Happy season!

Hi HO HO and Merry Xmas and (post) Chanuka to y’all!

Am writing from my very breezy room courtesy of Cyclone Evan which is lashing about Fiji, and although Rotuma was issued a Cyclone warning, we haven't had anything major happen here besides nice cool winds (the type that blow through the window and make the ceiling fans move...)

When they issued the warning I got all excited and started thinking of how we can prepare for it... Carl did his thing by bracing our house in a few places and nailing some boards up against the windows in the house we’re currently in, and me??? I harvested Pineapples to make Jam (so that the cyclonic winds wont blow the beautiful Pineapples away), harvested loads of bananas and baked 3 banana breads (to freeze, you never know...) harvested a lot of my basil (the only thing that has survived the harsh Rotuman heat in my garden) and made a batch of Pesto, in case Evan might blow my precious Basil plants away, and ended up making a delicious meal of Spaghetti with seared fresh Tuna, Rocket, Chilli and Lime. YUM. How else does one prepare for a Cyclone???


Carl bracing for the cyclone (sorry you gotta twist your head!)

The kids were getting really excited and kept asking if the “Curricane” has arrived, but luckily, and to their disappointment, we have been (to date) spared the worse. Apparently its hitting Fiji big time right now, but I don’t really know what the effects are. Hopefully not too bad!

It is the festive season here too, not nearly as outrageously exhibited as back home, but still, on December 1^st most people here put away their cane knives and stop working for the whole month and celebrate.

Rotuman celebrations include the annual farmer shows, in which each village has their day of farmers boasting their MASSIVE pride.... Watermelons, pineapples, Taro, Bananas, Cassava, and there is a competition and prizes and everyone is merry.

Another traditional celebration is the “Farah”, where a group of people, or a whole village get together, dress up in traditional gear and go around the island, or from house to house in their village, park themselves in front of some ones house and start singing and dancing traditional Rotuman songs and dances. The “hosts” then have to come out with bottles of perfume and Talcum powder and douse the entertainers, as well as offer them treats (watermelon, lollies, whatever). This can happen at any time of the day or night, and quite often people go around in the middle of the night and could arrive at your home at 2am and you gotta get up and enjoy their entertainment. The 2am-ers are usually the drunks, hopefully they will skip our home when doing their rounds...

I went on a couple “Farah’s” organized for the kids in our village, the boys love getting dressed up in their “Bula shirts” and waiting in anticipation for what kind of treats they will get. As for the dancing- Noah is the one who is always up there shaking his stuff, making sure he gets to his little girlf Briseis, to ask her to dance before any other kid does, and they dance the night away.

As for Saulei, he refuses to get up from my lap (until the treats are brought out) and hardly even lifts his head from the ground (thinking if he doesn’t see anybody- no one will see him) in fear of being asked to dance. It appears though that the “Henfisi” (white girl) is quite popular among the 6-10yr old boys of the village, and I always get asked to dance by some blushing excited little boy....

"Farah"

 

We return home from these things looking like zombies and smelling like brothels, but very happy...

Carls dad returned to Oz last week after 7 weeks of hard work here. He helped build the bathroom of our house and they worked really hard on it. The laying of the bricks turned out to be much harder than expected, but it is done. The brick laying and roof that is. It still needs to be rendered, fitted, plumbed, tiled and everything else, but we have a shell.

 
The process of building the bathroom...                                  more process...

The boys manualy turning the high-tec cement mixer

The Bathroom shell (it looks a bit more like a bar at the moment...)

Farewell Pa...

Carls uncle Varo, aunt Aggie and son Muero have gone to Fiji for a few months leaving us alone in their house (well, almost alone, with his old uncle Ringa). It was sad to see them go, especially Aggie, as she is my main company here, but they are happily in Fiji with their kids and grandkids.

This means that we are, for the first time in –I don’t know how long- just us four (well, almost), a family of US. This means so much more freedom and less stress over bulk cooking and meal planning and cleaning and bla  bla bla. I can decide to wack up a meal for 5 in 10 minutes and it is sooooo easy!!! Am loving it!!! I have more time to play with the kids and do other stuff, and its a joy.

A wonderful thing that has happened- I have a new friend!!!! She is the loveliest Samoan woman, mother of 8 (!!!) great kids, one of which has become Carls surf BFF) and the wife of a Rotuman doctor. They all live in Fiji but have a house here and come here for holidays.

