We heard music going until dawn and my faluk/slippery cabbage got trampled during the night, confirming that we didn't miss much at the party last night. After market, Benjamin, Sylvester, and Susie (the little girl with the burned hand) tromped off to the garden. We found Naris and two of her kids already out in the garden gathering things for making lelenga. My garden is actually a part of Naris' that her family shared with me, so three sides of my garden are bordered by Naris' garden, and one side is bordered by Sylvester's garden. Benjamin and I hacked through overgrown uvikola and found lots that had been uprooted and spoiled while we were in Honiara. The pineapples that my mama planted around the edge of my garden in December 2010 are really growing well. My neighbors will enjoy eating their fruit next year while we are back in the States. Sylvester worked in her garden, and came to join us when I asked her to come and show me how much uvikola she needed. As we were sorting the uvikola, she asked me who took care of my garden. I sheepishly said, “Me.” She replied that a bunch of women should come and help me clean up my garden.
When we returned to the house, the whole family pitched in to make lelenga and to bake two birthday cakes. Margo has two children whose birthdays are only days apart, so she requested that we make birthday cakes for the combined birthday celebration tonight. Olivia made a lemon cake, Benjamin made a chocolate cake, and Sarah made the icing and decorated the cakes. When I took down the first cake, late in the afternoon, Margo gave me a nice fish in exchange for the cake. Quite a few people were in the outdoor kitchen cooking and listening to the radio, and “Bye, Bye Miss American Pie...” was playing. I sang all of the way back up the hill!
I swung by George Hensi and Nancy's house, and Hensi said that he would take Aaron spearfishing tonight if the weather was good. It's been threatening to rain all afternoon. Aaron brought materials to make a spear gun and is eager to try it out.
After Evening Prayer, I was snuggling and reading with Katherine when I heard a knock at the door. A few minutes later, Aaron came in bringing a big tray filled with umalau/sweet potato, faluk/slippery cabbage, and a little bit of chicken. Margo had brought even more to say thanks.
After we turned out the lights, Aaron went to find Hensi to discover if the fishing trip was on or off and to arrange transport to get some things off the Bikoi around three in the morning. Hensi chose to cancel the fishing trip, and it was a good thing. We had more big storms with heavy wind and rain. The alarm went off at 2:30 so Aaron could go wake up the guys driving the canoe out to the Bikoi. The ship finally arrived around 3:30, and by the time Aaron lugged everything off the ship and up the hill, it was 4:30. The bells for Sunday morning communion and the District Priest's farewell began bonging a few feet from our window just after five.
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