Childhood on the beach

It's been a while now since it became an expected activity to spend Sunday afternoons with Jillian and her 3 year-old son, Lucas, at the beach.

Seeing his pure joy at each new discovery, at simply standing in the surf, or digging a hole in the sand really takes me back in time. I don't have too many actual memories of myself at that age (tho tons of my brothers) but there are many photographs to show I did exactly the same thing. Everytime I look at them it gives me a warm feeling to know I had such a fresh-air, sun, sand and sea filled childhood, with a father who was willing to stand with me in the surf, much as Jillian does (and me too...we have to take turns....it's boring for us at our advanced age!!)

Lucas has been getting braver every week, more willing to stand in a bit of surf by himself....to want to wander off looking for a rock pool to sit in, by himself....to actually touch that shed crab shell.

Today we finally swam ''in the blue water''. Myself be willing, and Jillian not so much, I waded out with Lucas clinging to me like a leech...squealing with every fresh splash...wait, maybe that was me?....and we spent a good part of the afternoon jumping in the swell. And with his chubby little toddler legs gripped around my waist and a stranglehold around my neck he kept saying, ''Don't worry, I got you''. Bless.

Eventually he relaxed enough to lay on the surface with me holding him up. I told him to kick and whirled him in circles to shouts of delight at the fact that he was ''swimming so fast!''

I wish so much that I had video of that, mainly for myself, but in a way it doesn't matter because I know that I am a part of creating memories for a child that he will never forget.

Last week the wind picked up a piece of paper he had been holding and blew it a few feet away. ''Quick, quick!'' we both said, ''Get it!'' And that child chased that piece of paper halfway down the beach on his tiny little legs, zig-zagging, stopping and starting, and every now and then looking back to see where Mummy was. Mummy and Aunty Steph were still sitting where he'd left them, on their beach towels.....peeing themselves laughing.

Mummy did eventually go stop him but by that time he had the whole beach in stitches as well!

Seriously? How lucky are we to live on such a beautiful island? Where we can stand in the surf, laugh, paddle in rock pools and swim in 'blue water' and all the while creating life-long memories in such a simple way.

And Lucas will never know it but he saved me today. He took my mind away from a bunch of shitiness and told me what I needed to hear ''Don't worry, I got you.'' From the mouths of babes.

FYI: Today Jillian did eventually rise to the occasion and for the first time this year actually entered the sea. Good job buddy!

To those who may or may not be concerned...

I may or may not be a complete idiot.
The truth is yet to be unmasked.
When one believes in love one always opens oneself up for hurt or disappointment. When one feels the need to query it over and over again....hmmm, bordering on dumb.
But I'm blonde so ...bear with me... I mean, how much questioning do you actually have to do when looking for someone to love?
Uh, LOTS.
I always look at things first in the context as friends...good thing for all the ladies and maybe why I have so many wonderful girlfriends...but it's a great way to get to know guys too...I mean, really, if there's anything else to it you'll find out soon enough!
A good friend told me not so long ago to start looking outside of my own 'locality'. Let's face it, Bermuda ain't the greatest when it comes to the dating pool.
I took her advice and started looking outside the box.
It has gotten me ooooohhhh lots of 'chances'...it has actually made me a few friends...and it has disappointed me in a big way x3.
Once of those 3 has actually broken my heart.
Box, wherefore art thou box....me needst to know thy boundaries...me needst to know the rules of the 'playas'!!!!
I've had a really rough few weeks (not that you'd know by the OH so frequent updates =P, so, um oops!) but someone who has held my hand, walked and talked me through it all, offered all kinds of remote, and monetary, and emotional, and physical support has turned out to be someone I cannot rely on. In the least. In fact, determined by his heretofore unknown circumstances, I will no doubt never hear from him again. Sorry 'long term partner'.
Well, go figure!
The thing is, we all know that losing a friend, in no matter what context, hurts. Losing somenone you love...no telling the pain.
But in an internet or cyber (wtf ever!) kind of love it seems to be 'yeah, double that with a side of 'I told you so' from the cheap seats.
Well, but wait, I really thought there was something there!
I'm sorry, Idiot was it?
okthanks.

Good grief, how long has it been?????

A friend who recently moved to the UK emailed me today and said that he had stumbled across this blog! It's great 'cause we're back in touch and he has added me to Facebook, and later this afternoon his wife added me as well. Now, Ann and I were really close when we were young...her grandparents lived just up the road from us and she and her brother spent a lot of time there and were close with my bro and me. Rob moved to the neighbourhood a while later and we all used to spent a lot of time in his parent's basement area playing music. Yes.

