January Highlights

We've finally sorted out our computer issues and our house guest has returned to wintry Amherst. So here now with a moment to spare, here are a few January highlights.

We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with some friends, dragging out the DVD of our wedding in Java and playing it throughout the evening.

Notice the lovely amethyst jewelery Widi got me as a gift. He's made some good choices of little jewelry sets, Christmas was garnet, anniversary was amethyst, and my birthday was jade. I'm becoming a bit of an Edna with all the jewels...

John celebrated his 14th birthday on the 17th and refused to have a party, so we surprised him by bringing cake and ice cream to his English class. His classmates were very appreciative. We got him an aquarium, some eels and fish, and a USB satellite internet connection service, which makes his life a lot easier as we travel around.



Susan Tyler visited us after a harrowing experience getting stuck in Dubai for over two weeks trying to get a visa to visit India. It is a long and sordid tale and once she finally arrived, we got an emergency email that a tree had fallen on her house in Amherst. Still, she happily let us and our driver John drag her around to various temples, historical spots, and musical events. The high point might have been the Sunday we spent with our driver's cousin's family visiting the inner sanctums of the oldest Hindu temple anywhere, receiving VIP service through the hoards of people to get our pujas (special blessings) from various priests. The main reason was for our 20th wedding anniversary, but Susan seemed to be included in all of them as well. Strangely it seemed like she had become part of the marriage before it was all said and done. The family also cooked us a scrumptious Indian meal eaten native off banana leaves without utensils.