At Sea in the South Pacific

While at sea between Los Angeles and French Polynesia, I turned 60. The day before my birthday, Don and Trish surprised me in LA and we had lunch at a resort and visited some beautiful coastal sights. It turned out I was to have several other surprises on my birthday at sea.

One was a very prominent green flash on the horizon at sunset. The green flash is when a brief beacon of green light is visible immediately after the sun sets. It is caused by the prismatic effect of the atmosphere and conditions must be right for it to occur, such as an unobstructed view (over water, for example) and a clear sky.

The other very special surprise was a quilt Ali gave me with contributions from many of the most important people in my life. She started organizing you to make personalized squares over a year ago, assembled the quilt top and then she secretly worked with her quilting club friends to do the hand quilting while I was gone to a meeting for several days last summer.

I became emotional when I initially removed the wrapping of this wonderful gift and got teared up again as I read all the personal squares. Thanks to all of you for taking the time and effort to make something so special.

The accompanying photo shows the finished product with Tanzanian fabrics outlining all the heartwarming squares. I used it the first night because that is good luck, but it now graces the arm of our sofa since it is kind of hot down here in French Polynesia.Read more