Yes, I'm still here

You may have wondered if I had dropped off the edge of the world or something. Actually, I just came back and fell back into like and work and all that. Not a terrible thing, but less time for updating blogs.

So, I'm going to comment on the weather. This is practically demanded, because I live in Saskatchewan, and we have lots of weather. It changes practically minute by minute, though this year it is slow to give us the warm part. We keep waiting for it to be summer, or maybe even spring, and hoping that that warm day in May wasn't all of it.
That was one thing I noticed in India. While it was obvious that monsoon must be a really big thing, they really didn't seem to have much weather in February, and people didn't talk about it. That would be reasonable, if it pretty much stayed the same from day to day. Who knew how much effect weather has on culture though.
So, then, there is the part when you live in Saskatchewan and you have to decide day by day what to wear, and or what to wear and what to carry with you, just in case. The jackets that come in layers are just made for this place. I have taken out the inside layer of my winter jacket, but not bothered taking off the hood, or taking the gloves out of the pocket. I don't think I took the gloves out of my pocket all last year. I used them in July too. ( when camping. It always gets cold at night when we are at camp.) I think it likely takes more space for us to keep our wardrobe here than in most places, just to go with the weather variations.
This morning, I wore a skirt to church, and then felt cold all morning. But I consoled myself with the fact that we had no snow today. It felt like it for a bit though.
I'm having trouble picking the right hat to wear, as well. I'm really eager to wear my summer hats, but it has been to cold most of the time, and I'm tired of my winter hats. Roll on summer.

Observations on the trip

I am going to try making a few observations about India, and Canada, keeping in mind that both are big countries, and that I spent only 5 weeks in one corner of India, and live in one small corner of Canada. These are in no particular order.

People in the areas of India we were in dress very colourfully. I loved this. Often I was the only one wearing any black. I found the colours a feast for the eyes. It was also interesting that even in the few cities we were in, the dress varied a great deal, and even the usual colours for the saris were not the same from city to city.

It appeared that women sometimes dressed in western style for casual and at home, but dressed in saris or salwars to go out. Men seemed to dress in western style to go out or to work, but in Indian wear at home for casual, or when doing hard physical labour.

The houses in India were built to keep the rain off, or maybe to protect from the sun, but not to keep anything else out. So the building styles and building materials are not what we use in Saskatchewan. The most common building materials we saw are bamboo, and bamboo slat board,and corregated metal roofing. Buildings not made of this combination are usually concrete, or concrete and brick. Or a combination of all of the above. But glass in windows isn't a necessity.

Mosquito nets for beds are great things, and the plug in mosquito killers in homes really seemed to work, and were pretty much odorless.

Cell phones have made a huge difference, especially in the small villages. People are able to communicate quickly and easily, and at small expense.

The whole land seems to be living in anticipation of rain. It was very dry while we were there, but there are deep ditches, and dugouts and ponds nearly empty of water, and rivers flowing in a very small part of the flood plain. Having said that, I wondered about some of the houses we saw built on the sides of the mountains and high hills. If the water came as they seem to be expecting, I would think they would have major erosion problems. Also, in the cities, there are deep ditches outside many of the stores. They are used for dumping garbage. I understand that the rational is that the monsoon comes and washes everything away to the sea.

Most problems in India are solved with manpower. The same problem in Canada would be solved with machinery or some kind of technology. For example, concrete. In Canada, if you want to pour a concrete floor, you call in a cement mixer and it dumps concrete across the space, and a couple of guys smooth it out. In India, a truck comes and dumps off the sand and gravel and other ingredients, and then it is mixed in a little cement mixer on site, and dumped on the ground, from which someone dumps a couple of shovels full at a time onto flat pans, which other people put on top of their heads and carry up to where the floor is being made, and dump it.
People carrying cement to make a new story on a building
A bamboo ladder for the cement workers to walk up. This is not so fun to walk in sandals, and I would think it would be very difficult balancing with something on your head, as well.


In Imphal, and Churchandpur and Shillong especially, almost all the schools had Christian names. Many of the businesses as well, and the vehicles, had Christian signs. Christianity has made a great deal of difference for these people. This was not nearly as noticeable in Guwahati, or Kolkata, or even in the small Assamese villages where we visited. In Assam, the churches where we visited were mostly house churches, with small groups of people attending.

Traffic control is mostly self control. The only traffic lights we saw were in Kolkata. Everywhere else, if there was need for more than self policing, there would be a traffic officer on duty directing traffic.


