I was stoked to read this NYTimes Magazine Eat column about ‘buttery garlic shrimp’ on the North Shore of O’ahu. I took the long drive around the island many times in the early 1990s. Great memories. (I found the Onolicious Hawai’i site mentioned in the piece; there’s no RSS.)

Having grown up with a plan to be a Peace Corps Volunteer — my father served in the Dominican Republic and inspired me— I had huge expectations by the time I set foot on Paama Island. My 2102 blog post remembered what happened next.

On the Quantum of the Seas heading north to Alaska. On the pool deck giant screen this morning was a documentary about volcanologists rappelling into Benbow Crater on Ambrym Island (Vanuatu). Surreal to see that - I stood at the crater lip in 1999.

Travel day: flying from Raleigh-Durham to Rhode Island with my son. Prepared for whatever delays may come so wearing my favorite Reyn Spooner Hawaiian shirt. ‘Fly with aloha’ is my M.O. today.

Finally downloaded the images and videos from the GoPro camera we took to St. Croix in March. Here’s a green sea turtle that was in the shallow water near the Frederiksted pier. #turtle

Fiddling with the Smol Blog, adding a new page to pull in all posts about the various islands I’ve called home or visited (using the category+filters function) including Paama, St. Croix, and Hawaii.

I started reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell last fall, took it with me on the winter vacation to Hawaii, but only on this St. Croix trip did I finally power my way through, and I’m so glad I did because this was a beautiful story that simmered until it’s boiling point. 📚

Sitting poolside at the Fred, a boutique hotel in Frederiksted on the island of St. Croix. Just had a massage, waiting as Erin gets hers. Reading a good book(Hamnet), drinking a beer, listening to a guitarist singing at the bar. Cruise ship looms beyond.

A day for the beach: today at Kailua, sunny and windy and relaxing. Adding to my collection of Christmases on the beach, which includes Magen’s Bay(USVI), Lamen Island (Vanuatu), and Waikiki.

Dad and Dot returned to St. Croix for the winter, and what they thought was an iguana that had crawled between the upper louvres turned out to be a red-tailed boa constrictor, an invasive species. They called the hotline and the snake guy came to get it.

Papaya in the garden box, got there via the compost, and won’t survive the cold but reminds me of my time in Vanuatu and how easy papaya seeds sprout.

Waking up in the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, a staycation just few miles from our home, for our 25th anniversary. Erin surprised me with “We always wanted to go to Tuscany.” Dinner at Hawthorne & Wood, where we both had flounder in coconut broth, like our fav meal in Vanuatu.

I had such a great vacation on St. Croix last month - swinging in my hammock - that I decided to make a sticker to remember it.

Last full day on St. Croix has begun with more great weather, stunning views, cooing doves and crowing roosters, gentle breezes, and the promise of relaxation at the beach.

Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI. Alexander Hamilton walked here.

Back on St. Croix. Island is green, temperature is pleasant, air is hazy with Saharan dust.

Still thinking about how much I enjoyed reading: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel on my vacation on St. Croix last month. 📚

Last day for this visit to St. Croix. In my hammock at our favorite, empty beach. So calm and peaceful. I relaxed. Needed this vacation. Will be rested for a work (and more) next week.

Just paged through the 1984 yearbook of The Good Hope School here on St. Croix. I was in the eighth grade (my younger brothers attended and my mother was a teacher). #memorylane

Learning about the red-tailed boa on St. Croix, snakes on the loose.

My first beach read for this week on St. Croix was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Read it fast, and enjoyed it, as eerie as it was to be reading a post-pandemic novel in the midst of a real pandemic.

Sprat Hall Beach, west end of St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

Waking up on St. Croix.

Got my nose plumbed for SARS-CoV-2 yesterday, and received a negative result by dinner, so I submitted my details to the USVI travel screening portal. Am excited to get back to St. Croix this weekend, visit family and my favorite beach, and walk through Frederiksted.

Family visiting for the birthday weekend (Anna and Erin consecutive days) and the request came in for cocktails so I called up Ruhlman’s Friday Cocktail Hour: The Mojito. In a few weeks I’ll be drinking mojitos at Rainbow Beach on St. Croix.

I was looking for another mango beer and saw this local brew made with guanabana (we called it soursop in Vanuatu). I was expecting the strong taste of watermelon jolly rancher—how I describe the taste of soursop—but in this white ale it was very subtle.

Major cyclone Harold hitting Vanuatu right now, will be going across some of the bigger islands and Paama (where I lived) will be hit hard. Worried for our family and friends in Liro Village.

New blog post to mark this special day that’s turned out very differently than I had planned - was supposed to be in New Orleans, then on St. Croix in the USVI. But, with health and a job and family, I feel fortunate: Fifty

I am once again a member of the North Carolina Peace Corps Association. (I served in the Republic of Vanuatu from 1997 to 1999.)

I changed name of my micro.blog to Wan Smol Blog, homage to Wan Smolbag Theatre Company in Vanuatu. I have great memories of watching them beneath the big Liro mango tree as they performed skits about importance of voting. In Bislama, ‘wan smol blog’ means one micro blog. ;)

Oliver is 9 today and requested ‘burn your lips chicken,’ the family name for the Chicken with Asian-Style Sweet and Sour Sauce (recipe in The Best Recipe cookbook). I’m cooking, in the sailcloth apron I bought on the Roseway Schooner in St. Croix.

Sitting with my father at Leatherback Brewing Company first anniversary party. He’s having a passion fruit frozen lindy from Rosa’s Stand (St. Croix legend), I am drinking Backyard Guava IPA made with guava grown in backyard of Aaron, my step-brother & Leatherback co-founder.

My trip to Austin gave me flight-time to finally write a long post about our homecoming to Vanuatu this summer : A return to Paama

Heaviest rains yet from Florence, this morning in Chapel Hill. The deluge reminded me of the rains in Vanuatu during cyclones, so heavy and loud on the tin roof there we couldn’t hear each other speak. Chapel Hill and Durham roads are flooding, so I’m at home still.

During our trip to Vanuatu, I was happy to see World Cup fever, with many people flying the flag of their chosen team on their trucks, buses, and attached to bamboo high above their houses. Here’s a truck for France crossing the Yasur ash plain on Tanna.

One photo from our evening atop Yasur volcano on Tanna Island in the Republic of Vanuatu. If things ever settle down at home (major plumbing and water problems!), I’ll write about the trip and all we did.

Home again. Our grand family adventure in Vanuatu is complete.

Final day of our South Pacific adventure. We’re in Sydney, headed to the Glebe Markets, a dance performance st the Sydney Oper House, shopping for souvenirs, dinner in Newtown or Camperdown, and packing for the long flight home to the U.S.A. Much to blog about time in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu, here we come!

Beside myself with anxiety, stress, excitement, exhaustion: moved into our newly renovated old house, World Cup starts tomorrow, big family trip to Australia and Vanuatu soon, and a new boss at work.

Morning walk in the rain to see the Pacific, Seattle waterfront. In 3 months will be across the ocean in Vanuatu.

Making plans for a family trip to the Republic of Vanuatu - where Erin and I️ served as U.S. Peace Corps volunteers - but realized this morning that we’ll be traveling during the World Cup. I️ remember watching taped games in 1998 in middle of village.