The Isle of Spice…Hobbit Influences the World Over!

Welcome to another addition in the continuing saga of Hobbit Hollow. This week’s edition: The Isle of Spice.

The Isle of Spice you say? Ah yes, you’ll have to thank my editor for this post, (my lovely wife, Jodi) because I was a little hesitant to write. I do enjoy mentioning little facets about my life but I try ( Although I’m not always sucessful) to keep it to a minimum. We went on vacation (Just me and the misses) to Grenada this past week. Wow! If last week’s post was about hell this one will tell you about heaven! Needless to say nothing happened construction wise at Hobbit Hollow so after talking to my editor, like I said, she convinced me to write a little something on our adventure to Grenada. (Adventures really do happen….and they don’t have to make you late for dinner.)

I’m not really sure where to begin and if you’re not interested that’s fine. I should be up and running at the house next week barring any more bad weather.

Back to the summer of 2013: Just got back from vacation and realized I will lose my mind if I don’t have another week off for a whole year. I just can’t do it anymore. I told my wife to start looking for a place to go around the end of January 2014. She did a great job as always, putting up with me not listening to our options at times. But we narrowed down the choices and after some hemming and hawing we chose Grenada.

So Grenada is called the Isle of Spice and for some reason, which I can’t figure, it is not on the radar as a vacation destination for people in the United States. Mostly Canadians, eh! A smattering of English as well. Jolly good show mate! For those of you wondering : the Canadians really do say eh at the end of their sentences, eh! Well now eh. It was a little  hard getting used to, eh. But we made the adjustment, Okay eh! Let’s move on then shall we, eh!

It really wasn’t like that though. I only heard it a couple of times. I won’t bring it up any more in this post…..Well just one final time, eh!

So here’s what paradise looks like. What did Gandalf say in The Return of the King? I believe it was something about white shores and sunshine. Well here it is.

 

Veiw of the Beach
Veiw of the Beach

The temperature was perfect here. We didn’t even use the A/C. By day, bathing suits or shorts and a tee shirt and that was it.

Just a couple of interesting items. They had an afternoon tea at 4:30 every day. So apparently  there’s a little bit of the Shire in Grenada as well. We never went to the afternoon tea because the Hobbit in me was eating three large meals a day. Buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I gained a now cumbersome 5-6 pounds in a week. ( I hope my tool belt still fits!) Anyway the open bar was our calling at 4;30 in the afternoon and the Banana Cow was the drink of choice. At least mine anyway. I mean what’s a tropical island without a cold rum drink in your hand? Eh? (That just sort of slipped in there  and I hope I’m not offending anybody. Sorry. Eh?)

Just a couple of other things to note. Grenada is the shipwreck capital of the Caribbean. Me being a scuba diver how could I not resist going on a couple of dives. The scuba diving turned out to be fantastic. One of the dives was on the “Wreck of the Shakem”. I just mention this because me being a concrete guy and all this was a freighter that was loaded with cement and started to take on water right off shore and sunk in about 120 feet of water. The bags of cement are still there and turned hard as a rock. I took a bunch of pictures but this being a blog about hobbit houses I figured you might be interested in seeing a round window which is sort of a signature aspect of most Hobbit homes. It would be an interesting question to find out why ships have round holes for their windows? Maybe Sally H. knows? Check it out.

Porthole in the wreck of the Shakem.
Porthole in the wreck of the Shakem.

Middle Earth being full of all sorts of strange creatures and things I thought it might be interesting as well to show you some stuff that’s not around where I live. Just a couple more pictures.  Bear with me now.

Reef coral.
Reef coral.
Giant underwater taco. Went down in stormy seas with the Mexican freighter 'Taco Bell"
Giant underwater taco.Went down in stormy seas with the Mexican freighter “Taco Bell”.

These tacos are now flourishing all over the caribbean.

Crazy tree!
Crazy tree!

I hesitate to put this next one in. If you have a queasy stomach just have a friend scroll past this next one.

Part of one of my worst nightmares.
Part of one of my worst nightmares.

I dare not speak of this creature for it is from the strongholds of Mordor. A place filled with fire and ash…..where the very air you breath is a poisonous fume….Not with 10,000 men could you do this…It is folly. (Sorry, the Lord of the Rings nerd in me just made an appearance.) Oh yeah my wife took this picture. I ran screaming to our room and hid under the bed until management took care of this vile creature. Okay, even us construction tough guys have our weaknesses.Superman has his Kryptonite I have my caterpillars and snakes. Sorry if I’m disappointing anyone out there.

Hmmm. I hope I’m not boring anyone out there either. What a nice island though. We rented a car  and took a trip to the capital and went to Fort George. There are panoramic views of the island from here and the harbor below which it protected in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds.

Veiw from Fort George.
Veiw from Fort George.

To avoid the risk of running long we’ll end it there.

One last picture. Enjoying the sunset from the pool bar.

Sunset in Grenada!
Sunset in Grenada!

A touch of heaven. Yes,  a warm weather vacation in the heart of winter…”that’ll do it.”

See you next week! Eh!

Jim

 

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “The Isle of Spice…Hobbit Influences the World Over!”

  1. Jim,

    Glad you and Jodi had a great vacation! Thanks for the beach pictures while I look at the foot of snow outside my window, eh!

    Mike

    Reply
    • Mike: Hey thanks for writing! The Canadian thing was weird. I kept thinking of Second City TV with John Candy and the other guy doing that skit where they’re saying eh every two seconds. I think they were always cooking bacon in that skit as well. Believe it or not if you got to the buffet breakfast too late there was only the dregs of bacon left. I’m not kidding. Take it easy and I hope all is well.

      Jim

      Reply
  2. Although I did grow up on the coast, I have never been a sailor, so I don’t have any idea why portholes are round.

    Caterpillars? Really? They don’t even have teeth. And they tickle when they walk on you. They aren’t slimy, they are pretty colors, and are very particular in their diets, which NEVER include anything alive. Really? Caterpillars?

    Snakes, I get. I mean, I’m OK with them, but I used to work at a nature center where I gave talks about snakes (while holding one) and found out very quickly that people were either fascinated or terrified. Not many moderate opinions on snakes. I also did talks about owls (yep, got to hold one of those too) which eat snakes.

    My Kryptonite? Large bugs that crunch when you step on them.

    Glad you had a great time on vacation!

    Reply
    • Hi Sally! Thanks for writing back. I knew I could count on you. I hope your winter is going ok. It has been a rough one up here in New York. At least in the construction industry. I think everybody here has certainly had enough of Old Man Winter.

      I exaggerated on my fears of caterpillars a bit. I actually like Wooly Bears and monarch caterpillars. A few others as well. The one in the picture though, that thing was vile. We actually saw one carrying a small kitten up a tree! (Just kidding.) You can’t tell from the picture but that caterpillar was about 3 inches long!

      Snakes I really do have a problem with. It’s funny my father and brother love snakes. I guess I must have missed out on the I love snake gene. Oh well.

      That’s pretty cool about the owl. Every once in a while we hear an owl at night outside of our house. It’s one of the coolest things you will ever hear.

      Take care and thanks for following along!

      Hobbit Hollow Jim

      Reply

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