Cherry pie ready for the Thanksgiving table. Turkey is in the oven.

Cherry pie ready for the Thanksgiving table. Turkey is in the oven.
Just arrived from the Netherlands (via Etsy), a beauty of a typing machine, Olympia SM2 1952. On my desk in the library, ready for Saturday-morning creativity.
Can’t put up with this any longer: I hate the keyboard on my MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017).
Real Friends at Cat’s Cradle, 11.09.2018 (Boston Manor opened and was quite good).
My brother and sister-in-law are visiting from Austin (the ‘live music capital of the world’). They wanted to catch a show at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, so we went to hear a punk rock show (my first) last night. My daughter, Anna, came along. Loud and fun.
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
I am in Austin for AAMC (medical schools) annual meeting, and we are hearing from Dallas Street Choir (homeless outreach program) singing You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen. What a way to start a conference that calls itself Learn Serve Lead. I am inspired. (@manton)
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.
Another big rain, another box turtle on the move, this one in my path as i walked to retrieve the Sunday NYTimes.
I was out walking woods again, checking on the fire ring we cleared Saturday and almost stepping on this turtle. Walked back to house and found good friends had stopped by to bring pickled sour cherries as consolation for my missing our annual road trip to pick cherries jn VA.
Discovered cool photo features of my new iPhone 8 Plus: profile mode with lighting options. Used it on a turtle shell my son and his friend found this afternoon in the woods out back.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
We’ve been back from our epic South Pacific trip for nearly two months, and only now am I getting a chance to log the various sound recordings I made during our week in Vanuatu. I hope to stitch together the best of the sounds and interviews into an audio postcard. Here, though, is one full clip of my interview with my son, Oliver, on the morning we first woke up at Erakor Island Resort in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu.
Another big rain, another creature crawling across the yard. This an Eastern box turtle.
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!
Box turtle near car wheel.
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.