Hi Tina, I am what a lot of DGers call a "lurker". I have followed your thread from the beginning, and think it all boils down to trade-offs....every place has its dangers and drawbacks, but it is what that place we choose to stay in has to offer to our heart and soul that makes it worth the trials and tribulations.
As a child, my family moved to extreme south Louisiana from northern Illinois....culture shock to say the least....my Mom was never happy living here with the heat, humidity, hurricanes and no real winter and when I was 19, my folks moved back up north. I have lived here in south La for over 50 years now...even with the heat, humidity and hurricanes, there is no place like home....grin
Guess the old adage is true, every rose has its' thorn....but the beauty and fragrance make up for the thorns.
Best Regards and good thoughts to you and yours,
Jean/Moon
WARNING; For every one in the northern Antilles (Caribbean)
Hi Jean
You are soooo right. Even with the volcano I feel we made the right choice in moving. This island gets to your heart very quickly. I do not think I could move back to the States, my soul belongs here.
I love living here. I loved Texas but the weather was getting to me( bad knees) and the winters in Texas was painful. Now, I only have trouble when I overwork myself but the pain is manageable.
This island has it's problems but the pluses far out weigh the minuses. As you said there is no place like home
Take Care
Tina
You too, Tina. Even volcanoes have to take a rest sooner or later...grin
There you go Tina! Live for those good days in Paradise.
Don't let a volcano chase you away!
I have been living in Antigua for 26 years (from UK) and feel much the same as you do, I love living in Antigua. Glad you have all the Pride colours, let me know if you are looking for other seeds. I do hope the ferry gets re-established, that would be much easier for you to shop and get the goods back easily.
Once in a while, when I need a bit of a break from the tribulations life throws my way, I go to YouTube to find some song to soothe the stormy waves upon which we sail. Today, I invite you to take 4 or 5 minutes to watch, as did I, the extremely talented Loreena McKennitt singing this somewhat abbreviated version of "The Lady Of Shalott", a wondrous poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson. I hope you enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_Tn-HxULM
I bid you all peace.
Sylvain.
I did, Sylvain. She looks like a younger Gail. Thanks for sharing.
Nancy
Hi Everyone
Dave - I always live for the joys I find on island, the rest is learning experiences, LOL. The volcano is to be respected but not feared. You can't live in a situation if you are in constant fear of it, I would not want to live that way.
Sylvain - Enjoyed it very much, Thank You!
cocoloba - They are in talks with a company and if all goes well we should have a ferry but the first of the year. I am really keeping my fingers crossed that it happens. I am on the first ferry over to get gardening supplies!!!!!! Customs is going to think I am opening a garden center. LOL
Where is the best garden center in Antigua? Do they have a Home Depot? I need GOOD fertilizer, pots, etc. The place where we get our gardening stuff from, bless his heart, he tries but he can't keep enough stuff on hand and what he does get goes so fast. There is no variety at all. He tries to keep prices reasonable but I still choke on some of the prices.
Has Antigua been getting ash? The winds shifted, blowing ash to the NE and NW.
Take Care
Tina
I guess you get used to situations that you live with when you understand the risks. With cyclones here I don't really feel threatened. I have access to all the data on the internet that the TCWC's use in monitoring and predicting their tracks. Volcanos are an unknown to me. I don't know how long it'd take me to get used to living near one, if ever. There seems to be an "un-predictability" about them. And just the thought of a pyroclastic flow lapping at my backside while I flee across the landscape somehow lacks that certain appeal.
Hurricanes with flooding or just flooding (Florida is flat and at see level here) are the baddies and my kids think that I crazy to stay. They forget about their 5-6 weeks of gray skies at a time, (summer or winter), their 10 below zero, the 4 feet of snow, the ice storms that leave them without power for a couple of weeks. Now that's a GIVEN----EVERY Year. Hurricanes are once in a while. And WHO do YOU think are the crazies?
Sunshine Happy_1, here, just smiling away!
hap..I agree...I graduated in MN...one year of that and I was on the first greyhound bus going west...lol....don't laugh but I dated the milk man...lol we took his simi truck out on a lake and went Ice fishing.....thats cold....
so today I live in AL...and complain about the cold here...lol lol lol
Frogs, you're a brave one to go out on to the ice no matter how cold it's been.
Hap
have you seen movies that has frozen lakes in it? the sound they make is not made up....they creak just like that....but after a few times going out...you get use to it...not saying being older I would go out again.....heck...I would NEVER be in MN in the winter again......lol lol lol lol
My boys live in Rochester, NY and my DD in Chicago. I'm doomed.