They hooked up sometime while I was in the UK and by the time I came back to Bermuda they had made a move to London where Rob busked the subways and such.

They came back to Bermuda raised a young family but have decided that they'd rather raise their kids in the UK, without the bigotry that can pervade every facet of life in Bermuda, but especially the school system. So off to Old Blighty again. And they seem so settled and happy, and I am so happy for them.

Never fear, they are people that I will always hold in my heart and always be happy to see, along with their lovely family. I miss knowing that they are in Bermuda...in the rather unfortunate way that Bermudians often feel, but take for granted!

The product of an environment where people are constantly coming and going...and sometimes coming and going again!

Oooh George!

----- Original Message ----
From: Danielle Parker
To: Stephanie Hunter
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 8:40 AM
Subject: FW: Warning to all Women....

This Could Happen To You..... It Could Happen To Your Mother, Your Sister,Your Daughter or your best friend. So please warn all the women you care about.The strangest thing happened to me at lunch today.
I was sitting at a localoutdoor cafe having lunch by myself and two men came and sat down at mytable. I gave them the death look, but they just casually stayed at my table andwouldn't leave me alone. I shined up my wedding ring then placed my hand onthe table and I hinted to them that I was married and that I was just notinterested in them. Luckily for me they got the hint and left, butthankfully the whole thing was captured on the Cafe's camera. I'm sending you this picture as a warningjust in case they try and pick you up too.
Honestly, some men think they're God's gift .

From: Stephanie Hunter
To: Danielle Parker
Oi! That's my two ex-boyfriends you're talking about there!

*******************************
From: Danielle Parker
To: Stephanie Hunter
Hope they weren’t two timing me at the time with you!!!
*******************************
From: Stephanie Hunter

To: Danielle Parker
No, no sweetie...I kicked them to the curb well before you came along.

*******************************
From: Danielle Parker
To: Stephanie Hunter
Phew because obviously I’ve remained firm friends with them both…but had that been the case I might have had a few words to say.
*******************************
From: Stephanie Hunter
To: Danielle Parker
Oh of course. Don't worry, I speak to them both everyday and they admit to being somewhat fond of you still. They say it's just a shame you were so smelly.

*******************************

From: Danielle Parker

To: Stephanie Hunter
Yes but do they tell you ‘smelly’ in a good way… a bit like a rose bush I believe they once told me.
*******************************
From: Stephanie Hunter

To: Danielle Parker

A bit like old socks I believe they said....or was it old man's farts...whichever. The other day we were all out on the yacht and they were arguing about it...can't remember which one they settled on. Then of course Ang came and took Brad down below to see the children and George and I had a skinny-dip for old time's sake. Good times.

*********************************

From: Danielle Parker

To: Stephanie Hunter

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Bruce's 43 Birthday Weekend

This past weekend Bruce's sister, Lisa, and I threw a big bash for Bruce's
birthday...at his house, so no surprise for him. The surprise for us turned
out to be that Bruce had spent the previous few days inviting everyone he saw, so the numbers climbed quickly. Luckily Lisa and I reserved our panic in case we actually did run out of food on the night (instead of spending the week in a blind panic which was the first reaction), because, as is typical, plenty of people didn't make it and there was tons of food. I'm still eating it in fact!

Anyway, Lisa had a friend make a cake with the RISR logo on it,
including the motto: Once is not enough. Oh yeah????







The heat, the noise, the cooking...oh and I burnt my legs and feet when
the fish sauce poured out of the pan....well it was all just too much for me.

And Bruce brought out this funky little number to perform some
initiations into the "Fun-de-mental-ist Church of the Wasted (K)Nights
of Minton"....we made $14 which is our biggest offertory so far!

And of course everyone had a blast so my headache and blistered
legs were worth it.

The next day Tim took our hangovers for a lovely relaxing

afternoon out on the Iridio. We sat off in Paradise lakes for a while....
swimming and drinking...and then it was decided to troll around the
Sound before heading home.



We caught a lot of Bermuda rock fish....and on one occasion we could

not free the lure. Bruce had to dive in and unhook it which took a fair amount of effort with all that red wine in him. Plus, there's no fixed
ladder on Iridio so Tim had to man handle Bruce back into the boat.





I was relaxed anyway....finally!

After all the excitement it was a lovely cocktail cruise
back home

and I had earned my t-shirt again.
Cool.

