Making ghee

I slept pretty well last night. I got up at 9. Chris was already up and on his laptop. I drank a quart of water and read e-mail. I ate some seed crackers with hummus. I washed the dishes in the sink, including the crock pot. I read more e-mail, then got dressed. We put the rotten coconut in a bag, and went on a walk on the trail. We stopped at the exercise station to use the arm machines. At the end of the trail, we headed for the commissary. We ran into a new family on post. She is excited about joining the sewing group. Then we went into commissary to exchange the coconut. We also got more butter and eggs. We carried them home. I put four containers of butter in the crock pot to heat. Then I made and ate breakfast while reading e-mail. I did some tapping as described in articles in my e-mail. I checked on the hot butter, it was almost melted. I did some more tapping. Chris brought in the pumpkin, which was not showing any signs of deterioration. He cut it in half and took out the seeds. He put the seeds and some chestnuts we had, in a glass baking dish. He asked for the cookie sheet to put the pumpkin halves on. I had washed it earlier and put it in the drawer under the oven. But it wasn't there. We looked everywhere and could not find it. I started thinking I was going crazy. But then I pulled out the drawer and looked behind it – the sheet had slid off and under the stove. Phew! He put the pumpkin in the oven to roast. We took the coconut to the commissary. The manager asked if we wanted another one. There were only two left and I thought we should do the community a favor by weeding out the bad ones. But Chris disagreed, so I said no. The manager said to take the purchase price off of our next purchase. There were more things we needed, so we picked up almonds, chia, flax, and sunflower seeds. We went to the checkout, and the lady rang it all up. She did not take out the coconut price. So when the manager came back, he wanted us to buy something else. I grabbed a large coconut water. Chris paid the dollar difference in price. Then we headed home. It should not have seemed like a long walk, but it did. When I got to our yard, I turned on the hose to water the tomatoes. One was ripe so I picked it. In the kitchen, I found the butter bubbling away, so I turned the crock pot down. I checked my instructions and it did not look like the picture. Mine still had stuff floating on top. I poured some through a strainer into a glass jar. It looked ok. When that jar was full, I started another one. It only got half full. But it made twice as much as what I used to order and for the same price. I kept pulling out toasted milk solids. They were very salty. I made up supplements for 11 days. Chris pulled some pumpkin pieces out of the oven and swirled them around in the crock pot to get the last dregs of butter. I tasted it but did not like it. I sat down and read some e-mails. Then I did a 5 star Sudoku puzzle in the book Cecily gave me. I used up all my logic pieces and had to start guessing. After it was finished, I finished one of the tapping articles. I tried an oatmeal cookie dipped in ghee. But it wasn't solid yet, so just ran off the cookie. I worked on the other tapping article. I remembered a file I had made from a tapping audio 2 years ago. I searched for it on my laptop but did not find it. Then I searched for it on the desktop and it did not come up. I did a manual search and looked at other files in the place I expected to find the one. About 9:30 Chris was ready to watch TV so we played the next episode of Terra Nova. Then I downloaded two pics from my phone and finished my blog post.
* The ghee. Not sure why it is so dark. *

