After I left the canoe and her menders I headed out to find a used bookstore I'd heard about. I dreove around looking for it for a while and then gave up. It was well past lunch time so I decided on the Outback Steakhouse. It had been a while since I'd had a real steak dinner and I was hankering for slab o' meat. I got there to find it was closed and is only open at 5:00 every day. No lunches here.

This might be a good time to talk about the scarcity of restaurants. To start with there is no place within easy reach where I can find breakfast except the (shudder) McDonalds on the base. Outside the gate is a Taco Bell and a Pizza Hut. As you drive north along Marine Drive there is nothing that stands out as a restaurant until you get to Agana. Then you have to look hard for them because they are little dives tucked into groups of half demolished buildings. Farther up, in Tamuning, you can find places like the Lone Star Steak House and Marty's Mexican Food. Plus there is the food court at the GPO where I ate my supper last night. Also available are places like Shirley's Coffee Shop, a diner type franchis found around the islands, and Kings, some kind of burger joint. There are also places like Winchell's which is a doughnut shop and lots of Burger Kings, McDonalds, Pizza Huts, Taco Bells, and the like. What I'm trying to say is that this is no mecca for the gourmand. Even the Chamorro Village, for all that the name suggests, has three places that serve Chamorro food and the rest serve Italian, Indian, and Ice Cream.

So I had a sandwich at Blimpie's and a frappelatte from the Coffee Beanery. 'Nuff said.

I headed down to Ypao Beach Park. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon by then and I had seen something in the paper the day before that I had to check out. I settled myself in a chair and tried to read some of the research Dr. Larry had given me but I was distracted by the life being lived all around me. The park has covered pavilions for people to picnic and a few large trees. Down by the beach is a line of palms.

It wasn't full of people but there were plenty of people around. I am used to seeing people go to the beach to lie in the sun. In my experience a few hardy souls, the young and the foolish, go into the water. Here on Guam people go to the beach but they mostly stay out of the sun. There were a few people in the water but most were in under cover. There was some kind of party going on at the largest pavilion for it was full of people and had a DJ spinning tunes on a sound system that filled the park with reggae, rap, rock, and soft romantic tunes. It was quite an eclectic mix. There were parties and gatherings at other pavilions too but there were a few that were empty. There are two sand volleyball courts and they were busy as well. Down the beach I spied a white arch garlanded with flowers and realized a wedding was happening. It obviously wasn't connected with the party in the big pavilion and I wondered how the overflow of music might be impacting that happy event. Everywhere I looked children in swimsuits ran and splashed and screamed. Over the food tables people waved fans of paper plates to keep the flies at bay. The smell of barbeque fires mingled with the smell of cooking fish and meat.

It was very hard to concentrate on the article on canoes.

After a while I headed for one of the empty pavilions to wait for the 4:00 hour. I didn't know what to expect or what I'd do about it. It has been nearly 20 years since I associated with that group. I don't know what to do about it even now. But then I spotted them and wandered over to talk. The SCA had arrived with all the splash and color that they bring with them wherever they go.

Twenty years ago in Georgia I had been part of the Shire Of The Crystal Keep. Now I was looking at re-entering that world. I'm not sure I want to. But I gave it my best scrutiny. They are nice people but they are all military so that leaves us unable to talk politics. Plus they are young and boisterous and swagger a lot. Were we ever like that, I wonder? If we were it sure is annoying to those of us who are older and supposedly more mature. Be that as it may be they are nice kids and welcoming. I may visit now and again and try to learn some period stuff to bring to their gatherings. I think Fred and Julia do it right. They aren't members but they do like those people and help out when they can. I could do a lot worse than to emulate them.

So I guess I need to find some period music pieces to learn. I am looking for anything that comes from or sounds like it came from the period between 600 BC and 1600 AD. Any suggestions? I'm not sure what search criteria to use in the database.

After the park I went to supper, Chinese again, and a movie. Then it was home to write up my adventure and collapse into bed.

Thus ended another day in Paradise.