Honeymoon Chapter 6: Remembering St John

I sit here today a married man for exactly four weeks. We just received our official wedding photos so it is time for me to wrap up my blog posts about the honeymoon and start working on sharing with you all some of the wonderful memories from the big day itself! Our trip to St John will of course always remind me of the happy day that Kristal and I publicly and permanently declared our dedication to each other. But for me when I think of St John I will also always remember Dribbles. What can I say - I'm a cat person. It is a great comfort to know that while we have returned to less-than-tropical Richmond, Dribbles is still happy as can be, chillin' out on his Caribbean Island. We will return.

Pony Pasture, Aug 16th

Fish, Clouds, Wading, Leaf

Honeymoon Chapter 5: Sunrise

Sunrise, originally uploaded by evens.john.

This post needs no words other than to credit Kristal with getting up at 6am and capturing this amazing shot

He loves it!

He loves it!, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Kayaking the Z-dam

The Saturday before my folks returned to England my Dad and I went out on the James in a couple of sit-on-top kayaks. We'd intended to make it down to Reedy Creek from just above the Huguenot Bridge. One obstacle stood in our way: the Z-dam.

I know there are signs telling you not to do it, but I've always wanted to boat through the hole. The river was just above 4ft at Westham, so I knew not much water would be going through. Turns out it's a bad idea no matter what the conditions are.

So, here's a tip: Don't boat the Z-dam.

(According to this blog, river was at 5.3ft when this video was shot.

Honeymoon Chapter 4: Drink and Food

"I traveled all the way to St Thomas to not get a haircut!"

When we were done sitting on the beach for the day we would go in search of a bite to eat. Food prices in the grocery stores are extortionate, but bars and restaurants charged little more than similar joints in Richmond, so we opted to eat out most nights. The closest place to our cottage was called Shipwreck Landing and it was the first place we tried. I think we just stopped in for a drink. On their specials list was a strawberry banana pina colada and it was sooo good. Its wasn't very busy so we got chatting to the barmaid and got some good tips about beaches to visit. I think every time we went there we found some nice people to talk to.

The best restaurant on the quiet side of the island was undoubtedly Aqua Bistro. It was a bit on the pricey side but the servings were big enough to give us a decent lunch the next day too. The food was just great and the chef was kind enough to share his recipe for coconut curry pasta sauce with us. Towards the end of the trip we went back and sat at the bar in the evening. The bartender was hilarious because he got caught up in a conversation with one guest (mostly about his kayaking business) and completely neglect the rest of the bar! He was a really nice guy though, and on the island you don't really complain about slow service!

Our favorite place was Skinny Legs. For one, the drinks were ridiculously cheap (vodka pineapple for a dollar) and they pour them strong. Secondly, a lot of cool people work there. One afternoon we stopped in for a quick drink. We sat at a table but didn't get any service right away so decided to snag a couple stools at the bar. Just as we started on our second (and last) round, Rodney arrives. I never quite ascertained what Rodney's position was at Skinny's, but he was clearly well enough involved to climb into the roof space to fix the Ipod connection. Anyway, his story is that he went over to St Thomas to get a hair cut. After waiting in line for a couple hours he gets fed up and comes home. No hair cut. And now he needs a drink. Beth, the barmaid obliges, and before we know what's happening we all have shooters in front of us. I did the first one out of politeness, but the next two I did because they were so damned tasty. I couldn't help notice that Beth had a system going on. She makes up a shaker of "Beth-ikaze", pours five shots, and the rest goes in an empty water bottle. We soon discover why: As Rodney waves goodbye she throws him the now-full bottle of liquor for him to enjoy at home! Needless to say we liked Skinny's. That night we got chatting to the grill chef, so went back later in the week for a couple burgers and a few Presidentes.

The last joint I want to talk about is the Tourist Trap. It deserves a mention because the food was really good, and it came out of a shack by the side of the road. OK, the portions were a bit small for the money, but they had just recently opened up so they deserve a chance. And it's run by ex-cons, so what do you expect?! No seriously, the entire time we were there the staff kept mentioning their parole officers. The place is run by Mary, the cooking is done by Larry, and the old stoner hanging around was called Gary. It was like 'Cheers' but in the Caribbean instead of Boston.

