I made some raspberry jelly for my girl’s birthday last month.
Took a picture of it long time ago and forgot to keep a note.I think that picture was waiting for Susan’s Black and White Wednesdays!!
So I am sending this picture to BWW #46 brain child of Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted by herself.
For her host line-up Click here
Swathi
I have been longing for a small yet perfect vacation. I am glad that I had a oppurtunity to enjoy one. Living in northern part of India always gives you an advantage of reaching all the beautiful places by car.
We decided that we will go to Mussoorie, It took hardly few minutes to decide the place but took a week’s time to decide how long the vacation is going to be.
Vasanth (a.k.a Workaholic) says it’s hardly 300 km from here so a weekend is enough.
Me: It’s not called vacation ,Its called week-end getaway .
After having long heated argument of why 2 not 3 or 4 or 5 days. We dropped the conversation as it was going nowhere.
Friday evening Vasanth asks me again – Are we going??
Me: You answer me whether its going to be a week-end getaway or small vacation.
Finally he gave in to my request and agreed to extend his leave for a ‘Day’ Yes .. ONE DAY..PHew!!!!! This was all I could do and all I could get.
Accompanied by our cousin,we started our trip by 5:30 am. I didn’t pack any food for us this time so we stopped at a local dhaba near Meerut ,An old lady looked at me for some time and told me that I am going to have son ,It was weird but I was happy as its so common to experience these things at villages.We were driving past the fields ,water pumps,hand pumps and local places..The drive was just beautiful but cherry on the cake -My sweet angel slept through the entire travel (luckily).
There are ups and downs in any road trip so did in ours. In and around Deoband – a famous historic place ,started our famous bumby roads..It was fun watching our cousin banging the UP road transport about how well they have been maintaining the roads..He said “If pregnant women travels on this road she need not goto hospital at all.. She will delivering the baby half way ” .Hilarious!!!
Car with low ground clearance + U.P Roads = Lots of hits under the car. Our poor car bared it all like a warrior..The roads were bad even in ghat area before Dehradun
This was Vasanth’s First Ghat road drive.. We were able to witness a remarkable difference in road as soon as we reached Dehradun. It was smooth like butter.Hats off to Uttarakhand Tourism
The drive from Dehradun to Mussoorrie was Just breath-taking. There was a little dryness in the beginning but every 1000 feet brought different vegetation and different colors of green. I couldn’t believe the temperature difference. We turned off the AC and started enjoying the natural air.. For all those bumpy roads It was all worth it. The bad roads ate 4 hrs of our trip. At Mussoorie every hotel is either at a 80 degree gradient down/above the main road. Requires quiet a driving skill.
We were really hungry and out of patience by the time we reached Mussoorie. It took an hour for us to find the Hotel 😦
After hell of traffic when we reach there ,we get the same old reply-Room not available. I was shocked as I had been calling the owner for a long time regarding the rooms .Vasanth enquired in nearby hotels and got a hit. We got more than we bargained for. “Himalayan Castle” – a beautiful vintage place with a good people and food. We were damn tired and I couldn’t imagine how tired Vasanth might be after driving for 8 hrs .
This picture was taken when british were ruling this place… This hotel was built in 1820. You can see that there is not much change other than rooms interior.
But He was relaxed on seeing the place where we stayed.. I think it eased out the pressure. We had a marvelous view of sunset. Everything was walking distance from this place. We had a good uphill/downhill walk around the market.. witnessing the freshness of fruits ,shops with loads of tourists bargaining ,was fun to watch. While taking the stroll my gal snatched a balloon from Balloonwala (boy selling balloons).The most surprising thing was there were kids( of 10 to 15 age) offering a stroller ride for small kids like Jaanu. I agree that it was heartening to see such small kids doing it but very surprising that Indians can make business out of anything .You get to see this happening only in India.
We came back ,had a peaceful dinner and a very very relaxing sleep. Vasanth and myself woke up at 5:45 am ,asked Krishna to baby sit Jaanu and went out to have a hot tea. It was after such a long time I had a tea early in morning with Vasanth. We walked around the hotels and took some pictures and laughed at the monkeys who used Tv cables as ropes to hop over the buildings. Todays agenda was goto falls, a walk on roads,and shopping.
As soon as we got into the car Jaanu was very restless and as we guessed it She threw up. I am not a travel sick kinda person and I get reminded of times I used to make lots of fun about my sister who would throw up within 20 minutes of beginning of our journey. I have been bragging to Vasanth that I never puke on winding roads and have miserably failed to prove this since our marriage. Yes! I threw up with in minutes of ‘Jaanu Fiasco’. I am pregnant and this happens !!
