What the cat brought home...

Friday, February 1, 2008

Thursday morning I walked out the door and found this python coiled up on our carport floor. It wasn't moving and I assumed it was dead, but hey, I'm married to a science teacher and clearly this was Tim's domain! Tim checked it out and sure enough, it was dead probably thanks to our cats.

The good news is that there are no poisonous snakes on this island and in fact this was only the 2nd or 3rd snake we have seen in the 10 years we have lived in the Solomons.

Labels:

posted by Martha @ 4:29 PM   

Advent

Monday, December 3, 2007


Christmas has arrived at our house. Over the weekend we set up our Christmas tree and decorated the house.

One of our traditions is to light advent candles each Sunday of advent. I brought back some candles in our shipment from the USA, but unfortunately used them up. I've scoured Honiara and could only find some very basic white candles.

With the help of some crayons that I melted, I've managed to add a colored layer to the candles. They aren't perfect, but all things considered, we are pretty pleased with the results.

Labels: ,

posted by Martha @ 8:42 AM   

We saw it!!!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007


Tonight we saw a total lunar eclipse. It was awesome!

Labels:

posted by Martha @ 10:36 PM   

Does she or doesn't she?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

On Sunday night, Emily said she wasn't feeling well and headed to bed early. Monday morning she woke up saying she felt like she had a fever - but she didn't. She stayed home from school and felt sick most of the day and by evening did have a fever. At 2:00 am she woke up with a 102 degree fever and a sore throat.

There is a flu going around town and it is probably what Emily has. However whenever someone has a fever here, malaria is always a possibility. A sore throat sometimes accompanies malaria. To determine if it is malaria, a blood slide has to be taken, preferably when the patient is at the fever stage. At 2 am, that is hard to get.

I'm feeling a bit off too - which in this case is probably good news, because it is more probably that Emily and I both have the flu. We'll watch and see what happens to determine if a blood slide is needed.

If Emily does have malaria, generally it is not a serious issue if is treated.

Labels:

posted by Martha @ 1:46 AM   

Day 5 in Kia - Tuesday

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Tuesday afternoon

The workshop went well today. The students have now learned the first half of the coursework which involves teaching students to read and write stories. We finished the workshop by 2:30. Tomorrow we start training them to teach the phonics part of the program.

After the workshop, I walked through the village. It was quiet and I didn't see many people, although I did see a few escaping the hot afternoon sun by taking a nap. Others were probably out tending their gardens or harvesting food for their dinners. The trail through the village curves and follows the coastline. It's a pretty village with flowers growing along the path and around people's houses.

At 4:30 we gathered around the two-way radio to talk to our office in Honiara. A friend in Honiara was able to buy us tickets on a ship that is making a trip to the other end of the island. We will have to meet the ship at the provincial capital of Buala. In order to get there, we will hire someone to take us in his fiberglass boat with a 40 horsepower outboard motor. We will leave here Friday morning, expecting the journey to Buala to take 5 - 6 hours. The ship is due to leave Buala Friday night and travel through the night with an expected arrival in Honiara early morning on Saturday. The air conditioned cabin is already booked, so we will have seats in the second class cabin where Tim sat on the way out. If it all works out, we should get into town in time for Emily to attend the youth group retreat.

Here it's always a relief when you can get to your destination although often it is often not by 'Plan A'.

Tuesday evening

Dark clouds on the horizon threatened rain most of the afternoon. It finally came around dusk with a very heavy downfall making quite a racket on the corrugated iron roof. It will be nice to be able to take showers again rather than bathing with dipperfuls of water from a basin.

With the rain came flying insects that descended on the house. It is a bit of a mystery how they get in the house, but soon there were hundreds of them swarming around the lights and on the walls. After a while they die and fall to the floor. It's quite annoying when they come in as it makes it difficult to do much of anything. This morning (Wednesday) there were piles of them to sweep up off the floor. These insects do not come everytime it rains, but every once in a while the conditions must be right and they descend in droves!

Labels: , ,

posted by Martha @ 2:24 PM   

Thanks for all your prayers

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

We are overwhelmed by all the love and concern of so many family members and friends regarding the earthquake and tsunami here in the Solomons. As many of you know by now, we felt the earthquake here in the capital city, but the epicenter of the quake and subsequent damage occurred in the western part of the Solomon Islands.

A couple of hours after the earthquake, I was in the market. I noticed there was a lot of commotion in the market and an unsettled feeling. Suddenly I realized that many people were looking out to sea and pointing. When I asked a woman what people were looking at, she told me a tidal wave. The sea was almost flat calm, but there was a small steady wave that came to shore with a 'hissing sound'. Later we heard that it was only about 6" high.

Of course the real story is out in the Western Province where they are assessing damage today. There are lives lost and many left homeless.

