wandering mind

My brother, Anand, just completed a Master's in Fine Art from University of South Wales in Australia. Why Australia? He was sick of the corporate life in Washington DC and found the furthest point from DC - as the crow flies (or so I think). Anyways, he is back and all excited to embark upon his artisitic journey. He has started a web design company along with a couple of other artists. They are called Fenetik Design - I find even their website very cool, but I might be a little biased, just a little. If you know of anyone who needs any design work, I would highly recommend him. Do check them out. And tell them you know Anand's sister, and they will treat you extra special :)

I've repeatedly said that for people as little in common as Joanne and myself, we have an uncommonly good marriage. We are actors. We make pictures and that's about all we have in common. Maybe that's enough. Wives shouldn't feel obligated to accompany their husbands to a ball game, husbands do look a bit silly attending morning coffee breaks with the neighborhood wives when most men are out at work. Husbands and wives should have separate interests, cultivate different sets of friends and not impose on the other. You can't spend a lifetime breathing down each other's necks. - Paul Leonard Newman (1925-2008)

I was reading Arduous's blog and it made me think of the last time I visited my grandfather's village - I was 11 at the time. My grandfather's house was on a hill and the road sloped down from there for at least a mile or more to the Chambal river. There were three bedrooms and a kitchen and an open courtyard. There was a bathroom, but no running water. There was a deep well behind the house with the best tasting water ever. The only way to get water was to get it from the well. My grandmother had huge vessels in the courtyard and once a day cousins from the extended family who lived in the house behind ours would help fill all of them with the water. First you would tie a strong rope to a bucket, then you would lower it some 70-80 feet. Once the bucket was full, the cousins would run upto a point away from the well and loop the end of the rope on the peg. Then run back to the well and pour the water into another bucket and carry it to the house. Needless to say water was ...

Everyone in my family loves to read - my youngest used to be not too much of a reader and only used to read the required 20 minutes per night, but now the reading bug has got her as well as she reads her High School Musical adventures. Our elementary school has this reading program where kids 1st through 5th grade are supposed to read 20 minutes every night and then write a little paragraph (they call them BCRs - Brief Constructed Responses) answering a question related to the book they are reading. For example, find three character traits of some character in the book that is similar to someone you know. Or, find three words that you were unfamiliar with, write their meanings, and use them in a sentence. I really like this program because it helps with reading comprehension. The kids have to keep the question of the week in mind as they go through their book. My older daughter reads more than an hour everyday and only used to write 20 minutes on her sheet because she thought if she pu...

I was browsing Suma's blog and found this list of books. Even though I wasn't tagged, I grabbed the list anyways. Here are the details: ) Look at the list and bold those you have read. (I colored mine) 2) Italicize those you intend to read. 3) Underline the books you really love (and strikethrough the ones you hate!).( 4) Reprint this list in your own blog. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling ( read just first one) 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible -parts of it 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (read parts of it) 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (most of them) 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 17 Birdsong - S...

I am finding all kinds of beauties at the farmer's market. Last week it was orange baby bells, and today it was this This purple explosion caught my eyes last week too, but I ran out of cash. Today I went armed with extra cash and bought some peppers, zucchinis and this ester plant. I need to find a good spot for it in my garden and I can only hope that it will come back as beautiful as it is today. I also saw some decorative pumpkin and corn which always signals the end of summer:( I am going to miss the farmer's market. It is such a stress buster for me. I love everything about it. I look forward to it all week. All the familiar farmers that I have been seeing for the past 5 years. And the baker who bakes the best ciabatta and fougasse breads. There is always someone playing some musical instrument with an upturned hat. At the end of the street this restaurant owner brings his grill out and there is always a long line for burgers and hot dogs. The pickle guy, the lady who sel...

I went to the farmer's market at lunch break today and fell in love with these orange beauties I think I will try to grow them next year. The farmer lady called them baby bells. They are sweet peppers - almost too cute to eat, don't you think?