A Story of A Little Fairy Angelonia

It was the first time ever Angelonia saw the morning sun,  the blue sky, the trees and plants, and felt the warmth of the soil:

 - I am home - she said. - I belong here.

She didn't know how she appeared in the lush of aloe plant, which thick leaves were also warm as seemed they soaked all the sun shine of the past few weeks. She knew that plants welcomed her in their abode.  She felt as if she had always been a part of this place. Looking up and down and around herself Angelonia wished she was tall enough to reach the branches of a graceful tree she noticed also grew in the same garden. 

The wind blew, stirring the emerald leaves of all the greenery, and Angelonia heard in their whisper:

- Fly...fly...fly..You can...fly.

"I can fly?!", - asked Angelonia herself. - "How is it possible? Only birds and butterflies can fly because they have ...wings!" As soon as she said the last word, she felt a pleasant tickling in her back, she touched it with her fingers and felt something so tender under them as made of the finest cobweb, but much softer and more solid. She looked back - those were the wings! Not only two of them, but 2 pairs of beautiful light yellow wings!

- I can fly! - she exclaimed, - and some power lifted her up of the ground, taking her higher and higher above  and soon she was able to touch the patterned crown of the tree. 

Angelonia found a cozy place on one of its branches and sat there, surrounded by fragrance of the curry leaves. The sun was piercing through them, touching Angelonia's face with its warmness. She felt happy and a big smile was not leaving her face.

 Sitting up there she was trying to figure out what she would do tomorrow, where would she go, who would she meet.

 - I will do my best and will be protecting this garden and making plants happy. - decided Angelonia. - They need my care, no matter if its a big tree or a tiny flower, I will always be there.

 This is the story of a little fairy who once appeared in my garden and would be guarding it now. I am sure she will express a wish to visit other gardens too and give them her magical blessing.

Have a wonderful, fruitful week, my dears! Believe that you can fly :)

Note: a wonderful pattern for this amigurumi fairy Margarita was made by a great designer Mia Zamora-Johnson of Petite Purls. Link to the pattern is here. Her fairy is much cuter and looks tiny, though in the pattern it says she is 6.5 inch tall, while mine came out to be only 6 - she has a big head for big thoughts :)

If We Could Choose What Tomorrow Might Bring

It feels absolutely ages since I've last posted. It feels that this week has been some kind of a race for us: at work and in life... My D's colleague's little son was in a critical condition in the hospital after appendix removal. My husband had to go to the hospital few times a day, arrange blood units, talk to doctors. But today we have got news that the baby is improving, and I pray that he recovers now soon and his mother will be able to embrace her little one finally :)

On the other side, I had a totally great Friday, as we held a summer camp teachers' training with my colleagues. It was my first such experience as a trainer, and in my opinion, I was able to deliver the content well, interacting with the teachers and the trainers during my sessions. After 3 hour training we got a permission to go back home, but we didn't :) And a friend-colleague of mine offered two of us to visit her house. We had lovely girls' time, chatting, laughing, discussing the training and our work (of course), having coffee with biscuits. When I came back home, I still felt so excited and happy, so content; whatever the feeling was about, I couldn't not to notice that unusual energy inside me when I realized it was time of the Full Moon. Of course, it was She, silent and bright, generously giving its best to those who need it.

Even when the full moon day was gone, I had its traces in all what I was doing. I started a cute crochet project. Here is just the beginning, but I've done almost the whole doll as of now. I don't know if she comes out to be beautiful and cute, but I tried hard to make her such. I shall invent a name for her, once she is finished.

I had a pleasant surprise from an HR manager of the company I work for - REAL Turkish coffee! From Israel... :) It happens so sometimes, and this is just great! I can't make out what's written on the packet - my  knowledge of Hebrew unfortunately didn't advance beyond alphabets determination, but perhaps I'd start learning it anew. This gift so much timely, as I ran out of coffee I brought from home last year.

