Back to Boston

Another beautiful day in Paradise. The haze from the Sahara has set in, so it's not as clear as it was when I came in six weeks ago. Still, it's nice to have some sunshine and warmth, since I know I will find neither of those in Boston. Weatherwise, that is.

Every time I fly out of St. Thomas, it shocks me how small the place is. I don't notice it so much flying in for some reason. It may be hazy out, but they still need to clean the windows on these planes.

Good bye, St. Thomas. See you soon.

Goodbye, Magens Bay

Today is my last full day on St. Thomas. I had a nice day down at the Sea Chest interacting with the staff. There are some really great people working there – I had fun training them on the new system, and they picked it up very well. They’ll be showing me things next time I’m here, I bet.

I had a chance to sneak in one last visit to Magens Bay this afternoon. It really is one of my favorite places in the world. I always sit at the same spot, too, right in the middle by the life guard station after the bridge.

It’s been nice to spend some time here. I’ll miss it, I’m sure. I’ll miss how everybody says good afternoon and good night. I’ll miss my parents, of course. I’ll miss the slope of the mountains down to the sea and how it always makes me wonder what it all looked like when the lava was cooling.

Where I rest

My parents bought the condo at Mahogany Run back in 2001, right before my grandfather died. Before that, I had basically lived in the same house my whole life. I remember when they told me they were selling the house I grew up in, I was heartbroken. But you know, it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought it would be. I’ve only been back to visit it once, right after they’d sold it. As soon as I walked in I realized, “This isn’t my house.” Without my parents’ stuff in it, it wasn’t the same. Granted, the view was still gorgeous. I was happy to see another set of children was going to have a chance to grow up in such a great spot. And they were cute kids.

Mahogany Run has become my headquarters on St. Thomas. I rather like it. It is very modern, but very homey. Even though we are in an apartment, you really have a sense of privacy. What’s funny is that three of my friends lived right in the same area when I was in high school. My best friend Kurt lived up the hill from where my parents live now.

I spent some time down by the pool again today. Is there really a more relaxing sound that palm fronds rustling in the wind?

Sea Chest

I thought I'd put up some pictures of where I've spent most of the last two days. It's been fun working in the store. Also, there is so much neat stuff in here; it's fun to browse. I'm seeing all this stuff that I need to get for my apartment in Boston.

You know, prices here don't seem to be that much higher.

Sea Chest is a merry enough environment. It's a pretty busy store, so it's lively. I've never worked in a retail environment before. I didn't get to take pictures during the day, so all you see are the deserted aisles.

Tessa

The cat has taken to sleeping in a little basket on top of the washing machine.

So my mother thought it would be a good idea to put her kitty bed on top of the dryer, since she seems to like that little nook in the house.

But look where the cat decides to sleep anyway.

Crazy cat.

Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day at the hardware store, preparing for out big go-live tomorrow. Luckily my sister had arranged for some beautiful flowers to be delivered for my mother. It was a long, grueling day, so it was nice to be greeted by lovely orchids and roses when we got home.

Since I arrived on island last month, I've been admiring the pile of old, nasty tires sitting in a clearing above the golf course that we see from the balcony. After numerous phone calls from my mother, they have added this lovely blue tarp to the scenery. Ironically, this makes it easier to pick out from afar. The sad thing is that people seem to be assuming that our only beef with the tires is that they're unsightly. My real beef is that I don't like having a dengue fever incubator down the hill from my dwelling.

But enough of that! The nice thing is that I get to complain about all this stuff while hanging out on a tropical island. So here is a photo to sum up what I did most of the afternoon.