I have a book signing to do in St. Croix at the undercover Book Store.  But first I have a radio interview.  WYAC Paradise 93.5 is the local station. It was a half hour on the radio waves talking about tea, life in Africa, life in St. Croix and how never to throw rocks at a Baboon…

More unusual sights from the mangrove swamps.  A root has totally engulfed a tree and strangled it to death…this must have taken a long, long time to accomplish. Those are thick roots…but with the tree dead, I presume it will soon tumble over and then what happens to the root?  Does it go off looking for another tree to strangle?

Back down to Florida, making my way back to St. Croix. I took the chance to see some of “old Florida”. This used to be sold as “two acres of fine water front property”, until the Feds cracked down on Florida land schemes.  It’s actually a mangrove swamp….and magnificent in its own way.  It protects the inland from tidal surges and you cut this down at your own peril…I just loved the tangle of it all.

The deal is done, the papers signed, now for a photo op….

Here Norm and I actually sign the papers.  Negotiating the deal brought us close together. Norm’s sons play rugby….once he told me that, I knew we were going to get on just fine…and we did.

This was a Red Letter Day (I wonder where that expression came from?) in the life of Cooper Tea Company (and me).  We sold the brand BAZZA high Energy Tea to BYB Brands a subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Here Norm George and I sit ready to sign the pages of the agreement (and there were many pages!)  BYB also licensed my image and other intellectual properties.  It was a great move for both companies.  BAZZA was a breakthrough product, BYB has the ability to support a ready to drink high Energy tea in the market place.  I have the expertise to help as well.  It’s a win-win-win!

Writing about art, and my daughter presented me with this desert.  How perfect is that.  It seemed a shame to put a knife in the symmetry of pears, crust and crème brulee….BUT… I did!  I mean there is art, and then there is plain common sense.  That dish deserved to be eaten….and it was.

Have you ever met Miles?  Miles stands in our hallway in Boulder.  He has driven pizza delivery folks NUTS, because no matter how much they bang on the front door he does not move.  One of them actually said he was ready to throw a rock through the window because he thought the “old guy was so rude!”  When we show them the Miles is a work of “art” designed to create enjoyment, they often don’t get the point….” Why Dude? What’s the point?” was one comment…..

The glory of Colorado…you just never know what you are going to wake up to….the sun will come out and all this will be gone by midday…It has been a good snow pack this year.  That’s good news as we depend upon the snow in the mountains for all of our water in Boulder.  Technically we are considered high plain desert in Boulder and the only surface water are run offs from the mountains…a good snowy winter means a fruitfull summer.