Monster from the deep

Actually, it's just a really cute little seahorse.



These were taken on a dive at Crashboat Beach a couple of weeks ago.

No words for it

Awesome. Amazing. Wonderful. Beautiful. Fabulous. Incredible.

Those are all good words. But they don't come close to capturing the feelings on our dive at the wall at La Parguera last Sunday. Our friends Darryl, John and Trevor and I headed out early and headed out for the southwest corner of the island on the Caribbean Sea side. (Here in the north we are on the Atlantic.) We had a date to go diving with Paradise Divers.

We were all geeked but I think me most of all. This was my first boat dive, my first wall dive, my first dive to 100 feet, and it was the certification dive for John, Trevor and me to become certified to use Nitrox, a different blend of breathing gas.

The good people at Paradise loaded our tanks and gear on the boat and we headed out into what passes for calm water in those parts. On the trip out to the dive site, the first thing we notice is the water color. The water in the Caribbean is a totally different color from the Atlantic side, that deep beautiful Caribbean blue. And clear. Crystal clear. We anchored in about 65 feet of water and the bottom was clearly visible. From the deck of the boat we could see fish swimming below us.

We anxious to get in the water so we quickly geared up and jumped in. As soon as we got in the water, even before we dropped to the bottom, it was obvious why this is one of the "must do" dives in Puerto Rico. Because the dive site is a mile or more off-shore and there are no rivers nearby dropping sediments, visibility is great, 100' or more pretty much all the time. There is also very little current, usually 1 knot or less. These combine to make a beautiful easy dive.

Not that the dive is without challenges. As we swam away from the boat, the bottom gently sloped down to about 75'. Then the bottom just dropped away plunging 150' or more. One of our goals for this dive was to reach between 100' and no more than 111' (The 111' mark is the bottom threshold of the Nitrox mix we were breathing.) In one of those quirks of instruments, according to my depth gauge, I was safely at 100'. According to the computer recording my dive, I hit 112', the absolute safe limit. But all is well.

We did a second dive to about 65' on another reef about half a mile away. So much life! There are seafan coral you can play hide-and-seek around. Absolutely amazing. For some reason that made sense to me at the time (but doesn't now) I didn't take my camera on the second dive. I'll quit kicking myself for that soon.

It was a great day. Thank you Darryl, John, Trevor and Paradise Divers. Not one of us can wait to go back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTER!

Today is our baby's birthday. Our youngest is 25 today. How did that happen? BTW - that's her on the left with her girlfriend Kasey. Sara, we love you and miss you. Happy birthday, baby girl!!!!!

After the robbery

So the robbery was just over two weeks ago. Honestly, I just haven't felt like writing, about the hold-up or anything else even though there is a ton of stuff to write about. It's time to move on from that too.

One note about the robbery: We've heard from "unnamed sources" that the robbers were arrested in a drug bust in a house near here. Apparently they a part of a gang operating in the area. At least some of the gang is now in jail and the police are looking for others. Score one for the good guys.

Thank you to everybody for you support and good vibes over the past couple of weeks. They are appreciated and welcomed and have been much help. Thank you.

Okay. Back to life.

We was robbed!

Seriously. I guess with the economy the way it is, it was inevitable. Tonight we were robbed at gunpoint. Two guys dressed in black, wearing ski masks and waving what certainly looked like automatic weapons came to the bar just as we were cleaning up and closing up. They grabbed the cash box with our night's take and then took off. We called 911 but that was an hour ago and still no response.

No one was hurt, thank goodness. The rest is only money. We'll manage without it. They/we will probably never know who did it but I hope their karma catches up with them.

A new yola on the beach

Another little yola landed on Shacks Beach last week. This was another small boat, most likely part of a drug drop rather than people-running. Apparently, several Dominicans were captured after the boat landed.

The boat came ashore in good shape right by the "boat ramp" at the west end of Shacks Beach. Some local fishermen hauled up on shore and eventually hauled it away in a pickup truck. So one "happy" ending to this yola episode is the boat won't break up on the beach, scattering chunks of fiberglass all over the reef. There are more pictures of the yola in this set of KAP photos on Flickr.

This KAP session was my first chance to use my new Premier PowerSled 24 kite as a lifter for my KAP rig. So far, I love it - stable even in gusts, good lift even in moderate winds (8-10 mph). I can't wait to try it in higher winds, which really what I want it for. But so far, our ripping trade winds winds have been pretty much absent. That's good for surfers (winds mess up the waves) but the kite surfers are crying.

Happy birthday, Marti

Yesterday, February 7, would have been my mother's 82 birthday. Happy birthday, Marti. We miss you

0-for-2 or 2-for-2

This week I'm 0-for-2 or 2-for-2 in KAP (kite aerial photography) sessions, depending on how you look at it. Two days in a row I tried to KAP, first kite surfers at Shacks Beach and then surfers at Wilderness Beach. Zero KAP photos to show for it (0-for-2). In fact I didn't even get the camera rig attached to the kite line, let alone in the air.

But...I did manage to break two kites (2-for-2). I ripped the back off one soft flow-form kite. It is a very old kite and the once-stiff ripstop nylon is now very soft and easily torn. On Wednesday my big delta kite did a nosedive right at the water's edge. A wave caught it before I could get to it and broke the spar in the leading edge.

Both "injuries" can be repaired. It will just take some time. Until then my options for lifting a camera rig are greatly reduced. Damn!

Sahara's first ride

Elaine has been working so hard with Sahara (or "Wavey" as she calls her), bringing her along step by step. First, Elaine worked with her on the ground, getting her used to being handled and led with a lead rope. Then she started riding Chocolate as a lead pony, still leading Sahara with a lead rope. Then putting a saddle pad on her and leading her with Chocolate. Then adding the saddle. On Monday Elaine and our friend (and horsewoman extraordinaire) Lisa took the final step: with Elaine leading first from the ground and then with Chocolate, Lisa mounted and road Sahara for the first time. The first ride went beautifully, in fact could not have gone any better. Sahara was calm and easy; Chocolate was a gentleman as the lead pony. It's amazing how far this little filly has come in just three months. I am so proud of what Elaine has accomplished with this scared, skittish horse. She is much calmer, MUCH healthier, and now ready for rider training. It's been wonderful to see and to be some small part of.

