A Wildflower Morning

Sunday morning I woke up really wanting to draw and paint something about the Blue-banded King Crow butterfly and its environment.  It was rainy and for a good while most of us stayed in the shelter. Breakfast was pancakes and eggs or tofu.  I got some tofu and was sure I would enjoy the meal, but was surprised to find that the tofu was scrambled in a lot of the same slimy, strong, oil, that same that the corn soup had been made with.  I almost couldn't eat it.  I've never had oily tofu before and was so disappointed because tofu has enough moisture that there is no need to use oil when cooking it.  Just add good seasonings and stir. Pathfinders spent the morning working on classwork and camping skills.  I sent Rob on a walk.  He begged me to go too, but I was planning on some art time in nature.  I went to one of the bushes covered with butterflies and started drawing.  Some flew away, but some sat there completely still for me to dra...

Rob had his eyes set on a clearing made for power lines that headed out through the jungle of the Pati Preserve.  You could see that cars drive there sometimes, but it wasn't a road. There was some shade on one side of the cleared area for us to walk in.  Hopefully we wouldn't get sunburned.  As we walked, we noticed what we were seeing along the jungle edge.  There were things there that we did not see at AWR. We watched the butterflies and I was able to get a very nice photo of one of the Blue-banded King Crow, with his wings open wide.  Along this path they were feeding on the flowers of a vine-like plant. I still didn't see any eggs or caterpillars, so I am still wondering what their life habits are and how long they live. I saw one Golf Friterary, but it paused long enough for me to get a photo of the inside and the outside of its wings.  Both are beautiful! We saw butterflies that were black that reminded us of some kind of Swall...

Rob was the first to notice that the sun was above the horizon Sabbath morning.  We looked out of our tent and saw it rising out past the beach, lighting up the clouds.  I got photos and from there we went for a long walk that included a side trip behind jungle bushes.  While out walking we found evidence of a large lizard.  There were foot prints with claws and a long tail trail marked between.  Our friends told us that the big lizard here is a Mangrove Monitor Lizard  ( Varanus indicus ) .  They have lived on Guam since before the first European contact with the island. Wikipedia says they are 3.5 - 4 feet long. Roger Krum told me that sometimes they come into the SDA school gym, and as he is the PE teacher, he has to catch them and take them out so the kids can play safely. They have claws on their toes, and sharp teeth, so you have to pick them up in their middle. Go to this ebook about the Flora and Fauna of Guam, scroll to...

I could hardly get up out of bed this morning.  I was so tired, even after sleeping.  I didn't head out and go walking.  I didn't feel like eating.  So i just sat on the couch to try to get myself awake enough for tutoring.  Then I had diarrhea.  That's the problem.  I thought I didn't have long until I had to start work.  So I immediately swallowed some charcoal capsules and prayed for recovery.  Then to my relief, I realized I still had one more hour until my first student, not just 10 minutes.  That was a blessing.  The charcoal helped.  I was feeling much better at 8:30 AM. When Rob got home at noon, we ate lunch and packed things to take camping with us.  We were going with the pathfinders to the northern point of the island, up on the Air Force Base.  Even before we landed on Guam, we told them we wanted to join them again this year.  So far we have been able to go every time we have come to Guam.  O...