In Loving Memory of Power Shot A60

Our camera is dying.

It IS older than Ella. We've had many great times together in our 4 years and 7400 photos. It has survived hard falls and sandy drops. It recorded the arrivals of both our children, as well as our travels and travails. But now it's time to say goodbye.

Here are some memories from our dear PowerShot A60

This was Photo Number 7, taken April 12, 2004. (Photos 1-6 got deleted. They must've been even uglier than this one!)
Here's our first family picture, Photo 17, taken in Corvallis OR.

April 2004

May 2004, Clear Lake Oregon

May 2004 Ella's Birth


December 2004 Zions National Park
March 2005 Newport Oregon
MTC with Asael, July 2005

May 2006, Florence Italy
July 2006 Baby Isaac

Oct 2006 Yaquina Head OR

May 2007 Robbie's Wedding
May 2007 Waikiki

June 2007 Yellowstone
Waiting for Old Faithful
Still Yellowstone
Trying to coax a family photo

August 2007 Pago Pago Airport
Driving to Tula September 2007

March 8, 2008-- Photo 7433--Quite different from that first picture in Oregon. Here's how I feel now with two kids and 30 degrees of more heat to deal with. And you can see that our camera has issues. Photo 7434. Here's Ella teaching her dolls a church lesson.
Poor Canon Power Shot A60 is ready for camera heaven.
Any suggestions for a replacement?

Merry...

No one's hangin' stockin's up,
No one's bakin' pie,
No one's lookin' up to see
A new star in the sky.
No one's talkin' brotherhood,
No one's giving' gifts,
And no one loves a Christmas tree
On March the twenty-fifth.

Shel Silverstein

O le Tama

Isaac conquered Mt. Sedona.

There's not really anything to say. I just like these pictures and these guys. It's great watching Ephraim with Isaac. He's a proud father. There's a special father/son connection that I will never really understand fully, which is okay.

Drudgery

Do we just have fun all the time? No way. That's ridiculous. Everyone has lame times sometimes. Like when it's time to wash dishes. That's no fun. I really hate doing dishes. Sometimes I trick myself into thinking it's a carthartic opportunity for inner reflection, a metaphor for repentance and sanctification. Ending with an achey back, sore feet, and wrinkled hands.

So we don't have a dishwasher, but at least we have an iPod to make it bearable.

We had a dishwasher once in our 7 years of marriage. For about 6 months. Then we moved here. I find myself perusing the old IKEA catalog I have wishing I could have...everything in there. Including a dishwasher. But what's higher on my priority list? Living near beautiful secluded beaches year round, or living near a store with modern home furnishings and convenient appliances? I guess the answer is obvious.

Actually IKEA doesn't sell dishwashers, but if I lived anywhere near an IKEA, chances are I'd have a dishwasher. In fact, at our last place, where we had a dishwasher, they'd just opened an IKEA an hour away. It opened a week before we left.

Samoa's just not "urban". Or "suburban". Maybe it's "rural". I'd say remote, tropical, traditional, village-based, small town, island style, slow goin', ... can anyone think of a good word?

Anyway...

Here's Isaac "helping me" with the dishes a few nights ago. Notice how he splashes water all over both of us, throws soapy dishes around, and DRINKS the dishwater. Even though he makes twice the work, he's more entertaining than the iPod.





P.S. Today I paid someone to do my dishes. It was worth the money.

Airport Beach

On Saturday the 16th we hiked out to Airport Beach which is located on the ocean side of the runway.
The trail from Maliu Mai goes past blowholes and natural arches.

Kailani and Ella hiked pretty well on the way there.

They loved to watch the water spray from the blowholes.

There were two old bunkers along the way.
We finally made it to the beach. There's really no shade, so we had to use umbrellas and lavalavas for shelter. The snorkeling was nice. But the next time we go, we'll leave the kids behind and wear a lot more sunscreen.

The beach was hardly worth the burn. Ouch!

To the Editor

Don't mean to be a downer, but this is pretty crazy. It's a letter to the editor in Samoa News today.

"WOW. JUST WOW"

Dear Editor,

Let me see if I've got this straight.

1 ­ The Governor of American Samoa jumps on a shiny military jet/limousine and is rushed 2,500 miles away because he could not get the necessary care at the hospital a few miles from his home.

2 ­ A few weeks later an American Samoan infant dies after being delayed attempting to get to a hospital 2,500 miles away because his family could not get him the necessary care at the hospital a few miles from their home.

3 - A few days later the Senators of American Samoa pass legislation that allows uncertified "doctors" to continue practicing "medicine" at the "hospital" a few miles from their homes.

