Presents! & Palm Court Gardens/Shellworks

Hey, look - Santa's come to our house early! He got a bit lazy and dropped gifts off at the Post Office, but we encountered the friendliest workers there yet - and they didn't even make us open the box!

Presents, presents, presents...I love presents (especially when I didn't think we'd be swapping any)...



Jack & Zura do too.



Speaking of Jack & Zura - do any of you have cats that act as insect repellent? We have window screens so don't get mosquitoes often, but when they do get in, Jack sleeps up by my face and Zura sleeps down by my feet. When the pest(s) come to land on me, the cats kick into gear and kill them. I can always tell where one of the boogers is flying, because I can see the kitties homing in on it. This is much more pleasant than DDT, I must say. They're also pretty good about alerting us to centipedes and huge, tropical roaches...

BTW, we don't just like getting presents, we like giving them too, so while we were in town yesterday, we wanted to look for a couple of thank you gifts. Looking for something unique, we swung by a place we had recently heard about - the Shellworks Studio. This little shop is actually located within Palm Court Gardens, which absolutely must be added to your places to visit. This amazing property consists of:

• Beautiful gardens you are urged to wander through,
• The shellwork shop where they make the stuff on-site and with as many local finds as possible,
• A very successful frame shop (Amory Designs) that uses everything from drift wood, to old sugar-cane railroad ties, to timbers from old, old houses, etc.
• A really friendly Swiss proprietor, Claudia, who didn't even yell at us when we came through the wrong entrance,
• And the pièce de résistance , the salt-water pool (and hot tub!) with a view that rivals anything on St. Kitts. Even if you're coming off a cruise ship, if you're looking for a quiet place to just veg and spend some time, this is the spot to do it.

Right off the pool is a little bar that serves ice cream and drinks, which is the perfect combination, in my opinion. Entry is free this year giving you a tour of the place and a fluffy pastry, and for only $10US you can spend a day by the striking pool or in the hot tub (includes towel).

Claudia gave us a tour of her not so little workshop, which is a 3-woman operation (go sista's!). We also got ideas on how to decorate a tree Caribbean-style if we ever put one up. Michael & I will definitely be going back when we have more time to spend.

Unsurprisingly, the storm blob from yesterday has dissipated, but it was still weird to see it there in the first place. The threat of rain later in the week also seems to have lessened, so it seems to be the same old thing - warmth and sunshine.