Coming back from Christmas

I woke up hearing a strange sound: short bits of music followed by two beats. Chris got up to see what it was, but did not come back to bed. I tried to go back to sleep, having slept really well and hoping it would continue. Evidently not. I got up and saw that Chris was having breakfast. I ate oatmeal cookies with butter on them, and read e-mail. I am not sure how, but I came across articles on how to make a hat from a bra, and then videos on fast workers. Dynee texted me that she needed some sewing help. So I got dressed and texted her to come over. She wanted to know how to pick fabric for a quilt. Then we talked about the closing of the school on post and the ramifications of that. Chris went to the office. I mentioned getting a better exchange rate in town and she wanted to do that right away for her trip to Seoul. The bank was closing for lunch soon, so we got ourselves ready and drove to the bank on post. There she handed them 20's and got two hundreds. She drove us out in town to NH bank. She gave me her cash and I had some hundreds left from the trip to Guam. So I took a number (the slip from the bottom) and in a minute we were being helped. I handed over the cash and the lady changed it to won. Dynee exclaimed over the difference in exchange rate between the bank on post and this one. It was only 2000 won difference per hundred so I wasn't impressed, particularly at the amounts we exchanged. We split the cash in the car. But we did not have the right denominations so I gave her the lions share and she said she would pay it back when she got the 10's and 5's. We went back to the base, to the post office. She had a few packages to mail. I picked up our mail for the days we were gone. I had to sign for one with Chris' name on it. I called him to say I had the mail. He reminded me to get a light bulb from Housing. So after Dynee took me home, I dropped off the mail and walked to Housing. I got a light bulb and doublechecked the availability of the room for sewing next week. It was only available at night. I went home and made breakfast. I read e-mail. I un-decorated the tree while listening to a podcast on 7 ways to lose weight: Drink smarter, sleep smarter, breathe better, activate brown fat, lift weights, meditate often, make a comfortable sleeping space. Chris came home from work with groceries. He put a chicken in the oven. I made notes for my blog. I read the Christmas cards from the pile of mail and e-mailed the senders. I transferred pics from my camera to the computer and deleted many of them from the camera. The cord worked perfectly. Why none of the other cords which also fit, would work for transferring pics, I don't know. When the chicken was done, we had it for supper. We also had some leftover sweet potato casserole. Chris had bought a coconut at the commissary. I opened it and it was rotten. We put it aside to take back. I made a batch of seed crackers. I read e-mail while it baked. I finished all the remaining Sudoku puzzles for 2016. Then we watched a Netflix movie called “The Fountain” with Hugh Jackman. It was one of those which ended leaving the viewer wondering what happened. There was only one movie left in our queue so we spent some time looking through what Netflix had to offer. Most of it sounded shallow, or uninteresting. We added some things we were not sure about, but decided to try. Then Chris went back to his game while I looked up The Fountain on the internet to find out what it was really about. I wrote up my blog and went to bed.
* This is the unknown root vegetable that we ate on Wednesday. It was like a jicama. *

