Bill and Wendy's ickcillint adventures

    We are struggling here. Emotionally, we are ready to come home. We are often tearful, easily emotional, feel deeply sad or just go through the days just plain flat. We work hard to keep up our spirits with exercise, sleep and good food. We buoy each other up but have frequent crashes as we are often both low at the same time. It is painful to be having new grandchildren and not be there to witness the growing bellies of the pregnant moms, share the anticipation of the labour and the delirious joy of the birth of a new and precious family member. Family at my parent's 60th wedding anniversary We miss big things like our treasured family and our great friends. We miss our great kids and their spouses very much and our sweet loving grandchildren even more. I miss my good mom. I miss my four sisters and my three brothers and my numerous and talented nieces and nephews. We miss our pals who play with us; hiking, golfing, cycling.  Hiking with pals We...

   Judge got snipped. We had to have her snipped as she was behaving like a tart. We thought we were being responsible and proactive by booking an appointment for her to be spayed on June 4 th. However, we had to make an emergency date with the vet due to her concerning behaviour. A big black and white Tom with "faarry bowls" as our VSO Cockney pal would say, was calling her out all hours of the day or night and she returned his calls with her own wailing and darting out of the house against parental advice. Tail aloft, Judge played coquettishly with Tom, running toward him, back arched and tail fluffed and then, the sassy one flounced away from him like a little tease. I made an emergency call to her vet. Preventatively, she was caged in the spare room overnight, she had to fast from food and water in preparation for surgery and Bill took her out to the vet in a trishaw yesterday morning. She returned home groggy, shaved and slit up but doing well today. She is ...

We are dripping wet all the time. I have never been a sweaty person and actually bragged about that fact. Oh, of course I could get a tad moist under my arms or around my waistline when indulging in vigorous exercise, but really it was quite lady-like dampness and of no consequence. Sweaty armpits, limp hair- nice! Here, in the heat of the Jaffna sun and under the weight of oppressive humidity, every single body pore leaks. Pools of water form in my sandals and then puddle the floor as the moisture streams down my legs. Water leaks from my back and around my waistline, leaving my shirt and waistband soaking wet. I always eschewed patterned clothing, but now, patterned tops are sought in the shops to disguise the dark stains. Note sweat and dark stains on solid clothing? My face is dewy and for the first time in my life I am wishing I had more of a mustache to soak up the dew on my upper lip. My neck is slick, shimmering like a sunbather coated in Coppertone Suntan oil...

  Yesterday, Judge stranded herself in the huge Jack Fruit tree in our yard. She spent seven hours up amidst the leaves and Jack, crying and calling for our assistance and not understanding why we couldn't help her down. Bill tried everything to get her down, and she valiantly made many attempts to move down the tree, but she kept retreating when it got too frightening for her. Crows swooped by and threatened to pluck her out of the tree. It was getting dark. Finally, Bill fashioned a long, long stick by duct taping lengths of 1x .5 sticks to a homemade rake. Then, he slapped canned cat food onto the rake head. By holding this "carrot" out in front of her, he supported her down the tree. As a finale to this rescue effort, we had to make a ramp for her out of 8' planks to get her down the last and completely vertical section of the tree trunk. It was a long and worrisome day. Thank goodness she made it down. A Jaffna Fire Department doesn't exist.

Handing over curriculum and books to Sri Jayawardenapura University Mental Health Training Organizational Development for Shanthiham I have had requests to write more about my work. I find it difficult due to the highly sensitive nature of the work and the usual limits of confidentiality. However, I will try to give some generalities. Many jobs or tasks arose based on my initial assessment of the organization and the needs of the community/district/province. My work was and is not assigned, but rather based on this assessment and determining where my skill set can be used to fill in some of the gaps. Job One : Train the nine member trauma team in group therapy, build their clinical skills, and develop their capacity to work with victims of torture, trauma and ex-combatants. Job Two : Train a six member community team in group therapy, build their clinical skills to work with families of the "disappeared", war widows, the displaced, and the mentally ill....

Deep in the interior of Sri Lanka is a mountain range named Knuckles Range. This moniker, given by early British surveyors to the area, is so named as it closely resembles the clenched fist of a giant man. Knuckles Range is a UNESCO Heritage Site due to the flora and fauna found there; some species are endemic and not seen anywhere else in the world. April 12 and 13 th are the Tamil and Sinhala New Years and as the dates landed on a Thursday/Friday, a nice long weekend was created that allowed us to travel (a long and dirty bus ride) to the Kandy District in order to hike the Knuckles Range with a guide. Another VSO volunteer, Marjorie was with Bill and me. Day 1: Two hours driving into the Knuckles region in 4x4 Safari Jeep: 5 hours of hiking to base camp. Day 2: 8 hours of hiking to the caves; camp out. Porters carrying food, tents, sleeping bags. Day 3: 8 hours of hiking to home stay in the Knuckles Day 4: 4 hours of hiking to the rarely seen falls: only 3 other foreigne...

 Scrubbing bathrooms VSO volunteers live quite differently than other ex-pats in Sri Lanka. Our home is constructed of concrete with painted concrete floors (paint mostly worn off), blue tiled bathroom (1) with sketchy plumbing, open drains, no oven and no cupboard doors in the kitchen. Our modest housing comes with an ensemble of VSO furniture: uncomfortable plush couch (1), uncomfortable plush chair (2), wicker bookcase (1), rickety desk with drawers that don't work (1), Zellers type kitchen table (1) and kitchen chairs (4), bed (1), skinny mattress (1), hotplate (1), oven (0). Landscaping: weeds. Staff (0), Fan (2), drapes (0). The VSO housing and furniture scheme amount to a hill of beans in comparison to the INGO and the NGO housing. These homes, reminiscent of the old colonial Cinnamon Garden homes, display high vented ceilings, are roomy and breezy with grand sweeping, wrap around verandahs overlooking lush green and well tended floral tropical gardens....

Mickey Ryan         Just as we arrived back into Sri Lanka after gallivanting about the Philippines, we received the much anticipated telephone call that our son Brett's wife, Michelle, was in labour. All during our Philippines trip, we never ventured far from the phone or the internet (except while deep underwater) as Michelle's due date was past. After a very speedy delivery, our fourth grandchild was born; all 8 lbs 3 oz of him and he is absolutely perfect in every way. He has already learned to Skype, wriggling and squeezing his tiny fingers for us from his home in Calgary. He blinked and stayed awake for us during his entire Skype call. His Dad took off his booties and exposed his long toes and big feet to us all in Sri Lanka (Grandpa Bill, Auntie Lisa and Grandma Nordick). We are thrilled and mom, baby and dad are all adjusting as best as can be expected ... sans sleep. Two more grands are on the way. It is hard to be so far away.