Off the island!

My dear friends up in the Northeast and I decided to treat ourselves to a girls-only weekend in Miami. All very last minute, as I only found out two weeks ago that my mother-in-law would be visiting us, thereby presenting herself both as a built-in babysitter and a husband-feeder.

I was excited to be off island for a few days, without having to brave the cold up further north. Miami was colder than I expected however, with gusty winds and occasional showers. It was great fun, still, to be able to just hang out with girlfriends, window shop without a kid hanging onto my leg or whining, linger over cafe con leche, and chat by the pool. And while my friends enjoyed spa treatments of deep tissue massages and pedicures, I opted for an hour long session at the CVS on Lincoln Road - it was no Target, but it was just the therapy that I needed.

Not sure what possessed me, but I also agreed to rent a bike on the last morning to ride along the beach. I hadn't been on a bike since 1997 during a backpacking trip through China. Miami Beach was slightly less intimidating and I did have fun moments on the bike, but I was glad to get them back to the rental place with all my bones still intact.

A friend of mine told me that when you live on an island, you need the means to get off the island once in a while. You are glad to leave, and then you are glad to come back. That's exactly how I felt this time around.

Good bye, Miami - till next time!

Another Beautiful Sunset

One thing we do not lack in St Maarten is a good sunset. Manolee and I often toast watching the sun go down. Here's to another day gone by...

Island Specialty: Part IV

I took a hiatus taking pictures of car decals, but was prompted to go back to it after seeing some new ones on the road that made me laugh. There are all kinds of proclamations on various parts of the cars and here are a few of the latest that I got:

GHETTO STYLE - nice!

DA QUEEN - okay!

NOT NICE - if you say so!

Special Edition St Martin

Orangina toasts to St Martin!

Coquine

The word used the most to describe Manolee by our French friends is "Coquine".

I always thought that this word meant "cute" and not thought much about it. Then one day while I was describing one of her mischievous endeavors, my MIL says, "elle est tres coquine, eh, elle est malicieuse". I stopped short in my tracks and said "malicieuse????" MALICIOUS, my little girl?

Then I started doubting my understanding of the word "coquine". Maybe it doesn't mean cute after all, and all this time when I thought people were paying my little girl a compliment, they were actually saying not such nice things.

I consulted Google.

Coquine, adjectif
Feminin
1. Tres malicieux
2. Vif d'espirit
3. Bandit

Hmmmm. 1. Very malicious. 2. Lively spirit. 3. A bandit!??

My MIL was taken aback that I took affront to the word "malicieuse" and assured me that in French, malicious does not mean a bad thing. Huh? So I had to google that in turn, and it says, "Qui a de la malice" ("One that has malice" - not much better)..... and then it helpfully provides an English definition, which is: "mischievous".

OK I can live with mischievous. That surely describes Manolee to a tee. As for Coquine, I think I will choose to live with the definition #2, Vif d'esprit, because she is that too.

However mischievous and naughty she may be, I can never stay mad at her very long - especially when she provides such lovely notes, as below:

Beach days

Hana has been going to the beach with friends and she has become quite a wave expert! Look at the face of determination as she *tries to* take on the wave below:

Manolee, who is not yet a very strong swimmer, prefers staying on the sand when the waves are tough. The other Sunday she helped PeeWee build a huge sand pit - complete with stairs and built-in chairs:

It's funny when a sand pit or a castle is in progress - various kids and adults stop by and pitch in for various lengths of time. It's as though they are waiting for someone to start, and once it's started, they all want a part of it at least for a bit of time (till they get too tired or too sunburnt). Fun for all!

Take 2

It’s time to face it – I’m no good at this blog thing. In my book these days, putting up a blog posting ranks in priority somewhere between plucking my eyebrows and wiping up that annoying stain in the corner of the kids’ sink – in other words, very low. It’s true that I’m letting go of a lot of things that I used to find indispensable. I no longer wear any make-up except for eyeliner (I am rethinking this, by the way, ever since one of my best friends, M, exhorted me to go put on some make-up; however, this was three months ago and I have not changed my ways yet), and I no longer work out except for climbing up and down the step stool in the kitchen. Plus I’ve had a crazy busy end-of-year, what with moving house pretty much on my own that dragged on for like 13 days, and took about 6 weeks to recuperate from.

So that is why this blog has been left in a semi-abandoned state. I am in two minds about whether to continue or not. I know I am writing more for myself than for anything else, but it’s also taken the place of my handwritten journal (in which I was writing more and more seldom as well). So I think I will give it just one more try. If I find that I’m not posting at least once a week, I’ll just put a stop to the nonsense. So here we go again.