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28 December, 2008

Christmas and Beyond

On Christmas Eve, Jen and Matt, a young Canadian couple staying at the Oasis Guest House, did the catering, cooking, serving, etc., for a north American style Christmas dinner.

The meal featured turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, tasty stuffing, egg-less eggnog (with shots of rum available) and desert (sweet potato pie or black cake - a fruitcake-like affair, very rich).

We were a bit slow on making reservations, so we got in on the second seating - at 5:30 PM, under the palapa at the Oasis.

Below is a shot of the 3:30 PM crowd just finishing up. This being Belize, they were a bit slow. We got seated and served around 6:15 or so, basically right on time or "right now" as the saying here goes.
Early Birds For Christmas Dinner
We brought a bottle of Cabernet to share at our table. It went down very well with the meal, which, by the by, was excellent.
Here's Craig Relaxing After Christmas Dinner

Here's Mae After Christmas Dinner
Here's an update on our guest house. You can see the rough-ins for the plumbing going in, and the forms for the floor pour are almost completed.
Roughed-In Plumbing In Place
More Roughed-In Plumbing
Before pouring the guest house floor, the guys had to finish parging or plastering the inside of the septic tank. They also had to fabricate a temporary wood deck on the septic in order to pour the roof of it. The that and the guest house floor would be poured in one go.
Parging the Septic Tank
A couple of days ago we went over to the house across the street that Mae and Craig are building. I shot a couple view of our place from their upper deck - gives a different perspective.

They sure have a nice view of the bay from up there as well.
Our Place From Mae and Craig's
Another View of Our Place
Our Guest House Area From There
Of course, we toured the house. They've really done a nice job of it, inside and out. We really liked the texturing they have for the downstairs ceiling. So much so that we're planning to do the same thing in our guest house. We also liked the trim pieces on the wood ceiling. And again, we're going to add those to our current house ceiling. It gives it a much more finished look.
Wood Ceiling Treatment
A sad day for the doggies yesterday. My walking partner, Twyla, left to head back to her folks place in Canada, eh? Not permanently, just for 10 days or so. Long enough to bring her mom and dad back down here to paradise for a visit. So, for the doggies, no group walkies early in the morning till she returns. Secret and Cindy and I will still go, but Doug's not into long walkies.

Doug and Twyla invited me to ride with them down to Belize City to see Twyla off, and to go to Benny's Hardware Store, Courts Furniture and Appliances, and Brodie's Supermarket after we dropped her off at the airport.
Doug and Twyla Arriving at Phillip S.W. Goldson International Airport
Doug and Twyla Entering the Phillip S.W. Goldson International Airport
Doug and Twyla Saying Their Farewells
After dropping Twyla off, we zoomed down to Benny's for the serious stuff... I needed a belt sander. That would have been nice to get, but they were closed (Benny's had told Doug a couple of days earlier that they would be open. Hey, it's Belize!). So, off we zoomed to Courts. Uh, same thing. I'm detecting a pattern here. We did notice that traffice in Belize City seems quite light, but were a little slow to put things together.

Then, we decided to try for Brodie's. Ah, success! They were open. We completed our mission involving shopping lists and headed back north toward Corozal.

Along the way, we decided to see if the bakery was open in Orange Walk. Of course, we just happened to pass by Landy's Hardware in OW. They were open, but didn't have what we were looking for.

Last stop, we hoped was the bakery. Yeah, they were open. We each bought a bunch of dietary supplements and headed out of town for Corozal. It's a good thing the bakery isn't in Corozal.

By the time we got home and Doug dropped me off, the workers had finished casting the floor of the guest house. Here's a couple of view of it including the roof for the septic tank and it's hatch.
Guest House Floor Poured
Septic Tank Access Hatch
In the last but not least department, the day before Twyla left, as we were walking the dogs along the waterfront, we happened to spy this heron taking a break from his heavy labors. I thought it made a nice photo.
Great Blue Heron On Corozal Waterfront

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Dave. A great post on your blog. Enjoyed all the different shots from across the street. Warmer here in pueblo. 53' and climbing. Norm