WHAT A GIFT EACH OF YOU ARE TO ME
ENJOYED MY BIRTHDAY
FEEL CELEBRATED AND LOVED
WROTE THIS & WANT TO SHARE
The New & Different here
Puppy imprint on toilet paper
Sign, “don’t touch star fish;
it’s how they breathe”
Green sea water; reef so close
See the breaking surf
Pleasant afternoons
Watching the comings and goings
Sail boats, big boats, tour operators
So much construction
Garbage all over
No useful stuff laying around
Fist bumps between friends
Man with a gun at atm
No fisherman
Wak Mart grocery store
Holiday; Independence 1981
17,000 population
27 degrees day and night
I have a heat rash
Internet works great
Four years since we travelled
Water taxi travelling fast
Clothes on lines
Plane after plane
Sometimes
Not one minute between
Mangroves being cut down
Condos being built
Contractor disappeared with workers’ wages
Says a woman wondering
Who can you trust?
Makes orange & pineapple juice
2 am and sells all day
From a cooler
I in the ocean
Float in the sea water
Fish touches me
Pelican to the right
Children’s moon above
Frigate to the left (big bird)
“Doesn’t get any better than this”
Says Bob
Birthday party time
Guatemalan goods being sold
On the beach
Stray dog follows us
For over an hour one day
Most dogs off leash except
Saw a “Pampered Paws” shop
Walking dogs, boarding dogs
Found an art gallery; public library
Gun shop above; A-K47’s; we pass
Back to the beach
Volleyball or soccer break out
Sea doo fun for some
Beach spa under thatched roof
Such beautiful woods
Woman tells us bike costs $700 Belize
Which is $350 US so about
$400 Canadian
People fishing off the dock now
Bob won in tennis today
We bought salsa dulce
Was ketchup
Bob made own salsa
A little bit; lots of kick
I made refried beans
Saw the stars at 6:30 pm
Points of light against pitch black
From our balcony
3-foot iguana record length so far
Glad geckoes staying out of my house
Or my “no snow chateau” as the sign
Says down the street
91 my fit bit record breaking sleep
Day of my 69th birthday no less.
My January 16 & 17, 2024 Musings.
Kids walk barefoot here
Not many others walk
Bob and I avg 12 -14,000 steps a day
Most others on golf carts
A few women walk the beach
With 50 lb load of cloth
On their heads
We saw one man carrying
Water on his head; culligan type jug
All the construction happening
Men in flip flops working
ON the outer edge of 3rd story buildings
No safety harnesses
Cementing up there
First rain squall lasted 1-2 hours
I have a stout local beer near every day
My weight gain program
Great beer!
Enjoy the sea breezes
Woman gives me a pumice stone
She fished out of the sea
It floats
We watched her knock the
Sea shells off and I took it home
The streets we walk have 4-inch ropes
Used as speed bumps to slow traffic
Was a police check stop for golf carts,
Taxi vans, trying to find a thief
Who stole from a tourist.
On the beach we watch sail boats,
Water taxis, tour operators cleaning
Their boats ready for tomorrow’s adventures
Jan 18 & 19, 2024
Belize this past month; Feb 9/24
Relaxation and more;
Yet energized and alive
Mostly still sleeping well
Dogs; about 5; barking one morning
Otherwise; always the rooster crowing
Or cement trucks arriving
Paving happening all around
Development; looks like no rules
Work on Sundays too
Full moon through palm trees
As we sat on balcony
Place we rent is well taken care of
Bananas taste better here
Watermelon scrumptidelicious
Things I have not said:
So hot; I love cold showers
Night time mosquitoes
Hurt my ankles
Bob & I much more
Quality time together
Plane landings scare me
Not when I am on them
Coconuts coming down in the wind
Sand cut my feet in the beginning
Now hardened; runners wearing out
Bob forgets to breathe
When he hits the tennis ball
Dehydration close
More than a few times
27 or higher night and day
Thank goodness for fans
Air and acclimatization
We pass on alcohol
The 100% proof
Not on all alcohol
Fresh water supplied
We go through lots
I am getting very brown
Feels like thirty even when it rains
Walked to new to us Jungle Island Restaurant
Live Caribbean music harmonies
More interesting for patrons than 3 tvs
Showing Kansas City semi-final win
Home; made a taco supper
Taste testing two Salsas’
A mouth burning one
Found a you tube channel
Like free tv to watch 49er’s win
A cool morning dawns at 23 degrees
First in nearly a month
Great video chat with a friend
Tennis court next to airport runway
Scary to watch small planes take off
Tilting sideways; the wind above trees or
Getting out of way
Planes landing minutes apart
Went to a guitar songwriting circle
Song: “I don’t hate Mondays”
Mostly guitarists; some mandolins
Harmonicas, sticks, graters, washboard
Each sang about three; oh yes a flute
Tambourines and a hand drum
Enjoy vocal harmonies with my pineapple juice
In a bar called “Nauti Crab”
Bartender’s T shirt: says, “I’ve got crabs”
People show up with steel coffee mugs
Hand them to bar tenders
Free pour their order
So many smoke
Inside the bar although it’s all outside
Dogs as welcome as musicians
Song: “They’re 70 plus going on 18”
Relaxing afternoon
Sign correct:
” Living Life of Ease in Belize”
After the rain; roads near flooded
Trees so green; flowers so pink
Bob sweeping water off tennis court
He’s really loving playing
We play pickleball instead
That court was near dry
Out for evening of grilled fish
Watch chicken drop
$200.00 for winner if chose
Correct square when chicken poops
Took a long time; needed a 2nd chicken
About 70 people showed up
Next day hotter than hot
A turkey vulture bugging
The four light green lovebirds
My legs look like leather
I am getting brown
Met a woman whose
Been here winters since 77
She met a man
Brought him from IOWA
He said he hates water
We are surrounded
Was cold last night
First time; guess after the rain
Wind coming off the sea
Moved indoors
Notice my hair getting curly; Bob’s isn’t
Windy days; never unpleasant
Out walking; basket of cement on a bob cat
Coming towards me; get out of way
Bob talks to neighbours re the
Stolen golf cart windshield
I walk barefoot in the water
Back on the beach by a park
Dozens of iguanas look like rats
With their long tails
Dive tanks clinking as moved around
Stand in the shade to catch a breeze
Too hot; have to get off the beach
Move to other side of the island
Takes about ten minutes
Marina hadn’t seen before
Roof being thatched with coconut fronds
Atop a bamboo structure
Two dozen seagull flyby
Out of a hotel pool
Past Bob’s head
Heron looking pelican on a pole
Lobster trap looking yacht
Belizian flag waving off a pier
Red with a diagonal white line
People swimming off the pier
Finished putting about ninety-five
Of my own songs on a new app
Can sing when I feel like it.
