In Loving Memory of Donovan

For the past 5-6 years, since I relocated to America, my brother and I have spoken by telephone nearly every single day, sometimes multiple times in a day, other times, just briefly to check in on each other. Sometimes we would skip a day or two because one or other of us was busy or my phone refused to work (a cantankerous ongoing problem). We left each other messages when we missed each other. Prior to this, the decades I lived and worked overseas, we kept in touch, just not as often due to the ridiculous cost of overseas calls at that time. Often I was working at sea and unreachable. I am blessed to have a stack of handwritten letters from him during those years.

Wednesday morning, I realized he had not returned my last call, so I decided to call him again.

Someone else answered his cell phone.

My heart skipped a beep. I was speechless and confused. What had I done to reach the wrong person?

The awful truth sunk in as the distant words floated around my baffled brain.

My brother was dead.


The last few years we both suffered from complicated medical situations. He was pursuing standard American medical treatments while I chose the lonely path of alternatives. We just always assumed I would be the first to go.

The last few years of his life were spent bouncing around to numerous medical appointments plus being tethered to a painful dialysis machine. While the machine itself is not painful, the needles and catheters rendered his arms a bloody bruised debilitating mess. He suffered through diabetes, renal failure, hepatitis and neuropathy with numerous complications from all.

His spirit remained incredibly strong in spite of the chronic pain and we buoyed each other constantly. Our conversations were rarely about medical issues but rather lofty ideas. My brother could astound me with volumes of information he had gleaned from the thousands upon thousands of books he devoured throughout his life with an insatiable appetite.

He was extremely fond of  his job at GE but was sadly forced into retiring due to changes in health. He remained very busy but as his eyes failed, he had to give up his beloved books. He installed satellite TV and  took up watching numerous educational shows to keep his mind active.

Donovan
1957-2015
Rest In Peace
Born in 57, Died at 57, on the 56th day of this year, a month shy of his 58th birthday.
His Indian name was Bliss Mountain

This is one of my favorite pictures of Donovan. He was fulfilling a passionate dream of his and I was there with him. He wanted this glorious moment captured on film.

Ironically my brother hated having his picture taken and often downright refused saying the picture would steal his soul. Sometimes he would relent or I would catch one of him while he didn't notice. Once in awhile he would eagerly agree to a snapshot and happily pose.  I am blessed to have numerous pictures of him in spite this peculiarity.

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

Wreath On The Door

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

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I am mourning the death of someone near and dear to me that I have known my entire life. 

Peace and love.

The last meal we shared together was dining outside at my campsite

on Lake Greenwood when I snapped this pic.

We marveled at the incredible view.

My Harley dog was pestering them to play and he dragged out all his puppy toys.

We laughed and laughed.

 It was a beautiful day.

The Shark

Last time I was in the Sea Islands, Harley dog and I saw many wild mammals, reptiles and fish. One day while walking along a lonely beach with another lady from the campground, we ran into a fisherman and his mate. We ended up chatting away while Harley busied himself digging a hole to China.

Suddenly the fisherman began reeling in a fish that was fighting him every step of the way. We were enthusiastic and excited. I managed to grab my camera frantically fiddling around with the settings in anticipation of catching a picture of the final prize.

Well, it turned out to be a shark. I snapped a few pictures, then the fisherman returned him to the sea. The shark floated away uncertainly while we held our breath with that "ut oh" feeling wondering if we kept him out of the life saving ocean a wee bit too long. Suddenly the shark seemingly came back to life, rapidly swimming far away while we let out a collective long sigh of happy anticipation.

Lately some land sharks have attempted to make my life miserable by chomping down on me. The stress was belaboring me something awful. 

Stress makes my physical healing difficult indeed and I'd kind of like to wander around planet earth a few more minutes, a few more days, a few more weeks, a few more months, whatever I can grasp.