Return of the Blog!

Been away from this blog long enough!

Laura (getting her cake from Elaine), her husband Jeremy, and their baby Gigi came with her mom, Fran, and other family members for a winter break in the tropics - and to celebrate Laura's birthday at Ola Lola's. They were all here a couple of years ago. Since then, we've all kept in touch via email and Facebook. They wanted to come back sooner but there was the birth of that beautiful baby in between. Anyway, we are very happy Laura chose Ola Lola's for her birthday. We're glad we got to celebrate with her. Happy Birthday, Laura!

Three Kings Day

One of the things I let slip by unremarked upon was Three Kings Day. Here in Puerto Rico, as in many Latin countries, Three Kings Day is actually a bigger, more important holiday than Christmas Day. January 6th, 12 days after Christmas (also Twelfth Night and in the church calendar, Epiphany) is the day the three kings or three wise men arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.

On Three Kings Eve, the tradition here is to leave grass or hay in a box under a child's bed for the Kings' camels (or horses, since there are no camels in Puerto Rico). In the morning the grass is gone and the boxes either gone with it or magically filled with presents. Traditionally, this is when children here get their biggest present(s), not on Christmas morning.

This year Kennedy didn't put grass under her bed but she did come to our house to open presents left for her. The big box she is unwrapping in the picture is a "baby," complete with everything - stroller, crib, plate, cup, spoon and fork, diaper bag, even a pacifier.

Looks like Kennedy is getting ready for the arrival of her baby brother this spring. She's going to be a great big sister!

Haiti

Photo from AFP/Thony Belizaire

I've let a lot of news slip by in the last ten days. I planned to spend today catching up but the big news in the Caribbean - in the world, in fact - is the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and hasn't recovered from flooding during the 2008 hurricane season. Now this tragedy, in a country that has almost no resources to cope. The Red Cross announced today it's out of medicine in Haiti. Drinking water is a huge need. Communications, which are not great in the best of times, are nearly nonexistent. There are many ways to help. The major relief agencies seem to agree right now the greatest need is money. The Red Cross has set up a "texting" program to raise money. According to news reports, they've raised over $800,000. Countries all over the world - including the U.S., which under G.W. Bush could not mobilize to help New Orleans - are mobilizing massive relief aid.

And then, like a breath of horror, there are those voices from the extremist-right wilderness: Rush Limbaugh, proclaiming the U.S. response to this tragedy is merely a vehicle to "burnish Obama's image among light- and dark-skinned blacks," and, god help us, Pat Robertson declaring the Haitians brought this disaster on themselves because of a mythical "pact with the devil." Perhaps we should be grateful for such god-fearing men who try to keep the rest of us misguided mortals on track. Instead, I am sickened by them and terrified that people actually believe and act on this nonsense. These same men demanded an America united behind the Bushies' warmongering. Yet theirs are the first, loudest voices trying to splinter and degrade the response to a tragedy affecting thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. Unconscionable, unforgivable, and very un-Christian.

Awesome day at Surfers

Saturday started out as kind of a blah day for surf - tide was high, waves were mushy and no very good. So I left Wilderness and ran a few errands. I decided to check out Surfers Beach before I went home. Man, am I glad I did!

First the surf cleaned up and got better so the few surfers who were out were getting pretty good rides. Then Josie Graves and Maria showed up, I think to shoot some video. Then Jass Umbel and her brother Jack showed up. And I do mean "showed." It was an awesome show. the only downside for me was I had to leave! But I'm not complaining. I got some of the best surf shots I've ever taken! Thank you, guys.

Check out the full set on our website, www.puertoricosurfphoto.com and a set of the best of the best on Flickr.

New Year's Day

We didn't have our traditional New Year's Day kite fly this year. Ola Lola's was open and we had a lot of prep to do. Really, just bad planning on our part. But I did go out and fly a kite on Shacks Beach for a little KAP (kite aerial photography) session. The winds were rippin' 20 knots+. It's hard to tell from here but those are 8-10 foot waves in the cove.

Since our New Year's Eve beach-bonfire-and-kitefly got high-winded and high-watered out, we spent a (fairly) quiet New Year's Eve with friends. It was actually a very nice way to bring in the new decade. I missed the kite flying though. We have to plan better for next year.

The Huge Christmas Week swell

This past week brought the biggest waves we've seen in more than a year and a half. There were some reports that the waves at Tres Palmes in Rincon were actually bigger this week than they were during the "Perfect Storm" of March, 2008. I chased around looking for surfers between here and Rincon. I finally caught up with some daring souls at Wilderness on Tuesday afternoon. The photos from this session are on the website, www.PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com and on our Flickr page. It was some amazing surf and there were some incredible rides. Check 'em out.

Happy New Year!!!

All of us at Ola Lola's wish you and yours a very happy new year filled will peace, love, joy and prosperity. May 2010 be your best year ever!

Christmas breakfast with Kennedy

and her Ama, Mama and Miguel. This is serious stuff!

Merry Christmas, everybody. Be safe and warm.

This Christmas Eve

One of the things (for me at least) about living on a tropical island is that it is difficult to get in the mood for Christmas. And this year has been a very quiet, laid-back Christmas season, especially by Puerto Rican standards. As I wrote in my last post, being from the North, that whole white Christmas thing is pretty much imprinted in my DNA. So, no matter how many Santas in red trimmed with white fur(!) or how many inflatable snowmen (we have one in front of Ola Lola's) there are, it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

That said, Christmas isn't really about presents or snow or shopping or music or even the birth of Jesus for that matter. It's really about family and friends and love and peace and joy and the fading away of an old year and the promise and renewal of a fresh new year - the same things this winter solstice season has been about since hundreds of years before Jesus.

Even though we are many miles away from many of our friends and most of our family, we still feel very connected. Despite the miles between us, we love them and are loved in return. And of course, Elaine and I are here together, sharing this great adventure. Tonight we had the now-traditional Christmas Eve Chinese take-out dinner with Amy, Miguel and Kennedy, so we are sharing the holiday with family. To the rest of our big extended family out there, we love you and miss you. We hope wherever you are tonight, you are warm and safe and full of joy. Merry Christmas to all, and to a good night!