Just visit in July...lol lol lol lol
Christmas in July? But I go there then too. I'm just traveling fool.
That's a mental image I would rather not envision: me running away from a pyroclastic flow. Although my chances would be slim, I'd rather turn around, face the flow and be taken out yelling: "Bring it on!". The outcome would be the same. It's not dying that is important, it's HOW you die. Que sera, sera, but I want to meet my end face on and raging.
Let's hope volcanoes, storm, hurricanes, earthquakes take a bit of a break for a while.
Sylvain.
Ya'll are tooooo funny LOL. Thanks I needed this, I have been cleaning ash for 12 hours, I needed a laugh.
FYI - Pyroclastic flows are not the same as lava flows. A lava flow you can out run but a pyroclastic flow travels at a minimum of 150 to 200 mph. It is ash, volcanic debris, large boulders and toxic gases, if it is "lapping at your backside" you might as well kiss your backside goodbye.
I would much rather deal with "Montserrat snow" then a frozen lake and real snow, brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. LOL.
Tina
Boy, do they sound like fun!!
Hugs,
Nancy
I know that Tina, that's why I said pyroclastic flow.
Talking about earthquakes, there was one just to the north of us during the night, about 12:15 am today. Indonesia is the most seismically and volcanically active area on the planet and fortunately we're just out of that zone. Earthquakes in the Banda Sea (where this morning's happened) are the ones we feel mostly as tremors. There's hundreds every year but at most here only one or two are strong enough to be felt by people.
Last night I woke up with the whole house shaking and windows rattling. It seemed a bit surrealistic, I suppose just having woken up helped that feeling. It was the strongest I've ever felt but I assumed it was only the Banda Sea again. The house was rocking and it felt like there were massive pulses going through it. The house is steel framed so should be okay, although a couple of the pulses felt like they were trying to move parts of the house in different directions.
While it was happening (the weather bureau said it lasted 5 minutes with the most severe period being 1 to 2 minutes long) it made me think how terrifying it would be at the centre of a quake like this with bits of building falling down, power out, landslides, etc. It amazed me how long it lasted, and how long the violent part of it went. The previous one only lasted 2 minutes and felt less violent.
Reports are coming in of household items being damaged but so far none of structural building damage. Indonesia had a tsunami alert but that's been cancelled now.
Tropicalbreeze - I figured you did, especially when you stated Pyroclastic flow, most people automatically say lava flow. Just stating it for those that do not know there is difference.
Wow, talk about a rude awakening! I hope everyone is ok.
Tina
Tina, nothing has been mentioned about injuries and it's not likely there would be any from this. The fault under the Banda Sea is very deep and it moves regularly so the stresses don't get to build up too much. Now, if we didn't get these for a few years then that would be the time to start worrying. They say this was a magnitude 7 quake.
The bed here has shook a few times, (not from an earthquake!) but a REAL EARTHQUAKE!! OMG! I'd be talking to myself for a month!
Hap
Yes, thank you, Tina, i didn't know the difference.
i am glad that Tsunami alert was cancelled. when there is a tsunami out that way, we get some pretty big waves too, but usually not dangerous. we had an earthquake here about two years ago, and if i remember correctly it was also a magnitude 7. i slept right through it, snore! :-) the rest of my family woke up, but i am very deep sleeper.
Isaac
Our DIL is a scientist and is the head of the Seismic Center of the University of Oklahoma where they monitor earthquakes world wide. What is interesting to me is that the state of Oklahoma has regular earthquakes. I believe it was 1992 when they had one strong enough to do damage. I'm not the scientist, she is so, I can't describe to you the kind of fault they are on. The possibility for mass destruction is ever present.
Christi
Christi, That section of the country, including Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, the whole Mississippi Valley, is right on top of the New Madrid Fault.. The worst earthquakes in recorded history in the US occurred in 1811 and 1812 in the Mississippi Valley. Fortunately, at that time the population was not nearly as dense, so injury was small. The tremors were felt all the way to South Carolina and areas north.
Central Louisiana has a series of Fault zone areas also. A few years back we heard a rumble rather like a big engine really close and heard our neighbor hollering (cussing) grin. Went out to see his entire vegetable garden gone save for a few tomato plants sticking out of the ground at odd angles. On further inspection, we noticed a 6 ft fence at the back of our house was in one area only 4 ft tall.
DH did some research and found that the entire Central and southeast portion of the US is riddled with small seismic faults.
She was interviewed on the Tulsa TV station last week and New Madrid was mentioned.
They reco"rd tremors every single day at her station but they are rarely strong enough to get any attention.
