August 26, 2016

What I thought was a bandicoot digging up the bank turns out to be a mongoose.  The other day, I put out some food scraps for the pigs and a lovely mongoose turned up to eat them instead.

Just a dark shadow here

Then this morning there was a hell of a screeching noise and the cat was really agitated.  Turns out it was a Crested Serpent Eagle with a Green Vine snake wrapped around its ankle.  Another bird came to try to help it, a Black Eagle, I think, but it wouldn't stand for it.  It flew off the branch of the mango tree it was screeching in to the ground and then into the undergrowth.  I thought that the snake was poisonous and the bird would die.  Turns out the snake is mildly venomous, not enough to kill such a big bird.  The bird killed it and then ate it off its leg and flew away.

Screeching in the mango tree

On the road

Crested Serpent Eagle is endemic to Sri Lanka

Green Vine Snake

Black Eagle  Not really sure if this was the good samaritan or not but it was certainly this big.

Got some uguressa fruit from my neighbour the other day and made jam first with orange juice and then with fresh passion fruit juice.  Delicious!  You prepare it like cranberry sauce.  Just wonderful.

Uguressa

August 17, 2016

Today is a poya day and the end of the Perahera.  I am urging everyone to boycott the Perahera in future until something is done about the abuse the elephants are suffering.  Surely in this day and age, there are other alternatives for a parade than mistreating elephants, especially by Buddhists.

On a happier Buddhist note, it was Ken Kawasaki's 70th birthday, so we went to Vijirarama Monastery to offer Danne to the monks.

Chanting in the prayer hall.  On the far right in red robes is a Canadian nun ordained in the Tibetan tradition.  She is on her way to Bodhgaya to study for 5 years.  

Novices

Offering Danne of kiri hodhi which is coconut milk and potato essentially.  Wets the kiribaht (milk rice) and string hoppers.

Visiting monk from the US.  He gave a very apt lesson about earning merit in this life in order to ascend to a higher level in the next life on the road to Nirvana

Chief Monk

Deputy Chief Monk

Visakha receiving her nuwal (sacred thread).  The string is held by everyone receiving blessings during the chant.  The string is then tripled, a knot is tied in the middle and then tied to the wrist while more chants are uttered.  You wear the string until it drops off.

Veenitha's turn

Now mine.  We are in white as that is traditional when going to the temple.

Now Mike

It was a very early morning.  We were back at the Kawasaki's for breakfast by 8 and finished by 9.

It is woodapple season, so we bought a bunch and made jam.  Lovely.

On the tree.  They are as hard as cricket balls and about the same size.  If one hits you, it could do real damage.

Once you break the hard shell, the pulp is very fibrous and seedy.  You have to boil it and then put it through a sieve to get the pulp out.

We have happy news in our garden as well.  A couple of red vented bulbuls have built a nest in the verbena and are tending eggs.

The nest

The last picture is taken with my new phone.  It takes great photos.

The arrival of the eggs is great news as the bank is being dug up by a very large bandicoot.  We are going to have to strew moth balls all over the slope to discourage the beast.  I am afraid the bank may collapse in the next big rain.

Basically a big fucking rat

And of course the usual cat pic.

Lying beside me in bed

August 4, 2016

Y'all must think I have croaked.  It has been so long since I updated this blog.  Still alive and kicking with lots to report.

On July 3 my friend Billy Thenakoon has Purple Party to celebrate her 40th birthday.  Everyone dutifully complied with the purple edict and a good time was had by all.  Wonderful local cuisine prepared by Billy's nephew and Sylvia.

Posing in the photo booth.

A few days later on July 6, 4 of us left for Habarana which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Kandy.   It was an outing hosted by the lovely and generous Deanne Dallas for the art group.  We were myself, Deanne, Judith Smith and Ava Billings.

We stayed at the Cinnamon Lodge which was quite lovely.  

Ava and I shared a room.  Here she is awaiting Deanne and Judith for some bubbly before dinner. 

Judith, Deanne and Ava 

There are two resorts side by side on a very large property which means that there are many non-human residents.

A very large langur monkey that is a permanent resident.  Just sitting around on a table in the dining room.

At first I thought she was scared as she kept hiding behind a pillar and peeking out at me.  But one of the waiters told me she a regular and that she was just playing.

Relaxing by the pool.

A tree squirrel.  It may not seem like it here, but they are as big as a small dog.

