The Easter Break has come to an end and we are all back at work even though the traffic sure did seem light going into Charlotte Amalie to bring Steve to work. But, there are 5 cruise ships in so I am sure it will be a nightmare to go in and get him here shortly as I have to drive by the cruise ship area.

It was a great 5 days break. We took the ferry over to St. John on Good Friday and had lunch at Island Jazz on Coral Bay. It was so relaxing to just sit and watch the herons walk along fishing and the sailboats rocking at anchor. That side of St. John is very pretty - hadn't visited there before. We would love to live on St. John but since most of it is National Park rentals are few and very expensive. A lot of the teachers live on St Thomas and take the ferry over each day.

I didn't do as much reading as I wanted to during the weekend as we watched a lot of movies. I wallowed in oldies - one with Doris Day and James Garner and then Gidget - I had never seen it before. We also watched Drew Barrymore's 50 First Dates - what a wonderful feel good movie. The Hawaiian scenery was nice too. I liked Shall We Dance because Richard Gere is in it but Steve wasn't too impressed. I don't even want to talk abut Bubba Ho Tep, the funky movie he rented. Imagine Elvis overweight and old in a rest home fighting an Egyptian mummy wearing cowboy boots and hat. Oh yes, and Elvis' side kick is JFK, who is now black and played by Ossie Davis!

Okay - gotta mention books. I finished Crutcher's The Sledding Hill. It was an interesting read, but not my favorite of his books by any means. It is very message driven about censorship. A fundamental church group is trying to censor a fictitious Crutcher book called "Warren Peece". The story is told from a dead boy's point of view about his best friend standing up to the church group, which his mom belongs to.

But, I did love Forest of the Pygmies, the third Alex Cold and Nadia Santos adventure by Isabel Allende. I also loved the first one - City of the Beasts that is set in the Amazon with wonderful disappearing Amazonian Indians, etc. The second one Kingdom of the Dragon is set in a China like kingdom with Alex and Nadia getting involved in saving the Golden Dragon. Wasn't as exciting. Forest of the Pygmies is set in very remote part of Africa. I loved the first part when the elephant let Alex know how she felt about him riding her by knocking him into a puddle then "blowing wind" in his face - and it wasn't from her trunk. :-) Again, Alex and Nadia use their totemic powers to save the pygmies and the villagers from a band of mercenary soldiers who are using them as slaves. I'm sorry to see their adventures come to an end.

That's all the YA reading I did - I am in the middle of an adult mystery set in the Caribbean at the moment. Have to give myself a break from the YA once in awhile. Okay - gotta get in the car and go get Steve. I am listening to a YA novel - Card's Ender's Game and I am not impressed. I waited all this time to read/listen to this book and I am not enjoying it. All the practice battle scenes are boring me and I am not crazy about the narrator's voice. I guess I shouldn't have chosen this one to listen to after the beautiful language of Cold Mountain.