Flowers, Ladybirds and We

Life in the city is convenient and happening but at times you need to, okay, let me use, here "escape" from it. When I was living with parents, I always used to look forward to the start of dacha season: open space, clean air, no neighbours just behind the wall, and of course, nature. I do miss those days and try to find some kind of way out by visiting gardens in Chandigarh. And thank goodness, there are a few of them here. 

Last weekend we went to the Terrace Garden. Here is what we found there.

Simple petunias and white phlox.

Immortelle in the paper like petals of which numerous ladybirds found real home.

Some pretty flowers which name to my shame I don't know.

and gorgeous roses of different colors and shapes...

Then we found a huge tree, which as my D assumed, must have been a rubber tree. Its roots hang from the branches and pierce the soil to create saplings...

My D decided to enjoy the sun while I was taking the photos... and watching him :)

then we sat on the huge lawn...

 ladybirds were there too!

Looking up I wished I could fly...

Wishing you all to have peaceful sky above and happiness in your heart.

Colorful Holi Blanket

Hello, dears! Hope you all are doing fine and busy in pleasant activities. Today is an Indian festival Holi, and we have day off, so I found few minutes to share this in my blog :) We already "played Holi" (as it is said here) three times, and it means, that we were all in colorful powder and water from head to toe. Unfortunately I never have opportunity to take pictures of our celebration, because I am simply too occupied with it. 

Hence I invented how to mark this holiday and show my granny square blanket progress at the same time. I'm planning to give updates about my latest work in progress and so on every Wednesday. Now here I began to stitch ready granny squares together, only 24 so far. Crocheters know that stitching squares one by takes loads of time, but I'm not hurrying and enjoying the process. Anyway, as Indian summer is pretty hot, we will need this blanket only in winter months, I still have plenty of time to accomplish it.

Hope these colorful squares brightened up your day a little :) 

 

Happy Holi and may your life be colorful, cheerful and happy! 

Pleasant Things - Chocolate and A Rainy Evening

When life takes over everything, some other deals go to the background. For the past week I was mostly concentrating on my work, friends, family, which is a pleasant thing, isn't it? However, being a blogger, I have much more than all of this, I have you as well, and the whole world, with which I'm hurrying to share my happiness, and some sadness at times. Coming closer to the title of my post, here are several pleasant things we had last week.

First of them was a very sweet (literally) parcel my husband received from his friend and colleague in Germany. As Western Christian Easter is approaching, she sent us cute chocolate eggs and delicious chocolate bars!

Another pleasant thing was the weather, which still spares us and offers cloudy/rainy days from time to time. Yesterday we simply had a short ride with my D in the evening. It started raining at sunset, and didn't continue for long, though we were able to catch few beautiful moments through the window shield of the car.

I had this nail design, so thought of taking a picture of it too.

We just kept on driving along the streets. The light of the setting sun was amazing...

It became quite dark so that the street lanterns had to be turned on. 

Just a perfect ride, with no particular purpose and ... with the one you love :) Later we went to the Terrace garden, and took many photos there. Oh, there was definitely something to show you, wand that I'm going to do in the next post.

Also I'm thinking of some kind of blog posting plan, and will have one day a week for craft projects and a garden update. Otherwise, I feel very relaxed and have started postponing posts for a week and more. Let's see if it helps me to organize myself better :) Thanks for being with me, dears! 

Have a lovely week ahead!

Inspired By Nature

Today be ready for some unusually long tales from me, my dears, as I was really missing you all and want to share my little things :) The week was pretty much diverse, in a sense of weather. I hand't even have enough time to complain how much hot days had become, when sudden rain and drop in temperature brought immense joy. Yes, I mentioned in my profile that I like rainy weather, no, actually, I love it! As I was waiting for my conveyance (which I'm going to show you soon) to pick me yesterday morning, I had few minutes of communication with nature. I can't describe how good I felt inhaling wet, fresh air, listening to the rustle of the trees, and observing this incredible sky... It is amazing how nature creates patterns from its elements - I have never seen such clubbing of clouds ever! 

When I arrived to the sector I work in, everything was quiet, looked clean and fresh. The plaza  was totally different from what it is usually. And usually it's a crowded place, noisy because of the people's talks and birds' chirping.

Besides adoring changing weather, I occupied myself with few projects this week. This one was inspired by Magaly's wonderful  candles, you can find her tutorial here. I managed to make only one so far and wasn't that clever to tie the wick around pencil to keep it up while wax is getting cold, but I do love this cute white candle, which is by the way, scented with lemongrass! My D liked the candle very much, as he likes lemongrass fragrance too.  I haven't tried to burn it yet, but will do today in honour of our 2 years and 9 months marriage anniversary. Oh yea, I always say, that we have to celebrate not only love, but patience. We went through so many challenging  moments already, and I believe they made us stronger and closer to each other.

Among all the doilies I had made before, this one is very special. Not only because of the colors, which I myself like a lot, but also because it was made for my parents. You see, I'm getting ready for my trip back home. I picked the doily pattern immediately I saw it on Debi's blog. She took it from Rita's blog, and  thanks to her for highlighting this pattern. My doily didn't come out that lacy, because I used DK acrylic yarn. I tried to block it later on as to stretch the stitches more to  show the spaces.

