What??? No Swap???

 
Believe it or not there was no swap/tea party this year.
I've been so busy that I just didn't have the energy to entertain my girlfriends this year.
My body was tired and I needed to take a break and relax.
What did I do instead?
Will let you know in my next post....promise.

Happy Birthday Brother dear

"Chris"

August 29, 1966 - September 23, 1989

See that little fellow in the cowboy hat in the Number 6 racing car trying to stop his friend Carlos in the go-cart from winning the race down the driveway?
That little fellow is my brother Chris...the best brother anyone could wish for.
The most loving, caring and kindest person that I have ever known...a big barrel of fun.....my brother.
My little brother that taught me to shoot, to drive, to stand up to others, to be strong, "not to take shit from nobody", the one I looked up to.  He was my little brother....he took over from my dad when he died..... stepped right into dad's shoes and they fitted him perfectly.

He kept us womenfolk safe and secure. The guys who wanted to talk to me were much afraid because he was a sharp shooter in the Barbados Regiment and he did not play around. The kids in Natalie's class did not bother her at all.
She too adored her "Cle-lah"...she couldn't say Uncle at first.
Boy do I miss him...we were a team...a real good team.

The Christmas when our parents bought us our bicycles, we found them stashed away in the servant's room hidden under some old clothes bundles, we looked at each other and grinned..you know what happened next...we took those bikes out for a test ride up and down the street in front of our house.  You should have seen us afterwards sweating with excitement and trying to get the tyres clean, black and shiny again and replacing them in the exact position we had found them...Christmas morning we put on the show of our lives ...the feigned surprise, the exclamations of joy...the clutching of our hearts....the hugs and kisses we showered on our "none the wiser" parents.....we had such good days.

He loved music and one of his favourite artistes was Michael Jackson who also shared the same birthday.

I have never met anyone that didn't love my brother...he was really a good guy....would give you his last dollar or the shirt on his back....always there for a friend in need.
Our house was always full of stray animals he rescued from a busy roadway or some friend that was having a hard life.
Never mean-spirited, never a harsh word, never caught him in a lie, never put himself first.
The best there ever was....he will be remembered always.
Gone but not forgotten.

Today is his birthday and I want to wish him a Happy Happy Birthday.
Love you always Bubba.

A fitting birthday tribute here.

Pumpkin Fritters

I am now old enough to be talking about "the good old days".
Memories of good times of my family just being us and living happily even through some pretty rough times which my parents always tried to shield us kids from.

As a child you just know when things are not normal...there is that child-like intuition that kicks in and you just know.
We had a pretty good life as compared to others and I am very thankful to my parents for raising me the way that they did.

My mum was a good cook and whenever things got rough she had a way of preparing some of our favourite snacks to buffer the hurt.
A fall from a tree or bicycle, a grazed knee, a bully at school, a lower grade than "A+" on a test, the death of a pet, you name it, mum was there to cheer you up with one of her tasty treats.

A few weeks ago, I had a hankering for some homemade Pumpkin Fritters just like the ones my mum would make.
Pumpkin Fritters are a Bajan delicacy and some restaurants have them on the buffet menu.
I have no idea why I felt the need to eat these fritters since I had not had them in years....but there it was...my mouth watered non stop.
After a few days with the feeling still hanging around I took the bull by the horns and made some scrumptious pumpkin fritters.
Looking online I found a recipe with no eggs and no milk....perfect.

Pumpkin Fritters (No Eggs/ No Milk)

1lb pumpkin - cooked and mashed
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
A little water (optional) 
Oil for frying

 A niece piece of pumpkin from the supermarket

 Cut into small chunky pieces

 

  Cook until tender, drain and then mash with a potato masher

 Mix all the ingredients together

Method
Mix everything together till batter has a good consistency for dropping  -not too wet.
Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil and fry in small batches.
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (optional)

 

Enjoy!!!  Yummy Yummy Yummy.

I am still here too!

 

 It's me Brownie!!!

In case you're wondering, I am still here knocking around too!
For the life of me I can't comprehend how Mum could write her last post letting you know that she was still here living her life with absolutely NO mention of me!!!  The nerve of it all!!!
Why she left me out of the narrative I'm not sure, but I am writing my own story today.
Mum has been extremely busy and I have been keeping her company on most of her projects except those on the outside where the heat is unbearable.
Yes, some of the "To Do" projects are being completed and then others show up....the unexpected kind where she has no choice but to get them done.

Add me into that mix....the cellar has no door and recently I have been nosing around under there trying to find two Guyanese lizards that are living under there.
Sometimes I even do my reconnaissance in the wee early hours like 2.30am when she lets me out to do my business...yes I know that's naughty because I spend ages under the cellar until she has to go inside and grab a torch and then return to lead me out. By then we are both covered in cobwebs.
So now she has another project on her list ....a door for the cellar to keep me out.
She hopes to have it completed soon, therefore I still have a window of opportunity to carry out my exploration detail until then.

The days are HOTTT and we have been inundated with the Sahara dust which makes everywhere dirty and a chore for mum to keep the house clean.

I must tell you that I am not the same Brownie that you knew before.
Mum took me to the vet to have an op that took care of my man parts so now I will no longer have any offspring. If you may remember my prostate was swollen and becoming more of a problem so the op was necessary....I understand the necessary evil.
I am still having a good life.

Sleeping all cuddled up on Mum's slippers.

This way I will know exactly when she is headed outside ...no way can she get her feet in them except I awake....ha ha.

Tearing an empty wrapper apart that contained a tasty chicken patty from the bakery

I had to get every last drop of taste out of that bag.

Relaxing on the sofa with mum

We still get to cuddle after lunch while she relaxes for an hour to watch her soap "General Hospital".

YES we are both still here..."as we travel along singing our song, side by side."

The Humour of it all!!

Yes, it's me....after all this time....yep, I am still here.
Life took over AGAIN!!!!
One of my New Year's Resolutions was to keep up with my blog and to write a post at least three times a  week...well we all know that didn't happen.
Who was I trying to fool?
New Year's resolutions don't work....except maybe for a few people but I am not one of them.
Granted I started out pretty okay, but then everything went out of whack.
The universe would not let me have my way...how selfish could it be.
Anyway back to the humour of it all.
After my last post about my ant problem, which by the way is kinda solved but not with the concoction that I baited with (see last post) I ended up with a dilemna...more ants.
They all came out to party and in my opinion it looked as if they were coming by more and more.  
Yes, I was told that this would happen, but I still didn't have the patience to wait on all the "millions" of ants that were coming by and nosing around.  They weren't actually crawling into the containers to eat the bait but just seemed to be hanging around.
Once again I had had enough.
Back to the deadly poison.  I mixed up some Therminix and doused the areas where I saw them most, and would you believe that I saw "MILLIONS" of ants trying to save themselves as I poured it on the mounds. 
After one particular heavy dousing around my garden steps I was surprised to see about half an hour later, a mass of black dots emerge from the sink outside my kitchen door.
WHAT DE HECK!!!
It's a good 10-15 feet away.
These critters were really having a ball at my expense.
I have never seen so many ants in my life..just like some kind of omen....but then I read this " An ant nest near your home is good luck".  Who says????
I kept up the dousing every few days until eventually I am only seeing a few of them.
Surprise!!! I received a post card in the mail from my friend GB.

Ants in Pants

What a great sense of humour he has.

 The battle continues.