I cant emphasize enough how nice it is to have a friend here who is a foreigner like me, who knows how it feels to be a foreigner in this culture, who appreciates the things that I appreciate and who can really understand where I come from and how I feel about life here.

Their whole family are very kind and generous, they invited us over for dinner the other night and we had the nicest night I have had since leaving Sydney 7 months ago! It was such a treat!!! There was a Xmas tree which the kids couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw it and hung around it most the night, We had bottle after bottle of lovely Spanish wine, we ate STEAK and decent Sausages and HAM and salads- all the things we JUST DONT HAVE here and I felt NORMAL!!! Great company, great food, hanging out with GIRLS- it was like HONEY poured all over my soul...

The thrill of a real Xmas tree!!! (excuse the head twisting again...)

And because we both know how we love the good things in life we are constantly exchanging little treats with each other, I bring her soaps, she sends me home with some yummy wholemeal nutty bread she brought from Suva, I bring her books (THE trilogy!!!) she sends over a pound of butter, I give her some home made pesto, she sends a basket full of vegies, I send her some home made virgin coconut oil and some divine Red wine liqueur vinegar my in-laws brought, and so on...

AND, her son, Carls BFF, just returned from Suva and brought us 6kg’s of BACON!!!!! Yes!!!!!!! Bacon Bacon Bacon! Bacon Bacon Bacon!!! Bacon and egg rolls, bacon in fried rice, bacon pasta... YOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! I am one happy Jewess!

Every few days I jump on the bike and ride down to her village, we go for a swim and bob up and down in the water for ages chatting about meaningful things!!!! Such a treat!

The house is looking beautiful, nothing yet happening on the inside, but the outside looks great! After Carls dad left, Carl had decided to take a very well deserved break from the house and do other stuff like surfing, fishing, gardening and a bit of nothing too!!! (very UN-Carl like...)

 

Chanuka came and went, and being the only Jewess on the island, and probably surrounding islands and maybe all the way to Australia or New Zealand, I wanted to do what I could to preserve the spirit of Chanuka, even here! So the kids and I collected scraps of wood and built a very wonky Chanukiya, and I spent a whole day preparing 40 Dulce-de-Lette filled donuts. They tasted great, disappeared within 10 minutes and made me feel sick for the rest of the day. At least I tired...

Building Chanukiya

I made my very last attempt at hosting a little ladies night on our new deck, made some beautiful sushi and sashimi, and finally made the Pinacolada’s I’ve been dreaming of making here (freshly squeezed coconut cream, freshly picked sweetest pineapples in the world and really bad quality Rum...), hoping the girls will appreciate the fine delicacies I presented them with. But Rotumans, bless them, they down their drinks as fast as a nomad travelling in the Sahara desert without hydrating for a week, would down a glass of water... just to get drunk as fast as possible, and no need to describe the rest.  So REALLY, I PROMISE!!! That was my LAST time drinking with Rotumans. It just doesn’t work for me...

 

School holidays here, slightly different than back home, very mellow and the kids just have to find ways to entertain themselves. Its not like I can take them to Museums or playgrounds or the cinema or children’s holiday activities... over here its all about climbing trees, shooting eachother with stick guns (or their Nerf guns their uncle sent them), going to play with kids up and down the road, or nagging me to death. I'm actually enjoying it! Enjoying the time with the kids, who are speaking fluent Rotuman now, they even talk to ME in Rotuman at times, and translate for me what other kids are saying to me, which is quite amusing...

 

 

 
Some school holiday activities...


 So from a cyclone safe Rotuma, I shall sign off and wish you all happy holidays and new year, and thanks for reading me, thanks for your comments and lovely feedback, take care and spread the Love

xxx

 
Rotuman Pawpaw mobile
 

 Rotuman bath tub

And just a few things I do to pass time... and treat my family!

Cinnamon Scrolls

 Upside down Pineapple cake

Dedicated to Peace

I sit here today, with a very heavy heart, the heaviest heart I have felt in a long long time.

I sit here on the other end of the planet to most of you, thinking of my family and friends in Israel, thinking of the people of Israel and the people of Gaza, and the distress, pain and fear they are experiencing, and I feel angry!

Angry at the inequality of life.