12th day of Christmas - nostalgia

On the twelfth day of Christmas - I posted a new blog!

We get asked a lot if we miss the cold and the snow we left behind in Michigan (as in the photo above of the park in downtown Kalamazoo, MI at Christmas time). My stock answer is "Maybe someday but this isn't the day."

This time of year I don't so much miss it as I get nostalgic for it. Most of our Christmas traditions are of Northern European origin, transplanted to North America. The dream of a white Christmas is almost imprinted in our DNA. The magic of the ever-green pine tree - the symbol of life continuing through the cold and dark of winter and the promise of its return in the spring - is an integral part of a norther winter. Back in Michigan we used to put up our Christmas tree around the first of December and didn't take it down until at least Valentine's Day, often later.

I never minded the cold. Yes, I get nostalgic for my sweaters. I used to have 25 or 30. Did I need so many sweaters? Of course not. But I love(d) sweaters! By mid-September (when the temps in Michigan are still often in the high-70s or low-80s) I started looking forward to "sweater weather." But I miss much less than I thought I would. The other day I found two that I brought with me and and I thought, "What was I thinking?" Yes, I get nostalgic about sitting in front of a fire in the fireplace sipping a "butter nipple" (Bailey's and butterscotch schnapps), watching the snow fall outside our window. I didn't move to the tropics to "escape" the cold, but I don't "miss" doing those things.

I loved the look of the light from Christmas rope lights I put under the railing of our deck falling on fresh snow. I miss cross-country skiing, but then I missed that in the years in Michigan that we had too little snow or too much snow or too little time. If I miss anything about snow, it is the postcard or Christmas card look of a fresh snowfall.

Cold in the north but sunny here

Our niece Kenzie escaped the north just in time, just a head of the first big storm of the winter. She showed up at our door (at 4:30 am!) on Monday. (If you notice a family resemblence, yes, Kenzie is Jordan's sister.) For now she's staying with Amy and Miguel and Kennedy and enjoying the sunshine. She's gonna be hangin' out on the island for a couple of weeks. She'll be at Ola Lola's off and on. Stop by and say howdy. Welcome, Kenzie. Have fun!

And for all our friends and family in the frigid north, we feel your pain. Well, not really - but we do remember it.

So what kind of bar are we?

Sometimes we're a surfer bar (Zan and her longboard in her sports car - not exactly the surfride of choice). Sometimes we're a dive bar (we talk about SCUBA diving a lot). Sometimes we're the "19th Hole" golf bar.

Sometimes we're a cowboy bar (what's a horse gotta do to get a beer in this place?).

We're always a great local place-to-hangout-and-chill neighborhood bar. And in the last year we've become known as a great local restaurant. (Our new friends Skip and Jane came to the island this weekend for a golf outing at Royal Isabel Golf Club. They were in Newark airport chatting with some folks. When their conversation partners heard Skip and Jane were coming to Isabela, they told them "Oh! There's this great little bar you have to go to! It's called Ola Lola's! They've got great burgers!")


Yesterday we entered a new phase: We became a biker bar! Our friend Jose brought a bunch of his friends on a ride from San Juan and they specifically came to Isabela to come to Ola Lola's. Awesome! Thank you, Jose - and everybody - for coming by. We had a great time.

Night dive

The ocean has finally cleaned up enough to make diving a fun idea. Darryl, John D. and I went night diving at Natural last night. It was beautiful! We saw shrimp, a big hawksbill turtle sleeping under a coral, lots of sleeping parrotfish, two good-sized moray eels, starfish, half-a-dozen reef squid and a really cool something else I haven't identified yet.

As we swam out in the dark to the "drop zone," I remarked that Elaine was going to ride Chocolate on the beach under the full moon. John responded, "That's crazy!" To which Darryl replied, "Well, think about we're doing." We all laughed, then dropped into the darkness and toward the sandy bottom 35 feet below us.

One of the most popular tourist activities on the island is to swim in the "bio-luminescent bays" at La Parguera and Fajardo. Swimming or just about any movement in the water for that matter, triggers these little creatures to give off light. It's like being surrounded by fireflies under water. Although La Parguera and Farjado are the most popular sites, you can see bioluminescence in many places. We could see the creatures just by looking in the water around our fins as we swam out. At one point in our dive we stopped and turned off our lights so we could wave our arms and watch them glow. Wow. Hey, just another one of the attractions of night diving!

Mary's (and John's) Birthday

On Saturday we had a "Surprise - it's not really your birthday" party for Mary Scott. We planned a little surprise party for her on her birthday, which was actually the Monday before. However, the surprise was on us: Mary was in New York! So we had a great time in her honor. Then on Saturday, we actually got to celebrate with her. We gave Mary the sombrero because - as the guest of honor - she deserved the biggest hat. All the rest of us wore hats too (supplied by Lacy), but somewhat smaller ones. A special Motown (Mary's favorite) mix of tunes was the music of the evening, including some songs like "My Girl" with lyrics rewritten especially for Mary.

And, to add to the Saturday celebration we also surprised our friend, John Delametter whose birthday was two days later. John got to wear the sombrego while he was lauded with "Happy Birthday" and "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" with lyrics written by Elaine especially for him. Everyone did a lot of laughing and helping to sing along. And, of course, there was yummy birthday cake. Evenings like that bring so many smiles to Ola Lola's. Thanks everyone!

Thanksgiving

Just a couple of photos from Thanksgiving at Marisol and JR's house. I hope we don't ever get so blasé that we take parties like this one for granted. We had amazing good food and we have amazing good friends. It is always such a good time getting together at their house. Thank you, Marisol and JR for opening your home and your hearts for all of us.

In the Thanksgiving post I said there would be more to give thanks for so here comes another one. We are so grateful to Dr. Lamela and his wife Lilly for allowing us to keep Chocolate and Sahara on their property. They had family staying in their house over the Thanksgiving weekend. Since people were in and out, we moved Sahara into a stall we built next to Ola Lola's and moved Chocolate on the other side of our house. It worked okay but shuffling the horses around reminded us of what a fantastic gift we have to be able to keep our horses safe and near. Thank you, Dr. Lamela!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. No matter where you are today, there is something to be thankful for.

