An Island Holiday--(part 1) -- Bonaire

I had almost forgotten the smell of the sea,
                                    the complexity of salted air.....

...... we've just returned from an island holiday~

a cruise to warm places, white sand beaches, and

 turquoise waters...

 the beautiful island of

Bonaire~

the Gardener took off on a

snorkel trip-

(the crystal clear waters of Bonaire

are the best in the Caribbean for snorkeling)

My lazy day was spent here...

a quiet little place, just minutes from the cruise ship pier

 all those folks on the cruise ship went somewhere-

but they did not come here...

that's my chair over there...

                  the one with the pink sarong~

I'm (almost) ashamed to admit that my day

was so totally lazy...

my afternoon was spent watching

 a little bird building her nest

 under the thatched roof

of this cabana.

(sometimes I gave her bits of my yarn to add to

her nesting) 

 just a few steps from my beach chair

was this beautiful pool~

and just a short walk away

was the beach bar ...

(they make awesome mango smoothies here!)

in the afternoon,

I took a little walk along the beach~

 

after his snorkel trip was over,

the Gardener joined me here for a few

hours in the sun~

but,.....

even lazy days have to end sometime.

So in the late afternoon,

we walked back to our temporary home

on the ship~

waiting for the sail away~

the view from our balcony

 just before sunset~

~~

I'm sharing our island holiday

in a 3 part series over these 

next few weeks...

~

(after that, I'll be taking you on our amazing tour

of the Gaspe Penninsula in Canada)

~

Did you know that you were

going to travel so much this winter??

~~~~~~

A few notes about our island travels~

All these photos were taken with my Iphone 5 camera.

  

What I read -- "The Glassblower Trilogy", book one.  What a wonderful story! I cannot wait until the second book in the series comes out in March!

What I listened to--"The Prime Minister's Secret Agent" 

this is the third in the Maggie Hope mystery series.  I love, love these books...

What I started reading, but have not finished yet--

 "Fall of Giants", book one of the Century Trilogy.  Why have I not read this book before now??  OMG --- I can not wait to read the entire series.  My husband read books one and two while we were on the cruise,...he was totally captivated by the stories. 

~~~~While the rest of you are wrapping your trees in tinsel and colored lights, I'm here to tell you that coming home from vacation in the middle of December-- with the holiday just 2 short weeks away--- is madness!  I thought I was being so organized, ordered all my gifts before we left on vacation ---- and came home to a house full of boxes!!  Spending the Thanksgiving holiday in the Caribbean was nothing short of marvelous, but---- if I ever do this again, I will have all my packages bought and WRAPPED before I leave. I'll be back in a few days with the second in this series----we did so many new and wonderful things, went places we've never been before,...

But first, I have some wrapping to do!!  

Love,love,

Vicki

ps~~
the winners were published today for those who participated in the "Josephine's Children" project. You can find the complete list of winners at the end of the post here 
 I'll share the final updates to this amazing project at the end of my next blog post.Your generosity has been amazing -- as always.  I can't wait to share with you all the details!
 ~~~ 

Don't forget-- the deadline in nearing to sign up for participation in the next "Grow Your Blog" party.  You have until January 15 to enter. We have just over 200 participants so far!  If you want to make new friends and increase the readership of your blog --- you can find all the info here