Finally!!

There is nothing like visitors from "home" to get your rear end moving and do the things that have been put off for so long. As I have mentioned before, the intent of this blog was not only to keep up with the handful of people that actually care about what I am doing...it was also to show you this beautiful island. So..with our neighbours from Woodbridge visiting St. Kitts, I finally had an audience that was interested in my island tour and what St. Kitts really looks like.

When I lived here previously, I did this tour on a regular basis and it is definitely something that I enjoy doing...very very much... but this time around, without anybody who shared my interest, I hadn't really looked at St. Kitts with the same eyes...until now. As an aside..if you look at the map, you will see that St. Kitts has one road that circles the island (the thigh part of the drumstick). It takes approx. 50 min to drive around without stopping.

Normally I start my tours in the morning going around the island clockwise but since we were getting a late start, this time we went counterclockwise and with the intent of having lunch first. In the end, I decided that the original way is the best method because people are more tired after lunch and if the tour is going counter clockwise, there are no stops after lunch. Straight home James! type thing.

So...first stop Ottley's Plantation. Ottley's is the site of an old sugar plantation with the "great house" and a few of the managers houses still standing and having been restored. It is currently owned by an American couple and being run as a high end bed and breakfast and separate restaurant. The setting is serene and stunningly beautiful and it is constantly rated as one of the highest ranked hotels in its class, but from our experience at lunch..I can't tell you that the food or the service, matches the prices they charge....although one lunch doesnt really make a proper judgement.













Leaving Ottley's we continued the tour towards Black Rocks. It is a very simple site but for some reason, it is moving to me. The sheer power of the ocean crashing against the rocks which are lava deposits from centuries ago just affects me in a certain way. There is a wildness to this site that makes you so aware that it could not have possible been created by man and it is very apparent when you are looking at it.













Right after Black Rocks, it is a short journey to see The Golden Lemon hotel in Deippe Bay, so named because when the Huguenots landed here in the late 1500's they thought the area looked like home..which was Dieppe, France. The hotel is a former warehouse and shop built in the late 1600's and restored in the 1970's by a man that was the editor and House and Garden magazine. It used to be a "place to go," hosting Tom Cruise's first honeymoon (when Tom was still.."the man to be" :-) as well as other stars, mainly because it is in a very private location, but it seems to looking a little tired and run down now....sort of like me! and I heard it was for sale. This is also where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea and you can watch the currents meet, creating a small area of pure calm. Before they built the new port, a lot of boats used to be anchored here if there was any type of hurricane warning.











Driving around the top part of the island, through Sandy Point, the second largest town in St. Kitts and then just past there is one of the most amazing sites in the world to me. Brimstone Hill is a fort built very very high up on the mountain side in the early 1700's. To stand at the bottom and imagine how they got all those bricks up there over 800 feet, to say nothing of all the cannons weighing over a ton...well it is just mind boggling! The picture below doesnt do it justice so you will just have to believe me on this one! Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, the St. Kitts historical society has done a great job on the restoration and if you arent interested in the fort itself, the views from Brimstone Hill are absolutely breathtaking.

























The monkeys playing on the road on the way up the hill, provided an extra bonus of entertainment!

Next on the tour was Middle Island, home to the tomb of Sir Thomas Warner..the first English governor of St. Kitts and Samuel Jeffererson, the grandfather of Thomas Jefferson, as well as the oldest surviving Anglican church.












By this time, the driver was getting bored and tired and he refused to obey my..ok they were last minute..commands of turn here! So the tour was cut short and Romney Manor, home to Caribelle Batik and Bloody Point by Old Road with the Carib petroglyphs were missed. My guests were actually interested but...maybe another time!














It was a strange feeling after returning from the tour. Up to now, I had sort of kept my distance to prevent myself getting too involved with this island that I had once loved and in doing so, stayed mostly in the area in which we live....but after the trip around the island, once again I knew...how could you not love this place steeped in history and dressed up in the most beautiful of sceneries?

Love is Fickle

As you already know...last week, a wood slave lizard took up residence in our shower. After the initial shock wore off, he was allowed to stay. We got used to him and he got used to us. He would roam the shower with free will, but as soon as you turned on the tap, even slightly, he would run to take up his position by the back wall, either behind a shampoo bottle or clinging for dear life to a sponge. And there he would stay until the shower was vacated.

We began to think of him as a pet that we could actually handle..in fact, I began to fall in love. I couldnt understand why nobody from his family had come looking for him. Then, I expressed concern to Heather that I was beginning to believe that he might have a slight mental problem...why would he choose to stay in the shower when it was obvious that he could have left at anytime?? And although there was plenty of liquids, there was no food! He was a smart little guy, so what was it? Heather suggested that I get him some therapy and I was actually considering it! lol

Then Sunday night Randy told me that when he went upstairs, he saw a lizard just leaving the bedroom. When Mr. Lizard saw Randy, he turned tail and ran under the bed. Was it our pet? A quick check of the shower confirmed it. The guy had used us and after making me open my heart to him...boom..he just left without even saying goodbye! That is the last time I fall in love with a lizard! lol From now on it is back to the old style...point that hot water shower at them until they slide down the drain and out of my life! I can deal with a little cold water at the end of the shower, better than I can with a cad of a lizard! :-)

Sharing A Shower

Please note: There is a mantle of shame in the Barless family which is being called "a weak link." Basically it is bestowed when someone tells a piece of information, from past or present, to someone else, that was not supposed to be shared. Sometimes you arent even informed that the piece of information was not for sharing .....and sometimes you are.

