Author: stumberry

Short report…long day of training in St. Vincent….location is everything….It’s really St. Vincent AND the Grenadines….very touchy here about leaving that out….and Grenadines is where you want to be…somewhere over the volcanic mountain….that’s where all the Yanks go to sun and sun….I’m at the best part of St. V.-a small inlet area on south shore….but the rest….well, it’s a bit like most of Mexico…..Kingston Capitol….dirty, grimy, poor…..picked up by full-fledged military camo guy this morning for hair raising ride through the hills to avoid rush hour traffic….several teeth loosened from the potholes…..training was in ancient church biding and was a cluster of chaos…need to send them to Granada for some tips…break snacks unimaginable- in church basement, but took one for the team, tried everything to be a good American ……goats, sheep, feral dogs abounding… the locals seemed to like Ol’ Papi…only white man for miles around…..today was a roomful of very colorful women…..no men in sight…crawled back to the villa for more work and dinner under the Noel big top…..fish and more fish…and more rum punch….off to St. Lucia tomorrow with a terrible four hour layover in Barbados….Coup still potentially in the offing at next stop of Dominica so not sure if I wind up stuck in St. Lucia for better part of a week ……………………..could be worse

Highlight of day ….for three bucks had my sewage pants washed and pressed….ready to go……

Up at four….90 year old taxi man comes up the mountain right to my cottage to take me to tiny airport in Grenada….board fight to Barbados to then sit for three hours to board second flight to St. Vincent…but they change flight plan and land in St. Vincent first-so then have to talk my way off the plane and convince someone to get my bag off….quite the negotiation… the result was that I arrived at little resort by the sea before 9 am….after a wild locomotive ride from the airport…barely missing sending many of the goats and sheep along the road….to meet their maker….which is just as well, since I dined on one of them tonight…

The Beachcomber’s Resort is tucked in a little bay on the south end of the island….not quite the accommodations I had in Grenada…more a hotel room deal….but a gorgeous property…with pool and sea fifty yards from my door…

Th rest of the day went…..breakfast, ocean, pool…..lunch….work, nap…..ocean, pool….work….dinner…with harrowing walk to nearby tiny town fit in, in blazing sun and lunatic drivers honking at me at every turn….and on the wrong side of the road I might add….it is so British that even the natives speak with a Brit accent….very formal…when I walk into the office…all the women behind the desk immediately jump upright….

There is a cool little boardwalk along the seaside that you have to periodically get off and walk through the tide….and many Rastas….all of whom offered to take me home and share the goods (even with my buzz cut, they seemed to infer I was of their ilk)…

Lots of fish to see in the water, even without my snorkel, which my beloved convinced me I did not need to bring…

And Christmas….these people are nuts…endless loop of Jingle Bell Rock playing and the like…and the dining room decked out with Christmas placemats, candles tree and lights…they are all in….

Last time I was in SV was on a Windjammer cruise with Tess…when she literally hurtled off a cliff into a small pool of water…while all the cruisers watched in horror…..less drama this time…..

Off tomorrow for big day in Kingston capitol…they are sending the military out to pick me up in the morning…..

Are you keepin’ up with this?

Early morning hot rain…..wandered out to breakfast nook high up in hills- could not find my way back to cottage-the place is a maize…

No US electric service…bought converters on Amazon but they don’t work here ….had to borrow BIG black box transformer from hotel…..weighs 20 pounds….lights flicker when it comes on…

Long first day of training….but Grenadians are just wonderful folk…..was at best hotel on island with massive spreads for breaks and lunch for overlooking the ocean….probably all downhill from here. Flight tomorrow at 5 am to St. Vincent, where I have no idea who to contact or where to go……island style..

Jenn should be happy…..eating nothing but fish and salad…but quite hungry at night…….need some pastrami….

Rum Punch…….running on fumes already…and four islands, 12 flights and numerous punches to go….

Got filthy typhoid pants and sox hand washed and dry…but had to go find the massive hotel exhaust fan to lay out my soaked sneakers…still going to be a wet foot journey tomorrow….cooties abound

Place filled with Brits and Aussies …all watching Cricket….what’s wrong with baseball?

