My beautiful husband, Sitaniselao. Watching the sunset. 

The blow holes, not as amazing as they can be, we were there at low tide. 

A beautiful sunset at the blow holes. The end of an amazing day with Brian, his friend Barbara. 

My previous artistic life

This was one of the last boats I did, titled: blood and bones. The glass was actually bright red before firing and this dark brown red after. The perfect color for blood; the blood of the whales and their bones.

I wanted to incorportate glass into my pieces, and this was the perfect way to start the process. The glass represents the sea sinking the boat.

four of a series of five

After reading Ahab's wife and swimming with humpback whales in Tonga. I was driven to look at the relationship between boats and whales, particularly whale bones. In this group I am trying to convey the destruction of the boats by the whales. The Whales sending a warning to other boats, with their bones. Swimming with the whales was a turning point moment in my life.

whales vs boats

This is the last series I worked on, and I am looking forward to expanding when I get back.

scarification

This is to represent the ritual of scarification, and how womyn mark their bodies. To represent ritual passages from young girl to woman, and acts of beautification.

Here is what I do in pottery, this is part of a series of female torso's that I did. 

trying my hand at some other art form

Most of you know that I am also an artist, I love doing sculpture in clay. Well there is no clay body available in Tonga, so now I am trying my hand at drawing. Here are my first two rough sketches of ideas I would like to continue to expand into something???. I have always had a fasination with bamboo, so I thought that would be a good place to start.


 

Our weekend

We spent the weekend pulling weeds and visiting family. We also went swimming this weekend, it was fabulous being in the ocean. Got a little burnt, even though I wore 45 spf that is water resistant and reapplied it 3 times.

Jay

Stan gathering fruit

Find waldo (Stan) he is hunting and gathering

Another beautiful flower 

Stan and is brother Sepa 

me and Soana riding in the car 

water anyone water

Did I mention it is hot

Soana helping me weed

Soana

It took me forever but I did it....PICTURES!!!

Well I finally figured it out and now I can go picture crazy!!!! I am good; I am no longer nauseated. I was in the shade all day yesterday and got a bit pink, so that will teach me a lesson the sun is everywhere. I am surprisingly filling my days, people keep asking me if I am bored yet, and my answer is no. I have access to a lot of amazing books, Stan and I go for our date night to a movie, and of course I am busy with energy mirrors. Stan and I are going to go swimming tonight which I am totally excited about! I must start to do some art that part I am really missing.

Love and laughter Jay

Ana (Stan's sister) and tua ofa with her favorite meal; peanut butter and bread. 

Some of the wild life here. I would get up each morning wondering who's little poohs were on the kitchen table? Then one night I was sitting at the table playing cards and all of a sudden came a pooh from the sky (ceiling) and here is my answer! It is gecko pooh. 

The Master weaver, Lotiola Stan's mom 

weaving, this will be 60 feet long and 7 feet wide by the time it is done. 

more orchids 

orchids that just grow in the hedge 

The cat that did not know how to sit in a lap, that now expects it 

Stan and the girls 

Me with some color 

My first week

I have been in Tonga for a week now and it has been busy. Stan took Thursday and Friday off last week so we could hang out. We went into town and bought some supplies for me. I was feeling a bit under the weather on Tuesday it may be because I got up at 6am Monday morning for a run and my body went into shock. I really think the reason is my body is trying to adjust to the weather and the food. It is so hot and humid; I am sweating, as I take a shower, just not right!!! Well so far I have gone to an ub40 concert, which was great, they had it in an outdoor stadium. I have gone to my first of I am sure many Tongan funerals. Family and people from villages come to the deceased families home and pay their respects, say goodbye to the body and eat. The women present the family with a ngatu which is a cloth that is made from the bark of a mulberry bush that is hand painted.You go into the room where the dead person is you present the cloth at the coffin and then you kiss the body. I choose to skip the kissing part, he wasn't looking to good, beyond being dead! This happens all day and then at about 5pm they take the body to the church, have a service and then walk the body to the cemetery, which was about 1 mile away.

Stan I went to a movie last night at the new ‘state of the art” movie theatre, we saw a vampire flick. I am still suffering nausea, which I think is from the heat. I went to the capital with a friend Brian who is a Peace Corp worker here in the village. He teaches at the girl’s primary school. We went to a yoga class, it was nice to stretch my body, the only benefit of the heat here is that I am more supple. I will take some pictures over the weekend so I can add them to the blog. My goal is to do a weekly update so check in regularly.

Plane Ticket Bought !!!

Well I finally bought my ticket I depart the 28th of February and get to Tonga the 2nd of March.  I completely lose Wednesday some where over the pacific.  I have some exciting news; it seems we will not be in Tonga long.  Stan was offered a job at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji, he has accepted the job and they are finalizing the details over the next few weeks.  I don’t know when we will be relocating but as soon as I know I will post it.    

I had my last pottery class a week ago that was weird.  I know that I am not going back but at the same time I feel like it is not ending.  Denial is probably at hand here; I don’t want to really think about not having my hands in clay.  I especially don’t want to think about the amazing women I will miss, their encouraging words in so many areas of my life.  They have promised they will keep me up to date with the movie and book reviews. I miss the belly laughs, hugs, and the wise influence of the group.  Till we meet again girls, keep up the amazing work and send me pictures.  

I have finally set a date

I have finally set a date to go to Tonga; I will be leaving the last week of February.  I know Stan would rather have me there in January but I just have too much to get ready to leave that soon.  I am now starting to gather stuff for my journey, things like peanut butter is really expensive so I am stocking up on Costco supplies and adding it to the crate I am sending.  I am also winding down my responsibilities at the clinic, and helping Bobbie with the managerial duties she will be taking over when I leave. I have started saying some goodbyes to friends that I won’t be able to see before I go, I feel like I will need a box of Kleenex attached to me for the next couple of months.  It is hard to believe the departure date is just around the corner, I have been talking about going for so long that I am sure people were starting to think I would never leave.