Me, I am eternally grateful for my amazing wonderful beautiful wife Elaine (and she is grateful for the best guy in the universe, ME!); for our five amazing children; our three and 5/9ths grandchildren; for family even though they are spread from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest; for all our wonderful friends in all our "communities" - kites, horses,diving, neighbors, festivals, Ola Lola's; for our fabulous Vizslas Amber and Jazz; for the Chocolate and for the opportunity to help another (equine) being, Sahara; for the unbelievable gift of being able to live in a place like this, our home. Thank you, Universe. Thank you, Guardian Angels. Happy Thanksgiving.

Bj, Carrie, Steve, Angel, Alex, Amy, Kennedy, Miguel, Jason, Sara, Katie, Jill, Jason, Erin, Jonah, Jason, Jen, Savannah, Jason, Trudy, Marisol, JR, Armani, Kalani, Lisa, Kurt, George, Mary, Tito, Tito, Jim, Linda, Amy, Dan, Shawna, James, Annie, Phil, Julie, Nikki, Ryan, Kenzie, Jordan, Matt, Mary, Roger, Cathy, Gary, Ben, Annie, Jack, Maggie, David, Zan, Susan, Trevor, Jen, Jackie, Jess, Andy, Natassia, Michael, John, Darryl, Ann, Dan, Josh Zach, Elizabeth, Russ, Kate, Alex, Eric, Dorothy, Woody, Kathy, Paul, Scott, Sarah, Lacy, Mae, Albert, Ron, Tina, Stanley, Charlie, Pat, Charlie...more to come.

We are SO lucky - and SO grateful.

Sahara - Week Two

This morning, on the beach:

Today was the end of week two with Sahara. She and Chocolate are now total buds. She follows him like a shadow. Because the doctor who owns the property behind us where Chocolate and Sahara stay has family coming for the weekend, we built Sahara a little corral - okay, a biggish stall - in a corner of our yard. We can tie Chocolate on the other side (like we did the month or so until the fence got fixed) but Sahara isn't rope-trained yet. She gets all tangled up. And that's dangerous for her and for whoever goes in to free her. So tonight we put her in her new stall to feed her and get her used to it. It's right next to the barport so we put on the lights and the music so she can get used to that too. The whole hour-and-a-half or two hours she was gone, Chocolate snorted and ran around and nickered for her. When he's out of the yard, she stands at the gate and nickers for him. And we thought it was going to be hard for us to give her up! (Assuming of course we ever do decide to give her up.)

Sahara continues to improve. She's showing signs of filling out. Her ribs are less pronounced, the ridge above her eyes is filling in, and she's starting to get a butt. Her energy levels are getting better as well. She's friskier, brighter.

We had a couple of mishaps at feeding time this week. Bottom line, I got kicked twice. Neither time was especially hard but the second kick left a pretty good bruise on my thigh. But we've since worked out some strategies to deal with feeding and we haven't had any more problems.

Elaine has been laid up with a bad ankle so I've ridden Chocolate a couple of times this week. I do understand why she loves it. I'm not nearly as good a rider as she is so I don't work him the way she does. Yesterday we rode on good long way on the beach and it was beautiful. Elaine and I are both looking forward to having a second horse so we can ride together. Sahara won't be that second horse for a long, long time.

There are more pictures of Sahara and Chocolate on our Flickr site.

JFK

Today is the 46th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. For trivia buffs, JFK was 46 when he was killed. That makes today something special in the Great Conspiracy Theory (but I don't know what).

For those of you old enough to remember: Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? It's one of those moments I think everyone remembers vividly. I was in the 7th grade in Mrs. Oligee's room, lined up to go home for the day when there was an announcement the President had been shot. I can still remember the way the room looked, the tall windows, even the color of the walls. I walked home crying, stopping in the office where my mother worked. Everyone there just sat in stunned silence.

I remember hearing the news that at a nearby elementary school kids actually applauded in class when it was announced that the President had been killed. Even then I was struck by how horrific that was. Whether you like or agree with the President or not, assassination is the worst possible means of changing a regime, no matter where you are but especially here in the U.S. I mean, I HATED Richard Nixon. I wanted him out of office but I never wanted him killed (for one thing it would have meant Spiro Agnew would have been President).

Was JFK a great President? I don't know. He sure made his share of mistakes (Bay of Pigs anyone? Although to be fair, the Bay of Pigs invasion strategy was developed under Eisenhower.). But he was an amazing presence during the Cuban Missile Crisis, reassuring, strong, during one of the scariest times in history. (BTW - The word is the Cuban Missile Crisis was not really about Russian nuclear missiles 90 miles from Florida. It was more about Russian nukes 200 nautical miles from what was then Ramey Air Force Base and is now the airport in Aguadilla and Roosevelt Roads naval base near San Juan. In 1962 Ramey Base was an important B-52 base. But from a public relations standpoint, going toe-to-toe with the Soviets with Florida as the target was much more impressive than if the target were Puerto Rico.) And much of what we now call the Civil Rights Movement gained support and momentum in the three short years of his presidency. On the other hand, so did our involvement in Vietnam.

I wish he had lived to fulfill the promise of "Camelot." Who knows how the world might be different today? Had he survived, he would be 92 today. Instead we will always remember him as young, vibrant, athletic (despite his chronically bad back).

Sahara - Week One update

Sahara has been with us for a week now, as of yesterday. She already looks better. Still way too skinny obviously, but looking better. Her eyes are brighter and clearer. She has more energy.

We take her for daily walks on the beach now to get her some gentle exercise and to get her used to the ocean and to walking on a lead. The first day we took her to the beach she was okay with the sand but pretty freaked out by the water and the waves. Yesterday, her third day of walking on the beach, she stood her ground in the waves and was much more curious about the salt water. You can see she is already starting to get a little muscle tone in her back legs. Coming back from the beach we actually broke into a gentle trot.

