FRIDAY FORECAST

[Cowinkie]

afternoon y'all...

I awoke this morning at 4:30 am to howling winds. Everything that wasn't weighted down in my backyard spent time flying in the air. I drank coffee and stayed snuggled in my bed till after 8, then got up to do my usual.

Its been a laundry/house blessing day for me. I didn't want to touch the computer until I got most done. Didn't need to get sidetracked and I was on a roll.

I love this kind of a cold bluster day...reminds me of my childhood and riding my bike to and from school. I spent time sweeping leaves off the patio this morning even thought the wind was blowin'. I would sweep everything into a pile and then wait till the wind died down before I tried to scoop up the leaves. Sweetie was laughing at me and I told him trying to gather the leaves was like chasing butterflies.

I still need to do a bit of vacuuming and moping the floors, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. Its getting to be dinner time and I need to focus on that.

Twins...I saw this video the other day and you might find it very interesting for your mom. I know I told my mom about it and if she ever gets out from all the snow I know she'll be heading for the grocery store.

http://www.cbn.com/tv/1472017228001

If you're interested, you can find a very in-depth interview by googling Dr. Newman or coconut oil and the brain.

[Nancy]

No dgks today. Babyn is talking up a strom or rather vocalizing & I cannot understand a word of it! LOL!
Time to flip the laundry again.

[Harriet]

lucylee, you just need more sand or more something (shells plus sand, etc) and a lid. Another layer. A sand jar has to be tightly filled and tightly closed, that way there's no shifting. You could make an attempt to dip the sand out into a smaller container, and just lose the area where the two colors are close in this jar, start over to make a nice definition in the smaller one that can have a lid on after it's full-full.

That was a really interesting article, Twins' Mom. One of the more comforting things I heard while trying to help my ddad was that he would never have intended to do some of the things he did - his intention all his life would have been a positive one, a contributing one. That always made me feel better, and made such good sense. Reminds me of this article. I've never heard of that particular dementia diagnosis, but did learn that there are many - not every case is Alzheimer's, although that is a common misconception. I'll post a little more in H and F, but wanted to respond here that I liked that link.

Cowinkie, I couldn't get that site to work but I've read Dr. Newman's story before. The only organic coconut oil at any of our groceries here is Spectrum and you have to be careful to get one that uses words like "unrefined, virgin, organic" because they also sell the regular less expensive Spectrum, which is not what Dr. Newman talks about. The organic coconut oils are less expensive at healthy food stores, where you can buy larger containers. (Spectrum comes in pints only here.) I find Nutiva at $19 for twice as large a container, while at the grocery I have to pay $12-plus for Spectrum. Wmart started carrying Nutiva, but inexplicably stopped, at least here. It had flown off the shelves, so who knows why.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Here's my latest travelog:

Tonga. Wow. Everything was dramatic. The pilot boat, the tying up at the pier, the rain, the blowholes, the countryside, the fire dance, the traffic, the wind, the delay leaving but most of all the people. They were wonderful. So, while the sun didn't shine to show off the lush beauty of the island, we still had a fabulous time and so did almost all the other passengers I talked to or overheard talking about their experiences on the island.

The weather was iffy so aside from the pilot jump, we didn't stay on deck too long as we arrived in Tonga. I was pleased to see the pilot jump because it was so interesting. It was the smallest pilot boat I've ever seen, probably not much more than 18' and with an outboard motor. Because the pilot boat was so small, the pilot had to climb up a rope ladder. As precarious as my shots are, it was even worse in the afternoon when he had to return to the little boat. In the morning he was going from bobbing boat to steady ship, in the afternoon he was descending onto the bobbing boat and it was much rougher than in the morning. Other passengers said they had never seen anything like it.

I was on deck 5, having breakfast on our balcony as we came into the pier. It was amazing to see the following - the buoy was moving strangely because it wasn't a buoy, it was a man, standing out in the water, fishing.

First of all, we have leaped into the future so are now a day ahead of most of you. In a moment, we went from 23:59:59, Wednesday Jan 22, to 00:00:01, Friday, Jan 24. Thankfully, no-one on board had a birthday on the 23rd! There was one couple who had birthdays on the 20th and 24th so, for the first time, their birthdays were only 3 days apart, not 4!

We had an ordinary day at sea, including a lovely dinner on the pool deck with friends and a fun show with both the classical guitarist and the South American harpist. The next morning we woke up early in order to watch the arrival in Tonga.

Tonga. Wow. Everything was dramatic. The pilot boat, the tying up at the pier, the rain, the blowholes, the countryside, the fire dance, the traffic, the wind, the delay leaving but most of all the people. They were wonderful. So, while the sun didn't shine to show off the lush beauty of the island, we still had a fabulous time and so did almost all the other passengers I talked to or overheard talking about their experiences on the island.

