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- Updates from the Islands -- - Dominica - - |
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For the most recent reports from Dominica see this page.
| - HAPPY CHRISTMAS |
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Jaco Ladd and I would like to wish all the correspondents and readers of Stormcarib a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year with hopefully good clear weather in 2008.
We would also like to thank everyone who was so supportive before, during and after Hurricane Dean. Your support gave us courage and a warm feeling of caring by people who only know us through our postings on stormcarib.
THANK YOU
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
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| - This is not a Paddy field; it's a veggie garden! |
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The sun is shining, it is a gorgeous lucid day - even better because
we now have a veritable growing patch. Our good friend Amos came to
the rescue; he's done a fantastic job of making our vegetable garden.
All the seeds are planted,and husbandry is alive and 'coming to come',
which is a very good Dominican saying.
From this, we presume, will come a warm feeling of self sufficiency in
the traditional Dominican way of thinking. 'The hucksters 'ah come'
when they see the fruits of toil and time, is a phrase embroiled in my
grey matter; meaning of course, when there is produce on show to sell
market-style, there is no shortage of folk wanting to get in on a
slice of the action.
I went to town this morning and lo! and behold!, the Christmas spirit
is in full swing. People wearing Christmas hats looking very
decorative. It is only now that I have seen lots of seasonal goodies
such as exotic chocolates, bottles of champagne, delicatessan yummies
and nuts akimbo on the shelves in the supermarket, so I have done a
little bit of luxury shopping for our Christmas. And a wheel of Brie
cheese; we have to spoil ourselves a bit once in a while, n'est pas?
We are posting some photo's of the garden and of course our puppy who
we have kept and named Tipex ('Tippy'), the others have all gone to
very good homes.
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| - WINTER CHILL INNER WARMTH |
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Yesterday was very wet, we had gusty winds and torrential rain, today is very similar. It is a day to stay at home, cook, curl up with a good book and relax. The rainy weather is throughout the islands, a whiplash from Olga we are told.
This morning we had a really huge surge of wind; so powerful it sent the flower vase onto the deck and then one of the 30ft bamboo cracked and fell to the lawn, who says the storm season is over? The two puppies scattered, bumped into each other and retreated into their box. It is the first December in Dominica and therefore our first Christmas here. I have my Rasta bead Christmas tree - compliments of Victor bead man, Coconut Grove, Antigua - on display and am starting to feel the Christmas spirit. Our little cottage is so cozy. We made the decision to install UPVC windows when we built, that open outwards and let in all the air, when closed they keep the damp and cold out. We notice that even after hurricane Dean we experienced no dampness in the cottage, our clothes are dry and smell fresh. In Antigua the apartment we had had louvered windows; even though Antigua is such a dry island we used to experience damp clothes. So we highly recommend these windows for Caribbean houses. A couple of weeks ago I posted a story about a little girl whose dog had died and her letter to God. Today I was sent a very interesting video about a young girl who is incredibly talented and shows us her vision through her art work. The world is a wonderful and beautiful place. Being able to live in a simple way just enjoying the basic things in life, helping each other, not being selfish, certainly not being greedy. Health is the most important thing we possess. This time of the year should be for sharing. So I am off into the garden to give my neighbour some fresh bread straight from the oven and no doubt he will give me something from the garden. What more could we want. Enjoy have a great day. This is
a CNN interview with a young girl of 12 who is profoundly gifted.
Her mother was an
atheist before this incredible gifting became evident with her daughter.
Take a
look: |
| - EGGS |
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We are having Christmas weather; not that pleasant - quite a lot of rain and it is really cool here in the valley. We have had a really busy week and so have not been vigilant in keeping our postings together. Christmas is around the corner but if we did not go into to town we would have no idea about Christmas. The reason is simple, we have no sometime intrusive TV signal. So we are late making the Christmas cake, but the fruit is now soaking in lots of liquor ready to be made next week.
The great thing living here in Dominica is the fact that the chickens and eggs are all home grown so to speak. We have several places in the valley we buy our eggs from. It is so different to have an egg that has a truly yellow yolk, stands up and looks at you before you cook it. Like everything here, we pick it, dig it up, take it out of the garden put it in the pot. Truly organic, yes we feel healthy.
Fingers crossed, we have not felt any earth tremors so hopefully the plates deep in the earth have gone back to sleep! The sun has come out so maybe we can play today. We have two puppies left; one is soon to go which is sad, but we are keeping one. It has been quite an experience, not to be forgotten, but one I don't think we will do again.
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| - Earthquake | |
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| - THE EARTH DID SHAKE THE EARTH DID QUAKE |
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Well forget the weather. That earth quake was just amazing. I was in the garden with the puppies looking at the cottage when everything started to go from side to side, the trees the cottage. Jaco Ladd was in the cottage and I was shouting at him to get out and the earth kept trembling creaking and moving it just went on and on, it was surreal, I could not believe the length of time the earthquake took, it seemed well over a minute. I really got frightened because I thought it was not going to stop. I thought that at any minute the ground would open up and I could fall down a big crack. I actually stayed pretty still. The after effect was of motion sickness which lasted with me for about half an hour. I noticed that all the birds especially the parrots flew off the trees and were making a mega noise so it disturbed the birds as much as we humans.
Things that go through one's mind even though it was for a minute was frightening. I was scared for each other, our home and everyone in the country. The earthquake happened with no warning, it made me think that every minute of everyday must be lived and enjoyed life is so precious and so precarious. Today we have beautiful sunny weather everything looks normal as if nothing has happened.
The strange thing is that we posted on stormcarib just before the earthquake struck at aroun 3 p.m. yesterday, we had had an earth tremor the day before which lasted about 40 seconds and was quite heavy, the cottage again shook and I was again in the garden with the puppies. We feel that earthquakes are in a way more frightening than hurricanes, the mere fact that there is no warning we have absolutely no control over nature.
In 19 years living in the Caribbean we have never experienced such a very big earthquake and we hope we don't have any more like that in the future.
As Jaco Ladd, the other primate sharing inhabitant of the house, I ditto everything that's written above. There doesn't seem to be a short term pattern for quakes, so we don't know if it's an
hors d'ouvre for something else down the road or not. Although there are complexities in the Richter scale, it's basically a compounding ratio that makes any earthquake in the 8 bracket many more times powerful than one in the 7, etc. that's a layman's evaluation. So 8 is where I don't wanna be.
In the valley there are concerns that yesterday's major wobble has affected the crack in the Miracle Lake which is a daunting prospect, a lot of loose cannon water could be catastrophic - updates as and when.
My favourite road running friend Mindy dog, during the aftershock was on haunches with a doleful, almost balmy look on her face that translated to: "Did the Earth move for you too, Master?" I retreated.
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| - The earthquake experience… |
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I Offer a second hand account of the Earthquake experience in But it is THE NATURE ISLE - - All reports I obtained from the South of the Assessments were still ongoing at the time but the Capital Roseau and its environs seemed to have faired Okay- May God be PRAISED INDEED!!! However, a gentleman just outside of Nonetheless, in his opinion this Earthquake felt much worse than what was experienced in the South of the Island during the devastating Earthquake on Sunday, November 21st 2004 at 7: 41: 08 A.M. Note -*(the North of the island closer to the epicentre had much greater impact) -When the Mercy of God was shown on the Feast of Christ the King. Thus, No lives were lost then, in a Magnitude 6.3 Quake and as It stands now No lives have been lost Today in a Magnitude 7.4 Quake, Thank God. A lot is due perhaps to the fact that it was an intermediate depth earthquake at about 146Km in depth.
