Indian Flowers to Cheer You Up

The summer here is slowly getting to its end. The day has become shorter, and by this I mean that it starts getting visually darker outside already at 6 pm. The nights have finally gained much awaited freshness, however, the afternoons are still hot and humid.
For various reasons I have been feeling sad and low in the past few days. It is not that I have any huge problems in life right now (touch wood) or my life is tough or whatever. Sad news of what is happening around the world, especially in Syria, made me reflect on what is really important in life and what is not, and every day I try to spend being grateful for a peaceful sky above, and the fact that my kid has a privilege of worry and fear free childhood days. Additionally, last week D said that he watched an awareness video about dangers of sepsis, especially in young children, and gave me a link to this blog A Mother Without  A Child and added: "Please, try not to cry". I cannot tell how sad the story of this young woman is. Her writing, the words she uses to describe the loss of her little son and how she is dealing with it (or trying to) couldn't have left my eyes dry.
Since the day I read these blog posts I had been thinking about it everyday, and reconsidered how I sometimes deal with my little A's tantrums and crankiness, and his refusals to listen  to my requests. I should be more patient and more understanding even when it is hard to be. I thought that as much as I love him I still sometimes underestimate how much he is dependent on us and how much we mean to him. Our routine can make us believe that the things are always the way they are and will always be, but it is not true. Everyday is unknown and unpredictable, so I would like simply to enjoy these moments with my family and give as much love as I possibly can...
It was a Green colour celebration at little A's class today, so I dressed him in a green shirt and neon green shoes. Unfortunately my boy was resisting to go to school when we approached it, started crying when he understood I had to go. Finally the teacher came to pick him from the reception and he went with her, still weeping, but in a better mood as she promised a toffee. I know he was fine afterwards, playing with other kids, engaged in activities and so on...However my hearts aches each time I have to leave him like this.
My own mood was lifted up by the abundance of various blooming trees when I reached office. Somehow I didn't notice this yesterday.

 I am not aware of how some of the flowers are called, so you could suggest :) Thank you, and I hope you are having happy and joyful days wherever you are.

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Autumn Feeling

Hello dear friends! I believe that the place we were born in and belonged to once always leaves a life-long impression on our body and mind. Even though it is hot and humid in India, and it seems that the summer will never end, my whole inner world has tuned into Autumn. I just feel it so much everywhere I go. I think of making some Autumn projects so that little A can be involved in them. His preschool is going to celebrate Halloween, and this is such a happy thought for me because in India  many schools don't do this. I am thinking of designing a really easy costume for him, and the main challenge is to make a cape. I thought of dressing little A up as a wizard or a superhero. I am going to use this Tutorial: DIY Superhero Capes.
What concerns my ongoing projects, I do have one. Perhaps it also appeared because of all the autumnal longing for cozy stuff. I have been very inspired till now. Once again, after having a long crochet-block I told myself that if I don't start crocheting again I will never start it. And I felt very sad and lost. Hence I searched for some eye-candy projects on the net, sucked in all the colors and patterns I saw, and thought of making something for myself like this Movie Night Cocoon Cardi. I liked its' cozy name, and considered it would be indeed great if went out for a movie soon, and me flaunting this handmade shrug. Alas! I never made it, and instead...

I have made 9 squares so far, and planning to make total of 25. If the  pace is the same as now the blanket shall be ready by mid October :) I must say that feeling yarn and a hook in my hands again gave me so much energy and positiveness! This time I haven't bought any special stash but combined and used the skeins left from the previous blankets. Somehow I am very pleased with the color combinations this time. I also did a BIG step in crocheting - I started crocheting in front of little A :) I had some kind of fear before he would start asking for the hooks and yarn, he does of course, so I give him another ones (which I am not using) and he plays with yarn as with a ball :) Hence I can spare a few minutes of crochet this way, without waiting when the night falls.

To bring on more Autumn feel, here are the photos sent by my parents. Autumn flowers blooming at dacha.

 Canna flower started blooming quite late because the summer was rainy and cold.

