...

Firstly, the big one from Bachman...will I produce a book titled "Notes from an even smaller island"? What an excellent idea! I shall have to think on that, and what slant the book would take, as all these travelogues seem to have a theme running through them. Perhaps Going Green In Gwada? As for doing it in french, er, I don't think so! But then I wondered if the title would be best applied to a book about the Isle of Wight or even the Isle of Man, given the link to the UK? However, I will certainly get your book writing tips (and those of Cally's Kitchen of course!) if I ever embark on such a scheme...(by the way Malc, how is the book coming on?)

Bachman also commented on the confusion SIL for sister-in-law with Societe International de Linguistics (or Wycliffe Bible Translators). I agree! Just like I always get confused with the word coworker, as I always read cow - worker, does anyone else?! But as for BM for my mother in law (Belle-Mere), that is how I mentally refer to our town, so further confusion will abound!

Moving on to Malvern Manor, (do have a look at these links - I would particularly recommend the lovely photos posted on this one today...). Mum - what happened to the Peppa Pig book? It took a month for a letter to reach me from NZ, surely the UK is a bit quicker?! I will certainly get a photo of LissaLou and her Mamie when the camera is back. Baby JoJo's vital statistics as of our last visit at the end of september were...
weight 7.81 kilos (slowed down a lot, probably due to not eating so much during his last cold)
length 68cm
head still 44 cm
Mum also asked a few Pika related questions. Pika is just the name the family gives to that plot of land, Bertie didn't know why, and but how funny that there is an animal of that name! I shall have to check with his Dad that there aren't any on the loose there! In creole Pika is referred to as en bwois-la. I sincerely doubt that Bertie prayed for the pig before killing it, would it have made it more tasty?!
Papy's green shoes are equivalent to cut down welly boots and we can most certainly get you a pair when you are here. You will be the height of fashion!
In response to Susan's query about my wasp sting - no the sting never did come out in the end! I would certainly recommend alcohol though, as it did the trick. I have become a dab hand at killing wasps since! Susan also asked whether we had Durian fruit here and the answer is no, but I wonder if Mei-Li is familiar with it from PNG? The strong smell reminds me of fruit that I saw with her in Chinatown, but I don't know if it is the same one. Bertie says it reminds him of one which we do have called corossol. However, we do have Jackfruit here, although he didn't know its name and hasn't eaten it.

And speaking of all these fruits and vegetables, I love mum's suggestion of making a book of all the fruits here - another project for her visit? Even better, how about drying the leaves and sticking them in too?

Finally, thanks to Mrs Wookie for the link to The Elysia Biodynamic Garden. I am not at all familiar with biodynamic principles so it was good to read and would be an interesting place to visit on our return. After Kirsty telling me that eau de cologne would be good to cool down a temperature, I am beginning to wonder if all the things I class as Gwada Myths have scientific explanations!

Hope that covers them all!

Life Is Like That

We woke up to a tremendous storm at 5am (well, I should say we were woken up!) and it looks like it will be a day of rain. No trips to the playpark today! Unfortunately, the building Bertie works in on Saturday is prone to flooding, so it will be a tricky morning for him too. I just opened the door to the balcony for the first time today and LissaLou told me the rain had started again, so bang shut went the door! I don't think I will be opening them again anytime soon!

Clothes have a tendency to disappear here, if you don't grab them off the washing line the moment they are dry. Bertie found a missing pair of shorts...on his sister (he never wore them again for some reason!) and my favourite pair of white trousers mysteriously vanished in 2006. So I was delighted to come across them the other day, and even more so to find that they still fit! I took advantage of the cooler weather today to put them on, admired them, got on with the day...then a naked CassCass came and plonked herself on my lap and all too late I realised she had done a number two and not wiped her bottom! Sigh. The trousers have gone to the wash and will have to wait another day.

I spent hours sweating away in the heat to tidy the flat, only for CassCass and LissaLou to spill a packet of rice, break a glass or two, get the entire contents of their toy box out, chuck Baby JoJo's food on the floor...oh well!

Bad news - there was another cockroach on the floor this morning. Good news - it was dead. By what means I am not sure but very grateful!

