#4 The End of a Wonderful Trip

Blogger just does some things that just don't make sense. This was the first pic I loaded and it should be the last one in this blog but alas, not to be.

We took a cab from Pearson Airport across the road to Four Points Sheridan where we always stay with the grumpiest driver imaginable. When I was shocked at it being $25, he suggested we could have walked!!! And you have a nice day!!!

We had a lovely dinner downstairs and then heading back to the elevators I saw this woman filling all of these bags with stuff. I had to stop and ask her what she was doing. She was preparing bags for the 90 immigrants coming to the hotel that night. The night before she had prepared for 120. How wonderful that people like this and hotel chains such as this are working to make immigrants feel welcome in this great land of ours!!! I offered to help her but she said she already had a partner so I went to bed instead. Exhausted....

Here are my lovely knitters. So proud of the scarves they have made and so they should be. The space in the back middle is where I stood to have pics taken but obviously didn't get one on my camera.

I got a certificate!!! Touching. One of those juicy eye moments. Notice I'm the only one in shorts. My ladies almost always wore skirts or dresses. I had to confess that I didn't think I owned a dress or skirt. They are probably still talking about that strange Canadian fact. 

"Let me get this right. You are having a party for me and you want me to bake for it? Not going to happen. That's not how we do things in Canada." LOL!!! They obviously did fine without my contribution. I have only cooked 4 dinners in the last month so they should have understood that the chef was on vacation!!! Guava cake was outstanding. It was so lovely.

 

I got talking to one of the ladies, whose name I don't know how to spell, who had sold me lunch the day before and it was fantastic to hear her story. She was a nurse by trade. Started cooking for other people a few years ago and now does breakfast and lunches for take out from a window in her house. She prepares food for a school in Freeport and has many local customers. She made us food for Sunday but due to all kinds of things going on we didn't get it but we will order from her many times on our next visit. She is an amazing cook. 

On Thurs. Nov. 17th, the Anglican Church in Eight Mile Rock put on a Thanksgiving dinner for shut ins and old people. We fell into one of those categories and got the dinner above. Very nice!!! Jerrisma helped serve and reported that they fed about 200 people. Well done!!!

I should get this pic enlarged and hung on my wall. This was my view most mornings as I sat on the porch and read. Life is so interesting. I can remember being in my 20s and being the first person on the beach every morning with my plastic bag filling it will corral and shells. This time when I walked on the beach I had to acknowledge that I had one of those and one of those and two of those at home in jars in my workshop. At my age, I'm happy to sit on the porch in an old rocking chair, listening to the waves and reading a book.

Life can be simple. There are people who have dogs and people who have children. There are people who shower and there are people who take baths. I'm one of the latter. I was so thrilled to see this jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom bathroom. The first day I used it I quickly learnt that if you wanted a bath on Wednesday, you needed to start the water running on Monday. The second time I used it I puttered around until the water was over the jets. I get in. Bathe. Call Ray in to see me with the jets on. Push the button. The water behind me roars onto my back and shoots right up to the 12 foot ceiling!!! Maybe I should switch. 

Almost time to leave and you haven't seen the house yet. This is half of the kitchen. Ray in the back ground vacuuming. Our bedroom to the left of Ray.

This is the living room with the very complicated tv system. I'm a one remote kind of woman. 

This is at Garden of the Groves. It was actually pretty close to our house. We had lunch here a couple of times. The last time we were there a bus of those cruise ship people arrived. Yuck!!! They are good for the economy of the island. I get it but cruise ship people are............. Yes, I know I'm talking about you but you are the exception!!!

The glass lamp shade on the left came down outside our house during Hurricane Nicole. See the yellow one on the right? I think maybe that came down during Hurricane Dorian three years ago.

This is the newly renovated Stone Crab Restaurant at Taino Beach beside Pirates Cove. The bill for 4 of us to have lunch was almost $400 Canadian. Glad to know we were able to help pay for those renovations!!!!! The food was actually very good.

 

This is Jerrisma's shop at Pirate's Cove. She usually has tables set up outside but we were heading to the ferry later in the afternoon and she was making it easier for her helpers to close. 

And here they are - Jerrisma, her grandson Tristen and her sister Marjorie. I miss you all very much!!!

We had to check out of our house by 10 and therefore spent the day at Pirate's Cove putting in time until we headed to the ferry very early as it was Thanksgiving the next day and hundreds of Bahamians were heading to Fort Lauderdale to shop!!! It was a zoo. Note to self, you've done the fast ferry and don't need to ever do it again....

Seating in the waiting room was very limited and therefore Ray is standing as the woman in front of me in purple had her purse on the chair beside her. Everyone loves his shirt which has definitely become his favourite. When we go onto the ferry the woman sitting opposite me offered me a cracker and I was happy to know that we were going to get along just fine!!!

In Fort Lauderdale we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott right across from the infamous Fort Lauderdale Beach. It was a great location and we were up graded to a suite which was very nice. 

We had all day Wednesday to be tourists so we took a tour on a boat that showed us lots of huge homes and who they were owned by and massive yachts and the very famous people  who owned them. Sorry no pics as I really don't care!!! If I win a lottery, I won't be moving. 

This is the very beginning of the Fort Lauderdale Beach, south end. 

This is our hotel from the inter coastal waterway and the restaurant Coconuts in front where we ate a couple of times. I learnt that when it says "market price" it is going to be very expensive. I ordered snow crab legs, getting into the northern spirit there, at market price and it came to $100 for a pound. I kid you not!!! They were ok but I really felt that they had been frozen. Not impressed.

This is a boat very similar to the one we were on. 

Thurs. Nov. 25th was American Thanksgiving and our flight home day. Up at dawn, who can sleep with a flight coming? I noticed right away that something big was happening next door and it just kept growing and growing. I later learnt that this is the annual Turkey Trot 5 km. run. Hundreds and hundreds of people. Some had trained diligently and some not so much. We ordered a cab and when we got outside realized that most of the roads around the hotel had been closed. It was 30 very long minutes before our cab arrived to take us to the airport. Whew!!! 

When we got to the airport these two screens were black/blank. Finally they came on and we were in business. We had decided to not take our suitcase measurer and I held my breath as the large case went onto the scale. Exactly 23 kg. Exactly the right weight. We did it!!!

And so our trip came to an end. It was great. I'm really looking forward to going back. On Jan.3rd we head off to San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico for three months and I'll blog again. We were told to be there before Jan.7th because there is a big family party that day so we obeyed. 

Thanks for reading this blog and sending me such nice messages. I appreciate every one of them. Please share the blog with others and I look forward to writing the next one. 

Blessings to you all!!!