Chain Saw Massacre!!!!

Never did I think that the day would come where I would take a chain saw to my own boat! Well today was that day as I went about redoing my transom.

From Beach to snow

Here is the jet setter horse Friday. In June he was on the beach swimming in turquoise waters in Bermuda; in December he is in the snow in the mountains of North Carolina!!!!!

We always knew she was bad with numbers.......

Merry Christmas everyone!!
We always knew our friend Naz was bad with numbers however this most recent incident set her apart. When Chris asked Naz to get an 8 foot Christmas tree this is what she ended up getting, kind of like holding up 9 fingers and saying there will be 7 for dinner!!!!!!!

My Gosh we have changed some more than others..........

As we all get older we change but then some change more than others.................................. Want to see more

It looks like a new vessell is being added to the BPKC fleet!!!!!

The marine surveyor has it out for sea trials today to ensure that it meets the high standards of the BPKC fleet - here by November maybe?????

Finally, our "First" birthday!!!!!!!

After more than 49 years "Dad" showed up for our "1st, 2nd and 3rd" birthady party bearing gifts!!!! The evening progressed to 3 birthday cakes, 3 renditions of "Happy birthday to you" and finally ending with pin the tail on the donkey where it was discovered that Jonathon has no sense of direction without a GPS. All this time we thought that "Dad" knew how to drive, apparently not!!!!!!

New toy / Upgraded transit

I had the oppurtunity to be involved with a company that wanted to move their files from Bermuda to Dublin in style....Spoke to the pilots and we can rent a 6 - 8 seater for about $1500.00 / hour; Bahamas here we come its only a 1 3/4 trip to Nassau direct!!!!!!!!!!

The Pekus & Rozon Deception

"Doctor and Nurse Pervo cordially invite you to attend their private marriage of inconvenience at the Bermuda Registry on Friday, September 4, 2009, at 3:30 PM to be followed by a cocktail vedding deception from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
The future Pervo couple are registered at H.S.B.C., Gosling's, and Burrows, Lightbourne. Money and Liquor are never refused, though the recepients will know exactly how much (or how little) you think of them!!! (It's best to send nothing and leave them guessing)."

The great deception took place following the legalized merger of Dr and Nurse Pervo, the pictures can be witnessed here

Goodbye Friday!!!!!!! Off to boarding school he goes.

Give Good Friday some groceries and he will just about go anywhere with anyone, that's certainly the way it was with him tonight as he left Hinson Hall for the last time(maybe?????) boarded the trailer and went to the LF Wade International Airport. As he stood in the trailer waiting to get into his container stall he looked around as if excited about the whole thing, well at least he could care less. Into his container he went with Caruso and a HUGE bag of hay and Friday thought he was in heaven. After all 3 horses were in the container they were hoisted high into the air and then gently slid into the Cargo Jet 727; at just after 7PM the plane departed for its 2 hour journey to Newark. He will spend 2 days in quarantine before he begins his 15 hour drive to join his Mother in Asheville NC. Good luck Friday! Pictures are here

Ashley goes off to boading school

Well yesterday we took Ashley off to the Ashville School for the beginning of the next adventure in her life - living away from home at boarding school. The school really is amazing with the most beautiful 300 acre campus one could imagine, the friendliest teachers and staff and students every parent would want due to the politness, friendliness etc. So even when it got to 6.15 PM and we had to say our goodbyes Donna was able to walk out without shedding a tear (it may come later); she said this was only due to the fact that she knew she was leaving Ashley at a good place. After the parents left the school had planned a "Pig out" a southern BBQ with dixie band and square dancing etc, it seems that Ash was having a good time after we left (she is in the pink shirt on the right).

Summer is here!!!!

So what does a princess do on a summers afternoon in a tropical island??? First you invite 6 friends to go out boating, then you ask if it is OK and when you are told yes we can do that you express your desire to go cliff jumping at diving board island first followed by an afternoon of tubing. Just to be sure you have a good time you also make mention of your need to have a new tube.....Add all this together and you get this!!!!