 Typical dacha style snack -  fried zuccini circles with tomato and garlic. It is so delicious! I wish oh so much to be there again! One month of trip home was not enough.

Have a wonderful week ahead, keep on crafting!

A Privet from My Parents

Hello dears!!! I am not going to start with apologies and explanations of my absence. For some reason life has become really really busy here. My only nook these days is chatting with parents. Because it is a spring time there in cold Kazakhstan, the images of blooming trees and strikingly green leaves make my heart long for home more these days. Especially when Celsius hits here in India the mark of more than +40, the freshness of the views from a native land is precious. Today presenting a quick and easy on the eye post :) Enjoy!
The apple tree, this year is strewn with flowers. I never get a chance to visit dacha during this time of the year.

 The blooming cherry bushes. The white flowers reflect the sunlight. Cherry grows just next to the pine trees there - doubtful neighbourhood but they have managed for the past few years this way.

 The row of pine trees on the left - my parents are particularly proud of them,

 The same pine trees have given peculiar flowers too, hence there will be pine cones afterwards!

I am sorry I couldn't make a post about Moscow visit last year, let's see if I will be able to find time for this, otherwise, will try to provide more of recent photos :)

Have a nice and fresh new day ahead!

Walks in the Rose Garden

Hello and how are you my dears? Phew, the month of March is getting over soon! Where the days are being swallowed? The week starts and it's already mid of it... Not enough hours in a day and not enough days in a week.. Can we invent just one more and call it suppose Extraday? Eh? No I guess this is just imagination...
On a serious note... These days I always think of what is really important in life and what we shall let go... Seeing horrible and scary things happening
around the world, which show that life of someone (including animals) means nothing, what are we left with? Can we make a change?
I am dreading the moment my D turns on the TV... news... nothing positive at all there, he says too... the world will have to come to an end some day... We fear for our little son because things are not looking so good in terms of child safety in India, but then where is safe? No guarantee anywhere. If I was not a parent now it would have been easier to simply live life, but when you have a child all you think of is how to keep him happy and healthy. At the same time one shall be happy too in order to provide a good environment at home, where everyone feels secure and cozy.
Hence I would really prefer concentrating (as mush as selfish it sounds) on my family. Thinking about what happens tomorrow is useless, having fear of all the bad and negative is similarly pointless... That's why I have (and make) one choice which is family.
As I had written before we always visit gardens on weekends. Lately we have been liking the Rose Garden a lot. It has a vast area, beautiful roses to admire, and fountains. The latest is little A's favourite - he loves water in any form and calls it "mam, mam" in Hindi (meaning "water" as here it is called for little kids). Here is the last to last weekend walk, when the weather was slightly cloudy.

I love this kind of color - cream, creamy pink and orange... Next time we visit Rose Garden, I will take more photos of these beautiful flowers.

And the last weekends' walk... Little A likes this garden too, and I think that the pleasant noise of the fountains and overall green surroundings calm him down. He runs in front of us, exclaiming happily with every step.

The waxing crescent... It was so bright!

By the time we were leaving the garden the twilight set in, and we were able to witness beautifully lit fountains.

Yes, it is a good place to divert one's mind and to just walk  and spend precious time with the family.
I realized that I had not posted some very interesting events and occasions during the period I was away from blogging. Like5 days in  Moscow, and visitng my home town. Do you think it is late to do? Or would you like to see the Russian capital? Let me know so I can plan the posts for you my friends.

Have a nice day, and may life be secure and safe wherever you are!

Summer Things

Hello friends! That's right - we have no spring in here, but Summer right away... it has got really really hot already, up to +28! It's not a joke because now it will start getting only hotter. Nevertheless we cannot skip doing our daily deals, right?
Last weekend we as usually took a walk in the garden - a Terrace garden this time for our little A to enjoy new surroundings. He is FOND of the stairs and steps! As soon as he sees them anywhere he wants to climb up and down... We are very careful to choose places where he can do it safely. Under our supervision of course.

The garden had many most bright and cute flowers! As usual I don't know their names...

