March 25, 2025

 Bless me bloggers, for I have sinned.  It has been almost 3 months since my last post.  Here is my news:

The business with the computer rip off continues without resolution.  The perpetrator fled to Malaysia.  Risvi found his ex-wife and brother; both of whom are doctors.  That is how we found out he was in Malaysia.  The brother said he was going to pay the debt, which was, of course, BS.  We have asked the police to issue an arrest warrant so that when he comes back to Sri Lanka, he can be detained.  No further news on that front.

Mahjong continues unabated.  We have added a player, Viv Wright, and another day as a training day for her.  She is picking it up nicely.

One of the last mahjongs with Gerry before she moved back to Australia.

A new sewing group has been established to which I have been invited.  I had been blackballed from the original Stich and Bitch by Clare Leask who is now dead.  Our splinter group, which I have named The Democratic Socialist Sewing Club of Sri Lanka, is made up of members of the original club plus me.  The others have gotten fed up with the original as they say it is becoming too dictatorial.  Hence, The Democratic...  We meet every second Tuesday at each house in rotation.  So far it has been quite convivial and I am getting some long disregarded projects finished.

This is the view over the Victoria reservoir at Corrie's house in Theldeniya.  Great place to do some sewing.

My French classes with Amra continue.  Her pronunciation is much improved.  She came for a 3 hour session one day that turned into lunch and then coffee at the new Cinnamon Kandy Myst which has opened nearby.  Why anyone would want to build a hotel on one of the busiest, smelliest, ugliest roads in Kandy is beyond me.  The coffee was good as was the pavlova we shared.  She was having a last blowout before Ramadan.

Devika's children came for a visit from the UK.  Our breakfast group was invited for lunch at the Grand Kandyan with them.  They are lovely kids.  Well, not really kids.  Both are adults making their way in Birmingham.  It happened to be around Tet, so the hotel went all out with a great dragon.

Yvonne is adjusting to the death of George.  She has been travelling back and forth to the UK and having people over to her place for overnight stays and going to other people's places for extended overnights to keep herself busy.  She had Simon, Pauline and I over for 2 nights.  Lovely food as she is a great cook and a good time overall.  I have also met her for lunch or coffee quite a bit.  She is lonely.

The neighbour cat, Gucci, was here terrorizing Chewy.  I chastised him and he hissed at me.  I waited a bit and he seemed to calm down, so I went to pat him.  Big mistake!  He went crazy, biting and scratching.  He must have bit into a vein as the blood was just pouring out of my arm.  It took quite a few hours to get the bleeding to stop.  Thankfully I have had both rabies and tetanus shots when the dog bit me back in October.  

A real mess.  These are just the bits.  There were scratches as well.

Lesley's husband, Ralph has been diagnosed with lymphoma and leukaemia.  He is undergoing chemotherapy and has also had surgery.  The prognosis is not good.  As a result, I have been trying to see more of him.  They had me over for Sunday lunch, just the 3 of us, and I have also met them a couple of times at the Royal Bar.  He is coping well, but as always, it is Lesley that one worries about.  She has a lot on her shoulders.

Amra and I went to a pottery workshop.  We made some nice things.  I wanted to replicate some pottery decorations that were quite popular some time ago.  

The finished product in the front portico

I added a chaping from Malaysia that I have had for a very long time.  The chaping was used as a chastity belt for little girls.

A poor facsimile, by mine own.  Spades and hearts

Clubs and diamonds.

Amra's pot.  Pretty good for a first ever effort.  She will have to get it fired in Colombo.  I did not bother getting my tiles fired.  I just let them dry out and then painted them with acrylic paint.

On the artistic front, I painted some small baskets to put on my kitchen wall.  I had some lovely French camembert plates but they kept falling off and breaking.  

Deanne had another of her soirées.  Simon, Pauline and I shared a car up there.  A lovely party as always.

The Breakfast Club has found a new venue at the Devon Rest on the lake round road in Kandy town.  I went there for dinner when I first came to Kandy and it was a total dump with bad food.  They have done a complete renovation.  The breakfast buffet is smaller than at the Grand Kandyan, but as it is the same owner, the food is  just as good.  The price is also right at LKR.2500.  Definitely will make it a regular treat.

Simon and Pauline stayed overnight with me before and after our trip to Yvonne's.  This was the first time they stayed overnight.  It felt good to be able to reciprocate for all the times I have stayed at their place.  Upon our return from Yvonne's, we headed out to Jim's for his annual Robbie Burns dinner.  This time I did the Toast to the Immortal Memory.  Hopefully, I will get off with doing nothing next year.

It was Janie's birthday on March 13.  She invited the Breakfast Club up to her place in Gampola for lunch.  It ended up as both breakfast and lunch as we hadn't eaten before we left in the morning.  She and Freddie are gracious hosts.

