Birthday Continued

Hello again! Wow! Wednesday was a whirlwind. The whole afternoon and evening seemed to get away from me. Now it is Thursday. We had an orange sandstorm come through about 9 am this morning and now it is just dusty and dreary outside. This is what it looked like about 5 pm this evening. Yes, that is the sun -- although it might look like the moon. There's so much dust, the sun's rays can't even get through. Yuck!

I will close my eyes and transport myself back to Sri Lanka and the beauty of the Botanical Gardens.

Where I can sit and contemplate.

Or walk through a row of trees that have been there more than 150 years.

Where flowers are brilliant and beautiful.

And where branches are so heavy they have to be held up with wooden poles.
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On this day, once we had roamed the botanical garden for quite some time, we headed over to a traditional wood factory. It was so very interesting to learn about the different woods they use for carving.

This is the only one that is native to Sri Lanka.

We were even shown how the sawdust from one type of wood is first mixed with water to create a pink color and then by just adding different elements, like lime juice, metal, powder -- the color changes. They are able to make 7 different natural colors from the shavings of this one type of tree. Amazing!

Everything is carved by hand using traditional methods ....
usually from one block of wood.
The biggest surprise was when my friends from school showed up right after us. I had tried to see them at their hotel the night before but they weren't in. Lo' and behold, we wound up in the same place at the same time so of course it was a photo opportunity. They are the sweetest girls.

We so enjoyed looking around the premises of the wood factory. So much to choose from.

And you know we did not go away empty-handed.


But more about that tomorrow. I can't believe this is another post about my birthday, so many pictures, and we haven't even gotten to lunch yet, or the fact that we went to a gemstone factory where Sam bought me my birthday presents, or the cultural dance we saw in the evening. What a day it was! Sending many good wishes your way for a most wonderful day. Blessings, Tammy