Break Out Your Whistles, It's Junkanoo Time

Saturday was the second and last day of the Goombay Festival. Nothing like a good junkanoo,

and moko jumbies.

How about the intricate braiding on the lady in that last picture?

We've gone to 6 or 7 carnivals throughout the Caribbean, and the guys on stilts are always my favorite, but I've never seen a costume like this.



He moved so smoothly. Can you tell that his butt cheeks are on display? It was pretty darn cool, although he had to be extremely hot.

Sunday? Zombie bike ride.

All events Sunday (lots more on Babbling' Conch's Facebook page):

Here We Go!

And it begins. Fantasy Fest is upon us.

It started with the Goombay Festival. You'll note that last year there wasn't a whole lot of Goombay going on. There were maybe two booths that could be considered Bahamian, the rest were basically street meat. Tons and tons of barbecued flesh all the way down the street. Yuck. The meat was still there, but there was much more conch, jerk chicken, peas & rice, handmade jewelry, rum drinks in coconuts/pineapples, Caribbean music (not really Bahamian), etc. - all booths run by African Americans (and Cubans), another change from last year - so good job to the organizers this time.

Also, last time, we hit the street fair during the day. We came after sundown this time, and it was much more crowded.

I know I said the heat broke, but that was just for a couple of days. It's hot again. We were shivering by now last year (and it was raining a lot), so it seems summer just doesn't want to let go this year. Trying to avoid the heat, we came later and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We ended up spending most of our time at the stage where different bands play all day. When we got there, The People Upstairs were just getting started. They play a really wide range of songs in a jazzy, reggae style. We had a couple of sad moments remembering being at the music concerts in St. Kitts and jamming to this stuff, realizing we wouldn't be doing that again anytime soon. But one guy, noticing me bobbing to the music, came up and asked Michael if it was okay to dance with me (I love that). And then off we went to boogie.



He asked me where I was from, and I told him we'd just come from St. Kitts. He told me he was from Miami, and then grinned real wide, revealing a number of missing teeth. He was a real gem and helped reset the mood.

As we were heading back to the house, we passed a bunch of drag queens, and Michael couldn't resist shoving a dollar in one guy's (gal's?) bra.



Yes, Fantasy Fest has begun. Rest up!

The Preparations Begin

I think Michael needs a haircut.



Ah, much better. Of course, this is the first haircut he's liked since he got here (the woman even did his eyebrows), and now we're moving.

The weather finally broke too. The morning's have brought great temps, with a breeze, to boot. Even the ospreys seem to be happy because they've been chirping up a storm around our deck (I keep checking to make sure they haven't grabbed a cat). But the preparations are in full force to head out in a couple of weeks.

One of the things we liked about Fountain Hills was how slow-paced it was. It's got the same # of people as Key West (about 20,000), but is 18 square miles instead of 5. There are no street lights, so you can see the stars; you have coyotes yipping at night; rabbits everywhere; bobcats running in the washes; a surprising number of businesses still don't accept credit cards; and the same businesses with the same owners have been around for decades. When that becomes boring, you can drive 12 miles to the south and have everything you could possibly want in Scottsdale, or go 20 minutes east and be at a lake. If it weren't for the cold/snow, rattle snakes/scorpions/tarantulas, and lack of beaches, it'd be close to perfect.

Our apt. view if we get accepted.

Yesterday I was reminded how "slow" the town really is (still) when I tried to find a place to live. The company who manages almost all the rental properties is run by an ancient woman who doesn't know how to upload photos to her website and gets put out if you ask her to email you some. So....we decided to move into an apartment for now. When I called the complex, I got the friendliest person I might have ever spoken to. She has sent us maps, layouts, measurements, and photos and has been extremely patient. The place has more space than we need (the extra bedroom and dining room will be empty), and costs a little more than we'd hoped, but it's still $500/month cheaper than our apartment in Key West. And we'll have access to a pool and a fitness center, among other things. Now we have to pass a credit & criminal background check and complete the most complex amount of documents I've ever had to fill out for an apartment. Our fingers are crossed that nothing unexpected crops up, and we can cross this task off our list.

Bye scooter - sniffle.

And I sold my moped. It was gone 4 hours after I put it on Craig's List. It's harder to license a moped than a gun in Arizona, so I've decided it's not worth it (we'll be within walking distance of everything in town). Michael already had an M on his license, so doesn't have to go through the hassle that I would, so will be keeping his. That said, I was sad to see it go. For some reason I get really attached to my vehicles (I don't give a squat about anything else). But the sale will pay for the U-Haul gas, so it is what it is. I'm also going to miss my FL driver's license photo. If my AZ one comes out as nice, it'll be good until I'm 65, so there's always that.

Where are the kitties?! And don't say "roadkill."

I've got the utilities turned off for the end of the month and have the U-Haul booked. The thing gets 10mpg, has a 40-gallon tank, and we have just over 2,500 miles to drive. You do the math. All the other stuff I'm postponing until the apartment is confirmed. I suppose at some point, we'll have to start packing. I'm just glad it cooled off so packing & loading won't be anymore unpleasant than it has to be. This is my friend's idea of what Michael & I will look like going cross country (on his moped) - it's from Dumb & Dumber (thanks a lot, Rayann).

