marshall islands

The Marshall Islands came up several times last weekend, first on Thursday night when R and I were looking at the hazy world map over my bed without our glasses on. He discovered Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, and I then told him of my recent interest in the ports of the Caspian Sea and the concrete dome on Runit Island.

(This 350' diameter concrete dome covers radioactive debris leftover from the U.S. military's nuclear tests. For scale, those dots on the dome are people. This dirty finger is just one link in a necklace of coral islands comprising Enewetak atoll. I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia entry on atolls if you would like to restore your awe at the grandeur of the universe. Also, coral reef, lagoons, shoals, and century plants.)

The Marshall Islands came up again on Saturday afternoon when Anne told a story about how she was two weeks from flying out for a yearlong teaching job there when she learned that her mother was very ill. She canceled her plans to tend to her.

It is total cliche for one to imagine places like the Marshall Islands when blogs, bikes, online underwear shopping, and viola jokes fail to distract one from the drudgery of daily office work. This aside, the Sargasso Sea, trebuchets, the franking privilege, and ETAOIN SHRDLU are also items of interest.