 Now the "brew of Gods" (Magaly ;)) is stored in my special painted glass jar, and  what is the best - it is purely MY, as no one else (except my D, who occasionally asks for a cup of this fragrant drink) likes it as much as I do. I don't really remember when this coffee drinking started, but I suppose when my uncle came from Germany about 10 years ago and gifted us a coffee maker. Since then I've been in love.

Life goes on its own I believe, not asking us what we would like the day to unfold... It just offers us what it has. The main thing is to always have someone who takes care of you, who loves and who will always be there (and here) for you.

Have a blessed week, my dears!

Achieving Something and Another Cheshire Heart - Wednesday Blanket Update

It is not easy to get everything you plan done. Not easy but possible, same as possible to get my crochet blanket growing and updates being posted :) I hope you can see the difference between the last update and this one. I didn't crochet much though and added only few more squares. I haven't sewed any of them into  the blocks yet. If my calculations were correct I'd be able to finish crocheting all the squares in 5 weeks' time, making 20 squares per day (no weekend crochet). What in its turn means that the blanket will be definitely ready by suppose August-September. I can't wait to see  it spread on our big bed!

 My side project of the last week was made for an American lady, our preschool's mentor I told you about in the last to last post. I wanted to give her something what would be cute and light in weight... I am grateful that I am able to make such thing myself. I couldn't help but crocheted this Cheshire heart which will fly across the ocean to the Key West in a couple of days! The lady liked it very much, especially the colors. I was more than pleased to get this feedback :) 

I have gifted few of these hearts already to the friends in India and abroad as a gift-symbol of love and care. My husband though seeing this (another such) heart, asked why did I make it so long, and suggested to make it broader and perhaps shorter... I tried to explain it was my style, design and so on... but he just looked at it and my slightly disappointed face ( I am very sensitive towards critics:)) and said that it was still beautiful and good for gifting. Thank you, D! :) I am also thinking of designing something new soon and sharing a pattern. The Cheshire Heart pattern is here if you wish.

Last weekend I was experimenting with new art forms and would be sharing what I had done soon.
Bye till then and have an enjoyable second half of the week, my dears! 

Blissful Moments on Rainy Days

I know I am very spontaneous this week. I do posts about this and that - things my life consists of. My soul was very happy today as well as my body, which truly got heated up in the last couple of weeks. Yes, it rained heavily today. I finished my office the exact time it started pouring water from the sky... I was more than grateful to the Nature for giving us this relief. I expect evening to be cool and soothing.

I reached home, did some house things quickly and made a cup of black coffee for myself. After that I went back to the house, but a timely and wonderful thought struck me to go out and have a pleasant time under the cloudy sky.. with the same cup of coffee - it tasted special. It looked special, reflecting the sky on its surface. I haven't felt such joy for a long time... I was looking around, on our plants trying to guess their feelings about this blissful weather today. They were grateful too, I could see it.

My eyes fell on this waving plant which grows in the pot under the citrus tree you can see at the background. Last year it was very small, continuously drying, loosing its leaves, I thought it wouldn't make it. But look at it now - so green, so lively and ready to meet sunshine every morning and kiss the stars every  night. 

Rainy weather always makes me dreamy... makes me happy... makes me feel good and content. It makes me feel I am home.

Wishing you all a blissful weekend!

Victory Day - 9th of May (9 мая - День Победы)

Last year I also marked this day in my blog, because this was the day which will always stay in my memory and in the memory of all people who were less or more linked to the fight against fascism in World War II. But to tell the truth there was no family who didn't feel the consequences of that war... You ask anyone about that period between 1941-1945 and they would recollect that their grandfathers and grandmothers fought for freedom. My late grandparents were also there, and they were there when Nazi Germany surrendered to Soviet Union army on the 9th of May. However all the countries suffered irreplaceable losses during the World War II. So why do we still fight and kill again and again? Don't we love our own people? Don't we want our children to live in a better world? Didn't we learn from those mistakes? 