A Decision Has Been Made

Ok, I'm back. Let's see what's happened since I've been offline. Well, Zura caught her first rat. A really big rat. I heard her scrambling on the roof, went out with a flashlight, and saw this.



Eeew. Believe it or not, I would have tried to save the thing, but it had no chance. Even though she's basically an indoor cat (other than the deck and roof), Zura was rather feral when we adopted her and apparently she has not lost her hunting chops.

The Southernmost Half Marathon went on without me running it this time. Michael was asked to help with a couple of things for the event though, so here are a few pics. It was really, really dark at 6am.



When the runners hit the lights, they were definitely blinded (by the light, like a ???, another runner in the night...)

Eventually the sun came up and everyone did their thing until they made it across the finish line.

And the moment you've been waiting for - are we staying or going? We're going. We've decided to go back to Fountain Hills, Arizona. After much discussion (and angst), we feel like it's the right thing to do. If anyone had told me I'd pick mountains over beaches, I'd have never believed it. Personally, we'd have preferred to not have had to choose between the two at all and continued to enjoy both in St. Kitts, but that no longer seems an option, so we chose mountains. We always loved the beauty and quiet of Fountain Hills, it was the weather and what we allowed to become a monotonous life, in general, that drove us to seek an adventure. I'm pretty sure we're in for another one (um, adventure, not monotonous life).

I suppose if we need a beach fix, we'll head south the 4 1/2 hours to Mexico (yes, we've done it before and it was great). CA is about 7 hours west (also fun every once in a while). It's not perfect, but it'll have to do for now. Hard to believe we've come full circle, but maybe that's what it was all about. We liked a lot about Fountain Hills, but we never did figure out how to really live there. Maybe we'll get it right this time, now that we know what's important to us. Maybe. And if we don't like it then we'll move again.

The current plan is to aim for an arrival to attend the Fountain Hills Art & Crafts Festival. It was at that show, eons ago, that we were first introduced to the town and when we immediately knew it would be our home. It looks like it will be again. And this will be our view.

And so will this. Yes, that's snow. Yes, I'm scared.










That means we'll be here for a second Fantasy Fest. A super hero-themed Fantasy Fest. Yes, I'm scared of that too....The camera batteries are being charged as I type this. Are you ready?

Thanks Readers!

A lot of you are A Sail of Two Idiots readers (or self-publishing authors), and you've been asking how I've done in sales. Well, I got my 3rd statement since the book came out in March 2012 and am current to June 2013. You Canadians really came through last year, and bought 339 copies. Thanks guys! Keep the word out though, I only sold 2 up there so far this year! Not including Canada, I've sold a total of 415 outside the United States - that's ebooks and paperbacks combined. I think that's pretty darn good! Of course, the best part is how many I've sold here at home: 6,629 copies. For all of you who have declared "real" books dead, not so fast. Of those domestic sales, 2,700 were ebooks, the rest (3,929) were paperbacks. So that's almost 7,400 copies sold worldwide. Considering Idiots was sort of an accident, I'm very satisfied with how it's doing.

I thank all of you have bought the book, have spread the word, and continue to do so. I really do appreciate it. It's so rewarding getting an email or message from someone getting ready to hit the sea themselves and who found Idiots useful. Getting contacted by non-sailors who just had a good time reading the book is fun too! 

Another question people keep asking me is if/when I'll write another one. Well... If I do, it'll be just for the love of it (again). Here are some dollar figures. Of the total $69,678.97 the book brought in over the last year and half, I brought home............$6,340.92. And you can deduct the $1,200 I spent to get some books to St. Kitts for the book signing, and the $600 I spent to fly to the Toronto Boat Show last year. If you go with a major publisher, this is pretty normal. You can make more per book if you self publish, but if you can't find a way to market yourself, you'll sell a lot fewer copies. Either way, unless you sell hundreds of thousands of books, you are not going to get rich. Of course, you can't calculate it all by dollars. I've had some incredible experiences, met some great people, and get some spending money every 6 months.

That's a kiss-blowing kitty, in case you didn't get it.

The question is whether I want to do it again. For those of you who are waiting on the next installation, is there something specific you wished had been in Idiots, but wasn't? And no, I will not write one including sex scenes (Carla), sorry. Give me some ideas, I've got writer's block. Smooches to all of you!

Political Conversation

So today was voting day. I never vote for people or issues I don't know anything about, so I spent 2 hours watching everyone explain themselves. Thanks to Hometown Key West for the video. I already discounted one candidate because she kept saying "anyways."

They brought up many issues I noticed living here. Visitors and part-timers don't necessarily notice this stuff, but when you're here full-time, small things have a much larger impact. Like:

• The homeless situation. The homeless are people too and create challenges nationwide, but people actually move down here to be homeless. I actually do know one specific case like this. A woman came down with her dog hoping to be put up somewhere but was perfectly ready and willing to live on the streets. Despite a recent law, there are many living in their vehicles too.

• Parking is a pain in the butt. You can't convert houses meant for one family into apartments housing 10 individuals (all with vehicles) or B&Bs and not think there are going to be consequences.