Halloween

There is an awful lot of activity around here! All sorts of animals similar to our companion humans keep coming around our home and making a lot of noise. We find this very disturbing! We like it to be quiet and calm and nothing changing! They can write now.
Yesterday we took some time to have dinner with and old friend and then go to see "blaze" at Van Cortlandt Manor near the Hudson River in the Hudson Valley of New York. The property is own by "Historic Hudson Valley" which manages and maintains a number of historic properties in the Hudson Valley. "Blaze" is the name they have given to a Halloween Display of amazing proportions. There are thousands of carved pumpkins arranged in hundreds of imaginative displays. Some are individual images while others are combined to make large displays. A few pictures are here to illustrate.
There are Bats galore, a few cats, other animals of all sorts and sizes.
Pirates and ghosts and zombies all over the place. There was a large section of animals of, sometimes large sizes, that were truly remarkable.
Here are a few more pictures.
It was a great place to visit with just a few days left in the USA.
Otherwise we have have remained extremely busy doing all sorts of things. Many of the things we have been doing are some of those little chores or repairs that one often puts off to deal with more important matters, but when they may not be done for a year or two, then they take on a higher priority. Ziggy and Zoe don't really know what is in store for them, but we have been arranging their transportation by the best means we can find. They don't like all the strangers in the house who are doing various tasks for us. Back to Ziggy and Zoe now.

They may not like to know it, but we do know what is going on. We really like that kitty carved out of a pumpkin- real talent there! Time to sleep some more now.

Preparations for departure

Our human animal companions have not been so nice to us lately! First they made us go away with them to a place called Cape Cod where it was windy and cold and then they brought us back home to go see a vegetarian or something like that. We don't like vegetarians because they are always handling us and taking samples and poking us! However, we are home and comfortable now, but it is cold outside! They can write some now.
As Zoe and Ziggy say, we took them to Cape Cod for a couple days while we took care of some personal business there in preparation for departure for India. They are not happy travelers! We hoped the couple days would be somewhat relaxing, but it wasn't. There are so many details to be worked out. We did spend a few hours in Wellfleet to go to the exceedingly popular "Oysterfest". There were cars parked everywhere and thousands of people. The picture shows it is not so different from Commercial Street in Bangalore! We did get a few pictures of some nice old houses.
We had to be sure to get to the beach while on the Cape, but there was a strong storm out at sea that brought strong winds and very heavy surf. The cool air seemed downright cold with the strong winds.
After we returned from the Cape we had to attend to lots more of the business of getting ourselves to India. Settling the departure date and trying to arrange with the movers to ship our furniture so it arrives about the time we do and then arranging for the transportation of Zoe and Ziggy are all major items. Toward the end of getting Ziggy and Zoe to India we had to drag them to the veterinarian to get some certifications and microchipping. The regulations in India seem quite clear until you read another source or two to find out that it isn't so clear. We are going to rely on professionals and hope that this precious cargo arrives safely. We are also trying to get the timing right so we move to our apartment and then the cats will arrive to their new home.
Zoe and Ziggy here again... those people can be pretty boring! Time to sleep again.

Movers arrive

Today we had some strange people come and start moving things all around our house. We don't like this! Then they started to take our things away! We hate this! Our human companions tried to make us feel more relaxed by putting us outside, but we know what is going on! We'll let them write some now.
As the Z's say, we have movers here today packing up some things we feel are most critical to take to Bangalore. We didn't like the beds we saw during the survey trip, so we decided to ship beds. Those are the only large items other than a comfortable chair. The apartment will be rather bare for awhile! The remaining items are a few kitchen items, a few towels, sheets and bed and bath items. The supporting items for the Z's will go too- some of those are a bit heavy. A few home office items will go too. We don't doubt that we've missed some things.
We are surprised to learn that things like pet food and our own vitamins should not be shipped with houshold stuff. We will carry what we can, but we are looking into having packages periodically sent to us with cat food and vitamins.
Our Visas and work permit arrived very quickly. It took only 7 days from our mailing to our receiving the completed passports with visas. We were told to expect it to take more than 2 weeks because of Indian Holidays, but they were fast.
With the movers taking things away, the move to India takes on a higher level of reality! We are aiming to leave at the end of October. If all goes well, this shipment of furniture will arrive about the time we do. Next hurdle is to arrange the shipping of the Z's. Back to Zoe and Ziggy now.
Boy! Did you see those big kitties in India! They look almost as big as us! And, we're HUGE at more than 10 pounds apiece! We're pretty sure we could whip those guys in a fight, but we're not really fighters. We much prefer to sleep like they do and not bother anything... except maybe birds and mice and bugs and squirrels. Time to sleep now!

Activities In preparation for move

We have the feeling that something is brewing! Our Companion animals Jim and Janet seem awfully busy these days and are not spending as much time with us as they should! They keep moving things around our house, which is fun, since we get to investigate all these things in new places, but it is still stressful- we really don't like changes very much! They can write now.
As the Z's say, we have been very busy reading piles or papers and filling out piles of forms while also gathering lots of information to put in those forms- all very time consuming. We managed to get our visa applications into the mail on the 26th. We needed a couple of relatively obscure documents about ourselves, but learned that we did not have to supply original copies. We also needed papers from the company for which one of us works and that took awhile. We have been investigating ways to take the Z's to India. One of us wants to carry them in the cabin of the plane and the other wants to ship them by a reputable carrier. It is a difficult matter to arrange and to decide what is best for such a long trip. We are also dealing with moving and movers. This too has a set of complex issues surrounding it. How much furniture do we take and how much would we prefer to buy or rent in Bangalore? We will have to make decisions very soon.

