St. John Fri. 3/2/12

We had a very busy day today. I started out by baking cookies for the first graders who were coming in for the day to study insects and their habitats. I then helped Barb make an apple crisp for tonight's dessert and then worked getting more rocks out of the garden area. Dave helped the naturalist find a tarantula and a scorpion for the kids to look at. We let the kids eat lunch first and while we were eating, we could hear the kids screaming - we assume at the tarantula! After lunch, Dave and I took a group of five ladies from the Sierra Club into Coral Bay to visit an organic farm. Josephine grows vegetables and fruit on one side of her garden and ornamentals and trees on the other side. She even grows orchids. I guess she does quite a landscaping business for the well-to-do who have homes on the island. We drove the ladies back to camp and picked up some of the volunteers who wanted to go out to see Melissa and Rich. Barb, Jim, Nancy, Roy, John, Harry, Glenn, Dave and I all piled into the truck and drove out to East end. Melissa and Rich have rented the Round House which overlooks Haulover Bay (see photo). They had cocktails and snacks for us and we had a wonderful time exploring the house and looking at the incredible views. There is one bedroom in the main house and two other screen house bedrooms going down the cliff. The food was incredible - veggie pizza, fruit pizza, shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit - yum! At sunset, a number of goats made their way to a large rock below the deck (see photo). Rich says they show up every day at that time. We came back to camp a little after 6 and I had a salad for dinner as I was full from the snacks in the afternoon. After dinner, a local named Ital (see photo) came and put on a performance of African drumming and singing for the Sierra Club, guests, and volunteers. Zoe, the camp intern, accompanied him. We had a wonderful time! We were bushed when we finally got to bed, but we certainly had a full and lovely day. For some reason, I am having trouble getting the photos on today's blog, so will try one more time and if it fails again, I will try again tomorrow.

St. John Thurs. 3/1/12

Another beautiful day! Melissa and Rich left this morning after breakfast. I cleaned the front portion of their room and we opened the door between as a family is coming in this afternoon to stay. I then baked some cookies for lunch and made up another batch of dough (chocolate chip with raisins this time for variety). I will bake them tomorrow. There was still an while before lunch so went back to the garden project. We had lots of help today as the Sierra Club worked in camp for the morning. We got a lot done with so many people helping. Unfortunately, one of the young ladies got stung by a wasp or yellow jacket four times - once on the arm and 3 times on the leg. I gave her my after bite and made up a paste of baking soda and vinegar. She said it did help. We are still digging rocks out of the garden area. Generally there is a tarantula or a whip scorpion hiding under the larger ones. They don't really bother me as they scamper away when their homes have been disturbed, but now I will have to watch out for stinging insects. After lunch, we had a delivery of groceries so everyone helped to put them away. Dave, Glenn (Michigan), Jerry (Ohio), Roy (Martha's Vineyard), Charlie (New York) and I hiked down Yawzi Point and went snorkeling. I have been on the lookout for a turtle - it has been eluding me, but Jerry saw one! I did, however, see a 3-foot spotted eagle ray - quite beautiful and graceful! I also saw a very large blue parrot fish - spectacular! There were, of course, many other smaller fish and lots of colorful soft corals. We had a great time and have just come out of the shower. I like to do my email and blogging in the late afternoons before dinner. We will have a late one tonight as the Sierra Club went out on a boat to go snorkeling and won't be back to camp until 6. Saturday, after the Sierra Club leaves, Dave and I will move to the back of cottage 5. This will be great because we will have our own bathroom - yeah! I didn't take any new photos today, but maybe tomorrow I will have some to upload. I would like to catch one of a mongoose, but they are really fast and usually show up when I don't have my camera in hand. Happy March 1 everyone.

St. John Wed. 2/29/12

Another glorious day! Randy came by at breakfast and asked some of us to volunteer to help on a Friends of the National Park project. We helped cut and haul lumber for the new handicapped accessible ramp that runs through the mangroves out at Francis Bay which is next door to Maho Bay where we spent many wonderful days vacationing in past years. The work was dirty, but not hard. We saw lots of stilts and water birds in the mangrove swamp AND I saw a pink flamingo! He must have blown in on the winds we have been having the last few days. We got back to camp in time for lunch and after went down to the VIERS dock for a snorkel. I did not find it as interesting as Little Lameshur so doubt if we will go back to that side. I did walk over to the beach after and had a swim before coming back to camp for my shower. I spent some time in the office filling out our time sheets - you have to work 4 hours a day in order to qualify for free room and meals. You can work more each day and bank some in order to earn a day off, but honestly, just swimming and snorkeling in Little Lameshur is wonderful and that is just a short walk away. After dinner last night, I brought out the ice cream that I had made for the staff - it was a big hit! We sat around talking for a while and then went back to our cabin to read. Barb and Jim are making dinner tonight: pepper steak, rice, salad and walnut cake for dessert. I am trying to eat very small portions as I don't want to gain a ton of weight here although the physical labor, snorkeling and swimming probably counterbalance some of the caloric intake (at least that's what I'm telling myself!). Dave has finished carving a spoon. Originally, he was going to donate this one to the camp kitchen, but we have been invited to a house in Coral Bay on Friday for the afternoon and will take it as a hostess gift and Dave will carve another one for the camp. Two of the volunteers from Michigan, Melissa and Rich, always spend a few extra days relaxing on the island when they finish their volunteer time before going home. They have rented a place called the Round house - can't wait to see it. The photos today are of St. Francis Bay, the overlook off the trail and the handicapped access trail that we were working on. Happy Birthday, John King! So nice that we can say this on the actual day!

