Something Gothic in India

Hello my dear dear friends! We are back to India from our trips.  I couldn't stay at parents' place longer this year, nevertheless, enjoyed every moment spent there! My little A turned 2 in July. He was delighted to meet his grandparents again. This visit he was able to really take pleasure in different activities and, simply, in communication with his nana and nani (as maternal grandparents are called in Hindi).
My D organized an amazing trip for his parents and sister this time. They visited St. Petersburg and Moscow, and were stunned by the Russian cultural heritage. I do promise to make a couple of posts to present the places they visited there. I, in turn, preferred going with A straight to my parents so we could spend more time together, while in-laws and D joined us in Kazakhstan later. His parents left after 6 days, and he of course stayed with us till the end of July.
Meanwhile I would like to share with you our latest trip to the hills. It was a long Independence day weekend in India. We left on Saturday morning and headed towards Shimla (113 km away from our city). However our stay was about 10 km before it at Tweet Tweet home stay in Shoghi. We opted for a home stay instead of a hotel so that our little A would be able to have home made food. He has a very frustrating habit - when he is away from home, he stops eating properly. I should say thanks to our hosts because they provided something our A likes - plain ajwain parantha, fried potato and milk.

The day we arrived at our destination, the weather turned a little chilled, wet and foggy - exactly what we wanted it to be! This is a picture of a part of Mall Road in Shimla - the most popular place among visitors. You can see many such European style buildings on this street. There shops, cafes and restaurants on it as well.

But the real treat awaited the next day when we planned to go to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, located in Shimla. I must say, it was an amazing experience! Just look at this Indo-gothic architecture - the facade, the stairs, the passages, the walls... The stone itself reflects that style, and the way the whole territory was planned back then...Unbelievable! There are more places like this India, many churches of the British Raj era.

Our little A, however, didn't care much about architectural beauty of the place and found his favourite occupation there - throwing pebbles in the water pools! Yey! That was tough to take him away from this interesting job when it started raining cats and dogs. The child was refusing to understand that he would be drained in water if came out of the shelter. But fortunately I had his darling book with me which kept him busy until the rain subsided.

 It felt as we were transferred to England for a couple of hours.

 As the Institute is situated on quite an elevation, we took a cab up, but went down by foot. Little A and his dad enjoying the walk downhill.

I hope to come here again...

 I would also like to say thanks to Ms Misantropia for organizing a giveaway, and giving me an opportunity to win this charming necklace which I received by post a few days ago! I absolutely love it and already wore it many times. Hehe.

 So that's it for now. Hope you are safe and happy wherever you are and watching Olympics.

Russian Meet in India :)

Hello dear friends! Hope things are going on well in your corner of the world, the storms are behind, and there is only good weather ahead... I can apply same to myself too. We have been having a good but rainy weather last week, which I love of course.
Last to last weekend we had a mega-meet of Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian, Moldovian-Indian families living in Punjab area. About 14 girls, same number of children, and few husbands were there.  We had to go to another city Phagwara which is about 120 km from Chandigarh.
It was a buzzing event, a little loud because of kids, particularly little A, as he found his latest passion there - the stairs... and we had to climb them up along with him; it was good though to shed some calories and gain them again.
Russian meetings are not just meetings, it is usually a feast. Since we live far from our native land, the get togetherS become especially valuable. Good food promises good communication we believe. Each of us cooked a dish or two...We don't do it frequently, but when we do...
Russians LOVE various salads. These are Korean carrot salad and Vinegret salad.

One of the most favourite salads - Olivie, which we usually make for New Year :)

 Mini sandwiches look artistic on these plates.

 Mushroom stuffed eggshells.. I haven't tried these but someone said they were really good.

 Vegetable caviar - my mum's recipe :) It was yumm, though not everyone tasted it.

Chicken tefteli and Kiev cutlets.

Oh well.. not really Russian, but it was yummy! I haven't eaten sushi since Moscow (like 7 years ago?)!!! And NOTE - a home baked bread!!!

