Blackouts, spring storms, spring breakers and NO INTERNET!

HELLLLLLLLLLLLO! So so sorry we've been incommunicado for so long. Living on a tiny island 100 miles out to sea has it's perks, but it has its drawbacks too. Intermittent electricity for one. Also, hella ferocious storms, where torrential rain flies sideways and stings like needles and I think maybe we should lash ourselves to a palm tree, even tho everyone else takes it in stride.

The spring break kids also flood the island and careen around in rented electric golf carts, frequently banging into parked cars, and VERY frequently banging into my car, which is so uniformly dented at this point it almost looks like post modernist design. I'm told every year these youthful party people bring diseases from up north, and sure enough two weeks after spring break started, everyone in Key West started coming down with killer colds and a particularly nasty stomach bug.

The hardest part for us however has been the complete lack of internet access. Whatever dime store router we had went out, and upon calling the office for repair, we learned a little more about "island time." Many businesses here have a captive audience and little or no competition, so getting service can take weeks. I've never gone this long without connection and that combined with all the storm sponsored candlelight and old timey mustard plasters, I almost thought we'd turned Amish.

Then they fixed the internet! Back to civilization! We instantly forgot any of our piddly gripes and refocused our gaze on all things paradisey. Our tranquil backyard (see Walter above refusing to come out of palm grove), the aquamarine ocean, the fact we've made friends with people who have boats and have gotten to spend lots of time on said aquamarine water.

Not Wally tho. I don't want him trying to keep his balance on a speeding boat. He gets to bask in the air conditioning with a butcher bone whilst I play. I've adopted the Hemingway schedule, writing in the morning until 3-4 pm, then heading out for cocktails and sunset. Then I go back home and write some more. Wally gets 2 walks a day, and a long leg massage at night.

We still haven't seen the miracle walking again, but I'm convinced the nerves are growing. I can tell he feels more when I put his shoe on now, and he licks his foot intensely after a full day of wearing his shoes, which means he can feel something. Soaking his foot in warm water and epsom salts really gets the swelling down and seems to sooth the urge to lick, so we do that at least once a night now.

I have to catch up on all your blogs now, I'm terrified you've all moved on, moved away, or decided to forgo pugs for parakeets. Alas, I know I have nothing to worry about really - as it just so happens that pug people are some of the most wonderful and reliable in the world.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

"The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball -- the further I am rolled the more I gain."
- Susan B. Anthony