Earthquakes, such as this one, that have focal-depths between 70 and 300 km are commonly termed "intermediate-depth" earthquakes. Intermediate-depth earthquakes typically cause less damage on the ground surface above their foci than is the case with similar magnitude shallow-focus earthquakes, but large intermediate-depth earthquakes may be damaging nonetheless and may be felt at great distance from their epicenters as this one was- The Largest earthquake perhaps in Caribbean History felt from the Dominican Republic all the way to French Guiana and Caracas, Venezuela. Some land slides have been reported around Notably, this Earthquake struck at an ?Hour of Mercy? at about 3 P.M. ? I do hope we will all Continue to take the right precautions and to plead for the continued Mercy of our Dear God. For all those who do pray and especially for those who Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet -may You continue to do so with fervour and Trust in the secure Future of these Caribbean Lands! We Do need Faith, Hope and Prayer for this Beloved Region? FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar MSN Toolbar Get it now! |
| - Slight tremor |
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Good news from Dominica. To the best of my knowledge, there were no
injuries or major structural damages resulting from today's tremor in
the Portsmouth area. While the tremor was certainly felt, it was not
of any major intensity.
If there is anyone with any further information on local problems, please send me an email. We would love to provide as much information as possible to the area. Best wishes to all!! John |
| - PLANTING |
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The last couple of days have been cold and mega-showery, today is lovely, lots of sunshine and a good breeze for drying the washing. The official end of the hurricane season looms once more; nature has been fairly kind to us in the Caribbean of late, except for Hurricane Dean who did a lot of damage to Nature in our first year on this beautiful island.
Yesterday at something past 10am, a little earth tremor let us know who's still in charge - for one and a half seconds, a little wobble in the masonry caused the pups to bark and the parrots to aviate to higher ground; no damage, no big deal but..........no warning! Planting time is here and like clockwork on the 25th November ,our dear neighbour came as promised and planted a lime tree donated by himself. This tree has pride of place in the middle of our garden. It certainly is growing nicely and I am sure t'will bear lots of fruit in years to come. We had a few comments about gardeners; people seemed to think we should be out in the garden ourselves! Well this would be great but we both have jobs to do, also we have over one and a half acres of garden to take care of with a feast of trees on our doorstep. The forest would always overtake the garden in no time if it is left to it's own devices. We found out where our new gardener for the vegetable garden was on the fateful Saturday that I went to fetch him. Supinely on his back, dead drunk swimming in our wonderful Dominican rum. Unfortunately, rum takes precedent over gardening, so now we have located a new hoe-master for the vegetable garden who is starting tomorrow. Can't wait! Even though November-end is in the wings, a little update from over here will be posted, God willing, through the more passive season. |
| - BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR |
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Well folks it is a very chilly morning, the sun is shining but up here in the valley it is really cold. I am dressed in a shirt, jumper dungarees and socks! Could Miss Mermaid be right and we will be getting snow in the Caribbean? My office is on the deck and it is too cold to be out there this morning, so I am writing this in the bedroom! A thought, it is the 25th November tomorrow the day for planting all of our citrus plants in the garden. Perhaps that is why it is so chilly as the earth is getting ready for the big plant out all over the island toute suite!
Speaking of gardening, I went to fetch our new gardener for the vegetable garden this morning and yes, you've guessed it: no gardner, so I suppose the vegetable garden will be on the backburner for the time being. Island life for you. Luckily our regular gardener is working away and our lawn is getting nearer completion, (we wish he liked to do the weeding as well) horses for courses is a very good old saying.
It is getting warmer now I can take off the socks but the jumper maybe needed for a little longer. Have a great Saturday everyone............................
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| - Heavenly |
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We had lot's of rain last night, it was cold for here and I wrapped up
warm with a jumper, jeans and socks! Wow, when it came to bedtime we
curled up under the covers had a cuddle and went into a deep sleep.
This morning it is absolutely beautiful, there is a real nip in the
air the sky is cloudless, it feels like it is going to be a gorgeous
day, one when one is glad to be alive. It is also for Americans all
over the world Thanksgiving. We were sent a lovely e mail today and
we think we would like to share it with everyone. It is a cute kind
of precious story,very simple.
Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she
died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how
much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so
that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her
that I thought we could so she dictated these words:
Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is
with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me
have her as my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and
to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her. You will
know that she is my dog. I really miss her.
Love, Meredith.
We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and
Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address
on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the
envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the
letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the
letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had
gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.
Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front
porch addressed, "To Meredith , " in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith
opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, "When a Pet Dies."
Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God
in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of
Abbey & Meredith and this note:
Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven.
Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.
Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it
stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need
our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture
in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to
keep and have something to remember Abbey by.
Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for
helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you
have. I picked her especially for you.
I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.
By the way, I'm easy to find, I am wherever there is love.
Love,
God
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| - Gardens |
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We were so sad to wake up this morning and hear about the terrible tragedy in Bangladesh with their dreadful storm, life is so fragile, we must grab it and make every minute of every hour in every day count. We are having a little bit of rain today and I was told by our friend and neighbour 'Sobo' (that is his Rasta name - other name Patrick) that it is the time of the moon to bring showers before we plant next weekend on the 25th November. We find this fascinating. We have now lived full time in Dominica eight months and have been listening to Sobo with his propehcies of weather, it can be very sunny and warm in the early morning and Sobo will say it will rain this afternoon and sure enough there's rain, magic!!
We have a huge garden, over an acre to be exact; the rest is two acres of forest, with our wonderful fertile soil we can grow anything. The only problem is that we have a gardner who does not like to weed! This causes us constant agitation and frustration. Our gardner clears the beds I buy the plants then the weeds over take the plants it is a hard battle of wills. Well we have given up with that as the gardner is great at other things and a very good worker in other areas, so we will let him do what he is best at and move on.
This morning we have bought in a new chap, who is a Carib Indian, to be our vegetable gardener; hopefully this once a week visit will keep those weeds at bay, whilst planting the veggies and eventually sharing some of them with us when they are ready for the table. Dominica is one of the only islands in the Caribbean that has it's own indigenous Carib Indians that reside on their own reservation: we'll chat about this subject more thoroughly somewhere down the line. Most readers out there know all about the film 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ; well the Carib Indians were the real tribe in the film referred to as the 'Pelegostos'. They were portrayed as cannibals but the Caribs in real life certainly weren't! A brouhaha ensued during the making of the film and Disney & Co were quick to point out to all and sundry that the storyline was merely from the pen of their imaginitive writers; the Carib chief relented and the film went ahead. Bravo!
