Monday, September 28, 2009

A Snowstorm in the Caribbean?



Incredible Sunset over Sopers Hole, West End, Tortola British Virgin Islands (By the way, the power lines in the pic look like they have snagged a boat in the harbor, it's an illusion and a reminder we need underground utilities here!)

That anvil cloud on the right looms like a MEGA cruise ship darkening the horizon! Indeed, is it a shadow of a cruise ship passing by the sun? But the lines seem uncertain.

What is even stranger is that anvil clouds which are mostly ice, form in the upper parts of thunderstorms. They get their anvil shape from the fact that the rising air in thunderstorms expands and spreads out as the air bumps up against the bottom of the stratosphere. You will often see streaks of snow falling out of the edges of anvils. This light snow usually evaporates as it falls through the relatively dry air surrounding the upper part of the thunderstorm.

A SNOWSTORM IN THE CARIBBEAN? The central portions of anvil clouds often contain heavy snow, which melts as it falls into warmer air below, turning to rain. About 50% of the rain produced by the average thunderstorm originates in this way.

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SOLD 2 books yesterday, so that leaves only 7,140 until my medical bills are paid off! *giggle*


Visit my book "Hurricanes and Hangovers" and purchase copies for yourself and gifts for your friends (one size fits all) at http://DearMissMermaid.Com/where.html this includes a link to Amazon, which will ship worldwide as well as deliver your gifts for you.

Right now, if you hurry, you can mail order NEW copies from Captains Lady at the unheard of bargain rate of only $12.00 (Hurry before she runs out!)


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Incredible Colors during Sunset


WOW!


Dear Miss Mermaid
What makes this such a unique picture, is that it was taken during sunset while looking southeast, rather than westward. On the horizon, left to right is Fallen Jerusalem, Broken, Jerusalem, Round Rock, Ginger Island and Cooper Island. A lone sailboat lazily drifts down the Sir Francis Drake Channel. To the left is Buck Island, which is up for sale for a rumored 30 million, which includes the dock and home on 43 acres.

I tried to verify this, but Internet ads simply say "price on application." Not sure what all the secrecy is about, maybe they want to check your financial background first and make a few side deals, in view of the BVI stamp tax that must be paid at the time of purchase.

On transfer of title, a property Stamp Duty at the rate of 12% of the appraised value or purchase price (whichever is higher) is payable to the BVI by the purchaser. Better have a few spare million laying around. Then don't forget about the staffing of the place, surely if you can afford that, you aren't going to be sweeping up nor making your Lobster and Caviar Frittatta on your own.

Back to reality...

I need to sell 7,142 more books to pay off my recent medical bills. YIKES!

Visit my book "Hurricanes and Hangovers" and purchase copies for yourself and gifts for your friends (one size fits all) at http://DearMissMermaid.Com/where.html this includes a link to Amazon, which will ship worldwide as well as deliver your gifts for you.

Right now, if you hurry, you can mail order NEW copies from CaptainsLady at the unheard of bargain rate of only $12.00 (Hurry before she runs out!)

Hurricanes and Hangovers (and other tall tales and loose lies from the coconut telegraph) by Dear Miss Mermaid


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stay Tuned!

This blog will continue with more fun and mayhem. I've had a really rough week medically. I also had to go to court. My evil landlord's agent is a greedy witch and wanted to raise my rent or evict me.

Well, the judge threw the mess out and asked if I wanted to countersue for all the heaps of harassment she and her employees have inflicted on me the past few months. They even harassed me by phone in the hospital!

Most landlord's MIGHT have checked to see if I was all right or maybe in view of my ridiculously high rent, even sent flowers! But Noooooooo... they called me several days for pure harassment and acted deaf each time I told them "I am in the hospital! I mailed your rent check, now PLEASE let me rest!"

She wanted me to cancel the check, get cash and bring it to her! My doctor didn't want to wheel me down to the bank to do this madness. Imagine that...

More later on the evil witch...

Monday, September 21, 2009

A Sense of Humor... Cats...


Two of my cats are brothers and were born wild from a feral mom who refused to ever tame. She absolutely hated humans with a terrifying vengeance. Somebody must have done something awful to her. I think she was born wild, then terrified by humans, and became pregnant while starving.

