Autumn in Wisconsin

 

Hard to believe but we have been back in Wisconsin for 5 months.

If there is one season that I miss while living in the Caribbean it's Autumn.

Red, gold and orange leaves against a bright blue sky.



 We spent some time at our family cottage in northern Wisconsin.  It's one of our favorite places.

Here's the view looking down the hill to the lake.

 

 Did you notice Bailey sitting up on the railing?  It's one of her favorite places too!

 

 Hiking the numerous trails is another favorite fall activity.

This is the Bearskin Trail outside of Minocqua.

 

Falling leaves tell us that it is time to head south, back to Grenada, back to Merengue who has been patiently waiting for us there.  We can't wait!

 



Where II? Milwaukee, that's where.

 

Look who showed up in Milwaukee last week!

It's our friends Matt and Karen from the Australian vessel "Where II".

They have been doing some land cruising around the U.S. and Canada for the past few months and we lured them to Milwaukee with the promise of lots of great beer.





 We enjoyed  showing them Milwaukee, by land and sea.

This was the Margarita cruise aboard one of the river tour boats.

 

 The Milwaukee skyline as seen from Lake Michigan.

 

 We introduced Matt to the Fonz.

 

There was quite a bit of beer tasting. 

This day it was following a tour at the Lakefront Brewery.

The visit went much too quickly as they headed out a few days later to continue

Matt and Karen's Great American Adventure!

Thanks for spending a few days in Brew City with us!

 

 



Back in the USA

WOW, I just noticed that we have had more than 32,000 page views on this blog since we first began so some of you may be wondering where we've been for the past few months.  We are back in the states for the summer.  We plan to return to Grenada and life on-board Merengue in the fall. 

Don't forget about us!  We'll see you then.

Jim, Wendy, Bill and Natalie tasting at the Big Bay Brewing Company,

Milwaukee, WI, USA.



Barbuda Revisited

Just because we live on a boat doesn't mean we don't sometimes need a vacation.

So after several cloudy, rainy days we thought we'd take a video vacation to the island of Barbuda. 

You'll notice that all you see is sea, sand and sky.

We were the only two people in this beautiful place. 

Grab a rum punch and come along with us.

Crayfish Waters. Mannish Waters. What's in the Water?

What's for dinner Uli?

This guy.  He's the star attraction in a wonderful soup called crayfish waters.

We were at the Victoria Food Fest!

 The Victoria Food Fest is a street festival held on the last Saturday of each month in the town of Victoria.

 The street is blocked off and vendors set up stalls where they prepare all the local foods found in Grenada.  Here's part of our group placing their orders.  The young women in the photo made a fabulous sweet potato and callaloo bake that was similar to a bread pudding.  As our British friends say, "It was brilliant!"

 What's on the menu?

Stewed lambi (conch), mannish waters, salt fish cakes and bakes, fried breadfruit, fried plantain, fried fish, breadfruit balls, fried cou cou, pig foot souse, cow skin souse, ginger beer, golden apple juice, coconut bakes, and much more.  We sampled quite a few and they were delicious.

 Jim looks on as our friend Trevor samples the crayfish soup.

In all honesty, not everything was wonderful.  This is a bowl of cow-skin souse with a piece of beef tongue.

We tried a bite of cow-skin souse which had a very nice flavor but a weird consistency.  We couldn't bring ourselves to sample the tongue.  I'm guessing it's an acquired taste!  Nothing goes to waste.

 Next we went to listen to the band and of course I couldn't sit still.  This gentleman saw me dancing in place and pulled me out on the street for a little dance.  I had a hard time keeping up with him!  What fun!

 More eating.  Easter Sunday and we were off to brunch at Whisper Cove Marina.

Gilles and Marie France served up a wonderful brunch of roast pig, beef, ham, several pates, eggs, crepes, potatoes, fruit and lettuce salads, quiche, and more followed by chocolate cake, baklava and apple pie.  All this in the beautiful atmosphere that is Whisper Cove Marina.

To further enhance the atmosphere, we enjoyed the music of Cecil Bartholomew, one of the finest musicians in Grenada and a personal favorite.

It has been interesting and lots of fun being in Grenada at this time of year.  We usually leave somewhere between November and January to sail north and don't return until July or August.  Being here in the winter and spring has given us the opportunity to attend many new events.  We are enjoying every minute of it!  

St. Pat's Continued......

Yes, I know that St. Patick's Day was over a week ago and even the hangovers are a distant memory but we just got around to posting these photos from our celebration.  This was not due to a hangover as there were none onboard Merengue!

De Big Fish threw a great party.  Jim provided them with 5 hours of Irish music to play on the sound system.  Yes, we have lots of Irish music!

We started with green Carib........

..... and then went for the Guinness.  Ahhhhhh!

Friends showed up early to get the celebration started.

I even managed to catch the Marquette game and part of the Wisconsin game.  Sorry for being a little anti-social but that's what March Madness basketball will do to you!

The "Guinness Girls"  who kept the food and drink coming all evening.  The Fish prepared a 3 course Irish dinner for us.

First course, your choice of potato and leek soup or a rustic Reuben salad.

Second course, beer-batter fish or Steak and Guinness pie.

Third course, Bailey's Irish Cream pie or a Guinness float.

Fabulous!

Thank you to Kim and Rikky for a wonderful evening.

Same holiday, different island.



Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our tradition before we went cruising was to celebrate with a breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs at one of our favorite Irish Pubs before heading off to Milwaukee's St. Patrick's Day parade.  (Ahhhh, men in kilts!)  We were always home well before the crazy's went out for the evening.  Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with fun and frivolity seems to be more of a North American concept.  In Ireland it is a religious holiday.  Here in the Caribbean it is rarely observed.  This photo is one that Jim took in 2010 when we celebrated at Molly Malone's in St. Thomas.  Our favorite Grenadian hang-out, de Big Fish is holding a party tonight so we'll get to drink Guiness and green Carib, eat Irish influenced food and listen to some good music.  Whatever your plans are, have a great day.

Slainte!