I have renamed the final day of the week Fever Friday as somehow Baby JoJo keeps getting a very high temperature on it. Yesterday he hovered around 39 degrees which was rather worrying. We haven't had to visit any doctors or hospitals yet and I am not in a hurry to! We still don't have a social security number either to reclaim the cost. However, he is back to normal again today - a mixture of prayer and two hour feeding sessions! (Oh, and apparently the local solution is to put Eau de cologne on his head - er, right!)

Right, back to the life of a mother!

Dora

I forgot to mention that each day begins with a double dose of Dora the Explorer in french whilst we try to get all three washed, dressed, fed, brushed and LissaLou off to school on time. We are enjoying the mixture of french and english from Dora, but our favourite bit is Schiper le Renard who comes to swipe things. We have learnt to cry with Dora, "Chiper, arrete de chiper!" and chuckle at his frustrated "oh mince!" Does anyone know what he says in english? It is also a very useful phrase to apply to other situations ie "mouche, arrete de moucher" "jojo, arrete de joer" "moustique, arrete de moustiquer"...oh the list is endless!

Daily Life

This is what our life looks like right now...
Mondays - Bertie drops LissaLou at school at 8am and then he takes me and the other two shopping. I am aiming to alternate between Carrefour (very expensive but so much more choice and organic produce) and Leader Price (very cheap). We collect LissaLou at 11.30am, have lunch, let her chill out and then Bertie drops her back at 2pm before I collect her at 4.30pm. He has one late class in Pointe a Pitre and then we aim for tea and bed not too late, but rarely achieve it.
Tuesdays - I have made some friends! My kind Texan friend who is leaving soon has introduced me to some other mums and we meet up for tea on Tuesday mornings at one of their houses. One lives just down the road from us, so it is nice to know the neighbours. Then I get LissaLou and we have lunch, take her back...Bertie spends the morning working with his dad at Pika and has a busy afternoon and evening; he doesn't get back till 7.30pm or so. I try to get CassCass and Baby JoJo to sleep in the afternoons but not very successfully and rarely at the same time. It is quite hard work organising tea and bedtime without Bertie there and the three of them. There is usually at least one in tears at some point!
Wednesdays - ahh, my favourite day! Bertie is with us all day and as we usually nab his mum's food for tea, not much cooking! There is a bible study at the church but he hasn't made it much yet.
Thursdays - Bertie is at Pika in the morning, we have nothing on although I have been going to the Post Office recently as people keep paying Bertie in cheques. With the queues there, that can be a morning's visit! Bertie again has a busy afternoon and evening, not getting back till 8pm. Definitely my least favourite evening!
Fridays - nothing on in the morning yet, then Bertie has classes in the afternoon. The second one is at home, and it is nice to have him there, although he often gets interruptions from the girls. At least his pupils are hearing authentic english!
Saturdays - Bertie starts at 8.30am so is gone quite early. Last week I took the girls to the playpark and we spent a lovely hour there then did some shopping after, which was very agreeable. However, such activities depend very much on the weather! Bertie is pretty tired when he is back so it is good to rest, but it depends what is on. Last Saturday my Texan friend showed a few of us how to make bread and cinnammon rolls, delicious! And a lovely way to spend an evening. The girls were distraught at not being able to come but they enjoyed a trip out in the car with their dad!
Sundays - church starts at 9.30am and goes on till midday, ouf! The first part is bible study and we don't go till the main service at 10.30am. After lunch we may be lucky enough to get a siesta, and there is an excellent chance that some family members will pop in later. This week it was Bertie's brother Richard and his family. LissaLou and CassCass had a marvellous time playing with their cousin Raisa and were more than delighted when their other cousin Stella turned up too. They also love their older cousins and these kind teenagers will quite happily play with them, do their hair, chat and chill together.

Petit Havre

We have been offline for the last few days for some unknown reason, so it is nice to be back again and to be able to tell you about this week's trip to the beach. It must look like we spend all our time at the beach, but I assure you it is only Wednesday mornings!

Once again, back to the internet for a photo of this week's location, courtesy of http://flickr.com/photos/86441777@N00/96933901Petit Havre is not that far from us and quite different from our previous destinations, as it is much more of a fishing beach. As we arrived the fishermen were bringing their fish from the boats to sell. Half an hour later I said to Bertie perhaps we should buy some, and he laughed and replied it had all sold in minutes! Fresh fish goes fast here!

