Tonight I got chased out of my favourite blogging spot, which is always somewhere by the seaside, as it started to rain. I got home and checked my GPS, and, yes, I’m still on Bonaire! I guess this is the beginning of the rainy season, so I am dictating this from my couch, with the fans going full blast.
After breakfast, I went on the hunt for my scuba mask, but the scuba shop where I thought I left it didn’t open until eight o’clock, so I returned there just after devotions at the studio. Thank goodness, they had put my mask in the lost and found.
This is a new dive shop called Bonaire Dive & Adventures, which is the closest one to the studio. I asked André Nahr, the owner, if they had any night dives. He said, yes, they had a specialty dive called blue light night diving. Apparently this is diving with special orange goggles on and blue light, which highlights some of the marine life that is not normally visible to the naked eye. Apparently it is becoming quite popular, so I will book that in the morning. I plan to go Wednesday night.
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This morning I had a conversation with Brandon about what would become of the web pages that will not be made public right away. We decided that we should document what our reasoning was regarding these dormant pages, and if there were any tasks or technical support that would be needed in order to have a page become active in the future.
Once again I went through the entire site, and made notes on each page, jotting down what I thought the action items might be down the road, perhaps after I leave.
I also took my Jeep into the shop for a tune-up, as apparently it was due. I picked the Jeep up just after 1:30 when they reopened after siesta. Most places take siesta from 12:00 noon to 1:30.
In speaking with Dick in the morning, it appears that the local school children start school at 7:30 in the morning, and are off at 12:30, so he generally comes into work a bit early each day, after he drops off the kids. One of his sons has a part-time job at the new Dutch supermarket.
In the afternoon, I again went at the photo sorting, but will have to get some help identifying the people. Brad Swanson agreed to sit down with me to help me with the faces.
Please pray as I meet Tuesday morning with Brandon about the future development of the website past the launch date.
As I was walking out the door, Dave Pedersen asked me if I had any plans. This was the one night when I didn’t have any dive scheduled, so he invited me over for supper.
After I fed and dusted the dogs with flea powder, I headed over to my home away from home at the Pedersens’. The children were still working on a few of their chores, with the older girl doing her exercises. She didn’t seem particularly enthused about her workout, so I offered her my blue tooth stereo headset, and tuned in her favourite Internet radio station. Then the problem was getting her to stop exercising, as that meant the headsets would come off! The other two kids competed for my iPad and Android cell phone.
Dave’s wife, Mari, wanted to know about Joanna, so I filled her in on my sister’s exploits. I must say, it is easy to brag about my very cool sister.
Supper was Dagwood-style hamburgers, which were a challenge to get my jaws around, but I managed. After supper, the older girl helped her father do the dishes, while the other kids went back to their video games. The younger girl wanted to see my daughter Rebekah’s photo album from Disneyworld in Florida that I had taken five years ago.
After the chores were done, the kids wanted to see my scuba gear, which I had with me in the car. With their help, I attached the BC to the tank, and then hooked up the regulator. I let the kids do all the work, with careful supervision. Then I gave them the spare regulator to try breathing with, and they thought it was very cool. Next, they had to wear the scuba mask and breathe out of the regulator. Then the older girl had to try on my wet suit and the mask and the regulator! Not satisfied with that, she wanted to put the tank on her back, and see if she could manage. At this point, I got Dave’s help, as the weight was almost more than she could hold. She pretended she was swimming, as she stumbled around with the tank on her back.
My goal had been to inspire the kids to one day take up scuba diving. I think we may have made some headway in that area. Particularly their son, with his difficulty in walking, would greatly benefit from the weightless environment of scuba diving. Dave is seriously considering getting him into this type of thing down the road.
As the older girl is only eleven, I told her she should wait until she is at least fourteen.
Finally, it was 8:30, and I decided it was time to clear out and allow Dave to put them to bed. Mari had left to visit a widow friend of hers whose husband used to be the interim pastor for the International Bible Church. I feel very fortunate to have connected with this loving family.