More things to be grateful for!

Tropical storm Yalo, no cyclone, but still a fairly powerful tropical storm, there were gusts of wind over 100km/h and we were plunged into blackout for almost 12hrs. The storm did more damage to the power-lines than cyclone Oli in 2010! We lost two lemon trees and had a fair bit of cleanup to do after, but still no really big damage. We're thankful that we didn't bare the brunt of Winston, a cyclone that hit Fiji in the night of the 21st/22nd of February and caused at least 44 deaths. We're even more grateful that it's the end of February, the most active month of the cyclone season, three decent storms in the space of a week is plenty for us! We're also grateful to have a short lull at the guesthouse, time to spend some family-time. I even made us a lasagne, by popular request, though we had to make do with burger-meat instead of mince - it's not quite the same, but a passable attempt!

Something to celebrate!

It seems like there's a lot to celebrate at the moment. We both got some good news today! Reason enough to open a bottle, and get some takeout steak and chips (OK we don't have too much choice for celebratory meals here!)

Viriamu got his Diploma, qualifying him as a guide for horse treks, after years of struggle and despite actually working as one for over 15 years now! He's only just got that important piece of paper, thanks to the French Equestrian Federation and some lobbying by the French Polynesia branch - Thank you Maud and Antonin for taking the time to visit us in Rurutu! It makes him the first guide to have obtained a recognized diploma here whilst in the territory! He thinks it's all pretty hilarious to suddenly get all these accolades (he's also got his Galop 6), as he never even finished high school.

By coincidence, I also heard that I got a scientific paper accepted from my thesis work (it dates back from almost as long as Viriamu's qualification struggle!), so all in all the 23rd of February was a significant day for us both!