 This is the longest flower bed there... loved how it stretches further...

We stopped to take photos of this tree somewhere on the way; it has no leaves but huge red flowers! I am wondering what fruits it might give? These trees are everywhere in the city now.

Besides wandering around, I try to be productive on a crafty front. Here is what I put in my To accomplish list - a Waffle stitch dining set for little A. I am using tutorial by Kathleen of Miss Abigail's Hope Chest. Loved this stitch, and wanted to learn it after seeing on Sangeetha's post.

Also as we had bought a 3 in 1 microwave oven, I now can bake! Yey! Here are my latest oatmeal, flour, atta, ginger and turmeric muffins. I am glad that baking products and equipment became available in India in recent years. One can afford them easily as well.

This is pretty much it for today... I aim to finish pending projects in nearest future and start new ones as soon as possible. Thank you for all the comments and sharing of your experience on raising a child in many languages. Next post will try to make on what toddler activities I could incorporate in A's routine, and what didn't work for us. Still working on creating a quiet book for him and busy bags for a future trip home.

Have a wonderful day!

Last Friday Morning

Every day I get up to a lovely morning, not yet hot, slightly cool. It's been long time I wanted to take some snaps of my morning walk to the bus pick up point. And there are reasons for doing so. I didn't take photos of all possible interesting things, however tried to give you and impression of what the city we live in like. 

First as the path from our house leads me among the houses I can view how people manage their homes. I must say that in India those who have their own houses take really good care of them, and adorn their little front gardens with various beautiful flowers and gorgeous blooming trees and bushes. 

Like this bright orange ones which make a bright fence "cover".

Dahlias are very popular in our city. Mostly they are of a red color.

I couldn't miss this delicate lilly in one of the gardens.

Another dalhia - this kind are huge and have multilayered petals.

A nearly wild  rose bush with little roses of this dark pink color. 

Now as I filled my mind with color I continue strolling along the road, towards the market you can see afar. I will walk till those one storied buildings and to the left. It got really hot here, around +35 in the afternoon, though morning is still bearable. 

On the approach to the bus stop I take time to click a picture of these. (Please educate me again which flower it is). This wild bush can have flowers of different colors - red, pink, yellow, orange!

Here I reach the trees under which I usually wait for my bus and meet my co-workers leaving from the same spot. New translucent leaves appeared just two-three weeks ago, it was unusually "cold" the whole March. 

I am sporting my special maternity salwars - such a comfortable thing!

The bus picks me. I continue my morning riding along the city roads. At some point I realise that I need to include  my baby into this short photo shoot too. Here we are, 26 complete weeks. It looks big from the top, and round - I love it! 

                            

The 44 sector market - still closed, people lazily preparing for the day. All the markets in Chandigarh city look quite the same, so it is a problem sometimes for a new person to remember the way. I still cannot give you directions if you ask me (so ask somebody else :))

The city roads include round abouts which join them into a web around sectors. Sector 35 cross road and a round about.  

The same round about - notice how pretty it looks like! Every such has its own landscape design and plants growing in it. My parents liked these very much when they saw them and took many photos.

Just a glimpse of how the morning traffic can be - all possible vehicles in one place! It is crazy at times! You can see an auto rickshaw -  a small three wheeler, which makes loads of noise with its engine, and is one of the essential types of  transport in Indian cities.

Sector 26 vegetable market "mandi". It is always chaotic and crowded, and noizy, be it morning or evening. From here vegetable sellers purchase their lot, and then sell on the carts in the city.

Oh well, this is an IT park where I work. It is a huge territory with different offices, including mine. No, that one is not my office :) I go back along this road which takes me about 45 minutes.

Just before I get in the bus again and start that routine itinarery - a Jerusalem Thorn tree covered with yellow flowers which give away the sweetest fragrance I've ever felt!

Bye bye for now! See you next time with a bit of crochet in my blog finally. I am also sorry for not replying your comments, I read them all, but this week my office work is so hectic that I am too tired to switch on my home laptop in the evening. I look forward to the coming up weekend and hope the next week gets better. Hugs!