Good day to all,

So hard to believe it is Thursday already. Leslie, Devi and I finally flew out this past Saturday for the return trip to India. As some of you know, Leslie had challenges getting Devi's Visa, thus the hold up.

We arrived at Leslie and Abhi's home in Moira some 35 hours after I left Palermo, Maine. It was actually Sunday night at 7pm EST and 5:30 am Monday India time. I thought I would take a quick nap and get up to enjoy the day. Ha! We all slept soundly for 8 hours, I guess we were really tired. Which raises an interesting point, as we were now getting up in the evening hour when we should be going back to bed. It took us all until Wednesday to get back onto  somewhat of a schedule. 

Today, we went to the ocean and Devi experienced the beach for the first time. It was sunny and 90 and the surf was up. The ocean water temperature here is like a nice warm bath and the three of us stayed in the water for a good 45 minutes playing in the waves. We took a couple of pictures and then put the camera away before going out to enjoy the surf. As we were jumping up and down in the waves, I had to hold Devi up above my head when the waves came breaking down upon us. Leslie said, "You are one of the very few people I would trust to do this." Sorry no pics, but the camera would not have made it.   

Leslie and I are both still pretty tired with it being 10:30 pm here, noon time back in Maine.

I have included a few pictures and will have many more to come. Tomorrow Leslie, Abhi, Devi and I are traveling to Ahmedabad to visit Abhi's family and to see a different area of India that I have never seen before. After spending the night in Ahmedabad we are renting a car and traveling to Udaipur, Rajasthan to see yet another state. We will be staying at the Shiv Niwas Palace Hotel. I've been told it is special and it was actually a home of a king or kings. We will get the history with photos and report back next Thursday.

Devi and Mommy- JFK playtime!                        Devi with Pat's bear 

 Visit to Abhi's office                                                Leslie, Devi, Anu, Anita & Dilip 

Migrant worker village near Anjuna                         Wednesday Market in Anjuna 

Customized rickshaw                                               Devi & Bumpa in the Arabian Sea  

Devi resting after swim!                                      Ladies gathering lakari (firewood)  

 Pick-up cricket game                                            Mooove over, coming through! 

I would like to welcome Sherri back from her visit with her daughter and her family in Ohio, even though I will not be back until the 16th of this month.

I would like to thank my staffs at the Dine-ah and G&E and also all of our patrons. I will see all of you soon.

All the best,

Norm