Me, my Hubby and Sons

The Jaunzems Family

Dear Family and Friends,

The photos of us by the fancy tree at the local mega mall was taken by Lita’s sister Lorna. Her cute little girl, Haiza Marie, is the one near Lita and Mark Jesper. I’m holding Nathan Earl and he’s quite the big boy now. Actually ‘MJ’ is only a few pounds lighter and the most asked question of us here is “Are they twins?” I guess one white kid looks like all the others to the locals here…

We are planning our Christmas dinner now and it will feature a turkey roasted over an open fire of mesquite coals. This is actually the cheapest firewood here as it is a bad weed along the coastal regions here. It was introduced in ship ballast by the Spanish way back when and has nasty spines to boot so we’re doing our part to eradicate non-native species here also. The turkey will be one from our neighbors so a very local and eco-friendly bird also. The next day we’ll take the bus to the beach and enjoy Christmas leftovers with friends and family at the seaside. See Lita’s blog for video pictures from that cliff side spot which is our favorite swimming hole. By the way there you can also see some video of Leif Thomas in Trondheim doing his lifestyle sport, called parcour.

But back to Christmas. The carol singers here have been very nice the last few days. All mixes of kids and grown ups. Lots of guitars and percussion. The best so far this year was a 20 plus, high school choir with a good director that did a very professional medley of seasonal songs. Hope they come back as I’d like to get them on video. But I really miss the two old guys with the 5 gallon bucket bass and 3 string metal guitar, both homemade, from old neighborhood.

The photos of us in the hammock was taken in our front yard. That’s a dwarf coconut tree behind us and it’s doing quite well this year after lots of rain this summer and fall. We have mango trees also and my favorite fruit called the Mangosteen. However at 9 degrees north we may not be able to get that one to bear fruit here as it is really a equatorial species. We also have a bit of a dry season here and it’s a rainforest tree, but since the seeds sprout readily we will give it a try. Am I complaining about being in zone 14 and trying to plant zone 15 trees? Well maybe but it’s fun to putter about in a garden no matter what. And it’s amazing to see how fast plants and even fruit trees grow here. And that reminds me of the local New Years tradition of having as many round fruits as you can get. Apparently it’s great good luck to have at least dozen and they take it so seriously that fruit prices go thru the roof that week. I suppose it’s better than getting drunk and kissing someone you may not know all that well.

And speaking of tropical rainforests I want to mention my visit to the isle of Palawan where along with two tropical botanists, we found what appears to be a new species of pitcher plant in the genus Nepenthes. We made a short film (not staring me thank goodness) that I will send to anyone that requests it. At least I can when it gets it’s final edit in a few weeks. This was the first time I’ve been on a trip were we actually had to cut new trail thru tropical jungle to get where we wanted to go. This was thru thick bamboo thickets in the highlands above 1000 meters and really where they got the word jungle from I think! Up at that altitude it was totally unexplored terrain. Down below where there were taller forests we met traditional tribal people, that was really interesting. Not sure how many more of these kind of trips I can do but I hope a few more as it was really interesting even if it was wet and hard on the old knees. All of us who can sleep in warm homes (but not hot) and insect free beds every night should be thankful for that. Here in the tropics not everyone has it that well and sometimes here in our house we even get ant invaders and a bit too hot. But don’t worry we’re very happy and can get rid of the ants easy enough and almost always can turn on the fan (except when the power is out, but that’s not too often)…

Well that’s a few random Christmas and Thanksgiving thoughts from us here in the tropics this year. Hope and pray all is well with you and yours. God bless everyone without exception and enjoy a great 2011.

Love and Hugs from All of the Jaunzems family.

mily.