Keep Track of Julia: September 2020

Looks like every 2 months is the best I can do these days.

Seems that life has been busier since the advent of COVID than before. Maybe it is just because I am willing to do more things after almost 2 months of being virtually alone.

My friend Simon Lazenbatt and I have been getting together a few times in order for me to give him computing tutoring. We have reviewed Facebook, a motion triggered 24 hour security camera, WhatsApp, downloading photos from phone to computer. Luckily he also uses Apple, so I don't have to do any translation. He either comes home for lunch and a session or we have also been to the Kandy Club for drinks and lunch.

The Kandy Club was most opportune as we have lost our usual Film Club venue. Hotel OZO where we have been going for 4 years has been converted into a quarantine hotel. So we were cast adrift. After a bit of searching, we have settled on the Kandy Club as our new venue. As it is a private club with very limited rooms, it will never be lost to the pandemic. We are thrilled as they can give us everything we need for LKR.100 less than we were paying before. Plus the drinks are at liquor store prices rather than the usual hotel markup. It is also one of the oldest clubs in Sri Lanka, established in 1877, so we are part of history.

My friends George and Yvonne Cooper have also hosted us a couple of times. Their place is lovely. We always have a great time, especially since they built their swimming pool. One time we took out a picnic lunch as we felt that Yvonne had had enough. George was diagnosed with lung cancer in February and they have been traveling up and down to Colombo for treatments every since. He seems to be on the mend. Chemo is finished having shrunk the tumor significantly. Now they are facing a month of radiotherapy, Monday to Friday in Colombo. George made it through the chemo with flying colors. No hair loss or nausea. Just a bit tired. We all have our fingers crossed.

Mahjong Along continues unabated. Every two weeks at my place and elsewhere in the intervening weeks. Our teacher, Gerry Jones and her husband Bill hosted us for lunch at their place outside of Matale. Nice house and nice time, but they really live in the back of beyond. No wonder they come into Kandy at least once a week and stay over at the Kandy Club.

We have been able to resume our breakfast buffet at the Grand Kandyan which inspired us to reconstitute our book club. We inaugurated the New Kandy Book Club on September 14. The meetings have been moved from Mondays to Sundays and have been opened to anyone (read men). We doubled our numbers at the first meeting. Success!

Ken Kawasaki celebrated his 75th birthday with a Danna of high tea at the Cancer Home. I supplied the bread and pitched in with sandwich making. The exercise was repeated for a Danna given by Ewen Arnold in remembrance of the death of his wife Padma.

I have become a regular fixture at Sunday lunch at my friends' Ralph and Lesley. Always good food, plenty of drink and great company. Really makes Sundays much better.

Few trips to dentist as well after having broken a huge piece off one of my wisdom teeth. Thankfully, I had had a root canal on that tooth so no pain. It is happily crowned now. My friends continue to flock to my dentist on my recommendation, so I get some great discounts.

Friends Ana (Spanish) and Sanji (Sri Lankan) who met and married in Majorca have built a new home on the Hantane tea estate just south of Kandy. They hosted a lovely house warming lunch for a few of us. Again, out in the back of beyond. Could not get GPS as the internet was spotty and even phone coverage was difficult. After being lost for a bit, we finally found it.

Going from front to back: Sanji and Ana, our hosts, lady whose name I can never remember except that she is Lillian's ex-daughter-in-law, Deanne, Simon Lazenbatt, Claire Hemachandra who gave me a lift out there, me, Judith who is not visible except for her hair and Pauline Lazenbatt.

One of the best things we did during the last long while was to go on a day trip to Simpson's Forest Hotel. It is located almost directly north of Kandy and Wattegama on a 50 acre clove estate. Despite the weather being a bit cloudy and rainy later in the day, we had a wonderful time. The setting is fantastic, the service brilliant, the food exceptional if you are a carnivore. For LKR.2750 we got a welcome drink (non-alcoholic), use of the pool, changing facilities, access to the bungalow, and a sumptuous lunch (a bit thin on the vegetarian side, but that can be rectified next time). It only cost us LKR.1500 to go up and down by taxi, shared among 3 of us, so really cheap.

A panorama from the pool. I was all oohing and ahhing and wondering who was lucky enough to have lived here when this was just an estate. Turns out it was my friend Sally Martin. Her father was the superintendent so she grew up in this magical place.

The view of the canopy of a Flamboyant Tree from the pool.

The trunk of the same tree with Ava standing at a distance.

The very health Teak beside the Flamboyant. Usually Teaks drop almost all their leaves. Not this one.

A forest of clove trees. They still harvest cloves and tea on this estate.

The view all the way north to Kandy some 15 km. away. The large white building which is highlighted is about 1 km. from my house.

The gang: from left to right: Niko, Abi (the bar manager at the Royal Bar), Ralph, Pali (one of our tuktuk drivers), Lesley, and Ava

Odd man out, Gamini with a good view of the bungalow that Sally lived in. It is now a snooker and function room facility.

A sea of African Tulip or Queen of the Forest blossoms.

As the mist was descending on the adjoining hills. Really magical.

My house and garden are flourishing. I renewed my lease for another 2 years beginning September 1 without a rise in rent. I am very lucky. In celebration, I decided to revamp my office. Now when I sit at my desk I can see the terrarium and the mango tree outside.

The wall unit in my front room with a peak at the side of the fridge in the kitchen.

The pot rack and part of the kitchen counter.

A forest of Birds of Paradise outside my kitchen window.

Not technically my garden. This is pomelo (jumbola) growing just across the street.

Harvest of tree spinach from my garden.

Calathea ornata in bloom. Not even my landlady has ever seen them bloom before.

The pond on my patio that had been filled in many years ago due to a fear of dengue. My landlady had it it cleared out for me. When the unbelievable rain we have been experiencing due to a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal is done, it will be recemented along with some flower boxes and filled with fish and water plants. Stay tuned.

The amount of rain we have been having has really produced some great fruit and vegetables. We have had a bumper crop of rambutan and mangosteen and what seems like a never ending passion fruit season.

Monthly bounty: King coconut, ambul (sour) bananas, watermelon, tomatoes, butternut squash, passion fruit, pineapple.

Mangosteen hiding under the passion fruit.

As are the limes.

Papaya hiding under the tomatoes.

Have been cooking up a storm as well. Besides the usual curries; wing beans, palak paneer, eggplant, pollos (young Jak), etc., I have also been making some special things when the ingredients are available. A shepherd's pie made with banana blossom, carrot cake because I have some walnuts.

All the sticks are to keep the cling wrap from ruining the icing. I have since bought a cake carrier.

Jez made some sour cream and ricotta for me so I was able to make some special things:

Latkes with sour cream.

Sour cream biscuits

Lasagna made with some lovely yellow zucchini

After a lot of searching, I finally managed to get my kitchen knives sharpened thanks to Ken Kawasaki. It turns out that it is not that difficult if you have the necessary stones. I have found what I need on daraz.lk and will order soon. Then I can do my own sharpening.

Closing as always with critters.