I decided to think about happier times, like the beautiful day on the beach I was able to inspect a shark up close and personal. Now I'm relearning to take in long deep breaths then exhale them slowly. Once I've calmed down, I figuratively pry those land sharks off of me, tossing them back into the sea. Then I run away happily in the opposite direction.

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Another Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day, I woke up alive and I am very grateful and thankful for being so very lucky to have this wondrous miracle land in my lap.

I just can't post much today.

Still healing and smiling and wishing.

I've been putting the heave in upheaval.

My life has been like the bayamo winds.

But I will be back here soon with lots to say!

Back soon!

According to the Weather Elements Chapter of Bowditch's "The American Practical Navigator" bayamo wind is a violent wind blowing from the land on the south coast of Cuba, especially near the Bight of Bayamo.

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Poop Can For Camping Dog Owners

What do a coffee can, a campground and a doggy have in common?

Dog poop!

Bet you never saw that coming...

99.9% of the campgrounds and RV parks request dog walkers to scoop the poop. While this is a minor hassle, it's no fun to be out strolling around stepping in it either, especially when RV folks tend to love traveling with pets. Sometimes it appears the pets outnumber the people in a campground, but this is just usually an illusion. The dog owners are out walking and the non-dog owners don't seem to walk much, if they walk at all. Some only walk from camper to car and back again. But hey, that's their choice.

When my neighbors walk their dog, they toss their bag of dog poop by their front door on the outside lawn in the campground. I assume they do this because they don't want the bag of dog poop inside their RV. Hopefully they plan to take the bags of dog poop to the dumpster one day.

Unfortunately I see this scene in many RV parks and campgrounds. I find it disgusting because very often the winds blow their bag(s) of dog poop away to another lot or the street or the water.

Today I saw someone's dog poop bag get blown across the park and into the lake. Obviously they tied a really tight knot, leaving air inside the dog poop bag. Now the bag of dog poop is floating on the lake, smack dab in the middle.  I don't see anyone making any effort to rescue it. Then a bag of dog poop came rolling across my lot. No one came by to retrieve it, so I stuffed it in my can.

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Why even bother scooping the poop if one can't be bothered to dispose of the final bag properly? Tsk tsk tsk.

I have an outdoor trash can with a tight snap fitting lid. I made it myself on arts and crafts day. Well, that's what I call it when I am busying upcycling garbage for useful items. Yepper, I'm a fruit loop!

It's great for holding dog poop bags and other errant outdoor garbage that blows onto my lot or if I am outside doing projects, it catches the garbage for me. I like th tight fitting lid, because the wind can't blow the garbage out of it. On super windy days, I sometimes have to put a rock on top of it, to keep it from blowing away, but the winds have to be pretty strong to require that.

I tend to carry my garbage out every day anyhow, sometimes twice a day. I prefer carrying little grocery bags of garbage over accumulating a mammoth sized bag. Grocery bags are free (with the purchase of groceries) so I don't have to buy garbage bags. There is no where to store garbage in my motorhome except inside a cabinet under the sink and that cabinet is so very small, I use a small can that fits the grocery bags perfectly. I am happy to recycle my grocery bags this way.

When I am carrying out the garbage, I empty my outdoor can into the little grocery garbage bag then tie a knot in it, walking the dog and the garbage to the dumpster area. Matter of fact, I hang around the dumpster area for a few minutes to encourage my doggy to do his business there before we walk some more. This is rather handy.  I can scoop and toss his stuff right into the dumpster. Some days this works fine, other days he chooses to wait until we are far from the dumpster to leave his deposit. I scoop that up and carry it home with me if I don't pass a dumpster in route.

I don't throw my dog poop on the ground, I put it in my outdoor trash bin.

I made my outdoor trash can out a big coffee can. I stuck an extra coffee can lid on the bottom, because I hate rust rings. Then on a whimsy I bought some wide decorative tape for $1 at Dollar Tree. I used up about 5 cents worth of tape covering the coffee can. Now it looks festive and can sit on the table outside looking more like a pretty canister than a can of coffee holding garbage and dog poop bags.

