South Seas: Huahine (3.8.25)

 On our last trip to Tahiti, Huahine was our favorite island.  We found it charming on this trip, as well--less crowded, more natural, and preserving the relaxed pace and style of forty years ago.  We visited on March 8, 2025.  

As at most ports, there were pretty women in native dress welcoming us ashore.

There were also, as usual, musicians and souvenir shops to welcome us!

We took a tour of the island in an open air jeep.

We stopped to see a native fish trap, used since prehistoric times.  The fish swim into a narrow channel with a spiral dead end where the fishermen scoop them out.

Next stop was a pearl farm.  We were ferried to the farm, in a sheltered bay, in outrigger canoes.

A guide at the farm described the pearl farming process and then cut open an oyster to show us the pearl inside.

We paused at a sanctuary where native religious monuments were located.  

The sanctuary had displays of native culture, including this handheld fish net.

Next stop was a vanilla farm.  We saw the different stages of creating vanilla beans and extract.

The beans are grown in greenhouses, picked when ripe, and dried in the sun.  Extract is made by steeping dried vanilla beans in bourbon or other alcohol.

We stopped at the market in downtown Huahine before returning to our ship.

The fresh fruit was enticing and the people watching was excellent.

It was also good to get back to the ship and just look out at this lovely green island.

South Seas: Papeete (3.7.25)

 

Dave and I began an 18-day cruise of the South Pacific in Papeete, Tahiti, on March 7, 2025.  

Our ship, the Oceania Nautica, was in the harbor, but not scheduled to leave the port until 6 p.m.  As usual, we had arrived a day early, so we had time to spare.

We spent March 7 visiting the open air Museum of Tahiti and the Islands and then taking a DIY walking tour of downtown Papeete.

The museum provided maps and timelines of how and when the South Pacific was settled, as well as featuring great examples of the artifacts we would see throughout the South Pacific.  We encountered sculptures like these from Tahiti to New Zealand.

The islands in the South Pacific are separated by vast expanses of ocean. A recurring cultural theme was boats--how they were designed and built and how they transported settlers such huge distances.

Tattoos are common in Tahiti and throughout the South Seas.

The museum was surrounded by a lush, tropical garden.  Throughout our trip, we relished the beautiful trees and flowers on each island.

After leaving the museum, we walked around Papeete's picturesque downtown.  We passed the governor's palace.  Tahiti is a department of France, and Tahitians are French citizens.

We also stopped by the Musee de la Perle, which described use use of pearls throughout history.

The museum had a lavish display of Tahitian pearls, which come in many dusky colors and are wildly expensive.  I passed on the thousand dollar, perfectly formed pearls for sale in the museum.  I bought a single, black pearl for $50 at a shop in the nearby park, which dented my desire for ornament, at least for a while!

As we checked onto our ship at the port, we learned that our admissions clerk was a Primary counselor at the local LDS ward.  Papeete has an LDS temple, which Dave and I visited on our trip to Tahiti in the early 2000s.  I listened to the endowment session in French, through headphones.  Dave listened in English and the session was conducted in Tahitian! It would be interesting to learn how the Church has grown in Tahiti during the 20 years since our last visit.

Caribbean Cuisine (3.2.25)

Caribbean coconut chicken and jerk pork--those were the entrees for Sunday dinner on March 2, 2025.  My plates were Pottery Barn's "Havana" pattern, and my centerpieces were papier mache cats from St. Kitts in the bright orange, gold, and turquoise colors of the islands.  

 

Kirsten's Sundays are busy, with work and serving as a Relief Society counselor.  We were delighted she could join us.

Jenny's parents, Shelly and Dave Leatham, were partnering with us this week in tending Jonny's and Jenny's boys.  We let the boys watch their beloved screens in the basement, while the Leathams shared our Caribbean feast.

I adore hosting new family members.  Soren Flindt is our youngest great-grandchild.  He was solemn and steadfast in the midst of our chaotic Sunday dinner.

Michael K is the proud father of Lily and Soren.

Rebekah is their proud mother.

In my endless quest for more evocative table decorations, I draped an image of a tropical island, printed on polyester, along the wall behind Michael Spendlove.

Heidi wore bright island colors for the event.

I bought Caribbean-themed stickers for the children.  Calder stuck them all over his sweater!

Return of the Wanderer (2.27.25)

Mike is just back from a trip to Libya and Iraq, by way of Istanbul.  He stopped by our house on February 27, 2025, to offer Dave and me a box of Turkish delight treats.  He also showed us his new hobby--collecting foreign bank notes. Mike's crisp money included Iraqi bank notes from the days before the Iraq War, with a photo of Saddam Hussein on each bill.  I remember the pleasure my brother, Kent, another lover of travel, received from collecting stamps back in the 1950s and 1960s.  Stamps and money convey a lot about the history and culture of countries in which they were issued.  They make fascinating and educational souvenirs.