Been here one month this Feb 5/24
15000 steps today and no tennis
Hear the love birds as I write this
“Caution Crocodiles in swamp”
We pass this morning on our walk
How many are right beside us
And we do not know it?
Three containers make
A whole Bar & Grill Restaurant
Kitchen; A Bar & A Dance Floor
Continue walking and Opera
Coming out of a Golf Cart
Wooden two-story elementary school
Ads all over the fence
St. Xavier Credit Union one
Body Skin Jewelery sign across street
Walk to the Ocean
Today the beautiful green is gone
A deep blue and turquoise colour
Home after groceries; sleep
Onions, green peppers, ham and egg
Omelete on cheese bagel. So Good
As walk to Original Guitar Circle; see:
Man working on 200 hp boat engine
Motor totally taken apart on pier
People have their golf carts cleaned
While we listen to music
Bob buys cinnamon buns there
We bypass a wedding on the beach
Gold chairs/white cushions
Sit outside during happy hour
Watch a bob cat scraping so close to men’s feet
Men in flip flops with shovels; no hard hats
Working to get ready for cement laying
Another street half a block from our house.
Saw ten iguanas on a pile of logs
Also; in a back alley; a cemetery next to the sea
Nearly stepped on an iguana; Bob saved me
Was watching a tour boat being loaded
Lost at tennis; worried one might be
Crawling into my bag; that was my excuse
I do win sometimes
6:09 pm taking in the smells of this country
Watch the light fade; amber of the sunset
The lights of golf carts in a row as workers
Head home; it’s dark fast; a clear sky
Colours of the sunset fade through the trees
Orange glow against darkness
Waiting for my chicken supper
Bob barbeques most nights
Documentary on Woodstock last night
Power out after midnight
Stars like giant diamonds blanketing the earth
Bob saw fireflies
I could not imagine stars so big; now I can.
Feb 9/24
Feb 24/24 – Saturday Two- hour walk
Saw the following I probably wouldn’t see in Canada in February:
Three-foot iguana outside our door; golf carts galore
Thatched roof hotel; overhead fans inside
Great egret outside, butterfly, minnows in ocean beside
Caribbean sea, sea gulls; a deck chair; a Cabana
Massage everywhere, rain clouds, boats and motors ready to go
Lagoons, cement streets being poured; construction all over
Docks, an outside bar, palm trees, coconuts, yellow hotels, the reef
Server from the Mainland named Maitland; bone fish swimming
Under our feet, Conque shell on the sand, seaweed with a beer bottle
On the ocean floor, water taxi, remembering on this walk I counted 13 seconds
Between takeoffs of the twenty-four seater planes
Frigates overhead, mangroves beside with bamboo; wake of the catamaran boat
Noise of Motorcycles, Toyota taxi; beauty of the yachts; sailboats, green water
Turquoise water, fish nets of white, green and blue, pelicans swooping; people
In flip flops, sunhats, shorts, sundresses, bikinis, beach cover ups; para sailing
Tour operators everywhere, fishing rods, intentional open-air housing, artesian markets
Hotel pools outside, Bottled Water trucks, atvs, side by sides, dive tanks, scuba equipment
Flippers, goggles, t-shirt sales, a black egret pecking seaweed, gas station on the water
Massage chair against a stadium wall; beach restaurants galore, hair braiding happening
Pink Conque shells being sold, pumice stones, Live music center of town with
Belizean wooden pieces, beaded jewelry and cloth art along the beach
Beside the sea does, a kayak, tubing, glass bottom boats and an ocean breeze
An open air Seventh Day Adventist church service in progress as we walk by
Driftwood, a totem pole like carving, walking our groceries home past a craft shop
Outside flowers – purple, pink, oranges and yellow; heat wave hits as we walk
Stand in the shade by the yacht club; look at the roof tops decks as we leave with
Vegetables from the fresh fruit and vegetable stand; bougainvillea beauty tells us
We are happy to be home, following a hot, humid Saturday morning walk.
ellensagh 