Wayne and I have returned from our honeymoon, so happy to arrive to our little brick house in the holler. We made a trip home (to Ohio) last weekend to open our gifts with our parents but the trailer was loaded Sunday afternoon and we've returned again to the Yoder residence in West Virginia. It seems it's time to start establishing our home.
There are so many feelings about this new stage of life. I spin around and realize, this is what I have dreamed of for over a dozen years. It is full of bliss and dreams and comfort. We had a beautiful wedding surrounded by people that we love intensely, who have supported us in the years leading up to now. I want to say thank-you and so many things, though I'm not quite sure where to start. So, I thought I might just share snippets - This morning I'll start with a quiet, rainy one like today in West Virginia from our honeymoon.
It was a stunning day in St. Lucia like most every one; clad with the fuchsia colors of the tropics, birds singing their songs in a vibrant symphony, and air filled with the breeze from the ocean - the sound of waves crashing making it's way from the ocean below the mountain that our cottage was nestled in, through the porch to our bedroom.
We woke up most mornings around 6 o'clock after the sun gently rose around five. Because the sun set and rose so early the hour didn't seem so tiring and Wayne and I are morning birds - albeit that doesn't mean it's always easy to get up - the time of the day is the most precious in our eyes. There's nothing like waking up with the dawn and getting a start on the day before the world awakes. Often we made coffee and sat on the porch before reading or going down to the beach for a morning swim and then breakfast on the restaurant veranda.
This morning, in particular, it was Sunday, we decided to have breakfast on our porch. It was a large one, with a rocking chair each, a hammock in the middle and plenty of room to sprawl out and gaze down at the ocean, while still being completely private. We were on our second carafe of coffee when Wayne went down to get us some breakfast. He came back with fresh fruit, pineapple and melon, yogurt, cold cuts, a few baked goods - banana bread and berry toast and fresh mango cocktail. Most mornings we had a display of whatever freshly squeezed juice we preferred - pineapple, orange, mango, grapefruit... and an array of nut, granola and fruit toppings for containers of homemade yogurt. As well as a variety of breads, pastries, and fruits and cold cuts.
Monday morning, our last morning, we ordered off of the menu. I got coconut pancakes and he a Florentine omelet. Everything was absolutely delicious!
After breakfast on the porch this Sunday morning, we walked down to the beach for a swim and then decided to hire a taxi to go into town for the day.
We visited the volcano and took a dip in the mud/ mineral bath, an overflow of the sulfur-rich volcano. This was one of the things Wayne most wanted to do and he was a happy child after we slathered ourselves in the rotten-egg smelling clay and inching his (not mine) way in the 115 degree mineral bath to detox. He said it felt amazing!!
Afterwards, we found a local restaurant in Soufriere (Sulfur in the Air) near the dock. It was a mesmerizing little place, painted green and red, booths beside wooden windows open to the water; quiet besides locals chatting at the bar. It started pouring so we took a seat by the window and enjoyed a bowl of shrimp and rum cocktails with a hodgepodge of local foods including fish steak, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese and vegetables.
It rained the rest of the afternoon, only one of two days that it rained and was well accepted on a Sunday afternoon in our cottage.