Cookies

We got up soon after reveille sounded. Chris took a shower while I drank water and checked e-mail. Then I took a shower. We started packing. There were leftover bananas and oatmeal so I made cookies. Chris put the unopened coconut out in the forest. I rolled my clothing and put it in plastic bags so it wouldn't fly all over. Chris washed the dishes. We left some food in the fridge because the maid said they sometimes eat leftovers for lunch. I shut down my laptop. I finished packing the suitcase, carry-on and purse. Chris put the luggage in the car. It was raining. The table was telling us directions even before we left the hotel room. We drove to the nearest gas station to fill the tank. Then we proceeded to the airport. By then the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We found the car rental parking lot, took out all our luggage, locked the car and walked to the airport. We found a place for me to sit while Chris turned in the keys. The lady said she needed to inspect the car first. So we waited. When she came back, she said the back of the car was damaged. Chris walked out there to inspect it. I remembered that we backed into something, but Chris said it looked like someone ran into our car. So he had to file a police report. Since the car was in our possession, we are responsible for the repairs. It took a long time. Then we put all our luggage together and took the elevator to the second floor. We checked in at the Jinair desk, then dropped the suitcases at a conveyor belt off to the side. Then we followed the signs to the departure section. We walked through the duty-free section. We looked all over for the honey produced by Hamamoto Fruit Farm, but we couldn't find any. Passing through that section, we came to a seating section. We asked if we could wait in the prestige lounge, but there was no cross-over there with Delta Air. We tried to find the departure gate, but there was only wall. We went back to ask and the man said he would open the wall closer to departure time. So we sat near one of the pillars which had outlets. We got on our laptops to read e-mail while we waited almost 90 minutes. I had just listened to a 30 minute audio when some announcement was made about our flight. So we packed up and headed to the gate. We waited there for a short time before lining up to board. Chris and I were both in an aisle seat, across from each other in the exit row. There was a Korean couple beside me and another beside him. The stewardess made me put my purse in the overhead bin. Nothing was allowed under the seat for take-off. I put in my ear plugs as we took off, then took them out when the drink cart started. We were served a box of treats and a cup of water. The box contained a muffin, a croissant, and a cup of jello. I gave it all to Chris. I ate two hardboiled eggs and some raisins. Chris had given me two wing beans, also. I leaned back and tried to sleep. I think I actually did for a bit. Then I got my purse down and had some cookies. I offered some to my seat mates and they took a really small one. Chris took one, too. I did some imagination tapping. My seatmates were sniffling and coughing, which made me wonder if they had taken cold meds before take off and the meds had worn off. I was bored and I wanted to get up. Later I got out my tablet and played a game of Sudoku. But then they announced the descent. So I shut it down and packed it away in my purse which then went back in the overhead bin. I rubbed and pulled at my ears to equalize pressure all the way down. It worked pretty well, this time. As we descended, I looked out the window. It was a solid faint blue. Figuring we were in a cloud, I wondered if I could see my data lol. I was wearing a short sleeved shirt and was comfortable on the plane. We landed, everyone stood up and Chris got our carry-ons from the overhead. When the line finally moved, I thought we'd be walking off the plane, onto a raised, covered walkway into a warm airport. But instead, we walked down uncovered steps to a bus. But the bus filled up before Chris and I got there. So we waited in the cold. I reached into my carry-on and pulled out a jacket. Others were not so lucky. It seemed too long before the shuttle came back for more of us. Then we were taken to the warm airport. We had to wait in line at immigration. The Korean passport lines moved quickly, but the foreign passport lines moved slowly. Eventually we were waved over to the now-empty Korean lines. Chris and I went through different lines. He had to place his finger on a scanner and have his picture taken, but I did not. Then we went to baggage claim. Our suitcases were almost at the end of the conveyor belt. We rescued them and showed our baggage claim tickets to prove they were ours. Then we walked through customs with no search. Our cab driver was waiting outside the doors. He and Chris stood with the luggage while I visited the ladies room. Then we followed the driver out the door and into the parking garage to his car. He wound his way through the lanes of the airport to get to the main road. I asked him if he'd like a cookie. He accepted, saying he was really hungry. So when he finished, I gave him another. That was the last cookie, so then I offered him a chocolate. He accepted that, too. Then he remarked at length that it was not sweet. I almost thought he was disappointed, but then he said something about being diabetic. So I gave him the last one. When we got to the base, The guards checked our ID, then gave the driver a breathalyzer test. Chris said later that it was a random check, but I thought I smelled something fruity. I wondered if the cookies and chocolate, though sugarless, were a good idea. He dropped us off at the sidewalk. Chris paid him and we carried our luggage to our place. I pulled a bag of cookies out of my suitcase and took them to the kitchen where I slathered them with butter. Oh, they were so good! Chris made himself a cheese tortilla. I ate the ham that was left from before we left. I found a layer of coconut oil on top of water in the kettle. I took the solid coconut oil out, then filled the pot with water and boiled it. I poured the water over a handful of nuts for tomorrow. The rest of the boiling water got poured outside. I checked e-mail then started writing up my blog post for today. I thought about how nice it was to come home to a clean house. Chris and I sat down to watch two episodes of Terra Nova. Then he had to sit in on a conference call on his computer. I handed him my watch and a new band. My old band had come unglued weeks ago and I tried taping it but it did not stay. I lived through our vacation without a watch on. But the new band would not fit. It was just a bit too wide for the watch itself. I offered to sand the ends down, but Chris said it would compromise the stitching. Then he suggested I stitch the old band where the glue let go. I did not think it would work. I thought the needle holes would rip the band. But there was nothing to lose. So I put black thread on my machine and, very carefully, stitched a box right in front of the buckle. I used a hand needle to bring the top threads to the bottom so I could tie them off. Then I stitched the other end of the band because it was glued, too. I tied off the thread ends, then returned the band segment to Chris. He attached it to the watch face, and I was able to wear it just fine. I was tired so I just finished my blog post and went to bed. Or would have, but the bed had suitcases on it. So I unpacked mine and put most of the items away. Then I washed my footies and left them in the sink to soak. Then I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* These are the cookies I made last Friday. The ones for today were a little crispier. *

Our last adventure in Guam?

