Random musings of two U.S. professionals living in Tonga, then China and now … Balikpapan, Indonesia.
View Larger Map News can be a bit slow getting here, but Sam and I have recently been informed of the category 5 cyclone (“hurricane” for Americans), Cyclone Ian, that hit Tonga’s Ha’apai island group on January 11 with winds of up to 178 miles per hour.
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This post will cover my experience applying to the Writer’s Digest Self Publishing e-Book Awards contest, along with the end result which I will get to shortly. But first, an introduction: Back when I was still in Tonga, I started a micro-publishing company called Penelope Pipp and published two works through the imprint: a memoir penned…
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It has been weeks since a post has gone up, mostly due to laziness, but also due to the strange clumps of vacation time Sam has had to fit in before the end of the year, lest he lose it. Solution? Plane jaunts to Shanghai and another to the Yunnan province in southwest China. Both…
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You know the the drill: If you were stranded on a desert island with only one thing, what would it be? What book? CD? Movie? (Yes, smarty, fine. Pretend you’re on an island with Gilligan’s professor and use your imagination here!) Would your survival item be duct tape or a Swiss army knife? If you…
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The shape of the fish hook is found throughout Tongan crafts: wood carvings, bone pendants, and the like. The designs fluctuate somewhat, but inevitably carry a fluid, almost tattoo-like shape, with embellishments placed here and there. While I always thought the designs were beautiful, it wasn’t until one artisan selling these hooks explained to me the symbolism behind…
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What’s Tapa? Tapa-making is a traditional art form whereby the inner bark of certain trees is softened and pounded into sheets of cloth, then bound together using natural starches such as root crop. The tapa making tradition is found all across Oceania, but due to the labor-intense nature of its production, the craft has largely…
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Today’s guest post is from Amy, who recently delivered a beautiful baby girl named ‘Iva in Nuku’alofa’s public hospital. I asked if she would be willing to share her very unique story, and happily, she has agreed to do so! So without further ado, here is Amy’s post. March 27, 2013 I initially came to Tonga…
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It has been a month since my last post — about time to add something new! So, Sam and I left Tonga on February 23rd, and due to the magic of time zones, arrived the same day in the US-of-A. It is wonderful to see friends and family members on the gulf coast (where we…
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Woohoo! I received an unexpected email today informing me that my book Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen had been nominated for and won The Indie Book of The Day Award. That was a happy surprise. Of course due to my being in a crazy time zone, as well as my slow adaptation into the…
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