On Day 9 I succumbed to Don’s pleading looks & hauled it down again to Le Sucriere for our morning pastries & baguettes. If not for his bad knee I would be sending him. Now I need both my hips replaced but I can manage to get down the stairs to get our breakfast – it has something to do with the X & Y chromosome. And the second tragedy of the trip occurred – they were out of the almond croissants!!! Don has now decided they are right up there with the Etna coconut ice cream (which once again I cannot find). Le Sucriere does a phenomenal business – she told me they had done 3 bakings of the almond croissants & just couldn’t keep them in the case. He had to settle for the chocolate croissants.

The weather forecast was iffy today so we decided to stay at the Flamingo and it was a good call. We got in a solid 90 minutes of sun & then the showers began. It was on & off rain for the rest of the afternoon & finally around 2 we called it quits. Speaking of the Flamingo, this is the 1st year I brought my laptop & I must say I am annoyed I cannot get Wi-Fi in my unit. I have to walk down to the office to get on line. Now I need to do all this walking just to keep my calorie intake & expenditure in check but I can’t just jump on line & post something or send an email – OK that was my only rant of the evening.

We went to the TTOL party at the Greenhouse but could only stay for about an hour. We were meeting some friends for dinner who were on their way to Anguilla. There was a really nice crowd & of course it is like a small family – I didn’t really “know” anyone but met a bunch of folks whose posts I have been reading for years. It was fun & I am glad we were able to go. I had to push Don down the hill, the final race for NASCAR was on TV & he is a fanatical NASCAR fan. I must admit I just love Tony Stewart (bad boys are very attractive – Tony, Max and a few others) but really – we are DVR’ing it at home. The good news is that the race was rain delayed. Dinner was back at Rare – not my choice – I hate to go to the same restaurant twice – but the boys won. Dinner was once again excellent.

While at the TTOL party we met Dave and Adrianna who live on the island & own Happy Hour Charters. Their business is all thing water related and I was really pleased to run into them – we come back in March & I will definitely be emailing them to arrange a day trip one of their boats. My brother & his wife are coming with us & Pete is not really a “beach” person but I think he would like a custom created trip. Both Dave & Adrianna were delightful to chat with & I really hope they will be successful.

Day 9 closed with drinks on our rooftop terrace with our friends – and I am so looking forward to Day 10!

Day 10 began with sunshine, with a shower or two thrown in during the day, which then closed with a brief spurt of heavy rain. Don & I made our way over to Orient beach 1st thing – and got hung up I the construction traffic for reasons that I totally don’t get. But it gave me the opportunity to see what they were doing and I gotta say I’m not sure exactly what they are doing. The road is a hodgepodge with the construction going from one side to the other. I’m assuming they are doing some sewer work, and putting in brick sidewalks, and then repaving. I predict February before it is done.

Orient Beach was gorgeous – sunny, light breeze, little seaweed, & nice waves. Getting chairs is no problem at Club O. I have a new favorite place to have lunch – Ethnic, which is 2 restaurants down from Andy & Cheryl’s. Ethnic is wider than it is deep which makes it feel very open. Eclectic menu for a beach restaurant. Don had Angus beef Kabob with fries & a spring salad with a mustard dressing. I had the Mixed Kabob – chicken & shrimp in a teriyaki honey ginger marinade with white rice & the same spring salad with mustard sauce. $15 & $16 respectively. Beers were $2 (and they had Amstel Bright) and Cokes were $3. We also succumbed to dessert – profiteroles. The meal was excellent – I was in heaven. We were there around 1 PM & there was a steady stream of folks coming in for lunch. They are closed on Tuesday.

Traffic coming back was ghastly – we left a bit later and ran into a school letting out in Grand Case. Delayed but not too awful. Rest of the trip was uneventful till we got to the end of the runway – and then a standstill. I won’t bore you with the length of time we sat there without even moving but I commute daily in Boston and rush hour traffic there is a piece of cake compared to this mess. I will admit I wasn’t around for the Big Dig.

Stopped at both the Grand Marche in Puerto Coupcoy & then the Peli Deli for supplies for the rest of the week. No coconut ice cream.

For those of you interested in the Flamingo refurb, they are finishing up building 4 this week & moving on to Building 6. They are putting 32” flat screens in the A units & everything else looks the same as what we got. One other thing I didn’t realize – the sofa cushions cannot be flipped over – they have some kind of lipped edge to them – so only 1 side is going to get all the wear & tear & dirt.

N0 dinner plans for us tonight – still full from lunch – and the Dancing with the Stars finale is on tonight!