I was sitting in the water on the rocks down at the bottom of our land, the most beautiful silver sunset, grey skies, silver glittering water all around me and felt the most intense sense of Peace. Surrounded by lush green vegetation behind me and the serene soothing water, thinking of the life I am living and the love I feel for my family. I felt so fortunate and so grateful for where I am and what I have, but felt a very strong PANG in my heart, thinking how unfair it is that whilst I am living this peaceful serene life here, there are people in Israel and Gaza who live in terror of the next moment to come. While my children run around naked having rain showers screaming with joy, splashing in the ocean, climbing coconut trees and live in such abundance of the most tasty and beautiful things in life- there are children in Israel and Gaza who are huddled up in bomb shelters (if they're lucky enough to have one!) and witnessing their homes and families being destroyed in such an awful terrifying way.

I felt that just as the distribution of wealth in this world is so unjust, so is the distribution of Peace.

It is not fair that we are here without a worry on our mind (and of course this is all relative, dare I say that my concern for the lack of butter in the shops here compares to anything that Israeli’s and Palestinians may be feeling right now...), while my family, friends and fellow human kind are suffering the immense atrocities happening in Israel and Gaza in exactly this moment.

I feel so deeply sad by what’s happening there, and every time I watch the news on TV here, my eyes fill with tears and I feel so frustrated and helpless being here with nothing to do to help these people. I know it is, always has been, and might always be a very tricky situation that is happening there, but more so now than ever, living the life that I am, being objective and not living in the eye of that storm, I can see that what the Israeli government and the Hamas are doing will not lead to anything but destruction of hearts, families, people.

I know it is much easier for me to say this here, but a little quote a friend posted on Facebook by the Dalai Lama really touched my heart:

When asked “why didn’t you fight back against the Chinese?” he answered-

“Well war is obsolete, you know. Of course the mind can rationalize fighting back... but the heart, the heart would never understand. Then you would be divided in yourself, the heart and the mind, and the war would be inside you.”

So I dedicate this post to my dearest, beloved family and friends in Israel, and to all Israeli’s and Palestinians. With tears in my eyes, and with all my heart- I wish I could share my peace with you, I wish that someday you will be free of the pain and hatred you feel in your hearts, and have the opportunity to experience true peace, inside and out. I wish for the children to be free of the fear that is embedded in their little beings, and for them never to have to see the things they do, ever again. And to the mothers and fathers... my words escape me... I pray for you all morning and night, and only hope that someone up there or down there can hear me and MAKE THIS STOP!!!!!!

Know that I am thinking of you all allot, and although I don’t write personal emails much, you are in my heart big time, you know who you are, and I hope you’re feeling me!

 

I don’t feel very inspired to write much about life here right now, so will just say in short that things are good! The house is coming along well, slowly, and with almost all the external walls done- it is finally looking like a house, a home.

My in-laws have been here, Carls mum left last Friday, and his dad is staying for another3-4 weeks. Its been nice having some family here, some familiarity and grandfolks for the kids, I really miss that!

The school year will be over in a couple of weeks, and thank Goddess for that, as I could not stand another day of the ridiculousness of the school and education system here.

Not sure how much longer we will be here, might need to stay longer than out original plan for a January return if the house isn’t complete by then.

We are all good, well, happy and loving life. I am attaching some pics for you to see where we’re at with the house.

PEACE, LOVE and coconuts to you all

XXX

 

Noah on his way to Church

                                          Silly Saulei
                                         

                                           Carl's first Dog Tooth Tuna!

                                          Front view of the house

                                          Side view (Bed rooms)

                                          Other side view (Kitchen)

 

PIGGED OUT!!!

Oh what a wonderful day for me today!

The kids are both at school AND the internet is working!!!! Which means I have spent the entire day on my laptop, which is a complete luxury and hasn’t happened since I arrived here and I am stoked!

Noah is finally wanting to go to school now, after having a really hard time adjusting to the (non)system at the local school. Every time I would go with Saulei to Preschool, which is on the primary school’s grounds, I would see Noah wondering around the school grounds, hiding under trees, looking for someone to talk to (unfortunately sometimes that someone would be the high school principal, who wondered why he wasn’t in class with the rest of his classmates...- getting in trouble already!!!?!?!?!). No one tells him what to do or not to do, I think the teachers and principal are just fascinated with him and his stories of faraway lands (Israel and Australia) and love hearing about all his favourite foods and the different dishes I cook and how I make them....