So sad.

I fed her throughout her pregnancy. She couldn't have weighed more than 2 pounds when she started showing. She hated me. Loathed me. Despised me. But she showed up and ate the proffered food, left outdoors.

One day she vanished, but the food kept disappearing. Then my neighbor, who was aware of the situation, brought it to my attention that she was living in a big discarded pile of wood behind our apartment building. I guess she had made a nursery in there somewhere and had her kittens.

My neighbor spent hours watching the woodpile for signs of life. She reported to me there were 3 kittens, all tabbies. She had seen them poking out of the woodpile now and then. Each one was marked slightly differently.

I was drunk or high or something when I told my neighbor if she caught the kittens, I would tame them.

WHAT was I thinking?

Weeks later, my neighbor was real excited, she had seen a 4th kitten and he was solid black. I am a softy to black kitties, I've had several in my lifetime, maybe because so many are superstitious, they are often the last to be adopted and there I am, offering myself up for adoption. (Humans don't adopt cats, cats adopt them!)

Another day, much to my horror, my neighbor showed up with a cage full of four angry kittens. Theywere now almost the same size as their diminutive mother.

I am a person of my word, sad to say. So I felt obliged to keep my drunken promise. At that point and time, Internet was still new and not much there to be found about how to tame super wild mean hissing, spitting, clawing, biting, frightening kittens.

We closed up the exits to the apartment, and like a FOOL, turned the kittens loose. Instead of cute little fluffs coming for comfort, they ran and scrambled and HID. Over the next few months, theyescaped a few times and went back to being feral. My neighbor would dutifully recapture them by luring them back to the cage with tuna. She would bring them back to me.

Finally I tamed them and found two of them homes and kept two. They were only briefly playful and only with each other, having mock battles and wrestling now and then. Being feral, they didn't get it about toys. You could wiggle feathery things around on a stick or a string and they would stare at you blankly, like "And the point is?"

Mostly they ignored me but ate the food. Matter of fact, they would eat just about anything! I was working as a private chef then and came home with all manner of exotic plate scrapings from work and they devoured it quickly as if they hadn't ate in weeks.

Finally they were big enough and getting a bit rambunctious around the small apartment, so I started propping the front door open. They would venture out to the common hallway, then get spooked and race back in and hide.

They hid from everyone except me, my boyfriend and my neighbor. Friends thought I had imaginary kittens and was losing my mind. They woudl visit and listen to my endless kitten tales, and look around the apartment and see absolutely no kittens, only a lonely feed bowl and water.

Eventually, the kitties worked up their courage to go outside and they quickly, much to my relief, abandoned the litter box for the great outdoors. Boy was I ever thrilled to toss that thing out with the garbage.

I would terrify them whenever they got near cars or the road. I didn't want pancake cats after all the suffering I'd been through taming them. (That's a whole 'nother story, in itself that involves welding gloves...)

One day a 3rd kitten was brought over for me to cat sit for a few weeks. He came with a trust fund. I thought this a tad odd. That is until I realized the owners were never coming back. I was hopping mad that somebody had taken yet advantage of me, again. I don't think of myself as stupid, but mean people have taken advantage of my good nature more than many times. I didn't want three cats, I didn't want two. I just wanted one little ball of fluff to play with and be my friend. Instead I ended up with two that ignored me, refused to play and a third who didn't understand why the other two were so weird.

The new kitten was tame and extremely playful. He immediately claimed all the toys and had a blast while the other two gave him strange looks. He would try to engage them in play with his toys, but they gave him looks as if he had landed from Mars.

Sometimes when I walked to the store, all three would follow me there and back. Just me and my cats, walking to the store. It was comical. If we passed anyone, the three would run and hide until the person was far away, then pop out of the bushes and resume following me down the side of the road. When cars came by, I would chase them off the road and stand still, until the car passed. Then they would timidly start following me again.

I never thought cats had a sense of humor, but oh, THEY DO!

One day we were walking across this grassy area that had a fallen palm frond. It fluttered in the wind and the tame kitten began playing with it. The two brothers rolled their eyes. They didn't play with a thing unless it was alive, such as a rat, mouse, snake or lizard. They gave me looks as if to say "That kitten isn't right in the head!"

