Care Packages, Yippee!

We are currently a grumpy lot around our house these days. The heat is unrelenting and it is so hard to stay cool, even with the fans on it is pretty uncomfortable. I actually feel that since our roof is so hot the fans are nothing more than the fan that one finds inside a convection oven, not meant to cool but to rather circulate the hot air for even cooking. And we are certainly cooking. It is at these times when life seems the hardest that the packages that are sent by our friends and family help to keep up going. My friend Suzen recently sent several boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that were practically inhaled (Eric had the Thin Mints and the Tagalongs were mine). For Easter my parents FedExed a baggie full of Crystal Light On the Go packets which really come in handy in the hot weather since we are drinking water almost constantly. And this weekend we received a package from my friend Jen which was full of goodies for us as well as for Mira and Chaya. We aren't able to get cat treats here, they don't exist as far as we can tell and they are pretty finicky about what they'll eat (I'm afraid Eric has spoiled them rotten and of course I didn't have a thing to do with it). Jen very kindly packed some treats for the girls and also included for them a little toy as we don't get cat toys here either, except for the homemade variety, which are invariably preferred anyway. The little purple crab is so cute but I thought that they wouldn't be interested as they prefer aluminum balls and plastic bags to anything that we have brought them from the US. But to my surprise they attacked this thing immediately and just love to play with it! In fact, they love it so much that Saturday night I was awoken by a cat thrashing about on our bed only to find Chaya with her new toy in a death grip. I don't know what it is about this thing but they are crazy for it. But, true to form, they did spend a significant amount of time playing with the box, go figure. Anyway, they are loving their toy and their treats, I imagine that these gifts are making these hot days more bearable for them too. We appreciate everything that our friends and family have sent us, each of you have made our lives more comfortable and brought a bit of home to us here in India. Thank you!