Busy weekend but not interesting enough to go into details. I’ll cover the highlights.

Jason “Glitter” Bunn and Scott’s dad, Al “Pipes” Spencer, came and left last week. Due to my working more than should legally be allowed (but, according to my billings, is more than physically possible), I didn’t get to spend too much time out and about with them but Scott and Conchita (hereafter referred to as Wahoo and Conch) managed to entertain them. Pipes enjoyed his first trip to the Bahamas and experienced the quintessential Bahamian events: the beach, the weather, and, of course, having a fishing trip cancelled by hangover.

Said trip was to occur the Sunday of his and Glitter’s departure but was, in hindsight, doomed from the start by the very mechanism under which it was planned. The evening before started normally, with drinks on the porch and threats to tie people up. At some point, someone suggested inviting our neighbour, Andrew “Spanish” Wells, over to share in the festive spirit (or spirits as the case may be). You can see where this going. Yup, we ended up on Andrew’s driveway singing Silent Night (after rejecting The Little Drummer Boy for being too hard) very loudly, and, I must say, very melodically (so much so that several members of the local Canine Choir joined in the merrymaking with their own rendition). Andrew’s friend Mike greeted us warmly with the traditional Bahamian welcome: “Hey Andrew, there are white people on your driveway.”

Sunday night found us at the Church of the God of Prophecy, which seems to have been modeled after James Brown’s church from the Blues Brothers. Lots of singing and lots of “Halleluia”s and “Amen”s. Syd and Cajiah performed a little ditty called “Christmas Babe” but could have been “I’m a Believer” for the amount I understood it. She did look, in my objective opinion, like the cutest angel in the history of mankind. Seriously, I’ll post pictures soon and you’ll agree.

The other highlight I’ve skipped over recently has been Conch’s chihuahua, Margarita (named after the beverage that inspired Conch to buy her…you think I’m kidding). She’s pretty small (I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure she was smuggled into the country in Conchita’s hair) but Tiger and Smudge and the rest of the neighbourhood chorus are bringing her up to speed. She’s developed a nice potcake-size attitude and is pretty quick with her barking now, which is pretty much the one thing Conch was hoping she wouldn’t learn from Tiger and Smudge. In any case, she’s a huge hit with Syd who has replaced a rabbit with a chihuahua on our list of next pets to buy.

Probably my last entry ‘fore Christmas. We’ve been gorging ourselves on Christmas carols. Syd’s personal favorite is “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (the traditional version by The Jackson 5, not the Billy and the Boingers version). Happy holidays to all and be sure to check out the temperature to the left. Notice the lack of a minus sign.