PDX Christmas

Christmas had come and gone and I had a really great Christmas this year. Every year that I'm not in Saipan, I'm somewhere else in this world. This year, I decided to spend my first Christmas in Oregon. It was a quiet and private family Christmas, just the way I wanted it. The tree was beautiful.

I cooked for all day and I enjoyed every moment of it. The dinner was frantastic and the girls loved it.

We all went to church after dinner, mass only lasted an hour and 10 minutes compared to the Christmas masses in Saipan. How does that happen that Christmas mass can last for an hour and 10 in Oregon, but 2.5 hours in Saipan. I shouldn't be saying or comparing masses or I'll be condemned by family for doing so.

After church we opened gifts, there were at least 50 under the tree and another 15 in the stockings. It was fun being like a kid again.

I woke up on Christmas morning and it was sunny at 10:00 a.m. and snowing by 11:30 a.m... it was really just flurries. I took some video, but not long enough because I was glued to two NBA games on TV and after the Suns-Lakers game I looked outside and it was dark and rainy.

Tonight we're having dinner in Woodburn with some friends from Tinian and tomorrow, I'll be curled up in my warm bed, sleeping and definitely not worrying about work back in Saipan.

Merry Christmas!

Holidays Away from Home

Yesterday, I arrived in Oregon to spend the holidays with my family. It's so pleasing to be away from home for a little bit. I arrived early in Portland at 6:30 a.m. and it was still dark, but by the time I got out of the airport, the sun had risen. The first thing I did when I got home was crawl in bed and slept for 9 straight hours, then I went shopping for a bit but I had to go back home because I couldn't deal with traffic, crowds and cold weather, so I went back home, and crashed all over again.

This morning, I was reminded why I love the holidays away from home, gingerbread houses and everything is seasonal even the coffee. I woke up this morning to the great smell of Peet's Holiday Blend coffee, a bold blend of chocolate and berries. I also had slices of Panettone that I found at the World Market. One of my favorite stores second to Trader Joe's.

I'll take more pictures later on, I've been pretty lazy about doing anything! Well, I'm on vacation and I don't even feel like snapping my camera.

In Memory of the Broken Angel

Last summer, my friend Rachel and I watched a video entitled "Dave Chappelle's Block Party", it was the most boring flick I've ever seen. Dave Chappelle was having a block party on Downing Street in Brooklyn, New York right in front of a house called the Broken Angel. Rachel and I both became interested in the building's architecture which we thought was insane and it was just so funny to listen and watch the owners describe how they patched it together. On the video, they took Dave Chappelle on a tour of the house. You have to rent the video just to listen to them and go on the tour.

Last October, before Rachel moved to New York, we promised ourselves that if I ever come to visit her, our mission would be to find the Broken Angel in Brooklyn. In February this year, I went to visit Rachel and we made plans to go find the house. We got on the subway and went to Brooklyn and within 45 minutes we were standing in front of this masterpiece of junk. A building that violated every code in the book. It was such a treat for us to find it and to be standing right there in front of it.

The building seemed like it was under construction and the owners were no longer there when we came. The City had determined the house to be unsafe to live in when it caught on fire sometime last year.

A few weeks ago, I got a text from Rachel saying, "Fran, they're tearing down the Broken Angel"! I was sad to hear the news, but I'm happy that we were able to fulfill our mission in finding the house before it got torn down.

Staghorn City

I went out today to help the Marine Monitoring Team conduct benthic surveys down the south Saipan Lagoon. We swam from the shore to the reef.. whew! We started out with massive algae patches, then we were rewarded with spectacular beds of staghorns. We haven't been to this site in about four years and it has wildly bloomed throughout the back reef.

ThanksMas

This past weekend Off the Beaten Path held a benefit for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.


OBP President Fran Castro and Vice-President Frankie Eliptico.



Make-a-Wish representatives attended the event, Victor Camacho, Executive Director, Kathryn Barry and Vicky Benavente, Board Members. Also, two wish receipients attended the event, Rica Ada and Raykina Chong.

Harry Blalock donated some of his underwater photos, and he also attended the event.

Brad Ruszala and Patty Coleman were the master and mistress of ceremony.

We were all "off the beaten path" the next day. It was another fran~tastic event.

A Golden Celebration

A few weeks ago, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. It was a real special moment for myself and my family who traveled from afar to attend this occasion.

Peter and my friends joined in the celebration.

Congratulations Mom & Dad!