Good morning!  I think I'll just capture some bits and pieces of living here this Thursday morning.  And this morning has been an interesting one that illustrates the anxiety producing mission this can be for Dave.

First of all, to the left is the first thing I noticed walking into the house for the first time--the beautiful wood stairs!  The couple of houses that I have been in here all have beautiful wood work, dark cabinets, staircases, doors.  Really beautiful.  On the first floor of our townhouse are kitchen, large dining area, living room and bath with a tiled shower.  Upstairs, and to to left in the picture, is a loft/landing area with a small couch and a desk.  The laundry room, two bedrooms and a full bath are on the second floor.  Tiled floors are throughout the house.  The yard is small and surrounded by a fence, which this morning bears the bags of garbage accumulated since Monday.  Garbage pick-up is twice/week, which is really nice, and my neighbor across the street has one small bag set out, while I attempted to lift two huge bags onto the
fence, really tweaking my back in the process!  Bad news....one bag fell off immediately, so I took the small bags of garbage out and placed them individually on the fence.  I am afraid to look out again...I'm pretty sure that the other big bag has fallen by this time, and I am just hoping that the stray dogs don't get into it before the garbage truck arrives!  (Or Dave, who will be VERY irritated.)

Maddy has been getting Dave up early in the morning (4:00 AM), to his dismay.  But today, he slept in till 5:45 AM, which was a big mistake.  As he was getting the garbage ready to go outand waiting for the coffee to brew, his phone rang with an emergency in Punta Gorda, his farthest destination.  He always has his flight bag ready, but he had to get dressed (he wears sports shirt and pants, generally, looking as professional as possible).  I noticed that he did not even get his first cup of coffee.  He is to be at the airport in 15-20 minutes, but I think that it was closer to 30 minutes this morning.  I heard the plane take off with the medic at 6:35.  He is to be in the air in 5 minutes after arriving at the airport.  I will wait to hear what the emergency was, but my guess is an accident this time with the sense of urgency communicated.  As you may imagine, the call to rush can be pretty disruptive, and the call can come from just before daylight to dark.  Dave is setting a limit that he won't go anywhere after 5:15 PM, as the sun sets about 6:00 PM and there is virtually no dusk in which to later find the airport.

If you look closely, you'll see two hot and unhappy cats.  Maddy and Izzie made it fine on the trip, but they have had a difficult time adjusting to the heat and to our attempts to change their food.  Designer cat food is not available, so we are encouraging them to eat Friskies.  Izzie didn't eat for two days, but hunger won over.  Maddy is more likely to complain, while Izzie cannot be found during the day.  She has finally walked downstairs, and the two cats actually played together for a few minutes last night.  I feel sorry for them with the heat and their fur coats.  I looked yesterday at the temperature in Belize City, and opposite of the wind chill factor, the station said that it was 91 degrees, "feels like 104!"

As I sit in front of the dining room table and a fan, I watch the children dressed in yellow shirts and brown pants, walking to school.  I'm not sure where the elementary school is, as there is one that I know of in the opposite direction that the children are walking.  Many mothers are walking with their children.  A large technical high school is across the street.  I love hearing the kids at lunch or P.E. and walking home from school.  The bell rings at 8:00 in the morning.  While elementary school is free, many run by churches, high school has a fee.  What happens in late summer at the Children's Centre is that an influx of "abandoned" kids show up, the ministry pays for the high school fees, after which the kids go home!  I thought it a rather clever way to get state-paid education, but it is a huge burden for the centre.

I have realized how extraordinarily quiet Edgewood is.  I live in the city now.  Lots of noise...not unpleasant, but city-like.  I've actually appreciated the music coming from the house behind us, especially when the mom puts on "The Wheels of the Bus," etc. for the kids (who are so cute) in the afternoon.  Our TV is not working whatsoever!  Yvette says that we have 150 channels, but we can't get the TV to change channels, so listened to the same news for two hours out of Long Island, NY yesterday afternoon!!  I really wanted Belize news!

With the kitchen immaculate and the dining room and downstair and upstair bathrooms clean, I will begin work in the living room now.   I need to make another run to Brodies today (imagine a Target), and I want to walk over to the meat market.  I think I need some more vegetables from the fruit stand, too!