DON AND MAGGIE MITCHELL
OWEN LANE, NORTH HILL
P O BOX 83, THE VALLEY
AI-2640 ANGUILLA, BWI
Cellphones: (264) 235 8654
(264) 235 7896
Emails: idmitch@anguillanet.com
12
December 2021
Don and Maggie wish you a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous and Healthy New Year in 2022. Our news for the past year has not been spectacular. If the truth be told, it is quite banal. But for what it is worth, here it is.
Maggie and Don in April 2021 courtesy of Rado
The year has been mercifully
free of any legal work for Don. With his
failing memory and general decline in mental and physical faculties (which he
will tell you all about in agonising detail if you ask) he has been spared
embarrassment. The closest thing to
legal work has been his faithfully attending all the government’s
constitutional reform public meetings to show his support for the reform
movement. They were mainly held in
churches throughout all seven electoral districts.
At a Town Hall Constitutional Reform meeting (The Anguillian)
The only excitement at these
meetings was provided by a reverend pastor.
He appeared confused about the purpose of the butt plug sex toy which he
insisted was required to be worn by injured homosexuals. He appeared obsessed with the prurient
details and harangued each constitutional meeting, particularly those held in
churches, with the need to ensure the new Constitution contains a provision
limiting marriage to one between a man and a woman. The Constitutional and Electoral Reform
Commission had no view on the topic. My
preference is not to discriminate against gays and lesbians.
Maggie too is now fully retired. We mentioned last year that when her friend Gabby retired from WISE, she retired too (for years she volunteered at this school for students with problems with conventional education). In addition to reading, she now occupies herself with being a board member of the Anguilla Mortgage Company and helping the Secretary with the Minutes. She also continues her Aquarobics exercise program three times a week.
Don has spent the year busying
himself with the garden. He has mainly
been planting fruit tree slips. In this his
76th year, he understands he is planting them mainly for the benefit of the
grandchildren. 😊
We were mercifully spared
from any hurricane visits this year, though it was forecast to be a dangerous
one for the Caribbean. The problem is
that, as a result, our rainfall has been dismal. In our area of Anguilla, North Hill Village,
the rain that we have measured on our roof to today’s date totals 17.9 inches
for the year. That is nothing short of
catastrophic. Average annual rainfall
for the island is 40 inches. We have had
less than half of that amount.
The papayas we’ll eat
ourselves
The herb garden is especially productive since
he has become a manufacturer of compost on an industrial scale. Both the Orchards and the herb garden benefit
from drip irrigation systems. Now,
instead of going from tree to tree or pot to pot applying scarce water, he
simply turns on the tap for the requisite amount of time, and waits for the
timer to sound, at which point the tap is turned off. He grows all the herbs and vegetables in
15-gallon pots, well fertilized with compost.
The herb garden
The compost factory in our back yard consists of five 32-gallon
bins filled with dry leaves, cardboard, cow-patties, and clippings. A bin takes approximately 3 weeks to convert
from the natural ingredients to rich, earth-smelling compost.
The main garden project has been the digging
and planting of three Pandemic Orchards around the property. He started in March of this year, and, as
each of the Mimosa, Loblolly, and Cedar trees had to be dug out with a pickaxe,
hoe and shovel, they took months to clear.
The boulders that line the beds shown in the photographs were all manually
excavated by him.
Pandemic Orchard No 1 under construction and completed
Orchards Nos 2 and 3 are only now being
populated with fruit trees (small slips, really).
The only thing that keeps
our plants alive is the daily two litres of water that we measure out to each
of them through our drip irrigation systems.
Do bear in mind that the only water we have in our yard is what we
collect on our roofs. There is no public
water supply to our area of North Hill.
Orchard No 3: Construction begins (chicken coop in the rear)
We did a Caribbean cruise in
August. The main objective was not
enjoyment but avoiding the need to host his 75th birthday party
onshore. We could not face the
exhausting prospect of having 300 people around for the festivities (the
minimum that Don’s entertainment standards would have required). So, we escaped on a Celebrity liner from Sint
Maarten to Barbados, to Curacao, to Aruba, and back to Sint Maarten, for seven
days. Our friend Kathy Haskins of Shoal
Bay Villas Hotel (the most sought after, reasonably priced, luxury vacation
destination in Anguilla) came with us and helped organise the more difficult
aspects of booking the cruise, vaccination protocols, ground tours, etc.
Maggie enjoying a guided tour in Aruba in April!
The ship’s crew treated us
royally. The Celebrity Summit was fully
crewed, though only about 30% of the berths were filled. The price was less than half of the normal,
and we were upgraded from a cabin with a window to one with a balcony with
sliding glass doors, all with the compliments of the captain. Booze, internet, and tips were included, so
we felt we were royally treated (in our case the booze bill is usually the
equivalent of the cost of the cabin, I beg your pardon, “the stateroom”).
Don’s birthday dinner on board ship
We hope you
have all had your double shots or jabs, and the boosters as well, as we
have. We can still get infected, but the
likelihood of us getting seriously ill or dying from the bug becomes
microscopic. It appears that we are
supposed to expect more and more variants over the coming five years at
least. Welcome to the New Normal.
Don and Maggie