We were sitting just to the left of this picture - there were four boats there today, and the same ropes tying them to the trees. Oh, and the bridge on the side has disappeared. The beach here is quite stoney and full of little red beasties who somehow attach to each other (bottom to bottom) and then wander around in this position. Very strange! There was also a lot of seaweed in the sea and even a dead jellyfish on the sand. But the sea was beautifully calm, which makes it so much easier as we can let the girls go running in and out at their leisure and they don't have as much water in their eyes, noses and mouths. Baby JoJo also enjoyed it much more, sitting for hours on our laps (we have given up on the inflatable seat now as he just spends his time drinking sea water then throwing it up!) splashing the water with his fist and laughing at our songs.

The weather was quite overcast (we could here thunder most the time, very odd feeling as you sit in the warm sea!) and believe it or not, we even felt cold on occasion! Definitely acclimatising! In fact, I have noticed that there are bits of the sea that are warm and bits that are cold. Bertie says it is to do with the ground but I don't really understand that - any suggestions?

This beach is a lot less busy, however, there was a huge group of children with a holiday club having a marvellous time jumping up and down in the water. They were much more organised than us, with their huge pots of lunch and marquee to eat under...even a brush to sweep the sand off their mats! As ever, we enjoyed ham and cheese baguettes then treated ourselves to magnums. No sunburn/stroke today I am happy to report, just an extremely pleasant morning.

St Francois

Still camera-less, but here is a picture of the beach we were at today, courtesy of http://flickr.com/photos/stoto98/2556691110 I liked this photo as we were in fact in the water right where that lady is in the picture, and we admired the colourful houses with their lovely sea view! This beach is called Plage des Raisins Clairs and is a lovely one that we have only visited twice before in all my visits here. It has more sand than most the beaches here and the little huts with picnic tables (you need to arrive early to get one of these though). It also has that rare luxury...showers! Two high and one for your feet. CassCass spent ages watching two girls use the feet one - I couldn't quite see the fascination!

St Francois is right at the western end of Guadeloupe and so it took us a little while to get there. Funny to hear the girls moaning about the length of the drive when last year we drove them to Scotland! The route was very clear thanks to the petrol strike. Fortunately we had a full tank, as there was not one station selling to the public.

The sea is a lot rougher here but to my surprise the girls loved playing amongst the waves and getting thrown back and forth. Baby JoJo was in a bit of a miserable mood and didn't appreciate going into the cold (relatively speaking!) water, but after we sat together in it for a while, he started banging the water with his fist and even enjoyed the waves trying to knock us over, as it gave him a chance to lick the salty water off his lips!

After our picnic lunch and showers, we went to see Guadeloupe's only Golf Course and therefore a sight of great importance and interest. Especially as I have given Bertie the green light to go and play a round next week! Our hearts sank when we saw them carrying out major work on the greens, but happily they still have 9 holes you can play on.

We continued our drive around the north coast and saw the magnificent scenery which Bertie said Cornwall reminds him of. Here is a taste of it:

CassCass and Baby JoJo were worn out by the sea air, so we had a look at the waves smashing against the rocks with LissaLou and watched a Bernard Hermitt try to pinch Bertie before carrying on our way in search of a sorbet. However, the roads were empty and so were the sorbet stalls - it is evidently low season! So it was another drive through the beautiful countryside of Grande Terre, full of sugar cane fields and very little else, before arriving back to our part of the world where we were greeted by (surprise surprise) huge black clouds and torrential rain.

I have learnt this week that in fact our town gets pretty much the most rain of the entire island! It won't be raining in Basse Terre or Grande Terre or Pointe a Pitre or even 3 km up the road but oh yes, the black clouds will be hanging over us and giving us a soaking. Sigh! At least we are nice and central! I also learnt our area suffers most in a cyclone - typical!!

We finished up our day with our first Roast Dinner since we left London. Unfortunately, I nearly killed both the cooker and the bird (figuratively speaking) by leaving the cover down and the potatoes were very black too! Nor was there any gravy. But it was most delicious anyway and I am looking forward to giving Baby JoJo his first taste of chicken tomorrow and then making some chicken broth with the carcass.

LissaLou went to bed early with a headache and rather hot so I suspect the poor girl has a bit of sunstroke. Hopefully she will be all better tomorrow, but we will have to get stricter about the wearing of hats.