Current temperature: 99F
Forecasted high: 97F
The munchkins each had two friends over today to swim and play. The husband made hotdogs and curly fries, and I made chocolate chip cookies. It was a lovely morning. One of the hardest things about living here is seeing good friends move. Munchkin #2 has experienced quite a bit of that. You make friends, but then they leave a year later to return to their home country. But, the joy is having so many friends from so many different places.
It was clear earlier today, but now there's so much sand blowing that I can no longer see the buildings just a short run from here. Still, I'd like to go for one more quick swim at the beach before the sunlight's gone.
The video today is of a school of fish that were feeding in the algae. We've nicknamed them 'Bobs'. We just thought they looked like they should have the name 'Bob'. I have no clue what species they are. I just think they're fun to swim with.
3 days and a wake-up until we get on the plane to head for the home country for a while.
Hope the swimming is good where ever you are.
Wow. What a great day. We leave for the home country in 5 days, and today was the best day snorkeling I've had in MONTHS! It's amazing how much life has 'grown' on our favorite stretch of beach. I have video and pics to keep me blogging for a decent number of days!
This video is about 35m off the shoreline and in about 4m of water. The video, however, was shot at the surface. We swim out to a series of lines and buoys which are teeming with life. I'd LOVE to see some artificial reef more in use! I'm amazed at what shows up to live off some old rope. Munchkin #2 comes with us. We have a small inflatable boat she sits in with her doll. She plays while the husband and I take turns hanging onto the rope on the boat while the other takes pictures and shoots video. Loads of fun. Munchkin #1 is content to sit on the beach, preferably with a book.
We had a very special family (the father is a Father) over this evening from our favorite place of prayer. They are looking at purchasing a Wii game system and wanted to try ours out. It made for a pleasant evening. I made chocolate chip cookies and there was plenty of tea. It's so nice to be able to host people. And I especially love having willing consumers for my cookies!
Tomorrow, each of the munchkins is having two friends over to swim. The husband bought two packs of 'hot dogs' and huge package of frozen curly fries. So again, we are planning for another lovely day outside.
Thinking of lovely, at about 11am today, the temperature was already at 41C (105.8F). It's 9:15pm, and it's still 90F outside. At least there's not much sand blowing at the moment.
Hope you're having a lovely day wherever you are at the moment.
I love this snap. The husband took this using a special underwater setting on our camera. If you look closely, there's a little fish in the upper left corner looking at the camera, some beautiful orange sponges in the middle, scallops on the lower left, and of course a pretty Sargent Major in the middle. This was just below the surface. All of this life was attached to a piece of rope setting off a swimming area from where boats pass by. I really am amazed that this region doesn't vigorously pursue artificial reefs. Or, maybe reefs are being looked into, and it's just not very public.Peace.
Happy Mother's Day to those of you who celebrate Mother's Day on this day! My munchkins brought home the cutest sweetest poems and crafts from school today. It all simply makes my heart melt.
I was scanning CNN news when I came across this piece: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/10/pope.mideast.visit/index.html?eref=rss_topstories Now, I don't always agree with positions the current Pope takes (I'm obviously not Roman Catholic), but I really appreciated this particular statement: "Muslims and Christians, precisely because of the burden of our common history, so often marked by misunderstanding, must today strive to be known and recognized as worshippers of God, faithful to prayer, eager to uphold and lift by the almighty decrees." Right on target.
This little piece of video I've uploaded for today doesn't really do these little fish justice. There were several large schools of these fish swimming around as we went snorkeling yesterday. What was so very fun is that these schools were coming up so very close to the shoreline. You'd be standing on the edge of the water and you could almost feel these guys swoosh past your toes. Oceans of good fun.
Hope you are having a peaceful day and remember to tell the nurturing women in your life just how much you love them.
You might remember a post I made almost 2 years ago, I think. The munchkins and I were out for a walk on the beach when two cuttlefish swam up to the shoreline and looked at Munchkin #2. The cuttlefish then turned blue and began to 'glow' a bit. How I wished at the time I had my camera!
There is a tradition in the husband's family, particularly on his mother's side, of sharing/telling stories. Usually, the stories are true things that happened to the story teller. The husband's maternal grandmother passed recently from this life into the next. She will be missed. Today's snap is from the farm belonging to her and her husband (the Husband's grandparents). I took this snap last summer just as a delicious thunder storm was brewing. I can still feel the breeze building and smell the hay. 
"I get a peaceful easy feeling....." Do you know the rest of that song? At any rate, I like this one line of it today.
Today's forecasted high: 99F
