It rained HARD all day on Saturday. We made a quick trip into town to go to the US Mini-Mart. Their shipment from America arrived and we wanted to stock up on a lot of things. I bought 3 packages of chocolate chips! I hope I can make them last. I also bought a 3 lb package of walnuts. It cost me $45.00!!! It still takes my breath away just to think about it, but in the end it is cheaper than having someone ship them from America. The owner of the store told us that he buys a case of Shasta in America for $4.00. He has to pay to ship it here and then it costs him $8.00 a case to get is off the dock. He has to add his profit to that total cost to make any mony, so pop here is VERY EXPENSIVE. The government makes more money on his food than he does and he does all the work. It really is sad and just about impossible for the people here to get ahead. He spent $50,000.00 to buy food in America, $5,000.00 to ship it here, $22,000 pa’anga duty to get it off the dock and we spend hundreds of dollars a week to buy it and eat it. I am going to go crazy in the grocery store when I get home and I used to complain about the cost of food there.
Saturday, the 31st of August is the last day of winter in the South Pacific. Somehow that just doesn’t sound right to me. I have been enjoying the cooler weather. Today it was actually down in the 60’s. People were bundled up in heavy winter coats. We did pull out our jackets but mostly because it was raining, it wasn’t that cold. I hope this cooler weather stays around for awhile. I know eventually we have a long HOT summer to look forward to.
The most important thing about today is that it is Addy’s Birthday!!!! What a precious little grand daughter she is. She is growing and changing so much and she is at such a fun age. She is really excited about her birthday. Her mom said that she chose Carl’s Jr. for her birthday dinner. (because she likes the slides there) We will call her tomorrow night, on her birthday in America, and find out what she ate and how she liked it. She is still at the age where she doesn’t have much to say on the phone but we want to sing to her and tell her how much we love her. We don’t want her to forget us!!!
