Yee Haw, I'm caught up!

     Chris, Amy and Diana are off snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef somewhere, and I got to stay back and catch up on my blogging.  Poor Kevin? Hardly.
     When friends travel there can be the problem of deciding what to do.  You don't want to step on each other's toes, a lot of ideas are put up for consideration, you break up into subcommittees, and then you start over again.
    I know that seeing the Reef was pretty high on Amy's list of things to do here in Oz.  But she didn't want to impose on us. For Chris, while not the biggest fan of snorkeling ("I'm always the last in the water and the first out"), he has a strong sense of curiosity, and  the trips we were considering all go out to small islands with sandy beaches and interesting flora   Plus some of the trips use sailboats for transport which would satisfy his desire to do a little sailing on the ocean.  But he too didn't want to split up the group.
     As for Diana and me, there is always the issue of money.  But Diana also is very interested in seeing the Reef and was ready to spend some of our budget on snorkeling.  Plus it would give Amy someone to swim with if Chris decided he'd had enough.
     Then there is me.  I love the water, I like swimming around in the sea and in waves and all that.  But I'm just not that into the underwater world.  I never have been.  I've been an avid consumer of National Geographic since I was a kid, and I usually read it from cover to cover. But when I come across an article about fishes and coral and other undersea curiosities I can barely interest myself to read the captions under the photos.  Sharks and whales and giant octopuses, yeah, but little fishies and pretty coral... yawn.
    And, if that isn't enough, one giant fact keeps me here enjoying Chris's beer and eating egg sandwiches with Tasty and vegemite and happily tapping away at the keyboard of our little netbook instead of swimmin' with the fishes.  Remember what kept me from stardom in Australian cinema?  Severe myopia.  You take a pair of eyes like mine, remove my glasses, slap some goggles on, and I can't tell a sea turtle from great white whale.  At least by sight.  When we went to Belize twenty some years ago I had gotten an old pair of my glasses, removed the ear pieces, and glued them into a set of goggles.  Worked pretty well, but that rigging is long lost.
     So we agreed, how about everyone do what they really want to do, and we're all pretty happy with the decision (well, I don't know about the others, they're not back yet and maybe they had a miserable time).
     So here I sit, lamb curry simmering on the stove waiting for their return, and me about ready to publish the last bit of writing before the eclipse.  I'll let Diana post about her day, Chris promised to take photos for me.  Hope they're having a great day.
     The weather has been as variable as it could possibly be.  There have been at least five periods of good strong rain, all interleaved with bright sunny skies.  We'll have to wait to see what tomorrow brings, but I'm excited either way.  We've been to three eclipses up to now, two were clear and the one in England overcast (figures).  But even that one was exciting, seeing the moon shadow pass over the clouds above us, the day turning instantly to night, the birds confused and the people whooping and hollering.  We'll have way more people, and birds, to share this experience with tomorrow morning, so it'll all be good.  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.