There is absolutely no discipline there, and they let him get away with whatever he wants, therefore he feels a bit lost and like he doesn’t belong. He wasn’t learning anything at school, so I decided to keep him home one day and home school him, which I feel he is benefiting from a lot. And like I said, he is now much happier to go to school and is almost as keen as he was when he was going to school in Oz.

Saulei has taken even longer to get him keen, I think he just didnt want to be away from me for such a long time- 7:30am till after 4pm is a long time to be away for this particular 4yr old, and only when he realised that when he goes to preschool without me, and is in the care of my friend Fotfiri (who runs the preschool)- he gets given so many treats  and lollies that he would never get at home,  he’s decided  that school is an essential part of his life, and has been going  to school every day this week!

So this is what it has come to- if I want a bit of peace and quiet and time to myself, I have to send my kids to a place where they get fed awful fluoro coloured ice blocks, green bubblegum, COFFEE lollies and deep fried donuts drizzled with chocolate sauce.... and they LOVE it!!!

Who said that  parental decision making was easy????...

Bro's..

Sheik Saulei

 

House is starting to look like its actually progressing, Carl and his uncle Varo have been hammering away and getting some window frames and walls up and its looking damn good! Carl has another week or so’s work in the bush cutting timber, and then he will be down here working away on the house from then on.

Where its at now

Men at work

 

My in-laws are coming over for a visit at the end of the month which will be great! More company, grandparents for the kids and more help for Carl!

We had a big Piggy event happen a couple of weeks ago, we decided to buy a pig and butcher it PROPERLY with the help of a Tasmanian guy, Arnold, who was here for a couple of months. He is a butcher by trade and was keen to teach us how to do it right, as opposed to just chopping the beast up into whatever many pieces and chucking the thing into the Lovo (underground oven).

It took a while to find the right pig, we wanted one that was big and fat, in order to gain a lot of Bacon, so when we eventually found one and payed $300 for it, they brought it home with a bullet  between its eyes, and a freshly slit throat.

The pig! As usual the kids were very amused...

 (Oh whoops! WARNING: THE FOLLOWING BIT MAY CONTAIN OFFENSIVE DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES. IF YOU PREFER TO SEE YOUR MEAT FILLETED AND BBQ’D AND ON YOUR PLATE- YOU MAY SCROLL DOWN AND SKIP THE NEXT BIT...)

So with the sun setting in the background, the men cut up the beast into 4 pieces (head, front legs, torso and back legs) and chilled it over night. The next morning our kitchen transformed into a makeshift butchery and Arnold showed Carl and Varo how to butcher each leg, which cut to use for bacon, how to slice out succulent massive Pork Chops, and cube about 8kgs of meat for stewing.

They prepared a solution of salt, sugar, water and some stuff Arnold had for curing meat which they injected into the legs and bacon chunks and put it all in a big barrel full of the solution to cure for a few days.

We were so excited about having loads of bacon (no one here has ever made it, and its not like we can buy it here...) and legs of Ham... All I could think of was how much easier school lunches are going to get with such a huge amount of ham...

 

                                                                    Bum Head!!!

                                                                          The GUTS!!!

What you DONT see at your butchers!

 

 

 

Nothing else to say about this pic, but laugh!!! 

                                                 Legs'o'ham and a whole lotta Bacon!!!!

                                                              Chopping the chops!

A lot of Future stew!!!

 

We were all waiting patiently, each of us drooling over our Bacon and ham fantasies, until about 3 days later we woke up to not a fishy smell, but a ROTTING PIG smell!!!

I couldn’t deal with it and went to school with the kids, and when I came home, I was told the devastating dream crashing news of THE WHOLE LOT having to be chucked out coz it went bad...

It turns out that they didnt consider the temperature here, and thought that it wouldn’t affect the meat if it is drowned in the curing solution. Unfortunately they were wrong....

BIG BUMMER it was, but like Carl, the eternal optimist said- at least we learnt how to butcher a pig properly... and also managed to get a bunch of chops, cubed meat and a whole lot-a -lard...

Who woulda thunk that a Jewish Princess like me would be so enthralled and occupied by the processing of swine???...

Meanwhile, we have been getting almost daily deliveries of giant watermelons from our friend Michael Jackson, and today we got given 5 enormous Pineapples so sweet that the juice that leaks out of it tastes like syrup!!! Ahhhhhh.... life!!!

