Here I am! Still in Guam. Living in retirement on a tropical island. My life has devolved into endless medical appointments and not enough attention to housework. Because of that I haven't had anything positive to contribute in a while. I really don't like to talk about medical things so I'll list them this once:
• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Uncontrolled hand tremors
• A kidney shaped like melting Jello
• Throat problems (undiagnosed)
• Prostate cancer (Just a touch)

Poor Wakana's parents (88 and 92) are also having medical problems requiring her to be ready to go to Japan at a moments notice. I try not to distract her with my problems.

In positive news I'm attending water aerobics classes three times a week. The people are fun. The husband of the class leader is a former nightclub owner and concert promoter who has worked with many musicians, some of whom I've even heard of. He has some great behind-the-scenes stories he likes to share.

In our class we have quite a range of diverse nationalities. We have an Argentinian, two Mexicans, a German, a Russian, lots of Filipinas and Filipinos, some Koreans, and some Chinese. The mix of languages is fun. We used to have more than one Russian which added to the linguistic mix. As with the rest of the island I am racially a minority which bothers me not at all.

In 2019 I received my share of the money from the sale of the family farm. I told Wakana we could finally update the kitchen (needed!) but she surprised me by suggesting we instead enclose the carport and make it a combination living room/dining room. We did. It greatly expanded the size of our house (same footprint/ larger interior). We turned our old living room into a huge off that is mostly taken up by Wakana's books and desks. We also painted the exterior and repaired the roof.

A few years ago we heard heavy machinery working in the jungle behind our house. We thought someone had bought the property and we're going to turn it into house lots. It turned out they were developing a farm. We've become good friends with the family running the farm. At one point Frankie, the father of the farm family, commented that his daughter, who plays piano, wanted to play guitar. Since I can no longer play an instrument I passed on my Baby Martin to her. I haven't heard her play it but she wrote me a very nice thank you letter. She graduated high school last year and has been traveling in Europe and the UK this year.

Speaking of no longer being able to play an instrument my Haruo 12-string is for sale. If you know anyone who is interested I'm willing to discuss it.

In March, 2023, I had a prostate biopsy. That was the beginning of a seemingly endless round of urinary infections and kidney stone (2.3 cm!) removal. As a result I lost 56 pounds (silver lining!). It all cleared up just in time time for: Typhoon Mawar

In late May, 2023, Supertyphoon Mawar paid us a visit. We had three huge mango trees behind the house that I used to worry would come down in a typhoon and damage our house. Mawar removed that worry by tearing those trees to pieces. The pieces clogged up the area between house and stumps but didn't damage the house. We also lost the beautiful mango to the west of the house, the tree that shaded our pet cemetery. Fortunately the trunk broke off above the ground so the graves are undisturbed.

Mawar left large parts of the island without power for about a month. In the middle of that Wakana was diagnosed with gall stones and her gall bladder needed removing. We had water but no electricity! The cold showers were our only relief from the heat and humidity. [Note: Because we don't have the possibility of freezing water pipes our water supply lines are not buried very deep. Consequently a "cold" shower here is considerably warmer than back home in Maine] Fortunately our stove operates on propane so we had coffee and instant meals. The other relief came in the shape of two hotel stays, one of which was paid for by my daughter.

My days, at this time became the life of a hunter/gatherer. Every day I'd go forth in search of gasoline and or ice for our cooler. I once spent 4 hours in a slowly moving line for a gas station. Another time I was driving when I saw a truck delivering ice to a convenience store. I turned around like a scene in a movie.

The outages left us with a hazardous waste swamp in what used to be our refrigerator and freezer. One day Wakana donned armor and, wielding her weapons, she attacked the lifeless block of metal and plastic. She was victorious!

Wakana was supposed to go to Japan in June but the airport was closed due to storm damage. She didn't get out for two weeks. Two days after she left the power came on.

As part of the typhoon relief efforts the towns were issued pallets of disaster MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). I thought it would be fun to find out what MREs tasted like. I walked in and asked for two, one for me and one for Wakana. They engaged me in conversation while helper put the MREs in my car. They were true to their word. They gave me two... cases! Each case contained at least two weeks worth of meals (3 per day)! Wakana and I tried one meal. The boxes sat in my (new!) living room for a few months. I gave one to a teacher friend who thought he could feed hungry students with it. Another friend took the other case but never said why.

These are just the highlights. As in everyone's life there are small events that fill up the spaces between the big things. I hope everyone is mostly happy and mostly busy living the good life.

Enjoy,

Brett