Good morning all. I sat out on the balcony with my eggs and toast and watched a guy use a combination of oar and wind power to get his little dingy into shore. I have never seen a sail on a rowboat before, but hey, if it works - go for it. The sailors down here know how to make the best out of what they got. Either that or they are just down right crazy from the number of times they have hit their head on the top of the door frame coming out of the galley. A couple of them have gotten into the holiday spirit and have lights on their mast and even a few lighted snowmen decorate decks.

My trip to KMart yesterday was a frustrating one. After standing in line to get to the pick up window at the pharmacy, I stood in a closer line as she s..l..0..w..l..y searched through the buckets of prepared prescription baggies for mine - three times! My husband shows ups, wondering where I got lost to and innocently asked my why couldn't she look it up in the computer, which was right in front of her by the way. I guess my reply of, "That would be too easy!" must have been a bit more terse than I realized. He headed off the other way. Then she had to ask me how to spell my name. Down here Clark typically has an e on it so then the search began again. No such luck - I was then told it was my responsibility to call my doctor back and find out why KMart can't find it! This is the way things are done in the Caribbean. My type A personality and this laid back island life can be like oil and water! I think I will ask Steve to go pick the prescription up without me!

Speaking of sailing and the Caribbean, one of my favorite reads recently is Susanna Vance's Deep. No, it isn't a horror type book like Benchly's from years ago. It is a kidnapping murder mystery with two very distinctly different female voices. Chapters alternate between spoiled 13 year old Birdie who is sure she is the next Sylvia Plath and seventeen-year-old Morgan, who has lived her entire life on a sailboat. Their paths cross when they are both abducted by the same psychopath who puts them in a cage and lowers it into a well on a private island in the Caribbean.

I initially picked it up to read because I saw Vance had written it. Also, it has a really cool cover with just a girl's face, eyes closed, peeking out of the water, as if she is floating. I loved Vance's debut novel Sights about a young teen who does not fit in at school and her geeky boyfriend who turns into a hunk and now the other girls want him. Female taunting and bullying with a mystical slant to it.

That's it for today. Started Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful last night. Not far enough into it yet to discuss it.