Hiatus & Blog Improvements: Your Input Sought!

Greetings, my Better Lifers!  I hope you are enjoying each and every day.

My days have been a flurry of Discovery Day celebrations, family visits to the island, my Stateside visit and requisite errands, upcoming friend visits to the island and more.  

In addition to the usual "island busy,"  I've also been working more on freelance writing projects and having fun developing some exciting possibilities in that arena.  As part of upgrading my focus on writing projects, and after 8 delightful months of blogging with you all, I want to make some improvements to this blog as well.

So . . . please excuse me while the blog goes on a temporary hiatus.  During this time, I will be transferring it to a different host, reformatting, making it more user-friendly to newcomers trying to wade through the many posts, addressing other technical details and generally retooling it to better serve you and to open us to broader possibilities in the future.  I'm very excited about this!

Plus, don't worry, we won't be disconnected during this period!  I'll still be available to you on Facebook, Twitter and email.  Especially on Facebook, we have a nice Better Life community developing, and it will be fun to have some group discussions there.

Moreover, I would REALLY LOVE to hear from each and every one of you with your feedback to the blog so far:  What do you like about it?  What bores you or turns you off?  What would you like to see more of?  Do you follow the blog because you like island details, or because you daydream about your own career/geographic change, or because you enjoy the inspirational/Better Life philosophy, or to keep up with me personally, or . . . ?  

Truly, my goal is to tailor this blog to you while remaining true to my own Better Life and writings.  Please share your thoughts with me and the Better Life community by posting a comment to our Facebook page.  If you prefer a more private medium, please offer your feedback, comments and suggestions to me by email at choosingthebetterlife@gmail.com

Thank you in advance for your comments!  I'll post status updates to Facebook and will look forward to talking to you all soon.  Meanwhile, take care, smile and have a great few weeks!

Fragments of a Thursday: Golf Carts, Dogs and Aloe

G'day, Better Lifers!  I'm having a delightful Thursday and thought I'd share some of it with you.  This isn't a comprehensive view of the day, but is a glimpse into some of the little snippets that are blending together to bring me joy today.

First of all, this post is a labor of love because my rapid typing skills are on a major slow-down today.  I cut my index finger, and it remains sore on the typing tip.  BUT, what led to the cut is most excellent - I was cleaning Beau's new golf cart!  Yup, Beau got a new-to-us used golf cart that I'll be able to drive in lieu of the extremely temperamental and mostly brakeless 15-year-old one I've been using!  The golf cart was shipped from Florida, so I had to wash it down really well to make sure no saltwater splash residue remained - the salt is so corrosive.  Anyway, it's well worth a temporarily sore finger.

This is how I ride.

Today is a delightful, blustery day on the island.  We're enjoying the clouds and breeze and respite from late summer heat.  With the various clouds rolling around, we've enjoyed particularly spectacular sunsets and sunrises lately.  I was still sleepily nursing my coffee during this morning's brilliant displays of reds and purples, but here is a glimpse at one of our sunsets earlier this week.

View from the back deck with a glass of sunset wine.

I'm pleased to report that Angel is healthy and happy after her recent near-death experience.  (Now that she's safe, I find myself entertained by such exaggerations.)

The only residual effect is that my lick-at-everything dog proceeded to pick the shaved area of her arm until it was red and raw.  Sigh.  In order to keep her off of it, Angel has been relegated to the green cone.

My little conehead.

While telling my neighbor and friend how pathetic she looks in this cone, he made a brilliant suggestion - put aloe on her leg!  Apparently, dogs don't like the taste, so it will keep her from licking the area.  Plus, of course, aloe has good healing properties.

So, with a pair of scissors in hand, I marched to the aloe plant in my front yard and took a little snip.

Bush medicine.

Curious as to how it tasted myself, I flicked my tongue across the cut end - blech!  Bitter.  Terrible, lingering aftertaste.  Don't let curiosity get the best of you.  Trust my neighbor.  Trust me.  It tastes bad.

After a few swigs of coffee to cleanse my palate, I squeezed the aloe and applied it to the sore spot on Angel's leg.  A sniff.  A lick.  No more.  Voila!

Meanwhile, it was time to turn my attention to Milo.  After disappearing for a few days to roam and play with the other island dogs (eating by Brooks' cousin and generous others, I suspect), he has returned home.  But before he is allowed entry . . . bath time!

Drying on the deck.

Perhaps the most exciting part of my morning was the long overdue set-up of my little office area!  For the past year and a half, I've been using my laptop, usually at the kitchen counter with a variety of papers spread around.

But, from my former life in the States with a big home office, I still had one unpacked box of goodies - all the makings for a desktop setup.  Huge monitor, keyboard, wireless mouse, battery backup, external hard drive, etc.  After laying it all out, I realized that my tech-challenged self had forgotten how it all went back together.  This, despite my Type-A post-it notes on most of the components!

So I arranged a remote service call with my favorite techie - my brother.  We made a Skype date, and I proceeded to show him all the stuff, and he talked me through how to put it all together.  I think I mostly remembered after all, but it was good to have "professional" back-up, and it's always a delight to talk to my brother.

So, now I'm ready!  Having gotten my home in order, so to speak, I'm mentally ready and inspired to focus more on my writing.  It feels fun and exciting to me!

My new "office" enjoys plenty of light and an ocean view.

Since the glare in the above photo prevents you from seeing outside, I'll give you a more direct picture of my view - the very best part of this office!

Ahhhhhh.

I mean, how can I not write my little heart out in this setting?!

