Laundry, weather & crime

We've gone from about a three week dry spell to rain. Tropical storm Karl went by giving us some precipitation. With a few exceptions, that's what usually happens when storms or hurricanes head up the Atlantic towards the Caribbean. Belize is in what they call here a "bight". That's a bay or inlet. When you look on a map you can see that Honduras sticks out below us and the Yucatan is protruding north of us. Corozol in the north of Belize did get more rain and winds at about 40mph, but here in Cayo we just got some rain. So far, it's been a pretty gentle year, but it's not over until the end of November. Hope our luck holds.

My frustration is that my washing machine was broken and we just got it back. Laundry piled up and it's raining. Tough on my solar dryer! Since it's so cloudy, we'll probably run the generator and then I have a couple of lines on the veranda where I can hope things will eventually dry.

Also, have to run to town today to run errands as this is the big holiday weekend. Independence day. I would have done more shopping yesterday, but most shops closed as a statement about crime. Last Sunday there were four murders in Belize City, one of which was a little 8 year old girl who was asleep in her bed. Someone shot at the house and killed her. The other three sound like random killings of men. The business community is banding together with their quiet protest by closing their shops. This form of protest was started by the Chinese shop owners as they have been targets in Belize City. It's sad how often the shops are closed. Sure brings it home to all of us who don't keep up on the news.

It makes me cry to hear about how much hate and ugliness there is in the world. I don't like to include this here, but these are the realities that we all have to face wherever we are.