Saturday, June 23, 2007

St. Jean Baptiste Day







So today is St. Jean Baptiste Day. To everyone's amusement, nobody seems to really know what the day is about except it's a really good excuse to eat food that's bad for you and drink a lot. So, like the good people we are, we celebrated St. Jean Baptiste day Bajan style. We made poutine, except we had no cheese curds, so we used cubed cheddar instead. To those who don't know what poutine is, it's french fries, poutine sauce (like a gravey), and cheese curds. It's very bad for you and very yummy!

Then we made a fire (sort of) in the BBQ and Ian shows us how to roast marsh- mallows properly. Audrey's boyfriend and his cousin were in Barbados for the weekend, so it was a great time for everyone!

The infamous gorilla tripod made an appearance as well, much to everybody's amusement.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Monkey Sea, Monkey Do




On Barbados, there is one type of monkey, the green monkey. They are originally from West Africa, and were brought over about 350 years ago. They are a regular sight here at Bellairs. We have a fabulous mango tree on the property,and we actually end up competing with the monkeys to make sure we get some. The tree has just started to produce massive amounts of fruit, so it's mangos for breakfast everyday!

I had brought my underwater casing for my little Canon, but right before I left, the CCD chip blew out. It's a known problem with certain models, mine being one of them. Chris was ever so kind to take it to the service centre where they sent it off to be replaced and even shipped it back to is (in Montreal). In the meantime, Sylvain happens to have the exact same kind of camera, so my casing has been put to good use while done here. So, first, there is a golden eel. I had to remember how to do custom white balance - so using the sand, I managed to get it working decent enough. A little processing with photoshop, and voila, a very cool looking eel. The other shot is of a spotted trunkfish. The best are the juveniles. They are about the size of a pea and completely black with yellow polka dots. Some great pictures were taken, but I'm not sure who has them, so if I get a chance, I'll post them. Here, we affectionately call them petite pois (little pea).

Sadly, Holga has passed on. The night before, she was traumatized by a cat that was trying to get to her and managed to knock her cage off the table. She survived that, but we think the stress put her over the edge and she died the next day. RIP Holga.