As you read the post that follows, you'll notice that living here in same-ol', day-in and day-out paradise is getting a little boring. So you are all invited to send photos. Those of you in Pa. and Colo. are particularly invited to send autumn shots. This photo business goes both ways!

Becalmed in the doldrums . . .

Okay, I'm back, new computer and all . . . It's been a couple months, but to tell the truth, there isn't a lot to tell. The weather has changed a little. When I first arrived back in April, it was hot, with 'lows' in the mid 70's and highs in the high 80's. That hasn't changed at all but back then rain came in the form of brief, heavy downpours. Then the clouds would pass, the sun would shine and things dried out. From May to December is supposed to be the rainy season but it wasn't too wet until about August. Since then, it's been raining more frequently and more steadily. For instance, today, Sept. 18, it was raining when I got up and has rained off and on most of the day, not heavy, but an almost continuous soak-you-to-the-skin rain. This morning I had to do some work outside. I could have put rain gear on, but didn't make any sense. We were working in an electrical vault where the air is stagnant and steamy, so I was sweat-soaked to the skin even before I went outside. In addition to the rains, July through September is described as the doldrums. Sometimes next to no wind or breeze. When I first arrived last spring, the wind could be tiresome. Bicycling in first gear and barely making headway. Now, I'll welcome those winds when I hope they return in a few weeks. (You can remind me I said this if I start to beef about wind.) I also hope the rains taper off in a few months. We'll see. Normal rainfall is 100"/ year. At this point it is 00.00 inches behind. Since all of our potable water comes from rainfall, I may wish for more rain as well. A number of people said they would love to live somewhere that the temperatures were pretty much as they are here. Ever see the movie "Groundhog Day?" Five months with temperatures varying less than 15 degrees, the same thing day after day after day gets old. In addition, sunrise ranges from 6:29 to 7:10 A.M. and sunset from 6:25 to 7:13 PM. Opinions change, but I'm guessing that I'll look forward to some more 'radical' seasonal changes by the time I get out of here. The other big change is that school is back in, with the return of all the kids, all their families and all the teachers. I have no idea about how many, although last years graduating class had twenty and this year's senior class numbers nineteen. During the summer it didn't seem that there were many folks missing, but with the start of the school year, there are definitely more people. And that's about it. I work. I goof once or twice a week - I'm almost getting to the point where I can claim to golf. And I generally make a couple dives each weekend. Maybe I'll go off island and come back with some more interesting stories and photos. Oh yeah, while I'm thinking of it . . . I do have a new computer that's up to about 50, maybe 75% of the stuff I had the old one doing. Unfortunately, that's probably as good as it's going to get. I may be able to install an Microsoft Office-type program in the future, but not right now so what I can open is somewhat limited. Unfortunately, that's probably as good as it's going to get. After an episode when the IT help desk attempted to help me with the public network connections here, they advised me to take my brand new computer and restore it. That's the caliber of too many people around here. This isn't like the Antarctic program in many, many ways! Also this network and it's connection to the Internet is still the same - slow at best and frequently not there at all. So please don't send large attachments. Things time out or go down and have to be started over - repeatedly. I'll just have to miss out on all those great forwards and jokes and political things. Oh, that was redundant, jokes and political things. We do have TV over here and it's the same stuff as back there - including the NFL!