I know for sure I am back in the islands since I woke up to the sound of the NFL channel both yesterday and today! Steve lives and breathes football this time of the year. We are off to Shipwreck for burgers for lunch here shortly so he can see if they are showing both the Chiefs and the Texans games on their many screens. We went shopping this a.m. up in Tutu as I drank the last Diet Coke for breakfast and he knows how grumpy I can get without my a.m. fix! The grocery stores are so different down here. The freezer aisle is full of ice cream that is so covered with freezer frost that you can't even read what kind it is. The cartons are beat up and battered. We also stopped at Blockbuster to pick up The Break-Up, one of the chick flicks I wanted to see. I figured I deserved it as we watched X-Files episodes last night. And, after watching football all day today.

No YA book to talk about today as I am not quite finished with the Thai girl bio I am reading. But, I did enjoy the picture book, Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler and Kevin O'Malley, published by Walker. Had to chuckle when I saw the title. Made me think of the comment one of the presenters at the NC School Library Media Assn. Conference said, "We leave no child untested"! Boy is that the truth. But, this book is actually quite interesting. Main character is a boy who doesn't like to read as he hasn't liked any of the books Miss Malarkey keeps offering him. He would rather play video games, but when his buddies, who also hadn't been reading, are now talking about books, he wonders if there is something to it. And, finally when the school has reached their goal of 1000 books, and the school year is about to end, Miss Malarkey knows enough about him that she has found a book that will catch his attention. Success! He is reading it in bed, under the covers with a flashlight, so he can finish it. He read the 1001 st book. Very cute book that every K-5 collection should have.

All for now. Two days in the islands and I am experiencing culture shock to say the least. Saw a few acquaintances when we went out for pizza at Sop Choppys last night. Brought Donna, the manager, some WalMart beef jerky she wanted. It is funny the things people crave down here, probably because they know they can't get them! We left as soon as a young woman came in, holding an almost empty champagne bottle, shouting a very loud and profane hello to her friends at the bar. Guess she was still celebrating a wedding she had gone to. Life revolves around the hangouts near the marinas for many of the Anglos who work down here, especially the young and single ones. One of the guys on the plane when I was coming back asked me if there are a lot of single women down here. I laughed and said no, that the men out number the women 10 to one. The women pick and choose and many of the young ones make their way through the guys on island, often never finding one they want a long term relationship with. Let's just say, the single women who stay on the island long term are more than a bit "unique"!