Bonjour?

The Boardwalk RV Resort here in Homestead is a Mecca for folks from way up north. I think the highest percentage of license plates we have seen here are from Quebec, Canada. I had expected to be hearing lots of Spanish, but instead we are being greeted in French.

We are finally far enough south to be seeing papaya trees! I actually bought one the other day at a fruit stand by Lake Okeechobee. We had half of it for breakfast with lime juice this morning.

Walking around this urban park this afternoon almost felt like being in a florist shop with VERY large foliage plants -- like this split leaf philodendron.

And we saw lots and lots of hibiscus --

This family had pots of orchids hanging from their awnings --

The owner said they had just started blooming --

Another color of hibiscus --

This is another plant that I have seen -- a whole lot smaller -- in florist shops.

I have never seen so many different kinds of palm trees. These young ones were clustered at one end of the park --

Another florist plant in the north --

Most of the sheds around the park had straps like this attached to big screws in the ground -- preparation for hurricane winds?

A gorgeous double hibiscus --

A large banana plant --

I have no idea what this large tree might be. There were about a dozen of these "bulbs" scattered throughout the foliage --

Another gorgeous double -- or triple? -- hibiscus.

English and Spanish and French AND Swahili?

We have gotten used at our Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference annual meetings to having translation available in Spanish as well as written materials. We have worshiped for many years in both Spanish and English. This year we admitted International Bethel City Church of Portland as a PNMC member. They are mainly a French speaking group of Congolese who have emigrated to the US over a period of years. So we had music today in French, English and Spanish -- and then were introduced to a song in Swahili!

A PNMC meeting is somewhat like going to a large family reunion -- there are many people here that we only see at such gatherings. So there are many, many conversations catching up on what has happened since we have last seen each other.

One of those pleasant surprises today was getting to visit with Phyllis and Norm who are delegates from Salem, Oregon. They had been long termer volunteers with us during our time with Mennonite Disaster Service in Dulzura, California in March and April.

Is a Wednesday Better Than a Tuesday?

That's a good question and I am not sure of the answer. I do know it was an interesting day...

I've been working on the program for the House Dedication scheduled for Saturday. The family is Hispanic and neither the son nor the mother are fluent in English, so I'd like to do a few of the programs in Spanish for them. I sent a copy of the English version to our son-in-law Todd to see if he could translate them. I did the program in Microsoft Publisher, which in my new computer is, of course, Microsoft Office 2007. What Todd had was an earlier version. It took a while but I finally figured out a way to save Publisher in the earlier version to send to him.

This afternoon the carpet layers were supposed to install the carpet at House #3. They called this morning to say they would be there after lunch. Then they called after they arrived saying they wanted someone to bring the carpet sample so that they could be sure they had the right one. So Forry headed the sixteen miles to bring it over. After a bit Joel called me and said that they had left... He said they had said something about needing "the lady" to sign the papers..?
So I headed over there. When I arrived the carpet layers were back (I guess they had gone to Protero to get something to drink...) and Forry had signed the necessary paper,

But it was worth the trip to see the difference that a busy group of Canadien volunteers had made in that property! The rest of the fence was up; the wood and logs were all stacked; the trash was piled up to be disposed of; and all of the various and sundry salvaged items were tidily stacked in one pile. There should be no problem with the 100 foot clear area requirement now!

Tonight the family of House #4 came over to have dinner and share their story of the fire. It's pretty awesome to listen to people who have had to evacuate, then come home to devastation and ashes.