November 2009

Two nights, three guests, and one dirty dog.  Had the pleasure of meeting and dining with Lin Clark, Steph's future replacement at DERI.  Last night entertained some French friends visiting from Paris and so this morning was a nice affair with American style pancakes and maple syrup.  Once everyone left it was time to clean the house.  Floors mopped, doggie beds and assorted accessories thrown in the washing machine - the doggie herself was carried and promptly dumped in the tub for a royal scrubbing.

It rained for two days straight.  My birthday came and went and we celebrated by going for Japanese with Lin Clark who is now taken up position in Galway as a replacement for Steph.  Nothing much to report and so no major blog entries. 

We had a few friends over for a game of Werewolves - Oshani, Mithushi, Varuni, & Rukshan.  I made a pumpking curry for the first time - and learnt how to make watalappan as well.  More pictures are on flickr. 

I've discovered that I'm not very good at sewing in a straight line - that said, I managed to create curtains to cover our front door window (which prior to this left our kitchen exposed to whomever was outside the door).  I used some free instructions (http://www.alternative-windows.com) and it took me about 6 hours to complete my task - and to manage to test out the Lil' Sew & Sew machine (available from amazon.com for about $24).  Unfortunately, the machine broke by the sixth hour and I had to continue

Had a fantastic American Thanksgiving with the friends in Newburyport.  Maya travelled up with us for the night and semi-met/traumatized Jack and Stewart, Lisa's black cats.  The dinner was fantastic and I tried sweet potatoes for the first time.  Of note is Susan's gravy & french beans, Steph's french salad, Jake's fabulous wine, Trevor's perfect pumpkin pie, and Lisa & Julien's gorgeous and moist turkey.  I contributed the usual lemon squares and brownies, feeling a bit intimidated to finally be having the REAL thing (not that our thanksgivings in Toronto have

I'm guessing my nephew will grow up with my good looks! That said, even I've gone from looking like my father to looking like my mother and back again.  All in all, the De Alwis Seneviratne genes seem to have pulled through again and beaten all the other odds.  Pictured here are me (circa 6 months) and Moksha (5 months).  The resemblance is uncanny!