I slept well until I had to get up for the bathroom. After that, the restless leg sensations started up. They were not as bad as last night and eventually I went back to sleep. When morning came, we stayed in bed late. Well, we are on vacation. We got up, had breakfast and read e-mail. I looked up falls on Guam and came across San Carlos falls, which turned out to be nearby. I called it up on the tablet, both under GPS and the map showing on the website. It seemed simple enough. Then I put on my bathing suit and clothes. Chris did the same. We packed food that must be eaten before we leave. And Chris filled a milk jug with water. It was about noon when we left. For some reason, we don't seem to be able to get ready earlier. So we drove down the street, following the blue dot on the tablet, to a small street. At the end of the small street was a field, mentioned in a review for the falls. We parked there and looked for a trail. The brush was over our heads. We found some broken stems and followed it into the woods. It was a trail after all, but not by much. I wished I had worn long pants to protect my legs. It wasn't long before we found ourselves on a dirt road. We turned left. There was a wide road to the right and I remembered the map showing the trail taking the second right. So we kept going. We found one path that did not pan out. We took the next one. It was also narrow, but went on for while before we decided that it was the wrong one. Maybe the beach was a better place to go. .

We checked the tablet and could not see any roads around. At first I thought it was because we were out in daylight, but the real answer was that we had wandered off known territory. As we headed back and passed the big road, now on the left, I postulated that maybe we should have turned there. Because it was a nice day and we could turn back at any time, we tried that road. When we came to the other end, the tablet knew where we were. So we proceeded to the left. We saw the two right turns that I was expecting on the other road. The second one had men with a bulldozer working on it. They confirmed that it was the way to the falls. So we walked that way. We found ourselves on a dirt road with grass in the middle. It was like two parallel paths where the tires of a truck had gone. And in some of the ruts we saw water. So there were muddy, slippery spots. The grass or underbrush was only waist high. We walked down and then up to a ridge, which the path followed. Eventually it came to a cliff, or at least steep hillside. It went through a dense forest so was not getting much sunlight. Ropes had been tied around trees for climbing down. But it was slippery and my shoes were not suited to mud. Chris climbed down ok, but I had trouble finding footholds. Down and down I went, wondering how I would get back up. When we got to the bottom, there was a wide stream. We had to hop from slippery rock to slippery rock to get to the top of the falls.

It was beautiful. There was a perfect sitting rock next to the drop-off. I sat there and Chris sat nearby. He unpacked our food and we had lunch. I spit orange seeds into the stream to watch them go over the falls. It was a lovely spot. The tablet played classical music. Across the stream, we could see a path that wound down to the foot of the falls. Assuming it to be as steep and slippery as the trail we just finished, I decided not to risk it. Chris remarked on dark clouds in the sky. So we packed up and headed back. Seemingly, the trail had dried out a little. And for some reason, climbing up was easier that climbing down. When we got to the top, I had to rest, and it felt like my head was going to explode. I figured it had something to do with blood pressure. But why it would spike every time I stopped to rest, I cannot explain. So we continued back, through the grass and the truck ruts, uphill and down hill, but mostly up. Chris found a mostly yellow noni fruit for me. We kept some of the seeds and I spit out the rest. It was much better than a green one, but still not tasty. When we got to the last part of the path, a lady was coming out of the brush dragging her bike. But Chris suggested we continue down the road and find a road to walk back. And we did and it was easy, much easier than picking our way through the brush. We went back to the hotel. I washed the dirt and blood off my legs. Then we headed to Gap Gap beach.

