Hi Everyone --

It's been a very quiet week. We have been healthy for 2 weeks -- knock on wood. It continues to rain, though not as hard. We have a short shower, then it clears up, then it showers again.

We do have a leakage problem in our kitchen. The green mold just blooms in the cement walls. The paint flakes off, the next layer bubbles up, then there is green mold. Fascinating! Doug did get some caulk this weekend and caulked part of the deck above the kitchen wall. I'm afraid it wasn't enough. We may need to get someone to re-grout the tile on the whole deck. Unfortunately, that is not something they do in monsoon here -- only after it starts raining. It has turned cooler, so we only run the air conditioning to keep the dampness down in the house. The housekeeper will bleach the mold and it will look nice for a day, then it starts growing back. Maybe we can get this problem fixed by monsoon 2008.

Hannah and I have done a lot of shopping this week. We have been helping get the John Deere guest house equipped. So we've been buying kitchen pots, pans, dishes, silverware, glasses, etc., etc. We've been out 2 days and still have another day to finish up. Of course, while we have been out, we have been able to get some shopping done for us too. We have a large amount of things to bring back as gifts. I'm kind of glad, because that means we can take US things back to India on the way home.

Doug is posting some more pictures on our blog: http://lucindajohnson.blogspot.com/ (Try clicking on the address and see if it will take you to the site. If not, put it in your Google address spot and it will take you there. Or ask your grandchildren how to do it.)

We found this great snake on the side of the road. He only cost 200 rupees. Doug says I should have gotten more. I'm not sure how we are going to get him to the US. Have you seen "Snakes on a Plane"? Anyway, he has settled in nicely at our house and loves to explore. He is also hungry and likes to look for lizards in the fridge. We call him Waldo because we always wonder where he is. If you would like to adopt him, please let us know. If you would not like to adopt him, please let us know. He is a special character and needs lots of love and attention. He needs to belong to a good home!

We are getting very excited to come home on our Thursday night. Our arrival date is July 13. We fly into Detroit and then we're heading to Michelle's to spend the night then head for Tennessee the next day. We will let you know our US cell phone number when we get that worked out. Until then, you can call Michelle, Amber, or e-mail us and we should receive any message.

We are looking forward to seeing you soon.
Love, Lucinda