Nora & Her Family
in the Caymans
I hear it's been rainy back home. It always adds just a
little more shine to a tropical vacation when it's rainy
back home. We had yet another spectacular day here, full of
sunshine and breezes.
Mom's cold hung on, so after breakfast Dan, Stacie and
I--following the consierge's directions--head out for what
we were told was a ten minute walk to the closest pharmacy.
Ten minutes, my butt.
We walk a good fifteen, at a snappy pace, and still don't
come across it. Eventually, we spot a gas station with
mini-mart across the street, and are lucky enough that it's
on the corner of one of the few intersections with a stop
light. Find some meds, cold drinks, and head back to the
hotel. We decide to walk on that opposite side, as there are
shops there rather than hotel resorts.
One little shopping center has a Book Nook. How can I
resist? Carolina Moon and Dance Upon The Air
are right up front, making me feel kindly towards them. They
also have some terrific pottery. I have some shipped
home--Christmas gifts and a great frog pond platter for me.
The head clerk is pretty busy--customers and phone calls.
She seems very friendly, and after my transaction, I do what
my publicist would expect of me and ask if she liked to have
her books signed. I write, I tell her, and you have some of
my books here.
She gives me the usual look of suspicious interest as she
asks which books. I gesture to CM and tell her my name. I
thought she would have a heart attack. LOL. She all but
leaps over the counter and grabs me in a bear hug. She LOVES
me! Everybody loves me. Look! she says. I have chills!
Dan and Stacie get a huge kick out of all this.
Close to weeping now, she begins to shout to her young
assistant to go get this person and that person. A guy comes
out--I assume he's the owner or manager. He tells me I sell
better for him than Danielle Steel and Sandra Brown
combined. Though I'm very fond of Sandra, I'm here and she's
not, so this doesn't hurt the old ego.
Clerk is making call after call: You'll never guess who's
in the store!!
Then she's back, beaming at me and asking if I'll do a
signing next Saturday.
Um, I respond.
Oh, please, please, please!
I'm doing a signing at the Book Nook on Grand Cayman next
Saturday at eleven. LOL. Actually, this will be kind of a
kick. She's going to try to get a hold of Dick Francis, who
lives down here, so I can meet him. I'd love to.
We walk back to the hotel. I drop off the cold meds for
Mom, then go tell BW the story.
Down to the pool. The one I like to use is having
problems. Had them yesterday, too. The water's murky and
they've got an extra filter pumping away on the side--as
they've had for 24 hours. Now they've got TWO extra filters
pumping away on the side, and three guys standing there
studying them as guys do. Yep, you can almost hear them
think, look at those machine pump.
The water remains murky. Now it seems to me that if the
filtering isn't doing the job, it's time to dump some
serious chemicals in there. What we call shocking the
water. But they just barricade the pool with what looks like
yellow police tape. And the filters pump all day.
Not many people down in the pool area or on the beach.
Saturday appears to be a big turn over day. I swim in the
lap pool awhile, have some lunch, read, enjoy a margarita or
two. We have a live duo for entertainment today. It's very
pleasant to sit on the beach, watch the water and listen.
Check on Mom. Cold meds and a good nap have done the job.
She looks, sounds and feels much better. Everyone cleans up
for the evening out. We look pretty snappy when we leave the
hotel. We find the Catholic church in Georgetown--and also
discover that all the shops are closed. Closed at
five-thirty on a Saturday. We drop Mom and Dan off, then
head on our mission to find three more of the Cayman ball
caps Mom wants to take home.
Though we do find a couple of little shops open, no luck
on the caps. Decide we'll find the restaurant so we'll know
where it is. No problem, and drive on pass gorgeous big
homes, thick, colorful gardens, all with hints and quick
snatches of the water between.
Even the smallest, most modest cottage is neat. We pull
off into an preserve area--there are public phones, and
Stacie's been looking for one so she can use her phone card
to call her parents. We watch the water and the family who
shows up with a little girl a big dog and a puppy. Big dog
races madly down the pier to stare at the water. I wonder
what's in his doggie brain. He turns on a dime, races back,
leaps into the shallows then runs down the beach. Puppy
prances after little girl. Down the pier, up the pier, until
big dog runs back and repeats the performance.
We get a little lost going back to pick up the
churchgoers, but we find it again. The priest was a bit
long-winded today, so we wait for awhile in the surprisingly
crowded parking lot. SRO for tonight's Mass, apparently.
We're having dinner at the Grand Old House. A pretty old
plantation house on the water. The grounds are lovely, with
a big terrace and a couple of pretty gazebos. There's a
wedding reception going on inside the screen porch areas,
and a harpist is playing Margueritaville. LOL.
The sun sets while we eat, and while dinner was just
dandy, dessert was better. I went for the white chocolate
cheesecake. Oh my.
Nora
Nora's Cayman
reports are ©
2001 by Nora Roberts & ADWOFF
All Rights
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