May 25, 2008 - Port Vila

I always appreciate it when our readers let me know that I've messed up a fact or made a grammatical error. But don't you all think you are getting a bit cheeky when you feel you can criticize our sartorial decisions?

We received the picture above from a friend with the instruction to " . . . put a real hat on that boy."

The other day I made the mistake of letting Sten go to the local hardware store on his own. Later, when he met up with me in the grocery store, he sheepishly had one hand tucked behind his back. I caught a glimpse of pastel colors and thought that perhaps he'd bought me a bunch of flowers. But no.
He bought himself a huge, garish lure to try to hook a marlin. The waters around Vanuatu are teaming with game fish. He's been checking out lures like this the past few months in New Zealand but couldn't justify the expense. When he found this one for 1/3 the NZ price in Port Vila, he just couldn't resist the temptation. What I want to know is what he thinks he's going to do with anything he catches on this thing. Big lures catch big fish. As it is, we struggle to land some of the things we hook on our 6 inch lures. But even so, we have a better chance of landing a giant marlin than the Cubs do of winning the World Series.