Not the entire Breakfast Club.  From left to right:  Marlise, Helena, Janie (the birthday girl), Jayantha (Marlise's husband), Freddie whose real name is Suresh (Janie's husband), Devika.

It was also Tiullia's 91st birthday on March 16.  The whole gang went out for dinner including cousins up from Colombo.  They kindly invited me to join them, but as I had a bit of a cold, I declined.  Don't want to spread the joy especially to a 91 year old woman.

Trips to the dentist never cease.  This time it was an extraction right beside the new implant.  Now I have to wait for the wound to heal, have another implant put in, wait for that to heal and then he can put on a double crown.  Apparently it will be more stable that way.

Simon threw a belated birthday lunch for himself at a new place called Taru Villas.  It is very close to my place, just across the street from Keell's.  If I did not have the map reference, I would never have known it was there.  Unlike the Kandy Myst, which is right on the main road, this place is about 400 meters up a hill from the main road.  Paradise!

This is Katugastota Road

This is the entrance to Taru Villas.  You would miss it without the map reference.

Taru Villas.  Lovely.

The lunch was good although they had virtually no vegetarian options.  Even the soups were made with chicken broth.  They made a special lentil soup for me.  

It has been more than 5 months since I started walking in the mornings.  I have missed only 6 days in that time.  The walks are always on the same route but every day is different.  I have made some friends along the way.  Here are the regulars:

1. The man around the first corner who sells freshly made congee for LKR.100.  He always says, "Good morning to you" every time.  A friend of Rohan's who has now returned to Sri Lanka.
2. The man kitty corner from the congee man who keeps his driveway pristine.  He just got back home after a heart attack.
3. The  people who run the small kadai (shop or bodega) down the road.  Husband and wife.  The wife is of indeterminate age.  They feed the 4 dogs who hang around along with the squirrels.
4. The old lady who is picking flowers for her morning worship of the Buddha.
5. The other walkers I meet:  the lady and her Down Syndrome daughter along with a variety of others or just on their own.  The group of 1, 2 or 3 guys walking together depending on the day.  The Chinese couple who walk in the playground round and round.
6.  The serious road biker. 
7. The lottery ticket man on his bicycle and again at the kadai across from the Cinnamon Citadel hotel.
8. The old guy with one leg shorter than the other walking to the hotel kadai with his crutch.  And again at the kadai.
9. The owner of the paddy field who sweeps the shoulder in front of his house and paddy field every morning.
10. The hotel security guards usually at shift change.  Sometimes when the new shift is lined up getting their marching orders.
11. The owner of the hotel kadai.  It is mostly a hand salute with him.

I have also been finding treasures on my walks.  

A broken mask that I will paint up and put on my portico wall with my tiles.

A jakfruit that is only good for making melum.  I not only found the jakfruit but also the plastic bag to carry it in by the side of the road.  Sri Lankans treat everywhere as a garbage dump. Melum is any steamed vegetable cut into very small pieces mixed with shredded coconut.  Very bland.  I don't like it.

Also a grocery tote bag and a comb.

Here are some of the things I see while I am walking:

A lily starting to bloom at my immediate neighbour's.

Now in full bloom.

Dracaeba fragrans or corn plant in full bloom.  People in Canada nurture these plants indoors as precious house plants.  Here they are a weed.

Carrying on down my road.

A dead civet.  This is the third one I have found in exactly the same spot.  Someone was poisoning them I think.

The beautiful bougainvillea at the junction.

The Mahaveli River

The peacocks.

Here is a peacock sadly without his big tail yet, approaching a peahen.  She is much bigger than him.  First time I have seen a peahen.  They are usually very shy.

A video of the peacock's tentative courtship follows.

We have had some unseasonably heavy rainstorms.  So heavy that my roof sprung a new leak.  I no sooner had that fixed than another storm hit and an old leak started up again.  I have had to interrupt my posting this morning to have the second leak fixed.

All the rain makes for wonderful plant life though.

A prayer plant that has brought fruit.

A fresh nutmeg with its beautiful mace from Lesley's garden.

One of my Datura or Angel Trumpets have grown as high as my veranda.

The tropical climate breeds all sorts of critters.  One of the most annoying are the pupa of a small moth that clings to any surface, usually a wall.  We sweep up lots of them every morning.  It is the Kamitetep or plaster bagworm.  The larva comes out the top of the pupa to move itself along.  They are fairly fast.

And as always ending with my pussters.

Chewy has taken to sleeping on the printer.

Chewy on her box being stalked by Whitey.  He came around first when Chewy was in heat before I got her fixed.  I think he still remembers that.  I haven't seen him in a while though.