A Few More Bugs

For those of you who are fans of bugs on the island - I'm sorry to say - I only have 2 more pictures of bugs. I have seen some interesting looking butterflies but they always tend to be flying around or I'm not at the ready with my camera. Sorry about that. I have been doing much better with the flowers of the island. Though looking at my photos it seems that the same flowers capture my attention each time.

Ok - a little side stepping.

Here are the 3 pictures and yes, I know, 1 is not necessarily a bug.... But it is wildlife of the island. I do believe they should be easily identifiable.

My Birthday

I guess before I catch people up on what is going on - I should mention today is a very special day for me.

Yeap!! as 1 of my friends has told me - I've hit the 50 crowd age.

I have heard from many and thank you all for the well wishes. It is greatly appreciated.

I have taken a stance this weekend that I was going to do no cleaning because it was my birthday weekend. And I have pretty much kept to that. (I did a little sweeping on Saturday.)

Saturday morning I got up and made waffles with my waffle maker. Gluten Free waffles to boot. They were good. After the 1st batch I adjusted the tempt control and added a bit more batter. They didn't spread like I was thinking they would. I bought some more books, got some cards that I need to send out....and drove around the island taking more pictures. Those will come later.

I got home took a nap - yes, even here I enjoy my nap times. Pepper likes to nap with me. Most of the time she starts by sitting on my chest and then goes to the cushions on top of the couch. Simba usually joins us too.

Sunday - I went to church. They sang happy birthday which embarrassed me. Not sure why but it did. Did my grocery shopping and made a gluten free pasta salad for dinner.

Today I talked with Nancy my oldest sister, then went out and had a hair treatment and a manicure/pedicure. I'm now sitting in my favorite cafe reading e-mail and working on my blog. Which I know is long overdue. A friend I have made here called and wished me a happy birthday. Amazing her memory. I think I could remember things like that back in the day. Now I have to write everything down or I forget.

Later I will go out to dinner.

So all-in-all a great weekend and nice ending to this momentous day.

Attached is the up to date and current picture. Today right off the presses. I'm not sure if you can tell or not but for whatever reason hairstylists like to straighten my hair. My hair is anything but straight. So I get to sport a new due for 1 day.

Gwen

Gwen

Sorry It's Been So Long

I know that it has been a while since I have put something on my Blog. I'm rather close to the main road and they just happen to be widening it. So what do you think comes with widening the road - yeap you guessed power outages. And tonight it was the TV and Internet that was out. The power has been on for the last 3 days but I'm suspicious and there will be more power outages. So each day I get up and unplug the TV and turn off the surge protector and unplug it.

I will add a photo for you though.  You should be looking at a double rainbow. I've seen a couple of them since I've been here.

Hopefully all the miscellaneous outages will end soon and I can go back to some regular blogging.

Gwen

Last 1 for the Evening - Bob and Roberta

When I moved in (even before my cats came home from quarantine) these 2 cats would come by my back door and insist on being fed. I never did of course, they're feral cats after all. 1 of them Bob - had these really gross looking eyes and some sort of wound on his left rear hip. Since he never would go away and his eyes just seemed to be getting worse - I caught him. Not sure if you can tell how bad his eyes were looking.

Before and After. By the way he is officially on "it" now.

His eyes look so much better now. Not completely cleared up but they are coming along. He had an upper respiratory infection.
In the meantime, another cat would come along with him. Never really bothered to figure out the sex (because "she" was more aloof at the beginning) until she - Roberta - brought 3 kittens upstairs to hang out as well. When I was cleaning the carrier out - Roberta freaked out (because that too was the day I took Bob) and has taken the kittens away. She comes back but I have not seen the kittens since.

Anyway, back to my story about Bob and Roberta. I was talking with the landlord's housekeeper. Apparently there was a tenant who lived in this "flat"for about 2 years. Him / the family (it is not clear to me who found the kittens) found 2 kittens on the beach and brought them home. His business adventure failed so he went home leaving the now 2 adult cats. So they think that my house is still their house.

Besides being skinny Roberta looks pretty good though I could not figure out how 1 of her kittens was an orange tabby. Here's Roberta. As you can see she is more like a tortoise shell cat and Bob definitely is a gray something or other.

I have to say it was a wrong move to name them, but anyway, I check on them to see if they are around and this evening I spooked a large orange tabby - tom cat with a manx type tail. Never seen him around but that doesn't mean he hasn't been up before. So Roberta was cheating on Bob and because of that fact, she has the orange tabby kitten.
Probably this Tuesday will be the day that Roberta will visit the vet. Oh yes, Clip/Clip. She has started to trust me so I'm hoping that all I have to do is put some good smelling food into the carrier and shut the door. If that doesn't work I still have the trap in the back of my car and I will just trap her - hopefully.
Bob and Roberta belong together anyway. Check this photo out of the 2 of them. That orange tabby needs to get lost.

For whatever reason she insists on eating out of the same bowl at the same time as he is trying to eat out of.

My saga of Bob and Roberta. And I am sure - like everything else on this island - the saga will continue. So until next time. Especially considering if is past my bedtime. For whatever reason it takes FOREVER to upload digital photos. Picture Photos don't take but a second. Go figure.

