Wakana is finished with school. I am so jealous. On Monday and Tuesday she has to proctor the final exams and she needs to get her grades in a few days later but she no longer has to stand in front of kids and try to control them.

Controlling the kids has become more difficult lately. We are at the end of the year and they are practically vibrating in place. I come home at the end of the day even more exhausted than usual. I have one more week of classes and then finals and grades and I am done too.

But this is the weekend and I am not going anywhere today. I have changed the locks on the front doors, changed the shower head in the smaller bathroom, replaced the aerator in the other bathroom sink, and cleaned some of the junk out of the living room. Now I will get busy on my finals.

The character of this place is very different from the house in Santa Rita. There we were surrounded by jungle. The ground was always damp and soft. The lot was small and the views from all the windows were limited by the growth though we could see the ocean from the bedroom window. I used to roll over in bed and raise my head to look at it.

Now our house stands on open ground. There is a lot of jungle growth but it isn't near the house. We have sunshine blazing down on us most of the day. Yet, with the carport we have shade and a breeze to help keep us cool. We love it here.

My computer is temporarily set up in the living room. Looking out the window I see the big mountain apple tree that hides half the house. It is vital shade in the closing hour of the day because the setting sun sweeps the carport and makes it too hot to handle. If the tree weren't there that sunlight would be flooding the living room too. Ugh. The plan is to trim underneath the tree so we can sit in its shade and see the back yard but not so much that the sun can get to the windows.

By the way, I recounted and we have three mango trees on our lot. The cousin of the previous owners stopped by today and left us a spare key. He told me the mango trees were carabao mangoes. That is a fruit native to the Philippines. It apparently has a great flavor.