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| - Citrus Planting Day |
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We had a lovely sunny weekend the temperature is fabulous in the valley in the 70's at night and low eighties in the daytime. The weather front looks quiet but Monserrat has been letting off steam again! The dust from the volcano seems to have gone off to St Croix, missing us out which can't be bad. We are trying to get our garden together, planting lots of fruit trees and vegetables so that the land can help sustain us. Not forgetting the benefit of healthy living eating your own organic produce. Our neighbour Sobo who has a banana plantation behind us is teaching us about planting citrus trees. All gardening is done according to the time of the month depending on the state of the moon. It is very important to follow these traditions. Sobo is very kindly giving us some lime trees to plant but we must only plant them on the 25th November. We have to go to the botanical gardens in Roseau and purchase other citrus trees that we need to plant so these also can be planted on the same day! We find this fascinating this is another wonderful thing about living in Dominica, tradition is followed and life goes on here in a very peaceful productive pace. There is definitely a lesson to be learned from these wise farmers of the soil. Talking about soil brings us to the first adventure on the lawn of our four week old puppies. We had such fun playing with them on the grass and boy can they move quickly. Tails a wagging, growling playful babies. I think we will miss them when they go. We have had to make a choice of puppy and have chosen the light brown bitch with a white tip on her tail, we have named her Tipex (Tippy) for short. Yes, she is the one on her own in the photo's. Attachment:
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| - Perfect Weather |
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The weather over the last few days has been beautiful. We have been having a really busy time going back and forth to Roseau. This is a journey in itself and however much you try not to be too long does not work. There is know way you get out of town quickly. It is hot, sticky and difficult to park. Don't get me wrong, Roseau is not an unattractive place it is just that we do not like having to go there more than two days in a row. We are celebrating the puppies forth week month aversary they are all lying flat out sleeping the afternoon away getting sturdy, fat and full of fun. The 30th November looms, that does it or doesn't end date for the hurricane season! |
| - Wrong Day |
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The weather has been showery, a great temperature around mid seventies dropping a bit at night. Our lawn is nearly finished it has taken months of collecting slabs of grass from all over the place but it really is looking great. We just need to borrow a roller for a week to totally flatten it out!
Made a huge mistake about the market! Found out that this weekend everything is closed including Saturday until Tuesday for Independence celebrations. This caused me to dash into town on Friday afternoon to do some grocery shopping otherwise the cupboard was bare for the holiday. This is something I never normally do, it was chaotic people in holiday mood having a great time chatting to their friends and relatives. The market had been blasted and there were just some very sad looking vegetables left; the market sellers looked dead on their feet waiting to be able to pack up, go home rest and party! Getting into town was a performance in itself but getting out was much worse, bumper to bumper, fender to fender Luckily I had some great music to listen to. A young man popped up and stuck a Dominican flag on my car and made me feel very much a belonger. I got out of town unscathed and manged to pick up my fix of ice cream for the weekend - yep the fridge is still working masterfully, still can't get used to this. Today is gorgeous and I am off to Portsmouth leaving Jaco Ladd to look after the puppies that took their first gulp of milk unaided from a bowl this morning! It was sad to say goodbye to Claire and Marcelle who left their beloved island Dominica to go back to England and the States. We all keep in touch via stormcarib....................................... gotta go. |
| - Independence Weekend |
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Our hearts go out to the people in the province of Tobasco, Mexico who have experienced devastating downpours and flooding, the like of, we hope, Dominica will never see. Our prayers and thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones. Storms are storms not just stormcarib! The weather is very showery, the temperature here in the valley really just right. Yesterday we mowed our lawn for the second time; simply because we had the most gorgeous afternoon. We had great fun playing with our friend's grandchildren, boisterous and energy driven, who christened the lawn by playing our first game of French cricket. This weekend is Independence holiday for Dominica so it is a long break. We are hoping for lovely weather, as the conditions we had last weekend for the Creole Festival, are now a distant memory We are off to the market in Roseau tomorrow before dawn; the market in Dominica is the best we have seen in the Caribbean and tomorrow is special. Everyone will be dressed in their bright Caribbean colours. The produce will be amazing and we will take a camera to post for all of you to savour. Here are some baby photo's of our ever growing pups, they are just delightful, starting to get around and interact. Life at their age is stressless. A good weekend to all. Attachment:
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| - Wet Creole |
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It has been a few days since writing. The days have been really rainy with thunderstorms. We think a lot of the Caribbean has been affected by this tropical depression. Having said that the Creole Festival still went on in the new Windsor Park Stadium. Everyone had a great time. The last evening on Sunday had two really great acts as Beres Hammond did not play on Saturday night for the show so had to perform last night. If I had a hat I would take it off to the Dominicans, through huge storms the party went on regardless, everyone had a great time. Dominicans surely know how to party. We have had a visitor from St. John in the US Virgin Islands who is a regular visitor to our stormcarib reports. We have spent a lovely afternoon enjoying each others company and playing with the puppies who have now got their eyes wide open. They are on very wobbly all fours and are a delight to us all. Here is a photo to prove the pups are in great spirits. Our brindle pup is still happy on her back!!! Any names out there for this cute puppy? Attachment:
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| - WET, WET, WET |
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Thunder and lightning yesterday early evening rendered a large portion of Dominica without power! Oh my, we've only just got power and now we're voltless! Luckily, there's our trusty generator - so we popped it from slumber again to supply our much needed energy. Going early to bed with a 'that won't be back by morning' attitude, forgot to turn back to power and were nicely surprised to find that the current was back come sun up. Having electricity again is something we obviously have to get used to!!
It looks like today is a wash out. A lunch party in town was kicked into touch because of a threatening flood, so Creole Day will have to wait for another year This is not so bad as we are very cozy and have a good movie to curl up infront of with whimpering pups, legs akimbo and getting fatter by the moment ........................but,
We feel very sorry for all our Dominican friends who are out to have a great time this weekend, weather notwithstanding, and can only hope that it clears up tomorrow so they can have a very sunny Creole experience. Reports of yesterday early evening from the park where the festivities were taking place: bands playing and lots of good things to eat, but the party was rather spoiled and very scary because of the dramatic thunder and lightning. Luckily, the park had a generator as well and so the show went on as planned. People may have been bedraggled and wet but still stayed to dance and have a good time, that's the way to do it.
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| - Creole Festival |
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It has been a very quiet night, we have woken up to a bright sunny day much different to yesterday which became overcast in the afternoon with a lot of thunder and lightning, not too much rain but quite miserable. Dominica is a buzz with tourists and returning Dominicans for its Creole Festival this week. Roseau, the main city, is full of cheerful people many of them in their colourful Creole outfits that are so feminine and pretty. We ourselves are going to take part in the festivities. We are looking forward to locally cooked tasty food in the park. There are many bands including the famous Beenie Man, lately referred to as 'King Of The Dancehall' whom I have met a few times in Antigua. The town is the hot spot. The downside for many who live in and around the town is that the party will continue for a few nights until the wee hours, meaning lack of sleep as the bass booms out invading their living rooms and bedrooms. The only way to avoid this is to get out of bed or don't get in it in the first place, go join in!
