Living right by the sea is a lot like living in a boat.  Salt air is invigorating, refreshing and very corrosive.  So much so that it will eat through cement as it has down with the balustrades on our upper deck.  Each balustrade has to be removed and replaced.  It is messy, time consuming, noisy and very necessary.  Lean against a rotten balustrade and you will find yourself at the bottom of the cliff.  Not quite what I had in mind when I came down to relax in St. Croix…

In Africa on the equator, the rhythm of life is determined by the sunrise and sunset falling at almost the exact same time every day.  So it is in St. Croix..a pattern soon emerges to be on the deck, with a drink in hand, to watch the sun lazily sink behind the hills, sometimes in a blaze of glory. Its easy to fall into such a rhythm….

Speaking of Pirates!  With apologies offered to Hulk Hogan..for the head covering I mean, not the body!

We don’t get many dark, blustery days in St. Croix.  Happens this was one of the few.  It gave an ominous perspective to the fort built by the Danes to protect the harbor at Christensted.  Arrayed on top level are a series of cannons ready to blast out of the water any invaders or Pirates.  The US Congress took a different tack, they offered the Danish Government a large sum of money and the Danes sold us St. Croix.  No need to fight, just buy what you want!

We have moved on to the Caribbean…pounding surf, blue, blue sky St. Croix has all of this and more….

Now here is a true delight of Florida!  These tangerines were so juicy and plump that you hardly had to touch them before they fell off the tree. Laden with goodies, fresh picked gives a new meaning to delicious….trust me on this…

One of the downsides to the tropics are NOSEEUMS, and MOSSIES.  NOSEEUMS are tiny bugs that you cannot see ( NO SEE THEM?) and MOSSIES are Mosquitoes.  A simple solution is to build a huge cage around your swimming pool to keep the bugs out. It also keeps out any sense of blending in with nature… but that’s just my opinion.  Perhaps if I was being bitten to death every night by bugs I would have a differing view.

There may be many disadvantages to living in parts of Florida, but there are also some moments when it is definitely the place to be.  Like waking up to a snow covered garden, a Florida sunset can give you pause to consider the beauty that can sneak up on you when you are not looking.

This boat took my fancy!  If  you look closely it appears that the owner (or someone) plopped a second top on.  It does not look balanced at all…too many people in the back of the boat and this baby looks as if it would upend?

Speaking of hurricanes…this is what I mean!  These palms were simply tossed over and ripped asunder by the winds and waves…because the island is not inhabited (apart from one lone park ranger) they lay where they fell. A testament to the power that mother nature can exert when she chooses.