Last week’s post of helicopter video prompted St. Johnian Brian Holt, who fought a tough battle against cancer last year and won, to send us his story of an airborne proposal.

“I got Lindsey a helicopter tour of the islands for Christmas. I wanted to get her something extra special after the year we’ve had,” Brian says.

But a helicopter ride wasn’t all he had in mind.

After enlisting the help of friends, and buying 1,000 yards of aluminum foil to have “Will You Marry Me” spelled out on a beach, his plan was set. (Never mind, that his buddies spelled it out on the wrong island.)

“As soon as she started recognizing there was something on the beach…I released my seatbelt and got the ring from my pocket…and got down on one knee. Difficult to do in a helicopter.”

She said “Yes,” and they toasted with airborne champagne on the way back home to celebrate with family.

“The flight home would’ve been a long one with a different answer,” Brian says.

All you romantics can read Brian’s entire account of his most amazing proposal, here! (Any guy about to propose, Brian has definitely raised the bar for you.)

We all have our ways of expressing how we feel about St. John. For mother and daughter Bostontonians Mary Lopez and Maxine Lopez-Keough….it is Haiku.

Seriously. A St. John Haiku website.

Mary has been visiting St. John since she was 12 and she and Max are on St. John as frequently as they can be.

Why Haiku?

“I guess it’s tonic to the Northeast. And it can also be funny. I’m a scientist and Max is a writer,” Mary says.

On Saint John dot com
Had to Google “what’s haiku”
And now we are cool.

Mom and daughter make pretty much daily entries on their St. John haiku sight, alternating between poem and unique St. John pictures. Check it out, here!

Fatty Crab officially opened for business Thursday night.

Appetizers from $9, and main dishes from $14 to $42. (And the dreaded “market price” for the Spiny Lobster in chili gravy with Baked in the Sun sourdough…but that sounds good enough to take the blind plunge.) Josephine’s greens also make the menu, as does roti.  The menu’s got a local nod.

If you haven’t been among the the first to try it, here are the menus! Click to enlarge.

The long awaited renovation of Franklin Powell Park is finally getting underway, but preparations this week came with a HUGE surprise for businesses in Cruz Bay.

The contractor has erected unsightly perimeter fencing all around the park, severely hampering access to businesses like JJ’s Texas Coast, Coral Bay Jewelers, Fantasia and Captain’s Corner. And the project is scheduled to last until at least June.

On top of that, trash cans are now all gone, the taxis are having trouble parking, and the taxi drivers have no place to hang out between runs, other than in the way of store entrances and pedestrians.

And speaking of pedestrians, there is very little wiggle room left for all those hourly ferry passengers coming and going through the park and surrounding area.

The St. John Chamber of Commerce has issued a plea to a few highly placed officials in hopes of getting some kind of relief, so high season isn’t a disaster in Cruz Bay.

Chef Mathayom “Mat” Vacharat, who cut his culinary teeth at some of St. John’s best restaurants back in the 1990s, has made a name for himself over the last decade or so as one of the island’s best caterers.

And now his St. John Catering is branching out into the retail world with its first product: Java Booty Rub.

“Adds a rich, smokey flavor to any dish,” says the packaging. French roast coffee, chocolate and smoked salt are among its ingredients.

St. John Catering has been handing it out to guests at events, and now sells it on-island directly, and through…what better choice?…St. John Spice.

We asked our friends at Kalorama Kitchen to give Java Booty Rub a test drive. Check out the review, here.

It’s true. And it’s a one time deal.

Woody’s will be open bright at early at 6 a.m. Friday to serve up breakfast. All proceeds and tips will be donated to the upcoming Relay for Life on St. John. Woody’s is the event’s sponsor.

Shark bites and wings give way to:

-BBC pancakes
-Steak, pork and eggs
-Shrimp and cheese grits
-Bloody Marys and Mimosas

Breakfast at Woody’s. Friday, February 11, from 6 to 11 a.m.

There are three evenly spaced NO PARKING signs now planted around the Roundabout, as it had turned into a bit of a parking platz lately.

But apparently this bus driver misread the signs and thought they said NO COMMON SENSE, because there he or she is…dropping off a gaggle of kids right in the middle of Cruz Bay’s busiest intersection as they scatter in all directions.

In the meantime, the center of the roundabout looks awfully bare. Ideas?

Cruz Bay’s newest restaurant opens for business this week.

We’ll take you on a tour soon, but it’s fair to say they did an extensive remodel. Which made us want to ask about their St. John building experience.

“The construction itself went better than expected and our GM Dave Segarra and our local partner Michael Skunik did a great job keeping the project going and on track,” says managing partner Rick Camac. “ The bigger issues were getting materials here in a timely fashion, receiving shipments that were missing, items critical to open a restaurant, like glasses and table bases, and dealing with damaged goods, like an $11,000 ice cream maker.”

What in the heck does an $11,000 ice cream maker do? It comes with the cow?

Fatty Crab will have some staffers from New York, with an added contingency for opening week, but they built their staff mostly with locals.

“We’re really pleased with the quality staff we’ve put together. They’re excited about the Fatty Crab experience and have been trained in mixology, wine and food. It’s a lot to take in and retain but they are getting the hang of it quickly.”

How about a warm welcome to St. John for these guys. We anxiously wait the early reviews!

Now both of Cruz Bay’s dinghy docks are fixed and fully functional.

After Sunday’s volunteer work nearly completely rebuilt the dock on one side, a local businessman paid to have the storm-shredded dock on the other side repaired today.

The 2nd Annual Gifft Hill School “Seeds for Success” matching fund drive raised a whopping $267,000, including an entire match from some very generous and deep-pocketed supporters.

Even more impressive…100 percent of the school’s students and faculty made a contribution. Here are the kids and teachers, spelling out “100” to celebrate.

The $10,000 from students and faculty, with matching and bonuses in each category, turned into nearly $126,000 of the total.

“Thanks to everyone who supported our little school in this effort,” says GHS’s Beth Tamplin Jones. “This is truly a community school in every way and the contributions we receive make all the difference for our students – the future leaders of our island and the world beyond.”

That money will go a long way to offsetting the $650,000 GHS gave in scholarships and financial assistance this year.

The St. John Chamber of Commerce helped organize an all-volunteer repair of one of Cruz Bay’s two dinghy docks Saturday.

“Dan Boyd has been amazingly gracious and generous and supervised the repairs, and John Russell made a very generous contribution toward materials, and many others contributed much to make this happen,” says Chamber Director Kate Norfleet. “Without Dan, John, Administrator Leona Smith and the cooperation of VIPA, this wouldn’t have happened.”

And here came the wood…..

And the work gets underway….

And just before sunset…voila! A new dinghy dock. One down. One to go. Citizen led plans for the other dock are in the works.

There it is. The very reason St. Johnians go to St. Thomas.

Toilet paper.

And, perhaps a truck full of other supplies deemed much more important to transport under cover than TP. It makes you wonder just what was packed behind that Jeep’s darkened windows that relegated toilet paper to the roof, doesn’t it?

It’s probably just our sensible Iowa humility, but maybe the month’s supply of Charmin is best transported with more discretion.