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!

Cat Family - Urban Wild Life in India

The fact that we live on the ground floor and have access to small pieces of soil makes me immensely happy. Not only it gives an opportunity to plant anything you want it also attracts "urban" wild life. Last year I told about a fledgling who found a safe place in our garden and stayed there until it was strong enough to fly away. 

When we have something blossoming there are many butterflies and bees around those plants. But recently we were lucky to have welcomed a cat family who came at our backyard wall two weeks ago. First we heard cat's meowing and saw a big cat among the greenery of our plants. Later we heard a thinner meow... that was of a kitten! Later there were already two kittens. So basically the mother cat was relocating their home somewhere near by our house. We still have no idea where it is. It is said in India that a cat changes 7 homes... Other members of our family occasionally saw the cats few more times after that.

Day before yesterday night I went out at the backyard following the kitten's meow and rustling of our citrus tree: one kitten left his dwelling and jumped down the wall for some reason. He regretted his actions I am sure as he started calling his mom lamentably. We didn't really know what to do because as soon as he saw us he chose the corner of the wall behind the curry tree and was looking at us from there. We arranged some milk for him, but he was too scared to emerge from his hiding place even for food. Later he ran towards another end and sat behind the citrus tree wanting to climb it but not knowing how. When we thought we could lift him up the wall I took some old bed sheet in order to fetch the kitten it, thus protecting myself from scratches and bites... But as soon as I came closer to him he HISSED at me so loudly I sprang back scared. Obviously we decided it was better to leave him hoping that mother cat would come at the rescue. 

So yesterday morning when I went out to check on the kitten  I witnessed much more than expected to my delight: a cat mother and three kittens with her! Me and D spent time feeding them milk and the only meat we had - some salami. Kittens didn't eat it but their mom seemed to enjoy the treat. My D even got late for office because of the cats but was happy of the reason. Aren't they all cute? The kittens have big ears and cute silly eyes. I wish my baby could see these felines too :)

The mother was alert all the time while D was giving food and I was taking pictures. She won't trust anyone so easily. Many a times I thought I'd like to have a cat at home but I feel that having free urban cats who come and let us take care of them is much more interesting and rewarding. The cats were still there when I left home in the morning and I do hope we will make friends with them at last.

We have started our weekend earlier this time, the cat family is now sleeping on the wall. Wishing you to have a carefree and enjoyable weekend, dears! Meow, meow!

Snow White Pinafore, Savage Greenery and Broomsticks on the Bayou

Hello, dears! I am surprisingly fast with the second post this week, and it means that there is something to show. Last week I had lovely time crocheting my first ever baby clothing item - a pinafore. First I had to see the meaning of it, sorry for my lack of knowledge of English words. When I got it I realized that I used to wear white cotton (or lacy) "pinafore" in my elementary school, accompanied by brown woolen dress as a compulsory uniform in then-soviet schools. It was not exactly pinned but tied up behind in a bow and had same kind of "wings" like this one, which is called Angel Wings Pinafore, and the pattern is so easy to follow!

My version however didn't look angelic to me and I preferred calling it a Snow white pinafore. Not sure what I will be doing with it now, may be will leave it for myself(for future you know). I also was planning to make some baby hats, caps and so forth as a part of charity crochet. I hope I find time to implement this plan.

The heart shaped buttons from a local sewing shop went so well with the colors of the pinafore. I couldn't find better place for taking photos as our backyard with all its imperfection. The light was nevertheless perfect for revealing of the colors. How do you like the red?

Oh yes, and here is a savage part - out backyard during the last weekend rain. You cannot see here but that curry tree in the left corner became so bushy and was wildly swinging in that weather.

A tiny bit of garden update - once again beans win the race! Honestly, the best plant to grow here!

When me and my D came back from Kazakhstan in August, I noticed a tiny plant was put in soil, now it made its way up. Please tell me what plant is this? Its leaves resemble bean ones. I hope it would be blossoming some day...

My garden overall is not in a very good condition now, it used to rain here regularly and the soil is just so wet and hard after it. Not sure that the fennel I sowed will grow fine. Also October doesn't feel like October. everything is green and lush. Today I got news from my Dad that there was first SNOW in my native city. How do you like this? 

I urgently need to get my blogging mood back, hence I will start preparing for a Broomsticks on the Bayou blog party organized by Anna at Frosted Petunias and Marfi at Incipient Wings. You can join too. We all have something to say ;)

Heading towards weekend and wishing you all to have a pleasant one! Hearty thanks for all your nice comments, I LOVE reading them and replying!

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!

Even A Storm Can Bring Beauty - Friday Garden (Nature)

Leading a not so housewife-like life here in India, I try to find some relief from a busy schedule in my favorite hobbies: reading in the evenings, crocheting, crafting and gardening... The latter to my disappointment has gone onto background these days. There are few reasons, one of which is hot Indian summer. Many plants, probably, under my not so experienced hand, simply can't stand the heat and dry. Unforgivably but I missed to post a birthday wish to my dear D, who turned... doesn't matter, he is still as young as when we met, though he was quite frustrated that he started another decade this year. Don't be sad, dear, we are yet to do so much in our lives (we don't even have children yet!)! Moreover, we ourselves still feel like kids, and behave like kids sometimes :)

This year I am planning to fully start planting again in the month of August, when the days will be warm and wet. Having nothing exciting in my garden as of now, I am enjoying whatever comes my way in a sense of beauties of nature. Thus yesterday we had an unexpectedly stormy evening. Around 5 pm the sky went dark and was having and giving away that strange yellowish glow. The wind was opening all the doors in our house, letting the rain to come in. The electricity was gone, and we had to lit the candles everywhere. The storm scared me first with all the thunders and lightnings... But it became fresh very soon, and I was grateful for this.

