We have had such a great last few weeks and I've always got pictures to share...so I thought I'd create a blog for all to view at your leisure...it's kind of cool...and easier to post and share since we are so far away from civilization...being in the armpit of Alberta and all....
We had a great trip to Fiji and Australia and experienced life as a Fijian...not a tourist. We helped our good friends on their pearl farm by harvesting pearls from 1600 oysters. We never thought we'd get a close-up of such an amazing phenomenon! Oysters are hung on what are called "chaplets" and there are 10 oysters on each chaplet. The chaplets are retrieved from the water and cut from the rope and we clean off the barnacles and seaweed etc. before they are pried open and wedged so Chel and I can open them and retrieve the pearls. Some oysters drop their pearls early on, but most keep hold of them and produce a pearl of some sort or another. They can be perfect round, boroque (oblong or odd shapen), ringed, or keshi...the keshies are a-nuclei so they are the little tiny pearls that are still beautiful...but not big or round (actually, some are round...the size of what might become a nose ring...very tiny...but pretty). We will be working with them ongoing on the farm and I will be returning sometime this year to graft oysters. This entails opening the oysters yet again and strategically placing a nucleus in the right place, and then wrapping the bead in mantel (tissue from the living oyster) and this is the beginnings of a pearl. The pearls we harvested were in the water for about 18 months to 2 years. It takes a while. I think even better than the pearl harvesting, was the fact that we met and associated with so many amazing Fijians...we now have some new friends that mean a lot to us and it is truly amazing how simple life is for them and we realized after spending time in their world, just how fortunate we are to have refrigeration, running water, plumbing, beds, and NO COCK ROACHES!There is a branch on another island called Taveuni that we went by mid-week and saw some sisters there and waved and gave a friendly "bula". It was a real eye-opener for us and we are thankful for other things such as dry clothing and sheets...it is so humid there, you never really feel dry.
We had a great trip to Fiji and Australia and experienced life as a Fijian...not a tourist. We helped our good friends on their pearl farm by harvesting pearls from 1600 oysters. We never thought we'd get a close-up of such an amazing phenomenon! Oysters are hung on what are called "chaplets" and there are 10 oysters on each chaplet. The chaplets are retrieved from the water and cut from the rope and we clean off the barnacles and seaweed etc. before they are pried open and wedged so Chel and I can open them and retrieve the pearls. Some oysters drop their pearls early on, but most keep hold of them and produce a pearl of some sort or another. They can be perfect round, boroque (oblong or odd shapen), ringed, or keshi...the keshies are a-nuclei so they are the little tiny pearls that are still beautiful...but not big or round (actually, some are round...the size of what might become a nose ring...very tiny...but pretty). We will be working with them ongoing on the farm and I will be returning sometime this year to graft oysters. This entails opening the oysters yet again and strategically placing a nucleus in the right place, and then wrapping the bead in mantel (tissue from the living oyster) and this is the beginnings of a pearl. The pearls we harvested were in the water for about 18 months to 2 years. It takes a while. I think even better than the pearl harvesting, was the fact that we met and associated with so many amazing Fijians...we now have some new friends that mean a lot to us and it is truly amazing how simple life is for them and we realized after spending time in their world, just how fortunate we are to have refrigeration, running water, plumbing, beds, and NO COCK ROACHES!There is a branch on another island called Taveuni that we went by mid-week and saw some sisters there and waved and gave a friendly "bula". It was a real eye-opener for us and we are thankful for other things such as dry clothing and sheets...it is so humid there, you never really feel dry.
1 comment:
Amazing with all that you do that you have time to make a blog - which I have seen before but just now know what they are called. It's like the the word genre...all of the sudden there it was. Anywho I'm so glad you had an adventure before the adventure which you are now on. You guys are amazing to have a safe haven for others to thrive and grow - making of your own pearls there in the great white.
You know we love you all
The Mons
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