The "My World In Photographs: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Grabbing a few French pastries for breakfast at Macaron.  Neat little store in Orient Village on the island of St. Martin.  After gathering my pastries, I headed across the street to visit with my usual kitties who always seem to come out of the woodwork when I come to visit with them.  Today one even brought me a small gecko that he had recently caught for a meal.  Just wanted to share it with me, since he knew I was going to share the small bag of dry cat food I had stuffed in my pocket.  I always have my camera with me when I visit the village, since there are always a multitude of camera ops while on vacation.  I will share with you some of my photos today as well as post a few more on two other days.  Don't want to overwhelm you with vacation photos, since I know how that can be when you visit with someone who has just returned from vacation.  Hope you find at least one that will make your visit with me today interesting, exciting and colorful.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Remember to click on photos to enlarge them.

Beautiful stone staircase in our beach rental.

Backside of nearby Pinel Island.

Always amazes me the amount of fresh fish on sale at the island's grocery stores.

Something for everyone on the Philipsburg Boardwalk.

Yes, there really are cigarette machines still in use.  

Early morning photo shoot. 

This little boy was playing on his laptop. 

Great Bay Beach in Philipsburg.

One of many restaurants on the Philipsburg Boardwalk.

Early morning shoot in Orient Village.

"Larry"  My wife had the chance to name this male parrot when he picked her to fly to for food.  She was the first one he felt comfortable with since he came to the Parrot Farm a few months before. 

And this is what the real "Larry" would look like if he were cast in rubber.

Not sure what these may be, but they certainly were colorful.

Available most any place on the island, as well as in the back yard of our rental.

Colorful island architecture.

One of the few hummingbirds I saw.

Lobsters waiting for dinner ... in a tank in a restaurant in Grand Case.

Calm beach scene on Pinel Island.

The giant iguana.

A small flower photograph taken with my iPhone and a clip on close-up lens.

One of many island flowers.

A good one to end my story today!

The "When Will It Ever End?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just gave my date of birth, 9/9/44, to Dr. Guillaume Carrel-Billiard who is sitting across from Carol and me in the Medecine Generale on the French side of the island of St. Martin.  "Ah, the end of the war!" the doctor said.  Carol said, "Yes, it was.  Seems like a long time ago!"  Dr. Carrel, as it says on his name tag, is the medical doctor at the Cabinet Medical Caraibes at 80 rue de Cul-de-Sac and has been the doctor on location for the past two years.  He was born in Brussels, Belgium and went to medical school in France and is now serving as doctor in the office directly next to one of St. Martin's Pharmacies.  The reason for our visit today are colds that have stuck with us since our plane has landed on the island six days ago.  What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, approved by Carol's breast cancer surgeon and my prostate cancer surgeon, of day after day on some of the world's best beaches has turned into a nightmare of day and night inside with plenty of bed rest.  Did manage one day on the beach, but it tired both of us out so much that we spent a few more days in bed after it.  Finally decided we needed to see a doctor or our entire vacation will turn into the exact same event that our last vacation did when Carol came down with appendicitis part-way through it and had to have her appendix removed in a hospital on the tiny island of Provenciales.  No appointment was needed at the Cabinet Medical Caraibes and we sat in his waiting room for maybe five minutes before he opened his door and a very pretty young woman exited his office and he invited us into it.  He examined both of us, checked our blood pressure, listened to our lungs and heartbeat and began to write a few prescriptions.  Four meds for me and five meds for my wife.  Our very handsome doctor has had such a varied life and is perhaps in his late 20s to maybe mid-30s.  We shared some stories with him and then it was time to leave.  His fee was $50 for the visit, in cash!  "No credit card?" I asked him.  Well, I emptied my pockets and Carol checked her purse and we managed to come up with $99.  "That's fine," he said.  "I'll be back tomorrow with the rest," I promised him.  We walked a few steps from his office and entered the pharmacy where we ended up with two shopping bags filled with drugs to cure what ails us.  

