MOVING FURNITURE INTO THE PINEAPPLE HOUSE

yesterday the thatchers came and put the roofs on the beach casitas/palapas. now we have large shady, palm leaf covered places to enjoy the sea breeze while staying out of the hot caribbean sun. at the same time we started to move the kitchen , bathroom cabinets and furniture into the pineapple house, exciting times !

STAFF LUNCH SATURDAYS

I started a little tradition during the construction of the Pineapple House, “staff lunch Saturdays.” I usually do a fish or chicken Thai curry with rice and it’s the first time I’ve ever cooked for more than 6-7 people. It’s a fun way to do something nice for the guys, after all, they bust their humps for me in the hot sun, six days a week and never complain. Plus I get to feel good too. When I remind them on Friday at knocking off time that its staff lunch tomorrow, they all cheer! They’re a great group of guys and a real bunch of characters, most of them have been with us for 3 or 4 years now (I know they all look like kids but they’re all in their twenties).

As usual our foreman Peter Howell and the crew have done an amazing job on the Pineapple House, the fit and finish of every post and beam is perfect. Aside from the beautiful woodworking done on site, Peter has also made me some beautiful furniture in his woodshop on Pigeon Cay. I have to say the bedroom furniture, bathroom counters and kitchen cabinets I designed have all been constructed impeccably by his cabinetmakers, I’m really pleased.

As much as I look forward to Treasure Beach no longer being a construction site, it’ll be strange not to have the crew around the place everyday. Hopefully we’ll all be starting a new job next month, a water front restaurant about a mile west of Treasure Beach for our friend Sebastien, a chef from the south of France.

THE BIG PUSH TO FINISH THE PINEAPPLE HOUSE !

this week we're putting the final touches on my most beautiful project to date, the pineapple house at treasure beach. paint touch ups and landscaping today, followed by the installation of the kitchen cabinets and appliances, bathroom sinks and moving in the furniture and lighting. an exciting week for me and the crew. 

i'll post more images next week when the furniture is in   x 

COPAN, well worth a visit.

The trip to the mayan ruins at Copan was fun and really interesting. the ruins are well worth a visit and i highly recommend using one of the guides that work at the site, ours made it incredibly interesting and informative ($40 for 4 hours). the museum is a must do, it holds a lot of the most beautiful and powerful sculptures, as well as a recreation of the main alter, painted as it would have been, when the city was inhabited thirteen hundred years ago. we stayed at a very nice little b and b called "casa de cafe", the rooms were simple but comfy and the breakfasts were really good, all for $40 a night. we had dinner one evening up at hacienda san lucas. try to get there at around 5.15pm for a lovely sunset view across the valley, river and coffee plantation. our meal there was the best honduran food i've ever had. my Mum headed back to england via miami and after i'd seen her off at san pedro sula airport i took the bus back to la ceiba, jumped on the ferry and headed back to utila. it's time to wrap up work on the pineapple house. all that's left to do now is install the kitchen cabinets, landscape and move the furniture in. the fun part of the job ! 

MUM ARRIVES ON UTILA

this is my mums first visit from england to utila and i'm hoping it won't be her last . after yet more rain this week (this has to be the longest rainy season on record), the sun is finally showing its face again. despite the wet days, time is flying by and my mums three + week visit will be over, too soon.  we've been swimming and fish watching (her highlights so far have included squid and octopus), had lunch on the cay and we have walked to utopia resort for dinner a couple of times (mum got a ride home through the jungle on an atv, a first for her). she loves our house on the beach, this week i'm in charge of cooking and mums in charge of tidying up (works for me). beautiful star gazing from our pier last night, mum is looking for a shooting star as she's never seen one, i think we can probably arrange that. in ten days we travel by road across mainland honduras to the mayan ruins at copan, should be an adventure! 