The rain brought some other beauty afterwards - the gulmohar flowers which were torn from the top branches and fell on the ground. I picked up few of them and brought home. The flowers made me very happy with their orange-green palette. 

 They were still with me today morning... when the power went off again. I lit up the candles and liked how my otherwise plain table looked like - festive and mystic at the same time.

 One more beauty I found in the morning was this solitary moss rose blossom (thanks to Kathleen from Yesteryear Embroideries for letting me know its name:)).

I am taking a day off tomorrow from my office, too tired to carry on like I did the whole week, participating as a teacher in our preschool's summer camp. It is a tough job to do, and so much responsible! Now I need a good rest, may be a good dinner, and a good drink... and a good dose of crochet! It has been long since the last portion of squares was made.

Wishing you to have a relaxing, joyful weekend, my dears! Thank you so much for all your beautiful, praising comments about fairy Angelonia and painted pebbles - I feel so happy being able to share my inspiration with all of you! Hugs!!!

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 :)

Do What Makes You Happy - Friday Garden

Hello, dears! Yes, I know, I didn't make my weekly blanket post. There were few reasons, one of them was (is) the absence of the internet connection at home which issue will be fixed soon hopefully. Today I invented to upload pictures from camera on USB and then copy to my office computer. I decided though to show blanket progress next week and today carry on with Friday Garden. There hasn't been happening much in here, but still I have found few interesting things.

Few months ago we noticed some plant growing in our garden - it was a self-sowed spinach. These days it has become a big bush with numerous seeds, which I'd like to collect and plant again - isn't this nature's miracle?

The same way this lonely marigold has grown under the citrus tree, you can see the dry leaves underneath. I remember planting orange marigolds, but definitely not in this place, so another independently sowed member of our garden. 

The lettuce of which I was so proud back in March has produced little yellow flowers, and it means I'll be able to seed more of my Russian leafy veggies later on. 

Oh well, here is again that same story as with a crochet heart - have no idea how the hanging pockets actually hang on the trees! Though I don't think this was the best place for them to be so I took them to my room. Okay, enough of flirting with my crochet projects - yes this is the one I was asking you to guess what it was. Aishwarya was right. The idea of hanging organizers was not mine, I got inspired by a glimpse of it on Pinterest and HAD to try it out! The pattern Crochet Wall Pockets  is sold on Ravelry ... but I was able to figure out how to make them myself (come on, I've been into this hobby for more than a year now! hehe). The only thing I'd like to change is a stick on which the pockets are buttoned. I have to search for a suitable tree branch today.

I took many pictures not because I so adored what I've made, but because light didn't allow me to reveal true colors. But I think that this picture is the closest to the original. I used one of my favorite yarn - Millenuim acrylic yarn by Vardhman. I'm planning to do yarn shopping next week, as I have no patience to be busy with the same project all the time and plan to make some winter clothing item for myself.

I've linked the Crochet Wall Pockets to Creative Everyday Challenge Color theme of the month . 

We might go for a wedding this weekend, but I don't really feel like and will be more than happy to stay home (if possible) and do my favorite things. Yea, I know it is selfish and all ... but when your heart doesn't want something, how can you force yourself?

Have a nice day and a great weekend ahead! "Do what makes you happy" (if possible).

Calendula and a Cheshire Heart - Friday Garden

Good evening, my dears! It is late evening here now, I am almost sleeping, as the day has been a little hectic and I'm going to office tomorrow. I was making my D ready for a trip to Rishikesh - a must destination for many tourists who come to India. This is a holy place as well as a place famous for adventurous sports like river rafting, biking and camping. So I wish he would enjoy all these and will have some interesting photos to share. And speaking of me, he promised to take me there too, but this time it was strictly only employees' entertainment. 

So I am being a nice wife, continued my gardening and crocheting, and D, being a caring and attentive husband, brought these flowers from his office yesterday. Calendula was always a necessary  flower at my parents' dacha, I hope to continue this tradition.

 

This type of Calendula has cute fluffy blossoms. They were looking fine today after being planted into a pot...

What I can't say about this one, perhaps it shouldn't have been taken out of the soil while still having flowers. Though I hope it will get accustomed to new environment.

I have no idea how a stripy heart got into a post about garden :) Today was my friend's birthday, so I gifted her a new version of my Cheshire heart - with little bit of beads and sequins. I've gifted already many of these hearts and I enjoy making them a lot, and now to embellish, why haven't I thought of doing it before? "Good thought comes afterwards" according to a Russian saying.

Aha! Now I know why the heart decided to pop up here - it pretended to be a fruit on our citrus tree. How clever of you! The pattern for this heart can be found here.

Now I have to think of what I am going to do this weekend, as my D will not be with me. This is not an issue as soon as you have hobbies and projects in progress. Or friends who might take you out. Let's see how it all goes.

Have a great relaxing weekend wherever you are!