I picked up the palm frond and was dragging it along while the tame kitten pounced on it and fought with it. The two brothers looked at him like he wascertifiably crazy.

At some point the kitten was sitting in crouch mode, wiggling his butt, swishing his tail, getting ready for the perfect pounce upon the palm frond I was wiggling about two yards away. The two brothers had sat down behind him, looking for all the world like they were thoroughly bored and wanted to get on with our walk to the store.

As the kitten became so serious, on the verge of pouncing. I saw the most astonishing thing from the brothers. One looked at the other, then at me. Then he stealthily tiptoed forward, up behind the kitten in crouch mode, who was seriously studying this wiggling palm frond, getting ready for the grand attack.

Before he could pounce, the brother reached out and slapped him on the rear with his paw. This of course sent the hapless kitten shooting up five or six feet in the air, with a terrified look and an anguished yowl. He landed with all his fur sticking out, like cats do when they are trying to frighten away a predator.

Like cats often do, he pretended like he meant to do that, after all, and took a few licks at his fluffed up fur.

The two brothers now had squinty eyes and cat smiles on their faces, looking very satisfied with their prank, while the tame kitten washed, giving them mournful sidelong glances.





Two of my cats are brothers and were born wild from a feral mom who refused to ever tame. She absolutely hated humans with a terrifying vengeance. Somebody must have done something awful to her. I think she was born wild, then terrified by humans, and became pregnant while starving.

So sad.

I fed her throughout her pregnancy. She couldn't have weighed more than 2 pounds when she started showing. She hated me. Loathed me. Despised me. But she showed up and ate the proffered food, left outdoors.

One day she vanished, but the food kept disappearing. Then my neighbor, who was aware of the situation, brought it to my attention that she was living in a big discarded pile of wood behind our apartment building. I guess she had made a nursery in there somewhere and had her kittens.

My neighbor spent hours watching the woodpile for signs of life. She reported to me there were 3 kittens, all tabbies. She had seen them poking out of the woodpile now and then. Each one was marked slightly differently.

I was drunk or high or something when I told my neighbor if she caught the kittens, I would tame them.

WHAT was I thinking?

Weeks later, my neighbor was real excited, she had seen a 4th kitten and he was solid black. I am a softie to black kitties, I've had several in my lifetime, maybe because so many are superstitious, they are often the last to be adopted and there I am, offering myself up for adoption. (Humans don't adopt cats, cats adopt them!)

Another day, much to my horror, my neighbor showed up with a cage full of four angry kittens. They were now almost the same size as their diminutive mother.

I am a person of my word, sad to say. So I felt obliged to keep my drunken promise. At that point and time, Internet was still new and not much there to be found about how to tame super wild mean hissing, spitting, clawing, biting, frightening kittens.

We closed up the exits to the apartment, and like a FOOL, turned the kittens loose. Instead of cute little fluffs coming for comfort, they ran and scrambled and HID. Over the next few months, they escaped a few times and went back to being feral. My neighbor would dutifully recapture them by luring them back to the cage with tuna. She would bring them back to me.

Finally I tamed them and found two of them homes and kept two. They were only briefly playful and only with each other, having mock battles and wrestling now and then. Being feral, they didn't get it about toys. You could wiggle feathery things around on a stick or a string and they would stare at you blankly, like "And the point is?"

Mostly they ignored me but ate the food. Matter of fact, they would eat just about anything! I was working as a private chef then and came home with all manner of exotic plate scrapings from work and they devoured it quickly as if they hadn't ate in weeks.

Finally they were big enough and getting a bit rambunctious around the small apartment, so I started propping the front door open. They would venture out to the common hallway, then get spooked and race back in and hide.

They hid from everyone except me, my boyfriend and my neighbor. Friends thought I had imaginary kittens and was losing my mind. They woudl visit and listen to my endless kitten tales, and look around the apartment and see absolutely no kittens, only a lonely feed bowl and water.

Eventually, the kitties worked up their courage to go outside and they quickly, much to my relief, abandoned the litter box for the great outdoors. Boy was I ever thrilled to toss that thing out with the garbage.

I would terrify them whenever they got near cars or the road. I didn't want pancake cats after all the suffering I'd been through taming them. (That's a whole 'nother story, in itself that involves welding gloves...)