Wake the #@%! up

Wake the #@%! up, originally uploaded by evens.john.

We went to Meadow Farm this morning to take some pictures of the Mariner's Compass Quilt that Kristal made as a wedding present to ourselves. I got this great picture of a cockerel in mid crow!

Honeymoon Chapter 3: Beaches

"Isn't there meant to be a beach around here somewhere?"

The Island of St John has more beaches, bays and coves that I care to count. With such a wide range to choose from we felt duty-bound to sample as many beaches as we could. Thus we dedicated the majority of our vacation time to simple sitting on the white sands and swimming in the clear waters.

I'll try to cover the locations we visited in more-or-less chronological order. Be sure to check out my flickr photostream for photos tagged "beaches".

On our first day we headed out to our nearest beach on the South-East shore of St John. Salt Pond Bay involved a short hike down from the parking area. Even early in the morning the sun beats down hot and relentless. I was desperate to finally get to the ocean.
"Isn't there meant to be a beach around here somewhere?" I grumbled. At that exact moment we rounded a corner to find the most pristine cove you can imagine! We both gasped in amazement of the sheer beauty we were faced with. I was definitely worth the hike.

The Bay is so name because there is a shallow pond there separated by a thin spit of land. Obviously it's proximity to the sea means the pond is very salty, and is a unique habitat within the confines of he Virgin Islands National Park. There was a flock of Least Terns nesting on the shore of the pond.

Our favorite beach of the trip was probably Maho Bay. It's the last beach you get to on the North Shore Road from Cruz Bay. The road runs right next to the beach so you literally step out of the jeep and you're there! Despite it's convenience it was never crowded.

We only visited one other beach on the North Shore, which was Cinnamon Bay. These beaches are basically full of all the tourists who ride taxis out from Cruz Bay. For some reason it was too hot, too windy and we lasted about 15 minutes before going back to Maho!

On Thursday we rode out to the East End and stopped at Haulover Bay. This was a rocky beach, so boasted some of the best snorkeling of the trip.

Friday saw us visiting Lameshur Bay. As soon as we got there it started raining, so we retreated to the VIERS site to visit the exhibition about the Tektite project that took place right in Lameshur Bay. By the time we came out the weather had cleared up. We were relaxing on the beach when a large shadowy object appeared under the waves. It was a nurse shark swimming right in the shallow water! I followed it as it swam the length of the beach. There was a rocky outcrop at the East end of the beach so I climb up on the rocks about ten feet above the water. I was looking down into a deeper pool below the rocks as the shark glided in and I got a great view of it lazily swimming around in the crystal clear water.

Honeymoon Chapter 2: The Cottage

"The view is to die for."

Sago Cottage is located at 18°19'45.70" N 64°42'32.62" W so go look it up on Google Earth! The elevation is about 515ft, which might not sound like a lot until you consider that the road at the bottom of the hill is at 30ft above sea level, so it's quite a climb up a gnarly dirt road. We really got lucky finding this place. Simple surroundings to spend our honeymoon in, and as everybody in the guest book agreed, the view is to die for.

Honeymoon Chapter 1: Getting There

"...Passengers may disembark using the rearward door at their own risk."

Having been cooped up in this cigar tube for far too long already, we jumped at the chance to escape even a few seconds sooner. As we stepped out of the stale air into the ocean breeze and azure blue sky we knew our Caribbean honeymoon had finally begun.

Of course getting to this point in time was not such a smooth ride. The wedding had gone wonderfully, and we got home in time to open all the cards and read the kind words that so many people had written. Finally we began to come down from the excitement of the day and the tiredness crept in. Just before drifting off I drowsily programmed an alarm on my phone. The next thing we knew, my parents were knocking at the door to take us to the airport. It was 4.30am and I'd set the alarm for the afternoon! Luckily the packing was almost complete, so we threw some clothes on and hurried out the door. I hardly even bothered to wake up as I was confident we would soon be on a plane to Newark and I could catch a few z's.