When I was young but after my sister Sue came along, I used to have to have a bath with her. Then I got a little older and I was allowed to have a bath alone but in the cold water after Sue, Al & Cath had theirs (together!). Home movies exist to back this up!! :-) I would like to say that my parents were environmentally aware long before it was in vogue, but... Ok...I hear you, Al! ..... no, it was because my father was of Scottish descent and if a penny could be saved, it was. lol

When I was even older I was twice romanced into the idea of sharing a shower and discovered that it was much like when I was younger. I was usually the one left standing out of the water, cold and none too happy, so I swore off sharing a shower a long, long time ago. But today I decided to give the practice another chance.

Like other parts of my life, I have a fairly strict routine in the shower. Wet the hair, add shampoo, lather up the right leg, shave the right side of my body from feet to underarm (skipping the middle part! lol), rinse, add conditioner, repeat the process on the left side and rinse. So, I was standing in the shower and had just put the shampoo in.. lathered the right side, lifted my leg to start the shaving process, when I noticed that I had been joined in the shower. My initial reaction, albeit selfish, was to say NOOOOO! There is precious little warm water as it is and I definitely wasn't into sharing it!

The shampoo was dripping perilously close to my eyes and with the hot water soon to run out, I didn't have a lot of time to consider my options. Then I realized something....hey, unlike every other time of my life, I was the one standing under the nice warm water and he was the one out in the cold! In fact, it seemed that he was as staying as far away from me as possible. The power was on my side! So, I relented and I shared my shower. But don't expect it to become a habit and I have to warn him...there is somebody else in this house that might not be so accomodating.....forewarned is to be forearmed! lol

Happy Birthday Katie!

With all this talk about birth and babies I totally forgot until I was reminded this morning that this is my baby sister's birthday. Honestly..I took the calendar home and I never know the date! :-(

Me telling Calleigh that they have just reminded me that it is your birthday!

I have the most amazing sisters that anybody could ever have and I love them and appreciate them more than they will ever know so to forget Cath's birthday is pure negligence. She makes me a better person, keeps me in touch with the rest of our family and is one of my very best friends.
So Happy Birthday little sis! Have a great day because you deserve it!!! Love ya!

and Happy Easter to everyone else!

Sugar and Spice

A different day, a different time, a different country on the other side of an ocean, a different hospital, a different delivery and a different sex, but the feeling of becoming a grandmother again 20 days later is equally thrilling, equally amazing and equally emotional.

Unlike Kirsty and Lee's adventure, Scott and Heather knew that if the baby didnt come on her own before March 19th...that was to be THE DAY. Heather checked into J.N. France hospital at 9 on Tuesday night to have an induction starting at 4 a.m. Wednesday morning.
I cant really comment on labour via induction because I have never been through one but stories abound that because the medicine speeds up the entire process, the pain is more intense. These stories, added to the fact that there are no epidurals in St. Kitts had Heather sleepless and worried for days in advance but there was no turning back now.
When Randy and I headed to the hospital around 10 am, I thought that we were going to be in for a long day, but we were met with the news that she was already 4 centimeters and moving along.


Still hanging in....but man, this hurts!






Nobody is prepared for childbirth the first time around.... it is truly a journey into the unknown but Heather was a trouper. There was contractions every couple of minutes and she breathed through them just like she was supposed to, although I heard that Scott got an earful about putting her in this situation and it seems from her language that Heather must have been a sailor in her past life..LOL! ...Except for a headache...he didnt seem to bothered about any of it. I wonder why???? lol
About 11.30 am, Heather was sweating and they didnt have any disposable barf "hats" in St. Kitts to fan her with. I tried the back rubbing and putting a wet towel on her neck and not even the snack bar had a cube ice, so I decided that we should go and get some. At the same time I could pick up some lunch for Scott and Jason (Scott's first cousin, who is in the hospital because he hit a monkey while riding his bike on the same night that Heather was admitted. The monkey ran off, but Jason has 4 broken ribs and a collapsed lung). We divided the tasks..I went to the restaurant to get the lunch and the ice while Randy went to the grocery store to get the Tylenol and some Gatorade. We were back to the hospital by 12.15 and after dropping Jay's lunch to him, I marched back to Heather with the ice and a mission in mind.

