a lil' grab bag of our summer

(David and I diving in Grenada)

Long time, no posts. David and I have had a full summer - and our very first summer when we weren't moving cities and beginning a new show. Although it is ALWAYS great to have work, especially work that allows us to live and work together, we have very much appreciated our very first summer of non-relocating and non-show... we have to experience it sometime (one supposes), and it's better after a good solid stretch of work.

Our summer season was GREAT. We went from working in London, to wedding in Scotland (congrats Katie and Magnus!), a drive from Scotland through the British countryside down to Heathrow, a villa holiday in Grenada (where we learnt to dive), mountain biking in Vermont, wedding in Boston, to more mountain biking in Vermont. Although perhaps very active and not necessarily always relaxing, we have had one heck of an adventurous summer and I've got a very happy sportivo husband to prove it.

Here are some snapshots of our summer, in brief:

Snapshots of our journey from Edinburgh through Yorkshire Dales, UK:

Amazing tree that looks like an elephant man...

Beautiful stone walls throughout our country drive from Scotland to England!

An adorable inn where we stayed a night as we journeyed back to Heathrow...

... And then a short while later, we journeyed onto Grenada, where we stayed in an unforgettable villa for 10 days...

Grenada has gorgeous beaches...

... and incredible local, organic fruits, with which to make (organic local rum) drinks...

Incredible view from our villa...!

On a boat to Carricou Island, just north of Grenada...

David with a freshly picked wild cocoa pod...

Some of many gorgeous Grenada waterfalls we explored...

We even had some down time for reading in our gorgeous villa...

Fish Friday in Gouyave means LOADS of fried fish...

This sign gave us a chuckle (@ Fish Friday)

Nutmeg tree...

More waterfall action shots...

Pink Gin Beach...

Organic rum distillery (amazing!)

Our very own salt water pool at our villa...

... and perfecting fresh fruit cocktails....

Then we're off to VERMONT for some serious mountain biking!

Perfect day for a bike ride

At the top of Killington

Deer sighting from the kitchen window...

Grillin' some Korean-style steak... (awesome)

Then we're off to a weekend in Boston for a wedding... where we visit our favorite restaurant Clio, have an incredible meal topped off with a deliciously decadent dessert...

After which we're back in Vermont, back to mountain biking, hoping to work off that decadent dessert...

That's my bike on the lift, ready for downhill action...

... and we did some trail rides, too, and even saw a BEAR, but clearly not long enough to take a photo. BUT IT WAS AMAZING!

Awesome summer, 2009!

David and I underwater in Grenada... we go everywhere together...

Lovin' Life and Livin' Large in Grenada

A very quick post --

David and I have spent 7 days in Grenada already -- and we LOVE the island and have had an incredible time. Our villa is simply perfect for us, we already want to come back! We have done 2 of our 4 open water dives here -- we will do 2 more tomorrow, after which, crossing fingers, we shall be CERTIFIED DIVERS! The 2 dives we did were beautiful and amazingly fun; we had a lovely, chilled out instructor with whom we finished our final confined water dive as well as our 2 open water dives. Beautiful good times. We saw a fabulous array of fish, from massive lobsters to scorpion fish to very rare pipe fish (kind of like sea horses, but in pipe form). Grenada is a gorgeous, lush island with incredible vegetation. Although the locals all emphasize that the island is still very much recovering from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the island does not lack in beauty or greenery. Currently it is mango season, which means we eat mangoes everyday and all the time, fresh and freshly juiced into cocktails with local organic rum. A big bag of mangoes costs $10 EC, which is less than $4 US. Amazing. And they are all organic. We have eaten some amazing local cuisine, richly derived from local fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, seasoned with local spices (Grenada is called Spice Isle); we have snorkeled, dove and sat on the beach (or rather, I sat on the beach and read while David snorkeled in search of ocean creatures), as well as hiked the rain forests. We have interacted with the local community: we have been to a hidden local bar off the beach; we get chicken from the Jamaican jerk chicken grillin' guy on the roadside; we buy fruit from the lady at our favorite local fruit stand by the road; we went to Fish Friday alongside the locals, etc. etc. We have 4 more days left, which seems so soon... but we intend to make the most of our stay.

We shall post photos and blog more when we get home. For now, MORE RUM!