Five hours later we were preparing to board a plane to Charlotte! Unfortunately our plane to Newark had suffered an incurable mechanical difficulty so we were re-routed on another airline. Thankfully US Airways took good care of us, even serving us an unexpected lunch on the flight down to St Thomas. Soon we were making our final approach over the deep blue waves and dark green hillsides of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Our delays of course threw the rest of the days schedule off a little. The airport in St Thomas is like no other I have been to. Small, of course but insanely busy and bursting with tropical color and heat. When we got to the baggage claim the crowd around the carousel was three bodies deep and there was no indication of which flight's luggage had arrived. Surely all these people couldn't have come on our plane an the one other aircraft parked at the gates?

I located a payphone before I plunged into the baggage collection melee, and got in contact with Juancito, our substitute taxi driver on St Thomas. He was right outside and came into meet me. It actually didn't take long for our bags to appear and we were led to our awaiting chariot. All the tourists ride around in these converted pickup trucks with open safari-style awnings bolted to the bed and bench seats. It wasn't the most luxurious ride, but like being on a motorcycle it was a good way to connect with our new surroundings. Our route to the ferry took us along the St Thomas Bay shoreline and then up into the mountain roads to get to the East End and the Red Hook ferry port.

We had just missed a ferry and they departed hourly. That gave us just enough time to enjoy a well-earned island drink before boarding yet another form of tranport for the final leg of our journey to St John.

Mystery Melon

When I planted cucumbers, only one came up, so when I found a similar looking volunteer sprouting in the compost I transplanted the little guy in there with what I thought was his big brother. However, the volunteer has now begun bearing fruit and they are most certainly not cucumbers. They look like some kind of melon - almost watermelon-ish. Anyone have any ideas?

Daiquiri

The weather is fine outside, so Kristal picked up this small table at Target so we can sit in the yard for the odd meal or afternoon beverage. I think she had intended for us to mainly use it in the back yard, but there is too much shade, and we are not shy people. So we sit out on the front lawn dining on clams and corn. Or in this case enjoying a frozen strawberry daiquiri! Good times!

Camping at Loft Mountain

The situation was so dire I was threatening to make us camp out in the back yard.


Normally by the time June rolls around Kristal and I have already taken at least one foolhardy camping trip. Just because the sun is shining on Friday afternoon doesn't mean that the water is warm or that the weekend won't be drenched in rain. But we both grew up with camping and its a therapeutic exercise of getting away from the stresses of everyday life. Life is far from everyday for us at the moment with our wedding day racing closer, so we just hadn't found the time to haul the tent out of the shed and take a trip. This weekend looked like it would also be consumed with wedding preparations, but at the last moment we got an invitation from Melissa and Joel to camp in Shenandoah, and we both thought it would be a great idea.


We set out on Saturday morning, stopping for lunch in Waynesboro. The town is tiny and we almost thought we wouldn't find a place to eat when we came upon and book and soup shop. Yes, you read that correctly! Someone had turned this gabled house into a bookshop that also served soups, salads and sandwiches. Kristal got the ham and brie ciabatta and I opted for a bean salad and they were both delicious and reasonable. We decided that we would move to Waynesboro, and soon had everything planned except for what we'd do for money...


Sadly leaving our imaginary future hometown we were soon on Skyline Drive winding our way towards the campsite. On our arrival we miraculously met up with Melissa and Joel without the aid of cell phones. We decided to ease ourselves in gently to the hiking and chose to stroll the Frazier Discovery Trail that gives some impressive views of the Shenandoah Valley to the North-West. The hills were a slight shock to the system but when we returned to the campsite we still had a couple hours until dinner, so we hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail as it sweeps around the campground. We found we had acclimatised quickly, which is to say we had learned to take more frequent rest breaks! While taking a quick breather I discovered that a tick was burrowing into my leg. Ticks are notorious for carried Limes Disease, so it is important to pull them out promptly, ensuring the the whole head comes out too. I admit I was a little scared when I first spotted it but the fear was soon replaced by the thrill of getting my first ever tick.


