It occurs to me that Amos was right in his 24 Aug 04 - 12:41 AM post. "SOmething weird has happened to this thread...." I thought about it and realized I have only been whining lately. No descriptions and no mental pictures.

I drove out at lunchtime today to buy some plumbing items for the new house. As I drove down Marine Drive I noticed the surf crashing out on the reef. It has been cloudy and rainy for as long as I can remember. Today the sun peeped out and lit up everything with an unfamiliar warmth. The sea turned a lovely green-blue and the waves crashed into a brilliant white. The surf is running very high because of the typhoon and instead of a thin line of white surf out by the reef we have huge masses of incredibly white water foaming over miles of reef and shore. The waves loom up in translucent tropical water colors and then explode into white masses while the wind drives the white flecks inland. The surf cannot reach the shore so all this drama takes place about 100 yards off shore.

The typhoon was a wonderful experience of driving warm wind and rain. Early on as we tried to put up shutters we were soaked by showers that filled the air with water. It was warm water so there was none of the shivering I have always associated with being wet by the rain. The wind, when it came on strong, bent the palm trees over and sent their fronds tossing all in the same way, as though Mother Nature were combing their unruly hair.

We were safe indoors but we could hear the wind battering the house. The shutters were thin sheets of steel bolted to the concrete walls and they boomed with every gust. Often there was no rain, just the driving wind. It was a wonderful display of nature's power.

Last night I could hear water trickling past the house. The rain water is still draining. Who knows what else it might be. Wakana thinks there may be a water line broken in the jungle behind the house. It certainly sounds like gushing water. I like to think it may be a natural spring that has opened up after the storm and now I will have a brook to deal with next to the house. I imagine building a pool and concrete water channel with rocks in place to make the water splash. Maybe I could even install a little water wheel and rig it up to a generator... Nah, my daydreams go too far.