Where in the world?

It's wonderful to walk out of the airport in a different country and see someone you know! Annie and Sankar! And a few minutes later we were in our cars on our way to the hotel.

We had driven down to DC a week earlier to help Joe out while Leonor had gone to Portugal with John and Luisa for her mother's big birthday/retirement party. So we were in school pick-up/drop-off duty for a few days. We took advantage of school time for Thomas to catch up with friends in the area.

And then, inevitably, the final trip to the airport. Margaret, Andrew and Simon joined us for the looooong flight. We crashed in Dubai for an extended layover and then off on our second leg. We survived and not even barely. Simon set a record for number of movies watched, broken a few days later by Thomas who may have watched all 17 Star Wars movies, or at least that many, judging by his excitement in retelling the plots.

A few days in Chennai to recover, add another beach to our book, and do some shopping. Gradually our internal clock started to adjust.

Then off to a nice hotel on the beach south of Chennai, in Kovalam. When we woke up the next day Daniel was there and later that afternoon, Johanna came!

We tempted the fates by trying out a water protector for Thomas' cast so he could go swimming. It failed utterly and resulted in a trip to the urgent care, a long wait, and a new cast.

And the skies opened up and we lived through our first monsoon. 36 hours or more of rain meant most of all scrambling to try to keep little boys occupied. They did well. So did their parents.

And then we squeezed in a little sightseeing and somehow it stopped raining for both our excursions. First a trip to a bird sanctuary where the drive there may have been more interesting than the birds. Two hours through South India rush hour.

Later, a few of us went to see the shore temples at Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO world heritage site reminiscent of Macchu Pichu.

And there's a wedding! The first ceremony took place yesterday, called the Puja for Sankar who had returned to his home for this groom preparation. Today, our US group heads to Sankar's home town of Thanjavur and Annie will have her own ceremony of Pen Azhaippu, placing sandalwood paste on Annie.

And there Melodie and Jeff will join us. More events over the following days with actual wedding on Sunday, and the reception the day before.

What's clear in all this activity is how much preparation and problem-solving Annie and Sankar have done to help us in this far-away place. As if they didn't have enough to handle! Thanks to both of you!!

I should add one quick other family news as we see on FB Tina's in Egypt. Looks exciting.

Off to pack for our trip to Thanjavur.

Love from over here.

Halloween Special

How can we do a weekly letter without showing the costumes?  Such clever ideas, and pretty obvious the next generation was all in, even if only for a short time for the youngest of them. We're heading down to DC tomorrow, so we're hoping that there's still some candy left over. We were shut out again this year – 12 years running. We reluctantly bought a bag just in case.  Dark chocolate: nobody would have liked it.

I talked to David who was right in the middle of their big Halloween parade on their street. He estimates they get about 200 a night, and he was up to 70 when we were talking.  He had fully recovered from a sinus infection, recovered enough to trick the youngsters coming up their path into giving him their candy. He tried anyway. Paula continues on her rebound!

Two more medical news items.  John Boyle's heart valve procedure went perfectly, and he was magically all better, with little pain or discomfort. He said the change in his energy and breath was immediate.  Miracle.

Not in the miracle category was Thomas' broken arm. You would think with all the climbing and jumping on couches and beds and bike riding that he would have broken it in some extreme sport fashion. Nope. He fell off a cafeteria bench awkwardly, and broke it. They knew something was wrong by the way his arm was twisted, but it took them way too long in the emergency room for them to get an x-ray and get it set right. Early morning hours. Joe and Leonor did a tag team in the er staying with him, and Leonor didn't get home until 7 in the morning.  Thomas was a brave, slightly subdued little boy when we spoke with him.

Wait. There's one more medical issue. I had a bad reaction from my typhus vaccine; I think I even got the illness.  Fever, all the stomach bad things that you can imagine. I finally got some antibiotics which wiped it out, but we had to cancel our weekend in Maine (not Lewiston) because of it.  

Mary went to a swim meet up in New Hampshire where she, of course, did very well. She found out her relay team from a meet in August placed fourth in the nation. I stayed home and did my old people water aerobics.

I did do my last tours of the season at the Melville house museum. And my last classes through the lifelong learning institute – one on Paradise Lost, which I actually read, and kind of understood.

Mark your calendars. We got our first downpayment on the Poconos for 2024 – July 18-21!

We talked to Annie and Sankhar a few times this week, finalizing last minute preparations. They had been staying at a place called Buddha Gardens, where they shared a room with a pair of scorpions. Serious.  Annie also mentioned she was mastering the technique of drinking water from a bottle without letting the bottle touch her lips.  And, on that score, in preparation for our visit, I've been reading a history of South India, where the author quotes from a Marco Polo journal, stating among other things "And when they drink they do not put the vessel to the lips but hold it aloft and let the drink pour into the mouth."  Some customs endure – that was 1292!

Our next weekly letter will come from Tamil Nadu, with Daniel, Johanna, Melodie and Jeff, Margaret, Andrew and Simon, Joe and Thomas all in attendance. I should mention that Annie and Sankhar have both done an amazing job in getting all of us ready, and comfortable, as well as all the preparations they need to make.  As they say in Tamil, "Nandri."  Now if I could only figure out how to say "I'm sorry," I'd be all set.

Next time, we'll have a ton of photos.

Love from up here.