Chronicles of a Shoemaker's Daughter

We probably all start out with great ideas, and good intentions ... but quickly ... almost as quickly as we fall of the fad diet wagon, yet again ... or as quickly as we lose interest in our latest gym membership   ... we  "reluctant bloggers" act something like this ... 

Well, I got my answer to that question, with the arrival of two separate and seemingly unrelated occurrences.  I have been knocked off my feet by a wicked head and chest cold, and we have been treated for the last day or two to gloomy, rainy weather, and much lower temperatures than what we had all become accustomed to during this long and meandering summer.   When I did a meds run to my local Shopper's Drug Mart earlier today, to stock up on some goodies to blast the sickness right out of me, I witnessed further proof that autumn is arriving with a vengeance -- I saw lots of leaves on the ground, and ... horror of horrors, there were plenty of red and gold leaves on the maple trees, when just a week ago everything was green, green, green.  Being to sick to care, I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't capture any shots of those tiny signs of fall ... but I did experience a surreal moment, right out of a popular Staples commercial.  You know the one - that b...

Greetings from the land of perpetual summer!  OK, clearly I am exaggerating, but considering that we had almost no major cold snaps or very much snow last winter ... and that the first heatwave of the season happened in March, it has begun to feel as though we have had more than 6 full months of summer!  Right here in Ontario! Now all this wonderful weather has actually paid havoc with the environment, including right here in my front and back gardens ... and I know that parts of the US and Canada are dealing with the worst droughts since the 1950's, but for the most part, the average Torontonian has been enjoying this weather.  Me?  Not so much.  Don't get me wrong, I like sunshine, but it's just been a little too much sweat-weather as opposed to sweater-weather for me. I am actually looking forward to winter, so that I can layer on some clothing, because lets face it, when it's hot and sticky out, and you are down to your lightest cotton garb with not much...

Some of my readers/followers (oh my gosh .... I have readers and followers!?!) have asked why I never post pictures of my family or friends.  In short, the question is why don't I ever include photos of people in my blog stories.  The answer is quite quite simple: 1.  I take terrible people pictures; 2.  I have issues with privacy and don't like to have my image out there very much.  As such, I have made the (perhaps erroneous) assumption that most people in my life don't want their picture out there either.   I think I might be wrong about this, as I have noticed many bloggers plaster all kinds of photos of themselves, their family, friends and random strangers all over Facebook, blogs and the like.  So, I guess I'll go get some help for my (privacy) issues, and without further adieu (ah-dooh?), I'd like to introduce you to some friend I have met in my travels:  First up, meet my friend, Sara ... and a young man whom she befriended on Coc...

 “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” –  St. Augustine I don't get to travel more than about once a year.  I wish it were more ... and at times, I wish I could break loose from the relative safety of visiting the same destination year after year.  I long to broaden my perspective by turning the page and delving further into the book that is our big, diverse globe.  Yet, the beauty of visiting same destination again and again lies not just in the geography, topography, flora, fauna and warm blue seas ... indeed not!  What makes returning both familiar and exciting, is the people!  You never know who you will meet.  Locals, ex-patriots and visitors alike are as diverse, multi-faceted and interesting to me as if I had taken a round-the-globe 6-month sabatical, exploring a multitude of countries.  All in one little microcosm ... with a land mass of barely100 square miles, and only 8 miles across it's widest poi...

In January, I found myself feeling a little lost and unfocussed.  The end of my grad school journey was somehow anti-climactic and downright depressing. Mostly because I kept waking up each morning programmed to research, proof-read, type, read, process, analyze, churn out reports ... well, you get the drift.  I was struggling to shake off the invisible yoke that had me in a choke-hold for almost 2 years, and unable to really move forward, because I didn't have a full-time job to slide back into, as most of my classmates did.   Moving forward was what I had yearned for so many long months, but it seems it was, and still is, hampered by the fact that the actual graduation ceremony is not until June 14th of this year.  That's a long time to wait, especially when a big celebration is in order.  Getting my Masters Degree after all this time, is indeed cause to celebrate in my book.  So, debt worries aside, I found a way to combine work and travel.  In ...

Happy 2012!  I hope this year brings peace and abundance to us all.  2011 was an intense year for many of us.  All I can say, is I am glad it is over, and I look forward to new beginnings.  Happily for me, the end of the old year coincided with the conclusion of late-in-life journey through grad school.  I completed my final course, associated assignments, and 3 month research/policy internship mere days before Christmas.  Pheeewww!  I am glad that part of my life is over!   DISCLAIMER:  I also want to post a disclaimer here ... the previous few posts are NOT NEW.  Before I put my blog on hold last fall, I was messing with formats - and one or two old posts jumped forward.   Today, I was once again trying to experiment with formats, and while hiding and bringing back some old posts, they got saved under today's date.  Oops!  I don't know how to fix that!!    In the weeks to come, I will have to look at how ...

Well, I did finally track down some of my own photos that I did managed to snap before my camera and a big wave had a show-down on Rendezvous Bay ... My internet keeps cutting out every time I try to upload ... somehow the snow storm, which was really a non-event here in Toronto, has affected some of the cable systems around my neighbourhood. Eventually, there should be more than one photo here. ;o] So, today - Thursday, February 3, 2011 - the internet gods have smiles ever so slightly, and they have let me upload a few more photos ... Most were taken around Meads Bay, near the Frangipani Hotel and Straw Hat Restaurant. One or two are from Upper Shoal Bay East, near Gwen's Reggae Grill ... I think ...

These photos were taken around my cottage at Oualie Beach Resort - not so much a resort, but more a collection of ginger-bread cottages on a nice stretch of beach with shallow, warm waters, a pier for boating and water-sport activities, an in-house sea-creature attraction-educational facility-"turtle-camp", and a terrifically laid-back and funky, yet decidedly, old-world Caribbean restaurant and bar. On day one, check-in was early and I decided to forego the plans to tour around Nevis for the day and drop in on old friends around Pinney's Beach, because I could not tear myself away from this place and the haunting view of St. Kitts's South East Peninsula across the narrows!  It seems like a long time ago now, but it was spring, 2009!  Much has changed in my life since then, and this is still where I'd rather be!