People from Saskatchewan would be astonished to find out that there is a use for the horn on a vehicle, and that it has specific rules. On the other side, people from India would likely be astonished about seat belt regulations, and helmet laws for motorbikes.
I think it would be difficult to ride sidesaddle on the back of a motorbike, while wearing long, draping scarves and driving through heavy and unpredictable traffic, but it was definitely the order of the day.

It was very interesting seeing the variety of vehicles and how they are used. Many of the vehicles have no counterpart in Canada, and the ones that do are not used in the same way. I am in awe of how people adapt to their environment and circumstances.
One of the large Public Carrier trucks which were everywhere, carrying everything. They were often overloaded, to the point where it was not unusual to see one with a broken axle, being repaired in the middle of the road.
A motorized rickshaw, parked in the motorbike parking. These are great little vehicles.


It was a great experience to be allowed to take this trip. I was pleased to have my horizons broadened, and my assumptions challenged. It is good to know that just because I have always done something one way, it doesn't have to be the only way.
Of course, the part I enjoyed the most was meeting new and friendly people. Friendship across the world is a wonderful thing, and makes the world a smaller place.

Home again.

It has been incredibly busy this last two weeks, but I don't want to leave you all hanging. Let me see if I can fill in some of the gaps.

The last 2 days of our time in India we spent in Kolkata. We spent some time downtown in the bazaar, which was very interesting, and not as crowded as in Shillong. This was just a one day quirk I suspect, because we ended up in Kolkata on Holi, which is a major festival, and many shops were closed. There was a huge parade going through the streets, which we managed to wind around on our way from the hotel to other places.

We spent some time at Mother Teresa's compound, and toured through the museum, and went by the orphanage for a few minutes. We were not able to find anyone at the orphanage who could give us a tour, or direct us anywhere, so we did not stay long.

In the afternoon, we went to say goodbye to Swami and Violet, and had a good visit with them.

In the evening, we wandered through some of the area around the hotel, and saw many people being splashed with paint, for Holi, didn't manage to get too painted ourselves, and turned in early, since we had to leave for the airport at 2:00 am. Unfortunately, because of the really loud music from the pavilion across from the hotel, none of us slept particularly well, in the four hours available. But it meant it wasn't as complicated to get up in time to get to the airport.

We got through all the check in steps at the airport in reasonable time, and then just had to do the waiting and waiting, which by then we were quite good at.
We shall quickly pass over the trip. Just think: 9 hours from Kolkata to London, 7 hours from London to Toronto, with not enough time between the two flights to get to a washroom in the airport. I really dislike the set up at London airport. You have to come out of the secure area and go back through security to pass between flights. So if you wanted to take you're little water bottle with you, or anything like that, you are out of luck. And you are held up for no reason between flights to do this extra security check which is totally unnecessary.

We had a 3 hour layover in Toronto, during which time we not only got to find a washroom, but also managed to find the Tim Hortons, and roll up the rim. T the 4 hour? flight to Saskatoon. We arrived in Saskatoon at 10:10 pm, still on the same Wednesday. Definitely the longest day I have ever had, and likely the least sleep. We were met at the airport by a wonderful crowd of friends and family and enjoyed a short visit, before heading home to try to sleep.

We had a most interesting day. We drove to Shillong, looked around and visited, and then came back to Guwahati. That is the short edition. Now let me add details, and some pictures.

The road from Guwahati to Shillong is 101 km, according to the signpost in downtown Shillong. The road itself is really good: recently paved, no sections under construction, and well maintained. Having said all that, it takes 3 hours to drive the distance, because it is up through the mountains, hairpin turns and bends all the way. Now, combine that with the usual road hazards in India: cows and goats, motor rickshaws ( but not bike rickshaws on this road) lots of people walking on the road, as well as huge numbers of overloaded trucks, and continous traffic, and you get a little of the feel of this road. Keep in mind, that although part of this road actually has a centre line marked, which not all roads do, but it has no yellow line, just white dotted line all the way. Of course, that is just to save paint, because everyone is passing anyway. The proper way to pass on a blind curve, by the way, is to honk first, so if someone is in your lane coming the other way, they will know you are coming. And then drive as if you are expecting someone to be passing in your lane around every blind curve. Likely that will be a good guess.

Anyway, Bob and Ray tell us that Shillong has grown and expanded hugely since they lived here in early 1970's. I think likely all the hills are still there though.

