Posts Tagged ‘Erika’

Nobody was in a hurry to move after staying up late the previous evening to toast the new year. I was up semi-early, and took advantage of the good light to wander the vineyards and shot photos. When everyone woke up we headed out for lunch at a place on Pampelonne Bay, and then to the St Tropez itself.

Here are the pictures:

Erika catching some sun on deck

Erika and the girls snorkeling in the waters off Sandy Island

Underwater shot (by Jennifer) of a turtle

Conch shell on the dark sandy beach of Carriacou

Labels: Carriacou, Sandy Island, The Grenadines

In the morning we headed off to the next major town south from the yacht, which was Holetown. We stopped off at a small place that sold arts and crafts to tourists. Annie used her allowance to buy herself a small mermaid doll, which was a real hit. I bought a hat to keep out the sun, and we saw this tree containing masses of huge, fleshy flowers, apparently called a “Cannonball Tree”.

A “cannonball” flower. We were told that the tree it came from was one of only three on the island of Barbados (turns out they originally come from South America. We were told this this example was one of only three on the whole island.

A view of the actual tree it comes from

An extended branch about to bud multiple flowers

Me with a new hat

Riding the bus on the road heading south towards Bridgetown

After a lengthy walk from our bus-stop in the hot mid-day sun, we made it to the Mount Gay Rum Distillery.

The sign outside the distillery

Our very animated (and good) tour guide

An old Pot Still from the original refinery, dating back to the 1760s.

A Coffey Still Rectifier, which is more typical of the modern distillation process.

Erika and Jennifer preparing themselves to smell the high proof rum

A moment later

Sampling various rum-based drinks at the conclusion of the tour

Vanessa enjoying a cold, non-alcoholic, drink at the Mount Gay bar

Ever since we got “Dawn” last Saturday there’s been quite a bit of news relating to her.

First night there was a particularly stinky poop that a too-tired Vanessa woke up to and couldn’t find. It was in the catbox but she was too tired (she had been asleep) to look for it. It was disposed of quickly and the catbox soon moved to the kid’s third floor washroom.

Dawn has been exceedingly shy, primarily hiding under Vanessa’s bed or other bits of furniture providing cover.

In an attempt to coax her our Erika tried to pick up the cat from its hiding spot, and was bitten for her trouble. The area around the bite soon swelled, and by the evening she took herself to the local emergency to have the now-swollen hand looked to. Her hand was put in a splint and she was given antibiotics. Erika didn’t blame the kitten, but she began to wonder if it had been too attached to its foster “mom” and had too nervous a disposition. Thanks to the antibiotics by Thursday the swelling had gone down and Erika was able to take the splint off.

Vanessa hadn’t been having much luck with Dawn either, and was beginning to feel let down about having adopted a kitten who was too timid to come near her. There’s a seven-day return policy and we were all beginning to seriously consider the possibility of returning Dawn to her foster home.

On Wednesday night I managed to coax her out and take some pictures of her, using a piece of colourful yarn on a stick. Earlier in the day Erika had done the same thing (using her good hand) to get the kitten to appear, managing to get her to come close enough for a scratch behind the ears without incident. I tried the same and while I didn’t get her close enough to let me touch her, she certainly wanted to play.

Last night Vanessa did the same thing, her mother showing her how to lure the kitten out by being patient and gentle with her, while luring her with the piece of yarn. She let herself be petted by Vanessa, and by this point any talk about returning her came to an end.

Dawn is going to take some work in order to get her more comfortable around the family, but it seems as though we have started off in that direction.

One of the things that Vanessa has been constantly asking about has been about adopting a cat of her own. It is safe to say she is “cat mad”, constantly drawing pictures or making crafts involving “kitties”.

Finally, this last time that we had my Aunt Jane’s cat Nick over for cat-sitting we told Vanessa that if she looked after him (feeding and cleaning) we would seriously consider the prospect of getting her a kitten. Vanessa was successful at this, and a couple of weeks ago Erika managed to find a good candidate from a cat fostering group: a 5 month old tortoise-shell kitten named dawn. Erika called and made the arrangements and she and Vanessa went and picked her up today.

Apparently the foster mother was very sad to see her go, but was happy that she was going to a good home. Vanessa was beaming when she came through the door with the cat carrier in hand. She then took Dawn upstairs to her room and let her out of the cat carrier.

That was about the only time that I’ve had the chance to get a good look at her, as she has been hiding under various pieces of furniture ever since.

This isn’t too surprising really, as I remember stories about Erika’s late lamented cat Naomi that she was similarly exceedingly shy when she first got her, and turned out to be a very lovable, affectionate animal once she settled in.

Vanessa did manage to tease her out with a piece of colourful string on a small stick, a perfect kitten fishing rod. Got to see a playful paw extended from under a dresser at the proffered string, as well as a bright pair of eyes that looked straight at me when I came down to her level on the floor.

Vanessa told me around bedtime that she had found a nice hiding spot under her bed. She still hadn’t emerged, but there was a constant purring, so things are obviously not that bad from the kitten’s perspective.

A lucky little girl and an equally lucky kitten.