Letter 11 / 12 / 83
What a wettie for James' birthday! Its been raining so long and hard this morning that they have cancelled the normal communion service - those that turn up will just mumble through "Matins" - then swim home.
We've had to leave the bung out of our boat to stop it filling up - actually the bung got pinched on the way here, so we are leaving the piece of cloth out.
The translation centre is far from waterproof - the chaps did a terrible job of putting the roof on, it doesn't slope enough (the water runs back underneath), there's not enough overhang, and the nail holes are so rugged it drips everywhere. The mattresses are soaked and the bishop and his wife are coming on Thursday. Its been raining every night all week, and yesterday it continued with light rain into the morning - just when we wanted to try out our new boat. (There's no wind, no swell, the ocean is dead calm.)
Anyway, the news is that we have our boat! When the rain eased yesterday we went for a little ride ... it was very exciting for all of us except Alison, who went to sleep. We anchored for about 15 minutes and caught five small (by local standards) fish - some kind of cod, not unlike coral trout, brilliant red with vivid blue spots. We gobbled them up for tea.
p.m.
Well its still sloshing down. The reason church is "off" is because the church is flooded.
James is having fun. He loves his new red handled cutlery - handles it really well. (Alison is jealous - she's on finger-foods these days, hates being fed. I have to rack my brains for what she can handle with those clumsy little chubby hands and only two teeth.)
We gave James a plastic spade - a big one, he lost his little old one on the beach. To go with it he has a little wheelbarrow and bucket (just like daddy). He's been itching to go out and try it all morning, but he can't in this rain.
So it's just as well that we also gave him a little blackboard (on an easel) and chalks - hours of peaceful fun. The problem is to keep Alison out of the chalk. So we have installed him and his blackboard out in the translation centre.
He loves his new Leggo's bricks - that sure made his eyes light up. We have to wait until Alison's asleep, or else put one of the kids in the playpen to stop her getting hold of those tiny pieces. But he sits there for ages, so quiet, pursed lips and furrowed brows, creating!
He'd love some extra packs and then he can make something "leally big" (as he says).
Christmas Tree
On the last day of school George Sallee (who is on the school board) organised a Christmas tree for the kids. Parents were to provide presents and Father Christmas would appear and dole them out.
But it looked like the show would be a flop, so he felt shamed and went home and got drunk. It was supposed to start at 6pm, at which time there were only about two dozen assorted kids and one or two parents.
We waited two hours, and more and more parents gathered - there were already stacks of presents under the poinciana tree.
Finally someone found George and got the costume from him. Wilfred dressed up - even his own kids didn't realise it was him. A lot of kids, even big ones, were too scared to go up to him.
James's present was near the end of the line, so I had time to talk to him gently and explain that it was just Uncle Wilfred dressed up, and all he had to do was accept his present and a kiss. When his turn came he twinkled up there, tall and straight - we were very proud of him.
Ducks and Garden growing
The ducks are still growing. They are developing their big feathers now. We gave them a box in case any of them felt like laying but they tore it up!
Since the rain started a few days ago we've been popping seeds in all over the place. Our dust patch between the house and the toilet/shower took only a few hours after the first drops of rain before the grass started sprouting. Our little plants are all shooting up - and hardly any grasshoppers around.
The mango trees are in blossom ready for the second season - but its been raining before the blossoms set again so maybe we won't get too many this time either ... well, Peter can't eat them, James won't (he's experienced the burn you get on your skin if the juice sits there for more than a few minutes), Alison can't hold much, and they make me feel sick (as do most things except tomatoes - which we don't have any of.)
