Chronicles of a Shoemaker's Daughter

... and it has been a heck of a long wait to get there, with still another 6 weeks, three days left to go! So, how will I justify this one? Well, even though I have experienced major financial ups and downs (mostly downs) this past year, thanks to a friend who presumably needs a vacation more than I do, I have booked another two-week stint in St. Kitts and Nevis. My friend has never been there before and wanted my company as tour-guide and general "partner-in-crime." At one point, it looked like there would be 4 or 5 of us traveling together, but alas, the others couldn't justify the expense this year. Well, neither could I, really, but I have found that when you really want something to happen, you will find a way to make it happen. Last fall I started in earnest trimming a few dollars a week from my regular budget, because I really needed to find a way to fund my vacations while I also figure out a way to re-create my now non-existent retirement fund. I have tried f...

Since I posted my first blog under the "Post Cards" banner, lots has happened on my two favourite "Small-Island" Caribbean places, and not all of it good. I have been following another blog for the last six months written by an amazing woman who had gone to St. Kitts as a Peace Corps volunteer. Now, she is not your stereotypical, just-out-of- college, "eager to change the world" PCV though, because she is a mature lady (just like me) with a wealth of life and business experience. I thought, when I first read about her and was "introduced" to her via the travel forums, that the NGO's to which she would be attached to work would be very fortunate to have someone with her depth of experience doing community development work with them. Sadly, the other day, I read that she has resigned from the Peace Corp and has returned to her home in the US. I won't get into her story here, but I share the link to her blog, so that you can read about her j...

Well, I thought I would do a "check-in" to bring you up to date on how things are going with managing my "addictions." Alas, I do still spend some time during the wee k on the travel forums. The surgical precision with which I had hoped to move away from needing my travel forum fix, has not quite achieved the result I was aiming for. Lets face it ... it's a cold cruel winter up here right now. Put another way, I am not cut out for the "cold-turkey" approach to quitting ... anything. So, I think I am now aiming for the "Harm reduction" approach, which involves find ing safe ways to deal with addictive or potentially harmful activities. For instance, if you can't quit smoking, replace your strong cigs with a milder brand ... if you are going to drink alcohol, make sure someone else does the driving ... if you are going to have multiple sexual partners, make sure you use condoms .... etc. And if these addictions are getting in the way of l...

So, by now you must have figured out that among my many addictions, I am also addicted to a certain couple of tropical islands ... and I'll probably keep penning these little memoirs of past and present events, occurrences and general island nonsense, until I have bored every last person who is reading them! After all, it's my blog and I'll do what I want ... OK, this is where the angels in the backgroud spin that old tune on the turntable, "It's my party, and I'll do what I want, I'll do ...." well, you get the picture. Or the sound, in this case. Be warned, this is a long one ... and I have no pictures to accompany this part of my story. Part II of this particular St. Kitts "so-long-ago-it's-almost-like-it-never-even-happened" saga, was to have been put up here a while ago, but I got side-tracked by autumn activities, cookie-baking, night school and finally the Christmas season. At the start of all this flury of activity, I was readin...

At times, I like to think of it as my "Disney moment." Other times, I like to think of that moment in more profound terms, attaching meaning to it that directly contradicts my pragmatic nature ... why? Because it gives me comfort to dream and hope and think there is something bigger and more powerful and deeper and more knowing than anything here on earth. This is what happened: About a year ago, I was travelling alone. It was my gift to me - 17 days, 9 of which would be spent in a place I had never visited before, to spend some time relaxing, reflecting, getting a tan, meditating, touring around and doing a bit of research for the book that I never seem to get any time to actually sit down and write. Well, actually, it was eight days, because the first 36 hours or so, were spent trying to get from St. Kitts to Grenada, via Antigua, Barbados and finally an unscheduled, overnight stop in Port of Spain Trinidad. Oh, but I think I told you about that already. When I finally ...

Helloooo, is anybody out there? I have been wondering for some time if anybody actually reads my blog entries and I got my answer the other day, when a couple of people asked me what the heck was up with my blog. First, there were some travel stories, then some mad ramblings, then some entries disappeared, then some reappeared, then they all disappeared for a while. Now some stories are back and some mad ramblings are still missing. And the format looks a bit different. Apparently there has been some speculation and a rumor or two. Especially among one or two friends who have also noted some cryptic comments on my Facebook page. OK, let me say, from the git-go, for the two or three of you that are actually reading this stuff ... don't stress your brains with a lot of surmising or reading into things - the only thing that is going on with me, is my basic ineptitude with web-based technology. In other words, I am new to this stuff, so I struggle with format and content, as well as no...