Enough medicine to cure the entire neighborhood.

Enough cough medicine to last until next vacation and enough pills and sprays to cure the neighbor- hood where our villa is located.  And to top that off, enough liquid vitamins to purify and nourish the drinking water in a large village.  We are now at the end of our first days meds and feel slightly better.  Hoping that the beach will beckon tomorrow and we finally have a chance to relax and forget all our medical worries for a few weeks.  Life can be very unfair at times, but you just have to keep pushing on and make the best of it.  And, I must remember to take the $1 that I owe to the doctor to him tomorrow or I'll never get better.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Gaining Some New Friends On The Beach" Story

All our neighbors have left to find
more permanent shelter from the storm.

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting under the Yellow Umbrellas on Orient Beach waiting for the storm to pass.  Carol and I decided to wait out a nasty storm that pushed its way from the south side of Orient Beach to the north as well as toward the west.  Dark storm clouds had been accumulating for more than half an hour and many of the beach guests had decided to search for a more permanent cover than just a beach umbrella.  Our friends of many years, Don and Joy, decided to also wait out the storm and removed their own umbrellas from their base and drew them closer to the ground for better protection.  

Our friends Don and Joy have joined us in waiting out the storm.

Wasn't long after most beach goers had sought shelter than the skies opened and the liquid sunshine pelted us.  The large beach umbrellas supplied us with quite a bit of protection so we decided it was time to eat while the rain fell around us.  As I looked up and down the beach, the only true beach bums were Carol and myself, Don and Joy and a few hearty souls to the north of us on the beach.  As we opened our cold packs and removed our lunch, seems the smell of the food drifted toward two roaming dogs who found their way to our umbrella and hustled under it with us.  So, the four of us shared a few sandwiches, some cheese twirls, grapes, cheese crackers and drinks.  

Our very wet guests, Brownie and Blackie waiting out the storm.

After lunch Carol and I huddled together under our beach towels to try and get warm while our furry friends found refuge under our chairs.  Took close to a half hour before the storm passed and other beach patrons began to return to their chairs.  Our two new friends remained with us until the smell from some neighboring lunch baskets became greater than our friendship and they were off.  In the Caribbean, storms can arrive quickly and drench the beach patrons and just as quickly pass by.  The secret is to know which storms to ride out and from which to seek cover.  Carol and I knew we were going to get soaked one way or another so we chose to stay and eventually gained the friendship of a couple of furry friends.  Somehow they always find us.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Light At The End Of The Road" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Walking up a rather steep one-lane street in the center of Marigot, the capital of the French side of the island known as Sint Maarten/St. Martin.  How appropriate that at the pinnacle of the one-lane street would be the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church which celebrated its 175th anniversary this past year.  The quiet street is lined with white-washed buildings which highlight the pastel yellow concrete building with the large red door at the end of it.  

The St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Marigot, St. Martin.

I was all by myself on the street as I found my way to the top with my trusty camera to take some photographs of this historic church on the French side of St. Martin.  It was in 1648 that the French and Dutch divided the island, but the Roman Catholic Church still found some unity.  The French first lived on the Northern part of the island in the Quartier d'Orleans where they had a small Roman Catholic Church.  

Original Catholic Church in Marigot.

Later the Governor made Marigot the capital, but there were very few citizens in Marigot and a priest and church weren't warranted.  The priest in Quartier d'Orleans was a friend of a free Carib Indian named Louis.  They had an argument which Louis solved by decapitating the priest.  It wasn't until July 3, 1768 that St. Martin was declared a parish.  

The front door of the church.  The lock
holds the key to the many famous and
not so famous who walked through the door.

The French revolution changed much in the islands.  St. Martin had a slave rebellion and the church in d'Orleans, as well as many estate houses, were burned and the revolution bought a change in the relationship between the French state and the Roman Catholic Church.  Father Constant, the priest at the time of the slave rebellion was forced, along with the elite on the island, to build a raft and flee to nearby Anguilla. Then in 1841, an Irish-born priest, Father Wall, settled on Saint Martin and had the Marigot Catholic built.  It was blessed May 15, 1842.  The two transepts were added in 1871 and 1872.  

