first entry since start up, I'm so embarassed

oh my gosh, I thought for sure that I would be doing this every day but hey, I'm like the other 500,000 bloggers who create a blog every day, and only make one entry. ;(

well, this is the start of actually logging on and blogging on.

I had hoped that I would be able to get on the internet at the house but alas, not to be. So ihave been journaling at the house on my ibook and hoping to transcribe all my great thoughts when I ocme down. again, it hasn't happened.

First, we are having a great winter here on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. We have spent the month getting things up and running again and finishing off last year's projects. That is the way it goes in the developing world... one has to constantly keep working on projects, old anmd new, just to stay ahead of the decaying infrastructure. The reasons are many and some of them are 1. the materials used originally in the villa were of poor quality. That was all that was available at the time of construction in 1985. 2. The materials that might have replaced the first things ( light switches for example,) were skimped upon, in an effort to save money 3. The weather destroys even the best of materials. We are talking humidity that is pretty high, likely over 75% most of the time. that is with the trade winds blowing!!!. What the moisture doesn't get, the sun and light will. All of our beautiful vegtable dyed rugs are so very faded and the upholstery that was so vibrant only 3 short years ago, is pale and listless. We swear by duct tape (doo tappy), silicone, more silicone, and muriatic acid ... the necessities of life down here. over and out for now.

New Years Day 2006

The sun is setting behind Pleasant Mt. in West Rockport Maine. I am so darned lucky to be here with my clever grandaughter Alice who is setting us all up with blog sites today. Since I fly out of Portland, PWM, for Sosua, Dominican Republic POP, it seems like the right time to get this blog off the ground ;)

We never travel light when going to the DR because we have to pack in everything that we will need for the next 4 months. Many items that make life easier are available, but they are outdated and exhorbident. So we take in paper towels, toilet paper, peanut butter, Febreeze, salad dressing mixes, a #15 frozen turkey, cranberry sauce, rhubarb jam; things our neighbors need us to smuggle in, like a headphone set with USB terminal, 5 rolls of 1/8" masking tape, french vanilla coffee creamer, Little Debbie brownies. yikes, the list goes on. There are 4 duffle bags weighing #68 each, in the back of the Subaru Forester. Our limit is still #70 since we got our tickets in August, but from here on the limit will be #50.

We are hoping to beat the snowstorm heading in on Tuesday. Hopefully the next post will be from Sosua where we will have successfully smuggled that damned turkey in past the guys looking for just that sort of thing to exhort a few extra US dollars out of us.