It has been fine weather for the last few weeks. This is the end of the dry season but so far this has been the only dry bit.

We have cleared another area of scrub and have planted gingers and coconut palms..should be ready to eat in about twenty years!

To the left is the side garden, showing Oleanders, palms and frangipani and below is the land slip area.

It had rained so heavily at the beginning of the month that once again St Lucia suffered from numerous landslides including one in our own back yard. Doreen had watched our newly planted dasheen and sugar cane float past her restaurant in a torrent of water and wondered whose garden was being washed away.

Our builder Kenrick came up with a solution and organised a labourer to dig a trench and line it with rocks which will hopefully take away the over flowing swimming pool water to the gully known as “Dead Man's Gulch”. We lost several small trees, including the wax apple, African tulip and bauhinia orchid tree. They are all easily replaced but it means another couple of years before we get fruit or flowers.

John’s girlfriend’s parents, Mike and Julie, came for a weeks visit before heading up north for the next part of their holiday. They were joining loads of other relatives for the marriage of their nephew.

We had a lovely time together doing the fun sightseeing bit and the quad biking in the rain forest. I managed to pick up quite a lot of plants that needed new homes. Half the pleasure for me is spotting stuff that I haven’t got and now, Kurt, the tour operator is just as enthusiastic and is even getting plants ready for me to take away. This time he had a beautiful miniature orchid complete with bark and a prickly palm waiting for us.

Jeff harvesting papayas.

We are including photos of everyday activities that have to be done regularly to keep the place up together…some people have suggested that we just play all day but honestly, we work hard, in high temperatures and hot, hot sun and are busy most of the time. Its not easy living in paradise!

                               Cutting things back has become a daily task.

Weekly pool cleaning takes a couple of hours - more if Obie has been having secret swims!

Strimming, better known as weed eating here, is hot and dirty work, as is lighting the BBQ ready for tonight's supper

Obie is going through a bad patch. If anything spooks him whilst out on a walk and he is not on the lead, he will gallop all the way home and cry at the gate to be let in. If I have to put any creams on him for itchy sore bits he is quite happy during the procedure but then for the rest of the day he will rush from one spot to another avoiding eye contact and tries to get away from us. This lasts for about eight hours and then he settles exhausted, in a nervous heap. The next morning he is fine again. We continue to walk him every day in the hope that his list of fears and scary moments will decrease. The puzzling thing is that he has not really been exposed to any dangers but he remains over fearful of everything.

Foxy on the other hand remains his constant companion and he looks to her for guidance and reassurance. She is scared of nothing and friendly to all comers, although she still barks at the gate if anyone walks by.
It is easier to think of him as our "special needs dog", that way we can forgive almost anything but one things for certain, he is NO GUARD DOG!