It was windy and I wondered how my scrapes would do in the salt water. But it wasn't bad at all. The sea was the perfect temperature. The shallows went out quite a ways. We swam and floated and looked at stuff on the sandy bottom. Chris picked up what he thought was a sea cucumber. It did not move and he wasn't 100% certain it was a sea cucumber after all. The air temp cooled a little. We did not want to leave because it was our last chance to swim. But the sun went down so we got out, rinsed off our feet, put on our shoes and headed back. Chris started supper, while I peeled the unknown root vegetable. It was ok raw. But to use it up, Chris cubed it and put it in the stir fry with broccoli and pork. I started writing up my blog. When supper was ready, I put half on a plate. Chris gathered up the laundry and carried it to the laundry spot. Then he ate, too. I continued writing up my blog. He also cooked up two purple sweet potatoes that we had bought at the commissary here. (Did I mention we were trying to eat up all the food in the fridge?) They were excellent, even without butter. I put on some coconut oil from yesterday's coconut. That wasn't really an improvement. I rubbed the rest of the coconut oil on my back and arm. I was hoping it would reduce the contact dermatitis on my arm. Actually, it is on both arms ever since we went on the Historical Trail. I chipped away at the remaining coconut as I read e-mail. When it was finished, I continued to read an article I had started. Chris brought the laundry back from the dryer and we each folded our own. Chris was ready to watch TV so he sat beside me and we watched two episodes of Tera Nova. He looked up some of the actors while I did yoga stretches. He washed the dishes while I finished reading the article. I cleared some of the new e-mail, then finished my blog post and went to bed.
* Chris is eating a wing bean. *

Coconut brew

I had a terrible night. The restless leg sensations would not stop. I kept stretching, and even did yoga poses, but they kept coming. I don't know when I finally fell asleep. I woke up hearing my alarm ring in the other room, meaning it was 7:30. The plan was to get up at 6 to be there by 7:30 when the gates open and be first in line for the cave tour. But Chris let me sleep. He said we did not need to go at all if I wanted to sleep in. However, I wanted to go. So I got up, ate breakfast, put on my bathing suit and clothes: ready to go. Chris did not have time for breakfast. He programmed the tablet to take us to the wildlife park. The tablet said it would take 52 minutes. So we followed it, arriving at the gate 10 minutes early. A lady ranger was turning people away because there were jelly fish in the water. I asked if tours were canceled and she said yes. But when Chris mentioned Ignacio and his tour, she let us through. We parked at the building and Chris got out and talked to Chris the ranger: who did not seem to be informed about what was going on. Eventually the lady came back to the building and Ignacio showed up, too. The cave tour was supposed to be at 9 but it was well after. I used the porta potty then joined the others in the main room. The lady ranger told us about how the island environment used to be; how the brown snakes are killing off the birds; and the beetles are killing the palm trees. Then she turned us over to Ignacio for the tour. As we followed him, we could see where wild pigs had dug up the ground. He said they sometimes uncover unexploded ordinance. Yikes!

