Back to grind. What a wonderful long weekend we had on Virgin Gorda. The name means fat virgin, as that is what the sailors called it - guess it looked to them like a fat virgin laying on her back. They must have been at sea a very long time as I can't see any resemblance to a woman of any size in the outline of the island!

Our last evening on Virgin Gorda was spend strolling along Savannah Beach. There were a few other people there for an evening swim, but it was basically deserted. I was picking shells when Steve called to me to come look at a ray. And what a beauty it was - beautiful tannish gray and about 7 " across the "wing" span. The interesting part was the black barb at the end of his tail. It was longers than he was and he was swishing it about above the water level quite frequently. Small rays like this one are why you should shuffle your feet when wading into the ocean. He was swimming around just a little deeper than ankle deep. Once he saw us he got curious and came closer. He was clearly looking right at us and then swam along about 4 feet away from us as we walked down the beach. I didn't want to leave but once the sun set we couldn't see much of him anymore. I was so enchanted with that ray - what a personality! He was a delight. The sea life in the waters around Virgin Gorda is incredible. Can't wait to go back and do more snorkling and just wandering along the basically deserted beaches. Lots of sailboats in the bays as this is a sailor's paradise but not so many tourists go on land based vacations here. We will definitely go back to Nail Bay Resort. It was so quiet and peaceful and what a view from the Mystic Suite. We could lay in bed and watch the boats sail past!

I don't know if I mentioned this book before, but it has been sitting on my desk since I read it. I have such second thoughts about whether I like these books or not as I really did not care much for Patterson's The Lake House when I listened to it. I had already read Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment when I listened to the book so I had trouble not getting the story lines mixed up. Then with Maximum Ride: School's Out-Forever I was losing my interest in the bad guys who keep hunting these winged wonders. But, I do realize how popular these books will be with MS/JH age teens and tweens. The whole idea of genetically altering a human so that they are part bird is fascinating and who hasn't had the wonderful dream of being able to fly? Max is a feisty female protagonist that will keep even the most reluctant reader up at night to find out what happens to her flock next. And how can you not laugh at, and love, Total, the dog that can talk, and what a feisty personality he has! And Ari - the poor "wolf boy" who wants nothing more than to have his "father" and Max love him. Okay - I change my mind - I do like these books. Wish I hadn't listened to The Lake House - it messed with my enjoyment of the YA novels about Max and her flock.

All for now.