Istanbul is one of Mike's and my favorite cities, and I love Turkish food.

 

"My Favorite Jane Austen Play" (3.1.25)

Our Christmas present from Jonny and Jenny, the last few years, has been season tickets to the Parker Theater.  Jonny also buys season tickets for his boys, Sam and Henry, and Dave and I take them with us.  On March 1, 2025, the four of us attended Jane Austen's "Persuasion."  "The boys may need an introduction before attending that play," Jonny said skeptically.  We talked with Sam and Henry about the plot before the play began, and the meaning of "persuasion."  We encouraged the boys to look for times when character were persuaded by other people, for better or worse, or by their own good or bad judgment.  Dave and I were impressed, after the performance ended, to hear Sam say, "This was my favorite Jane Austen play," and Henry say, "It was awesome!"  What great kids.

Sodas before the play starts improve any presentation.

After the play, we took Sam and Henry to Cafe Rio for supper.  Before us in the line were these police officers, fully loaded with guns, tasers, and handcuffs.  Dave sent this photo to Jonny and teased him that his sons had been taken into captivity!

Burritos for all.



 

Mardi Gras--It's all about the grandkids! (2.23.25)

Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year are my two favorite family celebrations of late winter!  On February 23, 2025, I rolled out all the goodies--masks, curly plastic straws, and Shirley Temple mocktails with a marachino cherry in each glass.  Mike and Heidi's children, Audrey and Calder, and Jonny and Jenny's son, Thomas, were my main models.  They posed while the rest of the guests enjoyed shrimp and crab gumbo, jambalaya, and kings cake with homemade pecan praline ice cream for dessert.

Calder took his time choosing the very best mask.

Calder loved those curly straws.  One wasn't enough!

 Thomas loved the masks, as well.

Thomas has a big collection of "plushie" stuffed animals at home. He wore plushie ear muffs to my Mardi Gras party. Thomas liked the stuffed green parrot I bought in Puerto Rico.  "Can I take it home?" he asked.   I told Thomas that I had to keep the parrot because I am building my own plushie collection, for all the grandchildren to share.  

Camille and Steve's Jono is The Man.  He has been living in Atlanta, buying his sixth business.  It was a special treat to have him join us for Mardi Gras.  Mia wanted to spend some good time with her big brother, too.

Audrey loves everything pink.  Of course, she would drink her pink Shirley Temple with a pink straw!

Memories of My Dad (2.22.25)

A lunch of Indian thali in Logan, Utah?  On February 22, 2025, Dave and I drove to Logan, Utah, as a casual, Saturday outing.  We stopped by the Bluebird Cafe for lunch and learned, to our sorrow, that it had closed, after more than 100 years of serving dinners, shakes, and homemade chocolates.  

 

I immediately thought of my dad, Grant Calder, and how he stopped by "The Bluebird" often as a student at Logan's Utah State University in the 1930s.  

Dad was a friendly, popular student who edited the college yearbook, was a Sigma Chi fraternity man, and was a member of the debate and track teams. 

All his life, Dad identified as an Aggie from Utah State.  Dad took a class in ice cream making at Utah State, and, over the years, he made many gallons of homemade ice cream.  His devotion to his ice cream included flying to Bangkok, Thailand and bringing home frozen raspberries from the Army BX there, to flavor his ice cream, when we lived in Rangoon, Burma.  Dad also made good friends at Utah State, including Lucy Beth Cardon, who became the wife of our Utah governor, Cal Rampton.  Dad paid Utah State tuition for his three cute Hamilton cousins who couldn't afford college.  One of them, Ruth, became the wife of James Faust, of the LDS First Presidency.

I spent a week at Utah State as a high school student attending Girls State (I was, as I recall, elected County Recorder, the officer who handles real estate records).  Another connection, over the years, has been attending the Logan Temple.  For several summers, I attended the Logan opera festival with my mother, after Dad died, and I recall attending a temple session with Mom while we were there.

With The Bluebird closed this February, Dave and I checked our Google restaurants map for an alternative.  A top-rated spot was "Himalayan Flavor" with the recommendation, "Loved the curry, korma, and vindaloo dishes, and their naan was fabulous."  The food was delicious, but it seemed strange to eat spicy, exotic dishes while visiting this town that reminds me so much of my father.  Dad notoriously drove hundreds of miles across Europe so he could eat hamburgers at a U.S. army base rather than French cuisine!  When we drove through Russia in the 1960s, he ate steak and plum ice cream for ten days straight, since he couldn't abide anything more exotic from the standard Russian Intourist menu!

Dave and I finished our outing with a drive home through beautiful, snow-covered Sardine Canyon.  I was nourished by my memories, as well as by the thali.