Happy birthday to the cap'n!

Birthday weekend

Turning 40 can be kind of scary, so I needed a Chihuahua on hand. And a 7-Up. (Thanks, Raquel!)

The other day Tallulah said, “Daddy, I’ll always be your baby. But you know why people need to grow up? It’s because they need to see better.” Yeah. It's cool how all those things that were just above your head—like what’s on the stove, and what really matters—suddenly get a lot clearer.

Daphne and Raquel at Flamenco Beach.



Top secret information.

Party at Lori and Fred's!

Talking about Malta, Thibodeaux, and titty twisters.



I think of this as trashy lush but I don't want anyone to take that the wrong way.



Tallulah's present was a couplet: "It's good when you hear/A please in your ear!"

The best cake decoration ever: palm trees with little coconuts on them.

Author photo for my next book. Still working on the book part.

Happy Birthday, Tallulah!

Guadalajara, Tucson, Apataki, the Virgin Islands, Tallulah travels thousands of miles between birthdays. We had ice cream with Lori and Fred in Culebra, and cake in St. Croix.

Moorea

In another life, I would like to be or know J. Lam.
Taken on a trip to Papeete in attempt to extend our visa.
Success.
Monday afternoon among the pineapple fields.


A scene from my thirty-ninth birthday.

VistaCoral beaches
Feeding Assam's shark
SeaWolf at anchor in Apataki
Black Pearls
Our gear is taking a beating
T turns 2
lunch w/ friends
playing w/ boys

This is just to say, we have had very little internet access since arriving in French Polynesia. We plan to sail for Moorea next Wednesday, and hope to be a bit less incommunicado there.

Jessica's thirty-eighth birthday

Do years have twins, like sister cities--odd pairings, no clear relation? I woke up around ten, my bangs too short. I cut them myself with nail scissors in the bathroom mirror. Then I took a long, fast walk, hoping the breeze I stirred up would set things right. And in the fall, with our newly single father, accumulating things at the Saturday market, windchimes, hackeysacks, elephant ears, the weight of the river--if I had only known. Sitting here, my hair just cut, soft tufts on the kitchen floor--will I look back and think, how perfect?

Tallulah's first birthday