There were other dishes too, but I won't tire you with more.. let's have some dessert! Bezet fluffy buscuits:

Poncho cake - a specialty of one of our friends. She makes so yumm and so light!

 We had to drive back already in the evening, and could enjoy these beautiful views once again. We loved these trees growing on the both sides of the road - it is not visible here but the weather was slightly cloudy.

The sunset at river Sutlej...

I am loving these things in India - nature, being able to communicate with my folks and spend time with my D and little A :)

Food pictures credit goes to one of my friends, she takes really nice photos! Thank you!

Weekend Has To Be Varicolored

A weekend has to be... diverse, relaxing, cheerful, happy, stress-free, energetic too, and yes, varicolored.  The week has been dragging its feet very slowly this time, making me feel stressed, unhappy, worried, and tired. Since I am in the office today as well (don't like this tendency), I have to bring some color to my eyes when I come home, or better take colors with me everywhere I go :) The latest such thing to take along was this String Tote bag designed by Linda. Few days ago she kindly shared the pattern, and I HAD to make it! Thank you, Linda, so much for the pattern. I will make more of these bags for sure!

My version of the bag came our slightly longer than I expected, perhaps because I used acrylic yarn, and not cotton as directed in the pattern. Well, because I don't have it, but I have many balls of acrylic in my stash. The bag in the action - hanging on the nail in my room. *The wall hanging picture to the left is a memory from our trip to Massoori hill station 3 years ago. Might be not hand made, but looks like, and they say it is good to have a picture with the flowing river in it (Feng Shui). 

This string tote has a unique feature - you can turn it inside out, fold into a cute pouch as to carry in your purse in a compact way. I would never think of such an option!

The colors I chose remind me of some hip-hop street art, may be the one I saw somewhere in Moscow and the colors printed in my mind.

Oh yea, a close up view of my favorite acrylic yarn, and the pattern. It is the easiest possible pattern, but it looks gorgeous. I can imagine a net cardigan made with it.

I didn't have much for a Wednesday Blanket Update, so will be doing it next week now. Yesterday I  was seriously worried about my blanket border. Every crocheter says that this is the most important part of the blanket, it gives that finished look or probably ruins it, so it has to be perfect... Well, I started rummaging Pinterest, trying to search randomly in the net. I did find good patterns, which I thought of using, but either they were too common, or too complicated, too lacy. Therefore I decided to design my own. Here it is. 

Color sequence will be not the same as in the pic, but the pattern will be such. I will of course make the border broader, at least 6 cm in width. Yes, I know, I hurry a little, imagining how the blanket looks like when finished. I am preparing the written or/and graph pattern of this border for myself and will certainly share with you. 

I skipped my mind to share with you another self-manifestation of nature in our garden - a pigeon fledgling who settled at our back yarn garden few days ago. He can't fly yet, but keeps on sitting on the flower pots and plants all day long... Once I saw when his parent was feeding him. This picture isn't new, so at that time he was scared of us. Now he is totally used to our presence as we keep on checking on him every day. I am a little worried for him though because it seems like his one wing is bigger than the other one... I hope he will still be able to fly later on. Still I wonder why they chose our garden as their sanctuary.

Have a nice weekend, my dears, eat well (I will!), sleep well (I am so doing it!), and enjoy your time with your close ones!

P.S. hmm... just noticed while previewing my post that I surely like purple and green yarn colors :)

A Slightly Gothic Anniversary

This year we had a great anniversary celebration with my D's cousins who came from Delhi. For the past two years we used to go to the restaurant, have dinner and go back home. So this trip was fun, a little adventurous, and did I say already, it was pleasantly different from all other celebrations. 

We started from the city on Saturday, and were escorted by the rain all the way. There were few traffic jams, because hilly roads here are usually narrow, so one has to be very careful while driving. However in a good company you feel happy and secure.

Driving to Kasauli hills. My D, I shall admit, is a good driver (touch wood). If you never were on Indian roads, you would never understand why I highlight his driving skills so much. The serpentine of the road, the rising level of it as you go up, makes driving hectic at times. Also that day, it started becoming foggy as the rain proceeded... Adventure!