Vasanth and Krishna had a fun time at the Kempty falls. The water was damn cold .I couldn’t let Jaanu into the water though I was prepared for it. Jaanu was so excited to see her father dipping under the water. She kept pestering me ,I couldn’t stop myself and despite of Vasanth’s ‘No’ I just let her sit on steps with her feets touching the water. She pulled off her leg herself. It was very cold water. We took some pictures of our angel dressed in ‘Gharwal’ costume 🙂 . It reminded me of a picture of me n my sis wearing a rajasthani dress. Mano( my sister) looked so sweet just like Jaanu.
Had hot maggi and came back to our room for a little rest and go for S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.
I was surprised that I still had all the energy to go for a walk down the street. There was a IPL Finals by 8:00 pm and I gave vasanth a look – “Are you not taking me out for shopping?? ” He took me for a walk and I also told myself that I should finish everything before the match. The best thing was Vasanth overheard a girl talking to her man “I know ,You want to go n watch IPL”. He was laughing that the same thing might happen to him too.. We had hot jalebi’s,chaats,got to do lots of shopping and no ‘Let’s Go’ from Vasanth. He didn’t complain about my 20 minutes delay -I was not able to walk fast. We reached home and I let him all by himself. Myself and my angel had our food and to bed by 11 :00
Next day was a back home journey, It took less time but seemed a long one. I slept from door to door. my gal gave a very good company. Said ‘Hello’ to that scorching heat… and cooked lunch,slept,Vasanth prepared dinner and In bed by 10 :00 pm. I had the most of it from this vacation than any one and All credit goes to Vasanth and Jaanu for making it happen for me 🙂
Thank you!!!!
Love you Guys!!!
I have been caught up with lots of stuffs in my life so I decided to give a break to blogging and blog hopping. This was the only excuse I could find for my laziness and recklessness .Everyone needs timeout !
My little angel has officially started saying or repeating what ever we say, sometimes there are same words and sometimes its just our rhythm and her own imaginary words.
She can say almost all alphabets.. other than ‘F’,’X’ ,’W’.
I was eating an apple the other day She started singing looking at me .The song had ‘apple apple apple’.I thought she will not be able to say apple if she sees it for real as she would have got used to her alphabet book but as usual she proved me wrong and there is not an ounce of me feeling bad about it 🙂
Once she heard some one outside our home talking (actually the guy was over the phone). She goes near the main door and says’ Appa’ thinking it to be her dad.
She took a toy stroller from her basket,placed a tiger soft toy ,took her little handbag,wore my black shoes and waved ‘Bye’ .
One day she kept a doll in her toy stroller ,gave her a big hug and kiss ,took the doll out ,kept it on the floor ,used it as a step to get into her own toy stroller. Obviously she fell down.
She got a new bunny toy as a gift from my uncle and I believe she thinks that’s a baby. She feeds food,gives water,gives hugs and showers kisses and take it for a walk sometimes.
She knows how to pinch, this drives me nuts but I have to live with it because she does it again If we shout/scream out of pain.She loves to play with kids but at times she loses patience If kids try to take advantage of her. Yes! One day one we had our relatives at home . Vikram(Jaanu’s Cousin ) wanted to play with the toy with which Jaanu was playing He snatched the toy She reaches for the other toy and he snatches that again Now She goes for another and this time she didn’t let it go from her. She pinned down her cousin ‘Vikram’ by holding his hair. As I told she has patience. I was little upset with biting and screaming thing. But What can I expect more out off 1 and 1n half-year old’s?
She has distinct way of saying ‘please’ which can melt any stone cold person’s heart.She keeps her hand in a way she is asking for something and says ‘peash’. This happens also when she wants to make some mess or times when she wants to do something which we are stopping her from.
he also developed some of the cutest little things.. During her sleep time she stretches her arm and asks me to lie on her hand. That’s the most safe and comfy place for me at that moment .
One fine day I was amazed by her and hugged her saying that I love her.. She says ‘I lov oooooo’ I was shocked and I said again and she repeated it. I was the happiest person that day. I am not sure whether she understands what it means. She also hugged me while saying that. I was TOUCHED.
There are lots of cute little sentimental stuffs she has picked up.. I am admiring , adoring everything and happily living through it..There are certain things in life where we succumb to give in to our temptation. While taming my little brat I often feel to let it go… No matter what I do or what she does.. We should love each other and make sure love is everywhere around us 🙂
Love you Jaanu
P.S. I am planning to post some pictures of what stuffs she carries in her baby stroller.. I have been discovering lots of interesting things from there.
SANJEEVANI 