Barbados

Another very nice day (weather-wise included).

Bridgetown, Barbados

The local fish market. I swear I thought that was a shark at first. (It's actually a marlin.)

BBQ Pigtail is first on the menu. I wonder if that means it's the most popular.

Monkeys on the side of the road! There is no zoo, but there is a Wildlife Preserve that does feed the monkeys everyday. It was sheer luck we happened upon them.

They were evidently quite pleased with our offerings of bananas. Does the monkey look at least a little green?

These people are actually in the ocean with buckets washing the fish they had caught.

The water was insanely blue. This photo is absolutely undoctored (no saturation boosts here), that's how blue the water was.

And of course a nice protected swimming area to round out the day.

Bibliophile

I love books. I love books. I love the actual physicality of a paper book. Which is why this article about the future of hardcover books is so sad for me.

This is just a small stack of books that I have amassed from the sweet bookstore that is associated with my public library. Paperbacks are usually 50 cents and hardcover only 75 cents. And sometimes, if I'm lucky, I'll find a sweet treasure in the 5 and 10 cent bin.

I honestly can't help myself. I especially love old books. The way they smell, the way they feel, the beautiful letterpressed look of the words. This is, by no means, my entire library of books, just the latest finds. I especially have a thing for Agatha Christie novels.

I had to get this little booklet (it was only 5c) and it's titled "I Can Make You Happy." The words are all hand-calligraphed and interspersed with lovely little sketches. But mostly, I love dedications inside the front covers of books. It adds to the rich history of a book and provides a picture that someone did own this before you. And maybe one day, someone else will own it after me.

And this tumblr, very aptly named book lovers never go to bed alone, has pictures that just kill me. The bookcases are so dreamy. I love getting lost in one of those too small bookshops that is crammed from ceiling to floor, wall to wall with literary treasures.

A little library, growing larger every year, is an honourable part of a man's history. It is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life.
- Henry Ward Beecher

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

This was one of the prettiest islands (but possibly by default due to the nice weather). It only rained about half the time that we were here :)

I love that there are little signs reminding people about this.

A steel drum band!

To Trains

I found myself waiting at the train station having just missed the previous train and roughly an hour and a half to go until the next northbound train (I blame the bus). The Solana Beach train station has these great free standing letters for the signs in their lobby over the doors. I don't know what it is about them, but they get me every time.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Just a few pictures of some pretty sights of Old San Juan.

The building of the hostel we stayed at. It was the tallest building on San Francisco Street!

The view of the balcony and beyond (4 floors up)

A pretty part of the old fortress

The buildings were all squashed together and each building was painted in different bright colors. The streets were real cobblestone. There was some serious old world charm here.

Chicken mofongo for dinner, apparently a traditional local food. It was super delicious.

One of the open plazas

View of the harbor

The harbor at night

Wild Thing

Kitties roaming the streets.

Sint Maarten, Dutch West Indies

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sint Maarten, DWI (This kitty lived at the "Blue Bitch Bar" and was lounging on some bar chairs with the customers)

Would you like some butter with that?

Isn't this little guy the cutest? I just want to make a ton of these in all different colors. I got the pattern from Karabouts, who, by the way, makes the cutest amigurumi and has other amazing crochet works.

Knowing

I recognized someone's PostSecret that made it into the weekly Sunday post recently. It's difficult to know what to do now that you have placed a name and a face to a secret that supposedly has never been shared before.


It's disquieting.