October 19, 2019

Apart from the trip to Anuradhapura and the weddings, things have been going pretty much as usual.  We have been getting a lot of rain including a couple of mega storms.  I have never seen so much rain fall so fast.  Of course, when you want the rain to fall, it never does, or at least not as heavily as you need.

One of our so called gardeners was here clearing the front bank of the innumerable vines that grow and choke out the plants your want to cultivate.  He accidentally stepped on the main water intake pipe for the entire property.  Thankfully, he broke it below the valve so that it was possible to close it off so that water was not gushing out for hours on end.  As usual, he claimed he could fix it.  He started in on it and of course made it worse than before he started.  Finally, I had enough and phoned the water board as it is their pipe.  They said they were in the area and would be right there.  This was 1430.  At 1730, they called to say they were by the co-operative store which is about 3 minutes away by car.  They finally showed up at 1930 in the pitch dark without a flashlight and no matches or newspaper.  They use the burning newspaper to melt the pipe so they can fit it over another pipe.

Tula was having a dinner party for her newly married granddaughter and husband, so I had to interrupt the party to go and hold the torch for the water board guys, give them matches and newspaper.  However, can't complain as they fixed the problem the same day when we had thought they would not show up until the next morning.

In the meantime, there was no water for 5 hours.  I had not had a shower and was attending the dinner in the evening, so I decided to take advantage for the rain that arrives every afternoon between 1400 and 1730.  It started raining nicely so I got out there with my soap and got lathered up.  Much to my chagrin there was a steady rain, but no downpour to wash the soap off.  I got underneath the broken down pipe and managed to get enough water to rinse off.  The rain abated so I gave up.  When it started raining again, I went out again to rinse off as I wasn't sure I had gotten all the soap the first time.  No downpour again, but enough of a rinse that I could dress and go to dinner.  Had a full shower before going to bed just in case.

Bathing in the rain was fun.  I have not done that since I went sailing with my friends Beth and Thom Wilson in the Bahamas in the late 1970s.  We had to bath in salt water and wait for the rain to rinse the salt off.

After all these years, I finally made it up to Michael's place at Samatha Suwaya.  It is a yoga/meditation/wellness centre started by Michael and Banthe Sujatha.  Michael built it from scratch.  It is lovely.  You can check it out on any of the big travel sites.

I have been making the usual trips to the dentist.  Two big pieces fell off one of my wisdom teeth.  I am losing my wisdom in bits.  I went to have it looked at and ended up with another root canal and two new crowns.  I was supposed to go for an extraction two weeks ago, but the poor dentist has dengue fever.  There is a real epidemic of dengue here again.  The hospitals are overflowing.

I managed to see Jenna a few times before she went back to the US after the weddings, including an overnight at my place.  Such an interesting woman.  She ghost writes, writes in her own right and travels all over.

Just for something different to do, I went to a fashion show and high tea at the Grand Kandyan.  The fashion show was crap, although the female models were real professionals.  The men looked scared and constipated.  The show was put on by a young woman whose parents own The Olive, a low grade clothing store.

Apart from a bad joke made by the Colombo based MC, who praised Kandyans for being on time; Kandyans are never on time.  Even in this case, the ticket said 1700.  They wouldn't even let us into the room until 1730 and people were streaming in even after the show began.  The highlight was the food and the unexpected friends I met there.

All yummy, but no strawberries to dip in the chocolate fountain.

Me with my friends Clare and Devika who I had planned to go with.  In front are Corrie who I met for the first time and Lillian.

It is surprising that I had no met Corrie before.  She has been living in Sri Lanka for almost a decade. Born to a Sri Lankan mother, she spent most of her life in Germany and returned to Sri Lanka when here husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's.  She felt that they could afford his care better here.  She built a magnificent house called Masada which her website, www.masada.lk describes as a Tuscan villa on the banks of the Mahaweli River.  It is indeed beautiful but she is quite isolated now that her husband is gone.

My friend, student and seamstress Anushka and her daughter Nuwangi were also there along with my computer guy, Chanaka.  It was nice to get out and see people.

My friend Rosalie is back for her second 3 month stint in Sri Lanka.  She is an American who spends 3 months in Kolkata, 3 months in Kandy, 3 months in California and 3 months in New Jersey.  She has been going to Kolkata for 19 years to teach destitute children in the slums there.  She has founded a charity called Empower the Children.  If you are interested in helping, you can go to their website empower-children.org.  She is one of those people who I feel I have known for years despite having only met her recently.  We have been going out for meals and watching movies.  It is so nice to talk to someone who shares similar cultural experiences.

All the rain has brought out the monsoon critters.  Some good, some bad, but all interesting.  The really bad ones are the leeches.  I have had two attach themselves to me, a few on my bed brought in by the cats.  I got one out of Putha's mouth before it latched on.  Nangi was bitten by one and got blood all over the place.  The other horrible ones are the scorpions and the centipedes.

This is a whip scorpion which is really a kind of spider.  Not venomous and therefore harmless to larger insects and animals but still scary ugly.

A stick insect.

Frogs of all sizes from almost invisible ones to large almost toad like things are all over the place.  You can hear them singing at night.  One was unfortunately killed by the cats and had to be disposed of.

Waiting to be chucked into the jungle.

I missed and he ended up suspended in the clove tree.

I managed to dislodge him from the clove tree with a broom only to have him land on the dieffenbachia below.  I gave up after that.  The ants and other scavengers took care of him.

I think this a half-toed gecko hiding behind a cabinet.

The monkeys have been at it as well, although they are too smart to come out in the pouring rain.

There are two mothers like this with very small babies still suckling.

The elephant ear caladium.

In flower.  The flowers look a lot like anthuriums.  Quite a few different caladiums in the garden are flowering.

The biling (tree sorrel) with more fruit.  The small green things hanging in the middle of the picture.  More pickles.

Gloriosa superba, Flame Lily.  Beautiful but deadly.  Every part of this plant is highly toxic and has been used to murder.

And concluding as always with all my lovely house pets.  You can skip this part Rod.

Buddy guarding his piece of fish.  Every time the Mahllu Man (fish vendor in a loud speaker equipped tuktuk) comes, both he and Tula give Buddy and Aya fish.  When they hear him coming they run like the wind to intercept him.

Tsweetie wants some fish too.  She get on very well with the cats.

All four bowls are occupied.

The firth bowl is taken by Nangi up on the counter.  I shouldn't let her do it, but I do.

Brothers in love.

Brothers from another mother.

Half of Buddy.

Three amigos.  Its cold in the rain.

Four in a row.

A rare visit from Baby with her two kittens.

It's too bright in here.

This is Boyfriend.  Tsweetie brought him home and he was hanging around a lot.  Like he lived here.  Keeping Tsweetie company, being fed by Tula, barking and scaring off the night critters.  Then he started to interfere with Tsweetie's food.  She growled and barked at him; something she almost never does.  Then his back end was glanced by a truck.  He went back to his own house to recuperate and has rarely been seen around since.

All five for the morning feed.

Heading off to Douglas King's 80th birthday party tonight.  Should be fun.