She had her hooves trimmed yesterday for only the second time in two-and-a-half years. Boy, did she need that! Joey, our ferrier, said her hooves are soft, probably from malnutrition but they MAY get stronger as her nutrition and general health improves. We'll have to wait an see about that. For now she's getting lots of grain laced with vitamins, carrots, and corn oil. She also is free to wander and graze with Chocolate.

Chocolate is starting to get over his jealousy. For her part, Sahara follows Chocolate around like a shadow. Another horse went by on the road yesterday and Chocolate decided to show off, running and galloping around the property. Sahara ran right after him, not as fast obviously, but following him around. It was fun to watch and really wonderful to see Sahara with that much energy. A week ago she was listless and would barely walk, let alone trot or run.

There is still a long road ahead, but at least she (and we!) are moving along in the right direction.

Birthdays birthdays birthdays and other celebrations

And I am so far behind posting them!

Last night we had a great surprise birthday party for Miguel. (For those who don't know, Miguel is our daughter Amy's significant other.) Miguel had not experienced a surprise party before so we did an Ola Lola's kid's birthday party - complete with peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, three kinds of chips and toy party favors. Thanks to all the family and friends who joined us to celebrate and make this a special day for Miguel. And a special thank you to Miguel's mother and brother who came for the party. It was our first opportunity to meet them. Happy Birthday, Miguel.


Last Friday (yeah, like a week ago!) we celebrated our new friend Heidi's birthday. Heidi (that's Heidi in the photo) moved to the island for work just in time to get a surprise birthday celebration at Ola Lola's. Last night we also had the pleasure of meeting Heidi's mother, Brenda Welcome to the island, Heidi! And happy birthday.

While we were celebrating Heidi's birthday on the 6th, we also celebrated our friend and once-and-future co-worker Mae's birthday. Unfortunately (for Mae and for us), Mae is in the States and not here on the island. Hope she had a great time on her birthday wherever she was. We celebrated in her honor in her absence. Happy birthday, Mae! Come home soon.

Last but far from least on Halloween night we celebrated our good friend David's birthday. David was home in California, no doubt celebrating a quiet romantic evening with his beautiful bride. Or - more likely - at one of his famous Halloween/birthday blow-out parties. Whichever it was, we hope David had a wonderful birthday. We certainly had a great time on his birthday!


And we did have a Halloween party this year, on Friday, the 30th, rather than on Halloween night. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the party.

One-day reprieve

The past month or so has been kind of an odd transition from snorkel/dive season to surf season, It's been odd because until the last week, it really hasn't been very good for either. It's been too rough and churned up for any good snorkeling or diving but the waves haven't been really good for surfing either. Last week we got some good waves - you can see lots of photos on our website, www.puertoricosurfphoto.com and some on Flickr. Then yesterday we got a one-day reprieve to go snorkeling for the first time in weeks. And it's the first time Elaine has been in the water since she fell and fractured her cheekbone weeks ago. Darryl actually went diving. Going in the ocean is like going to a spa. It is relaxing, soothing for mind, body and soul. When I'm away from it for too long (and this has bee WAY too long), I get crazy. But I'm better now. An hour soak in the ocean yesterday helped.

Today the swell is back so I'm headed out to see if I can find any surfers to photograph. Those photos (if I find any) will be up tomorrow.

Meet Sahara

Sahara is our new rescue horse. She's a two-year-old Paso Fino who desperately needs care and lots of TLC. (She's come to the right place! Finally...)

Sahara was originally owned by a man named Pete. Peter is a pretty gentle soul who owned a number of horses. He helped out around the Ramey Riding Club. And then he lost his job. He had to give up his horses. He gave Sahara to a guy, thinking he'd found her a good home. When he went to check on her, he found her in this sad state. Even though he really couldn't take care of her properly, Pete figured Sahara was better off with him than at the "new" place so he took her back. Our friend Lisa approached us about taking her. One look was all it took.

Lisa knew Sahara before things got bad; in fact Lisa has known her since birth. Lisa says she's a really sweet horse who can become a great horse. Right now she's scared, out of shape, skinny and a little skittish (who wouldn't be?). We were going to take her several weeks ago but when the fence on the property where we keep Chocolate got run over in the middle of the night (by a guy who says he wasn't drinking), we had no safe place to keep her. We've been keeping Chocolate tied on a rope since the accident but Sahara isn't rope-trained yet.

Yesterday Peter brought Sahara down to us. We kept her in our yard yesterday and last night. Today the guys repaired the fence. It's not done yet but it's safe enought to let Chocolate and Sahara loose in the pasture.

This is the first time (I think) Sahara has been allowed to roam loose. She's mostly been kept in a stall with a small yard around it. As I said, she needs lots of attention, lots of work, before much training starts.

We're not sure about the long term, whether we will keep her. For now, our job is to take care of her, get her heathy and strong and begin training her to get some muscle-tone on her. After that, we'll see. Stay tuned here for updates.

Far far behind

I don't know how I got so far behind in writing this blog. I think this is the longest I've ever gone without a post. Way too long! To those who check this regularly - and who have just about given up! - I apologize. I confess that now that we're on Facebook, I wind up using that as a kind of shorthand. It's easy to post something quick and dirty and let it go at that. But I really will try to get back to posting some longer thoughts/news here on a much more regular basis.

It's not that there is nothing to write about - there is still lots to write about. Although after three years (almost) living here some things have become routine, living here is still a great adventure! We continue to meet new people every week. For example, this week we met two families from North Dakota. Both of the young women were born here, in Isabela, but now they live in ND. Talk about culture shock! I hope I get to talk with them a little more to find out what their story is. Last night a couple from Boston came back to Ola Lola's for their second time. Sunday night they came for drinks; last night they came back for dinner. Hannah was the first one to order Elaine's famous (infamous?) peanut butter-and-sweet-relish burger. It sounds like a strange combination, but she loved it!

And we get to reconnect with our extended Ola Lola family. Our friends David and Stanley (from Royal Isabela Golf Club) have been here this weekend. It's always great to see them. Brian and Alfred and Larry are here to kite surf take advantage of the trade winds and the first big surf swell of the season. Since the waves are big but pretty disorganized, I suspect Charlie will be out with his kite today as well. We do miss Eric and Poppy though. I could pretty much count on Eric being out any time there was wind. Oh yeah, we miss their company and friendship too.

