Everything is AARF-tastic! (And other items...)

This is Dash, the sweet mascot at Sea Spray.

I never thought it would happen, but without making notes, the days (and our activities therein) seem to have started running together for me. Was it yesterday that we went to Sea Spray for smoothies and a visit with Pamela, or the day before? Did we go to Mango's for dessert after eating at home two nights ago or three? The dates on my digital photos could help me recreate the actual timeline, but that sounds too much like work to me!  Suffice it to say that we've done a good bit in the last three days and here it all is.

Smoothie menu at Sea Spray

After missing Pamela twice at Sea Spray, we drove out one morning determined to meet up with her.  She has lots of different smoothies on her menu, or you can also mix & match your own flavors.  We both did the Raspberry Peach Colada without the coconut and they were great.  We spent the next 45 minutes chatting with Pamela about news on the island, about her dog Dash who is now hers *officially*, thanks to the help from AARF, and life in general.  Pamela also has a nice little gift shop, where I bought a couple of things, including an AARF t-shirt. If you're ever on the island, I highly recommend that you stop in!

The whimsically painted Sea Spray

Later we went to AARF, the Anguilla Animal Rescue Foundation, to play with the puppies and kitties they have up for adoption and to make a donation.  We're already on AARF's email list, so we get regular updates on all of the adorable animals that come through, looking for a good home, but we wanted to stop in and visit again.  We had a great time loving on the animals, giving woogies and snuggles.  Tintin met us at the desk for our tour and facilitated a place for us to play for a little while.

This little guy is a lovey-lump.

The smallest of the pups we played with, a sandy colored little guy, was all smiles and licks and tail wags.  He's already well-socialized and would readily come to us, crawl in our laps, and be all puppy-wiggily-goodness. The other two, slightly older black pups, were a little warier at first, but they warmed up eventually. They were female litter mates and nearly identical, with one having a slightly longer white sock on her left forepaw.

It was almost impossible to get all three pups in the same photo

After the pups, we had to make sure the kitties got their fair share of attention.  AARF has an enclosure for the healthy kitties to share, so we stepped into there to cuddle them. (When cats or kitten are brought in, they are kept separated until a vet or vet tech has the chance to examine them--there was a lone black kitten that had been brought in that morning, for example, still in its own cage.)

In here, there was a tiny little black kitten, whom Tintin told us was only four weeks old.  While she showed no objections to being picked up, she had no discernible purr--whether she wasn't purring, or she was too tiny for us to feel it, I couldn't say.  The other kitty, though, was the most affectionate cat I've ever seen in a shelter.  She was older--probably a few months old--with long hair and the moment my hand reached for her, she started purring.  If I got distracted trying to take a photo or talk with my husband or Tintin, she'd let out a single, indignant meow to remind me of what my real calling was. When I picked her up, she burrowed her face in my neck and tried to nestle the rest of her body under my shirt, the entire time purring up a storm.

This is the affectionate one.

Sorry that our photos aren't better--the pups were running around too much to get non-blurry shots, and the room where the kitties were had fairly low light and I didn't want to use a flash in the darkened room that might hurt their eyes. When we left, it was with promises to return another afternoon to do more of the same. The only downside is that as we were leaving, I started breaking out into hives on my chest, throat, and chin.  The truth is that I have terrible animal allergies but to cats in particular. I usually take a daily antihistamine, but had been skipping it while on vacation.  The burning and itching were truly terrible, so we made a beeline for Shoal Bay, hoping that immersing in salt water would help. It did, but we also applied an antibiotic salve then calmed it down a good bit, too--at least enough until we went home later in the day, but my throat and chin still had low-grade itchiness for several hours and it was an act of supreme will power to keep my hands away from my face.


Our time at Shoal Bay was mostly a bust because of the rain, so we returned to Barnes Bay. I love rain on vacation, but only when I can get out of it and still read without getting my book wet.  In other words, when I'm on our porch and can read comfortably while looking out at the horizon, all grayed and fuzzy with storms. It cleared up in time for a pretty nice sunset, though, and then we went to Picante for dinner. Picante has become one of our favorite places to dine in Anguilla--totally low key and informal, moderately priced, and fun. We shared the guacamole & chips, then had the lime brick chicken (DH) and the Picante fish tacos (me), plus a passionfruit margarita. There was enough for us to take back home for leftovers the following night.

Picante

Picante

The following night we at our leftovers at home, then after dinner  we sauntered over to Mango's for dessert.  While this was rewarding, it also turned out to be a surprisingly pricey option. DH chose the banana split while I had the warm apple tart.  Both were good, but we also ordered water and one cocktail apiece, and that brought our total to $70. Wowzers!

The colorful, tropical banana split

My warm apple tart

Back home we played a round or two of Skip-Bo before tumbling in to bed. Wish we'd brought other games besides that and Bananagrams, but maybe we'll stop in town at Tackle Box/Baby world (no kidding--that's the full name) to see what they might have to offer.

Another Barnes Bay sunset