Tag Archives: Friends

Back to the Beach and other Adventures as Puerto Rico Reopens

Can you tell I’m happy to be back at the beach?!

After a very long lockdown, Puerto Rico is now officially back open for business. It is not quite “back to normal” but for all intents and purposes, we are finally coming out of lockdown. That is not the same as having a pandemic end, but at least the self-imposed torture of “quarantine” seems mostly over.

Masks are the newest fashion! haha Masks for Britton & my neighbor/friend Omayra

Poco a poco Puerto Rico has loosened the restrictions to the point that besides the masks and some rules in certain stores (checking temperatures, not allowing children inside) the happy island I know and love is pretty much back. We have been appreciating our newly returned freedoms by going to the beach, hiking, checking out new waterfalls and spending time with friends in small groups again. How much we have missed these simple pleasures of life. Where the hurricane days stripped away the physical comforts of electricity, communications, and even water service, during the lockdown we were fully connected to those things but lacked and very sorely missed our social and nature connections. The lockdown was like an inverse hurricane. I’m not sure which was worse, but I don’t wish either on anyone!

Beachside days

Fun in Rincon

Flamboyan season has been soo beautiful this year!

Aeden’s first school photo. Daycare will even be starting up again in July! yay!

Good times once again

Gozalandia falls and El Ultimo Brinco in Rincon

Fun trip to Adjuntas-even saw a blue flamboyan (jacaranda)!

We had a nice time in Adjuntas visitng Charco El Mango, a suspension bridge and some other sights until Britton suddenly felt ill and we had to return home. Turns out his car accident a month earlier and a genetic disposition for blood clots was not a good combination. He’s doing much better now thankfully!

Quick stop at Playa Tres Hermanos on Father’s Day

Our little boy is growing up so fast!

An easy waterfall that turned into an adventure: Salto Collazo

Just off the side of the road, but waaay down below we found the tallest waterfall we’ve ever seen. Salto Dona Carmen

Overall, we are very grateful for every day we get on this beautiful island and in this strange life of ours. Hope everyone else is doing as well.

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April Update -Finca, Flowers, Friends, Fruit and Fun

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Hanging with my little guy in Rincon

If it weren’t for me being a chronic photo-taker, I don’t know if I would ever blog anymore. The pictures help me to remember what we have been up to which has been a lot of fun! We have been busy with visiting friends, the flower business continues to grow (literally haha), the cabana has been booked regularly and we have seen some cool sights as well. Aeden is growing up fast and at 7 months can now sit up on his own and eats sooo much regular food! Here are quite a few pictures that tell so much more than my hands can type.

Babies grow so fast! I had no idea. Compare 1 month to 6 months

Britton and Aeden at Rompeolas in Aguadilla

We have a bunch of new varieties of flowers coming in right now

Family fun at the farm

Why is Britton usually carrying Aeden? Because he is huge in comparison to me! These pictures were taken at the same moment in time 🙂

And work -clearing out more underbrush and dead trees to plant fruit trees and flowers

One of Kitty’s last pictures 🙁

We buried him near the bridge so we can think of him every day. We miss you, Kitty. You were a good cat

I am also so saddened by the death of our former bandmate, drummer, artist, jokester and friend, Rob

We finished the concrete staircase that enters the jungle and added solar lights

Fun in Aguada

With the babe

At the pool of Casa Islena -Aeden loves kicking water

At the pool of Villa Montana too!

With his sweet little friend and our new friends

At the pool of Rincon of the Seas

With friends Tracy and Fernando

We’ve had some large orders of flowers lately!

And more and more keep growing like these gardenias

Peek-a-boo!

New variety of starfruit started growing on a tree we planted!

And our first ever Siam Rose flower bloomed! We weren’t sure about this one since it usually takes a lot more rain than Rincon gets

Grosella tree is going off!

So I brought a bag of them to Roots Bar to see what magic Sashary can make with them!

These gals are so fun!

So sad to see our good friends the Kersches move away (at Ode in Aguada)

Chicken in the bushes

We spend a lot of time outside on the farm with the munchkin

Manzano guineos as they ripen – apple flavored bananas! Not your typical store banana!

It’s a colorful time of year! Ornamental Turmeric Flower and caladium from our farm and a Reina de las flores in the market

Our little boy is growing up too fast!

Go where love grows! My two cowboys!

Yeehaw at Cowboys in Rincon

Palm Sunday procession in Rincon

Gecko visiting an ornamental banana flower

“Bienvenidos” is too cool! And a great part of Rincon

Stopped in at the Ag Fest in Mayaguez

And the ArtWalk -we don’t go out at night much anymore with the little guy

Britton, bananas and baby!

Fun seeing our friends Matt and Jamie again

Hanging at the beach

And my friend from high school/Colorado, Sarah and her family at Villa Cofresi

Pineapples are growing good!