This is easy for us to say as we are in the comfort zone of our country retreat so will be assured to get our beauty sleep!! If it's going to major be fun we need to have lots of good weather, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, scanning the screen and saying my prayers right now. We still can't get used to water in the taps, being able to flush the loo and light switches that come on when pressed. No more running out late at night to turn off the generator. It is just amazing to be on mains electricity after seven months on generators!! |
| - ELECTRICITY |
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The weather is very overcast today, it feels a little bit like winter in the air, although of course we do not ever really get cold. It is very comfortable and for us even more comfortable because we now are on mains ELECTRICITY. We can't get over being able to pull the flush in the loo, water in the taps, the fridge is really cold, ice in the freezer compartment, light in the middle of the night. Jaco Ladd is on a mission to get me some ice cream my biggest luxury, ice cream on tap! We took this photo last night from our balcony while enjoying the peace of not having the generator on but still having light. It really makes all the difference to us. Thank you Domlec, Mr George at customer service in particular, for making sure we got hooked on to the mains yesterday, even ringing us up in the evening to wish us well. Also Mr Walton Joseph and his crew for doing the contracting work to get us on line. Happy times............................. Attachment:
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| - Sunshine |
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It is Friday, it is a glorious photo-classic sunny day. It could be even more wonderful because today is the day that Domlec (we think) will hook us up to the main electricity supply. Imagine endless ice cream, ice on demand, cold drinks in the fridge, solid chocolate, food that does not go off in a day, water in the taps, bucketless flushes for the loo, lights that go on with a 24/7 switch................unbelievable. The saga of us and our electricity which has gone on for the last seven months is about to end. We went through two underpowered diesel generators and now have a gas guzzler model that works well to what end? POWER! We are so near but so far, fingers crossed we have 'the light' by the end of the day, please all at Domlec give us some current? Of course one section of the family are completely oblivious to the incoming amps, watts and volts.Even so, the puppies are absolutely wonderful, they just sleep, eat and pooh but they are growing really well they are a week old today! We thought it would be fun to post this photo of our gardener in his elegant rain attire that he makes himself, yes, this is the human condom! Through all weathers, this hot & steamy guy is involved in a hoe-down! Posting also a very full muddy Layou from a few weeks back. Attachment:
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| - Puppies |
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The weather over the last couple of days has been glorious. There is definitely a freshness in the air in the mornings and evenings, winter approaches and our kind of autumn is halfway through. Very cozy at night with a quilt on the bed. It looks like we could be lucky with no hurricanes on the horizon. Ooops! don't forget LENNY came in November. Yesterday I went for a swim in the Layou river. I have not been to the river for a while because it has become so shallow after DEAN. It was wonderful to see the water back to its normal depth; great swimming area plus a sandy beach in a horseshoe shape. This was due to a big excavator going into the river digging out the sand and the rocks. At this time of the year there can be almighty flash flooding with little or warning. The first sign is leaves and twigs rapidly appearing followed by a wall of water. The excavator was in the river at the time a flash flood came hurtling through at tremendous speed. The driver managed to get to the river bank and safety just in time to see - with the owner - the excavator covered to the top of the cab with water. They were holding on to each other in desperation hoping that the river did not carry the excavator down with the debris. All was well, but what a scare for everyone. I have to say I wish I had been there with my camera! When we swim in the river we always keep a keen eye on the flow with a readiness to get out quickly. Having said that there is nothing quite like a river bath, the water is cool, clean and relaxing, another reason to live in Dominica, 365 rivers, plus some really lovely beaches, what more could one want! We have to report that the puppies are doing really well. The little brindle pup with the white and pink tummy spends his life on his back even as you can see at the milky bar. They're all doing fine and just too cute. We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at us losing the small one as I suppose she would be termed runt of the litter. Attachment:
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| - Sad News |
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| The weather is definitely several degrees cooler, it is quite chilly at night, meaning we need a cover on the bed to snuggle up in. It looks like a bright sunny day today, however, we are so sad because the smallest of the litter passed away in the night. We had been helping her all day getting her latched on to the milk bar, I checked her in the night but this morning she had passed onto another world. We are sad because she was so sweet. We have buried her in a very pretty part of our garden overlooking the beautiful views. I know we are sentimental but one always has to look out for the weakest and protect them. Mindy is very quiet we know she knows she has lost a baby, nature is harsh survival of the fittest. |
| - 2 pictures for you |
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The temperature is great, there is a nip in the air a feel of Autumn, the sun is shining. The evenings are drawing in and the mornings are quite dark. Living near the equator means that darkness falls fast. We do not have Fall and Spring but there is a definite difference in the Winter months. We do have certain trees that only flower in the Summer and Winter months, but nothing like the spectacular change that happens in America and Europe. As yet,we've never really experience cold weather, although living in the valley, sometimes a sweater is handy! So happy now that our dog Mindy had her puppies on Friday. Mum and 6 pups are doing really well although we had to have help from the vet. Here a couple of photo's of the family! Attachment:
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| - Rain!! |
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For the last two days we have had rain which has refreshed everywhere and made it much greener. Yesterday the Layou River was the fullest we have seen it since hurricane DEAN there must have been lots of rain in the mountains. Today the river is still running fast, the water very muddy, not good for swimming in.
We managed to find a lawn mower and did the first cut on our lawn two days ago so were very pleased to have the rain. Domlec is at the moment putting in poles to hook us up to the electricity supply. We have been living with a generator now for seven months, it has been tough but we are now used to it! Can't wait to have ice cream on tap so to speak. We will have to have an electricity party..................................
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| - Just a little Rain! |
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We have woken up to another glorious day in paradise. We have been out this morning with the watering can, watering our new coffee trees and nutmeg trees, plus our vegetables. We don't have a long enough hose pipe to water everything so have a great way of filling up the wheelbarrow with water, wheeling it to the area requiring the water then setting to work! I don't think we have had rain for a whole week. This is not usual because we live in the rain forest and this is supposed to be the rainy season so we should get a few showers a day! Some wires have got crossed somewhere.
The wild life around us is just fabulous we have two young blue herons that live in the trees across from our deck. We know that they are immature because they are totally white, when they mature they turn blue. These two birds delight us every morning with their antics, flying effortlessly through the sky from tree to tree, doing the most wonderful balancing act, especially when preening themselves. We also have two sets of humming birds nesting in our passion fruit bush which is attached to the avocado tree just by the cottage, Here I am sitting on the deck, my new office, using our table as my desk with my laptop computer wired up to the internet. There are so many things to see and watch it is hard to concentrate on work! Mindy is at my feet her belly full of puppies the due date we are not sure of, perhaps we should be opening a nature reserve? (When we have power, Domlec are starting work today to give us power hopefully by the end of the week) it will be so peaceful here in our corner of the beautiful nature Isle Dominica. Maybe we might just get a small shower of rain today! Ever mindful that there are still seven weeks of the hurricane season to go so, for all the peace and quiet let's not get complacent. |
| - Freddie the Frog |
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The last few days have been just beautiful, today is no exception, it is a fabulous day for Sunday, lounging around just being lazy for a change is definitely in order. Freddie the frog managed somehow to get into the draw of our deep freeze, luckily for Freddie because we do not have power 24/7, our deep freeze never stays frozen. Jaco Ladd on opening the freezer had quite a surprise when out popped Freddie cooler for his expedition still very much alive, off to explore we do not know where next! The good news is that we are having Domlec here on Monday to start putting in our mains electricity. Hopefully, this should be finished in a week and we then should have regular power. Freddie had better not try getting back in the freezer draw again. |
| - Frogs |
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The weather is typically what the Dominican rainy season is about. Take yesterday for example I was only three miles from our home in the valley. The place I was at was experiencing a few little showers but below in our valley torrential rain and thunder was causing mayhem; really weird how the weather can be so diverse in such a short distance. Today is glorious, so far the sun is shining and I am on my veranda looking out over the glorious view of the mountain, cliff, trees, banana plantation and lawn!
