Can you believe it? My name's finally in print in a major newspaper, and I almost missed it completely! My article for the "Wish You Were Here" series in the travel section of the Austin American Statesman wasn't due to be published until Father's Day, but as we were casually flipping through the paper this morning, I spotted a familiar photograph. For those of you who don't have access to this paper, here is my story (and a few extra photos they didn't include):
OBSERVING NATURE TAKES NEW MEANING AT ISLAND
We lived in Indonesia when our children were young, and one of our first vacations from there was to Phuket, Thailand. It included a day trip to the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee, much to the delight of our kids). A water bus took us to the main island, where a tropical buffet had been set up beneath the palm trees. Next we were loaded onto several small boats, and paddled out to an uninhabited island. They first took us to the Viking cave, where bamboo scaffolding was set up for the harvesting of birds’ nests (a valuable delicacy destined for Bird’s Nest Soup). We were then dropped off at a private beach.
As we picked out a spot to spread our towels, the kids ran off to get wet. Once we were settled, we scanned the water for them. “Uh, Dear? Notice anything unusual?” asked my husband. As a matter of fact, I did. At least half the women weren’t wearing tops. He then pointed to a few of them who stood in a circle, chest deep in the water, and had been tossing a volley ball back and forth to one another. “What’s the ruckus?”
It appeared that the women had been distracted from their game by the sight of a snorkel that kept circling around them, like a shark around his supper. Several times they called out “Hey you! What are you doing?” When they got no response, one of them finally reached out and put her thumb over the top of the snorkel, forcing the swimmer up for air. Who popped up, gasping and choking? Our seven year old son, Austin. To this day, he still swears he was only studying the fishies.
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2 comments:
Becky,
I was in Johnson City over the weekend and picked up the Austin paper. When a Phuket scenerio sounded familiar, I checked the by-line and to my amazement...
Bob is spending much of his time these days staying with his 94-year old dad in JC. It has the added benefit that he can spend the afternoons killing cactus and cedar on the place at Sandy. I go back and forth from Houston quite a bit. We still haven't made the break to move up there - not much point now since Bob has to stay with his dad.
We had just returned from a trip to Colorado to visit Scott.
How is the family? Is John retired now? Sounds like you are a busy and artistic lady. I am also heavy into gardening and wild flower identification.
Pat
pweirich@sbcglobal.net
We are in transition too. I couldn't take it any more, finally quit my job in Houston in January, but John is still going back and forth to Houston. Someone at one of my favorite farmer's markets was just telling me about a great restaurant I need to try in JC. When are you going to be there next? We need to get together!
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