Here are a few pictures from the day.


Just a little view of some of the passing. This was taken while we were out of the vehicle, so only traffic one way at the time.

How would you like to travel by bus this way? You see it all the time here, on the buses and on the bus taxis, which are jeep type things that travel around and pick people up from the side of the road. Anyway, a 3 hour trip this way up a winding road seemed like a hard way to go.

Another view of the same bus.

Just a little view from the market at Nong Po, which is halfway up the mountain. We stopped to buy fresh pineapple. I was trying to get a good shot of the shopping bags, like the one you can see the lady carrying on her back here. Everyone was using them. Nice size, too.

Some pictures of the Elephant falls, by Shillong. The falls are in three steps. This is the upper falls. The sign says that the falls are better during the monsoon, and I'm sure that's true, but we didn't think we could wait that long. A picture of the steps going down to the lower falls.
Andrew, standing in front of the lower falls.

Finishing up the quilt blocks

Thursday we worked on putting a back on one block each. Here are some pictures

Becky came from Ray and Ellen's for the afternoon, and did a block as well.


.One finished pillow cover.

a peddlar came to Kalipani.


Kittens playing around the door.

Buildings, and other items of interest.

Addition to a church building, in Churchandpur. Construction is on hold at present, because the well has run out of water, so they can't make concrete.


A staircase, in a house in Churchandpur. It isn't so plain to see, but you are looking over a fence here, at the second floor of the house. You can see the edge of the porch roof, just under the stairway.
The stairway to Fat James Restaurant, where we ate in Churchandpur. Note the individually hand poured concrete stairs. We sometimes negotiated this staircase after dark, with almost no light available. Very interesting.

A household goods shop in Churchandpur.

a cradle, in a family courtyard outside Bagdogra.

Cow pats drying in the sun. These are not the poop sticks I wrote about, but are also used for burning, and are collected the same way.

a loom, in a family's courtyard around Manikpur.

The kitchen stove, at the school at Kalipani

Pictures of people, especially children

a loaded school bus headed home, in Bagdogra. Also going uphill.
Taking a rickshaw home from school. They are going uphill, which is why the man is pushing. I didn't catch the picture quick enough for you to see inside, but there are 5 or 6 children in the rickshaw.
Getting ready to sing, at Lenin colony.
Children at the Lenin leper colony in Siliguri. Their parents are recovering from leprosy.
They sang for us, in 3 languages, including English. They sing beautifully.
Naresh's family, in Siliguri. His little boy is named Asis. Very bright child.
Cute little girl at the guest house in Churchandpur

Thatched roof buildings outside Churchandpur.

Hardware store, in Churchandpur.

This week we are back in Guwahati, and going daily to the school in Kalipani. Bob is teaching a class to the Bible school students, on the prison epistles, and in the afternoon, I am teaching the girls in the Bible class, and a couple of the teachers from the elementary school, a quilting class.
Since we do not have power, we are doing all the sewing by hand, but these girls have at least done some hand sewing before, so we are getting along just fine. I am precutting the pieces in the evening, so that they can do stitching and putting together, and whatever cutting needs to be done to make the blocks as they need to be. Anyway, everyone is enjoying themselves, and we have been managing a block an afternoon. We will only do three blocks, so Thursday we will turn these into pillow covers, since three is not enough to make a quilt.

Anyway, again the pictures are not posting very well, so I will add pictures later.

This morning, Ellen and I took some time and went shopping. Enjoyed it a lot. We took a motor rickshaw to the Pan Bazaar, which is one of the large shopping areas in Guwahati. One of the things on Ellen's list was to return a school book of Autumn's which had a damaged section. We had to go to the book sellers area for that. Picture two or three blocks where every store is a book or book and stationery store. Most of the stores are also not wider that about 3 m. You ask for what you need, you don't get to browse. Anyway, it ended up that she had to buy a new copy of the book, which was annoying, but it was also about 80 rupees, which is just around $2.00 Canadian. So at least not a major tragedy.

S
Some really cute kids, at Mutu's place.

I'm afraid the pictures are uploading only sporadically, but I will try to get more on as I can.
We are finally back in internet access, so I will try to post a little more often this week.

Last week we went into Manipur. You need a permit to get into Manipur, and in past times as I understand, these were not given out easily or often. In any case, we did get permits, for a 10 day stay. Unfortunately, we had only 6 days, but at least if we had been delayed for any reason, we would have been okay.

