We Saw An Elephant...

An elephant carved among dozens of carved people standing on one foot, that's the people not the elephant on one foot.

And many other creations influenced by different dynasties. Some were formal court room themes and others were...

Simple goats at milking time and...

One wasn't carved but left by a past tsunami (not the one in 2005.) This one is called the Butter Ball. The story is that it was thrown up on the ridge by a god in the sky.

Does Anyone Near Our Age Remember Clifton's In Los Angeles?

The desert room, yes we said room made us both remember a restaurant in Los Angeles where we ate with our grandmothers when we were young. There is even a possibility that we could have been there on the same day long before we had met.

Clifton's was a cafeteria with hot steamy tables at the back but the huge dinning room was softly lit and full of fountains with floating gardenias.

As a young child you just where not prepared for the abundance of food. You made your way down a lane that just gave you a hint of the dinning room. Then at the back you passed through a door and you were in the hot, noisy steam table line. It was impossible to choose the food you wanted. You had the greatest desire to see it all and there was not enough time. Just when you thought chicken would be best you looked ahead and five feet away was roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy. Finally you started pointing and the ladies handed you little bowls and plates until there was no more room on your tray and then after paying at the cash register you looked up and there were helpers to carry your trays through the darkened room. They seemed to know just where to go to find an empty table and soon you were tasting food and not being disappointed. The buffet at the Sri Lanka Hilton was definitely NOT disappointing.

Dinner Time

Plates of cold fresh fruit and deep terrines of hot tasty soup...

Salad greens in frosty bowls with every imaginable topping and dressing...

Steaming entrees and delightful deserts by competent chefs all lead to a wonderful buffet in Sri Lanka.

The End

Worth waiting for...

The Beginning

We Did It All

A friend who wants to take baptism and her boyfriend came to visit. She wanted to learn but she also wanted to cook. We did it all.

As with all things tasty there needs to be lots of preparation.

We had a lovely meal of Indian and American food and we had a lot of patience too. Very late dinner.

We Did It...

To to the left are a multitude gathered in front of the small table where you pay for the furniture you're just pick out of the sort of warehouse in back of a regular store down the little walking street. There are walls and a roof but they don't meet so we have no idea what they do during monsoon season. We have just paid, don't worry we didn't buy the chairs in this photo. We had items going to four locations and have to say the we were a little bit proud that without any Tamil language we figured out to put them on separate bills so they would get to the right apartment. The Tamil speakers in front of us (three friends) ran their bill together and were trying to sort it out after they had paid. The store doesn't care and will not have anything to do with the problem.

This man is probably the second in command and he wasn't needed so much this time but he really helped us the first time we came and had to buy three apartments full of furniture. We had to come one other time because you pay cash and the minute you pay they will deliver an hour later. In the busy time of day it takes us an hour to get across town to our home. So this time buying the last of six apartments of furniture we had to race out to the car and head north to Anna Nagar, that is our neighborhood. We wanted to beat the deliverman home. More in the next blog about the timing.

I am not sure if this man had helped us before but he wanted his picture taken too. I do remember the man who let me bargain the price of couches and living room chairs down and who climbed almost to the ceiling to get a certain color for the set of couch cushions. This time he had to deliver the bad news that the Saravana Stores had stopped bargaining at the first of the year. The turning point was on Pongal. Actually our decorating budget was tightening at the same time so we did a shift and went down a few thousands Rupees and replaced a mattress with a lesser model.

As we left the area we were ready to celebrate the end of a difficult assignment but we were too busy looking down to avoid stepping on chunks of concrete and piles of trash. We love the people here but can't help longing for an orderly mall with a little accompanying ambiance.

There Are Snakes In Our Camera!

This picture doesn't go with this blog. It's fruit salad from the Christmas buffet at the American Restaurant. Our family had a tradition of eating what was called a Dixie Salad. The recipe came from pioneer days in the St. George, Utah area. Pomegranates were a key item giving out a quick surprising flavor as we enjoyed the sweet harvest of fruit. When I saw all these choices on the buffet table it was a very happy moment.

We just got a "wonder" if we have been very busy so we haven't blogged. We have been very busy but that is not the reason for the lack of blogs. We haven't blogged because of a VERY unhappy moment. There were snakes in our camera and one of us would not take them out and the other one of us kept forgetting until late at night and then being good missionaries we knew that we had to stop working and get some sleep so we could make it through the next day.

Anyway the snakes are out now so there is no chance that they can get in our computer and have to be seen every time we blog so now we will blog - whenever we are not too busy.

You are probably wondering about snakes in a big, major city. We took the young missionaries on an outing and the last stop was a famous reptile park. One of us stayed in the bus and the other one went nuts with the camera. So grateful for digital cameras and quick erase.