Easter Bonnets

I can't believe that I have been here for 3 years - and am just now realizing that the children have a big todo with their Easter bonnets!  This was the picture in this mornings newspaper.  I am hoping that maybe there will be a parade of these cute little bonnets on Easter morning at Queens Park.  Just like they do with Christmas morning at the park.  If so, more pictures to come.

I was in a toy store earlier this week and while standing in the checkout line, noticed that the lady in front of me had some really cute Easter things - like bunny rabbits on a stick.  I smiled.  It brought back a lot of great memories of mine as a mother with small children.  I loved making up their Easter baskets - almost as much as Christmas morning.  I asked her was she getting her Easter baskets ready and she said, "Oh no, this is for the Easter bonnet!"  She told me that the schools usually have Easter bonnet parades.  Now, a few days later - this was on the back page of the newspaper.  I sure hope that I can get some real pictures of these adorable children and their Easter bonnets.  Isn't it interesting how different cultures/countries celebrate these holidays? In the USA, I'm not sure I have ever heard/seen a school that put on an Easter bonnet parade.  But, there are tons of children that wake up to an Easter basket on Easter morning.

I saw this submarine outside my kitchen window this morning.  Man, what a view!

This is what I'm saying!  :)

I can not leave Gary for a minute on the beach!  He's just a chic magnet wherever we go!

Two guys drive onto the beach last Saturday - pulled out their scuba gear (plus these harpoons!) and walked right into the water and climbed right into their boat - and they were off.  I bet they had fun - probably as much fun as other guys do at playing golf?

You know, I mentioned earlier in this blog about how different countries celebrate holidays.  But, it became really clear to me after living here for a little while - that Barbados enjoys a sport that is not seen much in the USA - cricket!  I don't understand the game, but it is fun to watch them.  This particular beach that we were at on Saturday - there were a group of men that showed up around 4:00 - and really wanted all the sunbathers to move so that they could set up their cricket game right there on the beach!  This is the second time this has happened at this particular beach - I think we are on to something here.  It is a lot of fun to watch them, though.

Well, since the cricketers wanted us to leave the beach, we just went back home and did a sundowner.  I like this shot of the sunset - with the 2 stripes going through it.  Kind of neat, I think.

This shot was taken a couple of days ago.  This is sea weed from the Sargasso Sea.  It is just way too much.  The island is really having a problem with it now.  This is Gary looking at it along a stretch of our morning walk.  That seaweed was at least 8 inches thick in most places!  If you are wondering how Barbados dealt with it:  they left it for a few days - it dried out somewhat - and the tide rising and falling also engulfed some of it back and also covered more of it with sand - and then, the government workers came in to the popular beach sites and shoveled the remaining portions up and put in heaps at the edges of the beach.  But, this seaweed is really bad for the island in a number of ways:  bad for the tourists, bad for the fishermen, and bad for people like me that wanted to collect sea shells.

This, my dear friends, is a jellyfish.  It had washed up on shore amongst all the seaweed.  This is what you do not want to come in contact with in the water.  Oh, this reminds me of a few weekends back.  Gary and I went to Crane Beach for our Saturday beach day - and this little boy started screaming bloody murder.  He had gotten a bad sting from one of these fish.  His mother scooped him up and ran toward a group of local men.  One of them immediately went into action and took the little boy consoling him, asked for a jug of fresh water and poured it over the sting, got some ointment and put that on him and then told the mother to walk her son up and down the beach, that that would help the pain subside quicker.  

Enough of the sea weed and jellyfish - look at this garden!  This is a lady's yard that sits right on the beach.  Can you believe that people actually get to live out the remainder of their lives in a paradise such as this?  

Notice the smirk on Gary's face?  He loves this board that has been built in the back of a hotel that is being torn down and then rebuilt.  It is funny to him because we know there is no way that the hotel will be opening in 2012!  :)  About 3 years ago, a Marriott Courtyard was being built here - and so Gary went to the website to see when it would be opening and it stated "coming soon 2007" - it was then 2011!  So, I guess when we visit Barbados in another 2 years - that this board might still be up?  :)

I put this picture from the back of the newspaper in here.  It is featuring the story that I had put in my blog earlier - about the guy that was shot in the knee because he was allegedly stealing some hams from the Super Centre and was fleeing the scene.  I love the way the newspaper releases these type of stories.