One day a 3rd kitten was brought over for me to cat sit for a few weeks. He came with a trust fund. I thought this a tad odd. That is until I realized the owners were never coming back. I was hopping mad that somebody had taken yet advantage of me, again. I don't think of myself as stupid, but mean people have taken advantage of my good nature more than many times. I didn't want three cats, I didn't want two. I just wanted one little ball of fluff to play with and be my friend. Instead I ended up with two that ignored me, refused to play and a third who didn't understand why the other two were so weird.

The new kitten was tame and extremely playful. He immediately claimed all the toys and had a blast while the other two gave him strange looks. He would try to engage them in play with his toys, but they gave him looks as if he had landed from Mars.

Sometimes when I walked to the store, all three would follow me there and back. Just me and my cats, walking to the store. It was comical. If we passed anyone, the three would run and hide until the person was far away, then pop out of the bushes and resume following me down the side of the road. When cars came by, I would chase them off the road and stand still, until the car passed. Then they would timidly start following me again.

I never thought cats had a sense of humor, but oh, THEY DO!

One day we were walking across this grassy area that had a fallen palm frond. It fluttered in the wind and the tame kitten began playing with it. The two brothers rolled their eyes. They didn't play with a thing unless it was alive, such as a rat, mouse, snake or lizard. They gave me looks as if to say "That kitten isn't right in the head!"

I picked up the palm frond and was dragging it along while the tame kitten pounced on it and fought with it. The two brothers looked at him like he wascertifiably crazy.

At some point the kitten was sitting in crouch mode, wiggling his butt, swishing his tail, getting ready for the perfect pounce upon the palm frond I was wiggling about two yards away. The two brothers had sat down behind him, looking for all the world like they were thoroughly bored and wanted to get on with our walk to the store.

As the kitten became so serious, on the verge of pouncing. I saw the most astonishing thing from the brothers. One looked at the other, then at me. Then he stealthily tiptoed forward, up behind the kitten in crouch mode, who was seriously studying this wiggling palm frond, getting ready for the grand attack.

Before he could pounce, the brother reached out and slapped him on the rear with his paw. This of course sent the hapless kitten shooting up five or six feet in the air, with a terrified look and an anguished yowl. He landed with all his fur sticking out, like cats do when they are trying to frighten away a predator.

Like cats often do, he pretended like he meant to do that, after all, and took a few licks at his fluffed up fur.

The two brothers now had squinty eyes and cat smiles on their faces, looking very satisfied with their prank, while the tame kitten washed, giving them mournful sidelong glances.








Sunday, September 20, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

Message in a Bottle...


Frances from Chicago.
Dear Miss Mermaid,
Glad you are finally doing a wee bit better. I did enjoy reading your snake sneak attack the other day (laughed myself silly). Glad it was you and not me. I hate all forms of snake. I could not have gone back into that house without knowing where the devil he was hiding.
The 2 minute video of '....they're sleeping' had great music and great shots. However, when you use snapshots, the view of each of those frames need to be a little longer to see what it is. You get dizzy because they went by kinda fast. Since I am a lover of cats and animals in general, they were just adorable.
Your low blood pressure that you experienced can make you feel lazy and lethargic. It can also make you pass out.
There are some people who always have a lower blood pressure than average. In your case, I doubt it very much.
One of your medications could have dropped it down. Now is the time that you need to get someone to get you a blood pressure monitor kit for yourself. They sell them for your wrist and all is needed is the regular batteries.
Your pneumonia can take 6 to 8 weeks to come out of your system. You will be unusually tired because of that. Your lungs are also damaged because of this.
You had a bad case of it. Any further cold or cough you get or wheezing, you must run right back to the doctor or hospital. You have to rest, pneumonia will not let you do otherwise.
Take care,
Frances

THANK you for the words of wisdom, and I agree, the pics should be longer, I must work on that next! I wish windows movie maker had a way for me to SAVE the before and after titles, credits, signage boards etc., be so much easier than having to recreate them all over again. Also it seems I have change each picture separately for the timeline or redo the entire movie from scratch, but alas, I look forward to working with this program more, as I have scads of pictures I want to do various short movies on.
The medical tips are a BIG HELP!


