Not "Leaping Lizards"

  

AH! The first pleasant day in what seems like three months!! No wind -- finally -- bright sun, comfortable temps near 70. It's OK!

When I first came to Bermuda last summer, people told me about the "winter winds" and how difficult it can be to grow certain vegetables and fruit here during the winter growing season. The often gale-force winds destroy unprotected plants that would be weighted with tomatoes, peppers, etc. It seemed unbelievable at the time. Many days, however, when the wind was whistling around our little cottage on the top of Ramgoat Hill, I would find myself glancing out a window, expecting to see snow because the winds sounded just like a raging nor'easter. Indeed, I can now see how carrots came to be one of Bermuda's premier crops...with no imports are allowed. It's one of the vegetables that grows very well here underground and is an important cash crop for farmers.

But, where was I? Oh yes, pleasant weather. Today is a flip-flops, T-shirt, shorts day. I'm spring cleaning. Abby is hunting for returning lizards...which will soon be everywhere as the weather continues warm. She must send out very good vibes, because the lizards trust her so much that she can pick them up. With most people, they just skitter away. Jacoby, Abby's cat, is on a similar mission, but I'm afraid his aims are less benevolent.

Spinning their Wheels

  

  

  

Yes, it's Science Project time! Abby and her friend Jackie have been hard at work on a Color Wheel project that shows what colors the eye "sees" when color wheels of assorted color combinations are spun rapidly on a miniature motor. So, they created a variety of colored wheels, whirled away, wrote up their results, and made a display board. They were especially pleased that adults who came by asked them all sorts of questions...to which the girls reportedly knew the answers. In other words, they had researched beyond the parameters of the experiment and were ready. The supervising moms (a.k.a. research assistants)were very proud of them.

"You Are Here...and Here...and Here."

  

Expats on "The Rock"

On a recent outing to the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, Abby and two of her friends used an orientation map to point out where they live on the island. We are located about a 20 minute drive from either of the other two locations being shown.

Spring Roof Painting

  

  

This is the time of year when Bermudians traditionally repaint their roofs. The roofs are very important here since nearly all the island water comes from rainwater which is collected through a rather ingenious system of limestone roof slabs or "slates." Norm Abram explains it well on the website where he describes a "This Old House" project that has done in Bermuda in 2004: http://www.auntneas.com/this-old-house.

Once upon a time, a limestone slurry was used on the roofs to help purify the rainwater as it made its way down into the large cisterns that are usually found in the cellar or under the front porch. Now, instead of limestone, a special non-toxic paint is used. Here are a couple of pictures of our roof receiving its annual coat of paint.

Eric recently checked our cistern for the first time since we moved in to see how much water we had collected from the winter rains. Well, he found a dead bird floating on the surface and a step ladder on the bottom of the tank...both of which he fished out. Was the bird standing on the step ladder when it fell in?? We added some bleach to the tank, threw out all the freezer's ice cubes, and made sure that our WaterPik water filter was blinking its cheerful green light indicating that it was on the job.

Because our "water awareness" is high, we don't take any long showers anymore. The routine here is turn on the water, get wet, turn off the water, lather, turn on the water, rinse, turn off the water, and get out. If I were to get on my environmental podium here, I might suggest that we ALL should be showering like that to conserve our Spaceship Earth resources, but I wouldn't lecture anyone about that, would I?? (Any of my former housemates out there??)