The Start Of Our Eleuthera Trip...

I'm on my way to happiness. Where I can find some peace and rest...

Finally we made it to the airport. Yes, soon we were going to be in our way to Eleuthera.  I cannot believe that it has been a year and a half since my last trip. Arvid has been back a few times, but for me it has been a while.

his morning walk before we left

What better way to prepare for the trip than starting out with a delicious frozen drink. Today my drink of choice was a frozen margarita.  The bartender was very generous with it, and before I knew what was going on I had the hugest drink.  Well I was happy. Arvid was already working his way onto his second Heineken draft.  His favorite.  I drank fast and the taste of the salt along the side of the glass was just so good.  Maybe this is my favorite part of the margarita.  I asked for more salt.  Delicious until almost to the end.  That's where it started to taste bitter. Yes I could now taste the alcohol in full swing. Unfortunately, not to my liking.  Needless to say I could not finish it,but what I had was sure good.

We boarded on time.   We happened to be the first to board.  Pretty soon the plane was full and we were expecting to what else... Yes take off!!  No! No! No! Too good to be true. The ticket agent girl came on board,  and asked for volunteers because somehow the weight in the plane was more than it should be!  

Well what's wrong here?  No volunteers even though they were offering quite a few goodies plus cash!  Everyone wanted to get back to the island. No one wanted to stay it seems in Fort Lauderdale.  The choice of a nice hotel, food, transportation and cash was not enough.  Maybe another margarita to kill time:)

Next step according to the ticket agent was to remove the last two people who boarded.  Talk about asking for trouble.  After lengthy arguments and threats of closing down the flight, the lady who boarded last decided to disembark with her kids.  One was a baby. 

All this time the engines were running.  I inhaled enough fumes in the meantime to qualify for lung cancer. This means I will now be wheezing for the rest of our vacation.  Not good.  Have mentioned to Arvid that I may soon consider carrying an oxygen tank in a back pack. Very allergic to smoke and fumes. Pneumonia next I guess.

Once in the air, Arvid as usual is fast asleep, but that never stops him from holding my hand. Of course he was cold so aside from his sweater, I also gave him mine. Just about everyone fell asleep with the exception of myself and two teenagers.  This plane by the way only takes 20 passengers. The sky was beautiful and I was hoping to get my first glance of the crystal clear turquoise water of the Bahamas anytime soon.  Yes it's going to be a good few days..

We made it into Eleuthera without any further disturbances.  We were met at the airport by a friend and after greeting us his very next words were, "didn't you bring the cat with you?"  Yes, everyone knows Brutus as well.  Dinner at our favorite pizza place and then it was time to meet with Kayla and Jake our friends and the new owners of the Lil Red House...what a wonderful evening.  

Yes, it's good to be back...

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive...

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued...

 

~Nadiya~

Enjoying Eleuthera:))

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom....





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Being here in Eleuthera is almost like being in a completely different world.  It is totally quiet for starters...at least where our house is and we like it that way...especially Arvid.  For him this place brings out the best in him.  I also enjoy the peace and quiet we have here .....Arvid and I have more quality time than we do back in Florida..

Where as in Florida we are constantly on the go...hectic, hectic here we take our time and we enjoy each other, we have time to do things we don't normally do back in Florida....like sit out on the deck everyday and just enjoy the beautiful Caribbean Sea views, the gorgeous sunsets or just sit quiet together with our thoughts.

The only one whose routines remain consistent is Brutus.  No matter where we are be it Florida, Eleuthera or Chicago he is spoilt by us.  We pamper this kitty in a way parents pamper their children....as Arvid is fond of saying "Brutus is more human than he is cat".  Spoiling him is easy because he brings us joy and has made our lives so much better.  Arvid said to my dad that he has learnt so much from Brutus and that Brutus has made him a much more patient and better person.

All I can say is that being here in Eleuthera brings out the best in us...it is as if this island was magic and the minute we arrive everything seems brighter and better.  Arvid even says the food tastes better here.  All I know is that here we are very at ease and very stress free...lots has to do with also the phones and the constant hecticness in Florida...

Here we relax and enjoy the peacefulness of each day...in Florida that's where our work lies so it is probably only fair to say that this is the reason we are always so hectic...We enjoy all our places.  Each is different and has their own special appeal to us....

For now we know a happy life consists in tranquility of mind....lots of that here in Eleuthera.

Every man dies - Not every man really lives...there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.....

until next time...

Life Is Good:)

The living moment is everything...

our sunset

Our time in Eleuthera is soon coming to an end.  We have had a much needed vacation, rest and are now totally relaxed ready to face the craziness of life in Florida:)  Don't get me wrong we enjoy both lifestyles...when in Florida we are constantly on the go...hardly stopping to take a breath.




loves it here also:)

totally relaxed:)

 When in Eleuthera we relax, go for walks, enjoy sitting on the deck watching the sunsets, reading a book or just gazing into the blue skies and let our senses take over.