I found these words recently and was really moved by them. So I dedicate them to friends that I have made through my travels ... whether we have met face-to-face, on the travel forums, on Facebook or informal networks: "Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends." - Maya Angelou

... firefly ?! ... OK, today was a good day. For a variety of reasons. Though I still seem to be struggling with the sniffles and a chronic cough, thanks to a seasonal cold that seems to want to occupy my body permanently, I still made some time with friends this weekend. I needed company for thereapeutic reasons! And I was reminded of these friends again today, while driving to and from the local Loblaws for some groceries with the car radio blaring some quality soca music. Every Sunday, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the local "urban" radio station, plays lots of soca, old and new. The announcer has a Caribbean accent, which I find hard to place - there are so many islands in the British West Indies, but it never fails to remind me of my times spent on St. Kitts. My drastic improvement in mood started last night, though, as I was treated to a full evening of West Indian accents, when I got together with my fabulous "transplanted" Kittitian friends. These gals have...

This is m y 3 year-old nephew's favourite expression. He uses it interchangeably with "have a nice adventure" in much the same way service personnel tell us to "have a great day" at the end of a transaction, or the way we might close off a "goodbye" or "so-long" statement with family and friends: by saying "have a good time ... nice evening ... great day at work ..." ... and so on. Mikey loves that word. Adventure. He keeps asking what it "akshully means," but I have yet to look it up in the dictionary, because I realized a long time ago that he instinctively knows the true meaning of adventure ... due to the simple fact that he has not yet reached his fourth birthday. As a youngster, he is still discovering the world around him. Everything is alternately new and exciting or scary and challenging. He approaches both versions of his world with equal portions of abandon, curiosity and eagerness, tempered by a healthy dose ...

The best part of travel is that sometimes, you don't have to travel far to feel the peace, contentment and relaxation that is so important in these stressful times. These pictures were taken fairly close to home, when I take time out for a "stay-cation" ...

When will I accept that I am not a winter person? It is freezing outside. I mean, really, really freezing. It has been snowing several times a week for the last eight weeks ... and it is still January! And I can't get my head around the fact that this cold will be with us for at least another eight, maybe twelve more weeks! So, why do I still leave here? Good question, since I always seem drawn to warmer places, surrounded by sea. And since states of readiness ... but somehow, summer got in the way of finishing them, as I found myself less and less drawn to the computer and more and more drawn to the outdoors, friends and family. I am sure that I will start posting the stories very shortly (once I have worked out how to copyright them!) Today was such a glorious day that I did finally feel compelled to come back to the computer to reflect on the seasons. The balmy weather and bright autumn sunshine made me realize that I have to savour it. The first day of fall has alre...

Hearing about all the recent changes to airline travel - cost saving measures, charges for checked baggage, charges for food and beverage - got me thinking about the good old days, when the customer was king ... or was he/she? I seem to recall that even when there were more (though not necessarily more affordable) flights in and out of the Caribbean, travelers were still at the mercy of any number of elements beyond their control, or comprehension. Though, admittedly there were fewer hassles in terms of baggage and carry-on restrictions, in the pre-pre-911 era, air travel was not without its excitement - and a story to tell at the end of it all! Picture this: St. Kitts, October 1988. My friend, Miss M (a Canadian ex-pat )and I were living at the only real resort on the island. OK, she was living there, while I was on a very, very extended stay - I say this bec ause, technically, I didn't actually have a work permit, but I was definitely working there! Anyway, her older sister, ...

On a youth counsellor's income, there isn't always a lot of "stretch room" in the budget to have the kinds of vacations that I have always dreamed about. In fact, for many years, I didn't travel at all, as there never seemed to be enough money left at the end of the year to justify the expense. Then I became the budgetting and cost-cutting queen ... and the empress of off-price-shopping ... oh, yes, and lest we forget, I sold my little townhouse and moved in with my aging parents. And so, I suddenly found a bit of cash to fund a trip or two ... or three ... or four. And I learned the art of rationalization: I can justify a pleasure trip even faster than I can engage an angry youth in a empowering converstation - and I am pretty good at the latter, even if I say so myself! I read recently on one of the travel forums that I love to frequent, that one of the best ways to deal with post-vacation-blues is to start planning the next trip. I was barely home for 24 hours ...