death and falling coconuts

Our beloved Gizmo died.  I loved that puppy, more than I love most critters.  I had poured all of my love and caring and heartbreak over every dying, hurting dog I pass each day....into that one adorable little puppy.  And now he is dead, and I am still shaken.  My best guess is that he found bones in the neighbors trash, ate them, and ended up with a puncture in his intestines.  There is nothing to be done here about such things. 

The arrival of "the kitty from the plastic bag" was timely in that it has softened the loss of Gizmo, at least for Brian and the kids.  I am not a big fan of cats; I've had many, but decided that never again did I want a litter box, or scratched furniture.  The official name of the cat in question is Oliver McDougal, Olive for short.  He is cute.  Of course there is no cat litter here so he uses what shredded paper we can find, so far he uses his paper box each and every time. 

Yo dreams of being a wildlife photographer.  Not butts about it, he has potential.  I think he will get to the bottom of things.  Yo will be the head and not the tail.  Do you want to see behind the photographer and his inspiration?  Be on the look out in a few years. 

photo credit: Yosef Lee Kropp

We did get a Thanksgiving dinner on Panay, and there was turkey.  Our friend K makes awesome mashed spuds, amazing gravy, and out of this world stuffing.  The turkey was good, comparable to a wild turkey in the states (wild turkey with feathers, not in a bottle). 

En route to our Thanksgiving feast.

The school at Carla Ati village performed for us.  They were so cute and did an amazing job.

Mr. R carving the turkey that they roasted over a fire, good thing we have fire as the power was out all day.

And here is "Brave Girl" the donut seller.  This guy was a big hit.  He shows up at the R house every day around 1pm. 

We should have just bought all of them!

Our tribe in a trike.

A coconut fell on me the other day.  It's not funny, really it's not.  People die from being hit on the head with coconuts around here.  Fortunately it was not fully grown or else I'd be writing from someplace else.... Even though it was small, the size of a lemon, it hurt badly.  Imagine a rock falling from a tree 30 feet and hitting the top of your head.  It hurt for days.  Then yesterday as I walked to work thinking deep thoughts I walked into a piece of rebar sticking from a building,  right on the top of my  head, another bump!  This place is built for folks who don't top 5 feet - I must get a helmet.