 

My VCO (Virgin Coconut Oil) and soap making is still going, although after being busted by the immigration officer for selling soap at the local shop, I’ve decided not to sell them and keep them for personal use and gifts...

Apparently on my current visa I am not allowed to “generate income”, and some how, via the “Coconut Wireless network” and a few cases of TPS (Tall Poppy Syndrome) the news spread that the Henfisi (white woman) was selling soap at the shop.  So when the immigration officer went to check it out (and bought one of my soaps!), he told me they could cancel my visa, but wont, as things are a bit more lenient here in Rotuma.  If I really wanted to sell them, we can get a permit on Carls name, but we’ve decided not to bother with it, and just enjoy the soaps ourselves.

As I assume is happening in the rest of the western world, here too people are getting excited about Xmas approaching, only here there is no outrageous spending, annoying brightly lit shopping malls, and consumerism slammed  in your head making one feel inadequate if one doesn’t participate. No, over here, on the 1^st of December, all cane knives are put away, work seizes to be a part of daily activity, and partying begins. People here work on their plantations for months in advance to provide enough food  for Xmas time, many Rotumans living all over the world come here to celebrate Xmas, and the islands population triples.

I remember the very first time I came here in 2005, pregnant and in complete culture shock, I didnt quite know what to make of the whole “Xmas period”. I wonder how now, 7 years on and with much more experience and understanding of the culture, how my experience of it will be...

Till then (or before), happy days to you all and lots of love from all of us xxxx

 

              My Veggie garden finally starting to yield- mainly lettuces, rocket and Bok Choi

                                                               My homie girl Saulei

Im FOURTY!!!

Last Wednesday I turned FOURTY!!!

My original plan for my 40th celebrations was to spend it in Bali with all my favourite girlfriends in the world, and when I realized that was not gonna happen, I succumbed to accepting I will be celebrating somewhere else in the tropics with my favourite boys!!!!

So this is how I celebrated my day...

We had an awsome day at the most amazing paradise beach in the world, swam and snorkeled and finally got to see Carl spearfishing in action! Then we went to another spot with a fresh water pool, had a picnic lunch and headed home to a beautiful dinner and a pink birthday cake Aggy made for me... too sweet!

Thanks to all the lovely birthday wishes, I had an awsome day, made me feel very gratefull and appreciative of my life here and in general, only wish you were here to enjoy it with me!!!!

xxxx

Oinafa beach- my favoutrite beach in the world!

Pure Paradise! with mall my men!

That water is for REAL!!! no Photoshopping!!

OUCH!

Staying Alive!!!

The LIFE!

Bushman Saulei

My Rotuma Family

And my all around family x

Howdie there from our little dot in the pacific, where it has been raining for days and our clothes on the lines are getting a super wash by mama nature, and our veggie garden is squeaking with glory and our TV is working overtime...

BIG GOOD NEWS!!! The internet is working!!! ISH... I dunno if it has anything to do with the fact that I called the mobile network and complained a few times and threatened to report them to the Fiji Consumer Council, but its on, sometimes, VERY VERY slow and keeps dropping out, its better than nothing, and I am grateful for it! I can see photos on Facebook (no vids unfortunately) so keep posting them, that’s the only way I can see you!

I’ve just completed my 3^rd batch of Virgin Coconut oil soap, this time I made about 65 bars of Lime soap and Orange soap. I still haven't decided if I will sell them or keep them for personal use and as gifts, but I have already had some ladies asking me to buy some...

I am attaching some photos of the process of making the soap:

First I get a handsome husband to collect a wheelbarrow full of coconuts and husk them (about 60 nuts!).

Handsom husking husband!

Then that same handsome young man scrapes the coconut flesh out, which is mixed with warm water and hand squeezed (by his cuzin) to extract the cream (sorry no pics!).

Scraping the coconuts

The oil/water mix is then poured into buckets, wrapped in towels and let sit for a couple of days until the mixture separates – a curd on the top, the pure Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) beneath it, another kind of curd under that and the rest is water. I then need to scoop the curd out (and then sun that to produce “second grade” VCO- which I use for my hair, body and massage), then scoop out the VCO, strain it twice and then sun it for a couple of days to remove the odours. And there you go- BEAUTIFUL PURE ORGANIC HOME MADE VIRGIN COCONUT OIL!!!! So cool!!!!

