how much are those puppies outside my window?

Dogs. That's something that's not frequently discussed in the tourist books ... Here in St. Croix, we have a lot of dogs. Small ones, big ones, friendly ones ... but more often than not ... not so friendly ones.

A lot of people have fenced yards here, and a minimum of at least four dogs ... sometimes much more. They frequently remind me of the movie UP, and the dogs from there.

Not Doug. Awn. Doug's so cute.

These Dogs:

They are mean and scary, and threateningly bark at you as you walk by a home. Dogs in St. Croix are a part of many people's built in security systems ... and so they are trained to not be so friendly to unknown 'guests'.

Dogs, as well as other animals though run pretty wild around the island. You name it, horses, donkeys, chickens, dogs many of them seem to have free reign wherever they are, and my neighborhood is no different. Through the shear purple curtain, over one of the windows in my room, I can see a large white horse silently grazing in the bush behind my house. His tail lazily swats flies and other insects as they disturb his peaceful existence in the cool of the shaded and wild bush, just feet from my room. There's the iguana that lives in the coconut tree right outside my window who likes to bask in the warmth of the filtered sun through large coconut tree palms. And there is the momma dog and her pups who walk around our house and neighborhood like a mother duck with a following of small and easily excitable ducklings, each one prancing and rolling in the grass while still following momma wherever she leads her pups.

Their youthful nature always seems to lead a stray puppy to our front door. It is curious, and humorous to me the reaction of the mother dog, seeing as how she lives in one of the houses next door. "Now little puppy, you can stay here if you like, I'm just over here, but be back before it gets too late."

So several of her puppies have come for individual visits to our home. They come, they'll lick our fingers, take naps on the couch with us, and let us feed them a little something ... and then when night comes ... they leave our house and return home to their momma.

Living in St. Croix can just be so great. :)

Above is one of our sweet, happy, and affectionate little visitors.  Ain't she cute?!

The BIG Cuda

I have had the most wonderful several days with my brother and sister-in-law, at first it was the strangest mental thing for me. My Cruzan experiences just seem so separated from my previous Arizona life in so many ways that it was strange for me to see so much "Arizona" in my Cruzan paradigm. But after a few minutes in the back of my brother's red jeep with him driving on the left, and my hair whipping around my head in the wind ... I got used to it. ;)

The first few days were more me showing them my life, 'my' island. Sandy Point (well, as close as we got to it), Turtles, Chicken Shack, my job, Frederiksted (of course), Christiansted, the rain forest, the farm, gongolos, Rainbow, Rhythms, etc. But today has been full of firsts for me, that I got to share with my family. A trip to Point Udall, sea kayaking (with my sister-in-law as my teacher), and of course ... our Buck Island excursion.

Below are a few pictures (not taken by me or the fam though)

We went on a motorized version of this catamaran from this boardwalk to get to Buck Island

Buck Island (with St. Croix in the background)

We sat on this beach today and enjoyed the sand

The snorkeling portion of the island, with a great barrier reef

I was snorkeling, enjoying the different beautiful fish I was seeing when all of a sudden
I saw this guy's cousin (okay so not this big ... but at least three feet long), the great barracuda!
I then looked up and realized that I was really far away from everyone else ... and quickly swam
back to where I could see people. I later learned however, that while scary ...
barracuda, believe it or not, don't usually go after 5'10" fish.

Big Beard himself ... holding one of my least favorite things to find in my house,
a Cruzan centipede

 All in all ... it has just been wonderful! My roommate had to deal with a teary roommate after their exit (maybe partially induced by the fact that we don't have running water or gas in our house right now ... surprise!) but I can't wait to see them again in the fall. :)

She's Mine

Working during the day has meant a lot of changes for me ... sleeping in my bed at night for one, and doing more of the actively 'mothering' stuff with the kiddos. I was nervous about the switch and hesitant because of some drama that the other girls encountered while they were working during the day, not wanting one more thing to have to worry about. But three days in, and while it's exhausting to be mothering 6 children (including an 11 month old and an 18 month old) in the daylight hours, it is the absolute best part of this job.

pretty much ... this is me.

The newest child to become a part of our little family has been growing close to me, and becoming attached. She is 18 months old, and we'll call her Pebbles, and she cries for me when she's tired or hungry, runs to me when she's scared, and I can get her giggling faster than anyone in the cottage (plus, I taught her how to fist bump ... so obviously ... we're tight). It is tempting when you work so closely with these children to believe somehow that they are your very own ... and that you know and love them in a very special and unique way ... and while this is partially true, it is too easy to forget something very important. These children are with me for all sorts of reasons, and no matter what brought them, they all have family who love them very much.

So in the evening hours after Pebbles has had her bottle and I am holding her to my chest, singing a lullaby, in a dark room while one solitary ceiling fan rhythmically beats in tune to her deepening breaths as she repositions her head on my shoulder, I have to remember that there is someone who wishes that Pebbles was falling asleep on their shoulder.

Today we took the three boys (who when they're all together always make me think of my three little nephews in the Northwest ... even though they aren't all that similar ... excluding the youngest of my boys and the middle child of the Northwest brood ...) and Pebbles for ice cream and to meet Santa. The day was going wonderfully and I was feeding Pebbles some ice cream, when a very young woman came up to us. She first waved to Pebbles and then eyeing both her and me took a moment to consider it before bending over and giving Pebbles a kiss on the top of her head. As she stood up, my work partner asked if she knew Pebbles, and she quietly shook her head and turned and walked away crying. I looked at my work partner for a moment before getting up and following her, asking if she would like to sit with us for a while. At first she said no, and I understood so I went back to our table, but she kept watching us and after only five minutes came back.

She seemed hesitant but after showering a smiling, giggling, and glowing Pebbles with kisses and hugs, pulled her up out of the seat and held her close. She cried as she held Pebbles to her, speaking to her in Spanish and using some of Pebbles' same expressions and mannerisms (the same expressions that felt so familiar to me) as she cooed to Pebbles, and Pebbles cooed back. After a few minutes she told us that she was Pebbles' big sister. She stayed with us as long as she could, holding and loving her sister tight. Before having to make a tearful exit as both she and Pebbles cried for one another.

As she walked away I thought about what it must have felt like for her, who has loved, and I imagine done a fair amount of mothering to Pebbles her whole life ... only to have a stranger ask, "Do you know her?" My heart broke for her and her sister.

So no matter how much I love these kiddos, someone else loved them first, and continues still, even if they're only allowed to love at a distance.

Move over Durian Fruit ... there's a New Funk in Town

The other day I was doing dishes at our kitchen sink while some egg fruit (never knew about it before I moved here, and I couldn't find a picture of it) and something that we, at the time, called 'the alien egg' were ripening in the window and I noticed a decidely distinct smell.

It smelled awful. I wondered if maybe one of my roommates had thrown up in the sink because it smelled so bad. I kept doing dishes and it just wouldn't go away. The smell continued to linger no matter how much I cleaned dishes as well as the sink ... the vomit smell just continued to fill our kitchen. It was a mystery to me ... was something in the pipes? What was going on?

the 'alien egg'

A roommate was called in to help me super sleuth it, and she figured it out. It was 'the alien egg', it was the thing that produced the smell that made us wrinkle our noses and toes curl. Now before then I had always believed that the worst smelling fruit in the entire world HAD to be Durian ... it smells like feet, how could anything be worse?

I've met it's match though. Vomit smell trumps foot smell ... hello Noni fruit. 

Sorry Durian ... you're just second fiddle to the Noni's fetid nature