Trainings here all start with prayer and national anthem….I wept…..and that was before they read my bio for ten minutes….

Surrounded by warm ocean and hot swimming pools…and no play time….ugggh….

Another long day with dinner poolside with my local peeps…….Onward…..

Been sending nightly dispatches to the family on my Caribbean project travels…and thought… what the hey…should put them on the BLOG….so here’s all of the last week’s…WHY NOT?

Want to keep up with Papi????…here’s the brief synopsis…

CMH at 6 am for flight to Miami…the on to Granada….uneventful….arrived at Grenada (GRUN-NAY-DA)….around 3:30 local time (hour ahead of EST) and emerged to 86 degree steam…..found old taxi-man…spoke some kind of English though I could not get a word of it….hotel eight minutes away……Blue Horizon Guest Cottages…very cute and three mutes from the majestic Grand Anse Beach…600 yards of pristine white sand….Cottages sit on 6 ¼ acre bid sanctuary with 27 species of tropical birds, who will likely keep me up all night…..Had drinks with two local juvenile justice ministry ladies…one of whom was probably is a recent Miss Granada….then a very slow dinner by the pool (island time)…big doings down the road with thousands of Grenadians arriving for lighting of Christmas lights and fireworks….went out to take a peak and fell in a ditch of typhoid quality sewage water (like father, like son )…with all my good clothes on I had worn to dinner…spent last hour making cottage filthy with residue of scum and took three showers….cannot imagine how my shit is going to dry in this heat…including my tennis shoes..

And this is …just…. Day One!!!

Buongiorno:

“Having precise ideas of often leads a man to doing nothing” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..Socrates

“The torch of doubt and chaos….this is what the Sage steers by”………………………………………………………………………………………………….Chuang- Tzu

“Those were the days my friend..…I thought they’d never end”…………………………………………………………………………………………………….Mary Hopkin

Sunday morning 9 am….November 3rd

There’s a light……..some kind of light……that shines its light on me……I want my life to be…..You don’t know what it’s like…..you don’t know what it’s like…….The time has one…..bittersweet endings approach…and Cowtown beckons….Thursday it is!…the end of another season of wanderlusts and Mountain Zen life……..but…not yet…..

It really seems like it is time to go….the leaves are gone…and it’s officially Stick Season on the Mount…restaurants are closed, people are hibernating…we can see the road from our house with no foliage…a stark kind of beauty, in reality….and getting’’ mighty cold…

Our delightful weekend with Ry, Lauren and The Mighty Quinn ended last Sunday night with a Full Monte Vermont fireside dinner in the rarely used living room that is the Walter and Karen Shrine (unchanged since the day they left the house to us )…..then Monday morning they were off to the heartland….

The last week has been a blur with a series of “lasts”….transitions suck….REALLY…but we are relatively on top of it……So…..Endings are what we are currently about….went to a cocktail party , hosted by The Queen last night….to honor the retiring Queen Emeritus of the community association…..filled with locals we usually don’t see or interact with….Friday night was our final trip to the beloved East, the most elegant of Asian emporium’s, for one last dinner date with TJFM…who we will miss greatly as he continues his ongoing battle with serious illness….

And packing, organizing, lists galore, arrangements….that is who we are right now…..so….this will be short, by necessity….will there be more?….who knows….Is winter life as Snowbirds to Ohio Blog worthy?….only your hairdresser knows for sure….

But tonight…. is our last hurrah….eighteen of our nearest and dearest gathering here for the annual Friendsgiving supper…..and They will ALL be here……so in honor of that…and of the impending leave…..I will be posting tonight a photo gallery of BLOG character credits with photos after The Soiree….as I know you have waited for years with baited breaths to see what the cast of Vermont Ramble look like in real life (or maybe surreal life)….

So put my symbolic pen down for last Sunday preparations, last visit to The Dump, making friend deposits, the post office box…..and to see the bare trees….and he will finish this post later tonight…after The Soiree, with the inclusion of The Gallery….

Suffice it to say….I will miss The Weekly Sermon from the Mount….and now sign off from The Inn at Scum Pond…until we meet again……….

Happy trails to you,

Ferlin’/Papi/Chuck/Dad/Cuz/Uncle/ TCJ/Skippy