Home again, home again...

Love the pink shorts!

The reason for the trip, and why I pulled my hair out over a stupid satin purse:

My Monkey Girl on her big day! The purse was a hit.

We had quite a bit of rain at night, but it was clear most days. I saw a lot of great scenery:

Wrought iron railing at The Swizzle Inn

St. John's Bay

St. John's Bay

This is what My Monkey Girl wakes up to each morning...lucky girl!

St. Mark's Church behind the poinciana trees

Spittal Pond Nature Reserve...this is probably a grave marker

Bronzed inscription at Spanish Rock, 1543. The first evidence of humans on the island. Gus & Bill came later.

Spittal Pond Nature Reserve

My Monkey Girl at Spittal Pond

Off the pool deck

Along the South Road

Relaxing at St. John's Bay

This year is Bermuda's 400th Birthday, and as part of the celebration, the Tall Ships were in the harbor all week for the 2009 Tall Ships Altantic Challenge. We went out on my friends' boat to follow the fleet as it left for the start of the Bermuda-to-Charleston leg of the race (they started in Spain, and will end up in Belfast after stops in the Canary Islands, Bermuda, Charleston, Boston, and Halifax -- over 7,000 nautical miles). It was pretty cool to be within a stone's throw of these awesome ships.

The Liberty, a U.S. Coast Guard training vessel

The Europa (France)

The Bounty (U.S.), originally built for the movie in 1962

The Mircea (Romania) -- those black dots hanging on the yardarms are the crew!

The Concordia (Canada)

I love all the bright colors of the houses on the island. The use of color didn't start until the 1930's; up until then the stone or concrete was whitewashed or left natural.

That whitewashed, stepped roof is functional: it collects rain water, which feeds into the cistern below each house. There's no fresh water on the island and only one desalinization plant, so this is what residents cook and shower in (most drink bottled water). Some houses have filtration systems, others don't.

Kiskadees on the roof. These birds are LOUD!

And for some reason, this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I think I'm best at photographing architectural elements -- I guess everybody has a niche...

St. Mark's Cemetery

It was a fun trip, but it's good to be home -- and back to my sewing machine!

Now it's time to get back to work!