The weather was iffy so aside from the pilot jump, we didn't stay on deck too long as we arrived in Tonga. I was pleased to see the pilot jump because it was so interesting. It was the smallest pilot boat I've ever seen, probably not much more than 18' and with an outboard motor. Because the pilot boat was so small, the pilot had to climb up a rope ladder. As precarious as it looks in my shots, it was even worse in the afternoon when he had to return to the little boat. In the morning he was going from bobbing boat to steady ship, in the afternoon he was descending onto the bobbing boat and it was much rougher than in the morning. Other passengers said they had never seen anything like it.




I was on deck 5, having breakfast on our balcony as we came into the pier. It was amazing to see the following - the buoy was moving strangely because it wasn't a buoy, it was a man, standing out in the water, fishing, a long way from shore.

Like Pago Pago, the pier was much too short for our ship but I'd never seen lines taken ashore by boat before. It was interesting to watch.

While we were watching the ship being docked, on the pier the police band was playing to welcome us to Tonga. The first piece caused both Ken and I to laugh. It was "Nearer My God To Thee" (reportedly the piece the band played as the Titanic sunk!)

We were cleared to go ashore and warned it was very windy and rain was forecast so to take our umbrellas. By the time we made it to the band, it was raining hard and we sheltered and listened to them play. They were getting buffeted by water but played on cheerfully for us.

One wise Thai passenger, when encouraged to hurry up and get under our shelter responded with, "I'm going to get wet today. Why rush as well?!" That became my motto for the day and I hope I remember it for the future.

We found our tour bus and headed off on a tour of the island. First stop were the blow holes. They run along a 16 km stretch of the coast line and windy days are the best to see them.

The rain held off at key moments of the day, and the blow hole visit was one them.

From there we went to the other end of the island to Hina Cave (pronounced Heena) for a snack and cultural show. Along the way we saw lots of the countryside. Among other things, the island grows breadfruit, banana, yams (which are part of special occasions and ceremonies with royalty), tapioca, mango, taro, coconut, chickens, cattle, pigs, dogs. Our tour guide had 6 dogs, 9 pigs. And yes, they eat dog there. She says it is very good roasted.

The area is very lush and the food production seemed plentiful. People would sell at stands at the road, rather than take their food to the market where they'd have to pay for a table to display their food. We even passed a prison market stall since the prisoners are expected to farm in order to supply their own food as well as sell the excess.

Livinia our guide (her name means "floating on the river", although she pointed out there are no rivers on the island) was a wealth of information, from the education (compulsory from age 6 - 18, free only until age 12, but the country has a 98% literacy rate in English, even though it is the second language - Tongan being the first), the effects of Cyclone Ian (only one dead but many islands had 90% of the housing wiped out), to pointing out different buildings and telling us the burial traditions (this was top of mind for her since she also works in a home for disabled people and a resident died the previous day.) The island is flat so, in the event of a tsunami, there is no high ground to move to, just coconut trees to climb. I asked if she was good at climbing coconut trees, and she said, no, but a mango tree would do! There are areas where tsunami warning systems are being installed but unlike Pago Pago, where it was obvious where to run (up hills) it isn't obvious what good the warning will do on Tonga.

We arrived at the Hina Cave and walked down the steps to the beach. There, in the cliff was a large cave with the rock remains of Hina, a woman who would come and watch from the beach as her man fished and one day he didn't come back in. In her grief, she lay down in the cave and died and turned to stone. There was a rock formation that did look like a woman so it was an interesting tale.

The family that owns the property now has revived it, built a restaurant and villas and offers cultural shows in the cave. For us, we were offered a light fruit snack, served on plates made from  banana fronds, in the woven coconut leaf thatched restaurant, right on the beach. It was an idyllic site.

Our snack of watermelon, papaw (spelling?), pineapple, seaweed and coconut. The seaweed was really salty but good, and the coconut when consumed with the seaweed reduced the saltiness.

We watched an abbreviated version of the cultural show. There highlight for me was the war dance. At least until two of the dancers scampered up the rocks of the side of the cave and started blowing conch shells. Then the fire dance began. There were three dancers, including the grandson of the owners making his first appearance as a fire dancer.

The older dancers would come in with only one side of the torch lit. One set his hand on fire and then used that to light the other end of the torch, the other set his mouth on fire and touched the unlit end of the torch to his mouth to light it. It was incredibly impressive.

We made our way back up the cliff to the bus and headed back to the port. The traffic at noon surprised us, it was so heavy. While the countryside had just small lean-to style shops, the town had more substantial stores but was still what we were used to seeing in Africa and south Asian islands. There was a bill board proclaiming "High Speed Internet is coming to Tonga. It is an exciting time!" but there was another one indicating we were entering the wifi zone so it seems that wifi is available throughout the down town (we didn't test it.)