Occasionally a raccoon comes by, thinking there might be food in the can. I saw one out the window, one day pry open the coffee can, then run off in disgust when he got a whiff of the dog poop bag inside. I laughed so hard my picture came out too fuzzy to publish here.

Sometimes when I have an extra coffee can, I make a pretty outdoor can to give to another dog owner. This gift has been met with both delight and other times confusion. I thought it was a great idea but some folks think I'm a bit loopy.

Life is goof!

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I Need Vitamin Sea

Homesick blues.

I be dreaming of my former home for twenty five years... seemed like a lifetime living in on and around the Caribbean. I worked hard, played hard and it was the best time of my life.

This is the best time of my life too, but my circumstances are vastly different. Life is just a grand adventure waiting to unfold!

What the heck, I woke up one morning a few years ago and discovered lo and behold, here I was living in America in a little old motorhome, nursing my wounds, careening around.

Sometimes you just never know where you're going until you get there... but I'm not there... yet...

Now ain't life goof...

I don't know where I belong. So I travel. A mermaid in search of home.

Here's some pics I took in 2006 when I was still living in, on and around the islands. I say that because I worked aboard big fancy sailboats at sea and in fabulous vacation villas on land. I lived aboard my own 30 foot sailboat for many years in numerous anchorages, not at marinas. It was fun and funny, working at sea, then coming home on break, to live at sea.

Oh how I miss that vitamin sea!

I used to write the weather and other madness back then... that's how I came to be called Dear Miss Mermaid.

If you want to see a blast from the past and funny pics... these are some of my old island tales and weather reports.

April 19, 2008-April 23, 2008
January 6, 2008-April 18, 2008
September 26, 2007-January 5, 2008
July 23, 2007-September 25, 2007
June 22, 2008-July 22, 2007
May 1, 2007-June 21, 2007
February 3, 2007-April 30, 2007
October 17, 2006-February 2, 2007
August 17, 2006-October 16, 2006
July 11, 2006-August 16, 2006
April 3, 2006-July 10, 2006
May 2, 2005-April 7, 2006
June 5, 2004-May 9, 2005
June 4, 2003-April 16, 2004
October 31, 2002-April 12, 2003
September 17, 2002-October 28, 2002
July 1, 2002-September 16, 2002

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Music on a Budget

I discovered that by joining a local library, I could then go online to access that library. I don't have a car, so getting to and from a library building can be problematic. But I wanted to put music back in my life. 

For years I have lived in silence in tune with nature. I love listening to the birds tweeter but on the other hand, listening to noisy diesels in campgrounds isn't much fun either. With music, I get up and dance, I can focus on happiness much easier some days. So while I still enjoy the sounds of silence, I also enjoy music some days. Life is good both ways!

I drooled over the music offerings on Amazon. I am a music-aholic, I could easily spend a fortune on music, but *ahem* I am on an efficient budget so there just isn't room to buy music at this time. In other words, my annual budget for music is a big fat zero. 

Of course I've heard of illegal sources of obtaining music, but rotting away in jail for downloading illegal music, doesn't appeal to me either. My poor dog would be an orphan again and that would be super sad all around.

Well, lo and behold, I discovered that some libraries subscribe to Freegal Music. They in turn allow their library card holders to legally download some tunes each week. In my case, I can download 5 songs each week, at no charge. The library and freegal have legally made these arrangements. 

Do the math: 5 songs each week, is 250 songs per year. If an average album holds 10 songs, that is like buying 25 albums per year. If each song is on average 3 minutes each, that is about 13 hours of music per year free. Best of all, it fits my current budget guidelines. 

So now I listen to tunes, dance and smile. Life is oh so wonderful. 

Harley Dog relaxes to music outside.

He is a seat thief.

If you get up and leave your seat, he plops down presumably to keep it warm until your return.

I let him sit on the furniture outside and inside. He is such a tiny dog, it's safer for him and others if he isn't underfoot to be tripped over and injured. 