THE THREE AMIGOS COME TO VISIT aka "welcome to hondo"

i've just wrapped up a weeks visit by three of my oldest and dearest friends, David, Mark and Buzzy (or Arturo, as he likes to be called on the island) . great fun was had by all(shame about the weather, the rainy season has lasted two weeks later than last year), David kept fit by running the length of the island and back every day and taking photos but actually he seemed rather relaxed which was exactly what he needed. Buzzy discovered a love of snorkeling , saw many spotted eagle rays and got some great video of an octopus one night (i shall say no more about Buzzy, i'm saving the rest for a book or "a family event") and Mark....well Mark made the week. he was sozzled from sun up to sunset and is probably going to experience the d.t.'s when he gets home (he set a record at Utopia Resort for the most shots ever consumed). a witty raconteur, Mark WANTED to rake the beach and sweep the verandas everyday, bonded with my construction crew even though he speaks no spanish and left his room cleaner and better furnished than when he arrived. it was like watching him set up our huge trade show booth in the old days.  a great week, the first time we've all hung out in at least two years. my current business partner Roger, was amazed that after all these years and all these business', the four of us were still such great friends.  i hope they'll all return soon .  i'm exhausted now, feels like leaving after a week in vegas, not utila.  i guess i just can't party like i used to.......but i ain't giving up! 

   rated p.g. for language... Buzzy got every excited. 

THE RETURN OF SPOTTED DICK.

most days last year at sunrise and/or sunset a spotted eagle ray came to feed at treasure beach. often he'd be in the shallowest water and would come within a foot or two of the beach, it was so predictable that friends would sometimes come by to see him in the late afternoon. i hadn't seen him this year and was getting a bit worried that maybe he'd met an untimely end. yesterday afternoon the sun finally came out and the wind shifted to the east, so i went to sit on the pier and enjoy the sunset. the water was calm and very clear but i noticed an area by the pier that was very cloudy and knew that meant only one thing: something was digging in the sand. for the next thirty minutes i got to watch "dick" foraging for shrimp, crab and lobster. he's grown a bit since i last saw him and his tail must be six feet long now. cheers, nice to have you back dick.

JUCA'S GONE WILD !

everyones favorite divemaster juan carlos, aka ricky ricardo, aka juca, has been going through the idc (scuba instructors exam) for the last week and a half in utila town. its very serious stuff with the examiners flown in from the u.s. and although juca claims its nothing but work, work, work, the reality is there's an awful lot of partying at the end of each day (divemasters are infamous boozers).  seems one night he (or a friend?) had some fun with the clippers and not just on his head.  he has a group of twenty divers arriving from the states on saturday and three of my friends too, should give everyone a surprise that first day out on the dive boat! 

well it looks as though the rainy season may have finally come to an end. sunshine for four days now and a new moon and stars at night. the school of squid i'd been snorkeling with in the evenings seems to have disbanded , just a few stragglers still around. it seems they liked the dark cloudy nights with no moon or stars better. the pineapple house is progressing nicely, the ground floor bedroom floors are being tiled now and i have more plants arriving on the supply boat today. this house is going to be the best one yet, absolutely beautiful. addios amigos x 

hola , well its still a bit rainy and the west wind has been blowing for a week (very unusual, the east wind is the norm) but we had some sunshine yesterday which allowed me to paint some gingerbread trim that's going on the coral house.  we had a beautiful sunset last night, the two catamarans are anchored in the calm waters between treasure beach and the cays. germans on board cruising the caribbean for a couple of months. it seems our end of the island is becoming a popular place with the sailing set,  there's been up to six of them here at a time this month, they like our calm waters and they make the view even prettier. 

