The end of the trip..almost

We are currently in Melbourne, Australia but we are leaving are leaving this afternoon to spend a few days in Singapore. I have been trying to upload some photos from Sydney and Cairns but the internet connection is quite slow so I will wait until we get back to Chennai. We are all ready to go back "home", which is a good thing that Chennai does feel like home to us. Visiting Australia has been an incredible adventure and we have some wonderful memories...and photos!

Sydney

What an amazing time we had in Sydney. This was the first time I had ever spent much time in a big city and it was really fun. The city was so clean and full of life. We walked all over the city, the kids were great about it. We went up the Sydney Tower, stood in front of the Sydney Opera house and viewed the Sydney Bridge. We also took in some spectacular sites such as Bondi Beach and the gateway to Sydney harbor where there were beautiful cliff formations. We enjoyed eating some delicious beef steak meals. We have yet to eat kangaroo but we still have one more city to go! Enjoy the photos!

Cairns

We arrived in Cairns, Australia. Tomorrow we snorkel the Great Barrier Reef!

Sydney

We are in Sydney, Australia. It is hard to describe this city...it is amazingly beautiful! We have toured and walked all over the city. Today we hiked the Blue Mountains and visited a wildlife park and got to hold Joey's (baby kangaroos!). I will post more later!

Australia

Tonight our family is embarking on an incredible journey to Australia! We are visiting Sydney, Cairns, Melbourne and then on the way back we are going to spend a few days in Singapore. So the next posting will be of the sights of Sydney!

G'day mate!

A Rainbow in sight

About four years ago I started this quilt for Mason. His other one was beginning to look rather tattered as it was my first quilt. I saw this quilt in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and this Shimmering Stars pattern really stood out. I started the quilt and then we decided to finish our basement where my work area was so I had to put all my sewing items away for several months. Anyone who works on projects knows it is never a good idea to put a project away as it is so hard to get it back out again. I began to work on it a few years later and then I put it aside once more to work on some baby quilts. When we moved to India I had a goal to finish this quilt! After two more baby quilts I really got serious. Today I finally finished it! The really cool thing about finishing it was just when I clipped my final thread the phone rang and it was Mason. He told me there was a rainbow and I might want to go outside and take some photos of it. How awesome that this quilt that took so long to finish - at times I thought I would never get it done - would be finished just as a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky! And how awesome it was that Mason called to tell me about it!

Photos from Emily's Birthday Party

Ayudha Pooja (or Puja)

We had a Hindu Ayudha Pooja performed at our house Tuesday evening. The Ayudha Pooja is a worship of whatever implements one may use in one's livelihood. The Hindu's believe that if one can make an effort to see the divine in the tools and objects that they use each day, it will help one to see their work as an offering to their god. The pooja is part of a ten day long festival celebrated all over India. I went with Sampeth and Bhaskar to make the purchases for the pooja which included puffed rice, lemons, apples, oranges, sweets, sandalwood powder, red powder, flowers, banana tree stalks and leaves, palm leaves, colored powder (for driveway decoration), coconut, watermelon, gee and probably more stuff I can't remember. It was quite a process. I enjoyed going along and taking photos. It was an interesting process to witness. There was much preparation involved to get ready. All of the vehicles, bikes, scooter, lawnmower and a driver's two wheeler were washed that afternoon. Mango leaves were folded and adorned with sandalwood and red powder and hung from the pillars outside our gate and above our front door. The goats were quite interested in helping...eating the leaves! Saraswathe and some neighbor ladies colored a Kolam outside the gates. Most people performed poojas on Wednesday but ours took place Tuesday night as everyone had the day off on Wednesday. To start the pooja Sampeth somehow lit a coconut on fire and walked around the house and vehicles. When he went into the carport to bless the electric panel we all had a good laugh (we had a large fire in July). Then he lit a watermelon on fire and walked out the gate and smashed it on the street in front of our house. Very interesting to watch. Then Ted had to drive over a lemon on the scooter and Sundar and Bhaskar drove over lemons with the vans. All of these rituals were part of asking for a blessing on the equipment that is a part of their life. We then passed out sweets and rice to all the staff. It was a really interesting part of the Indian culture to witness. I did have to laugh when the next day I saw a car broken down that had been pooja'd, I told Bhaskar they must not have had a very good pooja!

Shopping

Shopping here is so different than in the US. In the US when you are in a store and need to find a salesperson good luck. You literally have to go and find someone who in the end may not be able to help you if it is not their department. I used to get quite frustrated with that but in India it is completely the opposite. The minute I walk into any store I am surrounded my salespeople! It drives me crazy. In case you haven't guessed I went shopping today. I first went into an Adidas store to browse around and I do mean browse but the entire time I had two men literally at each side of me. I saw a pair of shorts and would have liked to have tried them on but it wasn't worth it! Then I decided to check out a shoe store next door, same thing...immediately a salesperson is following me around. When I decided to leave he asked if he could help me with anything and I replied I was just looking. What I wanted to say was if you had left me alone I may have bought something! I don't mean to be unkind but sometimes I just want some space and privacy when I am shopping!

Chennai Buses

The other day during morning rush our we came across this bus that evidently needed a push. I keep wondering just how far those men had to push!




I also witnessed on another day a bus that had some extra passengers...riding outside! This happens all the time and I believe that it is fairly common for people to fall off and get ran over either by the back of the bus or the cars following behind. There seems to always be so many senseless tragedies here. When there are accidents there are ambulances here but the ambulances have a hard time getting though traffic. I was explaining to our driver that in the US we pull over to let the ambulance though, that is not the case here, the ambulances just have to fight there way though traffic like everyone else.