wandering mind

image source What are few of your favorite things? mine are: early morning walks late night walks walking bare foot on grass summer nights full moon lit nights fall evenings dogwood blossoms smell of tomato plant leaves smell of gardenia flowers smell of bread baking singing loudly with my kids (Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray - a drop of golden sunnnn.....) sound of the wind chimes on my mom's porch

If you didn't have to work for a living, what would you do? I posed that question to some of my coworkers at lunch today. One of them jumped right back saying that he will teach tennis full time. But the other two people said that they had never thought about it. They couldn't even come up with an answer. I know that I would probably become a professional student and take courses in art, history, literature, basket weaving, pottery - all kinds of stuff. I will also travel extensively. Do most people not think about such stuff? Do most people plan to keep on living as they are living? Well, there is nothing wrong with being content with your life - but then these people are the ones that complain most about commute, Monday mornings, bosses, annoying coworkers and life in general.

Tonight our house is very quiet - all I hear is the water in my fish tank and my puppies running around and some pages being turned. Today is the start of 10 days of no TV and internet (obviously - I only signed up for the TV part :). My kids have signed up for 10 days of no screen time. So, the house is very quiet. I came home around 5 and my kids had been playing outside on their scooters . I made sloppy joes for the kids with some ground turkey. For us two, I grilled some bell peppers and made this new recipe of pizza like thing (french baguette topped with slices of roma tomatoes, chopped basil and fontina cheese - few minutes in the toaster oven - simply great - not really my recipe, they were giving out samples of these at Trader Joes today). We had dinner at 6 and then went for a walk with the puppies. We even spotted some deer while walking on the trails behind our house. Then we went to the library. I got 'Last child in the woods' by Richard Louv and 'Unites States...

I was just reading Bobbie's blog and was reminded that todays is poem in your pocket day . Here is a poem that I read, and reread now a days as my babies are turning into preteens :) On Children Kahlil Gibran Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let...

I have decided to participate in the Baltimore Marathon on October 11th. I am so excited and so scared.Well, it is not new to me. I had participated back in 2005. That time I had signed up to walk the full marathon with Team in Training . Every Saturday morning I met a group of 25-30 people at 7 am who were all participating in one of the marathon events that summer or fall. The first day we walked 4 miles and we were to gradually increase the mileage each week. As the weather got warmer and warmer, it became harder and harder. But I wasn't alone. I was training with Jane and Molly and we got to know each other really well. I remember in the beginning we used to talk all the way from start to finish. But as the miles got longer, we used to sort of run out of stuff to say around mile 10. I could not believe the day I walked 18 miles that I had actually done it. When I was driving home after the training, I remember thinking that 18 miles is a lot to even drive, and I had walked it...

Can you imagine a life without ziplock bags, and saran wraps, and aluminum foil? I hadn't seen these things till I was 16 and came to US - everything still somehow got done. And now we can't seem to function without them. Plastic grocery bags - no one had them, people carried their own cloth ones - 'jhola' we used to call them. Some fancy stores had harder plastic bags with their logos on them. Those bags used to get saved and then used and reused forever. My mom used to save the drawstring kind for her knitting. But now things are different in India as well. Plastic bags are every where and choking the city drains and sewer system and causing flooding in places. The key to avoiding plastic bags is to have alternate bags in several places. I have some in my car, some at work and some at home. I bought some from Trader Joes and got some from various conferences that I have attended over the years. I even have one from Delaware Marathon where I was part of a relay team l...

I have decided to participate in buy nothing for a month challenge - lets see how it goes :) Also, take this quiz here and win a free tote.