Independence Day... the Indian way

July 4, 2016

We are now up to 84% humidity and 101.2 degrees. Oh yeah Baby! We are talkin’ HOT and HUMID!  Yesterday we had a 4^th of July party. All guests were Indian because we don’t now any one else here. Six of the guests were neighbors: the Badlani’s next door and Dev and Priti across the green. We met Dev on our daily walks and he is a walker also. We had tea with them one afternoon a couple of weeks ago. They are our age. Dev was so taken that we would celebrate our Independence Day here that he came over earlier in the week to take our photo for his Facebook page. Then yesterday they showed up  at the party with this

 lovely floral arrangement with roses and a great flyer their grandson had made on his computer. We were quite touched. 

The other guests were CEPT employees and their children or spouses. It was great fun, particularly since we had it catered! We had wanted to have a USA theme with burgers and chips but alas we couldn’t find a caterer to do that so we had an Indian menu. We lucked out because the food was great: sautéed veggies, veggie and chicken momos which are steamed dumplings, chili paneer and chili chicken and butter mushrooms. We also served ice cream. The party ended around 9:00. Sankar showed up late but in perfect time to clean up the kitchen. Today after a thorough cleaning it still smells like fried food.  ICK! It has a way of clinging. The party made me feel more a part of things here than I have felt prior to this event. I am glad we did this.

I took the leftovers to Ron’s office for his ‘lunch bunch’ which is Ron and five women who share the office space. I stuck around and joined in and it was fun. Merci is a great tease so she and Ron have fun teasing one another.

Today I think the monsoons really did arrive. It has rained off and on all day and I haven’t turned on the AC since returning from lunch. I have all the doors open and the fans going so I can enjoy the fresh though heavy air. I also assume the rains have cleansed the air but I am not sure how that works with rain and air pollution. The temp was 94 and humidity was 90%. Somehow it felt cooler so perhaps the temp dropped this afternoon.

I was so excited when I found Fuji apples here as they are a favorite snack; then last night at the party someone was talking about how there is arsenic in the apples here. I don’t have enough information to know if I am eating those apples or not but I think I had better check that out! So far the only organic products I have seen are things like dried beans, black eyed peas, rice and canned tomatoes.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and never went back to sleep. This afternoon I took at short nap on the couch, my fave nap spot.  I have to laugh at myself because so some reason when I nap on the couch here I frequently wake myself up snoring. Oh the joys of aging! Afterwards I went out to the veranda and was reading my ebook and saw monkeys so got up to take photos. I got one taken when Ron arrived home so I turned the camera over to him. I find it difficult to hold the camera for long due to the arthritis in my fingers. He go some great shots. I never tire of watching these guys. Today two of the babies were having a hay day swinging on some wire attached to the neighbors house. It was hilarious.