It is supposed to be my last day in Ottawa but that may have to change. Yesterday morning I awoke with a cold. By mid-afternoon I was full blown sick and still am. Half the people I saw over the holidays had colds or friends/family with colds. Guess my immune system was not quite as strong as I thought. I felt great on Friday and Saturday.
So today I will have to check on flight changes. Flying with a bad cold is extremely painful and (I have been told) can prolong the agony. This means that even if I do fly out tomorrow I am going to have to cancel the scuba diving trips I had booked for January 2 & 3.
The Christmas holidays have been very enjoyable with many visits to and from friends and family. One evening I even got a night out dancing with friends and acquaintances. It has been lots of fun getting together with people and hearing all of their news.
My niece Jennifer is pregnant with her first child. This is a very exciting bit of news for our family because this is the first of the newest generation.
Marriage has not noticeably altered the lives of my nephew Keelan and his wife Laura.
My brother Robin and his new wife Leslie are getting settled in their home together and seem very happy.
Michelle and her newly adopted daughter Madeleine are getting accustomed to each other... OK... Michelle is getting used to being at the beckoning call of a small baby. Sleep is but a distant memory to her now.
Tom's new house is well on the way to being a comfy home. His major renovation jobs are done (for this year and next) so he only has the lighter jobs of trim painting, touch-ups and cabinet door painting to do.
There are many big life-altering changes taking place amongst many of my friends and family members. New jobs, relationship changes, new children.
So I must keep in close contact with everyone to get "all the news as it happens"
Hello and Holiday Greetings to all.
My Christmas shopping is not yet done. I bought souvenirs for some Christmas gifts but this is not enough. There is way too much to do over the next 2 days. I am still moving in vacation mode... slow-motion. There are many gifts to wrap and not enough time or energy to do it all and visit with everyone.
Tomorrow I have many official things to take care of. I may have a new home for Fritz (my cat) and will be heading out to the Cat's Meow Inn tomorrow afternoon to settle things. That is where Fritz has been living for the past 3 months. They have been very good to him and when they heard that I was considering taking him to the Humane Society for adoption (as I was unable to find a good home for him myself), Doug snapped into action and found two potential homes. One will provide him with two other cat buddies currently kenneled there. So tomorrow I must say my goodbyes to him forever. This is a sad thing but not anywhere near as bad as if I had to leave him at the Humane Society.
Ironies of ironies... I will be kitty-sitting a friend's cat tomorrow night while she is Christmasing with family out of town. She arrives home Christmas day and another friend will look in on Charlie (the cat) in the morning.
Christmas Eve is the annual gathering at my brother Ron's place. Afterwards, I will go to my brother Robin's for the night and spend Christmas day with him and Leslie (his wife). They are having the entire Green clan (less nephew Keelan & wife, Laura) over for the feast. Keelan & Laura will be at her family out of town.
I will be visiting with friends throughout the holidays, looking forward to seeing as many as possible. Unfortunately, many of you go to family out of town and will be away while I am here. By the time I return to the Bahamas on December 31st, I will be exhausted and in need of a rest. It will have to wait until the evening of January 1st. Junkanoo is on January 1st starting at 1:00am and continuing until 8/9:00am. I'll need to get lots of sleep because I am diving on the mornings of January 2 & 3.
The cold, dry air of Ottawa is a difficult challenge for me right now but it won't kill me so I must stop complaining.
Om Shanti to everyone. May the universe grant you all you need to be happy.
Hello everyone.
Well I returned to snowy, cold Ottawa yesterday in record time. Both flights (one out of Nassau the other out of Pillidelphia) left on schedule and both arrived early. We were 25 minutes early getting to Philly and 15 minutes early to Ottawa. Yes, I know that today is very mild for Ottawa in December but I am more glad of this than you can imagine. I need to be eased into this weather. To aid this along it was drizzly and chilly (22 degress C) in Nassau when I left.
My last 3 days were SOOOOOO AWESOME. The Orange Hill Beach Inn was a great place to stay. They are so laid-back there and the other guests there are of similar temperment. I had wanted to go diving - take a refresher course and a dive less than 65 feet but did so much more. A guest at Orange Hill, Nick from England, is an avid diver and helped me choose a dive company. It is a place called Stuart Cove's Dive which is a PADI Discover Scuba facility offering highly professional instructors, PADI certifications and tons of FUN.
So on Tuesday I went for the "refresher" dive. Did a quick equipment, communications and safety review followed by a skills review in shallow water (4'-8'). I was the only certified diver on that dive other than the photographer, instructors and dive master.
So I signed up for another dive on Wednesday. This was a 2 tank dive. Nick had a rented car and we drove over early to get all our gear prepared and ready for the trip so that when everyone else was arriving and frantically setting up we could sit and discuss the upcoming dive. Nick buddied up with a German fellow and long-time diver (I forget his name) and I buddied up with a guy who's name we didn't know because everyone referred to him by nicknames like "cellphone dude" or "stressed guy" or "NY trader". I think that says it all... the guy needs lessons in relaxation.
