Alright. For all you landlubbers, a new toilet may not be news enough to post about in a new blog post. However, for anyone who has ever used a marine head (toilet), you will appreciate this. With an ordinary manual head, one must go through a series of flipping a switch from wet to dry interspersed with a number of hand pumps on a handle next to the head. We have three separate heads (and showers) on this boat (more than we really need and more that will require some dirty maintenance). Well, this week we have installed a brand new electric head. One just does his/her business and push a button on the wall next to the head… and you’re done! Woohoo!!

The old manual head sitting on the dock.

Installation of the new head underway.

Our electric head! Pumping handles and flipping switches replaced by one brief push of the button seen on the wall beside the head.

Speaking of doing one’s business, here are some birds who obviously use the pilings next to Beatitude for their marine toilet.

Mr. Pelican

Maybe someone can tell me what kind of bird this is?

Lastly, here is a new decorative item for our boat. I am finishing up teaching a 3-month course on The History of Christian Art. Two weeks ago, I mentioned how much I loved a painting by a French Rococo painter, Jean Honoré Fragonard. Carlos DeLeon Campos, a wonderful artist from Guatemala and a good friend of ours who has been attending the class, presented me with his interpretation of Fragonard’s A Young Girl Reading. It is magnificent!

A Young Girl Reading, Carlos DeLeon Campos’ interpretation of Jean Honoré Fragonard.

A Young Girl Reading in our Salon