We have a little visitor each night, a tiny little frog that likes to be on the window sill; whether he is attracted to the cool of the PVC or the smooth surface for his bottom we do not know but like clockwork we have to let him out in the morning. The amazing thing is that this tiny froggie does not make any noise during the night to keep us awake so we do not mind sharing our space with him. Yes, of course he has a name Freddie the frog. It really is neat being surrounded by nature. We just wish that our national frog referred to as mountain chicken, named Crapuad or in creole Krah-poh did not have a nasty disease that could make them extinct. This has been worrying the Dominican experts for a long time. This frog has very long legs the size of a chicken wings; it is a yellow-brown colour with brown spots and a pink belly. Mountain chicken is a delicacy and used to be consumed in great quantities until the disease took a hold, now their is a ban on catching the Krah-poh. We so hope that a cure is found and the frog is kept from extinction. Having said that I do not think I would like to eat the legs of the frog, I would have to close my eyes and pretend I was eating something else. It is the thought of it that takes over. Only two more months of hurricane season left, but having said that, February is the only month in the year that there has not been a Caribbean hurricane, so anything could happen.We are looking forward to having these two months be nice to us storm wise! |
| - MAGNIFICENT DOLPHINS |
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Yesterday was really weird the early morning was gorgeous very sunny we set out to go sailing in Portsmouth, on the way we could see black clouds in the mountains which meant it was pouring with rain. The sun shone all the way until we reached our destination when the heavens opened and it poured. As John pointed out yesterday the rivers were full and our friend's garden became full of dirty muddy water, we had to move the jeep to hirer ground lest it got over it's wheels in water. This did not look a promising start to our afternoon sailing, however being intrepid and up to the adventure we set sail and on our friend's 41' yacht and soon found the sunshine.
We have done a lot of sailing in Antigua, we always used to see other boats on the sea passing by but yesterday we were the only people on the ocean. There is a lot of marine life living off Dominica which includes Sperm Whales and Dolphins. We really wanted to see the dolphins! Were we in for a treat. We saw a school of dolphins frolicking in the deep blue ocean. Our sail boat idled up to them we were able to join them for over two hours. There were well over fifty dolphin's mostly in pairs cavorting in the sea, they weaved in and out in front of the bow where I had the prime seat. We just could not get over the gracefulness and beauty of these wonderful creatures, they were chatting to each other in their squeaky voices. I was able to identify one by a round mark the size of a dollar she or he was fascinated by us and kept a vigilant watch on what we were up to. The time past so quickly it was time to leave our friends and return home. Coming back in we were welcomed in shore by a thunder and lightening storm, I hate lightening it was scary because the lightening was forked, hissy and darn right nasty. We managed to more safely and were greeted by our friends with hot coffee. Here.s to the next time! |
| - Its a rough one |
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Sundays for some reason are always a pain for me. A long week ahead
of you, the end of a weekend that you'd been looking forward to the
entire week previously and the realization that you were nowhere near
as productive as you'd hoped. To make matters worse, on this
particular Sunday, we are being bombarded with rain showers on
Dominica!!!!
When I left for the library this morning (in the Portsmouth/Picard area), the river next to my home was running wild meaning that there was extreme rainfall in the mountains. While this was quite a few hours ago, I now worry that it may be overflowing as the rain has been relentless. CRASH another round of thunder...Hopefully it calms down pretty soon. With warnings about Dengue being released by the Dominican government this added rain will only increase this growing problem. Hears to hoping for sunshine and cloudless days to come!!! John x |
| - Sunshine |
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Yesterday was very wet and cool, today we have awoken to bright sunshine, it is a fabulous Sunday. I now have the best office in the world. I acquired a laptop computer and am now sitting on our deck looking out over the mountain which drops to the river, beautiful shades of green from the trees bright reds with streaks of bronze revealing the rock face. We have a three-D effect looking first at the lawn, the trees in the hedge, stretching out over the banana plantation to the forest and the cliff. How wonderful it is to be alive and healthy, as we say here 'praise the Lord'! Karen is going away from us, touch wood, there is nothing too threatening rolling off that African coast. We are off sailing today so hope that there is a good bit of wind.
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| - Storm coming! |
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The weather has been showery over the last couple of days, the temperature in the low 80's it has been very pleasant. It now looks as though we are not going to be able to avoid getting some weather from Karen. We have been keeping our eye on Karen praying that she would go North but we will definitely be getting something from this system. Dominica does not need anymore rain she is sodden and a storm could bring with it more landslides and destroy more of the roads which are in a very bad state, in certain places badly eroded. This hurricane season is mean!
The other thing that is sad is that many Dominicans do their washing in the rivers this has not been possible for a while now because the rivers are full of mud. Me thinks that there must be a lot of people walking around in very dirty clothes! You may laugh but it is part of the life here people live very simply and washing clothes in the river it is just as natural as washing themselves in the river. The rivers are a huge part of everyday life as water flows so does life. I took an American gentleman around the island the other day and he was shocked that there were so many banana farms. He was scratching his head and saying "How come there are so many farms? This is hard work for very little monetary return". My reply to that was simple. Dominica is about the land, living is simple not complicated, it is the way of life here and this has not changed over the years. This is one of the reasons Jaco Ladd and I moved here, the pace of life is slow and tranquil. Dominicans are lovely people. There are very few overweight people here because of their life style, the majority of men are extremely fit and have great bodies. Jaco Lass notices such things!
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| - Rain |
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We have had quite a lot of rain over the last couple of days, due to the system that wisped around the islands. The land here is sodden, water cascading down the cliffs as it cannot soak into the ground. The road down to Layou is being fixed, the drains dug out but there is a part of the road that is caving in. A stream is passing under this section of road and it looks like a matter of time before it falls completely into the stream, this urgently needs fixing, otherwise some poor sole will be driving over it and they will disappear with the road, not a nice experience especially if it was us!!!
On cheerier note Domlec are coming to start plotting out for us to have the electricity, we could be lucky and have electricity by early next week or the weekend. There is going to be a big celebration on that day.
Let's hope that Karen decides to go well north of us we do not need any more storms or wet weather.
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| - Electricity |
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The weather was very mixed yesterday, bright sunny periods with really heavy rain, even a little thunder and lightening, me thinks this is just Dominica in the rainy season.
Jaco Ladd and I are very happy as this week Domlec are going to organize our electricity supply. We moved to Dominica on 30th March it is now 24th September, it will be so great to have electricity full time. I can now go and buy my favourite food, ice cream, yippee! - and keep it at home. It has been a terrific joke with the girls at the ice cream parlour at Brizee's Mart. Every time I go to town, I call in and get a portion, they are always full of smiles and chuckles that me, a big person, should be so passionate about ice cream!
As this big event could happen this week I am willing away any bad weather as this would hold up the proceedings. So on an optomistic note bring on the sunshine and the light.
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| - Autumn in the Tropics! |
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We had a great deal of rain yesterday, it was very pleasant, everything cooled down the garden looks great this morning. Last night there was a real nip in the air, we had to have a cover on the bed all night. It felt just like September in the UK when the days can be barmy and hot with a real chill in the air as night falls. The climate in Dominica is so different from Antigua which is a very hot island. We visited Ronald Astaphan yesterday afternoon who lives in a beautiful location high above Mero with amazing views of the mountains and the sea. Ronals holds functions at his home, I can't think of anywhere more romantic to have a wedding or party. On the balcony of Ronald's house he has a pottery stove to keep his guests warm in the winter months, making the whole place cozy. The sunset from the balcony of Ronald's home last night was amazing pink's, Oranges and greens. We have never seen such vivid sunsets, we think it must because there is very little pollution from traffic in Dominica just awesome.
Getting back to what is happening in the Atlantic it looks as if St. Lucia, Martinique and us in Dominica could be getting some bad weather in a few days time. We will have to keep a close eye on this system. What on earth have our islands done to deserve such treatment from the heavens!
