Dear JC Glad you enjoyed my writings. How's Florida in sunshine? In the United Kingdom, the BBC has posted a happy page "Fifty Words for Rain", see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18461189
As a child (around 12 years) during my holidays in Goa, I remember my grandmother lighting lamps, not sure which ones, and I sat every evening for hours around the one in the dining room doing fine point hand embroidery, no one mentioned anything about spoiling one's eyesight then. Those were the days when everything was hand embroidered, pillow cases, cushion covers, arm chair covers, chair backs, table cloths, table runners, even those covers for the water jug, the ones that had beads around them had a little bit of embroidery on the top! Every bride and bridegroom had these fancy embroidered wedding cushions with their initials on them, do you remember these? They were used during the religious service and then shown off during the reception on the wedding sofa and were as much a centre piece of the wedding as the wedding cake itself. All these really made up the embroidery threads of our cultural lives. Some of these items can be viewed in Goa Chitra, an ethnographic museum showcasing the rich tradition of implements, tools, arts and crafts. Goa Chitra is on St John the Baptist Church Road, Salcete, Goa, a must view by any visitor to Goa, website www.goachitra.com Rose Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 9 July 2012
