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Yesterday we drove around part of the island. We could not believe how much construction is going on here. Greg's first trip here was in 1999 and mine was 2001. Back then property values were moderate. Now, the prices are comparable to Seattle prices. Incredible.

Here are my flamingo stripe toe-up socks. I like the striping.

As we travelled around the island we saw wild flamingo. What a coincidence! I should have taken a photo of my sock with the flamingo's in the background. Why didn't I think of that?

Here is one of Greg's topside photos of the flamingo's - his camera has quite a bit more power than my little point and shoot:

I decided to stay in the air-conditioned car - this is to give perspective of how close we were to these guys.

Here is Greg taking some flamingo photos at a different location.

I also am close to finishing the body of Memories of Ukraine. Greg had already left for diving this morning so I had to rely on the mirror and very bad lighting in the room. You get the idea. I am not that thrilled with how it is looking - needless to say it makes me look larger than I really am. No clothing should do that - especially something that takes hours to create. But....I'm hoping that once the linen is washed and it gets softer, that it will look better. Either that or I'll need to go on a diet and that is at the very bottom of my 'To Do' list!

Let me make a comment about bodies and weight. I was a bit in a tizzy about coming to bikini island because I've put on about 8 extra pounds since our last trip here. I had to buy some new bathing suits to cover up my rolls. I come here and I just love how the europeans are so *comfortable* in their skin. They wear bikini's with their tummies hanging out. I just love that. Now I would be WAY too self conscious to do such a thing but I can learn to love my body more/better because....so what? Truly it is what is on the inside, not the outside. I wish Americans and American culture taught women to love their bodies, no matter the color, the shape, the condition. It seems the opposite - we are taught to hate our bodies and we put WAY too much focus on this issue and it doesn't deserve the time and attention we give it. So on to unconditional love....

Chase is doing well at Trish's house. The kids are NOT feeding him any human food and he's on a 3 meal a day diet to not overtax his old pancreas. Trish said he was so excited when they came to pick him up yesterday. He ran out of his kennel over to them, ran back to the kennel and back out again. His little trip to the hospital was a costly little adventure and he's worth every penny and more. Can't put a price on unconditional love.