I enjoy bird watching and listening.

Sneaking up on a bird to catch a pic is not easy, but sometimes I get lucky. 

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Lively Up Yourself

Lively Up Yourself

That is from a Bob Marley song by the same name. It's a good mantra for meditating away the pain and illness.

Lively Up Yourself 
Lively Up Yourself 
Lively Up Yourself 
Lively Up Yourself 
Lively Up Yourself 

Lately I been closing my eyes, emptying out my head then saying this over and over in my wittle old brain while smiling. I try to breathe in deeply through my nose then exhale slowly through my mouth. I know it sounds like a lot to do all at once, that's why I try to empty out my head first so I can smile, close my eyes,  breathe and do inner chanting. After awhile, the pain has no room to squeeze past all that, but many times it puts me under into a deep sleep.

Sleep is very healing.

How ironic that "Lively Up Yourself " puts me to rest.

Life is goof.

View from the rocking chair...
I had the camera settings all wrong, but I like the shot anyhow.
My neighbor has a tall flag post above their motorhome at Wickham Park in Melbourne Florida. I liked the sun set and snapped it in a hurry.

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Good News About My Book

I have no control over what price Amazon chooses to sell my book "Hurricanes and Hangovers (and other tall tales and loose lies from the coconut telegraph).

However, I recently noticed Amazon has reduced the price 22% from $15.99 to only $12.45.

Yippee doodle doo!

I've no idea how long they will keep this price break, but as of today, that's what it's selling for. It's also available in Kindle format for $7.99

Kitty Comfort RV Window

I am always cobbling something together sometimes with hilarious results, other times with nifty thrifty comforts.

I snapped this photo of someone else's creative work. It's for their cats to visit the outdoors.

The owner has removed the screen and replaced it with a custom piece of Plexiglass. Then he cut a hole in the plexiglass for a pet door. This way he can keep the heat or air conditioning running inside and kitty cats can help themselves to a view of the outdoors with some fresh air. 

Of course you can't drive down the road with this, but he has made it removable. I was able to speak with the owner briefly. His shy putty tats declined to be photographed, though I saw them lazing about later when I was out and about without the camera. 

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Slow Down

Life is so beautiful.

Slow down.

One day at a time. One hour at a time. One minute at a time. Every precious moment is a gift.

I never want to forget how wonderfully amazing today is and how lucky I am to wake up alive.

Below is a recent picture of my modest abode tucked in among palms and pines.

5 years fulltiming in a 20 year old 28 foot motorhome

WOW!

It's a miracle made possible with the help, love and support of incredible earthly angels.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

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Okey Dokey Hokey Pokey

Things are moo-ving along.


How utterly delightful you stopped by today.

So why did the cow cross the road?

To get to Cow-lifornia.


See ya round the campfire as soon as I find my mojo. 

Thank you for your love, support and patience. 

Life is goof... and then it got goofier. 

I am going to have my grump removed and get a replacement funny bone. That should keep me in stitches. 

Okey dokey, time for a rest. 

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February 6 2015

Life ain't perfect, but I woke up alive, the sun came up and life is goof.

I will be back posting here soon. For now I just have to focus on some critical problems.

Thank you for your patience, love, support, and caring. You are my earthly angels. Thank you.

Back Time

Too sick to write much but me thinks this picture was taken last time I be sailing in de islands mon, what islanders call back time.

The majority of my adult life was spent working and living in the Caribbean.

If someone had told me then, that one day I end up in a little old motorhome recuperating and retiring in America, I would have laughed myself silly and told them "Your head ain't good!" That be island lingo for "You're crazy mon!"

Life is goof.

Thank you for your patience and patronage and understanding and love and support and encouragement. You all be angels. Thank you thank you thank you. 

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Lost In The Clouds

Busy healing.

No time to write coherently.

Thank you for your patience and patronage and understanding and love and support and encouragement.

Thank you thank you thank you!