Another dream come true!!!!!

Ever since Ashley was very young and more importantley since she got Friday, it has been her dream to take her horse to the beach; wel today for the first time she got to live that dream. More pictures

Bruce and Lucy get married!!!

Yesterday Bruce finally went "through the trees" marrying wonderful Lucy. The reception was most fun with everyone enjoying themselves.




Pictures can be seen here

"A Big Girl Moment!!!!"

Donna's family love to talk about moments in their young girls lives that they refer to as a "Big Girl Moment" - today was such a day for Ashley. She passed her bike test yesterday and she and I went down to TCD to get her license this afternoon. After she got over the shock of it taking an hour and my complaining that you hurry up and wait, (and her telling me to be quiet as I might upset them) we came out with a beaming 16 year old girl saying "I got my license.

We then went home where she hopped on her bike (already pre loaded with girl stuff) for her first official ride to her Granny's, and here is the moment of Ashley on Front Street strutting her stuff - very well I might add as I followed her on her first journey!!!!

What a horrible life....................

Ashley and her friend Shelly rode their horses down to the Arboretum early Sunday morning and asked me to come and take pictures of them. They galloped, (flat out) and jumped and just had a blast. See more pitures at http://picasaweb.google.com/Bananapatchnews/Arboretum_030809#

A day out boating!!!!

Yesterday we had a day out on the high seas in "Play Penn;" the day was absolutley gourgoes with a slight swell from the south bright and sunny. We saw 3 groups of humpback whales, caught a mackeral and saw the largest hammerhead shark I have ever seen, about 10 - 12 feet I think. Anyway it was just a great day had by all.

Ash gets her bike!!!!

Well she may have told us she never wanted a bike but after doing project ride everything changed. Yesterday Ashley got her bike however still has to wait a couple of weeks before she gets her license. There will be lots of practice riding in the Botanical Gardens between now and then!!!!!

Ashley's HorseShow 2/21/09

Pictures of Ashley's dressage show today are at
http://picasaweb.google.com/Bananapatchnews/Horseshow_022109?authkey=34Ztxo630cU#

The bet has been paid!!!!!

For those that don't know my sister in law, Diana, had a bet where the loser would have to mow the lawn of the winner - needless to say she lost. After several weeks of winding her up Diana finally gave us a date of February 14th, Valentines day, as she wanted to show her love for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diana showed up at 10 ish (amazing for her as she is known for her sleeping) to cut the grass. Hat and vibration reduction device in hand; I started the mower for her and off she went. I have to admit I wasn't convinced she would do it all but sure enough she did. So here you go the pictures to prove it. At the end Diana had to lay down to rest before joining Anne for a glass of wine, meanwhile her dog Coco spent the entire day (literally) in the pool.

Banana Patch Kennel Club

BPKC saw two new ridgeback additions when Queesha and little Tanga showed up to play with Kruger yesterday; all dogs (including labs) got on very well.

Admirals lounge, Buenos Aires airport

Friday night on the Drake passge proved that everyone must pay the Drake tax and we got to experience teh Drake Shake to the point that a few times during the night I had to grip the headboard of the bed as I thought the ship would throw me out. Anyway we arrived in Ushuia at Midnight last night.....needless to say Micahel and I were still up having a couple of fairawy cocktails.

This morning we were awoken at 6.30 in order to disembark and fly to Buenos aires where we are now. So after an overnight flight to Miami we go to Atlanta and then on home. We will see everyone soon.

Kennel club this weekend...... we will be serving tea and cookies.

Sorry to say goodbye......

