Either you are into searching, scouting and finding out new, (yeah, new what??), new everything or you are not. I belong to the first category.
For me part of living on a Rock is embracing the style/ways and quirkiness of that Rock. Having moved to a new Rock a year ago I have the pleasure of starting all over again! Yippeee! Yayeee!
If getting excited about finding pavers, made locally by 3 Polish brothers of which one is also a pizza baker, is considered strange Rock behaviour then I am guilty.
Let me take you on our driveway journey. We try to have as many locally made items as possible in our house. Our teak furniture is locally made and our doors are locally made, to name a few large items….well, we have quite the driveway and it was time to pave the way!
Of course we ask around the local contractors and they all immediately referred us to a place called …(not going to put any one down by mentioning the name). You need a mortgage if you want to pave the way with their pavers. So, the search was on to Link up Local.
Facebook is not my best friend but I use it for my own purpose only so all is good. So, I join a load of the groups like: ‘BuySellTrade’, ‘For Sale’….get my drift here? I have never seen so many ads for phones, long nails, and “sexy” (depends on your sense of style) clothes. Again, these sites are there to serve a purpose for me, and many others, and one day as I was scrolling avidly through all the “sexy” phone/nail ads THERE IT WAS! STONE CAST: PAVERS AND PIZZA IN BEXON!
I messaged them and we had good contact so Dave and I decide to go and check it out. Bexon (the emphasis is on ‘on’ and say it as if you are French), is about a 40 minute drive away so we got on the road. Oh yeah, when asking about Bexon…(remember ‘on’ and French!), people would say things like: “Oh, Bexon (‘on’ and French), that is a gangsta town.” Great! Can’t wait!
Following the directions, we see this sign…. I am happy as a clam because I need 3 things in life: my Dave, swimming and FOOOOOOD!
We get out and on the right side are all sorts of pavers and on the left side a wonderful brick pizza oven. Picnic tables, some sofas, nice music…what a trip!
Well, if you think that is all….pizza and pavers…get this…when we meet, the extremely nice men with bottle in hand….they turn out to be three brothers from Poland! We have Ted, the head paver-maker, Borrys, the ex J-24 sailor but also paver-maker and then there is Eric, who is definitely the pizza-maker. He used to work in Naples and had 40 staff to handle! What a combination! We bought the pavers and the pizza and made our driveway which turned out amazing!
Of course we had to let the 3 P’s know about the success so Ank recorded a little jig called: “The Driveway Shuffle” on the 10CC song…’The Wallstreet Shuffle’ from 1974! Oh yeah baby, they knew how to make music back then. Shit, I sound like my mom. Sorry mom.
With the leftover driveway pavers Dave decided to make a footpath. Great idea, but we ran out of pavers. A return visit to Polish Pavers and Pizza was on the agenda while Leigh from City Island, NYC, was visiting. Being our bestie she had already heard the PPP story and was excited to experience this unique Caribbean, Polish Paver and Pizza place herself.
Oh wow, the day just got better as we turned into the, now familiar, Stone Cast drive. We were welcomed by some great 80’s tunes, a couple having pizza and rum at the bar and an overall great vibe. We proceeded to greet the three brothers and put in our pizza order by Eric and chatted with Ted about the order of pavers and Borrys… Borrys and Leigh started chatting whilst drinking a Piton Beer and it turned out that Borrys had sailed in NYC and they have mutual sailor buddies! I tell you…what are the odds to find this in Bexon, St. Lucia at Stone Cast with three Polish brothers? Just amazing!
The other couple that was enjoying the pizza and rum turned out to be extremely friendly and we just enjoyed the time spent at Stone Cast. Our pavers were ready for loading and after finishing our pizzas and beers we made sure to have a pizza to take away and off we went.
Once home we managed to unload the truck before a huge rain squall (see clouds in picture) made us run for cover and recap the great time we had with the PPP!
Gotta love Island Life!
Go outside the box and experience the adventure of your Rock!
Current Rock of Residence:
St. Lucia
Island Girl Since:
2009
Originally Hails From:
All over - Air Force brat but originally Dutch
Honky or Donkey – whichever you prefer – is how you pronounce Ankie, a Dutch nickname chosen for her since her real name is sooo long. Annemarijke was far too difficult to pronounce at roll call on the American Air Force base, Ramstein, in Germany where she grew up. Being an Air Force brat, she was used to moving around. She called Amsterdam home for a long time and operated a bar there (which is where she left a lot of her brain cells). Then, she moved to the north of the Netherlands for a while to operate a small hotel/restaurant. But her move to Sint Maarten, D.W.I. has been something else entirely. Ankie came to SXM to manage a well-known French restaurant for a couple of months in 2007 and moved into Ocean’s on Great Bay Beach….well, the landlord is now her partner and she moved from the 4th floor to the PH. Not bad, eh? But before Ankie and Dave were able to continue their life together, they both had to turn the world upside down (another story for another time). Let’s just say Dave did end up being her “knight in shining armor”. Not on a horse, but in a beat up Nissan Murano… still, it’s the thought that counts, right? So beginning in 2009, Ankie could officially call herself an island girl – just a very green, naive, unknowing, and gullible one. There is nothing that can prepare you for life in the Caribbean… Now, after 7 years, Ankie is a true island girl and loving every minute of it! Swimming is her Zen, cooking her hobby, and her Dave is her sexy rock on the rock. All brown pelicans are called Gerald and anything below 85 degrees is cold. She is known as The Dutch Girl, Queen of Ocean’s, or Duchess when she rides her Dutch-made bicycle along the boardwalk at terrifying speeds. Managing their Ocean’s condos, working as location manager for Flavors of St. Martin Food tours and senior epicurean guide keeps her in tune with her ROCK. After 12 years on SXM Ankie and Dave moved to a larger Rock….St. Lucia! Officially retired, married to her Dave and working on their project Jasdip. The magic inside-outside house! No more bicycles but back to riding horses. St. Lucia has the most amazing selection of food of which many are healing and a whole new, massive door has opened for me to explore making teas, toothpaste and cooking fusion SLU. Many new stories in the making about this wonderful Belle Helene and getting older and hopefully wiser! Stay tuned!