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| - questkersay Normality? |
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The wonderful people of the tiny Himalayan state of Bhutan have a wonderful phrase for it: "gni koj ebtsum esuoy" It encapsulates the feeling of well being or balance of the soul!
In this supposed peak of the Atlantic Basin tropical storm activity, to have a lull with a 'little or no action out there' scenario, maybe it's time to reflect how things, albeit slowly, have returned to some kind of ---yuk!-- normality through the islands and for us in Dominica
I've sent Jaco Lass on a mission to get a photo of a Hurricane Hunter, but alas it seems Harrison Ford is not answering his cell..........anyway......
In the forest above a speading envelope tree, about 100 yards from our cottage, a Blue Heron has achieved squatters rights and greets the dawn every morn with a sound that is linkable to that of a crow on heat crossed with a perplexed banshee; impeccable timing
5.20am without fail. He or she did this before DEAN. Back to normality?
The erosive marks that the landslips have left on the mountain sides are now losing there browness, succombing to an ochre hue that we know will be a bracken green within the next week or two.
The almost wrecked banana plantation across the road has perked and teaked its chlorophyl to a point that a visitor from Mars or Manchester would not believe a hurricane had passed. The French owner has his 'Dean There-'dunnit' T-shirt on show with 'Voila! Mon Dieu' on the back - *listen* - I worked with a great UK comedian called Tommy Cooper when I was performing, a large man 6 foot 13 and his opening for the show was to walk on stage through a fence and garden gate with a watering can and liberally give the wilting plastic flowers in pots a sprinkle, they all went mega erectile in a nanosecond, everyone gave him a standing ovation and he hadn't yet spoke a word!... the point being 'de rain de come and the bananas look normal.
The two dogs we have that chose not to run the perfunctory 3 miles with me every 6.30am for six weeks suddenly are back in the groove - one of them, Mindy. who has a mass assemblage of shortcomings, begs for this excercise and god help any crab or digger driver that gets in her way.
I've seen two Manicou in the headlights and Agouti are there if you look hard enough.
Normality till the next monster swirls. The rain is falling vertically with no threat at all, that is normal!
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| - SUNSHINE |
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The weather yesterday was very hot and humid the temperature up in the 80's. Since living in Dominica we have not known it so hot at night, there is no breeze at all, it is very still and a must to sleep without any covers! There seems to be a frog that has decided to sleep under our window, this is very disconcerting because his squeak, squeak noises don't seem to have a pattern. He will do two short ones with intermittant bursts of several loud ones then nothing...............you are just about to slip into quiet dreams when our froggie friend decided to start singing again. we have to find where he is seek him out and find him another place to play at night.
We have to thank people for their nice letters about our electric and generator situation. We can happily report that all is being fixed. Domlec have been really understanding and are hopefully going to hook us up at last to mains electricity. Our generator problem is being sorted out for us by a great company here in Dominica, J. Astaphan & Co.. We cannot thank them enough for their support and help since we have built our cottage in 2005, we have bought the majority of our materials from Astaphan's, all their staff have been very kind, caring and helpful. It is so good in this day and age to know that customer service is first on their list and that the customer really matters. A big thank you to everyone for getting us back on our feet. So to the weather; shouldn't say it but we need rain.
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| - Wierd weather |
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This morning It is overcast, very hot and humid! Yesterday late afternoon we got a great deal of cloud cover, then thunder and lightning. It was a weird storm because there really was not much rain; we do need a bit more rain for the garden but on reflection perhaps with the landslides we have had the ground needs to dry out a bit.
We had a big disappointment yesterday as our second brand new generator is completely finished, mashed up and broken. We have to advise people to be careful and make sure that the generator they buy is the authentic version. We bought a 5,500 KV Wasp generator in good faith the first generator after very little use disintegrated so we were given another new one the same make. This generator has lasted less than four months, it is mashed up the same as the first one. We seriously hope the company we bought the generator from does not have any more of this make as they are obviously faulty from the manufacturer. We have lived with generators for 17 years, we had a Honda generator that never broke down in 14 years, it belonged to our landlord and left it behind when we moved to Dominica. Unfortunately, we are still not hooked up to mains electricity so this is a large problem. We just hope the company is good gives us our money back so we can go buy a good working generator. Honda, Yamaha, Peta or Lister, you name it!
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| - Hot, Hot, Hot............. |
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The last four days have been very hot indeed. Our garden is wilting, all the vegetables are visibly sagging so we have to go around watering everything, this is a huge undertaking as we have lots of vegetables planted in different parts of our very enormous garden! We hope that we might get a few showers from Ingrid if she feels gracious enough to skirt the island, having said that we do not need too much. Nature has a way of balancing things out. The land around us still looks as if it has been in a war zone with the deep rich red soil marking the mud slides from DEAN. The clean up by the Government workers here is very commendable, they have done such a good job with our road from Pont Casse to Layou Village it looks a bit like a motorway! All the ditches have been cleaned out, the long grass cut down, drains cleaned and holes in the road filled in with tarmac, really impressive.
I have not been online because our diesel generator has decided to pack up on us. This happened on Friday, we took the generator to be mended but alas it came back not mended, the company we bought the generator from came and collected the generator on Saturday brought it back on Saturday evening still not mended so we will try again today, third time lucky we hope! We are going to be having another meeting with Domlec this week to see if they can work out a reasonable price to hook us up to the main electricity, this is an ongoing saga. We have had five different quotes. There was a comedy series in the UK called Monty Python's Flying Circus the situation we are in with Domlec reminds us of this! Perhaps we should go Solar!
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| - Amazing |
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The sun is shining, it is breezy, we had some good rain showers in the night, it looks like it is going to be a perfect day. Yesterday from 6 a.m., we had lots of traffic passing by our road, today we have had hardly anything, me thinks that perhaps the Pont Casse/Canefield road might have been mended or they opened up the Warner road, whatever has happened is wonderful for us. As a rule we get very little traffic passing by our cottage you really notice it when there is a lot.
Looking out in the Atlantic 91L seems determined to form itself into a tropical storm and then who knows. We, like our friend in Grenada, would love to watch this blob disappear up away from our beautiful Caribbean Islands, fingers crossed for this to happen.
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| - Traffic |
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We have woken up to a beautiful sunny day. It is as if there was no thunderstorm everything is back to normal except................................. Our road is now the main road from Pont Casse roundabout to town. This is not so nice as it is very busy, we are not used to this and hope that the Government will do all it can to mend the road from Pont Casse to Canefield as quickly as possible.
We had a fun time this morning watching our little dog try to catch a big crab on the lawn! It was the funniest thing to see. The crab on guard and attack with it's claws extended, doing a little sideways dancing, swinging it's pincers like the best boxer on TV. Mindy running around madly tring to attack the crab from the back but being outwitted by the sideways manouvering of the crab. Mindy had to give up with tail between her legs while the victorious crab minced away, claws in the air.
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| - THUNDER AND LIGHTNING |
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| What a terrible night, my worst nightmare, even with my eyes closed I could see the lightning! We had thunder, fireworks (lightning without a fuse) and torrential rain from 1.45 a.m. until 9.30 a.m. This is the longest thunderstorm I have ever been in. Poor Dominica, she really can't take too much more rain. We had very bad land slides from DEAN less than a month ago and now this. We have to be very aware of the Miracle Lake which is in danger of bursting the artificial dam which was created especially with more rain. This is a big concern to everyone here living in the area which would be affected if this were to happen. We are also aware that there is another huge weather front in the Atlantic heading this way which could form another hurricane bringing with it more rain............................................................ I am not able to report accurately what damage has been done by this latest storm but have been told there have been more landslides in the Trafalgar area. Cars have been going past us in the valley so our road must be OK. I shall go out later this afternoon and investigate. All we have to say is that we hope everyone in Dominica and the region as a whole is safe. |
| - Layou River |
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It is good to see that Felix has dissipated noting that Roatan has come through the hurricane with flying colours. We hope that the news from Honduras itself is not as bad as one might expect, time will tell.