Yesterday was our final day on the Antarctic Penninsular with two landings on the continent itself. The afternoon blew us away; we saw first hand the effects of global warming as the temperature hovered between 45 and 50 degrees; so warm we were mostly down to long underwear t-shirts only. We went on the second hike of the day climbing a couple of hundred feet to overlook the glacier, (beautiful views) and then snow slide back down; Diana actually rode down acidently on a mini avalanche, we were all amused but I don't think she was. I got to witness a huge block of ice fall into the ocean which created a mini tsunami. As we rode the zodiacs back toward the boat 3 Minki whales surfaced about 10 feet away and stayed with us for 5 minutes or so. Then we cruised off toward a "surprise" that the ships staff had been telling us about - this was a zodiac moored to an iceburg serving champers in the middle of a flat calm bay with tons of ice bergs flating around with indescribale mountain views so we could toast our amazing voyage. During the evening we had a pod of 17 killer whales right next to the boat (I took about 100 pictures in a 7 minutes period - now up to about 1800). As we were crusiing the bays and channels the captain announced that we were cruising to one more bay so they could drop off the mail - we litterally crusied to this tiny remote wooden hut that was on a tiny island - they lowered a zodiac and one of the crew ran all postcards etc to the island so they could officially be mailed and stamped from Antarctica - the captain really does treat this ship like it is a run-about, very cool. Th evening ended with Michael, Donna and I having cocktails to the wee hours with Rob, Cindy and Morris and watching an amazing sunset at 12.30 AM; we could not have asked for better.

So now we are crossing the dreaded Drake passage and I have seen rougher water in Paradise Lake, in fact the crew are referring to the conditions as the Drake Lake!!! The cruise director Yanni says if the conditions continue as they are the captain will have another suprsie for us - one can only imagine. We have two days at sea and then into Ushia where we should arrive early Sunday morning. We then fly straight home and arrive Mondya afternoon in Bermuda.

Happy New Year!!!!!

What a way to end the year - it could not have been more magical. We had a wonderful diiner (it was so sunny they had to pull down the window shades) put on by the ship and then went to the Darwin lounge (the ships lecture hall / night club) to watch a comedy show put on by Kevin (the hots of the TV show Emergency Vet) which was hysterical; as it was so bright outside someone looks out the window and yells "killer whales"; sure enough with a quick glance there is a pod of about 7 killer whales swimming toward the ship. The entire room empties in a micro second as everyone runs to their rooms for their jackets hats gloves and cameras. When I get up on the main deck there they are swimming off of the bow of the ship; watch them and take a few photos before they swim off. Back to the lounge by 11.40 to watch the end of the show. The show ends at about 11.55 and we wait for the New Year count down - oh by the way forgot to mention who the star of this show was!!!! During dinner Yanni the cruise director comes to our table to talk to Phoebe and says that as she is the youngest passenger she gets to count down the new years and blow the ships horn at midnight (merchant navy tradition apparently). So there we are in the Darwin lounge, bright daylight outside, glass of champers in hand, beautiful snow capped mountains on both sides of the ship with Phoebe counting down; 10 - 9 - 8- 7.......... it could not have been more amazing! We heard this morning that there was a humpback right off of the stern at midnight.

So this morning we were woken up bright and early (7.00 AM) for a 800 foot mountain hike, the snow and ice was knee deep, Michael was the only one in our group that made it to the top. Then it was a zodiac trip looking at the magnificent icebergs while penguins swam all around the boat.

Yesterday afternoon was spent in the zodiacs in "iceberg alley" this was a bay that was filled with the most spectacular icebergs, the shapes, sizes and colors blew us away yet again. You cannot possibly imaging how big these things are even with pictures you dont get a perspective on the size until you get along side of them, (some are bigger than our ship). To cap this all of at we are cruising around we see a leopard seal basking on a berg; so we go over to see and get within 10 feet, they are strange creatures very snake like in appearence. As we are there drifting around a group of penguins comes over to swim right in front of the seal as if to taunt it - my predator and prey in the same picture are very cool.

We have been incredibly blessed with weather it has been out of this world in fact the expedition leader. Lou says that someone on this boat is blessed as this never happens. So one last expedition this afternoon and we head back across the dreaded Drake Channel toward Ushia where we should arrive by Sunday morning!!!!!!!!!