Anyway, I hope everyone has enjoyed. The next posting will be of plants&bugs of the island. Some island buildings and a bit of a story re: the garment industry. Have to show you my car with the cool sun shade.

Have a wonderful Sunday as I enjoy looking at the back of my eyelids.

Other Points of Interest

I've decided to divide the entries up by categories. That way, things seem more "together". It's a good thing TV is Saturday TV night because there isn't a blimpin thing on the tube. (Remember I'm 14 hours ahead which means that we get what you would be watching Saturday night - Sunday night etc.)

As many of you know I've been talking about going out to the 2 tanks that are sitting in the ocean. They're most probably US tanks because when the US was coming ashore only 4 amphibious vehicles made it ashore. The 1st time I made the attempt to walk out there - I tried it during high tide. HELLO!!!! Not realizing it was hight tide - I came across a family who had body boards. I thought what a great way to get around. Now don't misunderstand I can swim but I'm still short. Even in low tide I'm wondering if I'm tall enough to walk to the tanks. I figure a good way to avoid any pitfalls - I would need to buy a body board. In my shopping around (and no I have not bought yet - still trying to get settled) I talked with a teen age kid yesterday who was telling me about his grandfather. (His family owns a Water Sport / Tour Boat "spot" on the beach. They will take you out to different reefs on the island.) His grandfather had "discovered" a portion of Grotto Point. The photos should have been below....I'll get the hang of this sooner or later......
Isn't this breath-taking. You can get in the water and look around. Once I get my snorkeling equipment I will be doing just that.

You have to walk down (they say 100 steps) to get to the water. I'm not too sure, but I will tell you this. The steps were too high for my short legs so on the way down it was 1 step at a time and going back up I was high stepping it the whole way. My thighs were SSSSSOOOOOO sore for a couple of days.

I'm not sure why this place is supposed to be significant but Bird Island is another "touristy" kind of place. According to my tour guide - Rose - there used to be these birds people would hunt and then eat. I guess - some sort of pheasant.

If it wasn't for the view and the beach below - there wouldn't be much to Bird Island. According to Rose you can't get down to Bird Island either. Another reason why it is a shame. Look at that beach. I would love to get down there to swim and hang out for an afternoon.

Hope you have enjoyed the points of interest that I have seen so far. Please stand-by for another tour at another date and time.

A Bit of History

Last week I had written this wonderful little history lesson only to accidentally deleting it, plus I was having user technical difficulties. Now that all that has been worked out (plus re-reading my Saipan history book) I'm ready to do this again.

Through sea erosions Saipan and the other Mariana Islands were formed. The 1st people's to arrive were the Chamorros - who probably came down through the Philippines - though this is not confirmed just speculated. Of course the Spaniards were the 1st people to take control of the island and removing many Chamorros from Saipan to other parts of the Mariana Islands. The Spaniards ruled up until the Spanish American War. The US wanted to Guam and not necessarily the other Islands so the Spanish sold Marianas to the Germans. The Germans had the Mariana Islands up until the WW-I when Japan took over and the island was under military rule. After Japan attacked many strong holds of the US including Pearl Harbor (Guam/Philippines) the Japanese last control of the island in 1945. What is interesting is that you hardly ever hear about Saipan though these islands were a major factor in the War. From Tinian the atomic bomb air strikes were conducted from those islands. 

Because the Japanese did not believe in being captured many plunged to their deaths from Banzai Cliff. As you can tell - I'm still having technical difficulties.

Ok - not sure how to get past the bottom picture. Oh well, I'll figure it out as I go. My new favorite saying - Good Grief.

Here we go though I think my font has changed. I can see my humble following laughing and falling out of my favorite "hand chairs" reading this. I'm glad I can provide entertainment. Ok back to the story. 

Not too long ago, this monument was built to remember those who died on this cliff. It was not just the Japanese soldiers that were jumping to their deaths it was also families - some pushing the kids off ahead of them and some holding their babies as they jumped. 

 

Here are 2 monuments that have been put up recently along with "apparently" paving the road. The "cliff" behind this 2nd photos is Suicide Cliff. Apparently the Japanese jumped from here as well. 

After the war - a US Naval Technical School was set up by the CIA to train Chinese Nationalists how to fight a war against the Chinese Communists. (1952 - 1962). In 1962 Saipan reverted back to Civilian Control. The buildings that were built during the CIA training era is now the Governor's Offices. 

Over the period of 4 Presidents (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan) the Chamorros and the Carolianians became US Citizens in 1986 and was given the right to govern themselves with the $$$ support of the US government. 

Let's Try This Again

This is the "old lady" Pepper. She is 12 or 13. This is the computer area so I'm probably sitting pretty close by.

Here are Simba 10 years old and Olive (or more affectionately known as Ms Piggy) 4 years old. This is just after I saved the "lizard". I'm sure there is a more official word for the "animal" but I'm not sure what it is. This is still in the "computer" area. On the right is a bedroom with laundry room in the back and a bathroom in front of the laundry room. Then on the left is 2 more bedrooms (the master was close to where Pepper was laying down) then in the front is the kitchen/eating area and living room. Actually the living room/kitchen/eating area is open. There's a lot of space.

Ok. Success. I know how to load the digital photos onto my blog page. WoW!!!!!

Still learning about my apple - I guess.

Gwen aka FiFi