At the beginning of the trail was a noni tree. The leader announced that I had eaten the fruit. So I asked if I could have another one. I offered it to the group and an older lady took a bite. I finished it. Then Ignacio continued down the trail, pointing out plants or special rocks as we went. The first cave was a grotto and we pretty much passed it by although he suggested the group could take pics there. The second one was just large enough for everyone to get in. He asked who had a flashlight and Chris said we had the battery charger pack (that Faye gave us for Christmas last year). Other people had lights on their phones. I did not know how to make my phone do that. Anyway, it was dark in there and I took flash pics just to see where I was going. The leader pointed out markings in the cave, but they were very subtle. He said they used to be vibrant. He told us a story about how the markings were just considered art work at one time. Then some sort of navigation training. But now they are believed to be a calendar indicating when a star went nova and created the crab nebula. We continued down the path. When we got to the star cave, it was smaller and he could only take in half the group at a time. He showed us the thumb prints on the back wall, and hand prints indicating the nova event. Again, there wasn't much difference between the markings and natural discolorations in the stone. The entrance was covered with a net to keep the mud daubers out because they obscured the markings. I had a theory that the birds were looking for a safe place to build a nest, and those were the same places that the early Chamorrans put their writings to survive time. I took pics outside the cave while the second group went through. That was the end of the trail, so we walked back to the main building. I found a rock that perfectly fit in my hand and he said it was carved to be used as a tool of some kind. So, then he put on a video of a group singing ancient Chamorro songs. The video said the people sang/chanted when they got up, during the activities of the day, and when they went to bed. This is known because the songs were passed down to each generation, and written down by the Germans when they first visited. Many of the ancient words have been replaced with Spanish ones and that made Ignacio sad. We talked for hours. Then Chris and I headed down a trail to find Casa Royale. There was nothing there but a sign.

Then we found ourselves on the beach. Chris laid out our towels and found a coconut because I was hungry. He worked hard to get the husk off and it was bad inside. So he found another one. I watched him labor over it, while I made rope out of the coir. When he opened it, it smelled fermented. The meat was soft so it was going bad. But I dipped a finger in the water and tasted it. It tasted like a good brew. I sipped some of it and it was good in a fermented way. But Chris was so worried, that I let him throw out the rest. I got my feet wet in the surf, but did not want to attract jellyfish. Then we packed up our towels as a ranger came by to tell us the park was closing in half an hour. Why the park closes at 3:30 is a mystery to me. Anyway, we headed back. Ignacio had told us of a restaurant that had really good specials. So we stopped there on the way back. As we walked in, we saw the specials listed on a white board. They all sounded good. But after we sat down and perused our menus, we asked for the specials and were told the lunch specials were discontinued at 4 and the dinner specials wouldn't start until 5:30. I hated to just get up and leave. So we ordered from the menu. Then another waitress said the specials could be ready in half an hour and which one did we want. So we asked for something with seafood. While we were waiting, the first waitress arrived with our order: my lamb burger and his fish and chips. I was starving so I dug in. Then the second waitress came by and said oh, you decided not to wait. The meals were good, 'though I really wanted seafood. So after we ate, we considered ordering a special. Then decided against it.

We paid and drove south again. We went to the Tuesday night farmer's market. As it turns out, the market starts at 2 and there is food served there, so we could have gone straight there and paid a lot less. I found a ripe papaya, and some other produce that I had never seen before, so we got some. One was a boxy root that you peel and eat raw. Another was a bean with a flange. Chris got some of the calamansi. We brought our food home, knowing we had more than we could eat in the time we had left. I sat outside with the sprouted coconut we brought home last week. I was determined to open it myself. Chris gave me his multi-tool. I smacked the end of the coconut on the concrete as I had seen in a video. But it did not have the desired effect. I had to strike it with the tip of the pliers repeatedly, then grab small widths of husk and pull them down. It was a very slow process, but I stuck with it. When the husk was finally off (and in a bag), I thumped the equator with the mult-tool, but it did not do much. Chris got me a knife from the kitchen, but it was too light to do anything. So I bounced it on the concrete until it cracked. Some water came out and I pried the halves apart. AHA! Another sponge! We took it inside. Chris and I ate the sponge, then I sat in the living room and pried pieces of coconut from the shell as I read e-mail. I saved some of the second half for tomorrow because it had coconut oil in it. Then Chris and I watched the last episode of The Finder. We watched an episode of something dark and gory, then finished up with the pilot episode of Terra Nova. He looked up something about the show. Then I sent pic from my phone to my gmail, and downloaded pic from his camera. I typed up my blog and got ready for bed.