All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

"Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some ." - Robert Fulghum, author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

A few more quotes by this talented writer:

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world it is best to hold hands and stick together.

I've always thought anyone can make money. Making a life worth living, that's the real test.

Play fair. Don't hit people. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Share everything. Don't take things that aren't yours. Put things back where you found them.

Sticks and stones will break our bones, but words will break our hearts.

I've always thought anyone can make money. Making a life worth living, that's the real test.

Trying to get a grip on things here. HA ha ha! Ho ho ho! Tee hee hee!

I used to live ship shade and now things are a hopeless mess! Ugh! Time to reorganize, let go of the old, embrace the future. But not enough getting done each day.

My body just wants to heal and recuperate. That seems to take a great deal of energy, plus I am fighting left and right, with their drugs and my holistic and alternative therapies.

The doctors are certainly well educated and in an emergency, I want all of them with angels, by my side, no doubt about it . They are trained to save life and let you live longer. If my arm falls off, hell yes, I want them saving the rest of me.

But, I seem to think, for the most part, they are hopelessly brainwashed into thinking drugs are the ONLY way. Some scold and overly-lecture, just another negative fruitless effort (in my book!) They saved my life and now we battle over my future and which drugs I will and won't take.

People aren't perfect and neither are patients. I had hoped since I was dealing with a really young doctor, that their mind would be far more open to alternative treatments. But not so, my alternative suggestions for some of the proffered drugs fall on deaf ears. So I don't fill them at the pharmachy and I don't take them.

Others I am taking from the doctor on a trial basis, as yes, they seemed to have improved my life somewhat.

I'm exhausted and tired. Should I make a pot of coffee or go back to bed. I could write all day, my preferred plan of action. But alas, I am under a time line sort of to get a few things done.

I want to do 3 or 4 things a day, but now it takes me a 3 or 4 days to do a thing!

Going back to a simpler life. Do you know it takes hard work to go back to a simpler life? Good grief, it does.

My idea of a simpler life is to pick and choose a few select options for living a hassle free fulfilled life. Being a writer and hopeless artist, I long for simpler, more time to create and be. If shelter and food become very basic and thus very affordable, one can eliminate the hassle of worrying about much money and basics.

How many people waste so much of their life worrying about money? And the clock keeps ticking whether you worry or not. But if you take out the worry, then shoudn't you have more time to create?

And why the need to create? Why look at the world in a humorous way and put that to paper for others to read? Why indeed?

Well, I think the world needs more laughter!

Yes, indeed!

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On another note, I was at a beach bar, having a cold ginger beer, and chatting with my lady friends, who all happened to be single. A few men were hanging about, also single, eavesdropping in on our conversation (a favorite island pastime!) and one of the ladies began talking about boyfriends.

I said I was interviewing for a new boyfriend with an IQ above room temp. Well, this sent the ladies into peels of laughter. A few of the men roared with laughter too. Then when all was breifly silent for a moment, while we paused to reflect, a man spoke up and said "What was that? I didn't get it!"

His buddy agreed "I didn't get THAT either!"

Of course we all bellowed with giggles, thinking these two obviously don't qualify...

Decoupage Fish Plate


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Earth's Biggest Selection!
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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Another Movie!

I made another movie, but it screwed up royally. *sigh*

So this spot is EMPTY now.

However, movie number one, my first, still works fine!



22 WHAT???

I wrote a post yesterday but somehow lost it. Nothing NEW about that!

The other day I wound back up at the hospital. The nurse wanted to weigh me and I kept pushing the weights on the big scale higher and she pushed them lower.

Then she announced I had lost 22 pounds since leaving the hospital. I find that HARD to believe! But if that's true, I am happy with it. If I keep up this kind of weight loss, I should vanish completely in a few more months!




Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Shh... We're Sleeping...

Inspired by some email, showing sleeping beasts, called "I'm so tired" I decided to make my very first windows MOVIE. It's very short, about 2 minutes max. Let me know if you like it.

I find it very relaxing, so if you need a breather spell, to make the world slow down and make you feel good again, this movie is very relaxing and will bring a big smile to your face! ;-)

You can watch it in the window below OR you can download your own copy by RIGHT clicking on this link and using "Save Target As" OR "Save Link as" then you can watch it anytime and pause on any pictures that catch your fancy!