St. John Tues 2/28/12

Had another small shower in the night - never lasts long. This morning after breakfast, Dave, Glenn, Charlie and I worked on digging rocks out of a garden area - the same one we pulled tons of snake plant out of. The idea is that eventually we will put some fresh dirt and sand, rebuild the wall and plant flowers. It will look lovely when it is done, but it will take a while to clear the area of roots and rocks. I stirred the ice cream about every half hour this AM and we will eat it tonight. We quit at noon and had lunch. Lunch is usually leftovers from the previous night's dinner or lunch meat or peanut butter. The strawberry jam we brought down is almost gone - it is quite popular with the staff. Today, Willie made fried rice - it was very good. The garden gang piled into the truck and went into Coral Bay to buy more postcards. We then stopped at Salt Pond and did a bit of snorkeling. Glenn was behind me and saw a reef shark which I missed. I saw lots of staghorn coral, huge parrot fish and sergeant majors. It was a lovely swim. I will stop there another day and take pictures. I don't like to leave my camera on the beach when we are out snorkeling. I think we are having fish and baked potatoes tonight for dinner. It sure does smell good in the kitchen. I was finally able to download some pictures! One is of our cabin, one of the dining room and kitchen, and the last is of Little Lameshur Bay which is our local, walk-to swimming hole. The rocks on the left have the best snorkeling.

St. John Mon. 2/27/12

Today I spent the morning in the kitchen. I made several batches of oatmeal raisin cookies (the Sierra Club folks are helping with trails in the National Park and pack their lunch), four lemon pies (a new recipe which I copied down for home if it comes out okay) for tonight's dessert, and I started a batch of vanilla ice cream that I will attempt to make in the freezer tomorrow. There is no ice cream maker here, but I figure if I stir it every half hour, it should come out okay. After lunch Jim, Barb, Glenn, Dave and I went for a hike up Bordeau mountain - great views from the top - could even see the camp! We came back down and jumped in Little Lameshur Bay - delightful to swim around and cool off. Debbie and Will are making stuffed peppers for dinner. I just got out of the shower, folded laundry that I had done earlier and am now just hanging out until dinner. I'll bet we will sleep well tonight after all of the uphill walking we did on the trail!

St. John Sun. 2/26/12

I just realised that my dates are off - hope I have got it right now. I also am having trouble uploading photos for the blog, but eventually I will figure out what is going on. Dave and I did not get put on the cooking schedule for this week, but that is okay with us. I spent the morning cleaning rooms and making beds as we have a group of Sierra Club members coming in this afternoon. Dave and some of the other guys worked on the snake plant project again - it is really a never ending job as there is so much of the stuff all over the camp.

After lunch, we took a group of people in the truck. We dropped Jerry and Jim at the Brown Bay trailhead and the rest of us, Barb, Glenn, Charlie, Dave and I went snorkeling on the south side of Haulover Bay. The snorkeling was great - lots of colorful soft corals, trumpet fish, puffer fish, parrots and sergeant majors. We swam out about 3/4 of a mile and then back - we should sleep well tonight. We walked over to the north side of the bay, where Dave and I have been before, but it was too rough to get in - the wind is causing some major wave action. We went back to Skinny Legs (a bar) to pick up Jim and Jerry and then went for an ice cream cone. We stopped at a store in Coral Bay and picked up some heavy cream. Randy had two vanilla beans and challenged us to make something with them. I found a recipe on-line for vanilla ice cream that doesn't need a machine. I will try it tomorrow.

We jumped in the shower when we came back and then chatted with some of the Sierra Club guests until dinner. We will go to bed soon. Tomorrow, the car people should be out with our jeep. We will believe it when we see them! This is a good group of volunteers - having a great time. Generally, the work day is from 8-12 (unless you are cooking dinner) so you do get quite a bit of time off. We are really enjoying the water and sunshine.

St. John Sat. 2/26/12

Today we got up very early and had a quick breakfast before heading out to the mile 4 marker where we set up a water/gatorade station. There were 1100 runners this year. It was great fun passing out cups of water to the runners. The course is actually 8.3 miles, but over very hilly terrain! The winner came in at 46 minutes I think. We cleaned up our area and headed back to camp. I took us an hour and 45 minutes to get back as we crawled up the hills behind the last runners who were actually walking and jogging by that point. We hung around camp for the rest of the day - just relaxing and chilling out. John, the volunteer who lives on his boat, made pizza for everyone for dinner - delish! Randy, the boss, and Zoe, the intern, made fresh onion soup and french bread. We really had a feast! The big boss, another Randy, has recently had a heart attack and is home in Baltimore recuperating. The other volunteers wrote a get well song for him and we videotaped it. One of the other volunteers put it on youtube so he could see it. We had a very good time listening to music and talking. A couple of guests came in for the night so we got them settled and stayed up a bit longer to chat. We went to bed around 9:30. It was good sleeping weather - a lot of wind and some rain.