You should be glad I didn't take a photo

Laura discovered a dead rat on our front walk this morning. I dealt with the body and thought I was going to be sick. I suppose I really should stop going barefoot around this disgusting place.
I've noticed our gardner goes barefoot. (Not particularly safe when using mowers and other motor-driven tools, but he seems to have all his toes.) I'm sure he has a much stronger immune system (and stomach) than I do, though. I've started referring to him as Barefoot Richard.

My streak is intact -- if there was a streak

Somehow I've never been a big movie fan. Part of it probably is because I get motion sick easily. And I get bored. And I'm cheap.
But amazingly, I just noticed on Yahoo's list of the top-10-grossing movies of the year that I've seen one of them.
1. Spider-Man 3
2. Shrek the Third
3. Transformers
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. The Bourne Ultimatum
7. 300
8. Ratatouille
9. The Simpsons Movie
10. Wild Hogs
I live in the Caribbean but haven't seen No. 4. And I'm a Simpsons fan but haven't seen No. 9. But at least I saw Ratatouille. Because combining French cuisine and rodents should be on everyone's list.

Laurie to the rescue

One of the challenges of our life in Trinidad has been a delay in getting many of our belongings out of U.S.-government provided storage. It's finally in the country but not out of Customs.
Among the things we're waiting for: Christmas decorations. Because I have boxes and boxes and boxes of them, it was hard to imagine how to have a real Christmas without them. Many people, including Foreign Service cyberfriends, made suggestions for making and acquiring ornaments.
It turns out the bulk of the stuff on our little tree -- fiber optic for anyone who's wondering -- was sent my my sister Laurie. (The tree is only 100 centimeters but looks much larger in this photo.) When we first got here and I realized we likely wouldn't get most of our household effects anytime soon, I asked Laurie to use Christmas ornaments to fill a box she already was sending us. Since we got a small tree, those ornaments and a couple of others I'd picked up in Williamsburg and at Disney World were sufficient.
We did buy the tree here, although it was ridiculously expensive.
I'd also like to thank Mugglemom for the link to this printable nativity scene. I never could get Laura to color it all, but it has made me miss all of my missing nativities a little less.

Not that I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ...

but Ken Papaleo, whom I worked with at the Rocky Mountain News, has got to be one of the best outdoors photographers anywhere. His raindrops-on-aspen-leaves photos truly are amazing, but this slideshow on the RMN Web site of some of his snowy works is impressive, too.

Water ballet

Friday morning, Laura went for a swim. Personally, I sat by the pool in my Kermit the Frog pajamas. I'd say both are opportunities for which we should be thankful.

Not many things are cuter than baby pandas

I was kind of disappointed the first time we went to the National Zoo in Washington and saw the pandas. Their baby wasn't a baby by the time we saw him.
But the San Diego Zoo has one, and Deirdre sent me a link to the Los Angeles Times' story about it. How cute! Not that I'll get to see it in person before it grows up -- I've never even been to San Diego -- but it's still cool.

Grade school logic

"Mom, my stomach hurts from all the pasta I ate for dinner. I think a cold bath will help. Can I go get the ice cube tray out of the freezer?"

When Bambi attacks

Kevin apparently had a little too much time on his hands Saturday morning. So when Laura didn't want to wake up, Bambi entered the picture.
Perhaps this proves my point we have too many stuffed animals ...

I guess there was a shortage of boys

Laura was Angel Gabriel in the Primary nativity play, which was performed at the branch Christmas party Friday and the district Christmas concert Sunday. She had a more involved costume than this Sunday -- it even had a gold halo. But Friday she seemed to have a better idea of where she was supposed to be and what she was supposed to be doing.

In search of an empathetic 6-year-old

The first grade's song at last week's international school holiday concert was about empathy. It was a stretch to relate it to the holidays -- not that the kids had any idea what it was anyway -- but that apparently was how the organizers wanted it. Nonetheless, Laura got to wear a sign involving tinsel. I'm sure all the parents who read this will be jealous their kids weren't involved.

Prepositions 101

This was across the top of Laura's report card that came home a couple of weeks ago. I consider it the equivalent of a badly written headline -- and I've certainly dealt with plenty of those. But it still irks me.

The island next door

Some day we'll actually go to Tobago, which is a short (and cheap) flight or a longer ferry ride away. Until then, I'll read about it places such as National Geographic Traveler, which included Tobago in its island destinations rated feature in the November/December issue.

My baby the editor

There's a letter from the first-grade class moms on our dining room table outlining the plans for next week's Christmas party. (And it actually says Christmas, not holiday.)
But that isn't the point. In the letter, they say snacks will be served. But instead of "will," it says "wull."
Laura noticed this and found it quite funny. "Why did they spell it that way?" she asked. "I need to fix it!"
Maybe one day, when she's older and can more fully appreciate such things, I'll tell her about the time a Rocky Mountain News reporter spelled "protein" as "protien" all the way through a story.
Ah, the good old days.