Yes, we were heading towards our destination - Kasauli hill station. The weather didn't improve even when we reached the hotel. However we had to go out and see the city. My and my D had been to Kasauli few times before, but  it was a new experience for our cousins. 

We were very hungry and were planning to find some nice inn or a restaurant to dine in, but to our surprise and disappointment, every hotel said that they weren't serving food what was strange. After walking in the rain for about half an hour, we finally found a small kind of cafe (called dhaba in Hindi), and literally threw the food into our stomachs, though not completely satisfied with the quality and quantity of it. The weather didn't want to give up and continued to pour rain on us. We were wearing only thin jackets, and some of us (including me) didn't get any good shoes, because of which all the clothing became immediately wet, and water was dripping from my hair.  Furthermore it became very cold.

In spite of all of that, one of the cousins bought beautiful bracelets in the local market. Whatever, but we  still were enjoying the rain and our cozy company. 

The most famous sight seeing of Kasauli is a Christ Church - a heritage of India's British past. The church was built in 1844.

When we entered the church's gates, my eyes immediately noticed this pretty lilac-like flowers. They grew all around the church walls, and later I saw the same bushes in the city too. Thank you, my friends, now I can identify it as Hydrangea macrophylla, and it is for sure now among the plants I want to see in my garden!

I don't go to the church frequently in India, so whenever we are in Kasauli, we necessarily visit this one. It was so quiet and peaceful there on that rainy day. There was no one else in the church, except us and a candles seller. We all wanted to stay there more, as it is so rare we get such serene  moments among daily bustle.

The church has been built in a typical Gothic style, incorporating rib vault and pointed arches (I read in Wiki), which mesmerised me. The second arch and a porch you see is a modern addition to the construction.

The last time we went there, I said my D that I saw a beautiful, old furnace in the church, he didn't notice it. So this time I made sure I showed this useful vintage piece of house interior to my D and also took its picture. I love it!

Searching for an answer, dear? Look, I am here.

While leaving the church's premises, I looked at the outer wall, and admired the moss and some plants sprouting throw the stone.

As you know the bad weather can't last forever. By the time we left Kasauli and were going back to our hotel, the rain stopped and revealed beautiful sunset colors. We stopped a few times to see it and take photos - how could we resist?

The next day brought other beautiful scenery - a view opposite our place of stay. I would like to live in that house...

The plan for Sunday was to visit a Monkey Point - the highest peak of Kasauli, where the Hanuman temple is located. Unfortunately you are not permitted to carry any camera or mobile there with you, as the area belongs to Indian Air Force. But the climbing up the stairs, which was making us breathless, breathtaking views of the valley and snow peaks afar, funny monkeys trying to snatch stuff from the visitors, the temple and the way back along the fragrant forest roads - all is in our memory now, unforgettable.

We stopped at this point for a while when going back from the Monkey Point. The tree fell long time ago and was still supported by its comrades.

And just on the foot of a low hill I saw these pretty pink flowers - such beauty.

The day was coming to its end, when we decided to have one last adventure and drove to another city in the same area. Its name was Sanawar.

I told you it was an anniversary with a slightly Gothic inclination. So here is a St. Lawrence School graveyard - one of the places to see when you go to Sanawar side. The gates were locked and the sign said that the trespassers would be fined. I think they had good reasons to do so, as many people don't respect such places of last rest. You can read about the school here.

 A long graveyard wall was going and going down...

Picture credit to my D's cousin

Besides, we also checked out an amazing Sanawar nature camp situated in the forest - a lovely place to be and to relax. We are sure now that we would stay there during our next trip to the hills.

Picture credit to my D's cousin

These are just few moments of our last weekend, nice memories of a special day, filled with love, smiles, good mood and beauty of nature. Thank you all, my dear friends, for all your kind, sweet wishes to us - they certainly worked and will work :)

Have a nice week ahead and plan something good for a weekend!