Are you kidding me, citizenry of American Samoa?

Why are you putting up with this?

My heart weeps for Baby Futi, and all of you should be in the streets right now demanding that this situation changes today. The status quo is no longer acceptable. Institutionalized mediocrity has resulted in not just a frightening disparity between those who rule and those who are ruled, but also the death of a child.

Signed,

Talkin' about a revolution

Also surprising is how Samoa News doesn't seem to screen letters--they'll publish anything! This is a portion of a different letter.

...Another issue that I just want to "touch" on has to do with police officers. Not all police officers are affected with what I have to say, it's just those small number of officers that give the department a bad name. Some of you act like you all are in the army or some branch of the secret service. I mean seriously, some of you act like jerks. When you walk you put your shoulders up so high that your heads are barely visible. You think you guys are all that. Well I've got news for you, you're not! Try gong to the mainland and enrolling in any police academy there and see how far you're going to get.

There is this one particular police woman that I often see giving tickets to people on the road everyday. I don't have anything against you when you're doing your job lady, just so you do it with some respect
and some dignity. And lady, learn how to smile. And just as a reminder, in case some of you do take up the challenge to go and enroll in a police academy, it's not who you know, its WHAT you know that's going to get you in. And you actually have to PASS the academy.

If I have offended some people in any way please don't take it personally, it's just my opinion and everyone is entitled to have one.

So, "lady, learn how to smile" isn't supposed to be personally offensive? It's a small island. Even I know which officer she's talking about. She'll be smiling now.

What a great place!

Aunu'u

This is the post of our great day in Aunu'u. Those of you who've been there will have the same pictures of the same lovely sites, even same cute village kids. Hope your trip there was as nice as ours.

Aunu'u is a small island off the southeastern coast of Tutuila. We went on Saturday the 9th with our friends Lauren and Scott. The weather was perfect. Here's our "vessel of suspect seaworthiness" the Blue Angel. At only $1/person, it was probably the most enjoyable dollar I've spent.
The boatride takes about 15 minutes. It's really like a bus ride. Many people commute everyday for school and work. Look at that amazing blue water. Samoans call the color lanumoana. This is looking toward Aunu'u.
We waved to a boat making the return trip.
This shows the whole span of the island. It's almost 2 sq. miles.
This is an Aunu'u resident who caught a little tuna off the back of the boat. He gave us the tuna, which we shared later on.
First stop, beautiful beach on the northwestern side, looking back to Tutuila. Here we paused for directions and shade. Isaac somehow upset a big chicken and got scolded (by the chicken).
Here's Lauren practicing Samoan with our young tour guides. We asked the village kids to take us to the palapala mimiki (quicksand), and they followed us around the entire island. There's not much else for them to do on a one-village island. The little boys entertained us by galloping like animals, racing down the trails, posing like rappers, and randomly yelling their mantra: "Go, Go, Power Rangers!"
Ephraim cut open the fish with a stick and cleaned it out. The kids helped Ephraim watch out for the eel in the shorebreak that wanted some fish. They tried some fish, but didn't really like it.
"The Precious will be ours once the hobbitses are dead." (gollum, gollum)
When we reached the quicksand lake, I took a few steps off the path to get a different view, but the girls scolded me. Here's Raiders in his 7 year old glory.
They told us not to continue from there, that we'd need to go with a dog to protect us from the wild pigs that could eat us. We took our chances. And they were happy to follow. Who needs a dog when you've got little boys running around?

We climbed the trail heading up the mountain and at a clearing Ella climbed a banyan tree (with help).
We started the trail that goes to the crater lake, but it was too long and hot for our band so we'll explore that another day.

This is the south shore where we paused for a break.
I asked the girls to sing. They sang one of Ephraim's favorite Vaniah Toloa songs.
Circling north again along the western shore we passed the LDS church. I was hoping to find a drinking fountain there. But, no. I was wearing my CTR ring (Choose the Right) and one of the girls had one too. So we discovered most of them are LDS.
We were happy to get back to the boat dock and eat some lunch. Except that when I pulled out our PB&J, the kids said, "Oh, I love peanut butter. It's my favorite." I said, "Good, go ask your mom to make you a sandwich." Same with water. "Oh, I'm so thirsty!" I said, "Go home and get a drink." Silly kids.

Finally we went swimming in the boat wharf. (If you go there, let me warn you that the ramp is slippery. Isaac and I learned that the hard way.)
When the boat came to the wharf the kids climbed up the side and hung on for a ride. They seem so comfortable with all aspects of their little island. We boarded the boat and headed home dirty and tired.
Until next time...