Also on YouTube at


Monday, September 14, 2009

Enjoy a Great Belly Laugh Today

Today in History

Hurricane Marilyn, September 14, 1995


Today, in history...

In 1995, Hurricane Marilyn hit the Virgin Islands. It was the most powerful storm to hit since Hugo of 1989. She arrived on the heels of hurricane Luis, who ten days before, had already done a goodly bit of damage.

I used to be a private chef for vacationers in this fabulous villa on St John. It was built on 5 descending levels with incredible views, a gorgeous gourmet kitchen, a grand piano and the ubiquitous pool. The owner of the house lived in the small cottage in back. We had an agreement for many years, that I would come stay with them in the big villa, in the event of a hurricane. By the time this came to pass, he was minus a wife and plus a girlfriend. Vacationers, weren't due to arrive for another week. Hurricane Luis was headed our way.

So soon as my boat was put away on six anchors with everything else stowed below, I headed to his villa. We were spoiled at the time, as his generator worked and we watched movies during hurricane Luis. At some point we turned the generator off to conserve fuel and to sleep.

I could not sleep, so I lit some candles and played their wonderful piano. I slept very little, worrying about my uninsured boat and what life would be like if I lost it. After the hurricane, we hopped in his car and ran down to the harbor to see that my boat was still floating and it was. But I was exhausted as I slept very little during the hurricane, so I stayed a few more days at his villa and slept really well.

Finally I moved back on my boat because by then boyfriend, who only lived here half the year, was flying in to Tortola to check on his boat at Nanny Cay boatyard.

So one day, I put my boat back together, and sailed out of the harbor for Nanny Cay. I forgot to tell anyone where I was going. I mean I often did this, just made up my mind to sail and in under ten minutes, was under way. Often floating neighbors would wave goodbye, but today, everyone was ashore or down below, so no one saw me slip away.

I was used to working on big fancy yachts where we kept everything shipshape at all times, so I mimicked this on my small boat of 30 feet. It was great fun, because I could sail away in just a few minutes.

I arrived at Nanny Cay and anchored out, the next day I heard hurricane Marilyn was a threat and stored my boat way up in the harbor behind a new building on the Tortola side, after getting permission from the owner.

Hurricane Marilyn came and went and I continued to stay at Nanny Cay. Little did I know, that on St John, there were people trying to remember whether my boat was in the harbor or not, before hurricane Marilyn. Some thought it was, others said it wasn't. A search of hurricane holes around St John did not produce me nor boat. My St John cell phone was out of range at Nanny Cay, as at that time there was no St John tower on the western end to relay the calls.
No one could find me, my phone wasn't answering and I was new to Nanny Cay and therefore not well known at all, besides, my boat was tucked away where the name couldn't really be seen at all.

I heard rumors that St John was suffering from a great deal of devastation, had no phones nor electricity, and many boats were sunk or otherwise destroyed. Meanwhile Nanny Cay bounced back rather quickly, cleaning up the mess, opening up the bar by candlelight and cooking everything thawing out in the freezers, which was given away freely. Phones worked and power was restored in a day or so.

About two weeks later, I decided to take the ferry over to St John to see how things were, before setting sail. I didn't want to risk hitting uncharted wrecks in route.

On the ferry, they played the VHF radio, as VI Radio of St Thomas, read off the traffic list of boats with messages, then a list of boats missing in action since hurricane Marilyn. Imagine my shock, when my boat name was mentioned with one soul believed on board.
At that time, I did a great deal of business with VI Radio as they handled all my ship to shore and shore to ship calls. All the operators knew me as rarely a week went by that I didn't have several incoming and outgoing calls through the radio. My USVI cell phone was relatively new and the range severely limited.

Nanny Cay is in a valley of sorts, and the radio reports originating out of Crown Mountain, St Thomas didn't reach that far, so no one in Nanny Cay had heard of this missing list. Even so, had they heard, my boat was tucked way up inside the harbor. You couldn't see it at all, unless you had specifically gone up there by dinghy and looked for it.

