Yacht Fire

I happened to look outside this morning and saw a big plume of black smoke, which I just had to investigate. It turned out to be one of the many yachts moored along the Playa Pabou waterfront. I don't know the name of the yacht. The back end was all charred and the mast had toppled by the time I got there. A fire truck arrived shortly after I got there. They tried pumping water on the yacht from the shore but just couldn't quite reach it.

A tugboat had some success in spraying water on the burning yacht, but wind shifts kept blowing the (probably toxic) smoke back onto the tug, and they eventually had to abandon their efforts.

Eventually some Marine Park rangers towed the yacht out to deep water, where it continued to burn. I'm not sure if it eventually sank or what. I had to get back to work.

There were two cruise ships in port today, each with something like 3000 passengers.

Back on Bonaire - moon and planets

We're back on Bonaire, after ten weeks of travel and reporting back to our ministry sponsors. It sure is wet and green here. There seems to be a good crop of mosquitoes, but our trusty "Cactus Juice" repellent is keeping them at bay.

The Moon, Jupiter, and Venus made a small triangle in the western sky tonight. It was striking to look at, but I don't think any of my photos came out due to a high haze in the sky.

Here is a picture I took last night, when the Moon was lower than the planets. The moon was above the planets tonight and much closer to them than last night.

TWR's New President

While we were in North Carolina last week, Sandra and I dropped in at the Trans World Radio office in Cary for a brief visit. Sandra happened to be at the reception desk when her dad phoned in from Africa, so she got to say hi to him. What great timing.

I "bumped into" TWR's new president Lauren Libby in the hall. He seemed really nice.

Fun Run

Here are a few shots of some of the runners in the 5K fun run in Greensboro. After going around the pond, they entered some great woodsy trails.

I got in some fine road bike rides while I was in Greensboro, but I saw some really interesting single track trails that have set me to scheming on how I might bring a mtn. bike along the next time I visit.

Suprised Pumpkin

We were in Greensboro, NC on Halloween. Our hosts, Josh and Katie let Sandra carve her first ever Halloween Pumpkin.

Sandra actually enjoyed scooping all the gucky stuff out of the pumpkin. Josh salted and roasted the pumpkin seeds for an additional treat.

Mural in Greensboro

As part of their Fall Global Celebration, Westover Church had a family day in a nearby park. There was a 5k run, food samples from around the world, (we brought Dutch licorice), and a big mural that everyone could paint on. Sandra was the brave one to paint first and contributed a Bonaire flamingo.

Pretzels

I like pretzels. They are not always available on Bonaire, so I chow down when we are in the States. Here is a picture of pretzel nirvana at a farm show in Pennsylvania. Sandra and my mom also tried their hand at making some large soft pretzels of their own.

They were quite tasty, and chewy the next day, just like the pretzel stand pretzels. So I think they got the recipe right. We'll have a go at making these on Bonaire from time to time.

Fall Global Celebration 2008

Sandra and I are at Westover Church, in Greensboro, North Carolina all this week, as they celebrate 60 years of Global Ministries.

There was a picnic and 5k run on Saturday, all sorts of meetings on Sunday, and they are keeping us busy each day during the week too. We've had lots of opportunities to present the world wide outreach of Trans World Radio. We've seen a bunch of old friends and made many new ones too.

If you have a high speed Internet connection, check out this video of the opening of the "Fall Global Celebration." We appear briefly by the Bonaire flag that we brought along with us, about 2/3 of the way through the video clip.

The video was edited to shorten in some and the opening remarks that provide a context for all the drumming aren't there, but take my word for it, it was a great kickoff for a special week.

Project Hannah

For the month of November, the Trans World Radio web site's home page features Project Hannah, a woman's advocacy movement, radio program, and prayer ministry that is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Founder, Marli Spieker says, "God has done amazing things in the past 10 years of PH ministry. It has progressed from a simple concept to a vibrant, worldwide radio ministry, prayer and advocacy movement in more than 104 nations, as well as numerous mercy ministries on the ground. There’s also been an astonishing growth from one radio program in English to 47 languages, and 15 more on the way."

There are links from this month's TWR home page to video clips, info. sheets, and downloadable prayer guides.

Project Hannah has much more information on its own web sites in both English and in Spanish.

The women in the picture are from Bonaire, and work together to produce a Papiamentu edition of the Project Hannah radio program.