And more bananas! These are the “Cuban reds”

More flowers! Double hibiscus and orchid

We also ate our first jaboticaba after about 4 years of waiting!

The gardens are really coming in beautifully!

Driving along in Mayaguez, this horse was standing there like “Am I not Magestic? You should take my picture!” So I did

Plantain delivery in action!

Saw these ornate Don Quixote (I assume) carved figurines in a garden store!

Check out this stinky star flower I saw walking around too!

Cool mural in Aguada

Selfie time!

Papaya grows wild here! We didn’t plant this, but we sure did eat it! Tasted like cantaloupe

Well, that’s all folks! Until the next time!

Oh and here is Aeden’s 7 month update video! Enjoy!

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Magical Music and Other Moments

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Awesome photography by JR Imagery

We’ve been focusing a little more on our music with the band again. It has been somewhat of a slow season for tourism and that has affected everyone’s ability to get gigs. We’ve started trying out a new strategy to help take away some of the risk for the bar owners and it seems to be working. We really do love to play out and I take it as an opportunity not only to play music but for performance art.

Thanks to Squid for this pic

If you are part of a live band, in my opinion, you should treat it as a show. That means gimmicks and fun and lots of engagement with the audience. I love this because it means I get to come up with themes and dress up. It’s like a costume party every gig! I am in my element! The more people who are in on the gag, the more fun it is too! We recently played out at Pool Bar as the opening band for Masking Tape and it was a lot of fun!

Fun details like these thigh high stockings make a huge difference in visual interest

Some people are harder to get encouraged to dress up, but that is how memories are made!

See how much more fun it is to dress up?! (With Mark and Rob)

This past week we had another gig at Willie’s Bar at Club Nautico in the Marina. It was another memorable moment because it really tested our improvisational skills. Pretty much everything you could think to go wrong, did. The new bass amp was buzzing in one of the sockets, so we had to move it. Then our friend the conga player surprised us by arriving late and so we had to fill some air time jamming as he set up. Next, the power went out for a good 20-30 minutes during which time the only unplugged instruments who were Rob on the drums, Humberto on congas and Markus on Trombone continued playing as Roberto, Britton and I played a little percussion.

Then I went out into the crowd and pulled people up to dance in the dark with us to the rhythms of the drums. People from around in the marina area without power all came out to see who was playing in the dark! It was an awesome moment. The craziness wasn’t over even when the power came back though, as the microphones lost sound for two more songs. However, in spite of, and probably because of all of these set backs and our ability to steer (and dance our way) through, we have been invited back for yet another show in a couple of weeks.

Gig at Willie’s (thanks to Daisy for this pic)

My outfit for Willie’s was pirate wench/gypsy esque. The beads on my skirt actually helped when the power went out!

In addition to all of these musical memories, we have had some other magical and fun moments as well.

We like to go out and support other musicians and businesses as well. Hijos de Puntas at Calypso and me with Cindie Rice – a Rincon legend in her own right

We also had our first guests at the cabana and it was a lot of fun showing them around Rincon. It’s cool when internet meets reality!

Fun at the ArtWalk with new friends Petra and Brian!

And what says “Happy Valentine’s Day” more than flowers picked from our own yard!?

Life is ever surprising and such a strange stage for moments big and small, frustrating and amazing. Keep on, keeping on!

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Cabo Rojo: Lighthouse and Playa Sucia

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Overlooking La Playuela from the Cabo Rojo Lighthouse

We had planned on a sailing adventure this week, but a series of events caused it to be postponed. We were all ready to go and had met up with some friends at a local panadería and were on our way out when we heard the news of the cancellation. Instead of reversing course we decided since we all had cleared the day for a fun adventure that we would go out and do just that! We chose the Cabo Rojo Lighthouse and Playa Sucia for our setting of the day and it was wonderful!

Our friends on the adventure!

Cabo Rojo is actually pretty close to Rincón and we took a new back road there that hugs the coastline which was a lot of fun in our new Mustang. Though Cabo Rojo is only maybe 20 miles away, the landscape changes dramatically from lush and tropical to much drier.

Cabo Rojo Lighthouse

Crazy high cliffs!

Spiral staircase inside the Cabo Rojo Faro

Gorgeous views out every window of the faro

Guess that’s what you call picture windows! haha

When we arrived, we finally got to tour the inside of the lighthouse (that we just missed the last time), we wandered around the cliffs for a while and then we just hung out under the shade of low-growing trees and in the gorgeous turquoise waters.

View from the roof of the lighthouse overlooking Playa Sucia and the salt flats

Iguanas enjoying the day too

We learned a little about the sea salt production too -if you ever want fresh unrefined sea salt, just bring a jar here!

Salt hill and salt flats right behind Playa Sucia

Playa Sucia

Since it was a Tuesday in winter there were only maybe 15-20 other people on the beach all day. Just enough to make for interesting people-watching but not too many to feel very crowded. A perfect day!

Warm turquoise waters and white sands