We have a feeling of commradeship from other islands that have suffered DEAN and so closely followed by FELIX turning into hurricane catagory 5 at landfall which is a first in the history of hurricanes as far as we know. The feeling in the pit of the stomach is indescribable watching the hurricane form in the Atlantic then knowing in a very short time it is not veering off, but heading straight at you on your island. Having now been through six hurricanes in the Caribbean we could call ourselves very weathered, however, the feeling is always of fear of the unknown. Reading Pennie's coverage of their preparations for the hurricane only brought back ours, although we do have hurricane shutters on the cottage which saves the trip to the hardware store. We also have animals who by instinct know the weather so well and often far better than humans! It always surprises us just like Pennie how other people on their island do not take hurricanes seriously, think it is fun and look forward to the challenge. I sometimes wonder which it is best to be, to fear the unknown or take it on the chin, whichever way the eliments always win.
The Layou River which is close to us has suffered badly from DEAN. Where we swim each day instead of a beautiful deep pool that you could dive into with total safety, the river is knee deep, this is true all the way to the sea. The amount of sand and huge stones that have been brought down the river is in my humble opinion horrendous. The river has been narrowed considerably, could it be possible that in the summer months this river could become a stream? We sincerely hope not. The Layou River was known as the largest river in Dominica causing huge swells and currents to avoid at all cost as it met with the ocean. Now it is fun to float into the ocean with the current from the river! Dominica has 365 rivers still which is wonderful, but so sad to see the largest river in Dominica brought to her knees. Is it indeed due to global warming?
We are still having wonderful dry sunny weather, could actually do with a drop of rain!
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| - So far a perfect day! |
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Felix is no longer a cat but an aggresive lion! Poor Mexico and Belize. This hurricane is enormous, dangerous and scary. It looks like weather is coming off the African coast like cannon balls, we are just in September the dreaded month for hurricanes, in my humble opinion. Here in Dominica the weather is gorgeous, we have had a lovely weekend, the temperature being in the mid seventies. The island needs this weather as there is a tremendous amount of mud from the slides that needs to dry out, it is still very wet underfoot after three weeks since DEAN. The valley is very peaceful except for the cries of parrots that seem to be using the valley as a highway. It is fun watching these magnificent birds, they always fly in pairs maybe four to six at a time. We just wish sometimes that they would drop in for a visit so we could see them at close range! We are watching carefully the weather coming across the Atlantic at the moment, lets hope it decides to fizzle out on the ocean, maybe, maybe not. Here are three photo's of the mountain(s) that are closest us Morne Trois Pittons a World Heritage Site which is nearly always covered with cloud, I took these photo's in last night's twilight. Attachment:
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| - Miracle Lake... |
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Greetings and God's Blessings to All- Especially those
in the harm's way of Felix...
The Miracle Lake that Lisette spoke about is
ABSOLUTELY a wonder in Dominica -also Known as the
Matiere 'Dam' or Lake in the Carholm area of the Layou
River Valley in Centre of the Nature Isle.
The Lake's CREATION BEGAN WITH MASSIVE SLIDES and
Mudflows from 1996 onwards to 1998. This area is
unstable geologically and is subject periodically to
seismic activity as is most parts of Dominica albeit
very mild -Thank God!
However, most times Nature seems to know best how to
handle the disasters she seems to throw at helpless
humanity. Notably, back in 1999 when weakening
Hurricane Lenny dumped inordinate amounts of rain on
Dominica -the much expected burst of the Natural 'Dam'
did not occur as feared since the Lake is drained by
numerous undeground streams and springs.
Thus, this Post Dean High Water crest at the Lake
Matiere's (Miracle) shores should be a similar
phenomenon to 1999 although Dean did dump copious to
Astronomical rains amounts on MOST parts of Dominica.
I suppose optimistically -All things considered within
AT LEAST a week - One should begin to see the Lake
returning to Normal and safe Lake level Volumes.
Hence, no Real need to panic...
A Blessed Sunday to All throughout the Caribbean and
May all the Angels and Saints continue to Pray for US
During this Hurricane Season and Beyond!!!
____________________________________________________________________________________
Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car
Finder tool.
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
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| - Help needed!! Miracle Lake |
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We definitely have had the tail of Felix through Dominica. We had high gusting winds with lots of rain all night and early this morning. The weather seems to have settled down now. We have a feeling that it will be pretty showery today, the temperature is 74 F at the moment so lovely and cool.
We wrote about the Miracle lake a while back and I posted some photo's. This lake was formed over seven days by landslides, weird really because in the bible it took seven days to create the world! There is great concern that this lake is about to burst because of the rain brought to us by Dean, we have also been having some earth tremors which don't help this situation. The water has been building up so much that it is nearly full to capacity. The huge problem is that the Ponte Casse to Canefield Road needs to be closed down. Making the Layou to Ponte Casse Road the main road for all traffic. If the Miracle Lake dam broke then many people - including us - would be in danger of losing their lives using this road. If there is any expert out there who could help diffuse this situation, maybe by blasting?, to take the pressure off, Dominica would be glad of some advice. Please send me an email.
Thanks to Cable and Wireless we are now back on line. We can't thank Joffa Peters enough for her kindness and support; she and her Cable and Wireless colleagues have been on top of things for us since we have been in Dominica. They are a smart company and give excellent service.
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| - Banana's |
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We are having quite a nice lot of showers today, last night it poured with rain so all our cisterns are full! The temperature is 75 F lovely and cool. It does not look like we have anything threatening coming to the island in the near future, fingers crossed.
It is very eerie in the valley. We are so used to having our neighbours banana plantation up and running. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays it was particularly alive and colourful. We had lots of ladies in different coloured dresses, laughing, joking and cooking up a storm while packing the bananas. Now it is silent the whole place looks forlorn with broken banana plants hanging lopsided or on the ground, it truly is a pitiful sight. We are having lots more parrots flying over which tells us that they are seeking food from far and wide. It really is quite sad. Jaco Ladd is busy writing an article and we are still waiting to have our telephone up and running! |
| - Sunny days, Rainy nights |
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| We are having wonderful weather, hot sunny days, lots of rain at night! The clean up in Dominica is still underway. Cable and Wireless are working hard to get our telephone back on line. They are doing major repairs up the road from us so hopefully we will be up and running sometime tomorrow. |
| - Lines Down |
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Our main line is still down which is so frustrating! Hence a visit to the Cyber cafe in town! The weather over the last three days has been very sunny, extremely hot with very little wind. We are now in need of rain badly. What a situation, a week ago we had too much rain in 12 hours and now we have none the gardens and water tanks need a wetting.
The clean up job is still going on in a big way. Our road from Ponte Casse down to the Layou Valley Hillsborough bridge has had teams of locals clearing the road since last Saturday. There is a reason for this the road between Ponte Casse and Canefield is dangerous to drive on and so is going to be shut down this means all the traffic will pass by our cottage! We are not sure if this is a good idea because the road surface of this particular strip of road is full of huge holes all the way from Ponte Casse to the Layou Valley main road. We have had no work done on the roads at all in a few years. The magnitude of traffic which will have to use the route will break down the road even more, this could become a nightmare in itself. We so hope that the Government now makes sure that our roads are mended and tended to.
