Surrogating Grandkids

At the Pool Yesterday with our Guests

Today marks my last full day at the beach condo which I know will provide some measure of relief for my frozen friends and family in the northeast. I’ve been relentlessly photobombing them with my tropical paradise location whilst they suffered through an epic cold spell. Yesterday was spent at the beach. I know. Again! It’s hard to avoid when it is literally feet from the front door. Those long suffering friends will be fortified to know that there are problems here as well. The waves were only mediocre yesterday but somehow we rangered our way through that challenge. My wife’s cousin of the legendary laugh and her husband spent the day with us after staying overnight. They are a lot of fun to hang out with. We also had a visit form the repairman which was a bit overdue. He’s working off the punch list of small items we’ve noticed since taking residency in the condo. The biggest of those was the hot water heater which wasn’t working. I’m addicted to hot showers so that was a problem. The water is lukewarm here without any heat but I needed the burn. He fixed that and couple other small things and I had the first hot shower of the vacation. I probably stayed a little too long in there because the smoke alarm went off in the utility room.

And my Wife
You Can See Fire-pit in Distance with Bohio Next to It

My wife’s cousin had to return to the real world after a day spent lounging on the beach and in the pool. They gave the fix it guy a ride back as well as his car broke down in the condo parking lot. My pyromaniacal side has been jonesing for a crack at the huge condo fire pit since we first arrived and we decided last night was the going to be it. My wife’s only condition was we needed to buy marshmallows to roast.

Wife with Stand in Grandkids

That meant a fifteen minute ride into the town of Las Lajas to acquire them. While driving there we passed through a torrential downpour and thought the fire was off the plate. The rain stopped by the time we got into town and when we returned not a drop had fallen at the condo location, weird. A few days ago a change in current deposited a healthy amount of driftwood along the beach so I had to travel less than fifteen feet to build up a huge stack of fuel.

We’re constantly talking about how much fun it will be to have the grandkids down here and toasting marshmallows with them is definitely part of the future program. My wife filled that need by acquiring the caretaker’s grandkids for the evening and teaching them all they’ll ever need to know about marshmallow toasting. It was a lot of fun watching her connect with the kids.

I was completely in my element with a fire to manage. My wife thinks I’m a frustrated fireman while I have a more realistic explanation. I like to see wood burn, especially on a beautiful tropical night on the beach. There were some challenges. In a huge design flaw they placed a grass topped bohio directly next to the fire pit. After baking in the sun all day wit was tinder dry and could have easily turned into a huge torch. While I like to see things burn I wouldn’t extend that to structures we need. I kept a close eye on the embers flying in that direction. So back to the beach as I just checked and it will be in single digits when I land in Boston on Sunday night.

A Happy Man

The Bad Cinema project count will remain at #88 out of 100, as I didn’t bring any of them with me.