A stone a day- Stone #18

Stone for today is a peek-a-boo picture our trip to Chozha kingdom this past December- we stayed at this resort in Kumbakonam built in Chettinad style and true to the style, Athangudi tiles just could not be left out.

PS : A more detailed trip report toh banta hai! When normal programming begins...

A stone a day- Stone #15

For today, what would say it best would be these pictures, saves me a thousand words each.

To the land of lilies

Last evening found us at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, the very same place that I went to for cherry blossoms in 2007.

Summer in these gardens seems to be the season for exotic lilies. We found them in every shade and size possible. The gardens themselves are so expansive and scenic that probably a whole day or more would be needed to casually stroll around and take in every nook and corner of this green wonder nestled in the midst of a bustling concrete suburb.


























There are sparkling ponds, bridges, a gazebo, ducks, squirrels, benches(my favorite-for a restful break and to take in the sights) planted at strategic and cozy points all over.

And then there are birds chirping all around, green lawns, children on summer break, parents resting under trees with a picnic basket and a book- just the idyllic setting for a perfect weekend picnic. The air was pure, the breeze was just about right, the evening was serene and the temperature outside was what can only be termed oh-so-perfect.

If you're in this area, don't forget to check this place out, specially if you are looking for a scenic evening stroll, or if you are looking for picnic options.

Footnote : The second pic is my favorite. This is my second time where I've captured two people sitting and enjoying the scenery. The first time was this(scroll down to the 7th pic). You like?

A pot of color

Hand-painted tea-pot, a gift from my parents

Laughter, the best medicine

One of the best forms of art are the ones that are derived from everyday scenes. Images that can be recreated as a painting or a cartoon inspired by life around us, by incidents and people around us- our family, the neighbor's pet, the mailman's van or perhaps even the coworker's painful commute-life, unscripted.

Two artists constantly amuse and entertain me in this regard. Their ability to look at ordinary scenes and create magic in the form of an art piece, constantly amazes me.

One is an American, Norman Rockwell. While I own some of his prints, this one in particular is one of my favorites.

Image source : Here

Aptly titled Roadblock, check out the minutia that is depicted in the painting. Notice the expressions in the faces of the various characters? The window cleaner, a couple, some kids, the musician- a plethora of people, animals and a common everyday scene. So beautifully presented, isn't it? Landscapes, still-life aside, there is beauty in banality.

Norman Rockwell's artwork has been published in the Saturday Post in the early 60s and 70s in America, depicting the life and times of the people in those times.

The next is the Goan cartoonist- Mario Miranda. Image source- here.

I've grown up on his cartoons in ToI and when I met my friend L who is from Goa, there is not one year I have not pestered her to bring me an original Mario Miranda piece on her annual trips back home. Last year, she finally obliged(probably just to shut me up for good). It is a ceramic plate, quintessential Mario art work, depicting Goa. The piece I want to show here of Mario is this one.

Its a Goan village market. Again, there's so many little details that make up this whole scene. And what appeals to me is the normalcy or commonality of this scene. An everyday occurrence, it could be any town or village across the world.

A long time ago I read this quote by Herman Hess "Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again."

These two artists, in their own brilliant ways, prove this! They also say a picture is worth a thousand words and there's no greater example than such masterpieces that stand testament to just that adage.

Fruit and flower

A colleague brought me some stems of mums fresh from her garden and I picked up some cantaloupe from the Farmer's market. Put the two together and its a kick start to a great weekend!

Mrs Filter Kaapi

This one is for you!

For years, Amma has whipped this frothing morning fix for all of us. None of us volunteers to make this first fresh batch because it can and never will turn out just the way she makes it. The right amount of the freshest decoction goes first. And then the frothing boiling milk, right off the stove. Add sugar and do the tumbler-dabara jig in Amma's hands wonly. All set. Yenjoy.

These days, thanks to my jetlag, I am usually up at ungodly hours and I patiently, if not noiselessly, wait for the crack of dawn when Appa sets the stage..he gets the coffee filter going and sets the milk on the stove. Right at the time the milk starts to boil over, the magician is ready to do her trick. She will peek in eyeing me checking email while getting ready for my morning walk and comment snidely...'What now? Waiting for the coffee like a kaaka?'. I will look sheepishly and nod whole-heartedly.

