Three more days to go in this visit and nerves are beginning to show. As they say, after three days both fish and house guests start to smell.

This is not to say we love them any less. It's just tiring to always have someone else in your house that you need to entertain.

Yesterday Wakana and I went out, just the two of us, and had a cup of coffee at Java Junction and went to the grocery store. In the coffee shop I saw a couple of my students and heard that they are doing well.

Today we are going on our circuit round the southern end of the island. We'll stop at Gef Pago for lunch and ride the boat out to Cocos Island. It will be my first trip out there. Then on to Bear Rock and around the scenic overlooks and home again.

Wakana's parents, especially her father, are people of routine. They like to have three meals a day. Wakana and I enjoy eating supper together but other than that we get our own meals when we feel like it. Three meals a day is rather wearing and it makes it seem as though we are always either planning a meal or preparing it. I feel like I've eaten more in these past two weeks than ever before.

The parents have made some interesting discoveries during their visit. For breakfast we've been eating bagels and mangoes with coffee. They'd never eaten bagels before. They love them. Mitsuko, Wakana's mother, has also discovered that she LOVES peanut butter. This morning she was eating blueberry bagels with peanut butter and mango on top. She eats enough to feed two women. And she just loves the mangoes. We have them for every meal and she eats the leftovers.

Mika is growing fast. In the morning we let him out on the carport and he charges around the place exploring and pouncing. He has a bad habit of biting so we have a couple of little spray bottles around the house to remind him not to do that. I think it's working.

This morning we thought we'd lost him but it turned out he was asleep behind a cabinet. Now he is locked in the bedroom where he will stay until we get home. He likes to sleep on Wakana's blanket which leaves folded on her pillow. It makes a soft bed for a kitten.

He is VERY good about the litter box. We've only had two accidents. But then Wakana is conscientious about keeping the box clean.