Summer solstice

Felt I had to include a picture of the sun as today is the summer solstice.

It has been a very creative day sorting out how I am going to publish a booklet about eating seasonal food.  I did a mock up today of how the booklet will look and Isabelle agreed to do the layout for the cover (which will include the cover of the e-book) and the pull out pictures of seasonal food.  It will work very well with the website and e-book that I discussed yesterday.

Tried unsuccessfully to get the flash working on my camera.

Settling in

Today we cleared out the dormitory and set up two beds for the two volunteers expected over the next two days.  We also got rid of a huge pile of wood left over from taking down the last thatched volunteer accommodation. It will be used as firewood by a local school.

Had a long discussion with Mohan who is going to help me with my next book ‘Eating with the Seasons’. He will make sure the e-book is properly laid out and will set up an interactive website for the recipes.  

The last piece of the jigsaw

Today we moved into the new office and I feel we have put the last piece of the moving project in place.  We still have clearing up to do but I feel that something has clicked and that basically everything is now where it needs to be.

The office is smaller and darker than the other one and the picture shows how Rajan has put his desk right in the middle where he can see everything – water tank overflowing, people coming in the gate etc.  There is a covered place where he can work outside if he wants to so I think it will be OK.

I’m obviously very pleased but am too busy to really enjoy it yet. 

Yet more grit

I didn’t think it was possible to have yet more grit around, but there was.  The mason came today to put cement on top of the pipes that were set into the walls yesterday.  This meant there were tiny little bits of cement around.  The picture shows the cement around the water pipe inside my room where my water filter will be fixed.  The grey stuff on the wall around it will probably turn into grit when it dries!

Unfortunately he did not completely finish doing the piece along the bottom of my wall outside. I think this will make a lovely home for some ants unless it is finished very soon.

Have had a very tiring day with a difficult meeting with even more difficult notes to write.

Grit everywhere

The plumber came this morning and did this work to put pipes in so that I can install my water filter.  He had to do some cutting work inside as well as outside the house as in the picture.  It seemed to take me a long, long time to get rid of all the grit and even my eyelashes were heavy with the stuff.

As if that was not enough the electrician came this evening to install some more plug sockets.  This required drilling and even more grit on the floor.

With electrical and plumbing work being done in the new office as well there really is grit everywhere.

New cooker!

Yesterday afternoon Rajan and I took the last of the money out of the Buddha Garden accounts and went into Pondy to get a range of things for the new places.  One of the things we bought is this cooker for the new kitchen.  It was more expensive than the ordinary run of the mill cooker, looks really beautiful and is easier to clean.

I am really pleased with it although unfortunately the picture doesn’t really do it justice.  I hope Sivakala likes it when she comes back tomorrow.

First breakfast

This is a picture of our first breakfast together in the new kitchen.

It feels as if all the disruption of moving was worth it.