Adventures in the New Jersey Woods

Sandra stepped on a snake when we were hiking the other week. She screamed and then Nancy stepped on it too. (it was under the fallen leaves and they couldn't see it) When Nancy stepped on it, the snake jumped into the air. I guess it was a friendly snake because no one was bitten. The colors in the woods were really pretty. We must have sounded like a herd of elephants walking through the leaves. Louis L'Amour would not have been impressed.

Richard drives under this walkway over I-287 every day on his commute. It is labled Cannonball Trail. So one afternoon we hiked in and walked over it. I rode his bike on part of the trail as well. The Cannonball Trail was used during the American Revolutionary Way to move supplies in secret from the British troops.

Some of the fallen leaves were yellow. Others were red. The colors on the trees and on the ground, and the filtered sunlight made the woods a beautiful place indeed.

Rainy Bonaire

The crew on Bonaire is painting another of our towers. They had to stop for a while because of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Omar. Sunny weather has returned to Bonaire, but the antenna fields at TWR are still flooded, as you can see here.

We've seen this before, but last year wasn't this wet.

Thanks go to George Zensen for these photos.

Sandra and I are hoping for a wet winter on Bonaire, so that the Olive bushes around the perimeter of our back yard, that we cut way back, will grow in nice and bushy.

An Apple a Day

Apples are one of the few raw fruits and/or vegitables that I can eat without various annoying allergic reactions. We've enjoyed some delicious (no pun intended) apples this fall, and had a great outing to the Cherry Hill Orchard, in Lancaster, to pick our own apples, fresh off of the trees.

The trees were fairly short and bushy. Some of them were really loaded with apples.

We picked a big bag full of Cortland apples and have been enjoying their crisp texture and slightly tart flavor. The Cortland apple trees were pretty picked over, so I had to reach waaaay high to get some.

Stained Glass Windows

My mom really likes stained glass art. I snapped these pictures at the First Baptist Church in Asbury Park, NJ.

Fall Foliage

It's chilly, windy and rainy here in PA today. But it has been a great fall up 'till now. We were in Perry Hall, MD last week. Had a good time with friends at the Perry Hall Baptist Church and got in a couple good bike rides on some very hilly MD roads. Here are a couple pictures of the views from NJ, not too far from where Richard and Nancy live.

All new TWR Web Site

The Trans World Radio website was completely overhauled this past summer. The home page is changed each month to highlight a different part of the worldwide TWR ministry.

Browsing through the drop down menus will uncover a wealth of information.

The month of October features our broadcasts to Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Other Side of New Jersey

I have to admit that some areas of New Jersey are less than picturesque, but during this past week we enjoyed some bike riding and hiking in a breathtakingly beautiful part of the state. The trees are beginning to get colorful and the weather has been perfect.
We could see the New York skyline in the far distance, but were far removed from its hustle and bustle.
Check out these overgrown ruins of the Van Slyke Castle located in the middle of the forest.

Swedish Coffee Bread

Here's a picture of Brad's mom, whipping up a batch of her yummy Swedish coffee bread. After all the secret ingredients are in the dough. It is rolled up and braided to make a loaf of the coffee bread.
These special snips seem to help the flavors mingle during baking.
Here's the final product shortly before is was consumed.

Book Bargains

Sandra and I recently attended one of the largest, if not the largest, used book sale in the USA. The selling prices got lower at the end of the three day event. Sandra and I were there, armed with a 12 page printout of our home library, and came away with 43 used hard back and paperback books for about 13 dollars.

I even spotted a copy of TWR founder, Dr. Paul Freed's book, "Towers to Eternity."

Click on the picture for a bigger version and see if you can spot Sandra towards the middle of the picture.

Brooks Tegler Big Band

I attended an interesting concert recently. The Brooks Tegler big band recreated a World War 2 Glen Miller Army Air Force Band concert, right down to the drum set and uniforms.



There were a surprising number of people in the audience who had actually heard an original Glen Miller band.

Asbury Park - Ocean Grove

We recently spent a weekend with the folks at the Asbury Park Baptist Church in New Jersey. This church has been involved with the ministry of Trans World Radio since before the Bonaire station was constructed. Richard and Nancy drove down for the weekend and stayed in neighboring Ocean Grove. It was a rainy and foggy weekend so the beach was deserted. When the fog really filled in, we couldn't even see the water from the street. The weather didn't dampen our spirits however.
We went for a walk in the evening and the foggy scene was really amazing, like something out of a Sherlock Holmes story.
This church has a Spanish speaking congregation as well as the English speaking one. They both met together for the missions emphasis weekend. Here we see Sandra singing a couple songs with the Hispanic group on Friday night.