the "Switzerland of".......

We are about to visit a small town in Pennsylvania, USA known as "the Switzerland of the Americas".  It got me thinking.....as this is not the FIRST time I've heard that phrase.  And some refer to Shimla, India as "the Switzerland of India".  Some refer to the up-country of Costa Rica as "the Switzerland of Central America" and Bariloche, Argentina is known as "the Switzerland of South America".  Even in Sri Lanka...the hill-station town of Nuwara Eliya is often called "little England" (which is more appropriate) but I've even heard people call it "little Switzerland".

Now then....you know what I'm going to ask, right?  In the beautiful country of Switzerland.....I wonder if they have towns that are "the America of Switzerland", or "the India of Switzerland", "the Argentina of Switzerland", etc.  I'm just being a pest.

Although - in Toronto there is "Little India" (about 8 blocks of Indian and Sri Lankan stores) and that's one of our favourite places to shop and eat! 

Our Family's Prayer list......revised July 26, 2011

This is our family's nightly prayer list.  I will not put full names or will abbreviate their surname with a letter, or will say "my friend in such-and-such state", etc.  You are welcome to email me at farrshimla@gmail.com if you would like to be put on the list or know someone who should go.  When we pray, we don't pray "for so-and-so to mend their hip"  God knows their needs better than we do. 

for Richard & CLR, for Mr. S., for T&B, for Syd, for A&J, for Marty, for Donna, for Eddie & M., for my friend in Georgia, for Mary, for Nancy & Ron, for Rev. B & family, for the undocumented who feel forced to hide, for the soldiers in Afghanistan & Iraq (although we're anti-war, it doesn't meant we don't pray for those who were deployed there) and their families back home, for the widowed, the lonely, for the homeless, for those struggling with addiction and their families, for those with cancer and the families who care for them, for Monique, for Shirley, A & A, Sri Vidya, for Karen's sister, for K who just lost a son and husband, for my sister, for J. who is recovering from surgery, for Patti's sister B., for more world peace,

What ever happened to monogamy?

What ever happened to monogamy, fidelity, faithfulness, keeping a vow?  I grow weary of reading about this politician and that politician or official doing really immoral things while married.  In one case the person in question just married in September, his wife is pregnant and he is flashing himself on his cell phone to young college girls.  Why did he bother to marry?  Why ruin another person's life.  If it is one's choice to "play around" then why bother to marry someone and make the promise of fidelity?.....STAY single!  Don't drag another person's life in the mess (and in some cases LIVES because there are children involved).  Just stay single and play to your heart's content, but don't marry.

Every religion I know of in the world has a vow of faithfulness in the ceremony.  Do these guys think "faithfulness" is really a "code word" for "go ahead and cheat on your wife"??....or code word for "play around as much as you wish".

It doesn't make sense.  When one takes a vow to be faithful to a person for life....that's serious stuff and is not to be taken lightly.  It would be refreshing to hear of a political leader who could say in all sincerity "my greatest achievement of all was being faithful to my spouse in spite of many temptations".

 

Azores WEBCAMS....

Here's a link for those of us longing to see the Azores - a group of WEBCAMS - the time difference from USA is about +5 hrs.

Enjoy!
http://www.climaat.angra.uac.pt/WebCams/index.htm

Help! I've become a "lapa"

Limpet ("Lapa" in Portuguese)

Two weeks ago, I had to look up the Portuguese word "lapa" - never heard of it!!  It means "limpet" in English, and I'd never heard of that either.  As we were planning ahead to an Azores trip for 2012, I kept reading about "rice with limpets".  I had to look it up.  It is, well better than explain, let me point you to the definition:
http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/limpets.html

NOW - I feel some very, very strange attraction that the Azores must've been my homeland in another lifetime.  Suddenly, I feel close to things like "lapas" and "polvo" and Azorean words.  I do not know if a PLACE can consume a person, but I do feel totally consumed by the Azores, although I've never been there.  I look at scenes and instead of just appreciating them, I "remember" them.  I do not know why a Portuguese-speaking chain of 9 islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean calls out so much to me.  It haunts me day and night.  When I dream now, I have vivid, colourful dreams of different places in the Azores.  In a short span of time I have become familiar with all 9 islands: Corvo (the smallest), Flores, Faial, Sao Jorge, Graciosa, Sao Miguel, Terceira, Santa Maria and Pico.

Help!!!  I've turned into an Azorean "limpet" (lapa) and am not complaining in the least!!

Beautiful and emotional day!

We met a young couple about 7 years ago - Dom and Jesse.  We saw them thru college graduation, went to their wedding, became close friends to Dom's parents and they felt like our adopted "kids".  While we went to Nepal to adopt our daughter....Dom and Jesse homesat for us (and our ZOO of animals) and beautifully so!  In fact, they had taken us to the airport and retrieved us, so their sweet faces were the FIRST Americans our daughter actually met in America. 

They would not accept a cent for house-sitting from us.  Dom (very computer-smart) even built the computer I use to this day and charged very little.  His wife, Jesse, is a sweet, sweet, sincere person whom we love; Dom's parents are very special and close to our hearts also.  Long after we sold the Bed & Breakfast, they always made sure we would participate in any event here in the Northeast.

How we met?  Dominic's parents stayed at our B&B and as their son was attending a local college, they asked if he could possibly have breakfast with them (and they offered to pay us extra for that)....we said "he's MORE than welcome, there is no extra charge".  And so, we became friends, lasting friends, I would say.

