Long time no hear from....

My bad.
I’m hanging with my mom in Brockport pretty much sorting out her finances; taking care of her and the house. I’ve been writing stuff all along for the blog, but dumping it into the draft part of blogger until I could add photos. There’s a lot that has happened since I last updated and downloaded as well as some wonderful pics to add from the Habitat build in Sri Lanka.

It's rewarding to volunteer for people you know...

Upon my return to the U.S., I was finally able to access my Outlook email account. I found several messages from my pal Ann Hellman. My old friend and mentor from my Random House days, Alice Kesterson had been battling colon cancer since early spring and Ann was keeping several of us up to date on the her progress. This was rather a shock since Alice has always been one of the healthiest people I ever knew. She and her husband Randy are vegetarians and very health conscious. They run a lovely Bed and Breakfast in Snow Hill, Maryland. It’s a historic old home called Chanceford Hall. Randy is an architect and since leaving Random House, Alice has opened a charming and eclectic bookstore on the main drag called simply “Alice”. Needless to say, they are pretty busy people. Ann let me know that since Alice had started chemo and radiation, many of the local townsfolk had pitched in to help keep the store up and running in her absence. Random House chums like Jane O’Boyle and Ann had already spent weeks at time in Snow Hill helping with the bookstore and getting Alice to various appointments. I asked Ann if it would be helpful for me to come down for a week to assist since I was sort of between volunteer gigs at the moment. Randy called me back and said come on down, we’ll take all the help we can get. I showed up in early September and ended up staying into early January. On a camping trip in Canada, left to right in back: Joanne "Nursie" Fagan, Randy Ifft, Todd "the bodd" Stauring, Diane, (then Ader's finacee), John Ader, John "the goon" Fagan, Alice Kesterson and Jennifer "the lady" Petschke. Down front: Gina Maida, Me and Candice Wells. I think this is around 1993ish. Looking good for a bunch of people with tent head.

The Habitat Build and a Visit to Colombo

The Dambulla Habitat Crew

Back row: Me; Alex; Edwin & Ray

Seated: Laura; Katie;Roshael; Natalie & Marc

In front: Dave & Joanne

The Habitat for Humanity build in Dambulla was very rewarding. I get to add masonry work to my skill set. The group was a ton of fun and we all worked very hard at finishing four homes. I can safely say that I have never been that dirty in my entire life (and I grew up on a farm)

Roshael and I wetting bricks for the masons, they put planks down
at the base of the wall to catch all the excess mortar and there is absolutely no waste of materials of any kind. Roshael and Edwin at tea time (obviously the morning one since they are still relatively clean) Ray, Alex and Marc finished the home they were working on so started digging the hole for the outhouse. Yes, they took the prize for dirtiest duds everyday.

Our littlest helper (I love this picture)

Our chief mason, VJ, atop an incredibly suspect scaffolding arrangement. This was our last day on site and I thought I couldn't be more amazed. Then I watched VJ whack off angled chunks of brick to make the perfectly straight roof line...incredible!

We're all at the closing ceremony with VJ and our homeowners and their two kids. These guys are farmers and they had taken off two weeks from the fields to work with us on their home. They worked so hard and this was a very emotional day for all of us.

I had scheduled an extra week in Colombo after the build and had a fabulous time showing Joanne, Laura and Edwin around a little bit. They came with me to the Wellawatte boys’ home and got to meet the gang. They’d had a visit from a doctor a couple of days earlier and he had left about 18 prescriptions for the boys. It was for the usual kid stuff, antibiotics, anti fungal creams, anti inflammatory and some cough syrups. I got some rupees from the bank and we split up to several pharmacies to get them filled.

My friend Laxman drew a picture of the two of us.

I stayed with my excellent friend Lino at her apartment and she even got some beautifully ripe rambutan for me. I love those spiny little fruits! Laura had a pretty good idea of the stuff she wanted to see in and I think we got to everything on her list.

Laura perusing the menu at Helga's Folly.
We caught up with Dani and a friend at Beach Wadiya for a fabulous seafood meal. One of my favorite places to eat in Colombo, there are no menus, they simply come to the table and tell you, “Here’s what we caught today and here’s how we’re cooking it.” Amazing food and great company right on the beach!

Before I left for the build, I gave Roy some money to get some stuff done to the new tuk-tuk. They are pretty much sold stripped and he needed to get a headliner for the inside as well as some side curtains for when it rains. He spent a little bit on some non essentials like wheel covers, a funky dashboard and seat covers. I was glad to see he had customized it to his liking and he even bought a nice pair of slacks and button down shirt. I didn’t even recognize him when he came to fetch me from Negombo.