Power

Roberto and plants
Dogs snoozing and waiting for the birds!
Pippi, one eye open in case a bird lands!

I have not blogged in a while, mostly because I have been busy with day to day life.  What a change!  Anywhere else I would understand this, but here, day to day life throws some real curve balls and tries one's patience!  The latest trial of patience has been power outages!  

These so called, "scheduled" and "unscheduled" power outages have been a real pain! (We had an "unscheduled" power outage the day before last for 5 hours!  and, more outages the weekend prior!)  I have tried to find the humor in it, but it is a real inconvenience!  Thank goodness for my son who has kept me entertained, and of course,  Roberto who always makes me laugh.  During the outage yesterday; 8 hours versus the 6 hour "planned outage!?", we kept ourselves busy and tried desperately to find the humor in it!

I started my morning by getting up well before the 6:00 a.m.  start of the "scheduled" outage so I could have my beloved cup of coffee, (this is a religious experience for me; very difficult to get through a day without this small routine to kick start it!)  After the brew was complete, I poured this steamy pot of wonderful into a thermos to be able to enjoy it hot throughout the morning.  Then out into the yard and beach.  I had my usual pair of snippers in my pocket and began taking note of what needed trimming, repotting, moving and removing, (this will keep me busy for hours!), but, Roberto sees me trimming and studying,  he loves this kind of work and  soon takes over!  Okay fine, let him have his fun,  I have plenty to do.  Out to the dock with new coffee and the dogs.

On the dock,  we watch the bonefish chase the small sardines and the pelicans dive for breakfast.  The dogs believe it is their job to bark and announce the pelican arrivals.  They go absolutely nuts over any bird coming near their territorial dock!  They bark and jump out of their minds at these odd looking creatures and pride themselves when the birds keep flying by.  Sort of as to say, "look, mom we did it,  they're gone!  Can we have a cookie now?"  They never cease to make me smile.  I marvel at the daunting task they have taken upon themselves!  These adorable animals seem so completely pleased with themselves and content to follow me around!  Of course, they know I will reward them for being so damn cute; their furry faces are the sweetest and really should be professionally photographed for a doggy calendar or coffee table book!  :)

Speaking  of coffee, I am out!  Back to the house for doggy treats and something else to do.  Roberto is busy chopping, dogs are chomping and it is 7:15 am and hours to go before power!  That is okay, I have a long list of "to-do's"!   I "limpiar" aka clean,  (big LOL's; I get a "Spanish" word of the day from an internet site, wonder what today's word is?).  I sort through Steve's paper trail, take the laundry downstairs, get that ready to go and plan tonight's dinner.  8:00 a.m!  What?  4 more hours!  No internet, no "facebook", no fan, no air conditioning and no power also means the water pump does not work either!  Okay, it is an adventure, find the humor in all this,  my friends back in the states say they would trade places with me at any time!   Into the pool!

After the cool swim, there is no hiding from the sun there, upstairs again; it is now 8:30 a.m!  This is ridiculous, normally the hours fly by, why is today taking all day?  Any other day, these hours would have passed unnoticed and I would be marveling at how quickly they have flown by and can it really be lunch time!   My god!  I look around, everything is as neat and tidy as I want it.  It is hot, humid and I need to be outside in the breeze.  To the porch swing with a crossword puzzle;  they do not require electricity and pass the time as well as exercise the brain!  I do a few of these and now I have had enough!  I want to get that laundry done, I want to start pulling stuff out of the freezer to cook, bake and do some checking!  I would like to finish a small embroidery project for a new customer!  I would like to turn the water faucet on and get some water!

11:00 a.m,  back to the pool, another dip, swim, a little exercise.  Back to the dock.  Ready to give up, I move the lounge chair into the shade and  fall asleep.  Lulled by the sound of the waves breaking against the pier,  birds chirping, dogs snoring, cool breezes off the Caribbean sea and why had I not thought of this sooner?  Napping!,  the most excellent way to pass the time!  And, that it does,  when I awake the power is still not on, but my attitude and mood are back to my cheerful self.  The dogs want to play, Colin is hungry and  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are perfect!  He and I sit outside and chat about old times, old friends and family, tell a few jokes.  We enjoy each other's company and make some plans for our trip back to the states next month.  OOps, back to the electricity problem, we need the internet to book those flights and makes those calls!  When is the power coming back?  It is now past noon!

Around 2:00 pm., the power finally returns and we all slip into our daily routines once more.  Laundry is done, dinner is made and the a/c is blasting!   The airlines were all too happy to make our reservations and the emails to let our friends and family know we are coming in get sent.   Somehow in the middle of it, we managed, we relaxed, we laughed and we survived!  Not a big deal, another adventure in paradise!  Happy day!  :)