Current Rock of Residence:
Suva, Fiji
Island Girl Since:
1986
Originally Hails From:
California – though that was an awfully long time ago!
Found frequently standing in front of the world map that hung in the dining room as a small child, Mary was presciently givena book about the South Pacific by her parents on her 8th birthday inscribed, “To our dream traveler”. Back then she aspired to live in Ulan Bator and Tierra del Fuego for reasons that remain unfathomable. Since escaping the suburban cultural desert of the pre-gentrified South San Francisco Bay Area, she has lived on three rocks: St. Croix, the UK and Fiji. Her time in St. Croix gave her an appreciation of fine rum, incomprehensible bureaucracy and not wearing shoes. In her little Northumberland village, she learned how to pronounce her T’s properly, take tea with milk and not to regard neighbors with suspicion. Leaving oldest child at university in Blighty, she moved to the sweaty megatropolis of Suva in 2012 with youngest child and husband, where she now works and takes in waifs and strays, mostly of the feline variety. You can read more about Mary’s Fiji life on her personal blog, Fiji Diaries.
Explore posts by this writer:
First World Island Problems with Basil and Zucchini
This year was my first year in Turks and Caicos during Christmas. And every Christmas I make "sort of" homemade lasagna. I also make a yummy zucchini/truffle salad to go with it. This year was different. We were now in Turks and Caicos away from the friends we usually...
Reflections of A Former Island Celebrity
When I was a child growing up in Maryland during the 1950’s and 1960’s, I had dreams of becoming a mega stage and screen star. Back then, Mom worked for a former dancer who opened a dance studio. So from the ages of 5-7, I trained as a ballerina. Then, seeing that...
THE COFFEE QUEST….
“ There is an awful lot of coffee in Brazil……”The Coffee Song of 1976" by Osibisa (YouTube) springs to mind as I am in the starting blocks of my latest story. Yes, after 2 wonderful, freshly brewed, cups of coffee. Beans from…..no, now I need to back up…. We, my...
Never Trust A Price
So, I had to buy a bottle of rum today. Not a rare occurrence, pretty typical actually. "Why is it $38 Theresa? It was $29.99 last week?" "Oh, Meez Vic, it's because itz de last bottle of dat rum on da shelf" "Are you planning on ordering more?" "Oh yez, Meez Vic"...
“SIMPLE JOYS OF POST STORM LIFE”
Seems as if recent climatic events and other disasters seen on TV news reports, have triggered a multitude of residual emotions in me which I thought I had gotten rid of during Irma/Maria Recovery. The following is an excerpt from my published Hurricane journal “TWO...
The Gift
When my husband and I decided to uproot our family from Kentucky- from the only place, people, and life we have ever known- and move to a tiny island in the Caribbean, it was of course met with so many remarks to the tune of "Oh My Gosh, THAT'S AMAZING!", "You are...
