Hi Everyone,

  It has been a while, hasn’t it.  A combination of jet lag, reacclimating to the heat, and most importantly, having not much to say has kept me from writing.  But the last few days have been a bit cooler, and more interesting and I have been testing out my new, second camera.  During our last day trip to Silanguin my Kodak’s battery started to have issues.  And the mode knob on the top of the camera stopped working smoothly.  I didn’t feel as if I could rely on it for the long term so while I was back in Roanoke my sister and I spent a day camera shopping.  We looked at Best Buy, Office Max, Circuit City and even Wal-Mart.  I really just wanted a spare camera and not a great new camera.  But either the model I wanted wasn’t available or negative reviews from the sales kid kept me from finding what I wanted.  It had to have a view finder, rechargeable batteries and be smallish and not expensive.  Not asking too much.  The next morning I went to talk with my old buddy at Ritz Camera on Colonial Avenue.  I told him what I wanted and left the store with exactly what I needed.  It’s a Canon PowerShot A720IS with a 6x zoom.  That’s twice the zoom of my Kodak. 

Since Thursday we have made 2 new friends.  While I was in Roanoke a sailboat arrived at the SBYC from Miami.  Greg had made the solo voyage and was here to have some work done on his boat and to do some mission work through the Baptist Church.  Greg stopped by Wednesday afternoon and we “interrogated” him about his years as a member of the CIA.  Very interesting.  We made a plan to meet for dinner Thursday night.  Thursday morning a woman came walking along the dock and I saw her looking at our boat.  I invited her in for a tour .  In no time at all we were “old friends” and Randal decided we should invite her for a short morning cruise on Friday during which we would test our new stabilizing “fish.” 

  Carol and Randal  Thursday afternoon.  Carol is the CFO of Wyeth Philippines, a 2 or 3 year assignment.    Her family moved from the Philippines to Manhattan when she was 6, and though there were trips back, this is the first time she has really lived here since.  When her family and friends asked why she chose the assignment for the Philippines Carol’s answer was to rediscover her roots.  She is a Yankees fan but lived in Boston for a few years on a Wyeth assignment. 

It is Holy Week here in the Philippines so Thursday evening when we left to meet Greg for dinner I wondered if the restaurant would be really packed, like when the naval ship was here.  But though there was more car traffic and the SBYC hotel is crowded, we had no problem getting a table at Aresci’s. 

  Greg and Randal finishing dessert. 

I had a “chop chop” salad which is like a “big salad” at home.  Lots of greens and grilled steak pieces.    It gets its name from having lots of things chopped up into it.

On our walk back to the SBYC Greg and Randal admire the naval supply ship docked at Subic.

  All lit up.  The red life boats look to be as big as Doramac.

Friday’s cruise in the bay.

  Greg, Carol and Randal.  I had made banana bread that morning and Greg is sampling a piece.

Much of the time was spent testing out the “fish” with Greg and Randal throwing it out and bringing it in while I drove and Carol helped keep an eye out for other boats.  We tested one of the fish which, unfortunately didn’t work very well.  We returned to the marina for lunch at the club after which  all went out again in the afternoon to try the other fish to see how it would do.  Not good either.  Greg was a great help.  He and Randal  tested  our system for getting the fish, a 64 pound chunk of steel out of its nest on the rail, into the water and then back into its nest.  It is shaped like a bird or fish and  is supposed to hang into the water from a chain and rope attached to the paravane arm and keep the boat from rolling  side to side.  Ours  wouldn’t stay in the water and again became flying fish like our original fish.  Back to the drawing board on this.  Because they weren’t cut exactly as Randal had asked, he is hoping when they are redone they will be fine.  They are being remade here in Subic and not being sent back and forth to China.

  I gave up trying to describe it and went out to take a photo. 

  I can’t explain exactly how it works, but will know by the time we finish reworking it. 

Ru