Pure VCO

The process of soap making is something I briefly taught myself before we came here, knowing I will need something to keep me busy and stimulated for the long months we will be here, so I brought all the gear with me, including some beautiful Essential Oils and the result is here:

 

Me dressed in my protective gear preparing the soap

65 bars of soap! yum!!!!

VCO soap is the softest most beautiful soap to use, and I am very proud of my soap!!!!

School holidays are over and its back to waking before the sun to prepare school lunches and breakfasts, Noah is feeling a little better about going to school, but I have decided to keep him home one day a week and home school him.  I think he would learn more in one day at home than in a week at the school here...

 Life goes on here, the house building is crawling along, Island pace, they have started laying the foundation for the bathroom, and also started on the frame of one of the walls. Carl is still busy cutting up some Mahogany trees in the bush, which will hopefully be finished in about a week, and that will be all the wood he will need for the house DONE! The work has been slowed down a bit due to quite a bit of rain and an infected big toe (Carls), but hopefully next week it will pick up again.

You know the amazing Canoe Carl and Co built a couple of months ago when our friends from Oz were here? Well, we tied it to a tree in front of our neighbours house, as they have a beach and we have rocks in front of ours and cant park it there. One morning Fotfiri our neighbour woke us up early saying the Canoe was gone! it was either stolen (highly unlikely- as everyone knows its ours) or washed away to sea overnight... Carl borrowed the neighbours canoe to go and see if it was washed off onto one of the beaches in the bay, but came back with a sad looking face... After all that hard work!!! And we hardly even got to use it!!! We were really bummed, and Carl-as he does, just got over it and let it go...

A few hours later, our friend Michael Jackson came over to tell us that he went searching for it and thought that if there is any chance of finding it before it got taken by the sea, was at this beach where he knew how the current came in before going out into the open sea, and sure enough- there it was- washed up onto the rocks, slightly damaged but in one piece!!! Needless to say we were super stoked, and as soon as they fix it, it will be sailed back to our village, and tied down with an anchor as well as a rope to the tree...

Mango season has started, and huge mango trees all over the island are bursting with fruit!! UNFORTUNATELY, we don’t have a mature mango tree, and every time I walk past one of these, I drool, and have to flutter my eyelashes at the tree owners complementing their massive fruit, in the hope that they will give me some! Another way of obtaining mangoes, or any desirable fruit here, is waking up before the chickens and going to the trees to pick the fruit that has fallen to the ground over night before the chickens do. Unfortunately for me, chickens are awake by 4:30am, and I’m not 4:30am desperate for mangoes...

Baby Pineapple

So we just keep on eating Pawpaws , which are falling off the trees and we cant eat them fast enough, Banana bunches bursting off the trees, the pineapples are starting to grow into their massive Rotuman dimensions, Soursop juice, Soupsop Jam, Mandarins,  our veggie garden is starting to produce our much anticipated greens, loads of very spicy Rocket, Chinese greens, string beans, basil, Okra, and the rest is still to come. It is SO nice to finally have salads to eat, it makes the hot humid days somewhat pleasurable...

Our scarecrow Zoe

Zoe in the garden

Thats all  for now, hopefully now that I have a bit of connectivity to the outside world, I will write more...

IF you wanna see a little movie that our friend David made of their trip to Rotuma, type in Youtube “Rotuman Adventure July 2012, Davey, Lizzy and Delphi meet Carl's family.” and you can get a great insight into what its like here. I haven’t actually seen it yet, as the internet is too slow to download it, but you can.Also, there’s a documentary called “Passage to Rotuma”, made by a part Rotuman woman who came to Rotuma for the first time, and it stars a few of Carl’s relatives and takes place mainly in Itumuta- the village we didn’t end up building in. Its a great portrayal of the experience I had the first time I came, I cried and laughed when I saw it, and would love you to see it too. I think you can watch it in 3 parts on Youtube.

Shana Tova to all of you who celebrate the new year, and please keep in touch- via email- I can read them now!!!

Love from us all xxxx

                                         Noah and his grilfriends in a canoe (not ours)

                                         The completed front Deck

 Saulei reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (I found him like this- its not a staged photo!)

                                         A Worrier always sleeps with his sword!

                                           Sushi lunch for the kids

                                                    Wild Children