More Catching Up

Actually, if I create a different post for all the stuff that's happened since my last serious bout of posting we will be here a long time. But I do need to tell you about Ms J's visit to India.
She flew over by herself in July and, apart from tooling around Chennai, we also went to Kerala. That is a state in south India which is famous for its greenery and backwaters which you can tour on a houseboat. Which we did. It was a great time. The houseboat is quite big with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It had a large deck to spend the day on watching people live their lives on these quiet canals. We experienced a major rain storm that caused the crew to tie up and wait out. And all three of us slept well (enough) in our full bedrooms.We were served by a crew of 4 who managed the boat and kept us fed (really fed). It was quite lovely.

After our boat trip we spent a night at a heritage hotel- a former house which was converted into a small hotel.

We ventured into town to walk around and do some shopping. A highlight was a stop for South Indiam coffee (loaded with milk and sugar, yum!) at a restaurant which Lonely Planet deemed "clean". We wondered if they weren't trying to be ironic, or if they just missed the mess of electrical wires hanging from the wall.

We had a fantastic time hosting Ms J in Chennai. She bought some very Indian, silver ankle bracelets,

went to the gorge-fest Sunday brunch we are so fond of

and got upgraded to business class on both segments of her flights from Chennai to Detroit!

I flew with her- I had a business trip at that time. So it worked out really well. We had a great time keeping each other company on the flight plus the long layover in Frankfurt.

We agreed to spend a week together next summer (in South Lyon!) and intend to keep her to that pact!