Beauty at the Salt Pond

I was in Philipsburg the other day and saw something wonderful headed straight for me.



A pelican! I think pelicans are wonderful.



This one was kind enough to do a picture run right in front of me before splashing down.









Looking good, I must say.

Wild Life

Yesterday was my day for non-human encounters.

While out on errands I ran into a bull. Almost literally. It didn't seem to faze him though.

Last night we went out for dinner, which was nice. While we were sitting there we heard a thump and looked down to find this guy enjoying the bread:



(Please forgive the colors, camera phones are not a frog's friend)

On the way home we were on the road close to Orient Beach and saw a small raccoon dart into the road. A raccoon! I have never seen one here just strolling about before.

Washer workout (for your brain)

I made the mistake of washing a rag rug in our temperamental (did you know it was spelled that way? I didn't.) front-loading washing machine a while ago. Argh, that rag rug. We've had it for years because I never felt right throwing it away. It slides on the floor and I hate the color, but it has had a storage spot in the closet for far too long. When we went away in November our house sitter pulled it out and used it, probably as a nice gesture for the dogs, and then, of course, I decided to wash it, forgetting that rag rugs are 40 times heavier when they are wet, and it destroyed my washer.

Well, it didn't destroy it, but the washer near about went through the wall in the laundry room it was knocking so hard, and afterward it was... sideways looking. Some. OK more than some. So, I did my best to ignore it, and hoped it would right itself, cause washing machines are magic that way.

Yeah. We got back from Spain and I had to face facts. It is not a self-healing washer. My boyfriend is not a fan of this washer, which I chose, after agonizing over the choice for far too long. I chose it for it's very low water usage, energy star-rating and non-digital control panel (those are expensive to replace). We had to replace the drain pump a year or two ago and now I felt ready to trash it and suck up the cost of buying a new one.

But. A washer is a big piece of a thing to throw away, especially when you are a person who is trying to consume less, for the environment, and, you know, all that.

Anyway, here is what the back looked like when I unscrewed the back panel. See how the tub is canted to the right?



After taking this picture and a few others, doing lots of googling and making a preliminary call for repair, I saw what the problem was and my boyfriend and I spent some time today wrestling with the washer and it totally works now. It is thrilling. Basically we rule.

I am wondering if that means I can use the money I tentatively earmarked for a new washer for something fun? Probably not.

A Three Hour Tour (Part 2)

Warning: The following post is full of pictures and has nothing to do with St. Maarten.

Part 1 is here. We are in the midst of a three hour driving tour of NYC, before we catch a flight to Barcelona. Our tour consists of us hanging out the car windows snapping photos.



Evidently this is Battery Park, which I didn't know until my boyfriend mentioned it later. I've heard of that place! It was a very nice day.

This guy with the fishing poles was showing off the kinds of fish found in the water there, and how poor water quality affects them.



New York has some beautiful buildings.





Also, interesting storefronts - these 2 shops are a furrier supplier and a sheepskin products store.



This car is ready to go at a moments notice I suppose.



This is evidently the Empire State Building, probably more fun from the top. We didn't go inside, not having the time for it. Instead, we went into nearby shops.



I sent a few friends a photo like this from my phone, which is a novelty for me, since I cannot do it from St. Maarten. When I am in the US I am able to use a T-Mobile sim card in my phone, and suddenly all the exotic functions on my phone work! So I send inane text messages, just because I can.

One friend, in return, sent me this photo from New Orleans:


Wow, do those look fantastic or what?? No, I am not kidding.



We went into a nearby Duane Reade to look at the chips selection. They didn't have these Funyuns, nor Hot Fries. I guessed I needed a gas station for the chip quality I wanted.

We went to Times Square next. Mohinder, our driver, said it was his favorite place to visit.





I was taking a picture of Mohinder's rear window (with the white decal in the foreground) to remember that it was the only way for us to recognize our ride (there were tons of the black "car service" cars around and they all looked the same), but ended up with a picture of this microphoned lady. It was Fleet Week in NY and I think she'd just been interviewing those sailors.



OK so that was our 3 minute Times Square stop, onward.

One thing to get used to, after being in SXM and then going to a city, is the great increase in people. They are just everywhere! In St. Maarten, when you are in a crowd, you are likely to see faces you know or at least recognize, so you are constantly looking for them. It is hard to stop doing right away and I kept looking for faces I knew in the crowds in New York.

I've heard of this place.



Oh, this one too! I've seen it on TV. Where's Kenneth?



Where's Liz Lemon?





Soon after this my camera batteries ran out, which worried me as I planned to jump out of the plane in Barcelona snapping pictures recklessly, which you can't do if your camera battery is dead. It is the kind that has its own charger, and I figured I could charge the batteries on the plane if I could find a DC plug converter, so my last action on our 3 hour tour was to run into a Brookstone's across from that nice gold statue and look for one. No luck.

We were off to the airport, well satisfied with our driving tour. We said good bye to Mohinder and went to check in, finding out that because we had been bumped to business class, we had our own special check-in line, which was extremely pleasant, and that we had access to the Admiral's Club for the day as well. What fun!

We had lunch and drinks at a place in the airport called Bobby Van's - my $11 amaretto sour was tasty, if shockingly expensive. SXM drink prices have really spoiled me.



I looked for a DC plug in the airport stores. No luck there either.

The Admiral's Club was an interesting experience but was quite busy - I managed to charge one camera battery for about 20 minutes, worried the entire time about forgetting to bring it with me when we left.



Flying business class was very nice, this was my first experience of it and I feel lucky it was on a long flight. The seats recline drastically, there are many flight attendants around, the food was good and there was a little laptop thingy which had lots of movies to play (unfortunately I ended up watching movies when I should have been sleeping, bad planning). Best of all, our row-mates had a DC converter which they kindly loaned us so I could charge my camera battery.



All in all, what could have been a crap experience (getting kicked off our flight and missing a full day in Barcelona) ended up being all right. I was left wishing that we could spend more time in New York, something I have never wished before.

Coming soon: Las Ramblas.