january showers make flowers

i'm back at treasure beach after spending late november and the beginning of december on my honeymoon with beth, my gorgeous new bride. we were in the maldives and had a lovely time, then back to chicago before christmas and new year, brrrr. its good to feel the sun again and see my utila friends, peter, amanda, john, bine, hugh, ryan and roger. january is the tail end of the rainy season on utila and the weather is very changeable, well its either sunny or rainy anyway, its always warm. i've been doing some planting and in the last couple of weeks i've added a dozen baby coconut palms and some bird of paradise around the coral house, next i'll be adding bananas. the construction of the pineapple house is going great and we're starting some of the interior painting this week, fingers crossed if everything arrives from the states in time we'll be completed by the end of february. its a great house and it feels nice and roomy, i kind of hope someone wants to buy the coral house so i can keep the pineapple house instead. 

snorkeling has been good and a school of squid have been hanging around the pier all week, snorkeling with them at night is especially fun, they are very curious and are definitely interested in me, they change colours constantly like chameleons of the reef . there has been lots of whale sharks this month, the second year in a row that january has been a good month with lots of sightings and tagging being done by the researchers in town. henry and victoria have opened harbor house out on pigeon cay and its very handy, a gym/restaurant/bar/internet cafe, the food is good and it's a nice spot to eat lunch or watch the sunset, definitely a welcome addition to the neighborhood !

THE THRILLER IN UTILA

hugh "chef boy ar blaze " vs skipper " pretty boy " leonard

what better way to celebrate honduran independence day,  than a boxing challenge ? 

• chef hugh and dive boat skipper leonard have been talking about this day for months .  would they actually go through with it ? a hush came over the crowd as they pushed their way into the ring : a gringo vs. local match up. this was either going to be very entertaining or very sad. 

• the ferocity of the opening salvo took us all by surprise (there'd been a lot of bravado in the months leading up to the fight but they are friends) . with both guys standing toe to toe in the center of the ring and swinging hard it looked like chef hugh was going down and going down hard.

skipper leonard kept chef hugh on the defensive with a wicked series of combination punches that had chef hugh reaching deep into his gut for the strength to continue . 

just as the still placid crowd had expected, looks like the gringo's gonna go down and out in the first round. 

out of nowhere and from down low, hugh unleashed a wicked right cross,  shocker....... "pretty boy" leonard hits the deck ! 

the silent crowd erupted and with them still ringing in his ears leonard was back on his feet in a second, THIS WAS GETTING GOOD ! 

with the crowd ignited by the surprise knock down and chef hugh 

taunting him with the muhammad ali shuffle, leonard came back fighting like a man possessed . ain't no gringo chef gonna take out the "pretty boy" from sandy bay. 

coming in low to avoid a roundhouse left , leonard gets inside . 

hugh didn't 

even see the right cross coming  but he felt it ! 

time for skipper leonard to take cooking

 boy to school.

chef hugh hit the deck hard , down and bloodied ............but not out . 

up in a flash , sporting a cheeky grin and once again doing the ali shuffle , hugh continued to taunt leonard as the crowd egged him on . two knockdowns and we're still in the first round ,

the "thriller in utila" is living up to the hype .

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• and then the unthinkable , out of nowhere a torrential rain storm and the ref called the fight. the ring is too slippery.
  
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• rumor has it , an eccentric fight fan had put up a substantial purse which neither pugilist can collect on .................... until the rematch .
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hemmingway would have enjoyed independence day on utila. 

utila carnival (july '08)

the end of july is carnival season on utila (don't worry Rio , we're not trying to de-throne you). 
after two nights of neighborhood 
celebrations saturday is the "big" parade and fireworks. with about 50% of the islands vehicles (about 15) and virtually all its citizens participating, utila carnival is tons of fun for locals and visitors alike. winding its way from chepas beach through town to the lagoon, it's very cute and a great time was had by all . most in the crowd followed their favorite float until the center of town was gridlocked and the kids in the drumming band got to really strut their stuff. it was nice to see so many of the expats involved (many are from new orleans , so its in the blood). during the day it's a family affair but at night things heat up and the bars along the water front are hopping, a prelude to "sunjam" only two weeks later . 

COMING IN SEPTEMBER, utila independence day and the strange ritual of a boxing ring in the center of town and all challengers welcome !