Our Small Planet

As previously mentioned, our neighbors John and Angie have a now-three months+ old baby. Angie's mom came from Christchurch, NZ, where she lives to meet her first grandchild and to help with the baby. I'll call her "Helen" to make following this story easier.

On Sunday, "Helen" went with us and "Raffish" to Ports O Call for the champagne brunch and the free harbor tour which at this time of the year is a whale watch with the stout little boat going out beyond the breakwater in search of our huge friends. "Helen" was like a little kid, running back and forth across the deck at every cry of "Thar she blows!" Clearly, she was enjoying herself.

But then ... Monday the 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch. Next door didn't know about it (yes, a three month old baby can distract three fully-grown adults) until I e'd them about it.

And then ... "Helen's" youngest son turned up missing. He hadn't called his Dad (who also lives in Christchurch) which was unusual behavior on his part. His cell phone rang and rang; no answer. All were worried until about 3:15 a.m. here, they learned he was safe via Facebook of all things! His cousin had found him. He and his girlfriend are now at Dad's.

From a news report sent us by a good friend, I learned that there is a "ring of fire" that runs from Chile, up to Alaska and then on into the Pacific. There are some 14,000 earthquakes per year in this "ring of fire" but only about 150 of them are felt by the residents. Of those, fewer than 10 do major damage. Still, 150 earthquakes in a 365 day year -- you do the math. I'll be moving.

When I told this tale to my sister, she wrote back that there are all kinds of ironies and she cited growing up during the Cold War (we hated the Russians, youngsters) and then, much later, hosting a Russian couple in her house! Her husband's work took him frequently to Russia and he became friendly with a Russian guy he met through business. Today the two men stay in touch via computer. Jim types in English, the computer translates it into Russian for the other guy and vice-versa. How cool is that? Michelle would probably appreciate it if I used it when I e her in French. But I'm not going to do that. Perfect French would startle her far too much.