Wedding Anniversary, and a panorama

A panorama of 3 successive pictures from the Landour hillside, on a beautiful day before our 18th wedding anniversary.
We celebrated with a quiet dinner at Carlton's Plaisance Restaurant, a marvelous place on the far west side of town. We shared the very large dinner table with the only other guests, a retired German couple traveling the world in their converted military truck (parked outside very noticeably... the main reason they stayed at the Carlton's is because it's the only hotel with big enough parking area on solid ground!).

A drive down to DehraDun brings us to signs of civilization!


And we get to go to the Christian bookstore


After the motorscooter's 9-month checkup, it has reached 999km!



Another beautiful view of the valley, from the Long & Winding Road up to Mussoorie.

Flowers and a Flurry of Social Activity

Some beautiful flowers pop up in our garden overnight, then wilt away in a few days. What are they?

Barb hosts some elementary students
for brownie-making and outdoor play.

.
.
.
Barb hosts her weekly Friday Morning Bible Study group of 9th-grade girls.


Jeff hosts his 10th-grade advisor group for supper.

Concert and Night Sky

Coleman welcomes us
to Woodstock School,
on the night of
.
.
.


the advanced-orchestra concert
in Parker Hall
last weekend.
.
.
.
Afterwards, we see a beautiful night:





The buildings in the Quad are dramatically illuminated.

Even Venus the evening star, and the half-moon are poised gracefully over the lights of Mussoorie...
the cloud of light is a reflection of the city lights of DehraDun in the distant valley.

Elementary Edgehill Festival

The young-student residence at Edgehill hosted an open house and festival last weekend.
Barb got her hand painted.

A balloon man held the ballons in his toes.



A
tree
silhouetted
against
the
sky.

St.Paul's Church Fête

We held the annual church fete on Sunday, complete with food stalls, carnival games, and rummage sale. Much of the neighborhood came by to enjoy; we trust a few will return on Sundays to worship as well.
The most popular booth was the used-clothing sale.
Woodstock teachers Montgomery and Mackenzie ran carnival games.
Barb ran the face-painting table, especially popular with the kids.
Pastor Templeton enjoyed the food as well: lamb kebabs, fresh puri-bread, and momo-dumplings were just a few of the menu items.

More Delhi, schools & suburbs

A few more pictures from Delhi:
Jeff visited a colleague who left Woodstock for more remunerative work at the very new G.D.Goenka World School in the suburb of Sohna, an hour south of Delhi. The school buildings and grounds are absolutely gorgeous, like a five-star hotel. I did not get to see any classes in session.


It's a nice place, but far away from the city, in the treeless plains -- and the road there is crowded and often poorly maintained.

Pathways School is another wealthy new private school south of Delhi.

.

Roadside shops spring up everywhere.

The suburb of Gurgaon is booming, with luxury apartment blocks sprouting up seemingly overnight.

The roads and water supply are woefully inadequate, but the builders continue anyway, and include private wells and diesel generators to insulate the occupants from the inadequate public utilities.






And a typical site on any Indian road -- the family vehicle. You can tell this photo was taken in the suburb, because in the cities, helmet laws are enforced, so the driver would be wearing a helmet.

Barb's Back in Town

Barb and I came back up to Mussoorie on the overnight train from Delhi, arriving early Sunday morning no problem.
She's tired tired tired, but otherwise well and happy to be home and in the cool air again!