And then I get served the best thing to start your morning with...filter kaapi. Most of my friends make it a point to visit my place just to indulge in Amma's kaapi. My Paati would make a beeline for our place for a breakfast date just for the accompaniment to breakfast...a second round of Amma's filter kaapi.

So I figured, what better way to start her off on Mother's Day than a serving of her own speciality? Here's for you Ma.

Happy Mother's day!

Ready, set.....go!

For a vacation, I mean!

From the front yard

..this spring!

Ooh its that time of the year again!

Remember this from last year?

Yup, I did it again. I have come to accept this wet, cold weather at this time of the year, because I believe that is what makes these blossoms the absolute wonders they are. As always, the weather forecast for the next few weeks in our region talks of rains like no tomorrow. Throughout the week, as I was plotting to head towards the Tidal Basin over the weekend for some blossom viewing, a tiny voice kept piping in with doubts on whether it was a wise idea. Another part of me kept chiming to not give in. And guess who won? :)

As I was teetering on the brink of this decision, a particular voice provided the much needed push to turn an idea into reality. And that was none other than Sujatha. 'Are you still going tomorrow?' she asked. And just like that, it was a go. We planned to meet at 7, since the rational side of us declared rain was only predicted for the afternoon. And we should have been done well before that. Seemed perfect.

I went to bed with the alarm set for 6am. I woke up a few times through the night to hear heavy rains and the window in my bedroom looked soaked. When I finally woke up at 6, the weather definitely didn't look encouraging. I pinged Suj again and thank God it was still a go. 'Its been raining all night, but its stopped now. See you at 7 she said' :). And thus I was on the road after a quick wash and layers of warm clothing and sufficient rain gear.

All along the drive, it was wet, cold and dreary. 'How am I going to walk around and take pics?', 'Perhaps there aren't any blossoms', 'Is this going to be a wasted trip?' and so on and so forth the mind was playing its usual tricks. But right as I entered Independence Avenue, I was treated to glimpses of some beautiful blossoms that showed a lot of promise.

As I parked and started walking around my favorite place in all of DC, I had checked all regrets and doubts and misgivings out of my mind. My camera was getting wet, it was drizzling quite a bit but nothing was going to stop us. We walked around the tidal basin, avoiding puddles and stopping to take pictures and to smell the fresh scent of the blossoms. An occasional soothing breeze would make us halt and soak in on this wonderful communion with nature. As always, the trail was near empty.

What? You want me to cut out the poetry and just show you the pictures? Alright :), will do. But there is one little thing I have to share with y'all. It turned out that Sujatha and I were both in red jackets. Initially Sujatha's son C (who delighted us with his august company this morning) said we looked like twins. And then just as 2 more 'red jackets' were sighted, he went 'So you guys are quadruplets now?' and so on it went. It appeared the rest of the population out for a walk in the rains had orchestrated a 'red jacket' outing. So people, if you plan on being in this area for Cherry blossoms this year, red is the color! Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

That said, lets go!

A brunch time serving of tune

This weekend's brunch : Puri with Chana Masala



















And the tune for ambiance was this :



Have a good weekend folks!

A dollop of tune

Saturday brunch : Mooli paratha, baked palak kofta kadhi, mango chutney and a glass of buttermilk!



















And to deliver the right kind of ambiance, a shot of this:

Skip level

Supper and a wet paper story

I've been craving to bake all this week. So my supper for today was some wonderful zucchini bread, thanks to this recipe and c-o-b soup.

Enjoy the weekend folks!

Oh, right. Wet paper story!(A weird title, dontcha think?)

So anyway today, on a whim, while I was at grocery line checkout, I decided to indulge myself by picking up the latest copy of the 'People' magazine(Yes, please dont imagine anything fancy, I'm quite boring like that). When I got home and unloaded the bags, I happened to dump a water bottle into the bag that had the mag. So, what else, yes...the cap wasnt fitted tightly and hence the magazine got soggy. And me being me, I didn't have the patience to wait for it to dry. So a light bulb went off in my head...the dryer! Yes! I dumped the mag into the dryer and set it for 10 mins.

