A splurge while on vacations: a real story.

I just wish that I could see what you describe. Maybe next time I will be like a fly on the wall (high enough that they can't hit me with a fly swatter) so I could really see what you saw. I liked the response you made to the other person and I think it was great. I know you are strong and you are set in your ways but the fact that you are active on the computer is impressive to me since most older people are afraid of technology.

I´ll send you a picture of my friend a I with one of the owners.. And I wish I knew half of the technologies my grandchildren know

You know, Deb, I think sometimes that the world has to have eyes to see. A camera is not enough. Please read the first answer and my comment. I know you will understand my point of view. I have noticed that most of the things I cherish cannot be recorded in a video camera or a photo. What makes it perfect is that those nice people cared to invite us, that we had fun together. You should have seen the happiness of the restaurant´s owner´s face when he told us that his mom was always telling him to go back to France, but he was happy in the island. Yet, when we sang out of tune but with spirit La Marsellaise, he remembered for a moment that he was French.

I save all my online earnings for vacations, have piggybanks to put away as many coins as I dare and have a credit card that gives a few dollar prizes for using it (I buy everything with the Visa but I pay it all in the same month so I don´t have debt). I feel that I aid luck in a way. Luck has a lot to do with what are your goals and of your capacity to change them when needed. I have a non curable type of cancer (tough luck). I am on remission (good luck). Some people have told me I´m fighting cancer(I´m not a warrior). I feel I´m being treated for cancer(I just have an illness, as many people have). What I mean is we cannot let one thing define what we are or what we do. I´m not rich, I´m old, I´m ill. Besides that, I love to read, write, cook and garden. I am social and am blessed with several very good friends. I think that having internet (something that young people take for granted) is a miracle. You can do many things, including learning about other countries, from your own house. Last year I was on chemo and could not go anywhere but to the hospital (and with a mask as my immune system was bad). Mylot and mylotters helped me beyond my wildest expectations. I was very lucky to have this. Take care and count your blessings.

That respond is very inspiring , marguicha , you don't let the cancer to define you and you enjoy life , you are a normal person just like everyone else. I think you are strong fighter for living with the cancer and you show us there is a way to live with it and not just wait in sadness to the next chemo.

We can all do that, stringer. It´s not such a hard thing. This are nother illness but people treat this one as if it was a cataclism. But, did you know there are 2 billion undernourished people in the world? How many of them die from famine and it seems noone cares, not even when they are throwing away food that could save lives? How many people have terrible illness that make their life very difficult and that are also a big pain for their loved ones? All of us remember Christopher Reeves, but there are thoussand people around the world with the problems he had, but not the means to help them lead a better life. We are all normal, friend. We all were born, we all must die. And what we do in between depends on us.

Formidable! I learned some French in school but I never learned the French National Anthem.

I loved every moment of the diner! Ant that last moment, champagne included, was more than anyone could hope for.

In fact, the ladies did the honors! I don´t think that Bob knew the lyrics to the song. But he also had fun watching his three lady companions singing in French. As for me, I love that song and learned it when I was quite small. We had French at school and I was taught enough French there so that I can read in French (even though I was at a public school).

I hope you do. I fell that vacations are part of health and I´m willing to make budget adjustments in other items as long as I´m able to save some money for vacations.

Well, who knows! I am living 3 months at a time. I have a cancer with no cure, on remission now, but it is checked and treated every 3 months. Every three months I know what to expect odf the near future, let alone thinking of the far future. Now I will be with tests, doctors and a tresment until September. Maybe after that they say: go wherever you wish for the next 3 months. We´ll see. I want to go To Costa Rica, to Brasil and to Buenos Aires.

We sent her some pictures, but I don´t think I´ll go back to St. Maarten again. There´s a lot of places I haven´t been to, yet, and I don´t have too much time. But we will keep in touch by mail.

What do you mean by not having too much time?

I´m posting for you a picture I took of the dish I ordered. It was heaven. I love those restaurants that have a menu but then there´s a waiter who tells you that there is also so and so and that he recommends this or that. That was the way this restaurant was. I go to restaurants like this once in a while in my country, always invited without paying. But I did not mind paying for this one and the fun and the story are worth every cent. The friends we made were very nice and I felt very much at home with them.

I imagine that each one of us has a different idea about what is awesome food. I don´t like heaps of food in a dish, but something that is beautiful and appealing to my taste buds. This dish had a gourd puree, a fried banana, some tomatoes in a special sauce. The main part was a sauce over which there were asparagus, a caribbean fish and crushed pistacho nuts on top. There was also a large dry banana or the other kind (the one that is less sweet) that was placed as a mast of a ship. I´m sure I could not eat that at breakfast. My breakfasts are usually coffee with some milk and a piece of bread with something over it (jam, cheese, butter). After that we had a dessert (half for each one). We ordered some crepes with a lovely sauce. I cannot imagine a feast fit for a king as a buffet dinner of the kind "all you can eat"

Well , it doesn't look like a big feast (a meal for a king ) It looks more like a breakfast that leaves one even more hungry before eating :( I hope it made you contented (not hungry anymore ). I know it wouldn't make me contented. lol. About the friends you have made there , I hope everyone will be nice like them around you. You deserve it.

I had a couple of friends for a tea time that turned out to end just now and they told me I should write these stories. They were writers so I expressed my doubts of being able to turn my personal small stories into something that other people would be interested in. Up to now, I have only wrtten fiction. But you are telling me about the same thing they told me: that my tales made them remember their own experiences. So, after all, whem I feel better, maybe I´ll do it. One thing at a time.

I had a lovely time. And it gave me energy to face the next phase of my cancer treatment. While it´s not as harsh as last year´s, it take time and I never know about the results. So far, so good.I hope I can have a couple of weeks somewhere else after that, even if it´s near where I live.

I don´t think that many people have had such a special experience. I don´t usually sing at restaurants, except if we go with all the family for a family birthday. Then someone arranges for the waiter to bring a small cake with a candle and we sing Happy Birthday. But I am pretty sure that this is the first time as a grown up that I have done such a thing. The whole diner was a complete success and our friends were lovely.

I don´t mind saving during the year. In fact, there are lots of things that have become second nature to me as savings go, so I don´t mind them. I have discovered that I can live very well with little money if I learn how to use well what I have. The dress in the picture is over 20 years old. Still, I feel I´m well dressed with a special dress when I were it. I guess many of us can be prices or pricesses if we want to. My vacations are in a big part paid by my online earnings.

Thank you, louie, I´m glad you liked it. I´m posting another photo for you with the couple I met. I love to meet new people and this couple was specially nice.

I cherish those vacation stories. I have been very lucky while traveling: I always meet a special person that later becomes part of my life.