And completely apros pro of nothing.....frangipani.

Seagulls and blue water

This past Saturday was the annual Round the Island Seagull Race and it was quite a day.

I spent the day crash-boating on the infamous 'Nazcar' whose previous owner, Chris, had recently proclaimed it worthy of needing its own crash boat. I wasn't impressed. But since my captain was to be Graham P, one of Bermuda's best marine mechanics, and I was assured that we would stay only on the North Shore and not have to battle the South Shore, I agreed to go along. Much to my dismay North Shore was so sloppy and choppy that it was impossible to sit in without feeling sick....unless you got drunk instead. So guess what I did? It did not involve heaving over the side I can assure you!

We had headed out onto the water early thinking that we would anchor off at Gibbets Island and have some lunch but that plan was abandoned in the face of huge South Shore-like swells that rhythmically and constantly tipped the boat from gunnel to gunnel. Heading back west we found it relatively calm in Deep Bay, threw the hook over and prepared to worship the sun gods while we waited for the first dulcet "p-ting, ting, ting" to come our way.

I had needed a pee for a while so I stepped over the stern onto the ladder platform thinking to have a wee swim and empty the tank. Until the first wave and spray shot up my leg. I'm a complete wuss at the best of times and usually don't venture into the sea until it is more like bathwater, mid-July-ish. This was more like arctic. They say the sea temperature is just a few degrees below normal for the year...me and my sorry, wet, frozen ass beg to differ. Much to Graham's amusement I jumped back over the stern shivering and wrapped myself up until I thawed out a bit.

Finally we heard the first boat. I ran up to the bow to pull up the anchor and heard words no-one ever wants to hear, "Wait a sec Steph, the boat won't start." I stood there holding the rope and barely holding my temper/panic while Graham pumped gas to the engine and much to my relief the engine finally kicked into life. We headed out into the gnarly water to try and spot the source of the p-tings and discovered that it was moving at a very fast pace and was already way beyond us. Almost immediately we spotted another boat on the horizon and buzzed off to see who it was.

I KNOW!!! It looks so lovely and calm, doesn't it?
Well it wasn't. According to the racers, South Shore was beautiful, smooth sailing all the way. North Shore was the bitch this year.

As evidence that the sea was not as calm as it appears, here is the aptly named 'SeaSwallow' bailing maniacally to keep afloat.

The first boat we saw turned out to be the infamous Captain Cruel, aka Bruce, with Pirate Pete, one of the New Zealanders who made it up from down'unda this year. They did the race in a
traditional Bermuda dingy, the first time in a long time for the Captain...and according to him
"never again". I guess it was a little slow...not quite the warp speed he's used to in a flea hull. Anyway, this beautiful boat is named 'Legless' and this turned out to be incredibly appropriate as no sooner did the Pirate reach land, he found a cool, grassy spot on the neighbouring beach and passed out! Apparently Pirates shouldn't drink Pimms whilst circumnavigating a small country! He's changed his name to Pete the Wimp in the aftermath.

Unbeknownst to us two Canadian expatriates had decided to launch a challenge against the Brits and the first we knew of it was when they zoomed past with their flag flying high...and causing some drag I'd imagine, though it didn't seem to hurt them any....they won. Not that I'd be biased in any way of course *cough cough* but the Brits did seem to know how to garner support, flashing everyone as they passed and managing not to 't-bone' us while also managing to pass us a lovely bottle of red wine from a case they had on board. Rumour has it that the race was very nearly nose-to-nose at the finish line and the British Captain ordered his crew overboard in an effort to lighten the vessel and nip the competition. Other reports state that they were both drunk and when they dropped their flag they both jumped over to retrieve it! Frankly, I could believe either but I think the amount of alcohol being imbibed on land had the spectators confused. I happen to know for a fact that the Pirate was ordered overboard by Captain Cruel as he has been a bit upset by the loss of his "sunnies" ever since! Mind you, it wouldn't be the first time more than one flag got lost, or more than one person ended up overboard.

And thankfully it won't be the last. That's entertainment!

Cindy & Graham's Wedding

Cindy & Graham's Wedding, originally uploaded by hogfishbeacon.

Cindy and Graham got married on the 1st June 2007. It was a beautiful day and everyone looked beautiful. We had beautiful settings for the ceremony, the photos and the reception. We ate beautiful food and drank beautiful wine. The cake melted in the heat but was still beautiful. And as wonderful as that all is, the most important thing was how beautiful the sentiment was.
Beautiful!