You'd Better Belize it, Part Deux!

On to Monkey River! Our 3rd day in Placencia took us to a tour of Monkey River, and Monkey River Town. To get there, we boarded a teeny tiny boat with four other people, and sped across the (thankfully) very still ocean waters. Seriously, that morning, the water was so still it felt like a Stephen Kind book. After some time we came to the mangroves, which were maze like and so unlike any other vegetation I've ever seen. How many trees actually live in salt water? We wound our way through, the boat driver telling us how this was actually a quick, safe way for people to keep between Placencia and Monkey River, since its waters are more calm and protected, and the roads are so incredibly bad in Belize.

We finally made it to the mouth of the Monkey River, and there it was - Monkey River Town! I think the current population is maybe 80 (don't quote me on that), but it used to be even more populous than Placencia. A banana blight destroyed the plantations, and forced everyone to move away to Placencia.

It was here we picked up our guide, Percy, aka. Rambo, made out lunch order at Alice's restaurant, and headed back up the river. Rambo was a great guide, friendly and incredibly knowledgeable, and told us about a million plants in the jungle that could either kill you, save your life or help you out with that nasty bed wetting problem.

After seeing iguanas, alligators, bats, and numerous birds we found Howler Monkeys. Percy got them riled up by walking around under their tree and making a ruckus. The dominate male put on quite a poo and pee show to let us know who was boss around here.

We traveled a little further up the river, then landed the boat, and took a walk through the jungle. Covered in bug spray saw more amazing plants, ate a delicious fruit, drank from the water vine and ate real live termites! They tasted grassy and minty, and were so small you didn't really notice you were eating live bugs. We also came across the giant blue crab who makes holes all over the place, and would probably be happy to eat your toes.

After the trip through the jungle, we headed back down the river, stopping to eat some sugar cane, getting rained on in the rain forest. Back at Monkey River Town, we had lunch. Let me tell you people, Belizean stew chicken with rice and beans is ridiculously good. I'm planning on ordering the spice they use, Recado or Recardo, to try it out myself. After lunch, Rambo took us on a tour of the village - which is going to get electricity soon, showing us where everyone sheltered in a 2002 hurricane, the school and the structures they built to curtail the shore erosion.

On the way back to Placencia, we stopped to spot manatees, which we did. Mostly it was their snouts popping up for air, and their tails flipping back under the water, but cool nonetheless.

Next up, we hike to a waterfall, tube down a river, visit a ruin and I almost drown! Just regular honeymoon, really. Now, for your viewing pleasure, a real, live jungle chicken...or iguana.

You'd Better Belize It!

It's starting to feel like a long time ago, but T and I got back from out honeymoon in Belize a few short weeks ago. And we actually saw that delightfully cheesy phrase on quite a few pamphlets and t-shirts!

We were crazy and flew the morning after the wedding (I was weeping occasionally from fatigue and emotions), and after one heck of a long day of travel we arrived in Belize City. Attentive travelers might have noticed the sign that said "Human trafficking is illegal," but blissful honeymooners that we were, we chose not to.

We cleared the customs people (and there was of course the officious guy who took his job waaaay to seriously. This, apparently, is universal.) We paid the tax for entering the country, and got checked in for our flight out to Placencia, our final destination. When they handed us laminated boarding passes that were to be returned upon boarding, I finally felt like I was in a different country. Did I mention how small the plane was?

Yes, the entire plane could easily have heard our pilot from anywhere on board, but he still used the PA to welcome us to the flight, and cursorily give us saftey info. It was only a 30 minute flight, but it was a little nerve wracking. We'd never been in a single engine plane before, and let me tell you, it doesn't even feel like a bus in the sky...it's like a Chevie Astro in the sky.

Needless to say, everything went fine, we got there, took the 5 minute cab ride into town (down the one road on the whole peninsula) and finally got checked in to our cabana, right on the beach. The word "aaaaahhhhhh" doesn't really cut it for the sense of relief we felt to actually be done doing and moving and scrambling and worrying about wedding stuff.

We could finally sit still. The next day we actually able to take in our surroundings, and man were they gorgeous.

Our little piece of beach.

The land in the distance is actually a quay.

The walk out to the beach and to our cabana

There were flowers everywhere.

The point at the very end of the peninsula.

The Placencia sidewalk. It goes nearly the entire length of the village.

A Traveler Palm

Coming soon, a trip to Monkey River, Cockscomb Nature Preserve, ruins and ...the cave of doom!

A Quick Dinner

Hi there! Well, the dust has settled, the decorations and luggage have finally been put away, and the pictures are being ever so slowly decided on. T and I are man and wife, and I finally feel like life is back to normal. I'll have more pictures up soon for the wedding and honeymoon, but right now I thought I'd share my favorite quick meal of the summer, staring grape tomatoes and basil!

While we weren't too ambitious with our garden care this summer, it's definitely given us some meals, and a whole lotta potatoes. Several times we've had nothing that I wanted to eat, then I realize I can walk out there and throw something together, usually pasta related.

This past Friday, I found myself in just that situation. Happily, there were still a whole big bunch of grape tomatoes left on the vine, due to my own inattention. This plant was an accidental purchase, but I've been so pleased with it. It was a huge producer, and perfect for my tomato needs. Anyway, I started by halving the 'maters, and getting some water on the boil.

I almost grabbed the store bought garlic when I remembered we had home grown, languishing away among the kitchen table clutter! This was another pleasant garden surprise, since I totally planted it at the wrong time (knowingly, I was just curious to see what would happen). Lo and behold, we actually grew a few heads of garlic. I'm planning on doing it the right way this fall, since it worked so well the wrong way.

