Listen for a tiny but brilliant design tip.
Amy and Aerin were coming for lunch, two women in the design world who need little introduction if you follow beauty or interiors. First time to the island, first time to our house. It was spring-break time, so there was a flock of kids too. We are always able to quickly enlarge any table by adding an enormous piece of plywood on top and dressing it up with a tablecloth. This also gives us more space on the table for a bit of decorating drama. On this occasion, though, drama came from elsewhere.
Imagine the scene; we are in our sitting room, having a pre-lunch drink, perhaps an Idle Assembly rum cocktail, a hummingbird is feeding on the nectar of the bright pink bougainvillea tree, growing on the terrace, Banger is lying under the fan on his back, even my children are very calm. We go through to lunch, and there are satisfactory oohs and aahs as the guests smell the fragrance of the lemons, mingling with the wild vines and frangipani petals that I had arranged on the table. Aerin reaches to pull out the chair I suggested she sit in and lets out a screech. There coiled all around the chairback, is a long, long snake, snoozing in the afternoon sun.
We had become rather familiar with the snake as he, or a relative, had at one time slivered between the tiny bars of our birdcage. Once inside, the snake had eaten one of our lovebirds, and then had the audacity to fall asleep, overstuffed from his lunch, inside the cozy wooden nesting box, whilst the other little love birds sat shivering in fear, wondering who would be next.
Just today I came across a very, very small version of that uninvited guest, and I suggested they leave the house right away.
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