Aquarium and Museum

I heard Reveille played at 8 (along with the National Anthem). I got up and squeezed half a lemon into a cup of water. I drank it as I read e-mail. I did my exercises. I made and ate breakfast. I washed up and got dressed. Chris programmed the tablet to guide us to Underwater World. And it took us the back way, sort of a short cut. Once we got there, we had to figure out where to park. There were several parking decks. Then we walked to the second floor. Chris bought tickets, and she gave him the military discount, which seemed to be 50%. We walked through a winding glass tube, fish on either side of us and sometimes swimming over head. The voices of children were loud, the shrillness amplified in the tube. They were exclaiming over the grouper and colorful little fish and the sting ray that swam like a flying carpet. At the end of the tube was an escalator. At the top were individual tanks and displays. I took some pics, not sure if they would turn out. When we finished the attraction, we walked around the mall. It was not very interesting. Then we got in car and drove south until we got back to the main road. We stopped at a small building that advertised itself as a museum. There was no one present. A sign proclaimed admission to be $3 and there was a box with a slit for the money. But we did not have the change, so we left. We took a slightly different shortcut back to the hotel for lunch. Chris found another coconut on the grounds. I ate the small papaya from the car. It wasn't very sweet.

I spit out the seeds to dry out, and also swallowed some. I ate one of the boiled eggs, two banana oatmeal cookies and a rib. I read e-mail for a bit. Then Chris drove us to the War In The Pacific museum, which was right next to the Navy base. It was small, but densely packed with text and pictures on short walls. We saw a 10 minute presentation first about the history, mostly in WW2. It made me cry. Then we each walked around the room, reading the blurbs and looking at the pictures. It was so sad to see the images of war-torn land and suffering people. I asked Chris for the keys and waited out in the car. It was after 4 'til we left. Then we went on base to the NEX. It was huge! Bigger than any WalMart I have ever seen. And they seemed to sell everything (except organic shampoo without all the chemicals). Chris joked that it was bigger than our base in Chinhae. We did not buy anything there. We went across the street to the commissary. It was as big or a little bigger than the one at Yongsan. But some of the shelves were empty. We bought broccoli, local sweet potatoes, milk, and tortilla shells. We brought the food home, and Chris stir-fried the broccoli with the leftover ribs and lentils. Then we read e-mail. I got hooked on looking at recipes for rainbow colored foods. I looked through articles on TQS. I got my unread e-mail down to 45. I watched a video on the history of the ball at Times Square. Then we watched three episodes of The Finder and looked up the people with familiar faces. We discussed the plan for tomorrow. Chris went back to his game and I typed up my blog. I downloaded the pics from his camera.

Once in a lifetime opportunity

I waited for the fireworks last night, but when they came, you could barely see them through the trees. There was a lot of honking horns down in the city. I gave up and went in. I wrote Happy New Year on a photograph and posted it to my Facebook page.
I went to bed, but had a hard time falling asleep due to the noise. But eventually I did. I woke up when Reveille was played over the loudspeaker at 8, no matter that it was New Years Day and a Sunday. Chris gave me an oil massage and we stayed in bed late. I got up shower and wash my hair. My hair was really gunky due to the shampoo I brought. It had been in my travel case too long and was lumpy. So I used the hotel shampoo. Then I got dressed, drank lemon water and read e-mail. Chris had breakfast and later I made my own. I watched a short video on making hand warmers.
Our initial goal was to just visit Gab Gab beach again and have a slow day. So, we put our bathing suits on under our clothes. I wore my white shoes so I could easily take them off to walk on the sandy beach. I also brought a book to read at one of the covered picnic tables there. So, we headed out and on the way to the base, Chris suggested looking at the museum next to post to see if it was anything interesting, and to check on the Spanish Steps. He thought both would be closed today. The museum was, but the Spanish Steps was not. So we decided to look for the trail. It was not marked, but using directions we found on the internet, we located it. There was an ample parking lot, and just inside the forest was a display of fish and audio to go with it. It definitely looked touristy. But, a few yards later, we came to a cliff. Ropes were hanging down so we grabbed one and found footholds to climb down to a ladder. This situation happened more than once, and there were other times that the ropes came in very useful. If they had not been there, I would not have gone down. Then we came to the Spanish well. The path split and we went left. Winding our way through the forest, we passed lots of fallen coconuts. I had been wondering where my next coconut would come from, so I eyed them as we passed. Later, off to one side, we spied a cave. It was plenty large enough to go through but difficult to make way. The light at the other end wasn't far.

