Winding Down

Oh Great Temple of the Tooth














Elephants, Elephants everywhere








Not great internet facilities here. So time to come home. I learned the sinhalese word for internet so I could ask for directions. That's hard core, isn't it?

I've decided to move up my return to this week instead of next. Been an amazing time and I am now tired.

Still some stuff to do, two more interviews, a visit to the two temples close to the house where I am staying. Photos, wild sound to gather.

If it sounds like I am running out of words, I am. But very happy, glad to be here for another couple of days and equally glad to be coming home.

land in Vancouver on Friday at 12:25 pm. Funny thing is I leave Hong Kong at 4:45 in the afternoon. So I get back to Vancouver 4 hours before I leave Hong Kong. Nice trick, eh?

I'll send you all a longer email from the Hong Kong airport -- I have a four hour stopover and the internet there is good. So it's a good way of spending the time.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from the Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala .. my Sri Lankan hosts took me on a trip to the interior, to the city of Kandy. We went to the Elephant Orphanage, to a tea plantation and museum, and then the great Buddhist Temple of the Tooth (there is a tooth of the Buddha interred in the temple, snatched from his funeral pyre in India and then smuggled into Sri Lanka in the hair of a princess). The temple was amazingly beautiful .. I also am attaching a picture. Exterior only .. photos inside not allowed unless you pay them a lot of money.

Puppies!

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you. When I was visiting Jackie and Laurie at Thistledown farm last week, they were anxiously awaiting the arrival of somewhere between 8 and 10 brand new little collie puppies. Well, it happened on September 2nd .. Happy Labour Day to mama dog Dusty. Eleven puppies in all were born, and sadly, two of them didn't make it.

But the rest of them are doing just fine and will be ready to go to good homes in about six to eight weeks. Wish I could have one but Ursalla is still the top dog in my life!

The Birds

Hi friends -- I am in Toronto this week. Had a good though challenging time in Hamilton last week .. in the end, the good times outweighed the challenges.

This week I am in Toronto doing a guest Radio Art deejay stint at the Radio without Boundaries conference. This morning I was at my sister Di's place and went for a walk in High Park. A couple of people along the edge of the pond warned me to watch out for the red-winged blackbirds because they were dive-bombing people. The guess is that this is a critical day in nesting season and they are trying to warn us away. What they'd do is swoop down on people's heads, grazing their hair as they did it. One came after me but I was able to duck.

And speaking of ducks, I saw eight adorable little ducklings. It was a good day for birdwatching. I didn't have my camera with me so couldn't take any pictures but I will try to upload some visuals when I am in South River next week. The Blackfly festival has started .. oh joy. Oh well, it's still awfully nice up there, blackflies notwithstanding.

Dog and Ice Floes