Cactus Flower

Over the years many things were carried to the island camp on the big Noé boat: A herd of sheep  A Jeep  A sailboat  A sandrail and go-karts  Kayaks  Electric generators  Pounds and pounds of live tilapia babies and harvested ones on ice  Harvest of onions  Household effects of a family - more than once  A horse or two  Campers, of course Getting things onto and off of the boat can be tricky! When the sand rail from the video needed to go out, it was a touch and go situation. My biggest fear was that Uncle Byron would overshoot the deck of the boat and end up in the brink on the other side! Once we had a big 50 gallon jug of diesel fuel on the front deck of the boat. It was one of the few times we took the boat into Casa Nova across from the island. The church folks there gave the fuel to help with the costs of their retreat. It was very late and we were in a pretty big hurry to leave and still get across the lake and back to our p...

At every retreat that we went to out on the Island, Uncle Byron gave the same speech about water safety and general camp rules.  It was the same every time and many repeat campers had the whole speech memorized right down to the intonation of the jokes.   The most famous part was that - "on the Island even the fish wear lifejackets." Uncle Byron and I weren't very well liked when we first came to the island because we insisted on standard rules for all to follow.  Rules in Brazil are always made to be twisted just a little at best, and absolutely disregarded at the most.  Yeah, that's a cultural generalization based on my American upbringing but I stand by it. Anyway, on a particular retreat, the steering system of one of the pedal boats had been broken. Uncle Byron pushed it way up on the beach away from the other boats and removed the cloth seat so that no one would mess with it.  It was also getting close to night time and all the other canoes and kayaks...

Ice, it's something, that when we were running out to The Island for retreats, was a necessity.  I had more than ten ice cube trays ready and waiting to go at a moment's notice to fill our trusty red water jug.  Going out to the island meant taking everything we needed - including cool, clean drinking water.  Before big retreats I would make enough blocks of ice to fill a clean cooler.  When we would arrive on the island one of the first items at hand was to get clean drinking water running into the big refrigerated drinking fountain.  To hurry up the process we would dump ice into the water box. Making ice was a necessity in a hot, dry place with no fancy ice making refrigerator or easy to buy bags of clean ice. Every normal morning I would boil water to brew tea to have sweet tea for our lunch.  Even after several hours of sitting the water would still be fairly warm by the time I mixed up the tea at noon.  I needed cold water and ice ever...

  In 2012 we took a trip with a geologist all around the big Sobradinho Lake to do some research work about erosion for the big electric company.  Uncle Byron actually made a couple of trips with the man, but this trip was with our whole family.  We slept and ate on the boat for a week.     We even took the boys' sand rail/dune buggy so they could run around some during the day.  We took kayaks and a canoe as well.  AH, and lots of food. This was the trip when I lost our big red water jug in the lake.  You can read about that on my other blog sometime if you like. I wrote an epic poem about it!  Little Red Jug On this trip on the way home we experienced the biggest waves we had ever seen while out on the lake.  The boat was rocking side ways so much that it seemed the sand rail tied on the back deck of the boat would end up at the bottom of the sea.  The video is earlier during the day.   The waves got bigger after dark! ...

Our prayer letters are written by my husband, Byron, with his famous wit and wisdom.  This one was just sent out last week by snail mail.  If you are interested in receiving a copy at your home or church address, send me a message with your address... A Little Later Summer 2015  H ello all!   In our last letter we were playing catch-up with all that's been happening.   Life has its ups and downs.   Here are some of each here in Sobradinho, Bahia, Brazil: A seminary nearby has Music Week and this year not only did Greyson go, but another youth from our church, Anderson, went too. Anderson has been leading the church services since William moved out and is learning to play the recorder. (Not the tape kind.)   Right after that there was a shorter night seminar "next door" and 4 from our group went.   It is especially good for them to be where conservative music is valued as opposed to modern worldly music whitewashed wi...

Our prayer letters are written by my husband, Byron, with his famous wit and wisdom.  This one was just sent out last week by snail mail.  If you are interested in receiving a copy at your home or church address, send me a message with your address...   Hello, everyone. There is so much to tell but, as usual, as soon as I sit down my mind goes as blank as the screen. Where to start . . .              In books and fireworks everyone likes a big finale, but I think I'll start with the big news first.   Dalton, our middle son, has graduated from High School.   He chose not to finish the therapeutic part and left after graduation a few days before his 18th birthday.   He spent about 3 weeks with us working through getting registered for college, and getting a job, a license, and a place to live. As I told him, they were the best days we've had as a family in years.   He got a good job, n...

This morning, Aunt Michele is gonna be "gone fishing."   {slept in} Look back next week for a brand new story. This week Uncle Byron, Greyson and I were talking about stories that we could pass on to you.  We talked about all the crazy things that have happened while on the way to the island.  Below is the link to a short story about a time when I had to be "adventurous." Catching Canoes with Tennis Shoes   Click on the purplish link to go to my other blog and read all about it. Here's something funny for you today - Girl Dog has a new habit.  She wants to go out front and stands at the door to get out.  As soon as we let her out, she turns around to come back in?  Just now she was barking to get back in.  She doesn't make a lot of noise in general, but she was making the funniest barky-talky sounds just now letting me know she was ready to come back in. Have a good day! Aunt Michele