Wednesday, July 29

Great Friends are Great Indeed

The dust is still hanging in the sky. Warnings of haze fill the forecasts. I'm avoiding running, just so I can still breathe by the time I finish breakfast. Breathing is more difficult when the dust events are of greater intensity. Right now, I look out onto Cruz Bay and cannot see small islands that I normally should see in the distance.

Here is a website that will show you the current dust activity:
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-time/wavetrak/winds/m8g10split.html

Standard transmissions are in a lot of cars. Folks born in the 80s are often lost with a manual vehicle, grinding the gears and stalling out every 10 seconds. See: Clueless. I'm now 26 and getting on in my years (I know, if you're over 30, you're saying “spare me!”) so I figured it's high time I learn how to deal with a manual transmission. Today, I went out for a lesson driving standard with Thomas and it was freaking awesome! I did great in the parking lot practicing popping the clutch and of course, not popping the clutch. We headed out onto the open road after about thirty minutes and started out letting Thomas shift for me. On the road home, I shifted and drove all on my own, with promptings from Thomas. I'm well on my way to driving standard solo. I am addicted to learning something new.

The internet at the office and throughout the park was out today. It made it quite hard to do research with the internet not working. I did catch up on revising a huge document that is one of my biggest priorities, so that was great.

After work, I got to see Christy's shack on the hill out in Coral Bay. I've never been so jealous of a shack. She's got an amazing place with a really great outdoor shower. Seeing the stars and feeling a breeze while showering is priceless. If you get the chance to install an outdoor shower, don't pass it up. For dinner, we headed to Shipwreck Landing, in Coral Bay, where Christy's husband is the main chef. Amazing Curry-Nut Chicken! The meal I ordered was fabulous and mouth-wateringly good. A sweet glaze topped the spicy and nutty chicken. With each crunchy bite, my mouth oohed and ahhed in response.

I forgot to mention, I've established an almost regular status at at least one bar down here. I know, this is not something you might imagine happening to me, since I do tend to stay home like an old lady much of the time. I walked up to the bar a few days ago and the bartender handed me my bottle of Tropical Mango, done. It's nice to have people know your drink.

This weekend will include a trip to St. Thomas on Saturday to stock up on groceries. I'm anxious to get a large supply of frozen chicken tenderloins, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, and more yogurt and cheese. I may get a case or two of soda if I'm feeling rebellious to better nutrition. There may also be time for a viewing of the new Harry Potter movie, if we get over to the theater early enough!

The best part of my stay here in St. John will be hard to identify and pinpoint, but I did happen across a moment today that ranks very high in my list of instances that gave me a deep sense of happiness and pleasure.

So, Keith came in today and told me there was a package for me waiting in the visitors center. I didn't know a package was coming, so I got quite excited! I hustled down to the building to see what was so heavy that Keith didn't want to carry it up the hill. A box! From Becca Hall! The box was a quick carry to the car and then I hauled it to my house, and immediately went at it with a big sharp knife. By the time I got all of the box emptied, my kitchen table was FULL!!! Wow! My first impression of the box: Becca is one of the most wonderfullest people in the world. It was so thoughtful and amazing of her to send me such tasty treats and things I love- every single thing in the box made me want to eat a fourth lunch! (I had three lunches already- two were tuna sandwiches, one was a small bag of oreos). The care package made me realize how lucky I am to have such great friends. When it comes to the five love languages, I definitely am feeling a full love tank right now, so gifts must be fairly high on the list of languages that I understand. I have the cheesiest and biggest smile on my face after opening the big box. I bet you can probably imagine what that looks like :-) I am so excited to enjoy all these tasty items!