Missing My Hometown

Yes, I am back to India. Can't say this time I was eager to come here, and I can't explain why. This time visit to my parents was different, because my in-laws also went there :) They stayed with us for 2 weeks, and left, and me and my D continued our stay for two more weeks. I didn't want to leave.. I wanted to be there more to enjoy cool weather, have long chats over a cup of tea with my parents, go to dacha, eat MY food, be in MY environment... So right now I am missing my parents badly, and also, to add to this I fell ill just few days before our departure, and still having cough and cold. Oh well, but I am also back to blogging, to you, my friends! I somehow found two opportunities to post during my vacations, but that was all I could afford.

We had great time together in Kazakhstan: visited many places, had awesome weekends, and ate delicious food! Today I'd like to make some kind of presentation of my hometown, as I had never put any photos of it before. 

First I will take you to the new part of the city, which is located on the left bank of the Ishim river. Here comes the symbol of the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, Bayterek. You go to the top by lift, and can view the whole city from the height of 97 meters. It was a new experience for my in-laws, and they liked it. 

 A view of the President house Ak-Orda, with blue dome, and behind it is The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, called Pyramid.

 A view in the direction of the old town, which is on the right bank of the Ishim river..

Even I discovered many new things in the city this time. We had a great family at the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, which is a huge, 150 m high tent.  

There are many boutiques and shops inside it, as well as a big kids amusement park, and even an artificial beach on the top floor!

You can see how this new part of the city is planned - the objects are situated on the straight line, and symmetrically. 

Happened so that my parents living in such a beautiful city, don't have time to simply walk in it. So in last two weeks we went out with them for a stroll on the river bank and had a wonderful ferryboat ride. Summer brought loads of rains in the North Kazakhstan this year, so such clouds were hanging there every day, but I loved it!

The ferry took us closer to the President House, and the Pyramid, but unfortunately our camera's battery discharged by the time we reached there.

Being among the skyscrapers can make you feel tired, even if you admit how beautiful and impressive they are. My D also said that he likes the old city more, as it is cozy and lively. I agree, and offer you a photo of an old street in the evening.

 And especially I like the never changing view of the sunset, which you can see from our balcony. Cozy, and so MY...

Hope you could make an idea of my hometown. I have more photos to share with you, and more stories to tell. I also plan to start checking out your blogs soon, as I am far far away from what's going on in here. 

So have a nice day and take care, my dears!

Relaxing At Dacha - Nature in Different Looks

Going to my parents is a total relax for me in a sense of being close to nature. My dear Mum and Dad have wonderful place to be in any kind of days, hot or cloudy. This place is called dacha. And it means a world to me - a connection to flora and fauna, to what nature gives and for what I have to be thankful for. The place my parents own needs loads of care, anyway whatever they are able to accomplish in a year brings much of satisfaction and happiness, I just follow the flow. My and my D could enjoy these sweet raspberries straight away from the bush.

And these juicy berries called "irga'" in Russian, they color your tongue... you know what I am talking about :)

Oh yes, the flowers called after my name "Anyuta's eyes" got a wild card entry this year - self-sown.

A mayor flower with a bee collecting the pollen. Cannot invent a  more summery picture!

Always used to like a blossoming potato plant...

Thanks to my parents once again, but they created a perfect place living for lizards - a pile of stones in front of our dacha house. We saw many lizards during our last weekend stay at dacha and I always associate them with Goffman's tales (though he had green snakes actually).Amazing creatures used to be living close to humans.

This year we have even got some mushrooms, though not good for purpose of eating.

My Mum collected gifts of nature and embellished the house with them in the main room...

and in my and my D's room.

 In the night we had a candle lit dinner as the electricity still hasn't been provided at the area. I don't complain at all. My mum also liked this unplanned Gothic chic. Same flowers looked magical then... Okay, not everything what is candle lit is called Gothic, but forgive me my mood that night, especially after few  glasses of red wine.

Perhaps I will stop here with my last weekend impressions and let you to enjoy, decide, judge, adore, whatever I offered to your attention today. I am still with my parents and will have few more days to soak my native place's spirit for the next year ... I didn't abandon my crochet completely, so will share some small work too later on.

Blessings to all of you and sorry for not being able to check out your blogs! I will do this very soon :) Thanks for all lovely comments you left on my last post- I appreciate you are with me :) Good night, my dears!

Flowers of Parents' Dacha - My Home

Ages.. It's been ages since my last post! The reason is that I went to my native country and dived into all the deals and events here straight away. I was missing my blogger community a lot and I am so sorry for not having time for it. Some of you even contacted me asking if I was fine, which was very pleasant, and thanks so much for your concern! 

Summer has been quite cold here. However my parents have beautiful flowers at their dacha this year. Here are some of them. 

