The big backdrop

Blue Heaven isn't just a restaurant down the street.

It's the arch that spans the island's soul this time of year, as dry season tails off and the days run hot, humid and clear.

It's glorious, but it's intense -- the reason, I think, why Caribbean folk love such intensity of color.

This morning we had two plumbers, two landscapers, three pool guys and two electricians either working or scoping out work to come.

Robert was running errands and then doing a bit of arranging -- and even that had him in rivulets of sweat.

As the clock crawled toward noon the workers trailed off for lunch -- and none returned. Well, the 'scape guys came by to reconnoiter again, but . . . too darn hot today. Mañana.

But that heat is under the most amazing sky. And structures small, like cottages, and big, like theaters, take on an end-of-season shimmer against a blue even Pantone can't match.