I had just sat down at my new set-up to email my friend and thank him for his brilliant aloe suggestion when I realized - oh no - Angel is licking her leg!  I grabbed the aloe to reapply a fresh patch.  No matter.  My always-hungry-will-eat-anything-and-everything dog apparently acclimated herself to the bitter taste and was calmly licking away.  Sigh.  Back to the cone!

But it's not all bad.  Angel in the cone provides endless chuckles for me and Beau, and she is fairly comfortable in it.

Napping, for example.

And on high alert, per usual, when anyone has food nearby.



I recognize this is a very random smattering of disjointed tidbits from my day.  But all of these little pleasures add up to one giant Better Life!

Things I Could Do All Day Long

This blog post was prompted by two things I was doing the other day when I happened to think about each of them, “I could do this all day long and never tire of it.”  So I set pen to paper (err, fingers to keyboard) and started to write about it.  What were those two things that were so special as to inspire a blog post?  Well, let me set the scene for you . . . 

It was an early evening on the island.  The sun was performing a beautiful slow dance toward the horizon, and the sea sparkled her farewell to the day.  My beau had departed a few hours earlier – off with “the guys” to an island 40 miles away to hunt goats to supply food for a friend’s upcoming wedding feast.  (And, by the way, I’m pretty sure I’ve never described that scenario ever before in my life!)  I was blissed out, having the house to myself.  I mean, I looooove spending time with my beau, and I miss him when he is away.  But I was glad he had the chance to engage in one of his favorite activities (hunting for food, not sport).  Plus, a guys’ hunting weekend that entails guns and game and sleeping with the guys on a boat on a deserted island engenders far more favor with me than, say, a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas or New Orleans.

So there I was, sprawled out on the couch with my laptop, Angel snoring on the floor beside me.  I’d been surfing the internet for hours, Tweeting more than usual, researching various blogging how-to, reading other blogs and generally feeling inspired to write – albeit in a prone-on-the-pillows, in-my-mind-only kind of way.  It was at that point that my battery indicator went off.  Time to plug in and recharge the laptop.

I walked to the bar at the kitchen counter – my usual writing spot – and plugged in.  Angel, awakened by my movements, was prancing around the kitchen to remind me that it was 6:00 p.m. – her DINNER TIME!  As I do almost anytime I cook or clean or putter in the kitchen, I pressed play on my ipod.  The speakers started to blast ABBA’s Gold album, which I’d already listened to a couple of times earlier in the day.  I sang along anyway, thinking “I could listen to ABBA all day long.”  (FINALLY, I’m getting to the point here.  I’m apparently extra chatty with my beau gone, too!)

After feeding Angel (and my beau’s potcake, Milo, who was stretched out on the front porch), I realized I should probably eat, too.  

Milo is having a leisurely evening, too.

Although I enjoy cooking for my beau or guests or family, I don’t usually enjoy it just for myself, and I was relishing my “night off” anyway.  So I grabbed an avocado and a lime from the refrigerator and quickly turned it into guacamole.  Yummmm.  

Back when I was a working stiff, my evening meal after arriving home late was very frequently just a bowl of hastily-made guacamole, bag of restaurant-style tortilla chips and a glass of white wine – all consumed in my big, fluffy bathrobe on the couch in front of recorded episodes of West Wing, Modern Family, Glee, True Blood, Mad Men, Rachel Ray, Ellen or Oprah.  (By the way, I don’t have a DVR on the island, and I don’t get network channels or HBO, so my tv-viewing these days is limited to occasional news or weather, and tv movies with my beau.  I never watch regular programming, and I don’t miss it one bit!  Go figure.)

Oops, I devoured the bowl of guacamole before I thought to take its picture!

At some point during the ravishing of the guacamole, I thought, “I could eat guacamole all day long.”  (Ahhh, finally back on point again.)

I started to wonder what else I could do all day long without getting tired of it.  Here’s what I came up with:

• Listen to ABBA’s Gold album (or Carrie Underwood, Jimmy Buffett, The Eagles, Jim Brickman, Jackson 5, Rascal Flatts, the Mamas & the Papas, Kelly Clarkson, Bob Marley, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Zac Brown Band, Dixie Chicks and certain other go-to’s).

• Eat freshly made guacamole (or brownies, fettucine alfredo, gnocchi in pesto sauce, fresh Bahamian lobster, macaroni –n-cheese, cornbread, a good cheeseburger, strawberries, quesadillas, conch fritters or any kind of cheese). 

• Enjoy the playful antics or sweet snuggling of beloved dog, Angel.

• Read a good book.

• Simply look at my beau - sappy, but true.

• Gaze at the sea, or be on or in or near the water in almost any fashion.

• Hang freshly washed clothes on the line to dry (so long as no mosquitoes are around).

• Subject myself to a foot rub or massage.

• Talk to a best girlfriend.

• Sing.

• Dance (well, until my body gave up anyway).

• Write.  I might have to mix up WHAT I was writing over the course of an entire day (e.g., blog posts, professional writing, journal, poetry, song lyrics, etc.), but I could write all day and not get tired of it.

• Receive sincere compliments or a genuine hug.  (Okay, neither of those could go on all day without it getting weird, but you know what I mean.)

• Smile. 

Much to smile about!

What things could YOU do all day long?  (PG-rated, of course!)

Post-Script re Goats.  The hunting trip was a happy success.  My beau got six goats.  He prides himself on clean shots to the head, which I also like because it kills them instantly, without needless suffering.  The other guys got a few, too.  They cleaned them all well and put them on ice - the makings of souse, stew, grill and other wedding entrees, along with plenty of fresh fish and conch!