This time when we got back to camp we had definitely generated an appetite and so gorged on snacks while I got a fire going. We had to wait for the blaze to die down to some hot embers so we broke out the travel scrabble. I'm going to shamelessly brag here for a second, because I spent my childhood being the youngest in my family and thus roundly thrashed by ruthless and uber-literate relatives whenever we played scrabble. I had hoped that my years away from home would have leveled the playing field, but alas I was made fun of for taking too long on my turn and ended up making some hasty word choices that let to an all too familiar downfall. You can imagine my excitement then to actually win a game of scrabble, against worthy opponents, without even having to persuade them that any made-up words were British variations.Thankfully the fire was now ready for cooking so there could be no rematch to knock me off my pedestal (although I did have a few disastrous rounds of Hearts after dinner). We got to cooking meat and marshmallows and ate until we felt we had negated the days exercise. The sun began to set so us boys went off to point our SLRs at the sunset.



I had a fitful night's sleep, desperately wishing I could doze off long enough to dream about my pillowtop mattress back home. At around five in the morning I gave up and went for a dawn stroll around the campsite. Venus shone brightly as the sky began to light up and I tried to pick out birdsongs I recognized in the morning chorus. I ran into several rabbits and three deer hanging out at the dumpsters. I returned to the tent and got in a couple hours of good sleep to prepare for the hard day's hiking ahead. After a light breakfast we hiked down to Doyles River Falls. There had been a lot of rain during the week so an impressive amount of water was coming over them. We climbed around for a while finding good angles to take a photograph from, before tackling the grueling slog back up the hill. We estimated an elevation change of about 700-800 feet which translated to an average grade of about 10%. We then regretted having done our estimation. It turned out to go a lot quicker than we expected, as we'd spent a lot of time on the way down admiring the views, inspecting the insect life and carefully threading our way down slippery section which we traversed with far more confidence on the uphill return. We got back to the car in good time and went in search of a cheeseburger. Then it was time to head back to town. After a couple hours in the car, the toll on the legs became apparent as we groaned in agony trying to get out the door. Still, it was well worth it (especially as it was such a cheap deal) and I hope to make it back to the park for some more challenging hikes. Maybe someone will even get me to do an overnighter one of these days!

Ms McKelvey at the table

Ms McKelvey at the table, originally uploaded by evens.john.

My cousin and her lover are in a band who are just starting to break into the gigging scene. Being the good cousin that I am I try to show up and support them from time to time. One of the main advantages is that we discover new bars and pubs in Richmond that we might otherwise never had heard of. First was Northside Grille which has become something of a regular haunt for us. Then it was Side Pocket, a pool hall not two minutes drive from where I work, but hidden behind a Holiday Inn so you'd never know it was there. Pitchers of Bud were $7 and we played three or four games of pool (at a very slow pace because we're out of practice) for about eleven bucks. You can't really beat that for a cheap night out.
The rules of American 8-ball (so called because there are 15 balls on the table) a similar to those of UK pub pool that I grew up on, except you never get two shots. Like pub pool, there are several situations where no-one is exactly sure what the rule is, and in the interests of having fun it's usually better to do whatever makes the game most exciting/last longer.
It was a Saturday night and we easily got a table at around 8.30, so I'm thinking we might be spending a little time at the Side Pocket in the near future...

Soon I will post about something other than gardening

But not this time. Now, I'm not trying to be competitive, I'm just very proud of how my garden, in both the American and English meanings of the word, are doing. My tomatoes are completely unrecognisable from the midgets I photographed for the previous post. Everything in the square gardens is a little stunted because the boxes aren't very deep. I lined the bottoms of them with that black roll to keep the weeds down and it definitely helped prevent the wiregrass from taking over. But now that I'm sure all the grass underneath the soil is long gone, I think the black stuff is holding back my vegetables. Consequently the plant flower when they are very small. I was picking off the flowers from the tomatoes until they got a bit bigger, and now I think they are a sufficient size to do their thing. We have tons of flowers; lets hope that converts into a good crop of fruit. The peas are producing well right now. I'm slightly embarrassed by my diminutive peas, having seen various people's pea plant in Mathews which reached a good two or three feet. Mine decided that eight inches was tall enough and started flowering. Tha'ts fine by me, since we are getting a decent number of peas. I think we'll have a few with dinner tonight.

Remember than small lonely potato plant peeking up through the leaf litter? Several of his friend decided to make an appearance, including some volunteers from the compost which I transplanted. Fortunes are varied for these guys. A few are doing really well, while others are having the living daylights eaten out of them by some agent unknown. I'm just going to see how it goes. To be honest if I get a single potato out of this endeavor I'll be rather happy.


