Guess what...on the second leg of my trip, I was able to find a few locally grown Mangos at a small roadside stand on St. Thomas, USVI yesterday. The fruit looked real nice and were on a large rounded tree that had huge leaves. The fruit was sweet and tasty with just a little too much fiber. Kind of felt a little like cheating having a just picked Mango in January. I asked the seller what type of mangos they were and he pointed at the large tree behind him. So I'll guess its some type of mixed seedling that looks pretty good, has a nice red blush, tastes pretty good yet has just a bit too much fiber for prime time. Like everything else in the USVI it was expensive at $3.00 each. Heres a picture of my last one, if anyone wants to guess what type Mango it may be.

Wow! Sounds like a great idea. DH and I have been to: * Montego Bay, Jamaica - was inexpensive, but not exactly a "venture out of your resort" type of trip. Not exactly a safe place. We stayed all-inclusive at Rose Hall Wyndham for 4 days. Great water slides, lazy river, pools, etc. But I couldn't see longer than 4-5 days there. * Aruba - can be expensive, but we used frequent flier miles for much of it. This was my favorite! Of course, it was for 10 days for our honeymoon. :-) We stayed at the Wyndham with a breakfast/beverage package. Lots of nightlife, great restaurants, things to do. Like going across the US in a few short miles - one side of the island is rocky from the waves bashing it, there's a desert area, and the other side is calm sandy beaches. Very cool. You can go much cheaper by using a timeshare/villa. * Cancun, Mexico - super cheap and a lot of fun. Airfare might be more for you being further away. Nightlife abounds. Great food. Wal-mart if you forgot your suntan lotion or need to pick up a bottle of liquor (no kidding!). We took a couple of excursions - one to Xcaret (ecological park) and one that included the Mayan ruins, repelling and zipline. Below is a link that might help you hunt down the elusive villa or a small house. Good luck and have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Caribbean vacation finder

Today's haul from the yard: Nearly a quart of wild blackberries and almost 2 quarts of wineberries (a wild, invasive raspberry relative) As I was picking the blackberries I was reminded of the game Operation. Reaching carefully into the brambly tangle trying to avoid not only the blackberry thorns, but the wild climbing rose, the greenbriar and the poison ivy as well. Not all the dark red juice dripping off my fingertips was from the blackberries.

Annie Deighnaugh I don't know if you know anything about ferrets but if you want to see dead sleep they are the ones that do it best. One of our ferrets had gone into dead sleep and this was the first time we had owned ferrets and the first time one did this. Scared the crap out of us!!! We were panicking and shaking him (not violently of course) and calling his name. We finally laid him on the bed to try and think of what to do and he just woke up like nothing happened. :\