Today I wish everyone of you, your families and my family to live in peace and harmony with the world and themselves. Let the sun shine bright and give us life and happiness!

Happy Victory Day - 9th of May!

Easter in India and -0.5

Hello, dears! Today just a post about main events of the last week. One of them was, as some of you might know, an Orthodox Easter. This year it happened very late, and here in India, I didn't feel at all like it was IT actually, with +40 C outside and sunshine from morning till evening. However, our small community of Russian wives here made it tradition to get together on this holiday, attracting our husbands to participate in celebration and enjoy Russian dishes :) At least my husband got used to heavy Russian meals, long talks at the table, and drinks. Okay, this is true :)

I too prepared Easter eggs. This year they were coloured pretty well. I decorated them with stickers I got from home last to last year - so good to see familiar pictures!

 

Some stickers I made myself from a glittery Indian tape :)

Another (remarkable for my life) thing happened - I was prescribed to wear spectacles! Yuppie! Well, not all the time, as I have got only -0.5. I shall use specs when I read, watch TV, crochet, etc. And as the doctor said: " Parties and all - you can go without specs." Thank you, this was some relief to know! So now I will have cozy times wearing my new beautiful accessory and reading one of my favorite novels (which I by the way, ordered on line).

I had had a busy week start. Our preschool mentor came from USA to give parenting and teachers' workshops. It was a thrilling experience! She, always smiling American lady, a great educator, professor and a wonderful personality, has been practising Buddhism for over 25 years now! Her passion for whatever she does in life made me see a clear path of my further career development as well and all prospects it may have. I wish I had more time for everything and for everyone. Though I am grateful to the powers of Universe for giving me such friends, who care for me so much, because it was them who insisted on me having eye check up done. I have got really nice people recently into my life, who encourage me to be a better person and a better friend. 

Have an inspiring week, my dears!

Turning Into Second Half - Wednesday Blanket Update on Thursday

I would not like to sound ungrateful or something but happened so that all my in-laws went to the wedding and we stayed home ALONE for few days!We had a pleasurable weekend with my D spent with friends and with each other. We had family like deals to do: shopping, food preparation, watching TV... I enjoyed all that so much! Day before yesterday my D made (with my help. hehe) a yummy kadai paneer - a kind of cheese common in South Asian cuisine. I'd like to repeat this tasty experience soon.

However the circumstances played with me again and I was not able to give a blanket progress update this week on time. It disappoints me, because I thought it would be a consistent weekly post.

 I achieved something with the blanket - started to making a second half of the squares. It seemed like after this the progress went far faster and I can  feel that it will not take me long to finish the project. It was noticed by my D as well when I put all the blocks and squares on the bed.  This is going to be a thrilling blanket, the room would definitely look brighter and more cheerful :) We went to buy more yarn for the blanket last weekend, because I was worried it wouldn't be sufficient when I start making the border. These are the squares waiting to be made into blocks of 4.

I purchased some yarn  for a dream clothing project I am planning  to engage with pretty soon. Yes, I want to continue my ventures in cloth crocheting, as I had already made that Bolero last year. Crocheting of the clothing items is not scary once you get the gauge right. When  I tried to crochet first rows with this yarn I got scared that I wouldn't be able to SEE the stitches as it has all those lashes which fill up the spaces, but I found the way out by simply feeling the next stitches with my finger tips and counting every stitch as I crochet the rows.

 Some closer look of the thread - all way fluffy and soft! Can't wait to wrap myself into a coat made from it!

Nothing more to tell about, just same routine of office, coming home and lazying around...I feel very hot here this Summer, like I can't avoid feeling hot as soon as I go out of the AC room. They promise even higher temperatures this year, like around +50 C!!! In this case I will go to my native place and stay there as long as possible :)
Stay safe and happy wherever you are! Hope you all had a n enjoyable weekend and have some good plans for the coming up :)