October 26, 2013

Sad news.  My little Dharma died at 1930 on October 25.  She had been sick after all the ant spraying, as had I.  I had thought that if I was as sick as I was, what could it be doing to her little body.  She was sick for a couple of days and then seemed to be alright.  Last Sunday night, she caught and ate a cockroach.  After that she was very listless and was eating little or nothing.  On Tuesday night I took her to the emergency at the veterinary hospital.  They couldn't do much as they don't have any real facilities at night.  They prescribed some drugs which I bought and tried to give her without much success.  By Thursday, she was really bad, so I took her back to the hospital.  She was severely dehydrated and had some compacted feces in her intestine.  They hydrated her and when I spoke with them last night at 1830, the doctor said they had given her an enema and that she had passed a little stool.  I thought we were out of the woods.  This morning I got a call saying they had given her a scan and had found hair balls in her GI tract. She then went into distress and they had to put her into the ICU.  She died at 1930.

She had such a short little life.  I miss her very much.  She was a lovely affectionate cat.  In my heart of hearts, I knew she would not live long as she had been so near death when I found her.  But I didn't expect her to go so quickly.  We only had 10 months together.

This is where she spent her last days at home with her friend Tina Tranchela. 

Thankfully, my friend Yvonne is with me from Colombo.  She was supposed to go back today, but she has delayed until tomorrow so that she could spend this sad day with me.  Good to have friends. 

We went out to the Mahaweli Reach Hotel to meet Sunali to get me out the house.  When I am here, I see Dharma around every corner.  I had a stiff vodka martini and feel a little better.  The sadness will come and go in waves.

October 20, 2013

This is what I found on the path beside my carport yesterday.  Are there any critters that I won't meet here?

Thankfully dead scorpion

October 16, 2013

Handy was here today to weed and clean up the garden.  After he was done, it was so nice that a chameleon  decided to sun himself.  He is very handsome. 

He really blends well with the bamboo.  That must be where he prefers to live.

October 15, 2013

Finally have something of interest to report.  Last Friday, HSBC hosted a dance recital and dinner for their Premier customers.  Amal is one and was kind enough to pass on the invitation.  His Mother, Manil, Shanti, Sunali and I represented him.  The featured group were the Chitrasena Dancers.  Amal had told me that they are the Bolshoi of Sri Lanka.  He was not kidding.  They were fantastic.  Their dancing was phenomenal even down to their eye movements.  The prima ballerina was an inspiration.  I came home and the next day started back on a regular exercise program.

The whole party was great.  Free booze and food that went on the whole night.  A band after dinner for dancing and a box of chocolates for everyone on the way out.  I don't know of banks in Canada that show their appreciation that way.  Mind you, HSBC can afford it.  The new CEO was there, and Irishman, saying that HSBC is the most profitable private bank in Sri Lanka.

The next night I was invited to go to Oktoberfest at one of the big hotels, but I didn't feel like spending the night with a bunch of drunken Sri Lanken men.  Very few people here know how to drink socially.  They drink to get drunk.  Not fun.

On Sunday, I went to my friend Mike's for a coffee party.  He had received some coffee from Belize and wanted to share it.  The coffee was great.  I took my espresso maker and had a very fine mellow cup of coffee.  I also took guacamole and Mike made apple fritters.  Plus the company was good, so all in all a good time.

Today I am off the the dentist.  I can't believe that 6 months has already gone by.  Almost one year since I came here.  Then over to Sunali's for dinner. 

Here is my latest work of art.

This is what I see when I sit at my pantry table for when I am taking meals on my own.  Got tired of looking at a blank wall.

Off to water the plants.  It has been stinking hot these days so the plants need lots of water.  My bougainvillea are finally blooming.  I had been giving them too much water.  Now with watering just once a week, they are bringing lovely blossoms.

October 9, 2013

Finally did something really exciting on Sunday last.  At this time of the year, there are elephant gatherings at watering holes all over the island.  No-one knows why they gather, but they come by the hundreds.  On Sunday, Amal organized a trip to Minneriya National Park to see the gathering there.  It was spectacular.  Beautiful cloudless day.  Our friend Gamini, who really organized the thing, estimated that we saw 175 elephants, including 2 big males in musth.  