Much more to come - people, places, updates from Lola's Corner and beyond. Stay tuned.

A week into and out of the darkness

It's been kind of a weird wild week here on Lola's Corner. Monday afternoon the power went off - for the fourth or fifth time in a week - and this time it stayed off for more than 24 hours. In a lot of ways, we wouldn't mind. As long as we can keep the beer and drinks cold at Ola Lola's, hanging out with candles and lanterns is kinda fun. But the kitchen closes and that's a drag for guests and the business alike. And then there is the 'fridge - and what's in it. We managed to save most stuff by putting refrigerated stuff in coolers on ice and taking frozen stuff to a friend's house. But we still lost some food. The electric company will hear about that!

The other problem is my dependency/addiction to my computer. There is access to the Internet of course but there is also all the photography work I do on the computer. And now here I am - power is back on but two of our computers, including our 6-week-old one, are in the shop. Our BIG desktop won't start up at all and our new one keeps crashing. I'm writing this on our new little laptop, not much more than a netbook, really. But it does keep me connected.

Tomorrow night is the Ola Lola's Halloween Party. We have a special food menu with Graveyard Ghoul-losh, Swamp Monster Slaw, and Sweet Crispy Brain Cell Balls. It you are in the neighborhood drop by. Costumes optional but preferred,

Fuel storage fire in San Juan

Most of you probably have heard by now about the huge fuel storage fire near San Juan. An explosion caused 15 of 40 fuel storage tanks at the depot to burn. This happened late Thursday night into Friday morning. Authorities don't know yet what caused the initial explosion. There have been the usual wild rumors - nuclear attack, terrorists, an escalation of the protests over government layoffs - but so far no one seems to know.

Traffic was halted in and around San Juan for a while. As far as we have heard, there were no deaths or injuries.

The explosion and fire were about 50 miles east of us and posed no danger to us. There are questions about the fallout from the smoke in the atmosphere, especially when it rains. And of course everyone expects gasoline prices - which have been going up the past week anyway - to skyrocket. We'll see.

For now, we'll just be grateful no one was injured and that we are so far away from it and don't have go near it.

Congratulaltions Jim and Chandra

Congratulations to our friends Jim and Chandra who got married yesterday. This picture is from the pre-wedding party they had at the pool/clubhouse of their condo complex. Congrautlations you two. Have a long and wonderful life together!

Yola on the beach

Early Sunday morning another yola came ashore at Shacks Beach. This one is small, not much bigger than a rowboat. Apparently it made the crossing from the Dominican Republic with people in it, but we don't know how many. Small boats like this are more frequently used for drug drops than people-running. But we know there was at least one refugee: he turned up at one of our friend's homes in the middle of the night, hungry, thirsty, and scared enough to want to go back. He asked our friends to call the police so they could pick him up and send him back. Two Customs and Border Protection officers were happy to oblige.

The boat, a single layer of fiberglass already fractured where the side wall meets the bottom, is still on our beach. We and others have made several unsuccesful attempts to contact the DRNA (Natural Resources Department) about getting it off the beach before high tides and waves wash it back into the pool inside the reef and it breaks up, either on the reef or on the rocks at the edge of the beach. Someone managed to flip it over so it's now upside down with the stern toward the water. At least it is less likely to wash off the beach that way.

The first (and we hope LAST) Ola Lola's WTF (What the Flood) Party

Wow! I've said since we moved here that this little corner of the island is magical. And its greatest magic is the people. Last night y'all proved it again.

If you read our last post, you know that last week we had a flash flood in Bajuras. A friend of ours was nearly swept away in her car. Her car was damaged somewhere between expensive-to-fix and not-enough-left-for-parts.

Last night our community turned out for our first (and we hope last) WTF party. As part of the party, we had a silent art auction to raise money to help our friend repair/replace her car. Every item in the auction sold. We exceeded our fundraising goal for the night. And we had a bunch 'o fun doing it.

Most of the auction items were paintings by world-famous artist, Kurt Ziegler, who graciously donated his work. As word spread (quickly! since we only started putting the event together on Wednesday, five days before), others - Derek, Lourdes from Bamboo Art, Elaine from Fusion Art and Floral, Rosie from Serenity Massage - also donated items to the auction. Thank you all. And a huge thank you to all the people who brought food for the potluck - Sarah, Cookie, Mike and Val, Susan, Suzanne, George and Mary, Ron and Tina, and I know I'm forgetting a couple of people - sorry! Elaine was so busy with the auction, she couldn't make food too. Y'all made this special evening even better.

So more people would have an opportunity to participate - people who couldn't get here in personbut who want to help, to contribute - we reserved four original paintings for an online auction. Those four paintings go up on Ebay today (Monday) at noon AST/EDT. You can view/bid on them by going to Ebay.com and searching for "Kurt Ziegler painting" or for one of these item numbers:
270468970191 ("Point Break");
270468978243 ("Costa");
270468972140 ("Waterfalls");
270468979516 ("Small World").

Check them out. Here is your chance to own a beautiful piece of original art and to help out some great people. Bid early and bid often! And have fun! BTW - the image at the top is "Point Break."

Finally, thank you from the bottoms of our hearts to everyone in our wonderful community who came out and supported us and this event, and who so generously opened their hearts and pockets to help someone in need. Enjoy your new art works for years to come.

Flood update

Well, we're pretty nearly cleaned up and ready to open Ola Lola's today. Monday in the storm was the officially our worst business night ever. Thank you to Lisa, Brian and Zan who came out anyway.

This Sunday we are having the first (and we hope the last) Ola Lola's WTF (What the Flood?) party. As part of the party, we are have a silent auction fundraiser to help a friend repair/replace a car that was severely damaged in the flood. We have several paintings by world-famous artist Kurt Ziegler to auction. Several other people are donating other items as well, including a car-detailing and original Bamboo Art.