Calendula flowers have layers of petals and I really like the look of them.

Californian poppy. It is open during the day and closes in the evening as if goes to sleep.

This chamomile is a wild plant, and there are many of them in our garden. Wonderful flower!

Delphinium beautifully decorated with stones around - simple yet nice idea.

A single red rose. It looked so touching with the rain drops among the petals.

I hope you all are doing fine and safe these days as I can see that the weather has gone mad in many parts of the world. As soon as I have more of free time I will make more posts with tales about my country, and of course will get back to your blogs, my dears! Last year I made many posts about my trip to parents, here is one of them.

Have a nice summer/winter and enjoy your family time!

Let's "Grow Your Blog" Party!

Hello, my dear friends! I have a special post today as it's an eve of  a Grow Your Blog party, organized by Vicki from 2 Bags Full. I'm grateful  to her for this initiative and opportunity to connect to more lovely blog  writers. Vicki will start the event in the morning of the 19th of January (US time). Click the badge to see  her beautiful blog and also participate in a giveaway.

Since I've already told a little about myself in a special column to the left, I'm going to introduce my sunny world and thing I do to make it even more bright. I decided to keep the blog's name in relation to India, Hindustanka, as my life changed so much in this country. However, my blog is a blend of two cultures at the same time, which me and my husband represent, what I feel, enriches every aspect of our lives. 

Firstly, I am a Russian a girl who tries to adjust in a new country, and accept a completely new to me culture. I live far from my parents, so this experience is not an easy one. But my dear husband (who I call in the blog "my D") helps me a lot and supports my hobbies and interests, and I have many of them, fortunately. 

Secondly, the blogging became a real way out for me in the moments of sadness and feeling low. That's what I'm doing here: sharing, telling, connecting. The latter is the most enjoyable among all the blog's possibilities.

I started blog with a tiny post called Believe in which I kind of pledged "Many people are writing about India... They have different reasons for this. Then...What new can I bring to all that amount of blogs on this topic ever existed up to now? Can I be unique and interesting? Yes, I can". Quite confident, isn't it? :) Then followed my first steps in exploring India as we visited 

Taj Mahal in Agra

 Delhi

 Kullu Manali

 and other places of which I didn't even tell.

The other significant event of my life in India was when I renewed my hobbies, particularly, crocheting! This boosted my blogging as well, as I had a creative part to share now. 

                     

Of course, I also like to tell about my native country Kazakhstan, and about "dacha". I made quite a few posts about my last summer trip to parents. 

Redcurrant growing at my parents' dacha :)

Gardening is a hobby I picked from my parents. I'm trying to grow vegetables and flowers in my small Indian garden, it makes me happy. Been successful with marigolds and beans so far :)

So here I am, telling stories about my Sunny Indian Days with Russian touch, indulging myself in crafting and willing to continue my blog as farther as I can. Now I see that those weren't just words as I gained blog friends who take interest in what I write and in their turn, find time to comment and tell about their lives too. Thanks to you all! :)

 If you wish to have a peek inside colorful India and beautiful Kazakhstan, get inspired to create and learn new things, you are welcome to join me in my journey, and I'll  be more than happy to get to know your worlds too.

***Have a happy day!***

Magical forest - see you!

      These days I am less crafty and enjoying more what nature has created... My trip back home is coming towards the end next week... and I still have so much to share! Today - a post about another visit to the forest in the countryside. I don't want to say much but I merely invite you to get to know my country and take a glance at...

     A cherished road to the forests.

A green wheat field and the cloudy sky...

Grazing horses - idyll.

A lovely house on the river bank.

 A settlement in the forests.

 A heart-shaped stone.

And a flower of a wild onion.

Also at a tiny frog.

A bur plant...

and another one...

A field of "carrot grass" - coming closer to the forests...

A dried forest strawberry...

  Magic... remember? Such color combination and such "design", perfect ones, can be created only by nature. Let's learn from it!

A stone berry found by my father! Yummm :)

 Some other stone berries which I found myself...

A mushroom on a birch tree.

 A forest itself... peaceful there, ..no worries...

Someone must be living there.. may be a gnome?

A cobweb with drops of water looked really nice!

 A moss carpet.

These pictures I took when we were in another pine forest. There were berries too.

Cherries from near by plantations.

A dog rose...

A meadow among the trees is shining in the sun.

Some mushroom, I guess, not edible.

But my mum found plenty of these edible milk mushrooms. They grow under a thick layer of fir-needle and you have to dig to get it.

Just a random forest plant. May be you know its name?

Now seeeing forests from far... Don't know when I will be back here again, but hopefully next year and not alone.

See you - my land and sun which shines here also otherwise...

***Have a great week ahead and never forget your home!***