December 26, 2019

Deanne had her belated birthday party on November 29.  It was also my friend Ava's birthday that day, so it was breakfast in the morning and the party at night.  

The saxophonist was present again and we all had a great time dancing.  The only fly in the ointment was that my tuktuk man failed to show up and I had to beg a ride home from Malcolm and Viv Wright who are very miserly when it comes to giving lifts even though they live very close to me.  However, they obliged me this time.

Our hostess with mostest, Deanne

Three Fat Ladies:  Me, Aysha, and Rose-Marie

Everybody's on the dance floor 

The next day was St. Andrew's Day and my Scottish friend Jim Aitken chose that day to celebrate Robert Burns Night.  (The real Robert Burn's Day is January 25.).   It took us 1.5 hours to get there as it was pouring with rain and there seemed to have been an accident at the major roundabout near the university.

I had attended one of these events many, many years ago in Abbottsford with my friend Marg Arthur and her Grandfather.  On that occasion I wore a hunting Stewart kilt with a black velvet blazer and a white lacy blouse. This time it was a simple black dress with a tartan sash/belt that Judith had lent me for the occasion.  It was a good evening.  I had accepted the task of reciting a Burns poem, having chosen To a Mouse.  I practiced for a month beforehand and managed to carry off the Scottish bits without too much embarrassment.  Vegetarian haggis was good and the local pumpkin made a suitable substitute for turnip.  I even had a nip of Johnny Walker Black Label.

The next day was the Trinity College Coral Evening, but by then I was too partied out to attend, not to mention the continuing monsoon rains.

I finally managed to get out to the Golden Crown Hotel in Ampitiya to see my friend Yoshitha who works there as the personal assistant to the owner.  We had breakfast in the dining room giving me an opportunity to compare it to the Grand Kandyan where we usually breakfast.  It was just as good, but LKR.500 more expensive and a long way to travel just for breakfast.  Plus the road is under major repair making the trip slow and bumpy.

December 7 was the second annual Jazz Night at L'Atelier.  Another great evening of music and dancing.  Only problem was that some people came in late, sat at the back and then proceeded to talk very loudly throughout the sets.  Some people don't have any manners.

You can see the main blabbers in the back row.

My friend Rosalie wound up her 3 month stint in Sri Lanka on December 13, moving on to Kolkata for her next 3 months.  Then it is New Jersey for 3 months and then California.  A gypsy's life.  It suits her.  She came over for pizza and a movie before she left.  We have made movie nights a regular occurrence when she is here.  We spend more time talking than viewing, but that is also great.

December 15 was our annual Film/Book Club lunch at Ozo.  Another great buffet with 35 people in attendance, including spouses and partners.  It was wonderful to see everybody even some people we had not seen at either club for a long time.

Rose-Marie sipping her coffee while Judith and I sort out the raffle draw in the background.

Calling out the winners.

December 21 we had a Christmas carol sing along at L'Atelier that was great.  Quite a number of carols that I did not know as they are British staples, but I caught on.  I was sharing a song sheet with Sally Martin who was singing at the top of her lungs in an off-key falsetto.  It was wonderful to see how much fun she was having.  Made my singing sound almost good.

Christmas Day was what has become a traditional breakfast followed by a nice party at Lesley and Ralph's.  They live just around the corner from me so it was easy to go and come.

December 26 Boxing Day.  Eating breakfast and doing my crosswords and thinking why is it so dark when I can see sunshine just beyond the veranda.  Answer, a solar eclipse.  Could not see it as the sun was hidden by trees, but felt the darkness for about 15 minutes.  We also had a lunar eclipse on January 10, a full-moon day, but it was too late in the morning for me to stay up to see it.  The full moon looked wonderful at around 2300 though.

On the domestic front, I have been trying some new vegetables:  Some large and hairy tubers, one of which is purple, called Raja Alla (King Potato) and the other a yellowish.  The locals make them into a pudding with coconut milk and sugar, but I have been making garlic mash from them and they are quite tasty.

The yellow one as it comes rent from the ground.  Ugly, dirty and hairy.

The mashed Raja Alla.  A funny colour but good. 

A colourful meal:  starting with the greens going clockwise:  palak paneer, billing (tree sorrel) pickle, wing beans, beets and in the middle the Raja Alla.

This is also the season for local tomatoes called goroka tomato as it looks like a goroka which is a sour fruit much like tamarind used in Sinhalese cooking.  They are much more tasty than the commercially grown tomatoes.

Vineetha getting ready to parboil the tomatoes to remove their skins to make tomato sauce.

We also got an herb called Hatawariya – Asparagus racemosus from which you make kola (green) kanda, an herbal porridge.

The spikey leafed vine in the middle growing in our garden.

The leaf which you have to carefully pluck off the thorny stem, pulverize in the blender with water before cooking.

The leaf

Beautiful green juice after blending.

Cook with coconut milk, garlic, rice, sago or oatmeal and salt.

A healthy breakfast.  We used sago.

 It is also innalla season.  This is another tuber that looks a lot like water chestnut but tastes like a potato.  They are curried in coconut milk.

In the sink awaiting a serious washing.

And finally it is also lauloo season.  This is the peach shaped fruit that is very sweet and starchy.  They are great in smoothies.  Vineetha brings them from her garden.

Great orange smoothie with lauloo and passion fruit juice giving it colour.

The local critters continue to fascinate.  There are a huge number of small cocoons around at the moment that Vineetha told me are worms.  I didn't believe her until I found one in my office and when I put it on my desk for a few minutes before throwing it out, a worm did indeed come out the end and started moving around.

The worm is at the bottom end.

A lovely light turquoise insect also appeared in my bedroom.  I don't know what it is, but the colour is beautiful.

A bit blurry, but you get the idea.

The monkeys have been reeking their usual havoc.  I did not hear them the other day and a big one got into the kitchen and ran off with a packet of biscuits.  The cats alerted me and I managed to see her tail going by as I looked.  I ran and got my gun and chased her out.  She wasn't bothering to move too quickly until I shot her.  Then she took off and went up on the roof of the annex kitchen.  I was not bothered by the loss of biscuits except that the packet had a clip on it I did not want to lose.  I shot at the monkey a couple of time getting her in the chest once.  She kept lunging forward in an aggressive manner because the biscuits had spilled out near the packet that I was after.  Finally, she backed off and I was able to retrieve the packet with one of our fruit picking hooks.  Dang monkeys!

The porcupine have been at it as well.  I came face to bum with two big ones in the side yard.  All you see is a bunch of moving quills.  They have been destroying some of the plants on my patio that I am not happy about.

Speaking of the patio, I think I am finally finished.  The large bowl now has the shells and a fountain in it and looks and sounds wonderful when the sun is powering it through the solar panel.

The small oval bowl now houses the fish with some water plants for the fish to hide under.  Everything has been cleaned and treated with algaecide so we are in business.

Hope the water lettuce lasts this time.

My own critters are flourishing.  Tsweetie has taken a powder as my landlady's granddaughter is staying for a few weeks with her big, smelly black lab of which all the other dogs are afraid.  Or perhaps they are repelled as she really does stink.

Putha and Nangi as Yin and Yang

Putha using me as a pillow.