We're not blogging much these days but...

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See you there I hope!

A short video of the neighbourhood

I made this last night as I went for a pretty fantastic massage in the nice hotel 10 minutes away. Met the GM of the hotel too and I hope we'll be able to get involved in a scheme to help the local environment and people. Hurrah! 

Pictures on Instagram @metcalfe_dawn

We've been taking more photos than usual i.e. some photos and have discovered the joys of instagram so if you'd like to see some pictures please follow metcalfe_dawn and they'll be there. I can promise you one of an elephant in a restaurant and a lizard too.

Sleepy Puppy

Elle relaxes after a long day dealing with snakes and her newest neighbours/

The puppies "found" a snake. Look away now if you are very keen on snakes

The puppies fight. A lot.

I didn't realise how much until I started to video things and then I realised they were always trying to outdo each other in order to get food or attention. I'd like them to chase crows for this but am too lazy to train them. As you'll see from the attached, I'm too lazy when here to even get gloves!

They are nice to each other a lot too though. And they kill bad things at times too.  And this technique seems to have stopped them from fighting too much.

An Irish nun brings silk to Sri Lanka

http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/7th-february-1992/7/eithne-treanor-on-how-a-remarkable-irish-nun-has-b

written by a friend of mine years ago.

Some flowers around Iwura today

Boris the yoga frog

Everything here comes back to coconuts!

Down the garden path to Boris

We're going to need a gun!

Morning in Iwura

Photos from the new phone

I arrived this morning as usual for the beginning of Ramadan. I'll be travelling back and forth a bit  as  I  have to be in Dubai for bits of the month. Last night as I left for the airport I even questioned the wisdom of this trip but an upgrade to a seat in the front of the plane surrounded by the South African cricket team made it fairly painless. 

This morning the internet when I arrived so I've spent the day taking photos and reading and thinking and listening to great podcasts. All on my new phone!

I'm pretty bad at taking photos - it's never been anything I was interested in - but knowing what other people can do with the same technology I'm inspired to at least try. You can see the results below for what they're worth. I have noticed that I look more carefully when taking photos though so maybe I should do it more. But the results don't come close to capturing teh place. I'm going to try video next.

Ramadan Kareem everyone.

We're baaack. Again!

Well, not really. Not yet back at Iwura (but soon I hope) but back to the blog at least. Our new friend Matthias is staying and he has taken some photos. Thank you Matthais. So I thought I'd share them here. What a difference a year makes! The garden is coming along leaps and bounds and the flower tower is now a nice thing and not a monstrosity. There are no pits or craters and soon, soon, soon, there might even be a BBQ or a pizza oven. Or both. If anyone reading knows how to build either please let me know?

Arrived!

Although the flight was delayed by almost an hour I spent it very happily chatting to a guy who works with FlyDubai on the ground doing something technical and whose whole family seem to be pilots.

I whinged quite a lot about previous flights and how it is unfair that Matt's flights always take on time and I never quite manage to arrive in the dark because of delay in the flight or at immigration.

I don't know how Mark (FlyDubai guy) managed it but I slept the whole way, the staff were charming, we parked next to the airport so there was no bus and there was literally no queue at immigration.

So I arrived in the dark and, by the time I had unpacked and found a jumper, I was all wrapped up and watching the sun rise with the puppies (who remember to sit, go down and give the paw!). It's now 6am and I'm going to walk on the new grass in the gradual light and then treat myself to a fabulous shower before a short nap. Then I've got to get to work for a while - I'm quite looking forward to it!

I haven't spoken with Brayen and Julia yet but they are apparently getting aruyvedic treatment and, although the injuries look very painful, they are not in any way life-threatening and both should be completely recovered soon. I'll speak with them later today and find out how they are. I'm not sure exactly where they are and may even visit them if I can be of any assistance.

If you are good at talking pictures please consider yourselves invited (Jamie? Harry?) as I would love someone to capture the light here - every photo I take is a disaster!

Accident!

So I'm off to Sri Lanka in a few hours to get some work done, see the puppies and chill a little.

Sadly I won't be able to see Brayen and Julia as they had a motor-bike accident (no broken bones thank God but bruised, scraped and battered so off to get some aruyvedic treatment with the family).

Luckily Brayen's family are nearby and were able to step in. This means that I won't be left entirely bereft when there (and, of course, I always have the trusty Ramesh to get me places) and they were able to make sure the grass got planted. We have grass!

Not everywhere. But we have grass. And sprinklers so we don't have to water it.

To say I'm excited would be a crazy understatement!

No more sleeps and I'm there...

More on the flower tower

It feels hotter here than in the UAE but that's probably because it's been remarkably chilly in Dubai recently. I mean, the weather has actually been pretty fabulous with lunches outside and drinks outside in the evening equally lovely. 

Here it seems hot and I feel for the workmen doing the outside walls but am, nonetheless, delighted that the outside is finally finished!  Now all we have to do is plumbing, electricity, tiling, putting in mirror and shelves etc. fixing the steps and then finishing it all off by planting flowers in the "pots" built into the building and more around the flower tower itself. And most of the decisions about that can be made this trip. Those of you who know me will not be surprised to hear I've made a list! 

I feel  like these workmen have been maligned by me. It hadn't occurred to me how difficult it must be to get all the tiles to match up when they aren't uniform shapes and how much time it must take. They were actually here early this morning and caught me in the shower!

In other news

1) we're also hoping to cover the back wall with sugar cane. Unless anyone has better ideas?  

2) there seems to be a much pronounced noise of crickets and a reduction in the cawing of crows

3) we've had an influx of white seeds from one of the trees 

4) Brayen and Yuliya successfully got me an extended visa. Hurrah! 

No photos yet as although I am taking them I'm struggling with sharing. I'll probably do so when back in Dubai.  In any case, they aren't great - I wasn't blessed with a good eye but I'm hoping to get others, with more talent and knowledge, to take some better ones soon. You'll be especially amused/annoyed by my attempt to capture what the white seeds look like in case someone can tell me what they are?

Today, Matthew, I'll mostly be....

It's 0541 in Dubai so 0711 here and I'm now safe and sound on the terrace. The puppies have been petted (and then ignored as they tore my dress - do dogs need to get their nails clipped? I'm sitting on the terrace having unpacked and had a bit of a chat Bryan and wandered around looking at trees and the progress. I am now relaxed. 

It is slow but steady. I can't help feeling that it should be possible to do more than one thing at a time but it does like everything is very time-intensive. It's going to take Brayen and Yuliya a few hours to get to Colombo and update my visa. I couldn't bear queuing at the airport after  what was not a great flight as there was a drunk man shouting on the plane.

The outside washroom remains enormous but is being transformed into what will be a "tower of flowers". If the workmen actually turn up today we may even finish the external tiling. And then everybody goes off for a few days for Easter. 

I'm giving myself today off to relax (listen to the Archers, write this, have a shower outside, read my book, do yoga, eat fruit, get chilly and put on a jumper), watch this episode of Corrie (my dirty little secret!) and then tomorrow I'm going to do a day of work. I'm looking forward to it as I've got some interesting things to prepare. There will likely be quite a lot of noise as it's Easter and there are likely to be lots of celebrations. 

Matt arrives on Saturday so I will have delicious food and cocktails  and we can drink the bottle of champagne I bought and read books and talk nonsense and do yoga and get to know each other and plan out the garden and hang out. Hurrah! I might even really try to get the dogs to chase the crows this time. They are so cheeky! Oh, yes and we might do a video for a TV show. Hmmmm.......

We have a Facebook page! You can see the pretty photos here. https://www.facebook.com/iwuraonline