Sandy here…It’s the 9th of October. I will have to catch everyone up to date with the computer, then cut/paste to the blog when able. We’ve had unreliable internet service since arriving on St. Maarten, so have had a difficult time updating everyone via phone, email or blog. I will talk about this a little later.

I flew down to Tortola on Tuesday, spent the night on our friend Todd’s boat, then got up the next day to inspect “Miss Ann”, the sailboat Karen and I are in the process of buying. It is a 2002 Beneteau 361 two cabin cruiser. It is still undergoing it’s phase-out inspection from the “Footloose (Sunsail)” charter boat company. This is an inspection designed to identify any deficiencies the boat may have and correct them prior to returning the boat fulltime to it’s owner. This is done whenever a boat gets too old for the fleet of charter boats at their company. It has been a great opportunity for us and we are really looking forward to using it. I met some nice people while down there, and discussed with them our plans. Without exception, they said of all of the places to have a sailboat and use it with our plan in mind and our level of experience, the Virgin Island area is the safest and most desirable in the Western Hemisphere. Needless to say, I had a great time even though it was just for the one day.

On the other hand, Karen’s time wasn’t so cool…literally! The power was intermittent for most of the previous evening and following day. This, of course, meant the ceiling fans and air conditioning were out. It also ruined her plans for watching “chick flicks” all day. The real kicker was when the battery died on the laptop and couldn’t be charged. This meant the internet and communications were down, again. Of course, the “icing on the cake” was when I asked “what’s for dinner” when she picked me up at the airport. I was only kidding, of course, but the look I got was pretty “awesome”! (like, shock and awe)

The weather still has been holding to the upper 80’s and high humidity. It tends to cool down overnight to the lower 80’s but the humidity doesn’t really change. We are told this all starts to change by the end of the month.

We went over to the French side this morning to walk around the marina area in Marigot. It is so odd to hear everyone speaking French. Most people on the Dutch side speak English. I believe that most everyone can speak all three languages, but it appears the French choose not to. Anyway, we had a real nice walk and then had brunch at one of the French restaurants. The display of different foods, breads and desserts behind the counter was fantastic. We really had a hard time choosing. Karen had an interesting crab salad…I chose a sandwich that had a number of different European cheeses and sliced, salt-cured meat of some kind. I also had what I believe was tiramisu with strawberry filling for dessert. The food was “killer good” but we weren’t sure of what the stuff was because, of course, nothing was labeled in English. Later this evening, we walked to an espresso café down the street from the apartment and each had a bowl of sausage/vegetable soup. On the way back, we stopped at a small corner bar, listened to some live music and had a beer. Karen was able to get at least half of her beer down. Most of you already know that she really doesn’t like beer. We topped the evening off with a movie on the DVD player.

Anyway, it’s time for me to close. I think of all of you often and remember the good times with you. Please take care of yourselves, spend time with each other, forgive the wrongs and enjoy life…and have some dessert. Hey, it works for me!

May GOD keep you in his loving care,
Sandy

P.S….this is Karen
May tomorrow be a perfect day, may you find love and laughter along the way, may God keep you in his tender care, ‘till He brings us together again….Good Night Everybody!
(This is for brother Ken who sang this to us every night, when I was little, as he walked up the stairs to bed! Borrowed from Donny and Marie!) Love you!