Proyecto update: the Developers cleared all the vegetation out of the project area so when the huge rain came, there was nothing to hold to the soil or to slow down the water runoff. So, massive amonts of water roared down the road (that was part of the water that trapped our friend) carrying massive amounts of dirt to the ocean. Added to that was dirt and mud eroded from the bare cliffs where they quarry rock from the mountainside, just upstream from us. (Some of what they quarry there is the fill for the proyecto.) So now we have the worst situation: we have none of the "protections" against erosion and water runoff to the ocean the Developer promised for the completed project, and, because all the vegetation has been stripped away, none of the natural protection that was in place before the Developer messed with it. Oh, and I guess they really are done with the project (for now at least). The contractor hauled his last big bulldozer out of there this morning.

You can see photos of the aftermath of the flood around the project here. In some of the pictures you'll notice there was enough force of water and mud to bend the metal fence out.

Beach town day

Sunday was a reminder of why we moved here, about what we love about beach towns.

I was down at Middles Beach KAPping the Corona Pro surf competition. (Click on the picture to see more photos on our website, www.PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com.) There was little/no surf, but it was still a fun party on the beach. Even driving through Jobos was fun. It wasn't so crowded at noon that cars and people blocked the road so traffic was actually moving, slowly but moving. But that's how traffic is in a beach town. Fun music poured out of a couple of bars, people were carrying coolers and umbrellas to the beach. It reminded me of great beach weekends at South Haven and Grand Haven on Lake Michigan. Those beaches are why we wanted to live in beach town in the first place.

When I got back home, power had come back on so I didn't have to put the no-electricity Plan B for opening Ola Lola's into affect. I got to take the dogs swimming and spend a little more time on our nearly empty, uncrowded stretch of beach. AND THIS IS IN OCTOBER! A big part of me didn't want to give up the beach to come open Ola Lola's. But Lola's is very much a part of the beach...

We interrupt this idyllic scene with a reality check. Last night we got hit with the second-worst flash flood since we've been here. Lots of rain and lightening and thunder. We thought we were okay when the rain stopped and the little bit of water in the yard started receding. They must have released water from the overflowing retention ponds up on top of the mountain into our little river because the water came up so fast. Literally all of a sudden our yard, bar, the road, everything was full of brown muddy water. A friend of ours was nearly swept away in her car in the dark.

Now it's morning. One of the "good" things about these floods is they don't last long, a couple of hours instead of days or weeks. We were up pretty late cleaning up and we have a lot more to do today. All the people and all the animals are okay. The bar survived it. Now I just have to wash every beer bottle and every glass we own. We cleaned all the water and mud out of the bar last night and started drying it out. We're okay. It's just not how I'd planned to spend the first day of our weekend.

What a week (so far)!

Whew - it's only Wednesday!

Monday night was our big pig-roast and Everybody in September Birthday Party. It was "big fun" as Zan puts it for everybody. Lots of great food. (Thank you Cookie for the Seven-layer Dip, Sarah for the arroz y habitualas, Ana for the charlota cake, Andy and Natassia for the chocolate cake [which Elaine is still enjoying], Sharon for cake, goodies and the beautiful glasses. I know I've left out people and contributions - I'm sorry. My brain is fried. More on that in a moment.) Door prizes. Gifts. And a wonderful roast pig. I know our vegetarian friends take issue with this but it's so-o good.

Yesterday morning was spent collecting paperwork from various PR government offices to renew our bar license. Today I spent NINE HOURS standing in line/waiting to actually renew the license. Once I finally got in the office - about 2:00 pm after getting to the office (which opens at 8:00) at 7:30 am - it only took an hour-and-a-half to actually get the license. At 7:30 I was about number 60 in line. But we have it. Ola Lola's is good to go for another year!

Because I'vee been tied up with the license stuff, I missed the last good day of diving at Shacks and the first good swell of the surf season. We're all hoping for a good swell this weekend for the Corona Pro surf competition at Middles. I'm also hoping for a bit o' breeze so I can KAP the event. There will be a lot of photographers on the beach and maybe one or two in the water. I like to do something different. In the meantime, I'm going out tomorrow to see if there are a few little waves left over.

Breakfast on the reef

I love going out on the reef early in the morning. I love the way the light hits it, the way the colors show up and how alive it feels.

Yesterday Darryl, Trevor and I went out for another "breakfast club" dive. To be honest, it wasn't as good a dive as the spectacular dive the day before - but then very few dives are that good. Still, it's a beautiful dive and an amazing way to start the day. And, at the risk of repeating myself, I'm always grateful when a few thousand fish let me share their living room.

I went out snorkeling early this morning, taking advantage of the days we have left to snorkel and dive the reef at Shacks. Surf season is nearly upon us. Very soon we won't be able to go to the outside or to the west end of the reef. Forecasters are saying the first swell of the season is coming by midweek. Oh, gee! Then it will be back to photographing surfers instead of fish. It's a tough life but somebody's gotta live it.

An awesome way to start the day

Darryl and I went for an early morning dive on the outside reef at Shacks this morning. What an awesome way to start a day. I may not be the best dive buddy Darryl has (I suck air so dives tend to be shorter than he/we would like), but I can pretty much guarantee nobody likes it more.

This morning was a world-class dive by any standard. Beautiful water with great visibility, a vibrant reef with thousands of fish flashing in this amazing slanting early morning light. Wow!

So this morning we swam with a good sized barracuda, a spotted eagle ray (who swam with us for quite a while), a southern stingray, a bunch of French angelfish, a queen angelfish, a Gray angelfish (which isn't very common around here), blue and brown chromis, and a couple of thousand other fish who let us hang around in their living room for a while. Thank you.

I haven't been taking my camera when I'm diving. I'm concentrating on being a better diver - improving my buoyancy, improving my air consumption, staying relaxed. Most people are nervous at the beginning of a dive when they first go down; I'm just the opposite. I get more nervous and tend to use more air at the end of a dive. Go figure. I'm hoping to get some pictures of this morning's dive from Darryl. When I do, I'll post them.

After that great start, on with the day!

Project "progress"

For the past week there has been no work at all at the Project site. It looks like they've just stopped.

There have been a couple of related thoughts as to why. It appears the Developer didn't intend to go any farther at this time. He may/probably doesn't have financing. But he needed to do something to keep the permits active and to show prospective buyers that something is happening at the site.

So now we have no work and this ugly hole. Guess it beats the steady parade of trucks going by all day and all the dust and dirt and diesel fumes.