Arriving in St John, I rushed to the Red Cross to tell them me and my boat were indeed alive. It was a wonderful day. Everyone I ran into, gave me a big hug, and some even a big kiss. For nearly two weeks, they believed I was missing and presumed dead. I never knew I had so many friends on St John.

I finally made it to Grumpys bar where another dear friend, the owner, lived and operated. It was closed up tight, with no food, and no electricity. I banged on the door and a voice roared back from the other side "We are closed!" Apparently about 4 or 5 newly homeless people were now living in the bar with the owner. They kept the doors locked, to keep a crowd out, since they had virtually no provisions left.

I mumbled something about wanting to let Bill (now deceased) know I was alive and suddenly the door flew open and Bill came and grabbed me, as the door behind me slammed shut again. We all hugged and chatted and drank warm drinks in celebration of my "rebirth".

Another bang on the door, and this time I was sent to see who was there. It was a volunteer from the Red Cross, sending a message to let Bill know I had been found alive. Too funny! Bill had listed himself as next of kin so he would be notified of any developments of my whereabouts.
Eventually I drove out to the gorgeous villa I had stayed in during hurricane Luis. My friend answered the door and turned white, then suddenly grabbed me with a big rib crushing hug.

It was great to be alive.

Still is too!



Hurricane Luis, September 1995

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Okey Dokey!

Alive and kicking, just overworked. I tweaked my blog template and made a mess of it and had to revert.

Will have to work on that later!


Saturday, September 12, 2009

Almost FOUND it!

Another rough day in paradise, I've been sickly for two days and that has slowed down my house work considerably. But I still THINK when I can. Just that I am SO TIRED! And I have nailed down some more stories. I could sit and write all day, but so much to do.

No fair. I am pouring super strong coffee down this morning in hopes I can get some stuff done today. Let's see I need to wash and hang loads of laundry, clean up the house, wash my long hair, scan a ton of documents and haul off a mountain of garbage.

I am emptying out file cabinets and scanning all I can to cut down on the paper. I am also scanning a bunch of pictures. The house needs sorting out. Stuff everywhere. Usually I like to live nice and tidy, shipshape with a place for everything and everything in its place, so this chaos is eating away at me.

The cats are wondering WHAT is going on. I've sold off some stuff and they didn't like strangers carrying off some of their favorites seats! My place came sparsely furnished, so I can sell off some of my furniture and still have some.

The hospital called yesterday and asked if I could make a two thousand four hundred dollar payment this week. Yes! $2,400.00! I had just woke up and my voice wouldn't start right, so I had to keep clearing my throat and making an attempt to talk.

I said "Two thousand four hundred dollar payment? Hold on, let me check my purse!"

I came back on the phone and announced "I have eleven dollars and 58 cents! How about I put the dollar fifty eight in the gas tank, drive down and bring you the other ten dollars?"

This was met with "Can you at least bring three hundred dollars? You were supposed to pay three hundred dollars when you checked in!"

I said "Well, I arrived in the emergency room by ambulance, unconscious. You should have picked through my purse and helped yourself!"

(For all I know they did, as when I next saw my purse it had about two dollars in it and I had to call someone that owed me money to bring me some, so I could buy some stuff like toothbrush and yogurt!)

But it's real DOUBTFUL they took a thing, as I could not recall what was in my purse before I went to the hospital. Life was such a blur before and after my ambulance ride. I vaguely remember the ambulance driver telling the other EMT that I was probably going to be DOA and it upset me and I remember struggling to say HELP but I am not sure they heard me. I wanted them to know I was alive so they would go faster, as they were up front chatting away, driving at a sedate speed, like we were out for a Sunday cruise.

Later, I remember bits and pieces like people kept putting steamy masks over my face and attaching me to tubes and wires under bright lights. When I could talk I said "Open the curtains, don't let me die alone!" It was so exhausting, I think I passed out after that. But when I could see again, the curtains were open.

The voice on the other end of the phone brought me back to reality and said "You must make monthly payments."

"OK, I can probably make ten dollars a month in payments right now!"

"Ten dollars a week?"

"No, ten dollars a month! And that's assuming I go back to work soon! However, if my book sales improve, I can send you the extra! Would that work? Also, I am selling of some of my personal stuff, if that works out, I can bring you more now and then! And I am working on a third book and if I get that finished, I can bring more. "

The lady sighed on the other end of the phone.