When in musth, the males secrete a fluid from glands at the temple, about half way between the eye and ear.  You can smell it a mile away.  When they get to the herd which consists only of females and immature males, they go around sniffing all the adults to see if they are ready to mate.  We named them gynecologists.

The tanks at Minneriya are large and man made.  They serve as watering holes for elephants, jackals, water buffalo, monkeys, and lots of birds, all of which we saw.  We saw large brown pelicans, stilts, black headed stilts, rooks, cranes, and the most beautiful green bee eater.

Here are some pics.

Monkeys

A lone adolescent tusker

Green bee eater

Stilts

Black headed stilts

The smallest baby we saw

Spectacular sunset

The only fly in the ointment was when I got home, I couldn't find my phone.  Panic stations.  You have no idea how much you rely on your phone until you don't have it.  I don't even have a land line.  Thank god for Skype.  I called Amal on Skype and thankfully he found the phone on the seat of the car.  The next day, I Skyped my tuktuk man and went over to retrieve it.

I also went to pick up a package from the Kandy Central Post Office.  Apart from the fact that I showed up during the lunch hour when they are closed, it was quite an OK experience.  They still scribble everything in ledgers using carbon paper, but overall, it was pretty quick.

Continuing on with my arts phase, I did some Warli Art on the wall at the end of my car port.  Warli Art is a primitive art form that I think is quite decorative and easy to do.

October 5, 2013

Haven't blogged in a few days as Jayanthi has been here and I have had company and something to do.

Ant Wars seem to be over.  Still a few dead ones showing up.  Wars in Sri Lanka seem to last a long time.  Now we are onto the fleas.  I have been surprised that I have not had this problem before as this is the perfect climate for fleas and Dharma does socialize with other cats.  So I have found some natural remedies like white vinegar and aloe vera.  The vinegar I use all the time to wash the floors, windows, laundry, etc.  Now I will spray the furniture with a mild solution.  I have aloe vera growing, so I will make a solution and spray Dharma herself.  I bet she will love that.  Here are some pics of my baby.

Sleep among the puppets.

Sleeping with Sookie

On my bed spreading fleas.

 Jayanthi and I have been doing some Indian art.  She has been teaching me to do kolom.  It is an art form done with white and coloured powders.  Patterns are made on the floor with the powder either outside the front door or in puja rooms.  I got a kit years ago in India and only used it once and really didn't know what I was doing.  Jayanthi is really good at it.  She has collected a lot of traditional patterns and has invented some of her own.  It was a lot of fun and it looks great.  We did it in the Buddha room.  A bit of mixed religious metaphors, but after all Buddha was a Hindu before he invented Buddhism.

Jayanthi doing the initial lay out.

The finished product.  Buddha was smiling.

Close up

From overhead.

Then we had switched TVs, putting the big one in my bedroom as the distance is greater than the lounge.  The wall in the lounge looked so big with the smaller TV that I decided to do a chalk picture on it.  I chose Ganesha.  I did it myself and it came out really well, if I do say so myself.

Ganesha and his mouse

Doing this chalk art is great as all you have to do is erase the mistakes and wipe it out and redo it when you move.  Plus 3 big pieces of chalk cost only Rs.4.

I have come up with what I think is the best idea yet which is to make decorative cushion covers with materials from India.  We can embellish them with embroidery which Jayanthi can do very well and which I will learn, bead work which I can already do and fancy trim which is available in abundance in India.  I think we can market them to make some money and we will be busy in the meantime.  Jayanthi is going to India soon and will be able to scope out the fabrics and trim.

I finally found some pure cotton fabric yesterday to make a cute salwar kameez.  We took it right to the tailor.  The fabric and the stitching will cost me a grand total of $10.  You gotta love this country.  I also got some material for dupathas which I will embroider and applique to create some interest.  And I found some great fabric to make napkins which I will doctor with draw thread embroidery.  Something to do for the next little while.

The weather has turned hot and dry so it is time to water the plants.