Manipur is different from the other states we have been in. There are less cows and goats on the roads for example. We went to the cities of Churchandpur, and Imphal, which are at either end of a large valley in the mountains. Very beautiful place. The buildings are somewhat different. We say more wood used in building, for floors and walls for instance. The local dress style is different. The women mostly wear embroidered wrapped skirts, and shawls, rather than saris or salwars.
Another interesting thing is the power situation. The power was only on for a couple of hours a day, in either city. Keep in mind that it gets dark at about 6. So, in Churchandpur, everything closes then. There are no street lights, only a little light from people's windows. People have battery operated lights, or sometimes generators, if they are well off, or candles, and I think everyone goes to bed early. In any case, we had evening classes, till 7 or 8, and sometimes went to peoples houses afterwards, so it was very dark walking back to our guest house. We were really pleased to have remembered flashlights.
The people were all very friendly. Bob has a number of really good friends in the area, so we visited many families, and had tea everywhere.

In Imphal, there was an evening curfew, at 6:00. Shyam Salam had planned for us to have evening meetings at his school, Brighter Academy. However, because the curfew had been set, not many people were able to come. However, Shyam and his wife Peggy had us stay at their home, which is in the school, to make it more convenient to come and to for the meetings and such. It was very kind of them, and we had a good visit with them and with their children and grandchildren who were home at the time.
Shyam has several schools. We have visited 2 others on our trip: another Brighter Academy in a small village outside of Imphal, where his daughter Betty is the principal, and the Bread of Life Academy in Kalipani.

One of the school buses for Little Flower School in Manikpur.

plowing the rice fields

just thinking

As many of you know, India is a land of free range cows, as well as chickens, goats, dogs, cats, and whatever. Many animals are travelling the highways and byways, which means that they, in general, have some sort of right of way, since you would hate to have to stop and explain to someone why you killed their cow. Anyway, it makes the driving interesting, as I have mentioned before. It also leads to a very interesting recycling custom we have seen in the villages around Siliguri and Bagdogra. Having very little experience yet, I don't know if it is common elswhere, and unfortunately, I haven't yet got pictures. Anyway, it is the "poop stick", or so we will call it. Don't know the local term. However, it involves gathering dung, which some poor lady ( always a lady, don't ask me why) gets to carry in a basket on her head. Then the dung is layered onto a bamboo stick, and put to dry against the house or a fence. Then it can be used for the cooking fire, because it feeds in just a bit at a time. I'm getting the info on use from Naresh, but I could see it would be useful. Anyway, great recycling, and it keeps the roads clean, but aren't you glad you aren't the person in charge of making those? This could definitely qualify for one of the dirty jobs on that tv show.

Interruptions

Yesterday, in the morning we went to see the land where Naresh is planning to start building his new school shortly. Then we went to Mutu's village, which is on the edge of a tea plantation, and visited his house and family. He had invited the neighbours over for a presentation, so Trent did his first aid presentation and Leesa did her hygiene presentation. Everyone was quite interested, and it was interesting to see at least one person following the English, as well as the translation. Then Bob did a short lesson on spiritual nourishment. He was interrupted at one point by a short chicken fight. Fortunately, the concerned parties seemed to be able to sort their differences with only a little difficulty, and the one hen headed off with her chicks in another direction. Not your usual interruption, but it gave a little more credence to Leesa talking about washing your hands before eating, especially when you live around animals.

I will try to post pictures when we are back in Guwahati.

Anyway, in the evening, we went to the Lenin Colony, which is a leprosy colony. The children of the colony came to hear us. They sang us songs, and then I taught them a couple of new songs, and told a story. Then we did the colouring bedlam again. Always interesting. This morning I went out and bought more boxes of crayons, in an effort to slightly reduces the levels of frustration, and make sure the colours go around better. After everyone got their pictures stamped with a Canada stamp, Leesa did a short presentation on washing your hands and such.

Then we visited and took pictures of everyone, because they wanted to see themselves on camera. A universal trait.

Anyway, an interesting day.

just a quick note

This week we are working out of Siliguri. We are travelling to several villages, where Nerush, our local contact person, has arranged sort of a 4 part presentation: I tell a story and sing some song
s with the children, then Trent does a short presentation on first aid with the parents, then Leesa does a short presentation on hygiene, and then Bob does a short gospel presentation. Yesterday we were in Hatiduba, where Mahindra has started a middle school recently. The people were very interested, and sat and listened for what seems to me like a very long time. Trent and Leesa also did a little med check, for people who were interested, and since they had a bag stolen when they were on the train ( another story for a different time) , Trent went off to the local pharmacy to pick up a few supplies. He was very impressed.. the building is just a little low shack, but had everything he asked for, with no waiting.
Anyway, we are just heading out for the day, so I'd better go.