The first dive I registered my deepest as about 101 feet on my depth gauge and "cellphone dude" registered 29.8 metres on his dive computer. We were down for 41 minutes. It was a wall dive. Wall dives are just as it sounds... you dive down to a choral encrusted underwater cliff and dive down along the cliff exploring the coral, plants, fish, plankton, crustaceans and other sealife living on the wall/cliff. It was the best experience of my life and I must continue diving in order to see more.
The second dive was on a wreck but because I am not yet wreck trained and certified I did not go inside. There are specific methods, safety precautions and rules to wreck diving that I need to learn first. The "wreck" was deliberately sunk by Stuart Cove's Dive in the 70s for the filming of 007 Never Say Never Again (hope I got that title right - I'm not a big James Bond fan) and they provided training and stunt doubles for the film. It was interesting to see that this "wreck" has become home to so much sealife and an artificial reef. It is completely encrusted with coral and plankton. The dive went to 13-14 metres and lasted 44 minutes.
So I have already booked 2 morning 2-tank dives for January 2 & 3 when I go back. While I'm here I'll pick up some gear that is half the price here that I'd pay in the Bahamas.
Wednesday afternoon I went to the Yoga Retreat for one last 4:00pm class and meal. Another guest from Orange Hill, Gillian, had asked me the day before for a suggestion of a relaxing way to spend the day and I said "spend it at the yoga retreat" so she did. She was in the yoga class with me (her first in many years) and said later that she really enjoyed her day there. I said all my goodbyes to everyone and Gillian and I got on the boat to Nassau, got the 7:00pm Western Bus from "town" to Orange Hill and were home by 7:45. Nick was holding seats in the bar and buying a round so we all sat and reviewed our day. Nick and I bored everyone else with talk of the dive and diving in general.
I made so many new friends on this trip and have many people to visit all over the world now. I am planning to travel the UK and Ireland in June after the trip to Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland where I now have 5 people to visit.
It has also been suggested to me that I take the Teacher's Training Course offered through Sivanada Yoga. So a group of us are looking into doing that in India in 2003.
Well I will be in touch again soon but must get on with my day. Much to do and I am not anxious to go outside. YUCK!
Well today I am moving to Orange Hill Beach Resort.
My week in the British Colonial Hilton has been awesome. I was in the Azure SPA every day. I had a manicure, pedicure, deep tissuue sports massage, facial, body scrub, body wrap, hydrotherapy bath, aromatherapy massage, reflexology massage on hands and feet, swedish massage, shiatsu massage and much fun.
Four days I went to the yoga retreat for yoga class and a meal. Today it was brunch. They are getting busy over there and I'm glad I'm not there this week. They are stressed with overwork to get ready for the Christmas rush of about 300 people.
The conch fritters, conch salad, grouper fingers and fried plantains are irresistible. Of course it is absolutely necessary to wash it all down with Kalik (local beer). So don't expect to see a thinner me. I doubt I've lost a single pound. I'm in excellent shape though.
Must run now. I have to be out of my hotel by 1:30. It is now 12:30 and I'm a 10 minute walk from the hotel... 3 minutes at my Ottawa pace but this is the Bahamas where everything moves very slowly, even me now.
I will be back in Ottawa on Thursday the 19th at 6:15pm. Unless, of course, there is weather to delay me.
I have moved to Nassau. The Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat was great. I'm glad to say that I learned alot about myself and the world around me.
Now I'm in Nassau at the British Colonial Hilton Resort. This is where the Azure SPA is located. Gotta cut this short. I have to go to the SPA for my noon appointment.
My first entry... yeah it's about time.
I have been staying at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island. I think some of you would love it here. I have a beach hut and can here the sea lapping the creamy sandy beach just 30 feet away. It lulls me to sleep each night. The food here is strictly vegetarian and there is no caffeine, alcohol or other "poisons" that can interfere with good health, yoga practice and meditations. The yoga classes are great. The weather has been AbFab and I feel totally blessed to be here.
Here is my daily schedule:
5:30 & 5:45 am the morning bells ring. I get up when I get up.
6:00 Satsang (temple) for 30 minutes silent meditation, 30 minutes chanting, 30 minutes "lecture", 15 minute prayer ceremony.
8:30 Yoga class for 1 hour 45 minutes
10:30 Brunch (first meal of the day)... all you can eat buffet.
11:30-3:30 Free time... usually filled with Karma Yoga (work around the ashram)
4:00 Yoga Class
6:00 Dinner (second meal) all you can eat buffet
8:00 Satsang (same as morning)
Sometimes Satsang is a silent walk on the beach, we find a spot to sit, meditate, chant and talk. Close with a prayer and walk back.
The yoga, chanting and meditations are my favourite parts... in that order. When I get time I come to town to check e-mail, shop or do errands. I have a Chiropractor here now who I visit every Thursday... he's a regular at the Ashram yoga classes. I have benn to the beach to be lazy only a few times. I painted another guests shoes. I have pictures... they turned out gorgeous.
Then I painted the freezer for the "Health Hut & Boutique". It has also turned out wonderfully. I will post pictures later.
I leave the Ashram on Monday (9th) and go to the British Colonial Hilton Resort for 7 nights. I have already been to the SPA there to makes my treatment appointments... it is fabulous.
I have made several friends here and am now planning to visit with people on future trips (April, May and June) to Sweden, England and Germany. Everyone here is so nice and friendly.
I will write more on my next trip over to Nassau.