Today is the last day of a 30% sale at Gymboree, so I was trying to order some things for Macy's birthday and not sure if it's the site or my computer or a combination of the two but the frustration factor outweighed the 30% off. I'll try again tomorrow.

Cool day, mostly cloudy with showers on and off all day. Living here on an island you learn a whole appreciate for water and rain. You know the old saying; " water, water everywhere and ner a drop to drink", well here that's a fact. Although there are some wells on St. Croix (I'm still not sure how that works, where are those aquifers coming from) there is no other fresh water, unless it falls from the sky. Most people get their water supply from cisterns (large tanks, generally on their roofs for collecting rain water) when there is no rain the cisterns run dry. You have the option of buying water but many people can't afford it (it is really expensive). The condo complex where we live has a very sophisticated cistern system and they recycle most of the water for gray water use (like in your toilet bowl) so we don't have to worry about water, but that is not the case for most islanders.

This was brought home tome the other night after the Relief Society Birthday Party, everyone was hemming and hawing about who would take the tablecloths home to launder them (in the rainy season, it's no problem) when I realized what was going on, I snatched them up and put them in my car. It seems the least I can do, as I am fortunate enough not the have to worry about water. When I was visiting teaching last week and we asked one of the sisters what we could do for her, she said to pray for rain because her cistern was almost dry.

Another interesting aspect of this "dry season" (I didn't think that would be a problem in the tropics) everything is getting very brown. Even the golf courses are not irrigated and everything but the greens are pretty brown. The dense jungle areas where you couldn't see into the forest for more than three feet is pretty sparse now. Of course on the rain forest side of the island, it's a different story and it's still pretty green over there, but it is dry for them also, just not as dry as it is in my neck of the woods. There have even been brush fires in some places.

It's interesting what we take for granted and on an island in the middle of the ocean, I really didn't think water would be one of them.

I'm gonna try another picture from the Fort. This shot is a row of doors that open into the courtyard, they are cell door. The cells where pretty small and barren, no a pleasant place a all, but then again it was jail. The most famous prisoner that spent about three months in one of these cells was the mother of Alexander Hamilton (yeah check out a $10 bill, that's him), he was born on the island of Nevis and raised here on St. Croix, his mother was somewhat infamous down here.