Today we were invited by Dominic's family to attend his ORDINATION as an Episcopal Deacon.  We've never been to an ordination before, but it was emotional and moving.  The Bishop (originally from Chennai, India) was there.  One rector also praised Jesse, his wife, because she (in enabling and helping him to pursue his calling) will also be called upon to serve endless potluck dinners or answer the phone when she is tired and weary; Jesse is a High School Teacher by profession.

The whole process made us cry - we felt as if we'd seen these "kids" (Dom & Jesse) from college to career and could only IMAGINE how proud both Dom's and Jesse's parents must've felt at that time.  Moreover, there is just something one "feels in one's bones" - and we felt that Dom would make a FINE Episcopal priest someday.

Afterwards, we talked with Bishop Singh who is from Chennai, India - we found out we are ALL "Rajnikanth SUPERSTAR" fans and he vowed to give us a call when next in town for a veritable Rajnikanth film festival.....we said "OK - we'll provide the IDLI and your wife can make the sambar!"

Really, the paths and journeys God leads us on are wonderful and mysterious.  Dominic will be assigned to the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington, Kentucky and although the folks there may/may not have yet met him....they are in for a lovely surprise.  He will serve God well and Jesse will be right by his side.

When people complain about the "youth of today" surely they have not met some people like Dom and Jesse who will change lives for the positive.

Attached is a photo - I apologize in advance for the "red eye" and feel free to correct it for me.

     

Shhhhhh!!! Best Kept Secret in the World....

My husband and daughter were already thinking about vacations for 2012~~!!!  They wanted someplace NEW, TROPICAL and wanted to "swim with the dolphins".  More or less, they were pointing towards the island of Maui in Hawaii, and although I have nothing against Maui (have been there and liked it) the airfares from where we are in the Northeast to Maui were ridiculous......$1,100. each JUST for the airfare, then there would be the hotel, meals, car rental, etc.

As always, I say "I'll sleep on it".....and in this case it was true.  I slept and had a vivid and colourful dream about a place that was semi-tropical (tropical enough to grow pineapples) but with rural houses and red tiled rooves.....the doors, I distinctly remember, were bright YELLOWS, REDS, GREENS.  In the dream I knew it wasn't Greece because it had far more vegetation and waterfalls, even a tea plantation.  I saw beautiful hydrangeas everywhere. 

Normally, when I dream, it just ends abruptly.....but when I woke up from this dream the word "Azores" came over my tongue.  That morning I looked up the Azores (Islands) and everything was just as I dreamt the night before.  Moreover, there were "Swim With the Dolphins" programmes and "Whale Watching" programmes.

It FELT that it was calling to us.  The airfares were reasonable and one could stay in a very nice rural manor for very little money.  The FOOD looked super-delicious, and there was even a "tea plantation" on the northern coast of the island.  We found there were all sorts of tours to Azores from UK, but it was still a well-guarded "secret" for Americans and Canadians (although there are direct flights from USA and Toronto to Ponta Delgada).

      

The MYSTERY that was Danushkodi.....

There was an actual town in Southern India named Danushkodi.  It used to be the "transfer station" for the train/ferry between India and Sri Lanka.  Until one late night in 1964 when a cyclone hit the area and wiped it away.

Before you read this article, from Wikipedia, please note that every time someone goes to Danushkodi they are accosted by hundreds of flies, and not just ordinary houseflies: Muscina Flies to be exact.

Also note, everyone has warned each traveler NOT to ever SLEEP there - they do not say why, but there must be some mysterious and powerful forces in this area that (according to Hindu legend) was once traversed by Lord Rama.

This "ghost town" is only accessible by 4-wheel drive vehicles as the "road" disappears.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhanushkodi

The Boss is ALWAYS Right!

HOW we Die or When we die??

WHEN we die is decided by God Almighty - we could "go" at age 12 or at age 102 - that is up to the Almighty to determine.  HOW we die is also up to the Almighty, but I have been noticing deaths (please, I'm not obsessed with this) lately - there are no patterns.  Some die at a very young age (62 is young, to me!) from Alzheimer's.  Some die in their 70's from heart disease.  Some are over 100 with all their faculties and just "expire".  JUST as certainly as we were BORN into this world, we must also leave it.  There is NO amount of "advance planning" or "let's just make one more last trip around the world" remedy to this.  When it is TIME, it is TIME.

I've heard of such strange deaths - such as deer (not hit by the car itself, yet hit by another car) that came HURLING thru a window to kill an individual.  I've seen leukemia that was CURABLE take away a 19-yr. old in his prime.  I've seen those I thought must probably be already be dead linger on and on and on.  And I've seen some of the GREATS just "disappear".  Picks Disease or Alzheimer's robs one of one's dignity.  Now I thoroughly wonder if dear ones are trying to postpone the Alzheimer's by traveling it "away"? 

Personally, I work jigsaw puzzles AND work needlepoint - both have been proven to keep the DEVIL (Alzheimer's!) at bay.  In 1998 I had a super heart attack and I tell you that it would have been SO EASY to "let go" and be with God.  I stayed because my Nando needed me and (not even knowing then!) so would a daughter adopted in 2005. 

Death comes as God wills, so we don't really have any control over that.  All I can say is that we should always be PREPARED to die (i.e., ready to meet our Lord because we have given up all our vices and have turned our lives over to Him). 

DEATH is not something we can ever avoid - it will come to each and every one of us.        

Unforgetable and more.....

The best of the best - the late Nat King Cole!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN5rG3wLa4

and Nature Boy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0XJCJ1Srw

and Autumn Leaves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=684eg6S8dCw