Of course, there was the usual crop of resus monkeys.  A troop of about 30 with lots of babies.  The jack trees were in fruit with lots of low hanging goodies that the babies were tearing into.

There is a beautiful big pool, but I only managed to swim once as they were either cleaning it or there were too many people in it.  The place was full.  Anton, our driver said there were 70 drivers in the drivers' quarters.

On the Thursday, Deanne, Judith, Anton and I went to Ritigala Forest Monestary.  This is an ancient historical site which surprisingly is free for locals.  We set out on what seemed a fairly easy walk.  The first thing you come to is a dried out and overgrown water tank.

The tank is thought to  have been built in the 3rd century B.C. during the golden age of reservoir building.  

Clearly the tank has been dry for a long time judging from the size of the plants growing inside it.

Good view of how they broke the stones to build.  They essentially perforated the edge of the slab and then broke it off.

Once we were past the reservoir things got a lot tougher.  With Anton's help we could have made it with some effort, but just then my shoe broke, so I could not go on.  Deanne also gave up as she broke her ankle badly a couple of years ago and was worried about damaging it again.  Judith and Anton went on for a bit but came back before they reached the hospital level.  Good thing too because Judith's legs were shaking so badly by the time we got back to the tank, I thought she was going to collapse.  Will take better shoes next time to make it to the top.

So the off resort adventures were limited.  No matter as the resort had everything we wanted including the most fabulous buffets.  We ate very well and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Thank you Deanne!

Apart from that it has been the usual:  swimming, book club, film club, art group, etc.

I have having a lot of experience with my Apple products.  The hard drive on my 27" iMac died so I had to have it replaced.  I got a 1TB SATA drive installed for LKR.9,000, about C$80.  Then I had decided that really needed a new iPhone as I had been using one of the original 3Gs.  I had asked my friend Sandy who is coming to visit in October to bring me a new iPhone SE, but he declined as the warranty is only good in the country of purchase.  They do sell them here, but they are almost double the price in Canada.  So in the end, I bought a refurbished 5S for LKR.39,000, about C$325 with a 6 month warranty.  Probably the last phone I will have to buy in my life.  It is great.

Then the batteries in my 2 iPads had both gone, so I had them replaced.  So now I am fully functional and current again, although a bit poorer.  However, a new iPhone SE would have cost LKR.79,000 for the 64 GB.  I got the new hard drive for my computer, 2 iPad batteries and a iPhone 5S 32 GB all for LKR.60,500, so I am still money ahead and everything is taken care of.

I have also been working on a new project with a friend.  We are going to open an English language training institute in the Central Province.  We are calling it the School of Functional English.  We are currently developing the curriculum along with the employment contracts, job descriptions and proposals.  A boys school close to where we both live (he lives around the corner from me) has already expressed interest in our coming in to train their 700 primary school students and their teachers.  Schools are on holiday at the moment, but we should have it pinned down by September.  

There is a real need for effective and affordable English language training.  Since the introduction of the Sinhala Only Act in 1956, Sri Lanka has fallen behind by more than 2 generations in its ability to compete effectively in the south Asian region let alone the world.  The government curriculum is woefully inadequate and even if it were alright, there is virtually no-one to deliver it.  The only effective English training has been through the British Council (empire through language is what I call it) but they charge outrageous fees.  There are some alternatives to the British Council in Colombo, but nothing in the Central Province.  So the terrain is bare and just waiting for us to plant it.

Patches continues to variously enchant or enrage.  On the enchantment side, she has taken to sleeping with Sally Seal (my harbour seal cub puppet).  She punches Sally around like a pillow until she gets her in the correct position.

I know, I am cat obsessed.

On the enraging side, she has been crawling under the roofing sheets of the house next door that has been sold and is in the process of being renovated.  She gets in there and then forgets how to get out until I go over there and call her name.  Then she follows the sound of my voice until she makes her  way out of the labyrinth.  

Further on the critter front, I was walking home the other day after my tuktuk broke down nearby.  It was hot, so I was just strolling along when I noticed something moving beside me.  A rat snake!  He noticed me about the same time I noticed him.  I was a little freaked out, but really he was minding his own business slithering along at about my pace.  Once he saw me, he sped up and then started trying to find ways up the walls to get away from me.  He tried two or three times with no luck until he found a hole in a wall to get through.  He was about 5' long.  I was surprised at how calm we both were.  A few years ago, I would have been screaming.