Season in the Sun

I have an album of photos for you today.

These are our roses. In late October the rose bushes were pruned and their roots exposed to the sun for a few days. Then we fed them fertilizers and manure and covered up the stumps.

They started flowering after 3 or 4 weeks.

And this is Mr Naughty - the Troublemaker

If he was trained and cared for he would turn out to be a nice animal. But his owners neglect him and he is left to fend for himself. They just feed him once a day and patch him up occasionally when he gets wounded in the neighbourhood gang rumble.

The front of our house. I wanted to get the shade painted , but can' t afford it. It will cost another 2000 rupees. (about $50)

Sheeba among the plants taking her herbal treatment. Dogs eat grass and leaves to purge and heal themselves.

My Judy and Rambo loved eating sunflowers.

Sheeba ensconced on the living room carpet . We took it out for airing and washing. I had given her a hot bath with Pantene Shampoo.

She looks so cute here.

I made my own atta or whole wheat bread yesterday. Its healthier than the store bought refined flour/maida bread. Turned out to be real good.

I was unable to meet the Bank Manager this week. Yesterday was a holiday due to a Muslim festival - Moharram and today Saturday , he was busy with meetings. H e has called me on Monday.

Tonight my Inrterne t is working quite well and my pictures uploaded faster then ususal. In the morning I was having trouble. My landline phone is not working since the last 3 days.

Today the lights did not go off at all.

When something works smoothly I am pleasantly surprised and wonder why? We are so used to things breaking down , so we wonder what' s right??? LOL

Drs Marjorie and Sudhakar visited us in the afternoon. Sudhakar studied engineering at the Christian University here and joined the staff. We were in school, when he got married to Marjorie akka (Akka is elder sister in the Tamil language - they are natives of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu). Akka is a medical doctor and she served in the Christian Leprosy Mission Hospital here for several years. They have 2 daughters. One is an Army wife.

The younger is a teacher of technology at her father 's university.

Akka and Anna (anna is Tamil for elder brother) were pillars of our Christian Fellowship and Mission. We miss them so much , now that they have settled in South India where Anna is the Head of an Engineering Department at Vellore Technical Inst. VTI is a reputed university.

Their daughter is also teaching there and wants to do her Ph D.

Marjorie Akka is working at the Karigiri Leprosy Hospital.She is such a gentle and soft spoken doctor. I have never met a doctor like that. She is a great prayer warrior, praying with deep burden and tears. This couple provided free transport for people who could not come to Bible studies and prayer meetings on their own. They used to take me along.They are living letters for Christ - living Bibles.

Akka brought us a box of lovely syrupy Bengali sweets and a hand made letter holder wall hanging.

The leprosy patients at Karigiri are rehabilitated and taught various trades like weaving ,carpentry and so forth so they can earn their own living and do socially productive work. I visited one such place in Dehra Doon, run by an old wheel chair bound German lady called Agnes. I have to dig out the pictures from somewhere. I used to take my students on a field trips there.

This fabric is woven on hand looms , then stitched and painted.

Its wonderful to see people creating such beautiful things when they are supported and helped.

Jesus cured many lepers while on earth, And sin has been likened to leprosy in the scriptures. He is still doing that today, both spiritually and physically.