Today I gave Popo a hand working on the bay and around Dave's cottages. The first task was to remove buried conch shells from a section of the beach, because walking bare foot on just barely exposed, ragged & sharp conch shells can be a drag. Beach sand maybe soft and fun to play in, but after years of tides sloshing sand into the shells and nearby roots growing into them this was back breaking pick work and much more strenuous than I imagined.

Even though we started around 6:30am when it was still fairly cool, by 7:30am I was beat, sweaty, sore and done for awhile. Whew! I am obviously not accustomed to hard physical labor after 12 years of banging the keyboard and sitting on my butt. Thankfully, I was just the extra hand and was able to excuse myself for a water, run & shower break.

Later in the morning it was over to the Yellow Cottage where we needed to move some dirt and large stones from a large pile into some flower beds as the rain was washing what was there away. This was a bit easier on my back, but still I have not excreted myself as much this day for as long as I can recall. Not only was I and my clothes soon drenched in sweat, but before long I was taking short breaks between lighter & lighter loads to catch the breath and keep up.

Popo was in almost constant motion, being much more accustom to the work and the climate and the technique of working in the tropics. All through the morning Dave and Popo were urging me to take it easy and not kill myself, but I'm still learning to slow down, especially in this climate - it was likely in the mid-80s both temperature and humidity-wise, so there was good reason to sweat and pant. I probably could & should have taken it a bit easier, but I needed to see what my limits were and to find that balance.

Now, in the cool of the evening I'm rested, showered (a few times), not sore (we'll see what the morning brings) and actually feel pretty good about what I can do in my new life.

Onward ever!