Except, where were Scott and Heather??? Whaaaaatttt??? She had already been taken to the delivery room??? This is not the way it is with a first baby...I had just seen this take place 20 days ago and I had seen it 34 years ago.....and first babies are supposed to take longer! The nurse informed us that she was 8 centimeters dilated and the Dr. was with her. I called Heather's house to give them an update and I got her Dad...I told him what I knew...which was in fact, almost nothing, but I felt that since they couldnt be here, some sort of connection was definitely in order....I know that I would want to be on the phone for the entire time! lol I cant tell you how happy I am that Calleigh waited until I got back from England!

I had hardly put down the phone when a nurse came to me and asked me for the clothes for the baby. Nooooo!!! I had recently learned that I didnt know anything about clothes or blankets for that matter...I didnt want this job! lol I wanted to be the designated baby holder! :-) But a grandmother has to do what she is told and so I went in search of Calleigh's very first outfit. Before I got out of the room which was less than 20 feet from where we were sitting, Randy came and told me that she had been born. Whattttttt??? Holyyyyyy! The next thing I knew, Scott was out of the delivery room looking glassy eyed, totally dazed with a grin a mile wide...in other words..that first time father look! The same as a first time mother..but without the grin! lol He was there to get clothes for Heather. This was unfolding waaayyy tooo fast for me. It was like Noah's arrival but on fast forward!!

About 5 minutes later the nurse came along pushing a bassinette containing one battle scared baby girl and at that moment:

CALLEIGH SAHELY CHRISTINA
8 lbs. 14 oz. 23 in. long
Born 19 March 2008 at 1.15 pm
J.N. France Hospital, St. Kitts.

came into our lives. I immediately got back on the phone to let Heather's parents know that their first grandchild had arrived. Bob and I (no not that BoB! lol) had a small cry together while Zed zipped off the first pictures on his Blackberry. Calleigh's pic was in the US, Canada and England before her mother was finished being "repaired" to quote Kirsty..... Got to love modern communications. Noah and Calleigh are going to grow up in a world that we couldnt even have imagined when we were young. Ok...I really am turning into my father! lol

Heather arrived back to room looking no worse for the wear and "tear"! Sorry girl, had to put that in...lol... and with her inner Jessica Simpson intact...."Wow! That was a different experience" or something of that nature. Of course we all howled at her. In typical Astaphan fashion, the
proud Daddy was starving after the ordeal and dove into the now cold lunch while Mommy ate ice cream.
Calleigh had to stay the nursery for a while they observed her and so we decided to leave and leave the new parents rest.

Can anybody be any luckier than I am?? I less than a one month period of time, I had been given a tall, dark, handsome, melt in your arms grandson and a tall, blonde, cream puff with attitude grand daughter. I know that having babies and raising them doesnt come without hard work but being a Noah's Kadie and Calleigh's Grandma is going to be pure joy for me!
Having said that, credit must be given where it is due and as we were leaving...Scott said it best..."After seeing what I saw today, Kirsten and Heather are CHAMPIONS!" And oh yes they are!!! Thank you!!!

Whose???????

Ok...what do we think this tastes like???? LOL!!! (See below)

Ying and Yang

Tonight is a big night and I am on a deadline of 7.45 to get this written....so as Lainey says "forgive pretty please?"

If you ask parents, the thing they want most for their adult children, is to marry someone who loves them well and that they return that love equally well. I am so very lucky that all my children have amazing spouses....spouses that are perfect for them...which is the only thing that really matters and I truly love each and everyone of them like they are my own. We have all sainted Stacy and have marvelled at Lee's love and patience but tonight is about Heather.

Tonight Heather and Scott are beginning a new life...one that Kirsty and Lee can so identify with...because my baby boy is going to be a daddy!! They are absolutely petrified at the proposition.. both for different reasons but I can also tell you that they are going to be fine because they make a perfect pair.

Heather will come through the delivery with flying colours because she is Heather. She has strength and commitment and most importantly, she has the ability to keep her eye on the end goal and that end goal is something that she has been planning for since she was a little girl. Heather is a "natural mother." If you could see how she mothers her cats..you will know instantly! She is loving, patient, caring and diligent. What she doesnt know...she willingly learns. She may be terrified at the moment but that is because she is about to go through something that she has no idea about...the everybody is different theme....but I have the utmost faith in her abilities to handle it like the trouper that she is. Most of all, Heather seems to be her calmest when her "Scotty" is at her side.
The last time in 2008 that you will see Heather with this bump!

The deadline has long passed and I didnt get this done for Heather on time. I apologise but it will give you something to do with all of your spare time, when you get home! lol

Heather and I are as opposite as night and day but we have a great relationship...whether she knows it or not! lol I straight out insult her...she laughs....She hands out backhanded insults...I laugh. But underneath those insults, I love Heather because there is nobody in the world that loves my child more than she does and nobody in the world could possibly do it better. They are ying and yang. And when one needs propping up or encouragement or a reminder of reality..the other one is there to provide it. I see it everyday.

Like Noah before her, Calleigh is going to be a lucky little baby...she will have parents that are fun, loving and most importantly they both have great hearts and those hearts fit together like a glove.