Monsoon Vignettes

Another green corner - Pothos or money plant


Pomegranate in full bloom

Sunday again and short lived bliss! Roasted chicken , chocolate cake were Sunday's specials this time. My pomegranate trees are celebrating with an outburst of red blooms and fruit. Varalakshmi Vratham's coming up. Lots of shopping and cleaning is on the cards for this week.
Have been reading: Asterix & Obelix comics, High Stakes by Meg Cabot
Am listening to: Shamur and Bon Jovi

Monsoon Blues

Oh, boy! What a week that was! It started with my maid taking off for 3 days without so much as a by-your-leave and ended with a PTA meeting. Nuff said!
I hope I never have to go through this sort of week in the near future. The monsoon is doing its bit to alleviate my blues though, if what I see around me is any indication.
Maybe the week that's coming up will be a good one!

One of my favourite views.

A little green corner.

The Best Day of the Week

Sunday is definitely the day I look forward to. I don't have wake up at the crack of dawn (okay, 6 AM) and start preparing breakfast and packing lunch for my daughter. Instead, I get to sleep late and have a leisurely breakfast, catch up on some pending housework and cook something special. Today's lunch was Hyderabadi biriyani - replete with spices, chicken, fragrant basmati rice and ghee. Heavy but so fulfilling. I am going to try it again - the dum style takes some practice.
A friend of mine who's going through a bad time wrote back. I'm glad to get back in touch. What an empty world it must be if you cannot call and talk to a friend!
I just hope better days lie ahead.
DH has been having long calls and chat sessions with us. Funny how a webcam can actually make the distance seem shorter.
My daughter has an exam coming up Monday and while I enjoyed today ( we're having glorious weather, picnic weather in fact), the week looms ahead. Sigh!!

The Sun Shines Again!

Ah! A welcome respite from the endless gloom of grey skies and gusty winds.The sun is out and the skies are blue and all is good in my world. The trees look all washed and shiny green. The gardener's been on his bi-monthly visit to clean up the garden and do some heavy-duty trimming and pruning. So everything looks neat and just the way I like it.Had a long call with DH and felt good as I miss him a lot even if I don't want to acknowledge it to myself.
Today was all about me - I didn't go out for running errands at all. Just soaked in the sun and baked - a cake. Just a plain tea cake with caramel flavouring - it came out well and we all enjoyed it.
Have been reading: Careless Red by Elizabeth George, Five go Demon's Rocks by Enid Blyton(;-), Plays adapted from popular Mysteries
Am listening to: The Latino version of 'Genie in a Bottle' by Christina Aguilera (one awesome talent there!) and Bollywood soundtracks from Don and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

A Blustery Sort of Day

My new laptop is a blessing - my desktop having given up the ghost, I was forced to buy a replacement. Now I'm the sort of person who doesn't like to get into too many details , specially if they are technical. So, with minimum fuss, I got a Toshiba home and proceeded to fall in love with it. In fact it's the reason I'm back to blogging after so long.
I'm listening to 'Come Clean' by Hilary Duff - it seems very appropriate for the windy, blustery day it's been all of today. The moment I step outside, the wind grabs at my clothes, hair, eyebrows and tries its best to pluck off one or the other. But it's oh-so-invigorating to walk in the stiff breeze and breathe in lungsful of the monsoon wind. The pigeons aren't too happy, though - talk about ruffled feathers! They look like plump disgruntled cushions with all their feathers blown awry.
I baked Irish soda bread today and it turned out really well - chewy and crusty - seemed like the perfect accompaniment in this weather. With a hot mug of tea, it was perfect. Now, some Bailey's Irish Cream would've been perfect too!
And I indulged in my second favourite occupation today - shopping for clothes.
Now I'm listening to some 'Black Eyed Peas' - funky stuff or 'phunky' stuff , to be accurate, eh?

Is there anybody out there?

It's been months and so much has happened since then! I'm home, taking a hiatus from work, to support my daughter's traumatic twelfth class journey and keep the home fires burning while DH wanders "lonely as a cloud, across dales and hills" (apologies, Wordworth! Yes, DH has accepted a new job - one that takes him far away from us but a good jump career-wise. My daughter is now a fractious seventeen year old (almost!) and just coping with the sudden mood changes is taking up all my time. I thought I would go crazy at home but surprise, surprise! I'm actually busier than I ever was at work! Bills to be paid, chores to be done, cooking up new recipes, discovering baking, doing a freelance job as a writer - I haven't worn so many hats before. I feel I'm drowned in all these quick-change-Chester routines but I don't have time to feel depressed and that's good, ain't it? I've discovered a new author whose books I'm enjoying reading right now.
Have been reading: A Great Deliverance and Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George, Tales from Fairyland by Enid Blyton (go figure!)