I asked in a real timid voice "If I can't pay enough, are you going to repossess me and make me come back and stay in the hospital?"

She sighed a nice long sigh, like she was contemplating whether to curse me out or what.

"Just bring the ten dollars and come talk to us and sign a payment plan."

"Right now? You want the ten dollars right now? I have a doctor appointment there Monday, can I bring it then?"

"You have to pay more than that before you can see the doctor!"

"Oh dear me. Well tell her I might have a PROBLEM with that if things don't sell this weekend."

I heard a big sigh, followed by a click.

Phone call over.

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A nice couple came over and picked out most of what's left of my own furniture and promised to be back the next day with money and a truck. I had 16 drawers and 7 cabinets to empty out so they could haul it all off.

I worked myself to pure exhasution, getting ready for them to come back.

They didn't show.

I called them and got various vague answers of "We are on our way."

They have never shown, and now when I call them, my cell phone reads "call rejected".

*SIGH*

Imagine what your home would look like if you emptied out 16 drawers and 7 cabinets!

The next day, two friends stopped by and they had always seen my house nice, neat and clean. They were sure SHOCKED and asked me what in hell happened while I frantically cleared 3 seats for us to sit in.

"I was looking for my keys" I said so innocently.

They surveyed the massive wreckage and asked "Well, did you find them?"

"Almost!" I replied and burst out laughing!

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Lotsa Newsy Stuff on 9-9-9

If you need a pick-me-up, check out this video. It sure had me smiling and took away my blues. I was just surveying the knives, and feeling very depressed, then someone sent me this video link of dancers at Grand Central Antwerp Belgium, and it truly gave me inspiration!
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Today is nine nine nine!  September 9, 2009!


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Click here: Dear Miss Mermaid | Facebook


Well, Facebook FINALLY recognized me, it needs work and I need help, but there it is!
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All my DearMissMermaid.Com Links can be found at
http://www.dearmissmermaid.com/links.html
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I've made a mess of this blog template, tsk tsk tsk. I need more training, I am techno challenged!  Or I need a volunteer webmaster to design my template!  (One can only WISH!)
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By the way, you can get my book HURRICANES and HANGOVERS for FREE by booking a vacation through GoBeach.Com if you say you saw the advertisement on StormCarib.com




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You can also order a PDF version of the book through Paypal for only $6.00  Email DearMissMermaid AT Aol.com and replace the AT with you know what! (@)


I write my email that way to AVOID more auto-spammer spiders. 
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Recipes, pictures, slideshows, coming here SOON!
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Quito Rhymer, a good friend of mine and an exremely talented man who writes and plays music plus does incredible artwork, has a NEW ALBUM out, just released on Amazon!
Cool Water
Amazon says it is out of stock, but they just sent me an email that it  is was ready to ship, guess they need to update their webpage!


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MAKE YOUR OWN HEALTHY YOGURT!

Share from a dear reader (A BIG THANK YOU TOO FROM Dear Miss Mermaid!)

Hi Dear Miss Mermaid,
Managed to buy your book from Amazon UK.
Excellent reading.

Are you able to get Easiyo powder sachets of diy yogurts ?
They are LIVE and come in Plain, Greek and many flavours.
The sachets weigh about 5oz each.

Mix powder with 1 litre of cold water in Yogurt Jar.
Fill special insulated outer container to the mark with boiling water.
Put Yogurt Jar into boilng water container, put lid on.
Leave for 10 hours, hey presto, real live yogurt !

Hope someone can help you with your yogurt supply.

With all best wishes,
Martin.

THANK YOU MARTIN!
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Good grief...


Grandparents day is September 13th!  Well be SURE to buy them my book HURRICANES and HANGOVERS, not only does one size fit all, but they will LAUGH their way through the stories if the reviews posted at Amazon are any indication!


Hurricanes & Hangovers: and other tall tales and loose lies from the coconut telegraph
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Mark your calendar!


September 19th is TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!


You have 10 days to learn more than just "argh matey!"


Here are some helpful books!
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They have changed this posting format and upgraded it and left off the spell heckler!  SO bear with me if you found booboos!