A Wildflower Morning

Friday afternoon came. Rob got off of work and we got in the car and drove off to go snorkeling.  We didn't even grab a lunch, because we knew that low tide was coming up real soon, and we wanted to be out there.  We went back to the Piti Bomb Holes Marine Preserve at Fish Eye. The water looked calm and it was nice weather.  As we started in we talked to a man coming out and he told us the current was low and he and his buddy had had a nice time watching the black tipped sharks. Before I continue though, I want to give a big thank you to my local friend, Beth Dodd, who also loves the creatures in the sea.  She generously offered to let me borrow her books on the fish in the region.  Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide by Dr. Gerald R. Allen and Roger Steene.  Micronesian Reef Fishes: A Field Guide for Divers and Aquarists by Robert F. Myers. Guam Fish and Wildlife Factsheets, which can also be found online.  Click on the link.  https:/...

Right beside the Post Office in Hagatna is this beautiful Guam Museum .    Rob and I needed some postage stamps.  We walked in and noticed that the line to the counter snaked around with maybe four bends, all the way out to the door, a bit like waiting to go through security at the airport.  There was no way I was going to wait that long.  Guess I'll have to go back and face the lines another day. Across the street is what is left of the Spanish headquarters, The Plaza de Espana or Spain Square. In the center of Spain Square is this round building, the Chocolate House.  The sign says they used to serve hot chocolate in there every afternoon.  Later on they switched to serving tea.  Not sure why they wanted a hot drink at the hottest part of the day.  Seems like ice tea or smoothies would be more popular.  Now only birds go in and out of the bars, and nothing tasty is served. Pretty little moss and fern gardens live where...

On two different Mondays I've been able to go walking with my friend Tina Robinson.  We became friends back when we were in College.  We went as student missionaries to Micronesia the very same year.  She went to Kosrae and I went to Pohnpei.  We also worked at Sunset Lake camp together. Now her husband is a doctor and administrator of the Adventist Clinic on Guam.  What a treat to be able to spend time together while Rob and I are on Guam this winter.  These are views of our first walk together at Tumon Bay. When we were done walking we went to her house and cooked together.  She had a couple nice recipes in mind.  We made Orange "Chicken" with Soy Curls served on brown rice.  We made a kale salad with lots of lemon juice.  It was so much fun to eat together and share our lives.  Today we walked again, this time at Asan beach, which is in between where both of us live.  It had been pouring rain all weekend, and ...

This Sabbath we went to church and found more kids than usual in attendance, and less adults in attendance. I think there was something happening in another place on the island that people were attending. This meant that there were fewer adults to sit with the kids. At the beginning of church someone invited the kids to go find an adult to sit with. The kids didn't move. So Rob and I moved forward one pew and sat in the middle of a bunch of kids. Soon kids were swarming around Rob and trying on his reading glasses. A little girl moved right up beside me and started leaning on me. Kids were moving from place to place, changing seats with other kids, changing pews. There was a general buzz in the room. But when it was time to sing, they sang clear and strong, all focused on the music. During the sermon I took out my journal and found a photo of the view of the sea from near AWR and started drawing it. Several kids became magnetized on my page, trying to see what I ...