At Little Flower School

Saturday we drove (or were driven, if you like), to Manikpur. For those of you trying to track this on a map, Manikpur is a very small village close to Bongaigaon. We are staying at Little Flower School, which is an English middle school, started by a local man about 11 years ago. He started with about 12 students, and presently has 200, kindergarten to grade 12, including about 100 in the lowest class. He has been building new classrooms, but I think he will likely have to add substantially if this rate of growth keeps up. He has also started an associate school in a neighbouring village.
The trip was very interesting.. think mostly paved grid road, with continuous traffic both directions, construction, and rickshaws, bikes, cattle and goats. All this while driving through nearly continuous villages. I think the trip was 160k, and took 3 1/2 hours. Sounds about right. In any case, the drivers here impress me more and more. Its got to be a tough way to make a living. Then he gets to hang around here for 3 days to take us places.

and some pictures too

See, suitcases!

Trent and Leesa head off to ride elephants

So, today Trent and Leesa are off on the part of the trip that they do on their own. They have a day off to go on elephant safari, and then to the tea plantations, to do some health surveys and such. They will have great pictures, when we meet up again next week.

So, today we didn't leave for Kalipani till after they had left. Then we made a couple of detours and such, and didn't get to the school till 10:30. That meant that I only had time to work with one class, because Ray and I needed to go to the airport.... because British Airways had phoned first thing in the morning to say that our luggage would be on a morning flight and we could pick it up at 11:00. Bob couldn't go, because he was giving a test today, so Ray went for him.

The really amazing thing was, when we got to the Jet Airways office, not only did they know what we were there for, they actually had the suitcases in the office waiting. Wow! And the person who brought them out to us wouldn't accept a tip: he said it was part of his job. Okay, what country are we in again? Anyway 3 cheers for Jet Airways, and a little half cheer for British Airways, for finally coming up with the suitcases. Though, as Ray was mentioning, we will now have to find another topic to discuss at the dinner table, and of course we will have 2 or 3 hours per day that we have been spending going to the airport, in which to do other things. Anyway back to more interesting things.

In the afternoon, we went back to Kalipani, and I made valentines with the girls from the Bible school. There was quite a lot of enthusiasm. We did some fancy cutouts, as well as using lace, foam hearts, some paper heart doilies and several fancy pens.

Bernard got the new shelves finished that he has been working on all week, and set them up in the kitchen for the cooks. They were delighted.

Another beautiful day!

A new house going up on the mountain.

Bernard resting.

A bird in the morning. He sat for a long time, waiting for us to get a good picture. Perhaps this is the early bird.

shops in Guwahati.

It rained just a few drops last night, just enough to dampen the air a bit. It feels fresh this morning.

Last night we took Ray and Ellen and family out for supper, to a very nice restaurant in a downtown hotel. We ordered Indian food- although we could have ordered Chinese,- plus a couple of plates of french fries, because Autumn and Andrew like to have them for a treat every once in a while. The food was excellent: butter chicken, tandoori chicken, naan, rice (of course) with dal, some kind of a vegetable dish, and some really good deep fried prawns. Anyway, a good time was had by all.

Nic Olson arrived yesterday, so Koldip drove Bob and I out to the airport to pick him up, and to, in passing, check to see if our luggage has magically appeared. No such luck. So, while we will continue to try to track it, I am going to assume we will not have the use of it, and proceed accordingly.

More suitcase excitement.

Well, Bob has been spending at least half an hour per day phoning British Airways about our luggage, and today they told him that the suitcases had been delivered to the airport at Guwahati, by Air India. So, after teaching classes in the morning, we headed to the airport to pick them up. The airport is about a 45 minute drive from the school, in the opposite direction from Ray and Ellen's house. Once again, I was impressed by Kuldip's driving. ( He is Ray and Ellen's driver) He doesn't always drive, sometimes Ray does, but he is very impressive. The traffic rules here appear to be mostly based on Darwin's principle: survival of the fittest. The line down the middle is the passing lane, and to use it, you stand on your horn, and pull out. Seems to work. We haven't killed any cattle yet ( not to say people). I'm practicing being cool with the traffic, and it seems to be working. Don't think I'd manage so well driving. As Leesa was saying to me today, you have to be a bit pushy, and chances are we'd get stuck behind something, and just stay there while everyone in the world went past us.