And now something special (again). My first painting on real canvas - it was such a spontaneous decision of mine! I used acrylic paints, oh dear, I really like them now, as I tried them only on plain paper before. The canvas texture is also pleasant to paint upon. First, I planned to make the picture fairy tale like, but later it turned out more realistic. I love sun set, as it sometimes gives wonderful color to the sky... The whole painting is a pure inspiration, with no drawing rules :)

The current week is a big long 7 day celebration of Maslenitsa holiday, which precedes the Great Lent in Orthodox calendar. Every day of the week has its own name and purpose, and usually, everyone bakes Russian pancakes "bliny" during the whole week as to share with their relatives and friends. Today is a day when mother-in-law visits her son-in-law's home and he offers her pancakes :) Here is my version of pancakes - they tasted the same as my father's ! Yumm : )

The last day of Maslenitsa is called a Forgiven Sunday, and this is the day when you ask for forgiveness from your close ones and they ask from you. You have to forgive, even if offense is big, or simply say "God will forgive you". 

I wish you all to have good mood, peace of mind and love in your heart.

Feminine March

I was so busy yesterday that didn't post anything, though it was a birthday of my always young Mum. It's been so many years that I'm not able to be there with her, same as to be with my Dad on his birthday. But  those we love are always in our heart and on our mind. 

Happy birthday Mum, you are my love and my strength and support! I'm so grateful that you brought me up a strong and independent girl. I'm grateful  that you always respect my choices, including the one to live in India, far from you, I know. So I wish you and Dad health and love... The latter we, your children, always are ready to give you. 

My parents loved India a lot during their first visit, and they dream of the day they come here again and see more of this country. I'm grateful they support our marriage too and love my D so much, and call him their son :)

Feminine March - it was always a month of the first sprinkles of the Spring after a long winter. The month my Mum was born just before International Women's Day, which is today, on the 8th of March. I remember first Spring flower sold in the markets, everyone was gifting them to their women, be them their colleagues, mothers, daughters, grandmothers. A great day to show your love to those who gave you life and celebrate womanhood.

So I wish you all, my dear female readers, a happy Women's day, filled with love of your close ones, your men, and your children.
Here is my Mum in Agra two years ago :) Cute Mum in white top, I love you! And here are the flowers from my parent's dacha, my favorite marigolds, for you, dear friends.

Happy International Women's Day! Shine on!

Cheburashka In Our House

India and USSR always had good relations between each other, and now Russia and all the post-USSR countries continue that inherited friendship. However I doubt that this big eared Soviet period cartoon character whose name is Cheburashka, ever visited Indian continent and ever lived in the Indian house, though I'm sure he would love to.

As soon as me and my D made our Indo-Russian marriage possible, nothing seems to be impossible now, even Cheburashka's stay in India. So here he is, who has recently (2 days ago) settled down in our house, and I'm sure enjoys all the attention and love  given to him. Especially from my D, for who he was actually made. 

If you search Cheburashka in the Internet, you'll find loads of info about him. Briefly the story of his life is a story of real friendship. No one knew where he came from and how appeared in the Moscow's toy shop one day. He himself didn't know what was his name, and who he was. Sad...isn't it? But he definitely was so kind, and so cute, that he deserved to be loved and cared for. Once he tumbled down from the crate and got his name from a shopkeeper "Cheburashka" which literally means "the one who tumbled". Later he met a crocodile Gena, who became his true friend and made him happy.

For his first photo session in India Cheburashka chose this Russian fairy tale background. He might be missing his native country I guess.

Cheburashka says that he likes being in India, and looks forward to visiting many places here. Then there will probably be another background, with palm trees and emerald green parrots :) Till then, he will explore  surroundings of our house and perhaps will get another photo shoot, if I am not tired. He is not perfect, as none of us, and yes, we love him nevertheless :)

 Here is what I've been up to recently, and I'm very glad I accomplished this amigurumi project for my D :) Now I can completely indulge in blanket making and show the progress after a while. And oh my, I'm still confused about squares arrangement. I'll come up with some nice decision soon.

Have a wonderful day ahead, dears! Sending loads of love your side form our sunny India!

Grateful, Creative and Happy

Dears, we are more than 100 now! To be precise - 101! Yes, I reached this milestone as well :) Thanks to all of you, who in spite of their busy lives, still find time to blog about this busy life, and in spite of different problems and difficult times, still support and inspire others. I'm grateful that at some point of time, I discovered blogging, though I always used to lead diaries, blog was a mean of communication with outer world, which helped me to reflect, recollect, realize things in my own life. In the end, I see that we all live similar days, celebrating same holidays, and becoming sad because of the same reasons.

Last Saturday I was happy because we spent great time with my D, roamed in the surroundings of our sector, had a nice lunch, bought yummy pastries and ... you know how it feels being with someone you are so in love with. My D of course kept his promise to mark my 100 followers, and we had a simple chicken-beer dinner the same evening. Very simple you see, even with news paper as a table mat :).

In a little more than a year I connected to a great number of creative people for which I'm grateful too. To spread the happiness I will definitely organize a giveaway in a week time, just let me prepare something good for you to give. It's going to be something of hand made of course, and a piece of India too.

Also, I made a jar cozy last weekend. As you see I used those nail polish colored pebbles as a base for t-light - worked well for this purpose!

 The jar itself spreads the patterned light on the table because of the glass design - a nice addition to a already cozy effect. Loving this simple jar so much now, and it looks good in the company of the crochet box cases I made two weeks ago.

 That's all for now, but I still have something interesting to share with you, and hope you'll like it. Today is my sister-in-law's birthday, so I wish love, health, and be happy always!

Wishing you all a happy week ahead, filled with love of your close ones.