Ron has started to post photos of our India trip at www.rtsla.photofreeway.com

A bomb went off inColombo today. It was thought to be targeting a Tamil polotician who opposes the Tamil TIgers. We are out of harm's way. No details as of yet.

Some people have asked if I got Dengue fever after Ron had it. Dengue fever can only be contracted via a mosquito. It doesn’t pass person to person. But let me tell you, I now tend to react when I see a mosquito around my body!

Ron had some work in Nuwara Eliya (NE) last week so I went up on Friday to join him and on Saturday six of us, two consultants and Ron and I plus our two drivers hiked into World’s End, a 10 kilometer hike. It’s a beautiful hike higher than NE (Nuwara Eliya not north east!) that stands at 6,000 ft. You look out over an escarpment that is over 1,000-meter drop into a beautiful valley with mountains, a village and lakes in your viewing range. Absolutely lovely. We had left the hotel at 6:00 a.m. because a cloud cover often rolls in and spoils the view. We wanted to see it before than happened. We got back to the hotel a little after noon. It took almost two hours each way to drive to and from the park.

The two consultants showered and left for their next assignment. We showered, ate lunch and read then took a long nap. What a luxury! We got up and walked into town and bought some fresh strawberries and other fruit. Seeing World’s End was one of the two things we wanted to do before leaving SL. I loved being cool for three days. You get to wear jeans in NE as it is in the mountains and considerably cooler than Colombo. You also forgo the sandals and wear warmer shoes. Both nights we went to St. Andrews Hotel for dinner. It is a lovely setting in a century old building with a beautiful dining room and excellent food. We got up at 6:00 on Sunday, took a long walk, showered, ate and headed for home arriving about 1:30. Ron spent the afternoon working on reports and I did what we affectionately call domesticities-laundry, etc.

The monsoons were short lived here. I think they were here for three weeks about a month ago. I miss them as they helped cool things off.

Yesterday we went to the bank after Ron finished his reports to see if his ATM/debit card was working as it was rejected at our hotel in NE. I’m not sure if I mentioned it but I am now without an ATM card from WAMU. The PIN number finally arrived on Friday but we are unable to activate the card. Great! So we were lucky as Ron’s card worked. To celebrate he invited me to Odel’s, our one department store to have an ice cream. They have a great ice cream shop with multiple flavors and I had mentioned that some day I’d like an ice cream date. Yum! Only problem was I had coffee and chocolate and then couldn’t get to sleep last night. Read until about 1:30. Oy, I’m too old for this kind of nonsense!!! It was fun to do something so spontaneous.

Our hearts and heads are turning to what’s next for us. SL gets to both of us some days. I am so tired of ants and other bugs and now am slightly paranoid with mosquitoes. So we are planning our trip to the US in September. We will go to Los Angeles on September 3rd and visit with Sonia, Ron’s mom. From there we head to San Antonio where Ron has his annual ICMA conference and we end up in Centreville VA near DC to see our newest grandson who is due August 26th! We also plan to see Mrs. Baksi who lives with her other daughter in Chevy Chase, Maryland. We return to SL on September 20th. I need to sort through clothes we want to bring with us and mail from Marina del Rey where we will be visiting Ron’s mom. I am trying to make room for the clothes we have bought here. I also have some gifts for family and friends I’d like to bring back in September if there is room, again to make sure we have room for everything when we leave in December. Our lease is up mid November so we will probably see if we can rent until the first of December. Then we will move into a hotel and ship our things to Thailand and the US. We will need to go to Thailand when our household goods arrive to receive them and set up the house in Phetchaburi. I am so looking forward to that although I am a little worried about how the timing will work on all this. I sure would like to be back home for the holidays. I am working closely with the shipping agent to see how we can nail this down. Wish me luck. I have resigned myself to missing Christmas in the US if needed. I also am back in the shopping mode (have I ever gotten out of it?) as we need some additional items for the Thai house: an armoire, a vanity, a daybed and most importantly a hutch or breakfront to store dishes and linens. The kitchen in the Thai house is tiny with very little storage. Veena and I are going on Thursday to the place where Ron and I bought most of our furniture. Today I was able to find a lovely light fixture for the dining room so I am glad to check one thing off our list. I bought many cheap sheets to cover furniture when no one is staying at the house. The place where I bought the sheets sells them by the kilo so I got 14 king size sheets for around $55.

Tonight we will work on our India photos, identifying what the heck each one is and starting to post them. This will take several days as Ron took a lot of photos in India. So many memories! What a gift this year has been for us in so many ways. We are indeed grateful, ants and all!