Canines & Sunsets

This morning I found myself at the Montserrat Animal Protection Society (MAPS), along with Emily who took me along to one of her regular volunteering duties. MAPS does an admirable job looking after neglected and abused animals on the island, providing them shelter, food and attention until they can be fostered out. It is entirely staffed by volunteers who operate wholly on the goodwill of donors and sponsors.

I have been looking to adopt a dog myself, and hence Emily suggested I head down to the MAPS shelter to get to know the dogs better before making a decision. We had a brilliant morning and I found myself growing quite fond of an active canine named Jack.

The MAPS canine shelter.

Greeting the new visitor.

Em hosing down the kennels while the dogs enjoy a run.

The weather recently has been rather chilly - now those of you reading from Europe (how's the snow?) might think me mad, but Montserrat does experience 'winter' too. The coldest months are from December to February; with an average daily temperature of about 24 deg C, this is a few slight notches below summer temperatures which soar up to about 33 deg C. There have been plenty of gales lately, but also quite a few stunning sunsets.

View of the sunset from my apartment.

In other music-related news, rehearsals for the Montserrat Secondary School choir have started, and I have started a peripatetic teaching programme for students wanting to learn the piano. Currently I am running it single-handedly, but I will be starting to find out if anyone on the island might be willing to give instrumental lessons to students after school as well. I will be working on more contemporary songs with the choir - I don't think the young ones will quite enjoy singing about Irish immigrants getting off at Ellis Island to carve out a future in the New World!