What happened? Did it work, you ask? Erm. I didnt realize, putting a mag in the dryer makes the binding to come out, so I was left with a sheaf of loose papers- dry though!

So I guess it kinda worked, what do you think?

Thawed

There are snow days and then there are pileups. Today being a day off, thanks to MLK day and the skies turning it into a snow day was somewhat perfect. This wasn't a pileup kind of day....just an hour or two of snow and then the sun emerged, bright and warm. There's that small window of photo op, a sliver of time to capture this wintry mixture for posterity.

The Potomac river is everywhere in the VA/MD/DC area. It originates near Harper's Ferry and is carried along the C&O canal all the way to the Tidal basin in DC. A small park hosts this river as it flows through the county where I live. Its but a few miles away, the river that separates VA from MD. Its a beautiful park, filled with walking trails, a golf course and camping grounds.

The best time to visit this serene place is right after a snow shower. Its my favorite drive after clearing the snow from the driveway and off the car, the warmth of the sun sets the mood for a drive along the Algonkian park.

You enjoy this winter scenery while I go fix myself some green tea.

Embellish

Fall, at my doorstep

Colorama

This past weekend a friend of mine offered to take my camera on a fall drive along the scenic byways of New Hampshire- the Mecca for leaf peeping. And here's what she came back with....

The foliage in our part of the country is slowly turning as well. It will be time to go on a long drive in the vicinity for some annual feast for the eyes. Speaking of color, I have always wanted to have rooms with color on the walls. The plain-Jane standard shade that's splashed on every apartment and townhome in the Continental US- the cheap-and-best default option gets on my nerves. While I know some people who shirk from spraying color on their walls because according to them, its a sure sign of settling in this country. Errr, I mean when you've already bought land, thats a bigger indicator of one's nesting instincts than taking the monumental decision of having the walls painted- me thinks!

Check out the colors yo! See the fiery reds, the blazing yellows and the luscious tints of green?












So anyway, the walls....I have even dreamt of the exact shades I want to have....a golden yellow for the living room+baithak that would extend into the kitchen and sun rooms. This shade was my inspiration for the furniture in the entire area(Exactly! I'd decided on the wall color even before I'd decided on the furnishings.....)









The Mt. Washington Cog Railway is a timeless piece of transport- the biodiesel locomotive combined with the colored vistas of Mt Washington are an eternal favorite to every visitor to this area, specially in this season.

I've decided on a milder shade of peach for the master bedroom. The guest bedrooms get indulged in a tinge of sky blue in one and a sage green for the other.

The last picture I present to you is that my friend's dear little girl. A girl waltzing away into the dreamy mist of a foggy morning in a fall day- yet another big lesson taught to us by small 'uns that life is to be enjoyed with abandon, with glee, with passion and with unadulterated spontaneity.

Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.
-Oscar Wilde
And thats why I wish to have color all around, because the language of color is splendorous, its brilliant, its captivating- it speaks to you.

Footnote : This comes to be the 300th post here at Emolior. Could be a small step for certain blogging veterans, but a giant leap for a mint. Signing off in muted wonder at the number. Well, thanks you guys- all of you, each of you that read, that converse, that reach out in your various individual hues and shades ... you each add up to a whole. A whole 300 posts! Thank you and enjoy the colorama.

Soup-e-red

After the walk from last Sunday, we stopped by a farmer's market where I picked up some vine red tomatoes, beets, carrots and red potatoes. Chopped, chunked, dunked along with some garden fresh basil and a teeny bit of onion into a pot to stew. Then soup'ed, a dash of pepper and topped with fresh dairy cream.

Showered handfuls from a bag of my favorite brand of croutons.

Soup'er!

Lead kindly light

There are many who give advice, but few who offer guidance

Clockwise from top left :
Assateague island lighthouse, VA
Cape Hatteras lighthouse, NC
Havre De Grace lighthouse, MD
Bodie island lighthouse, NC