At Doug and Twyla's for a BBQ

Yesterday evening we went over to Doug and Twyla's new house for a barbecue. Quite the bash. Inch-and-a-half t-bones, scalloped potatoes, and a carrot salad. There was cold beer, and something I'd heard about but never seen - Three Barrel Belizean Rum, purchased from Family Market downtown.

Seldom Seen Three Barrel Rum

The steaks were done to a turn, as they say, on Doug and Twyla's custom grill - some concrete blocks in the yard with charcoal they had purchased from another store. This was something else I didn't even know was available - store-bought charcoal. Of course, it's not Kingsford, it's home-grown charcoaled wood, some of it quite large chunks, but perfectly adequate for the task at hand. I guess that's why I had never seen it in stores around here before. I probably was subconsciously looking for the Kingsford packaging.

They had even gotten two steel grates for the barbie from A & R, a local office and home supply sort of store.

Doug Managing His Barbecue

Doug, in charge of the steaks, did these monsters up grandly. They had gotten the meat from Frank's Meats and it really was excellent. All the doggies enjoyed big, meaty bones afterwords as well.

Huge Steaks Done To A Turn

What a fun evening. Doug and Twyla's house inside is reminiscent English colonial houses elsewhere in the tropics - only it's brand new and solar-powered to boot! With beautiful lights and fans and superb color choices on the walls, it's near perfect in every respect, with one tiny, little, teensy-weensy problem. Well, it's not a problem exactly, it's just that there is something missing... furniture.

Dianna And Twyla Discussing Her Kitchen

They have two white plastic chairs and a bed in the whole house! What a hoot! It was great. But we knew that going in. We brought our folding canvas camping chairs that we used to use with our RV, so there was no lack of comfy seating. The custom dining table was some plywood laid over packing bins. But, I'll tell you what! Between the great conversation, good beer and rum, and the superb food, the furnishings were the last things on our minds. What a nice way to spend the evening.

We spent some time with their two dogs - Tupelo and Lola, both about a year old and just learning how to be good pack walkers. We saw Ben, the former Copa Banana house cat. He's just a quirky as ever, their other cat, Nemo. Nemo is a big boy. Unperturbed about anything. And, their newest family member - a tiny kitten, named Basil. In true Belizean fashion, his nickname is "Fish".

Dianna Meeting Basil

Basil Getting After the Food

We made it home about 9:30 PM, well past our bedtime. Dianna gave the girls their bones from the dinner and we proceeded to go to bed.

Ordinarily, that's no big deal. But Dianna had spent several hours with Edna our new/old housekeeper (she had worked for us when we lived at Tony and Nellie's and while we were at Bob's duplex). Now she's back.

Anyway, they cleaned up a storm. The bedroom was re-arranged (if you know Dianna, re-arranging is a passion) and now included a mosquito net hung from the ceiling on a chain to miss the ceiling fan.

I asked Dianna how to get into the bed. She hollered from the bathroom, "The entrance is at the foot of the bed". I couldn't find it. So, I just lifted up the edge on my side of the bed and crawled in. When Dianna came in, she did the same on her side.

We ignored the slightly claustrophobic, clingy feeling the netting gave and turned out the light to reminisce about the evening. All of a sudden, whoomp! Midas jumps on the bed. I fully expected him to immediately get tangled in the netting and have the whole thing come crashing down on us. But, no. He found the opening and came right in! Amazing.

After the appropriate amount of scratching and petting required by Midas, we proceeded to go to sleep. Except, then he decided it was time to leave the bed. Apparently, the opening is one-way. He couldn't find it and proceeded to really get tangled up in the netting. Also, he was trying to lick it to get it away from his whiskes and it got stuck on his tongue.

By then, we were laughing hard as we worked to disentangle him from the netting. We both had visions of him getting wrapped up in the netting, going berserk, and getting the netting, and himself, caught in the ceiling fan and getting whipped around and round the room.

As we unwrapped Midas, we laughed and agreed the netting really wasn't needed all that much, that it was much more decorative than functionally necessary, and we pulled it back up to the head of the bed, where we tucked it safely out of the way so we could all get to sleep. A funny ending to a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Thanks Doug! Thanks Twyla! Thanks Lola and Tupelo, Nemo, Ben and Basil. It was great!