Teeth!

"The Preacher" has teeth. Well, about 1.5 teeth really. The first one is very small, and the second about half the size of the first. Teeny. Weensy. You can hardly see them even when you are looking at them too, because they are quasi-translucent and kind of look pink, like the rest of his gums.

He's 11 months now. One big month left to go to the big "1.0" Liam is now a crawling machine, eating everything his parents give him (and plenty that they do not), and standing up by holding on to almost anything. He's also extemporaneous. He "preaches" about all sorts of things. Birds, dogs, people, dirt, shoes, his own feet. Babbling, giggling and uttering all sorts of baby-sentences of the sort that leave you wanting to write them down, their so language like. So, we carry on all sorts of imaginary conversations.

"Dril-aba-lueh"

"Oh really Liam?"

"Ah Da blreu"

"Well, I love you too."

"Dah! DEEEEE! uh-Dah!"

His favorite consonant is definitely "D."

* * * *

Elsewise, life is going well for us here in Tamil Nad. It's tourist season, which means serious traffic problems, and extra Police who come from the plains cities ostensibly to help, but seem more interested lounging by the lake, or frequenting the cafés and craft shops. They re-route traffic during this time, which makes a simple drive from home to town and back a nightmare because we have to drive all the way around the lake, which is packed with tourist buses, and gawkers on foot. Then Katie (genius woman that she is) got us a "car pass" that allows us special local permission to cheerfully avoid all of this nonsense. What a difference.

Katie has completed a second draft of her young adult novel, too. And is gearing up for work on a second book project.

Tim just turned 31 and he and his research team have completed 265 surveys across 6 different villages, each of which took between 45 minutes and two hours. The collected data, that Tim is not analyzing because he is procrastinating by writing this post instead, probably have some interesting patterns and valuable insights about the relationship between cooperation and caste-based social differences.

At least Tim hopes that's what they have, because he's got a week to synthesize and prepare a presentation on the fascinating aspects of his work before we all leave for Japan in late May. Tim will present at the HBES (Human Behavior and Evolution Society) conference in Kyoto, and we'll visit friends from Spokane while we're there. Also, Sally Q will be joining us, which will be an absolute treat, and the first family member to have seen Liam since he was 3 months old. Liam will turn one on June 11th, too, when we are in Japan. It's a big month.

Since the last update, we've been doing all sorts of things. Like:

"Reading"



Research in villages like Manavanur, and



Keelanavayal.


Spotting Guar (aka "Bison" for us Americans). But note - these "Bison" are much larger and more deadly than the silly furry little cows that live in the American west. It's hard to see here, but their horns are MASSIVE.


Playing some rousing ultimate. Sadly Katie was sick during the tournament.


Ultimate, being a gentlemens game, inevitably involves a technical dispute (or seventeen).


But, Hey! We assembled a team that beat Madras, Delhi, and two teams from Bangalore! I think that makes us 2008 India ultimate champions!


We've also been watching spring blossom in Shelton Cottage. What a treat.


And climbing up inside scaffoldings to see the insides of new temple construction. This is at about 30ft, the top of a new little Kali temple in downtown Poombarai.


So that's the update for now.

More photos should also be coming soon at:

http://aliandcedar.com/gallery/back-to-india