Nana for 3 weeks

I have three weeks to be "Nana" at ground zero in Kill Devil Hills. Week one involved laundry on Monday, mopping and cleaning on the first floor on Tuesday, playgroup on Wednesday, story hour at the library on Thursday, plus a dr. visit, and who knows, maybe a new baby sister on Friday. This is such precious time. There are a lot of memories that flood me as well as some things I had forgotten about taking care of a toddler. One always more wonderful thing is being greeted in the morning from a crib. All smiles, pudgy little reaching arms, nothing like it. The most wonderful way to start a day is just that few minutes of snuggle and lovin'. Off with the night diaper, on with the pre-breakfast diaper. Downstairs, welcome the sunshine as we open the blinds and curtains, sprinkle the Cheerios on th table, sing a morning song, fix breakfast. While breadfast is cooking, we find a pot lid and a metal spoon to be a great instrument. Besides that, they make a lot of noise. On with the bib; I had forgotten how sticky and dangerous oatmeal is to the unsuspecting. Hair is a magnet for it, so is anything else basically. It is also amazing how difficult it is to get into a sealed container, such as a fruit cup. And when we are "done", it is time to move on to other activities immediately. There is so much to see and do when you are 18 months old. I can't remember the last time I stopped and squatted to watch ants march in the crack of a sidewalk, or listen to the machine clearing the lot next door, or watched the wind whipping flags on poles. A day full of this kind of thing is priceless, and such good exhaustion. We are waiting on little sister to arrive. I can't imagine how much fun it will be when she gets here!

the circus, uh, the rodeo

A few weekends ago, we went to the rodeo. We thought it was the circus, but it really was the rodeo. Let me explain...Larry and I went downisland one Saturday to pick up a visiting dentist at the Roatan airport. We planned to return by late afternoon, and because the plane was an early flight, we got up extra early (4:30/5:00 a.m.) to leave at 8:30 a.m. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:30, but when we arrived at the airport, the plane was late and the ETA was now 11:00 a.m. We visitied with folks we know on Roatan and at 11:00, we were told the plane would be there at noon. We visited some more, did a Sudoku, drank a soda, and the plane did not arrive at noon. It would be 2:00 p.m. before our dentist would be here. Having expressed several oohs and ahhs, thinking we were jumping through the hoops of a circus ring, we decided to take an intermission and get some lunch. When we returned at 1:30, the whole show was becoming rather anti-climatic. Alas, we were yet in for a true shot "out of the cannon" at the announcement that the plane would definitely arrive at 4:00 p.m. Finally, our suspense was satisfied and our dentist arrived!
But wait,...the real contest began as we tried to "rope" his luggage from the conveyor belt! To no avail, the luggage was not with us and now it was 5:00 p.m. Even with a fast van we could not "round the barrels" (the curves on the road) in time to reach our boat docked an hour away before nightfall. We considered this to be the calf roping event since our hands and feet were tied to the island of Roatan for the night. You see, we cannot travel on the water after dark unless it is an emergency.
Wearing the same salt-soaked clothes we wore from the morning ride down gave us the appearance of clowns which are at circuses and rodeos. Not to mention what our hair looked like, windswept and salt-coated. No shampoo, no toothbrush, noclean...anyway, we had a marvelous time worshipping at rChurch the next morning. A successful round up of luggage at the airport after church, a quick lunch led us on to our boat. Our driver was waiting decked out in a yellow poncho. Larry and I smiled secretly, the unspoken message that the ride home would offer a water adventure unparalleled at any amusement park. And we were right. As our driver carefully manuevered the crests of the waves and then paused in the troughs before speeding ahead. Occasionally a wave would catch us unaware and a great spray of salt water drenched our faces and bodies like someone throwing a bucket of water on us. The ride demanded that we hold onto the seat like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. No cap remained on a head and glasses were questionable. Up and down, back and forth, over and over. We squealed as our own seats left the bench of the boat and we toppled onto each other. Ah, there's nothing like an island rodeo! You never know what will happen next, but you can be sure it will be a real kick in the pants!!!

special days in Honduras

Holidays and special days have a different slant in this country, or perhaps these islands.  I have never been overly zealous for Earth Day, but I encourage environmental awareness.  We found this was totally out of place in Helene, along with endangered animals (this would be a story for another day).  Some folks are very conscious about litter/trash disposal and their yards are swept (raked) on a regular basis.  But we do not have a sanitation dept. here, no regular weekly pickups and garbage is burned to get rid of it.  We have talked about Earth Day in school, but it is not a celebrated event.                    May 1st is Honduran Labor Day.  All businesses close for this day, more so than the American Labor Day in the U.S.  This year it falls on a Saturday which would not affect the school schedule, but nevertheless, some students tried to convince us that all schools were to cancel classes on April 26 for Labor Day.                   Cinco de Mayo or the Fifth of May is recognized here, but not necessarily celebrated.  Someone has told us that the U.S. celebrates this day more than even the country of its origin, Mexico.  So far these three days have not taken away a day of class in school.                  But now we come to Mother's Day.  This is by far one of the most important days celebrated in Helene.  Every school has its own festivity around this event.  English school did not do a party because there are so many other ones planned.  But organizing the Mother's Day gift was planned in advance and pre-empted any lessons for an afternoon.  The Spanish school in Bently Bay had their ceremony on Friday morning, the Spanish school Southside planned their party for Friday night.  On Saturday the Church of God Pentecost acknowledged mothers with a special evening service.  And on Sunday afternoon the Methodist Church had "recitations."  The Northside church decided to postpone their celebration for a couple of weeks.  They came to the other events and a good time was had by all.