It looks a little gnarly, I know, but it's good stuff! I chopped up a clove or two, and sauteed a few seconds in olive oil, along with a pat of for-real butter. I discovered recently this makes sauces yummy and rich, and you don't have to feel too bad about it, cause it's such a small amount! Once the garlic was toasty, I threw in the tomatoes, a little bit on onion, salt, pepper and some fresh thyme I had (also languishing) in the fridge.

I let this cook away and soften the tomatoes for a few minutes, adding some dried thyme in the end, cause I just wanted a little more umph. All the while I cooked up some ditalini, cause I had it around, too. When everything was ready to go, I adding the pasta to the tomatoes, remembered I had some cubed ham in the fridge too, and hooray! Some mozzarella cheese!

So, I threw it in a bowl, let the cheese get melty, used some home grown basil for garnish and there ya go! D-licious, and no-lie, made from random stuff I had sitting around. (I hate recipes that claim to be from things everyone has sitting around their kitchen, but they're never things I happen to have.)

The great thing about this one is how you can kind of rotate different ingredients in and out...well, except the tomatoes and garlic, I guess. But any kind of herb, protein or cheese would be just as good. And since I could eat pasta practically every day, this recipe couldn't make me happier!

Uphthph

May I present (a crummy picture of), the house of a woman about to throw a wedding in just under 2 weeks...

Mind, this is after I spent all of Friday cleaning. That explains the mix of brooms and tiki torch in the corner there (well, maybe not the tiki torch). Five cases of coke bottles, a flower girl basket and a giant box from Macy's - really this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm too ashamed to post pictures of my basement, but there you will find galvanized tubs, a million boxes of lights, food serving hooha, tangled masses of sewn party banner and countless unfurled tissue paper pom poms.

Here's to hoping all this will magically turn into a wedding!

Seriously, I've absolutely reached the "I'm done with this, let's get it over with" phase of wedding planning. Along with the library funding uncertainties in the mix, let's just say sleeping can be a little sketchy lately! I'm very much looking forward to the return to normal life, and being able to focus my creative energies back onto knitting, sewing and all those other fun projects that pop up.

Some things I plan to blog about post-wedding: a homemade smoker made of terra cotta pots, a minor bathroom update, the garden turning into the shaggy monster it always does, a new sewing machine (I haven't even had time to play with!), my return to knitting (via a drop spindle), a trip to Belize and well, yes, probably a little bit about the actual wedding.

As a parting picture, here are some lovely tomatoes from the back yard. Turns out grape tomatoes are very rewarding plants. I don't love a raw tomato, but these are great sliced up and warmed in pasta. They match that Coke bottle perfectly, right? By the way, Coke is sooo much better from glass. Why is that?

Pretties from the Garden

I had a little time to wander around in the garden today (willfully ignoring the weeds, and overgrown spinach), so I cut a few flowers and snapped some pictures of the pretty things to be seen there in early June.

Those purple blooms are potatoes, and it looks like we should have lots, if we can avoid all the awful things that want to eat up the plant before we do. It also appears that we should have a bumper raspberry crop this year, too. Here the babies are, all tiny and green and fuzzy.

Here's the end of this year's columbine. I can only assume there are seeds in there...Anyway, they look pretty cool - kind of like jester's hats, right?

And while this didn't happen today, I had to share one of the photos. I think it was last week, a pretty strong storm came through the area, and I caught sight of the edge of the front as it started to cover up the sun in the evening. Totally cool things happened to the rays and shadows off the clouds, so I ran inside, got my camera and starting taking pictures. Here's just one.

It looked like you could've walked on those clouds. I'm so glad I dropped what I was doing and ran for my camera!

Too Too Tutu

I've always loved this idea, and I finally got around to making one. What little lady would not love a tutu to twirl around in? I'm telling you, as I made this one for my niece, I was secretly wishing it was big enough for me!

It could not be simpler to make, though, so maybe with a bit more elastic I could pull it off. The only real sewing you do, is to attach the two end of the elastic securely together. After that, you simply double knot the strips of tulle around the elastic in an attractive way. The spooled tulle is way easier to deal with for this. You just want to cut it to twice the length from your girly's belly to her knees - or longer if you want. The key part is to remember to double that length. Then you just tie away.

I think this took just about 30 minutes to complete. My niece lives out of town, so I haven't seen her in this yet, but her mom says she's dancing everywhere in it! So, I'll probably be making another one for her little sister in a while, when she's able to stand up and flit about.

Something Old

Just about 30 years ago, our next door neighbor Judy made a present for me that I'll just now be able to use. She made one for all three of us girls, and although it's sort of an old fashioned idea by now, I still think it's charming.

The gift is a baby bonnet, made from a handkerchief. It looks like you just sew a couple of corners together, add some bows and ribbons, and there you go. Then, when baby girl is suddenly an adult, she can open up the seams again, and have a handkerchief to carry down the aisle, as her something old.

It's been sitting in a box for 30 years, so I hope I'll be able to make it look presentable. That's a pretty long time to let the wrinkles set it. Here's the little poem that goes with it, that was on that adorable 70's giraffe card:

I'm just a little Hanky, as square

as square can be.

But with a stitch or two they made a

bonnet out of me.

I'll be worn home from the hospital or on

the Christening day

Then I'll be carefully pressed and neatly/

packed away.

Then on the Wedding Day so we have always

been told,

Every well dressed Bride must have that

something old.

So what would be more fitting than to

find little old me

A few stitched snipped and a Wedding Hanky

I'll be.

And if perchance it is a boy someday he'll

wed

So to his Bride he can present the Hanky

once worn upon his head.