The wind was very high by then. The bus was able to take us closer to the ship and I adjusted my Tilley hat to the Hurricane Setting and we walked back to the ship. I had hoped to buy souvenirs at the pier but that was not to be since the winds had driven the sellers away and people were struggling to take it down before it blew away.

The wind was blowing at gusts of up to 60knots. And we had to walk, into the wind, just over the length of the ship to get re-board. Thankfully, at that moment it was just wind, no rain. Despite the weather, the Tongans were so welcoming that their actions are what I'll remember most of the day.
I overheard one elderly woman telling a friend, “the wind was so strong, it kept pushing me back and a Tongan woman came and walked, holding on to me, taking me back to the ship.”

Others were out walking in an residential area when the skies opened and the rain flowed. A Tongan in an SUV pulled over at the side of the road and offered them a drive.

When the weather was better, people came to the entrances of their offices (government, law, etc, not stores) and called out a welcome to the passengers out for a stroll.

And my friends were in a taxi and arrived back at the pier when the rain was really coming down. The guard at the gate indicated that was as far as the taxi could go and the driver said something, the guard laughed and waved him through. They get to the next check point, same thing. So they were taken almost to the gang plank. They asked their driver what he said. It was, “I have two really old people here who can't manage the walk!” It wasn't true (she and I are competing each sea day to see who walks the most) but it got them successfully to the gangplank so they didn't know whether to laugh to or be insulted. Regardless, they were certainly thankful for the white lie!

The weather played havoc with our ability to leave. It was too rough to get a man onto the piling. I watched as over and over, they'd approach the piling in a little 12' aluminum open boat, with one person bailing in the front, one steering the outboard motor at the back and the other supposed to climb up. The ladder was on the windy side so it was too dangerous for them to take the boat around to that side (it would be crushed against the piling.)

The captain came on and announced that with winds over 100 km/h it was unsafe to try and leave. So we waited 2.5 hours until the winds dropped enough that they could get our lines detached and we could safely pull away.

We had lunch in the cabin (I wanted pool deck food that wouldn't be served there due to the weather) and we watched Monsters U. There are now streaming movies available on laptops (or tablets) for free and we'd been wanting to watch things but the weather has been so good we didn't want to waste our time watching tv. So we got one movie viewed.

Surprisingly, it wasn't rough after we left, despite an angry looking sea. I napped, missing tea but awakening in time for trivia. The evening was Tropical Night so we wore our outfits that we picked up in Maui.

We had another nice dinner with friends and then skipped the show in order to get to bed only slightly late, rather than way too late.

Today is rough. Not unbearable rough but I awoke with a headache and the desire to stay in bed all day. I put on my sea-bands and am feeling much better now. The captain reports that we are in a tropical depression with 10' waves, long swells, rated Force 8 on the Beaufort Scale, and winds up to 50 knots. There was thunder and lightening at noon and the rain is heavy at times. That makes it easier to spend time in the cabin writing. Ken's watching streaming movies. We are working our way out of the weather (already it looks like the rain has stopped) and so things should be calmer later.  It is formal tonight so I need to do my nails and shower. But first there's a lecture, then tea and finally trivia.

[CathyS]

I am loving Kathryn's cruise info. Parts of it reminded me of stuff we did and saw and felt in the Caribbean... other parts reminded me of Transatlantic crossings. Especially the sea conditions and to Beaufort scale, etc. We had a massive storm behind us all the way to Portugal last March.

Mike and I stayed in all day because of the weather. I did 8 loads of laundry.

[Lynlee]

Kathryn - I do hope you aren't in the area where a cyclone is expected to develop on Monday ??? Glad they are moving away from it, and hope you can keep out of its way.

I'm glad you managed to get the great tour of Tonga despite the weather.
Pawpaw is the spelling of that relative of the papaya.

Its great to have my front door working today. I went to the library, then a tiny market. (There's another bigger one, parking is a problem and so is buying more than you thought.) I just bought bananas and a small watermelon. I know - size wise there's more % skin on the little one. Oh well - it needed to fit in the fridge, and me be able to carry it.
2 mangoes from my own tree this morning. Less rain has meant a better crop this year than any other. I'm hoping not to lose too many to the flying foxes. Letting them ripen on the tree a little.

I'm needing another calendar to mark the don't break the chains on. 2 days of success on several to do with earlier finishing up at night, and more time in bed. I am adding PU and cleaning to the next one - started yesterday.

[Nancy]

The fog finally burned off today and we got to see the sun! I got the laundry current. The house is in shape. I got a pen pal letter ready to mail. We are out of business sized envelopes so will get a couple of boxes of those.

I hope to get to the local book store that has both new and used books I need to make a note of titles and authors I am looking for.

[Cowinkie]

Harriet....

The link works for me.....