I was tempted to go in, but did not want to scrape a leg since I was wearing shorts. A few yards later, we came to a grotto. It was almost as beautiful as the one yesterday. But rockier. The beach was all rocks and I did not have my Xero shoes. It was a popular beach for snorkeling. We spread our towels and took off our shoes and clothes. Gingerly I picked my way to the water in bare feet. I stayed close to the shady side. Chris followed me. The water was so clear you could see the bottom. And it was uneven. It was easy to strike a rock with a foot or hand while swimming. Floating worked well, very relaxing. But the currents would move me out into the sun or in some other direction. We swam between the two big rocks at one point. It was fun to swim against the current, but I did not want to chance tiring out before getting back inside the circle of protection the big rocks offered. We spent plenty of time there, floating and swimming. Eventually we went back to the beach and sat on our towels to dry off. Chris spoke with another family there. Chris put his clothes back on and we walked back to the Spanish Well, then chose the other path. It went to a very windy but sandy beach. And no one was there. I found a coconut and Chris tried to open it. When he finally cracked it, black liquid splashed on my shoes. He suggested I walk into the water to wash them off. The water was a good temp. The waves were strong, which was ok, but there was no shade at all. I worried about getting burnt, so we retired to a grassy place under the trees.

While my shoes set out to dry, I pulled a book from Chris' backpack. He took a nap. I read for awhile, surprised that I could without my glasses (I had left them in the car). But I knew that I could get windburned as well as sunburned. So I put the book away and wandered in search of another coconut. I picked one that was slightly sprouted, figuring it would not be spoiled. I brought it back and sat on my towel with a rock. I smashed the end and pulled away some huck. Smash and pull. Chris woke up and offered me his multi-tool. That helped and I got half of the husk off. Then he took off the remaining husk and the sprout. I peeled the sprout and ate the inside. It was good but not as flavorful as coconut meat. He thumped the coconut around the middle but it would not crack. So he used the mini-saw on the tool to saw around the 'equator'. Then he thumped it again and it split. There was no water inside, but a lovely sponge filled the interior. I was so pleased because I had just found out there was such a thing as a coconut sponge. And now I had one! How does it get any better than that? Chris had a bite, but I ate most of it. It was amazing in texture and the taste was light. Then he dug out the meat of the other half of the coconut. I did the best I could with mine. Then he dug out mine for me. When we had finished the coconut, we shook out our towels and packed up. I put my wet, squishy shoes back on. We followed the path as best we could, getting lost only once.

When we got to the well, we knew where we were. We had to grab the ropes and climb up, then over trees and rocks and more steep climbs. Twice I had to stop and rest. But I made it to the top. We saw a sign that said not to remove any plants, animals, shells, rocks, etc from the terrain. Well, we left all the coconut parts there so I guess it was ok. Chris drove us back to the hotel. I looked up videos on Coconut sponges while Chris made supper. Then we ate supper and I went back to coconut videos. Seems lots of people know about coconut sponges. However, I was unable to find any for sale, like by Amazon. A few people talked about sprouting a coconut from the store, though the germination rate is really low and it takes months. I gave up and cleared e-mail. I wrote up my blog post so far. I went to the kitchen to get a chocolate and noticed the unwashed dishes. So I filled the sink with water and washed them. When I finished, Chris was ready to watch TV. We saw three episodes of The Finder, pausing to look up familiar actors and actresses. I e-mailed pics from my phone and Chris downloaded pics from his camera. I posted to my blog and may have gone to bed.

* Coconut sponge *