Another plant that is doing well is my single pickling cucumber vine. As instructed by the seed packet, I planted a 'hill' of five or six seeds, expecting to thin the seedlings to the best two plants. But only one seed plucked up the courage to show itself above ground, so he was selected by default. I also scavenged a volunteer maybe-cucumber (its hard to positively identify from two leaves) and but him in the pot too. Clearly the extra depth for root growth is benefiting the resident cucumber, but the newcomer's life still hang precariously in the balance, and if he doesn't put on a growth spurt soon his bigger brother may well seal his fate.
Moving on to the other type of garden my rose bush, as predicted, exploded into a sea of red. However, these rose bushes are found all over the place in our locality, so they must be a hardy variety. I can take too much credit for its success. Other recent additions from the McKelvey's include a honeysuckle that we wrapped around the banister of our front stoop; several varieties of violet than went in the front bed and window box; a lily that I put in next to a stump at the end of the drive, and broke my gardening fork in the process! This further confirms my theory that someone is introducing cheese into the steel supply. I was levering softly against a stubborn root, and two prongs bent them snapped right off. Pathetic - and the second fork to meet it's demise at my hands at Fruehauf Rd. Maybe I'll add that to my wedding registry!

My other garden is a vineyard

In my dreams I am a rich landowner, living in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and I spend my days tending to my vines and making world famous wines. To feed this fantasy, it is occasionally necessary to visit the vineyards of the real rich snobs and sip their wine imagining it to be my own. Our plans this weekend changed at the last moment and presented an ideal opportunity to visit Shenandoah National Park and fit in a couple wine tours.


We left with a picnic lunch packed an no particular plan in mind. We figured on reaching Skyline Drive and seeing what hiking spots presented themselves. There are so many trails it can be a bit overwhelming, but we picked one that looked like it went somewhere, and did a short loop that took us to a rocky outcrop with a breathtaking view. To the West of the ridge the weather was fine and sunny, but as we carried on up Skyline drive we crossed over to the Eastern side of the mountains and became enveloped in low misty cloud. Another glance at the map revealed an obvious path home along Rt 33, which would fortuitously take us past the Barboursville and Horton Wineries.


Barboursville was bustling with students who had recently completed their semester at UVA, so we stayed long enough only to decide that the recent crop of wines there was nothing special. We did take the opportunity to visit the ruins of a house designed by Thomas Jeffeson for the local governor, which had unfortunately burned down one Christmas Day. Moving down the road to Horton, we arrived just ahead of a Coach-load of wine-tourers, but had time to enjoy our tasting in peace before they burst into the main hall. The wines at Horton were much more to our liking, and we enjoyed the Stonecastle White (a blend of Viognier and Chardonnay) so much that we bought a case for the wedding. They also have a selection of fruit wines that are very sweet but like nothing else you'll ever taste. I tried the cranberry variety, and will remember it for next Thanksgiving.

Latest Garden News

Apparently I've had a request from a very dear reader of JB USA for some pictures of Kristal's and my Garden, so here they are. In the fist plot we have the spinach that I painstakingly nurtured through the late snowfall we had here on the East Coast. It was all worth it as we had a bumper crop and it keeps coming. Its really the first thing that we've successfully harvested from out gardening efforts. Last year we got a cucumber or two, some inedible tomatoes and about three peas. Talking of peas, we have about a dozen or twenty pea plants climbing up the netting. One has started flowering, and I might be to do some manual pollination to ensure we get some peas from them. In between we have some lettuce from Joyce, which finally looks like its all well established so we might be able to pick a few leaves soon. In the other spaces I put in a couple mounds of Crook-neck Squash seeds. Four have come up, but I'll need to do some thinning so we might end up with three plants. I also put in some pickling cucumber seeds but only one showed up, and he's in a big pot all to himself so I'm expecting great things!