Arvid LOVES being here.  It is as if when he's here everything is better and he has no worries.  He loves the fact (more than me) that he does not have to get phone calls nor does he want to make phone calls.  We enjoy just walking the beach and together we just collect shells and do absolutely...NOTHING:)  The only other place we are this relaxed is in Chicago:)



happy here:)

This trip we did not bring Brutus because we needed official papers for him which Arvid went and got in Nassau.  As of next time he will be coming with us and we plan to spend much more time in his beautiful island....something like 2 weeks in Florida 2 weeks in Eleuthera....



Our next visits are actually already planned.  January we have a customer coming to look at the island.  He has some lots up North and hopes to one day be able to also come more to the island:)  January - February already booked for Eleuthera:)



good food always:)

March we also have another batch coming so we will also be here with them for 2 weeks with Brutus of course....

Life is good we have the perfect balance.  When things get hectic in Florida we come to Eleuthera..when we have relaxed and de-stressed we head back to Florida:)  Enjoy life everyone for we never know what tomorrow holds:)

Why live for tomorrow and not be enjoying today.......Live with no excuses and love with no regrets

until next time....

Happy Holidays:)

Day One....Fun & Ecxiting..

 “If it's not fun, you're not doing it right”

Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it's who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.

It's been a long and exhausting day but, we feel very good and that alone for us is an accomplishment.

Our day began at 10am and carried on until a little after 6pm....bone tired but feeling good.

As you know pictures is worth a thousand words and today again I will guide you through our day via pictures.

Our day began at The Cove...picking up our customers one of which was totally relaxed in the hammock...

From there we took them to Rainbow Bay.....it is easily accessible and a good example of a Caribbean beach with clean, clear turquoise water that is calm and warm. Stop by this beach to swim, snorkel and just relax.  This is a great swimming area. It has a clean, white sand bottom and is shallow for a long way out. The water is always calm and welcoming. There is some good snorkeling around the larger rocks in the water and along the low cliffs.

Next on the tour was Ten Bay....Ten Bay has mostly calm waters,hidden coves and beautiful sunsets...beautiful place..heaven on earth....

After this it was time for lunch...what better place than Sky Beach....

To end the day...why not just go to Harbour Island

A perfect day...more so tomorrow....

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

“Life, like all other games, becomes fun when one realizes that it's just a game”

until next time...

Busy Days Ahead....Continued..

A man has always to be busy with his thoughts if anything is to be accomplished.

OK...we have had our relaxed and quiet time now begins another kind of fun stuff.....showing customers around our "island".

The first batch arrives today and then tomorrow 4 others.  Interesting to see how everything turns out.

One set speaks Norwegian...good thing because as you know Arvid is Norwegian.

The second batch is a couple from Spain...only speaking Spanish.   Here is where I put my Spanish skills to work.....and there is a couple from Italy who I was lead to believe speak both English and Spanish.  Will be interesting to have them all in our car and see how everyone interacts.

Yes, we do have a pretty big car.....

Tiny problem.  The second set of people come to an airport that is 2 hours away from us and are staying in a hotel that's an hour and a half from us.  The best part about that is that they are staying in this beautiful place called The Cove. 

http://www.thecoveeleuthera.com/

In the meantime we are planning our schedule.  Should be an interesting time.  Looking forward to it.....In the meantime let me go and enjoy the coconut Arvid got me.....while Arvid does some work....

Everything is perfect...just missing our Brutus to make it complete...

It often happens that a man is more humanely related to a cat or dog than to any human being....

The difference between friends and pets is that friends we allow into our company, pets we allow into our solitude

We are missing our little Brutus.....

until next time..

Back In The Lil Red House.....Eleuthera, Bahamas

Give your stress wings and let it fly away.

We are once again in Eleuthera, our home away from home.  It has been a little over two months since we have been to our Lil Red House.  Needless to say we were a bit nervous thinking we would be walking into a lot of work that needed to be done.......surprise it was in almost perfect condition.

We left home and as soon as we were in the plane Arvid slept...he claims he never sleeps on a plane but, I have the evidence......

The flight was great, next thing we did was to go and collect our car.....bummer we had a flat tire...not a problem we have our own emergency pump in the car so we fixed that withing minutes...

Got to our home and was delighted all at once by the sounds of the waves and the total silence.....Sleeping the first night was just blissful not a sound to be heard...no sirens, no blasting horns, dogs barking....nothing like you would find in a big city. 

For a while this is our Paradise and we are enjoying it.

The first night we did nothing just relaxed, cleaned a bit and watched some TV......totally peaceful.  The best thing is that the telephone NEVER rang....Arvid was soooooo.......happy.

Today we did some yard work...always fun to do out here but, you'd never catch me doing it back in Fort Lauderdale.  We are not yard people.  We are city people but for some reason when here we really enjoy it.  I pulled weeds and Arvid used the weed wacker......

To end the day we decided to go to one of our favorite spots....Sky Beach Club.  I did not have my usual Pina Colada.  Today it was Rum Punch and boy was it good...before I knew what was going on my glass was empty.....

We are so very happy here...the only one missing is Brutus.  He did not come on this trip because it was short and we do not want to stress him out too much....and the truth is that is paperwork was expired.  I did not want to run the risk of him being deported.....

We are enjoying ourselves very much here and loving every moment......

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

until next time...