This small plaque shows a drawing of Saint Martin de Tours.

Recently, the small chapel in the church was renovated by the youth of St. Martin as a hands-on project under the "Compagnons de France", using mid-20th-Century construction techniques.  In 2016 the church celebrated their 175th Anniversary.

A small history of the church is displayed outside the front door.

As the name of the church suggests, it is dedicated to St. Martin of Tours who was a Catholic bishop of Tours in France who was elevated to the status of saint by the Holy See.  My tour was limited to the exterior of the church which I found to be in beautiful condition.  In the rear I found a small garden with a statue of Mother Mary standing in the garden.  I loved the quiet atmosphere and was able to enjoy my visit to the church. After a few quiet moments and a prayer, I departed the splendid church and headed back into center city Marigot.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Perfect photograph for a Caribbean Island Church.

One of the extensions that was added to the church after the original part was built.

One of the transepts added in 1871. 

The garden to the rear of the church.

Another view of the rear of the church.

The Virgin Mary in the garden of the church.

The "Welcome In My World Of Art" Story

Our new artwork painted by Tess using the
sand painting technique.

It was an ordinary day.  Just found the perfect place for our new piece of artwork that we bought while on the island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin.  Carol and I discussed at length whether we should, or needed, to buy any more artwork for our Beach House.  Just about every room in the house has artwork on every wall and the entrance foyer has at least a dozen pieces of artwork hanging on the 20 foot wall.  Standing in the closet off our bedroom are at least eight to ten large pieces of art that we took down to accommodate newer pieces we like better.  And to top that off, most every table or cabinet has smaller pieces of art on them ... so what would we do with another piece or art?  Well, we bought one anyway.  

ArtCraftCafe is located on the right
about halfway down Old Street in
Sint Maarten.

Just had to have it since it was so unique.  Called sand painting and it has mostly pastel colors with actual sand covering most of the painting.  The pastel colors reminds one of the Caribbean immediately upon viewing it.  Luckily the new artwork is rather small and doesn't need a large area to display it.  The artist of our new find is a woman named Tess Verheij who was born in Zandvoort, The Netherlands.  She lived, studied and worked in Holland for 31 years before moving to England.  She has a variety of degrees in all areas of art as well as a degree in education which she put to use when she became an art teacher.  Tess mainly paints figurative compositions in oils and acrylics on canvas, pastels on paper, inks on paper, mosaics and experiments with Tie dye on canvas.  In September of 2008 she started traveling with her two daughters, visiting Europe and Egypt to explore and visit inspiring artists and art movements and to spend more time with her two girls.  

Tess on the right stands with the island Minister of Culture,
Silveria Jacobs at the opening of her new gallery/school.

She then moved to the tiny island known as Sint Maarten where she taught art at local schools.  After three years she opened her own gallery/art school on picturesque Old Street in the Dutch capital of Philipsburg known as "ArtCraftCafe".  At first it was on the corner of Old and Back Streets, but the place had no running water and no bathroom and was too small. The size of her classes required she move into a larger building so she moved once again in September of 2016 to a larger place at 116 Old Street.  

Students work on their artwork at ArtCraftCafe.

She now has over 100 students ranging in age from 4 to 72 years old.  She has displayed mosaics, linocuts, acrylics and sand paintings.  As soon as Carol and I saw the sand paintings we knew we just had to have one.  The fact that they were small and carried the pastel colors of the Caribbean islands was all we needed.  The accompanied paper which came with it states, among other things, that we shouldn't hesitate to call, you're more than welcome in my world of Art.  It looks perfect on our antique cabinet beneath our wall-hanging television.  We can now continue to say we have never traveled to an island that we didn't buy at least one piece of artwork from that island.  Now, we are either going to have to change that philosophy or stop traveling.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

MIxed media painting by Tess.

