Sunday at Banana Bay

So the day cleared up quite nicely and we had a great time at the beach. We ended up enjoying food from London and the U.S. (cheese balls, pretzel sticks) since a couple of folks had gotten back from recent travels. Yes, please! We were all impressed with Bob & Laura's cooler which came with two tables and 2 tiny chairs (that hold up to 250 lbs each) that pop out of nowhere. Awesome!



It was also a kick to watch a local guy climb a tree for a coconut (he's sliding back down in this picture).



Then on the way back, Eagle Eye spotted some smoke behind us and turned around. The next thing we knew we were engulfed by smoke and staring at flames by the side of the road. We drove on the dirt road behind it and could see that it was putting itself out here and there, but unfortunately it was spreading toward a contractor's excavator.



We raced to Michael's compound to grab some fire extinguishers and were relieved to see upon our return that Steve's security team had shown up with their own and stopped the burn before it engulfed the machine (we heard that some people saw the fire department headed down the peninsula, but it must have turned around at some point because we never saw or heard them).



You'll note how close the excavator came to going poof...



So the fire season is upon us. We had actually just been commenting on how brown things had gotten so fast. This is actually normal this time of the year on the Peninsula, but we had had so much rain this season, that it was a bit delayed. So you ying yangs who smoke - stop throwing your cigarette butts out the window, you pinheads!

Of course, we then smelled like BBQ - especially since we had left our windows down while driving through the smoke and sparks. Duh.

So guess what we're getting serenaded by now in the mornings - mew, mew, mew - kittens!

Oprah goes vegan for a week and lives to tell about it! Watch on Tuesday, 1 Feb.