Full swing on Thursday
If  I thought the work was diminishing, not a bit of it. Every day new pieces seem to materialize from the students, all of them fascinating but in the most precarious state such as a head of Christ eaten by termites among other things (the fascinating part is this head is hollow because there was

It’s Venetia’s Birthday (our daughter in London)
The day started with mass at 07:00 where the nuns celebrated Venetia’s birthday by inviting one of us to read the lesson – Christopher got the short straw and thank goodness read slowly and clearly for all to understand! With the exception of Joseph who is up in Bombay today for a 3 day wedding,

Better day
  Republic day started with the flag raising ceremony at the college where we are staying. The students paraded followed by the hoisting of the flag with  petals fluttering down and the pledging of the alliance to the Republic.   A new student arrived on the course – Father Mansueto who has an artistic background.

We are all familiar with a difficult start to the week
Last night was not good. There is some different sort of music every night and boy do they play it loud. If it wasn’t for the fact that we have ferocious guard dogs who are let loose at 10pm, i would have gone to a hotel. Monday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed we arrived

Meeting of Restoration minds in Goa
  Today Sunday, we went to the House first thing to check that Anna had everything she needed for the morning. I found Father Loiola in the studio organizing fresh biscuits and water for her, which was a lovely thoughtful gesture. C. and I headed to Bogmalo near Vasco Da Gama to enjoy the almost

South Goa exploration
Exploring the South of Goa’s coast and then meandering back up through the very dry and still extremely green inner land was simply breath taking. On the way back Saturday mid- morning, having missed the turning for a Christian Monastery (we shall get there at some stage) we ended literally climbing a mountain as Joanna and

No teaching on Friday!
 Friday is a non-teaching day to give time for the students to write estimates, start writing up their projects, do some research on the pieces they are restoring and go through their notes. There is a huge amount for them to take in, not to mention that this also gives us time to think about

Exhausting but rewarding day
C. slept later than usual and I had more time to plan my day and make various lists as we women like to do. So when I brushed my teeth I inadvertently risned my mouth using tap water which I spat out. I immediately asked C. for help, and so he arrived with a miniature

The Archbishop’s birthday
To day is an  important day because we have been invited (Joanna, Anna, Christopher and I) to the Archbishops’ birthday party. Three Archbishops; the Archbishop Emeritus Raul Gonçalves, a visiting Canadian, Richard Smith Archbishop of Emonton and His Grace The Patriarch of the East Indies Filipe Neri were all present for the celebration of His

Polychrome statues and an island supper
Christopher has rented a motorbike and is going round Panjim  buying what we need or something similar. He came back at 1.15 for lunch with no iron or any  other materials on the list. He explained over lunch that his main worry was some plumbing in our current bathroom and he had spent the morning