We stayed with uncle Sym while our companion animals, Jim and Janet were in India. We had a great time with uncle Sym who let us watch the squirrels outside his windows. Boy! if only there weren't those window things between us and them!
Back in Bangalore...we spent the last couple days visiting some more stores where we might go shopping for food and household stuff. On Saturday we went Bannerghatta Park which is about an hour from the center of the city. The traffic was heavy in some places but we reached the park. We wanted to see the Lions and tigers so we immediately hoped on a safari bus after buying our tickets. The driver and guide gave us the two front seats. We wondered whether they saved those seat for foreigners who might tip more or whether it just worked out that way. Janet had her first encounter with the common toilets and reported that it was unpleasant, but she had used similar ones in France in the 1970's. The safari bus driver was kind enough to wait for those who used the facilities. We drove off on a bumpy road in a bumpy bus and went through gates to see some buffalo, deer, and other animals before seeing some bear and lions and tigers! We saw the 8 month old white tiger cub.
Afterword, we tipped the driver and guide, as they expected, though they asked for more.
We then road back to town and asked our car driver to take us to the area where our apartment is located so we could get a better feel for the location relative to other places. This was valuable, because it helped us find the place on a map and get oriented relative to the major shopping area on MG road.
On our last day we decided to go to the Leela Palace Hotel to try their Sunday Brunch. The hotel is quite an amazing place and clearly expensive. The brunch was excellent, but with prices like those in any large Hotel in Europe or the USA. We visited a few more shops to see what kinds of merchandise they have. We also visited another craft shop and were again impressed by the quality of the items. We packed up our bags at the hotel and had a light dinner before heading off to the airport for our return home. We felt good that we found a couple places we might live and picked out a car... next, on to all te details!

Survey Trip to Bangalore part 1

Our human companions Jim and Janet went to Bangalore Sept. 6 to Sept. 14, but they did not take us along. They report that they succeeded in finding a wonderful place to live. We will hold our judgements on their choice until after we actually see the place ourselves! They also report that they have chosen a new car for us to use while in Bangalore too. We shall see about that as well.
Jim and Janet tell us that Bangalore seemed like a wonderful place with lots of trees. It is a very busy place with lots of humans, their cars and motorbikes and bicycles as well as horse and ox drawn carts. It is a bustling place with lots of traffic on the roads and elsewhere. We will let them speak for themselves now for a bit.
As The Z's say, we arrived in Bangalore on Sept. 6 after a very long day of travel- about 26 hours from our home to the Hotel in Bangalore. The new airport seems to be disliked by many people, but we thought it was fine and were happy that our transportation to the hotel was there to meet us. We checked into Taj West End Hotel and found it to be very nice. We slept until noon and then had lunch and did a little sightseeing at the Bangalore Palace. The Palace is a bit tired and in dis-repair but interesting anyway. We then visited some shops and were very impressed with the high quality of crafts available. We had an excellent dinner at the hotel and retired for the night.
The next day we were expecting to be met to see some places to live, but there was a misunderstanding and we had the day to ourselves. We went to Lalbagh Gardens which were quite busy, since it was Sunday when most people have a day off. We had our first real experience with a "guide" who insinuated himself into our tour of the gardens. He said he was our "security guide". He spoke quickly about his rates and said that people normally take either a 1.5 or 3 hour tour. One of us said "1.5 hour" the other said, "well, maybe more- I need exercise". The guide actually seemed quite knowledgeable about the gardens in general and the plants more specifically. Sometimes he would mention his rates again and they seemed to be going up as time went on. I am sure he has plenty of experience at sizing up his guidee's to see how much he might be able to extract. The walk lasted close to 2 hours and his information was generally good, but we shall only say that we were overly generous in acceding to his requested fee. From this we learned to watch out for "guides" who seem to appear from no where. We also learned that they can be quite good, but you should always get agreement ahead of time on what they will be paid! You probably would be generous in paying 1/4 of what they ask- maybe 1/2 of what they ask for the less experienced ones. We had another great dinner at the hotel, though it was expensive.
Our next morning was spent viewing 5 apartments near the center of Bangalore. The first one was a little small, but newly renovated. The second was large enough but in rather poor condition. The 3rd was a good size, new and in great shape. One of use liked it right away while the other did not. It was unfurnished, so there was an echo that was disturbing. The 4th and 5th places were quite good, but in larger buildings, so there would be more neighbors close by which could be good, or could be bad. In the afternoon one of us went to meet the people with whom we would be working while the other of us went to look at pet supply shops to see whether good things were available for the Z's.
Our next morning was spent on a long drive to Palm Meadows, which is a famous gated community where lots of expats from all over the world live. It was very pretty and has a fabulous community center with great pool and clubhouse, but overall it seemed too "sterile" and a little too far from real life in India. Still we like one place we saw and thought it would be good for the Z's - though too far from the city. We wanted to see some more options and on the next day we visited some places away from the center of the city again. One of the places was quite nice, but the roads to get to it were poor. Others were not so nice and the road was poor as well.
On our next day we got to see some food stores and furniture stores and we found many foods we recognized or good substitutes at least. We also re-visited the 3rd apartment we'd seen the other day and decided it was our first choice.
Ziggy and Zoe back now... see what we mean about borrrrrinnnng?