Limpio todas las costas

"Lucy - you got some catching up to do..."

Yesterday was the International All Coasts clean-up. We helped out at Jobos for a while. There were also people picking up trash at Shacks, Montones and other beaches.

I know the trash needs to be picked up but it kinda annoys me that "we" are doing it and not the people who put the trash there in the first place. I mean, if you're gonna smoke on the beach, how hard is it to pick up your butts and take them with you? Put 'em in a empty beer can or bottle. Oh, and then take the can or bottle with you. Don't leave it on the beach. That's another thing - you carried those beer containers to the beach. Carry 'em out with you. They are easier to carry out because they are empty! It's the backpackers' rule: Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures/memories.

Anyway, the beaches look a lot better today. Thank you to everybody who helped! And thank you, Lourdes, for organizing the local clean-up.

Back from a great weekend!

We're back home again after a great weekend at the 31st Annual Frank Mots Kite Festival in Milwaukee! The weather was beautiful, the winds cooperated and we had a fabulous time flying kite ballet performances for huge crowds both Saturday and Sunday.

We got a HUGE surprise when we arrived at the field on Saturday. Our dear dear friend Donna presented us with this beautiful custom built 8' rokkaku kite. Donna is an amazing seamstress and kite builder. She has built more custom appliqued kites for festival sponsors than I care to think about. Thank you so much, Donna. We had to ship the rods for our new rok but as soon as they get here, you'll see photos of this beautiful kite flying over Bajuras.

To see some wonderful KAP (kite aerial photography) photos of the event, check out Dan Brinnehl's Flickr page. Dan is a great friend and one of the most talented KAPpers I know. Scott Fisher, the festival's organizer, also does video clips and posts them on YouTube. You can see our interview here. And there are lots more.

As always, it was great to see friends and hang out on a kite field. When we were in the States, we used perform or compete at 10 or 12 festivals a year. Many of our very best friends are from the kiting community. It is one of the (few) things we miss being this far away from the Midwest.
We love Milwaukee, the town, the people, the festival site.

Thank you, Scott Fisher of Gift of Wings for a wonderful weekend - beautiful weather, great friends, great crowds, great kite flying at one of the top 10 kite flying sites in the country. We're already looking forward to being back in May, 2010.

Happy birhtdays!

Happy birthday to Elaine and Michelle and Vicki and Don and Donald and Miza and and and and...

Lots of birthdays in September - which is why we celebrate them all at once at the Ola Lola's Everybody in September Birthday Party. This year's party is Monday, September 28. We will have lechon (a pig roast) and since it is also a potluck, there will lots of yummy wonderful go-withs. It's our biggest party of the fall.

And another reminder - Ola Lola's is closed this weekend, September 11, 12, 13, and 14. We'll be offline for a while starting tonight. So if you e-mail us and we don't respond right away, it's 'cause we won't get your message 'til sometime next week. Ola Lola's will be back for more fun and adventure on Friday, September 18. See ya then!

"Progress"(?) on the Proyecto

Some people have asked us for an update on the condo project up the road in Shacks. This is what it looks like now. They spent two weeks hauling in rock (that yellowish strip on the left) and this week hauling out dirt and debris. Two sides of the area are now closed in behind a big metal fence.

This was shot from above the dune looking south, away from the ocean. The road past Ola Lola's is just past the bare dirt in the center of the photo; the road up to Villa Tropical and the beach is along the right edge of the project property.

Happy September!

Okay, it's a couple of days past the beginning of the month but what the heck. September always starts with my father's birthday on the 1st. He used to say his birthday was easy to remember: it was the day World War II started. (Hitler and the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. My father was 15.) He would have turned 85 were he still with us. He was killed in an automobile accident in 1982. Happy birthday, Dad, wherever you are.

Speaking of birthdays, get ready for Ola Lola's "Everybody in September Birthday Bash." This huge part is coming up on Monday, September 28. We're planning lechon (roast pig), we'll have a DJ, lots of people will bring very special dishes to share AND we'll get to celebrate a whole lot of birthdays, including Elaine's. So if your on the island - or if you can get here - Ola Lola's is THE place to be on the 28th.

Wait - Ola Lola's is the place to be EVERY weekend, but the "Everybody in September Birthday Bash" is a very special don't-miss-it event.

on health care

No one should die, go blind, or be crippled because they can't afford health care. No one should go broke because they get sick. No one should be unable to change jobs because of a "pre-existing condition."

TS Erika

Looks like we're getting our closest encounter yet with a tropical storm. The current tracking forecast has Tropical Storm Erika passing right straight across the island over the next 30 hours or so. We're feeling some effects of the outer bands already. The good news Erika is a poorly organized storm and is expected to weaken tonight. Indications are she will be down to a tropical depression (sustained winds below 39 mph) before she reaches the east coast of PR and then will probably weaken a bit more as she crosses the island.

We were talking to Amy last night about Erika; she was concerned about the wind strength. I said "yeah, but look at it this way: we had 40 mph winds in Michigan - but it was usually about 10 degrees. Here a least it's still 84 degrees. Even at 40 mph, the wind chill is, oh, about 80."

Stay tuned. We'll let you know how it turns out.

Another sad farewell

Elaine and Mae having way too much fun in the kitchen.

For the past month Elaine has had help in the kitchen. She brought Mae in as an experiment, knowing that she would be leaving soon if it didn't work out. Well, having Mae with us was more than successful. She fit in beyond our wildest dreams. And now she's gone. At least temporarily. She's going back to New Jersey to her teaching job. But she will be back, back to the island and back to Ola Lola's. In the mean time, we wish her all the best. She has left a mighty big void to fill.

Knowing Mae was leaving, we kinda a figured something would work itself out if having her here was successful. And so it has. We are very very lucky that our friend Lacy is available to step in and take over in Mae's absence. Lacy is a wonderful awesome lady in her own right and she's going to fit right in. By the time Mae can come back, we'll be ready to have both of them here!

Thank you, Mae, for showing us how it can be. And thank you Lacy for helping us take the next steps!

Mae and Jorge Monday night, Mae's last night (for a while) at Ola Lola's.