Today we're doing our version of Thanksgiving here. Since there's no 4-day weekend, a Thursday feast is silly, so instead of an afternoon of gluttony and football, we'll have a Friday evening meal with friends.

I have actually managed to find another American to break turkey with this year, though. Well, not exactly, as she's vegetarian so will be sticking to the mashed potatoes ... or visa/versa.

My point in all this is to say that since I have a load of cooking to do today, I don't have much time for blogging. And since my oven is broken, and I'll be running back and forth between the little house we use for guests and this one to get the bird roasted, even less time.

I know that Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks, and, yes, I am thankful for so much in my life, but although I began this post with a completely different direction in mind, mentioning my broken oven has forced another topic to the front of my brain, so I think I'll go with that for a minute or two.

You've all heard me drone on and on about island life stuff, good and not so good. It's beautiful and peaceful and safe and blah, blah ... BUT. Yes, we go weeks without any onions in the country and we have power cuts about a bazillion times a week and my internet connection is frustratingly slow (and doesn't work at all when we're having one of those aforementioned power cuts), but here's one I haven't talked about:

When something breaks, there's almost no fixing it.

People who can repair things are rarer than rare here, and if one does happen to come across someone with some skill and knowledge about fixing things, there are never any spare parts. Because of the climate here ... hot and steamy with a lot of salt in the air all the time ... nothing lasts long. Rust and corrosion happen so fast you can almost watch the degradation, and aside from covering things up ... we have everything from the toaster to the washer covered when not in use ... there's nothing you can do.

Another issue is that it's not like you can just go out and buy new stuff. In putting together our house, we shopped when we traveled and had things shipped in. Our fridge is from Thailand, our stove from South Africa, my computer and fax from the US, the DVD from England, and so on.

Here is an incomplete list of household items I now live without, simply for lack of someone to fix something that could probably be sorted out in one visit of your friendly, neighborhood repair person:

Oven: As mentioned. Hasn't worked for 8 months.
Dishwasher: Went for repairs October 2005 and is still sitting in the guy's garage.
Overhead light in my office: Fixture blew out months ago, so I work in a cave.
Fax machine: Newly screwed, as the modem just blew this week, but I can kiss it good-bye for sure.
Fan controls: Have never worked, so fans are either on full blast or off.
Light dimmers: Worked for a while, but are now the same as the fans.
Washing machines: I have two ... one from Thailand and one from Australia ... that sit next to each other on my back veranda. Why two? Because one sometimes won't agitate and the other sometimes won't spin.

I know the list is much longer, but so many things have been broken for so long that I don't even think about them anymore.

Enough! I'm thankful, really I am, but now I have to get my turkey stuffed so I can run it next door and stick it in that oven that, very hopefully, will work today. If not, I'll have to boil the bird!

I took this photo a few minutes ago. It shows my useless oven, although the stove part works, and the hole where my dishwasher is supposed to live.