News flash: I'm a hermit

Or so I heard Laura tell her friends when the driver dropped her off after school yesterday. I think her exact words were "My mom never goes ANYWHERE!"
Oh, to be 6 and have a structured life and parents who arrange for your every need to be met. Who hired the driver when it turned out walking to school wasn't practical? Oh, yeah, Mom. Who pays the driver? Oh, yeah, Mom. Who makes sure the driver is in the right place at the right time each morning and afternoon? Oh, yeah, Mom.
Of course, I go plenty of places, many of which she never hears about. But it's kind of funny.

I've always wanted a moat

Of course, I dreamed it would be surrounding a European castle, not running by my back yard on a Caribbean island. But if real moats are anything like the drainage ditch and river on two sides of our house, everything you've ever read about them being nasty is true. And I fear the dry season's arrival will bring even more unpleasant smells.


The smaller photo is of the riverbank looking down from our retaining wall. I'll sum it up in one word: Ugh. After a big rain, all kinds of nastiness floats down the river. Obviously some of it gets trapped along the way.

New proof I'm getting old

Laura just asked, "When did you get married, anyway? 1942?"
Suggestions of good possible responses appreciated.

Laura's new (fake) grandparents

There's a senior missionary couple serving in Port of Spain, the Conks. Sister Conk has asked if they can be Laura's fake grandparents while they're here. I said, "Sure!" Laura wasn't too sure about the idea until I told her it likely will involve presents. So of course now she's all for it.
The first present was candy -- how can you go wrong with that? -- and an angel Christmas ornament. It will almost be too lovely for the tacky fiber-optic tree we bought Saturday.

Things we've never had to say before

There's an interior door in our house -- in the middle of the hallway -- that won't stay open by itself. It's got a deadbolt and locking doorknob, and I don't know whether it's supposed to create a safe room or serve some other purpose. But we've had it propped open with one of Kevin's shoes for the two months we've been here.
But this morning he said to me, "I'm wearing the door stop to work today, so you'll have to find something to take its place."

Caribbean Santa

The embassy's family Christmas party was last weekend. It's always fun to go to a holiday party where swimming is on the agenda. Our deputy chief of mission has a great house and pool. And of course there was a visit from Santa.

I had no idea lizards frolic ...

but the other day I looked out the window and this one was wrestling with one of its friends. Of course, they then refused to stand close enough together for me to get a photo of both.
If you look really closely, you can see this one's tail goes on and on and on.

Proof I'm not such a horrible mother after all

The international school is divided into houses (yes, kind of like Hogwarts). Each house wears a different color of T-shirt on Fridays. The problem: They didn't tell us that the day I went to register Laura, so she was without the proper T-shirt until last week.
She took every opportunity to remind me that only five kids in the whole school didn't wear the right T-shirt each Friday. Her friends who use the same driver as us would ask why she didn't have a colored T-shirt. And I assume children I don't even know were going home from school and telling their parents stories of the poor little girl in first grade whose mother was never going to buy her a house T-shirt.
So last week, on the first day I kept the car while Kevin was at work, I made a visit to the school. Not only did I buy the poor, underpriviledged child a house T-shirt, I also opened her a cafeteria account.
Not that I'm planning to ever let her buy lunch at school, but at least she can stop driving us all crazy asking when it'll even be possible.

Isn't this neat?

I'm not sure what it's called, but it grows in my lawn. At least it did when it was raining every day. Now that the rainy season is drawing to a close, we could have a whole new groups of wonders awaiting discovery. I guess that includes the group of tiny toads I discovered on the patio by the washer and dryer last night.

Laura's favorite part of our first Foreign Service house

Being an only child guaranteed Laura her own room. But there was no guarantee we'd have a pool. We do, and she asks almost every day whether she can go swimming.
If you ever have to move to Trinidad, keep in mind that there are lots of pools but not many pool toys. But we finally have been able to add to our rather limited collection, so at least we'll be able to entertain ourselves while we're in the pool.
(For security reasons, I can't post a photo of the front of our house. But if you'd like to see it, e-mail me and ask for one.)

Emperor Valley Zoo

Last Saturday we went to the zoo. It's not accredited, and I assume that's because it's not handicapped accessible and some of the habitats are somewhat sparse. But it has an interesting selection of animals. Kevin's theory is that animals became trapped in enclosures and the zoo kept them. He's kidding (I think), but that would explain the number of Caribbean birds (such as this toucan) and monkeys.