One of the islands hit the hardest was Simbo Island. If you have been following the blog, you may remember an entry called, 'Coming Alongside' on February 24 http://matzkemission.com/2007/02/coming-alongside.html which featured a picture of our national colleague, Joshua Lui. Joshua is from Simbo Island and had just returned to the Western Province after attending a workshop here in the capital city. He was in the city of Gizo at the home of a relative when they noticed the water rising and quickly ran for higher ground. We are thankful that Joshua and the family members with him were unharmed although Joshua lost his bag with his belongings.

Our group here is taking up a collection for Tsunami relief which we will give to Joshua so that he can show Christ's love to those in need on his island and the surrounding area where people are suffering. If you would like to contribute to this fund, please contact us for details.

Labels: ,

posted by Martha @ 7:44 AM   

Tropical Depression

Monday, March 26, 2007

This is the view from our house looking out toward the sea this morning.

We must be in a tropical depression at the moment. For the last 2 days it has been gray and the rain has been alternating between short downpours, and light drizzles. The temperatures have been in the mid to upper 70°F range which is about as cool as it ever gets here. In this kind of weather, everything feels damp and clammy. It's a challenge to get clothes dry on a clothesline and we don't have a clothes dryer. Even though we have a clothesline under our house, the 100% humidity makes drying difficult. Long ago we learned that 'dry' is a relative term!

 Another down side of the cloudy weather is taking showers. We have a wonderfully efficient and environmentally friendly solar water heater on our roof. On hot sunny days, scalding water comes streaming out of our shower head. However, when we have several days of overcast rainy weather when a hot shower would feel great, we only have cold water! Last night Emily heated water and she and Sarah took showers with dipperfuls of warm water.

After a few days like this, we will welcome the sun breaking through the clouds. Then the combination of sun and all that humidity can make it feel like we are living in a greenhouse. On the plus side - our rain tank is full of fresh clean water!

Labels:

posted by Martha @ 7:20 AM   

Yes, we have bananas!

Saturday, March 10, 2007


As you might expect, we have a lot of bananas in the Solomon Islands. What you might find surprising is that there are many many varieties available. Some bananas have to be cooked, others can be eaten right off the hand and some can be either cooked or eaten fresh. Some bananas are tiny - 3-4" long and others nearly a foot in length.

Yesterday as I walked through the market, I saw a type of banana I hadn't seen before so I decided to try them. As you can see they are a bit red on the outside, but the flesh has a red tint as well. They are very tasty bananas.

When we are in the USA we don't eat many bananas because they tend to be rather tasteless and disappointing to us. The variety of bananas sold in the USA were probably chosen because they ship well. Bananas here are tree ripened and we'd have to say they taste much better as a result!

Labels: ,

posted by Martha @ 11:10 AM   

Treasure at the Beach





Last Saturday when we went to the beach, Emily and her friend Grant found coconut which had begun to sprout. Emily and Grant got excited because it holds a special treat.









They took a bush knife (machete) to the coconut to get through the thick fibrous husk. They hacked at that until they could peel the husk off the shell.









A final 'whack' and the shell splits open. Inside the shell is a pithy white flesh which is the 'germ' of the coconut seed. The kids love to eat this slightly sweet treat which is called vara.

Labels: ,

posted by Martha @ 10:00 AM   

What's in your pocket?

Sunday, March 4, 2007

When taking down the laundry, I noticed there was something in the pocket of Emily's shorts. As I went to see what it was, it moved and made a hissing sound. It was this rhinoceros beetle and it didn't want to leave Emily's pocket.

These harmless insects are fairly common here and we often see them in our carport at night. Sometimes they get flipped over on their backs and can't get upright again. When they are disturbed, they make a loud hissing sound.

Labels: ,

posted by Martha @ 7:21 AM   

Green Suede Shoes?

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

One of the things that often doesn't fair well in the tropics is leather. Three weeks after our arrival, Tim's leather shoes are covered with mold! I wiped the mold off one of the shoes so you can see the contrast. In the closet you can see a pair of leather slippers and sandals. They don' t have mold on them. Some types of leather seem to grow mold easier than others.

Most of the time we wear rubber flip-flops outside and are barefoot inside.

Labels:

posted by Martha @ 9:29 AM   

What's Cookin'?

Monday, February 12, 2007

This morning you would have found something interesting in my oven. No, we aren't going to eat it. It's 'indicator silica gel'.

In the tropics, it can be a challenge to take care of cameras and binoculars and keep them dry. If they are left in a humid environment, a fungus can start growing on the lenses which 'eats' into the protective coating. While the lenses can be cleaned professionally, the lenses are never the same afterward.

We attempt to keep our cameras and binoculars safe by keeping them in an air tight box with the silica gel beads in a sock. When this type of silica gel is dry, it is blue. As it absorbs moisture, it turns to a light pink. Occasionally, we take the silica out of the box and heat it in the oven to dry it out again. That's what I have in my oven this morning.

Labels:

posted by Martha @ 9:17 AM