It was overwhelming at first, but now the sort moves smoothly. List on Marketplace. Pack for BC. Give to charity. Leave for next tenant. Paddle boards back to Mary. Give spices to Neil, so he can practice after the cooking lesson I gave him last week. Drop off memory foam, coffee grinder and drying rack … Continue reading Leaving Barbados
“I’ll go to Canada for that.” The doctor looked at me in— surprise? disbelief? “No. You can’t fly. You need to see a surgeon today.” And so began a new adventure. It had actually started a week earlier, on Old Year’s Night. I’d woken that morning thinking I shouldn’t have had that last margarita the … Continue reading Get Well Soon: Barbados Medical Adventures
“Your fourth year in Barbados! You are living the dream!” Well, yes. It is pretty amazing. But I often feel that people are picturing us on vacation all the time, just multiplying their tropical holiday by 20. When you live here you experience a lot that someone visiting might not even notice. Storm is past … Continue reading Living in a Tropical Paradise: the Flip Side
BANG! The car started veering so I looked for a place to pull over— not so easy on Maxwell Main Road. Fortunately there was a wide sidewalk in front of one house so I drove onto it and got out to look at the damage. What had I hit? It could have been a deep … Continue reading I’m Glad It’s a Rental: Driving in Barbados
The five of us walked into the beach bar after pulling our paddleboards above the waterline and digging face masks out of our dry bags. “Wow, we watched you come in,” said a man at the waterside table. “We’ve mostly just seen people falling in all day. You are impressive!” I was secretly pleased, because … Continue reading Barbados Paddle Board Adventures
We were walking down the driveway, on our way to dinner, when Richard looked at me, startled. “Is that a CARDIGAN?” Simone, who was also carrying one, and I exchanged a men-don’t-really-understand glance. “I might get chilly.” Simone nodded in agreement. “But it’s still 28 degrees!” “But it might get down to 26 tonight. And … Continue reading My Barbados Evolution
I’m lying in bed at 6am, before my first coffee, and I reach for my phone. Not to check the weather— that’s going to be a high of 30 or 31C, low of 25 or 26C, every day, because it’s July. Predictions of rain are erratic— it could be pouring rain here and sunny a … Continue reading A Day in the Life, Barbados version
“Good morning!” I say cheerily as I pass anyone. Or good afternoon, or good evening. Bajans will always greet as they go by, and even a teen wearing earbuds and attitude will reply in reflex. “Alright, alright.” Or, “Mornin, mornin.” Once I was walking alongside an older woman whom I recognized from other trips along … Continue reading Talking the Talk: Bajanisms
“We’re leaving tomorrow.” Kaity and François are going back to New York. I’ve watched their daughter Louise become a full fledged toddler as she traveled down our street over the last five months, with whichever parent wasn’t surfing. The semi-tamed cats on the street learned to move more quickly in tandem. Once it rains, no … Continue reading To Stay or To Go?
“That’s not a goat, that’s a sheep.” Wait what? It looks like a goat. It has hair, not wool. But apparently it is a Barbados blackbelly sheep. You can tell because of the tail, the ears, and its temperament. Barbados black belly sheep Like that goat, I mean sheep, on Barbados you can never assume, … Continue reading Talking the Talk: Barbados Vocabulary
Brave Travels 