The banana farmers have been totally devastated, it is so sad to drive around seeing all the banana plants crashed and on the ground. The view from our cottage is 28 acres of banana plants all mashed up, with the hands of bananas rotting on the ground it is a very upsetting sight. The situation with the banana crops in the Caribbean is very shaky this could be a fatal blow for banana growing in the Caribbean.
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| - No Line |
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We had a lot of rain this morning but it has cleared up now and is a gorgeous sunny day. I have had to travel to town early to take photo's of my friend's damaged roof. I am taking advantage of the Cyber Cafe again so that I can check my e mails and of course stormcarib.
I have been to Cable and Wireless this morning, they are doing their best to hook everyone back on line but Dominica is very mountanious and this makes their job more difficult. Cable and Wireless cell phones have been working right through the hurricane and are still going strong today. Which makes things good for us without a phone line, living in the country.
The people of Dominica are all pulling together, there is a great feeling of unity in all the villages and town. The island is fine for tourists everything is up and running, all the hotels are open, the airports have not closed at all, the port is fine. It is a real adventure to go hiking on Dominica. The whales are quite happy in the sea and so they are still there for anyone who wants to go whale watching. So make it a real adventure come and discover the Nature Island in the Caribbean, DOMINICA you will be warmly welcomed. Fingers crossed we get our phone line back soon!!
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| - Cyber Center |
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The weather for the last three days has been really lovely. However some kind person clearing up the area has mashed up our phone line. Hence writing this report in town.
We have been doing a lot of walking looking at the damage to our area in the valley. The structural damage to the roads is great. Also we have had a lot of landslides, really big ones coming down the hillsides. One cottage is precariously near the edge of a landslide and looks in danger of slipping down the slope. Apparently we had a earth tremor on the Thursday before the hurricane. We noticed that our paintings on the wall were leaning to the left. We felt that we had had an earthquake so it was good to get this confirmed. We think this must have set the scene for us in our area to have so many landslides. Talking to people in different parts of the island they did not seem to have so much damage or high winds. We can only think that because we live in the valley it forms a vortex and the wind rushes around the mountains hitting us at a rate.
The noticeable thing is the smell of fallen trees, and the exposed earth. It is a very pungent smell not unpleasant just another reminder of the damage done. The birds have suffered, it has been heartbreaking watching one bird looking for it's mate. Many of the parrots are coming over our land as if disorientated, some by themselves. We have only just seen the hawks come back to the area. We wonder where the birds find shelter in such conditions. It must be terrifying for all the animals but somehow we think they have an inbuilt instinct and know how to look after themselves. It is so good to hear them singing again. At least there is lots of food for them.
Hopefully we will be back on line soon. It looks like the weather is going to be kind to us for the next week. We are so glad to hear that Dean did not make too much damage to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. We wish everyone well.
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| - Deceptive and Ironic Dean |
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I arrived in the Nature Island of the Caribbean, Dominica on Saturday 18th August to the aftermath of Hurricane Dean -its fury and Power -quite evident.
This to me was suprisingly ironic since the Storm's Synopsis had generally indicated a fast moving Hurricane which had accelerated foward speed to 25MPH even, and was also suposed to be a hurricane which had only achieved a low category two status upon impact on the Lesser antilles, Windward Islands.
Nonetheless, Dean's 100mph wind gusts were apparently able to extensively reach the plentiful hinterlands of the Nature Isle via his numerous sprawled and spiralled bands.
Hence, Owing to the sheer Length of Dean's impact over Dominica which eventually totalled to an astonishing 15hrs of significant storm impact, In addition to about a foot of rain that was recorded on the Southern half of the island; the end result was both serious and deadly.
The lives of two were sadly lost at Campbell due to a Land lside in the area; something on that scale not previously being seen in that community before. Additionally, another life was lost in a Dean-related fatality almost 48hrs after the Hurricane due to ongoing mud seepage unto raodways which caused a bus to veer off a road injuring several others.
Currently, assesment on Dominica continues and many households have unfortunately been affected in various parts of the island, however, mostly confined to the East coast. Utilities are being restored satisfactorily enough and commercial centres are open for business.
Although some parts of the island have taken a beating from the Hurricane many areas on the island seem virtually untouched and this must be due to the distinct band movement and hurricane force wind dispersal over the island; Dean was decptive enough.
Ofcourse, The Nature Island of the Caribbean Dominica continues to charm visitors to her lovely Green shores, but ofcourse urges all visitors to continue to exercise caution on road ways and in elevated areas where restoration and valiant clean up efforts continue in an effort to restore the Pristine beauty of this Gem beyond compare!
May we all enjoy a safe and Blessed remainder of the Hurricane Season 2007 and May ALL the Angels and Saints continue to INTERCEED for the protection our beloved Caribbean region.
God's Richest Blessings to All- especially to those worse affected throughout the region!
Don't just search. Find. MSN Search Check out the new MSN Search! |
| - Hallelujah!! |
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| HALLELUJAH!! EVIDENTLY, A POPULAR LOCAL GUY THAT WAS PRESUMED MISSING SINCE MID FRIDAY HAS BEEN FOUND, ALBEIT WALKING DAZED AND CONFUSED THROUGH A SODDEN RAVINE.... AND SO TO ALL HIS FRIENDS IN MY BOLDEST FONT, LESROY IS WELL AND CARRYING HIS REDCAP! |
| - Dean | |
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| - 9 pictures for you |
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It is a bright sunny day today, the second day after hurricane Dean passed us by. We are now left with the damage which is considerable. The infrastructure of the roads is really bad and we have had a lot of landslides that are still blocking some roads. The road that goes to Pont Casse from us is blocked by three large landslides. Roseau the capital of Dominica has come through really well and most of the shops were open on Saturday. Everyone seems to be very supportive of each other there is a lot comaradarie. We had many visitors yesterday walking by checking that we were OK and likewise us asking them how they had faired in the hurricane. The electricity should be back everywhere within one week. The lines and poles seem to have stayed mostly up, the main damage has been done by trees falling on the wire. Domlec are working very hard to bring light back to the country. Dominicans are amazingly fit people most people walk everyday, hitch rides to work so are very strong. We often see people walking late at night in the pitch black going on their business this is a usual occurence no wonder Dominicans live to be very old. The way of life here is very healthy, we all eat fruit and vegetables growing all around us, also drink water from natural springs. Pollution is down to minimum. Nature is amazing. Having said that the bananas have taken a blasting; our neighbours plantation as you can see from the photograph is devastated. The banana plantations are insured but it takes a lot of time to grow the plants, to replant is a gigantic undertaking, it is heartbreaking for those that felt Dean's wrath. We have just heard that a fishing community Petite Savanne has suffered very badly from the hurricane over 12 wooden houses have been destroyed. This is a catastrophe for this village as it's liveliehood comes from fishing the people are very poor. This village will need a lot of outside help to get back on it's feet. We also have a very sad story to tell, our gardner visited us in the middle of of the hurricane in the day time to make sure that we were OK and have something to eat. He had just passed a man on the road looking for his cow. Amos told the man to go home that the cow was not worth his life. We heard this morning that the man did not heed his warning and has drowned. This brings things down to earth and puts into perspective how poor peop |
