Port Louis marina, St. Georges, Grenada.



It's been too long and way too many miles since I last blogged.  I left Grenada almost as soon as we got here and got to spend a month with my family in North Dakota. It was a chance to see my parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and lots of cousins and their kids.  Having such a big family can be exhausting! Great to see them all and catch up.  I also got to spend a week in Minneapolis with our daughter, Amanda. She helped me wrap up all my shopping  and also scored tickets to the U2 concert.  (We were in the 11th row, just left of center! It was AWESOME!)  It was a wonderful month and it whizzed by.  My only regret was that I didn't get to Albuquerque to see Hannah, not finding either the time or the $$ to make the trip.  I miss you Hannah.

Back in Grenada. It hasn't cooled off at all. I can still work up a sweat reading a book.  We've moved around to the port city of St Georges, to better observe and participate in Carnival, which starts tomorrow. Carnival was started by catholics in Italy in the 15th or 16th century. Originally called "carnevale" meaning 'to put away meat', it was a party before the start of Lent and 40 days of fasting and deprivation, ummm, I mean prayer and contemplation  In the Caribbean, with influences from Africa and many European countries it has evolved into a shut-down-the-country 5 day festival with parades, band competitions and elaborate costumes. We're just starting to get involved and figure out the schedule of events, so I'll keep you up to date as we go.  I'm hoping to see the steel pan bands perform on Saturday.