Now exploring using glass paint on canvas which is seen in this colorful painting.

The "Did The Pope Really Eat Here!" Story

Al Dente Restaurant in St. Martin.

It was an ordinary day.  Raphael is visiting our table and telling a few animated tales.  Carol and I decided to try a new restaurant during our yearly visit to St. Martin and happened to find a new Italian cuisine restaurant on the French side of St. Martin.  Brightly lit place along a busy road that had a welcoming green, white and red sign that expressively yelled "Al Dente".  

Raphael talks with us at our table.

Pulled into the parking lot and for the next hour and a half we were both entertained as well as treated to a fine Italian meal.  As we entered we were met by Axel who showed us to a table and took our drink order.  Their Facebook page says they have close to 400 varieties of wine so I thought I should try a glass.  Shortly our drinks arrived and we ordered our meal of Lasagna for Carol and Veal Ravioli for me.  The restaurant was beginning to fill and I asked Axel if I could take a few photos.  Within minutes I had taken a variety of photographs showing the uniqueness of Al Dente.  In the center of the restaurant stands a tree.  Yep, a real tree that goes through the roof of the restaurant.  Close to the tree is a huge ceiling light made from clear wine bottles.  

Interior of the Al Dente Restaurant with tree protruding
from the center of the restaurant through the roof.

Close to that is another light that was made from copper air conditioner tubing that is formed into a sculpture that holds small lites.  On just about every square inch of wall space are photos of famous people, many consuming Italian food.  I asked Axel if all these people visited the restaurant at one time or another and as he gave me a big smile, said,"No!"  

One of many walls that displays primarily celebrities. 

Doesn't matter anyway since Carol and I had the best time trying to figure out who all the people may be.  Had two photos of President Obama as well as one of Sean Connery who played James Bond.  But, the item that drew the most entertainment was a large board on the wall that listed: Malattia (Disease), Vino (Wine) and Dose (How much to drink to cure the Malattia).  

Diseases or Malattia that require wine to correct them.
The amount of vino is shown on the right in doses.

The diseases were listed alphabeti- cally and included everything from Anemia to ....renza D'Affetto.  Last one I couldn't read since a large bottle of wine stood in front of it.  That happened to be the only malady that required you drink the entire bottle of wine. Well, I got back to our table in time for the arrival of our meal which we thoroughly enjoyed.  

The "wine room" holds a vast amount of wines from all
over the world.  Most can cure the diseases posted above.

That's when Raphael arrived to see if we were enjoying ourselves.  We began a conver- sation that covered everything from his family to where he buys his food products for his restaurant.  Raphael speaks four languages, but is very fluent in English, though French seems to be his language of choice since he has lived in French St. Martin since 1978.  

A beautiful light sculpture made from
house wine bottles at Al Dente.

Raphael opened his restaurant about two years ago and is pleased with the response he has gotten from both tourists to the island as well as local residents.  Easy to see that everyone who enters the door enjoys the wait staff at Al Dente.  Many "air" kisses as well as hugs are exchanged by all the wait staff that also includes Nini as well as Axel and Raphael.  The Al Dente chef, Tony (Naturally, what else could it be for an Italian restaurant) seems to be famous not only for his preparation, but also for his voice since I read a few remarks on online rating sites that tell of him singing for their table for special events.  Our evening was a huge success and one that will definitely be repeated on our next tour of travel to St. Martin.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Another ceiling sculpture made from air conditioner brass tubing.

This was displayed inside the front door.  One of the few places we ate in on the French side of St. Martin that didn't allow smoking. 

Photo of the Pope appears on the wall.  Found out he didn't eat at Al Dente ... yet!

My meat ravioli with glass of house wine.

Carol's Lasagna which I also tried.  It was fabulous. 

Our Apple Cake Dessert.  Very sweet and served warm with ice cream.  Perfect way to end our meal.