August 9, 2018

It has been far too long since I posted something.  Who knows where the time goes!  So, finally, spurred on by my friend Clare Booker, here is an update:

On the work front, my children's class is full and I have a new class made up of Mobiltel employees.  Mobiltel is the mobile phone arm of Sri Lanka Telecom.  There are only 3 of them, maybe 4 in the future.  They are a good group and it is interesting to see how a large mobile phone provider operates.

I continue to make trips to the neighboring town to my dentist.  It is worth the trip as he is very good. The crown will go on my implant in September.  It looks like I might also need a crown on one of my wisdom teeth that he did a root canal on a couple of years ago.  A big piece has chipped off the tooth and although it does not hurt as there are no nerves left there, it should be attended to.

My dress maker has also become one of my students as has her daughter and soon one of her sons.  She has a friend who has a small batik factory in her home in Ampitiya, south east of Kandy, so we went out to visit her.  She does lovely work.  Most of the batik still done in Sri Lanka is very traditional, with a lot of it used for wall hangings and table linens.  This woman is doing saris and cloth for dresses with modern patterns.  We bought enough to make 3 full length kaftans, and 3 dresses all for LKR.7500 (C$60).  I bought all the fabric, so Anu did the sewing for nothing.  She did a great job, using the fabric to make funky designs.

We have continued the tradition by going out to a small handloom factory due east of Kandy in Balagolla operated by Kolanka.  I think they do the best handloom that I have seen in the country.  The factory has about 50 looms producing cloth for clothing, upholstery, table runners and place mats, etc.  We got some lovely dress fabric and I placed a special order for new upholstery for my sofas.  It is now almost 6 years old and the various cats have used it sorely.

One of the workers reloading the weft shuttle for a loom.  The thread comes from India.

My friend Mahendra Sharma from Delhi came to stay for a couple of days at the end of June.  It was good to catch up with him with the added bonus that he brought me glass bangles from Old Delhi.  Seems you cannot get glass bangles outside of India anymore.  Everywhere I have looked over the years, everything is plastic.  No substitute for the real thing.  They are works of art.

While Mahendra was here, my friend Judith Smith did a slide show presentation of her trip to Vietnam.  We worked together to compile it.  It was interesting.  She did the presentation at a small hotel called Melheim which is right beside her house in Hirasegalle.  The venue was good.  The food, however, was nothing exceptional.  Rice and curry with insufficient fruit for dessert.

On the animal front, the kittens have been neutered.  I took both of them in together.  Better to have to starve them only once and confine the use of a litter box to just one week.  They have both bounced back well and are back causing as much mischief as they can.

Baby and Putha (pre-surgery) sleeping in the hanging chair

A previously untouched cushion has become a favourite.  Putha is leading the pack.

Nangi stretching out to her full length.  She is still the smallest of the bunch.

I have been forced to cover the cushion as Buddy has decided to follow Putha's lead.

All cats seem to love Tina Tarantula.  Here's Nangi using her as a pillow.

My "Fatty Arbuckle", Aya cleaning himself.  He now has some alopecia on his back that I am worried may be caused by hypothyroidism as he is also very fat.  I have been putting coconut oil on it and am watching it carefully.

Baby and her two babies.  They were still nursing even after their surgeries.

Putha and Nangi sleeping between my legs.

Putha having a sleep while Aya is in the background with his legs in the air.

Everyone but Baby napping on my bed.

Putha and Buddy sleeping together.  All the cats get along except Baby and Buddy.  He keeps trying to play with her, but she just starts growling.

Putha has the loveliest face.

During Sinhala/Tamil New Year, which is at the beginning of April, it is the tradition to buy new clothes.  I always do this for Veenitha and her daughter, but I wait until after the actual new year so that the crowds have died down and the sales are on.  This year we didn't manage to get this shopping done until mid-July.  Better late than never.  It has also been some time since I saw Veenitha's daughter.  The last time I saw her, she was a skinny gangly looking thing even though she was 23 years old.  Now she is 26 and has filled out into a beautiful young woman.

One of the ladies who is a member of film club has recently moved back to England after having undergone a litany of marital problems.  There was a farewell do for her which I attended.  All the usual suspects were there and it was a pleasant evening.

Kandy night life has picked up with the addition of jazz nights offered once every month or two at a lovely guest house called Atelier.  A quartet comes up from Colombo and plays standard jazz. They are doctors, lawyers and accountants in their day jobs, but can really groove.  It is as good as anything I have heard.  The setting is lovely with the venue having been designed by the owner who is an architect.  There are lots of enclosed gardens so that the outside and the inside meld.

Another of my friends recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.  Patrick is Dutch while Sanjika is Sri Lankan.  They have two lovely daughters who could be walking runways in Paris or Milan.  They put on one of the best parties I have ever gone to at the Earl's Regent Hotel.  A wonderful slide show showing their life since their meeting, a song written and performed by the girls, speeches, fabulous food including a wedding cake, party favors, an open bar, and dancing.

Patrick and Sanjika with their fabulous cake made by the woman at whose house they were married 25 years ago.

The porte cachere at the Earl's Regent.

The elephants are magnificent.

On Sunday last, the Kawasakis had a lunch party for a family from Connecticut who were in Sri Lanka for one of their sibling's weddings.  There were a whole lot of them; 3 generations in fact.  The reason for the party was that the patriarch is friends with a good friend of the Kawasakis and is also a Buddhist. The attraction for me was that they had brought a suitcase full of goods from the US.  Every expat who lives here has a list of things they cannot get here.  Every time someone comes from the west, requests are sent for some or all of these things to brought over.  This family was kind enough to bring everything we had asked for.

I am smack in the middle.  To my right is the family with Michael, the patriarch on the far right and Ken Kawasaki squatting in front.  To my left are the locals with my good friends Rushma Mohamed and Michael Fronczak immediately beside me.  Visakha Kawasaki is second from the end and the other white woman was visiting from Australia.  The rest of the people are the driver on the extreme left and his family.

So that is the full catch up except for the wonderful fruit and vegetable season we are having.

Another cornucopia.  From left to right:  ash plantain, sweet peppers, bread fruit, jumbu or rose apple, pomelo, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, watermelon, cauliflower, mangosteen, avocado, tomatoes, and rambutan.

Tambili or king coconut, coconut, potatoes, garlic, Bombay onions, ginger, and scallions.

August is Perahera season when we typically have rain.  It is living up to its reputation as rain is falling as I write.  The temperature is warm and pleasant though, so life is good.