Anyway, the driving is merely interesting on the 4 lane divided ring road, but on the one lane streets and lanes in the city, and up the mountain, it is much more exciting. Who needs sports. Lots of adrenalin flowing there.

Well, when we got to the airport, there was one bag there. It was one of Bob's. So one out of four. We could be doing this for a while at this rate. We may actually have all of our bags by the time we are ready to come home. There are several things I could actually be using about now too. Anyway, this means more hours spent on the phone to British airways. It is wonderful for learning patience, I guess....

Now, to back up just a bit, when we got to the school yesterday, we discovered that it was a holiday, so none of the students were there. However, there are actually two schools: the grade school, where I am teaching right now, and the Bible school, where Bob is teaching, and where Leesa and Trent are teaching their First Aid course this week. The bible school students live on site, so they got to have their classes. Today, I got to go and tell stories with 4 of the classes in the elementary school . I did use a translator, since, while the classes are taught in English, it is not a first language for any of these children, and most are hearing it for the first time at school. Anyway, they enjoyed the story, and they love to sing.

The internet is slowing to a crawl, so I may put pictures in later. I see if I can get this to post.

Sunday

We went out to the school at Kalipani today for church service. There were about 35 people or so there. I taught the children's class. We did the story of Joseph and his coat of many colours. One of the boys translated for me. Of course these children are taking school in English, but a translator is still nice, since I am sure English is not their first language. They all colour beautifully however, and like to sing songs. Autumn Mcmillan helped by doing the flannelboard pictures for me.

We ate with the staff and the boarding students for lunch; rice and vegetable curry and a salad, and had a chance to visit. Then we drove back to Mcmillans and rested before going to an evening church service in another part of Guwahati. I will have to take some pictures of driving through the streets, because it is really difficult to describe. In any case the road to Kalipani village, which by the way is inside the Guwahati city limits, is very .... difficult. Steep, winding, unpaved mostly, 1 1/2 lanes of traffic, so passing is .... difficult, and the road is, of course used as the walking path and for bicycles, rickshaws, cattle and goats, and this is on a mountain, so there are no other options for paths... and for part of the ....road, they have put in 2 paved tracks, one for each wheel. I understand that this is an improvement, and makes the road passable during the monsoons, when, Ellen tells me, it can be really scary driving, but it doesn't do so much for passing. Anyway, I must say, I enjoyed it. I have added some pictures, but am still working out how to label them, so you may have to guess. They are all from the Bread of Life Academy at Kalipani village, anyway.

We are at Guwahati

Well, an interesting trip so far. I will likely have to continue later, but I thought I would sit down and give you a few impressions right now.
First, while we are here, only part of our luggage arrived. Neither of my suitcases came, and Bob's didn't either. Everyone else got all their suitcases. Very interesting. We checked in all at the same time, all going to the same place. Anyway, perhaps they will follow us here today. In any case, I was pleased that I had packed so much into my carryon.
We flew through Toronto and London, with about a 3 hour layover each place. Not too bad, just enough to find your way around and sit for a bit. I have a couple of pictures from London airport to post later. The flight was 2 hours from Saskatoon to Toronto, 7 hours from Toronto to London, and 12 hours from London to Kolkata. It was about 26 or 27 hours total, and the time change is 11 1/2 hours. So it is 8:30 am Sunday here, that would be 9:00 pm Saturday there( I think Saturday, 9:00 pm anyway.) So we are trying to entirely change our sleep patterns. Couldn't convince my body of that the first full night. 2:30 am was all I could manage. Got a lot of reading in. Last night was better, but I'm being careful not to nap too much, so I will be tired at night.
Anyway, more later

One more sleep.

This was one of those "dash around madly" days, or so it felt from my perspective. I feel a bit like I am about to step off a precipice. I'm not actually scared, just a bit frantic. Anyway, I think I will settle quite well once we are on our way, but right now it feels slightly impossible. (Don't you love oxymoron?)

Hopefully, nothing really important will be forgotten, and I manage to get on the plane with matching socks. What else could I ask for.

I went around and held all the smallest grandbabies yesterday and today. I am thinking that I will miss a fair amount of them growing, over 5 weeks. They change so quickly. I got smiles from all, and a report from Linaya on going to work with Daddy.