In the second plot we have our herbs (or at least those that made it through the winter - the others are DEAD. No, really...they are completely DEAD). I think we have Sage, Thyme, some kind of Garlic and the Chocolate Mint Tea. When we were last in Mathews a guy was selling tomato starters in his front yard, so I put those in and they're doing well. Kristal started some Cilantro in some little pots and it was doing really well until today in the heat. We put in in the ground and watered it a bunch so hopefully it will make a comeback! Finally we have our Potato plot to the side of the house. I was worried that I had planted the potatoes too deep, but I just noticed that three have poked their heads above ground, and maybe more will follow. I don't know much about growing potatoes, but that patch of ground in the riches soil we have as it's always covered in clover, so it'll be interesting to see if it produces any spuds worth eating. Other small successes around the yard include the Rose bush and Hydrangea that I pruned. Too early for flowers yet, but I was just excited that they survived the process. We also have a pair of shrubs in the front bed that looked completely dead, but a few twigs put out leaves. I cut away all the dead wood, and they turned out looking really pretty. I think they are Pink Cloud bushes, Kolkwitzia amabilis.

I'm getting married in three months!

In exactly three months tomorrow I will be uttering very serious words of commitment to my fabulous fiancee. For those of you who like numbers and dates, tomorrow will also mark exactly 13 weeks until our wedding. We mark the anniversary of our first date on October 13th, so this month we celebrated two-and-a-half years together.
There is, of course, a website you can visit, although certain areas are password protected for invited guests only: you can't be too careful on the internet these days. However, if you really must cyber-stalk us, then I suggest you visit the blog which will have a blow-by-blow account of the planning process!

Many Cormorants

Many Cormorants, originally uploaded by evens.john.

I had the day off from work today. It feels like forever since the last time there was a holiday. Luckily the weather was nice so I took my mountain bike out for a ride. Normally I would throw the bike in the back of the truck, but I'm tired of doing that so I set off from home under pedal power. It's been a long time since I was last riding regularly because of all this damn running I've been doing, so now I'm paying the price for trying to do 35 miles on & off road. Still, I had fun for the first 25 miles!
I was cycling along the floodwall at one point and saw that every rock in the river was covered in Cormorants. It was an impressive sight so I pulled up to take a picture and notice a couple of Heron's standing close to the nearside bank. Then I saw another, and another, until one was spooked by my presence on the floodwall above them and no fewer than six Great Blue Herons took flight right in front of me, with another two standing their ground. In the small stretch of rapids there much have been at least a dozen of them.

DUI Guy

OK, the DUI Guy's insurance company has paid for everything, so I think I'm safe to post on the internet the details of his magical mystery tour into our front yard. On March 6th I was sitting on my couch watching some crappy TV when I heard a huge crash outside. I jump up and despite being in bare feet dash outside to see and SUV parked in my front yard and resting against my truck. I rush to the driver's door of the striken vehicle not sure if I'm going to have to administer first aid or corporal punishment. The front wing panel is sufficiently mangled that it takes some effort to pry it open, at which point this guy strumbles out mumbling, "I'm sorry, I messed up. I'm sooo drunk".


Well, I'm dumbfounded. I reach into the smokey cab (I think mostly the result of the air bag deploying). I don't remember if his car was still running, but for some reason I felt the need to take his keys out of the ignition! By this point Kristal has joined me outside and I tell her to call the cops. I'm trying to make sure DUI guy is not injured, but he has wondered across the street to talk to my neighbors. I soon realize why. The reason he arrived in our yard at all is because he first collided squarely with my neighbor's Cadillac which was parked in the street. After spinning the Caddy 100 degrees and shunting it 20 feet down the road, he's swerved towards out house, cleared our drainage ditch, cleaved several limbs from our Crepe Myrtle, mercilessly avoided out mailbox and continued up our driving way to his final resting place on the quarter-panel of my Tacoma.


Soon enough a police cruiser arrives. Then another. Followed by an officer in a SUV. This is standard operating procedure for Henrico cops, and I have always thought is was over kill. But actually, it takes three officers to take care of everything. The first guy on the scene gets the honor of making the arrest. The guy in the SUV is clearly the most senior, so he takes the easy job of directing the tow truck guy to tidy up the crash scene, and the poor junior officer runs around taking statements, exchanging insurance details and filing a report. His name was officer Stonestreet, and I'm sure I recognized him from somewhere, and I'd like to publicly say what a great job I thought he did.


Two or three weeks later the insurance company has finally got it's act together and I take my truck into the shop for minor repairs. They even pay for a rental car, which is nice, although I end up with this honkin' great Nissan!