A week at Seapasture

Tuesday: continued cleaning and unpacking at Seapasture. Dinner guests: Gary and Michele, Susan and Rein, Leslie, and Rick Ishmael (AKA mad scientist)..later our neighbor, Emmet joined us for a rum punch. Bob made falafel, turned out great, with pita, cucumber yogurt sauce and spinach pies. Dessert was pineapple upside down cake, warm out of the oven with local ice cream. The rum punches were just right, too. I am now happy with our recipe! Spent the night in air conditioned splendor.Wednesday: spent all day at Seapasture. Had fun watching Bob and Kenroy try to catch a goat who was due for worming. Kenroy, who believes in miracles, kept exhorting Bob to "LEAP!! LEAP!!" finally I waded in the pasture with my flipflops on, Ava by my side, to lend a hand. I was promptly put in my place by the boss goat, Cassie, who butted me right in the face when I was looking the other way. Just hurt my pride, which was what she intended. Spent the night at the old house, since Ava fell asleep there, and greedily watched three more episodes of Big Love from season one. Just two more to go!Thursday: Shanti and Peaches came by for some playtime with Ava and stayed for dinner. Bean, cheese and rice burritos, fresh avacado lettuce and tomato on the side. The girls were horrified at the lack of animal flesh on the table. Shanti, "I don't eat vegetables!" Ava was scandalized when she figured out that Shanti wasn't kidding. I was scandalized when I realized too late the refried beans were full of LARD!! Gross! I had forgotten they came that way. Partially hydrogenated lard, to add insult to injury.

Friday: Shopping and the beach. Went on the goatwalk with Bob and it was very enjoyable. We trail along the herd: goats, sheep and one donkey, plus the housecat. Bob takes along a small power saw and brings down branches for the flock to devour. Cedar is their favorite. Strolling through the fields we can still see the ocean below. Beautiful!

Saturday: More of the same around Seapasture. Bob took the animals on their afternoon walk and came back without the donkey. We had our neighbor, Emmet, over for dinner. He's from Ireland, and a med student. There are very few picky eaters on this island--and everybody seems so grateful to have somebody else cook for them! It's kind of nice. When I pulled a pan of garlic bread out of the oven Emmet swooned like he'd seen the face of the Virgin Mary appear in his bowl of Rice Krispies. After dinner Ava and I took a flashlight and walked over to give the pig some treats. Almost a full moon, and we stood in the road calling for the donkey. And she appeared! Poor thing was soaking wet, had lost her collar, and her face and rump were scratched up. And she was limping. Who knows what happened. I wish she could talk!

Sunday: No Kenroy today. So the herd got an abbreviated walk in the afternoon. The poor donkey stayed right with us, didn't stray more than ten feet from us. Ava found a dog skull--completely bleached--with three teeth left in it. TREASURE!!

Monday: Nice day at Seapasture. Swam in the ocean with Ava early in the morning then in the afternoon shopped downtown, and visited the new Chinese general store. Ava made friends at the store. Had Rick (mad scientist) and Leslie over for dinner...Leslie flies out tomorrow back to the states. She owns a HUGE house with pool up on the mountain, and flies in to stay in it during the semester breaks. Between breaks she rents it to Professor Gordon Avery and his wife, Penny, our friends, who fly back to their native England during the breaks. Gordon has got to be pushing 80--used to be the chief medical officer on Montserrat--and he is a triathelete here on Nevis. And an avid cricket player/fan. Anyway, Bob made curried eggplant and rice, and it was very good. I made madeleines for dessert, using the organic lemons I had picked earlier in the day. Yum!

And that brings us to today! One full week in the Animal House. We've been brought one litter of newborn puppies, and one injured dog, all of which we were able to shunt off elsewhere, although the puppies will probably come back. Sally and Kelly, two daughters of the Chinese store owners, came for a playdate today. They kept us busy!! They were soooo glad to be out of the store, and came with a bag crammed full of junk food treats from the store. Three hours of pool, ponies, finger painting and barbie, with crumbs flying everywhere the whole time: cheez chips, mini ritz crackers with cheez, marshmallow lollipops, tea cookies, ginger snaps, mentos, chocolate chip cookies, gum, I lost track of it all, more crap than Ava's seen in a lifetime, down the hatch in one afternoon. Next time--and they worked very hard to set up a next time for tomorrow, but I barely slowed the car down when I dropped them back off--next time, no snacks from the store!

And now Ava and Bob are back from the goat walk, and we're off to Shirley's Beach Bar to welcome some incoming faculty. I'd better go do something with my hair, cuz it looks like I've already at the beach bar for an all-nighter. I remember being welcomed by the faculty on my first visit to the island. I've come to enjoy the glazed look that the newcomers have. Yes, it's this hot all the time, yes, people drive on the wrong side of the road, yes, you will feel like you've been robbed at gunpoint every time you leave the grocery store, no, you're not allowed to run over the sheep in the road even if they don't move out of the way, and YES, isn't it just beautiful here! Cheers!!