Just as an aside, she says if anyone ever tells you "they" can predict an earthquake, "they" are full of it. Possible only to know after the fact.
I'm from earthquake country (California) and I've been through several large ones in my life. I think when they talk about animals reacting before an earthquake it is just that they hear and feel it before we do. We had horses as a child and they would start to run before a quake but my dad always said that they are so in touch with the ground that they feel it before we do. It really freaks horses when the ground moves. Dogs probably hear that rumbly freight train sound at a lower decibel before we hear it.
It freaks horses out? Well, I'll tell ya pard, it wouldn't much for me either!!
Hap
I don't think we have a 'best' garden place, I have to go all over, but I think my favourite is Antigua Home and Farms on Redcliffe St., depends what you need, I work in Heritage Quay so if you send me a list of needs I would be happy to pick up for you leaving you more time to really see what you want, I live next door to a nursery so that is pretty cool, but when it comes to generals supplies I have to go to town. No Home Depot unfortunately, would die for one of those or maybe a Lowe's!
Thanks cocoloba, I may take you up on the offer.
One of the few things I miss about living here, No home depot or no Lowe's. I would settle for a good gardening supply store but oh well.
I envy you living next door to a nursery...I would be broke all the time. LOL
Just to update on the volcano.... The activity has been letting up since the 23th. The pyroclastic flows have been minimal and the winds have shifted so no ash fall in any of the inhabited areas. I have gotten my place cleaned up and we have had some pretty good rains to wash all the trees. Keeping my fingers crossed that the activity continues to go lower and winds stay in our favor.
Take Care
Tina
Will cross my fingers for you as well. We are in a monsoon. Over 30 inches at my house in some 2 months. Still raining. 2 inches in less than 24 hours.
Christi
We will be breaking heat records every day of this week until Sunday at least. Normally, the air conditionning gets a break at this time of year. We don't even dare think of shutting down. It can rest later
Take care,
Sylvain.
how is everybody's weather now? i sure hope that volcano calms down, Tina. and i agree with you, if i lived next to a nursery, i wouldn't only be broke, i would be in debt! :-)
Isaac
Well, now I know where there are some business opportunities for me if I decide to go into the nursery business. As they say, it's "location ... location ... location!"
How did the elections go Isaac? Hope there's wasn't too much turmoil.
Hello, everyone.
South Florida is currently experiencing above-normal temperatures and it will stay like that all week. We should be getting 90F (32C) or thereabouts all week. No snow tires required here. The air conditionning usually gets a break at this time of year but nay nay nay, not this year.
It's been a busy day here today: I had to go empty the condo's locker and connect the stove in preparation for its sale at the beginning of November, went to check on a friend's house to make sure everything was in order in their absence, bought rodents for the snake, repotted some orchids, fed the fish, fed the snake, stopped at the post office, stopped at the grocery store, planted some agaves that had been sitting there patiently awaiting my attention, etc. I am pooped and it's only 5:45.
Tonight's dinner is an easy one: rotisserie chicken with ravioli and pesto. I purchased a ready-cooked chicken with purchased frozen ravioli and purchased pesto. I don't have the Martha syndrome; never had it. She would have incubated the egg, raised the chicken, grown the wheat for the ravioli and grown the basil and pine nuts for the pesto! You can make a really nice dinner from stuff you purchase ready to eat. This bear's gotta have a break and a shortcut once in a while.
Oh, and I sold a house today! WooHoo!
Take care, all
Sylvain.
Wooo hoooo!!!! Good for you Pu'ole. I'm all for shortcuts but the man I have lived with for 48 1/2 years has taken over the kitchen and even makes his spice mixtures from scratch.
If he didn't cook, I would live on Cheddar cheese, apples, cracker and cold cereal. Too much work for such a short time and it comes around 3 times a day. I'd rather be in the garden. We are expecting at least one night with the low of 42 so we got the 3 citrus trees along with about 25 other giant pots inside today. There are oranges and Key limes on two of the three. The lemon didn't even bloom this year. The hibiscus is huge and I may trim it into a standard in order to have room to put it inside. Cloudy with flash flood warnings. It has rained 30 out of the last 40 days. If it had continued without a break, well, let's just say I was checking out boats.
Guess tomorrow I will iron. yuk
Ironing? Retro vade Satanas.
Most everything we own is permanent press. I am too precise when I decide to iron. One of the haute couture shirts I have made takes 20 minutes to press. I look mawwwvelous in my couture shirts. Vanity is not pretty, but I am. LOL.
Take care.
Sylvain.
That I already know and fully agree.
PK