2016 - Week 51 - December 12 - December 18

I started colouring in

The modern Christmas tree  at Welaro. All the kusudama made while visiting my parents have become the ornaments on the tree.

I had my birthday this week. The waiter arrived with this cake and candle at the end of the meal. A wonderful surprise. Thanks to hubby dearest and the restaurant didn't charge us for the meal. That was a wonderful surprise for both of us.

2016 - Week 50 - December 5 - December 11

My mum's page in the colouring book - Escape to Wonderland - A Colouring-book Adventure.

The page my dad's begun to colour. I have a copy of the same book which I shall start colouring now that the Christmas ornaments are done and despatched.

We drove to Chennai for a meeting on Monday and to spend a day with family. On Sunday 4th December it was announced that  Jayalalitha had suffered a cardiac arrest. So our meeting was cancelled as the worst was expected.
Stocked up on essentials and as expected her demise was announced close to midnight on the 5th. Tuesday her funeral was held at 4.30pm and there was no untoward incident.The end of an era.

 Rusty the new addition to Bethsara, keeps my mum and dad company on the verandah. my dad's new best friend.

Thanks to demonetisation we could pay all the tolls with our debit card, at all the toll booths from Coimbatore to Chennai.  

2016 - Week 49 - November 28 - December 4

A month of tireless crossing stitches and the twenty one Christmas ornaments are ready. So satisfying.Mission accomplished. It's been dispatched to Hong Kong, hope it's there in time for the little ones as the term comes to an end.

2016 - Week 48 - November 21 - November 27

 We went up to Ooty on Friday. WE had been invited to lunch at the Ooty Club by friends. Some great Bloody Mary's and a grat lunch to follow.

 An old map of Ooty and Coonoor.

Ooty club is the place where the game of Snooker was invented and this picture above is of the children's dining room. The charming mural on the wall was painted by a friend and fellow NIDian Prashant Miranda.

Bought herbs and succulents from the Blue Mountain Nursery , fresh vegetables being sold on the roadside and had dinner at Junior Kuppana before coming home late at night.

2016 - Week 47 - November 14 - November 20

The neighbour gave us some strawberry runners and ravi came up with this creative planter. A section of pipe and two empty curd containers.

I'm embroidering twenty two little Christmas ornaments for the kiddies in my sister's class.They will be gifts for each of them. Racing against the clock.

Of the 100 chicks we bought in September we kept 20 and sold the rest. The twenty chicks have grown and they were let out of their enclosure for the first time to scratch and feed on the lawn and amongst the tea bushes.  

2016 - Week 46 - November 7 - November 13

 R turned 50 and we celebrated with steaks at Taj. They make a very good steak.

It been raining very heavily at night. Muddy patches retain interesting evidence of creatures who roam around. This I'm told is the foot impression of a porcupine.

2016 - Week 45 - October 31 - November 6

The neighbour's cat. Wanders in and explores the garden. Watches my mum watering the plants at times and then slips under the gate and disappears.

Mamma collects the flyers which come in the newspaper and each time I go visit, I recycle them using origami.

This time I made these large kusudamas.

2016 - Week 44 - October 24 - October 30

Vilimbi puli set out in trays to dry in the sun.

Two plum cakes were baked. Gorgeous smell of fruit cake, doused with cognac. Wrapped in foil and paper. Will need to unwrap and pour more brandy in ten days time. Should be nice and mellow by the time it's Christmas.
Diwali was quiet. We sat out in the late evening before dinner and watched the display of fancy crackers which illuminated the night sky.  

2016 - Week 43 - October 17 - October 23

A surprise. a gift from a friend. Two bird feeders. They have been promptly hung on the trees but the birds haven't discovered them.

The Vilimbi Puli tree is laden with fruit at my mum's place. 

 Liesingfee or a traditional blanket from Manipur. Mamma has had this for ever.

Ornamental grass in full bloom in my mum's garden.
A week in Chennai visiting the folks.

2016 - Week 42 - October 10 - October 16

The view from the top.

Shapes and colours in the garden. Bison came and chewed up quite a few of the plants.
The North East monsoons are late. Seasons are changing. It's dark by 6 in the evening.

2016 - Week 41 - October 3 - October 9

 Attempting to grow an Avocado plant from a pit. From what I've read, it's going to take about 6 weeks for the shoot and root to emerge.  

It's Dussehera. This beautiful Durga created with little light bulbs was outside the military hospital in Wellington.
Finally vehicles from Karnataka are visible on the roads in Tamilnadu. It's a long weekend but the Cauvery issue was diffused too late and we have no bookings at Welaro. So frustrating.    

2016 - Week 40 - September 26 - October 2

A hundred chicks.

Some rain.

2016 - Week 39 - September 19 - September 25

 Wild tomatoes. Have sprung up randomly here and there.

The setting moon.
I'm making good progress on the Joyful World stitch along. I'm beginning work on July.

Forty eggs scrambled for breakfast for a delightful group of students from Blue Mountains School who spent the weekend at Welaro. Horse riding, playing with Pepper and Blackie. Singing around a bonfire and biryani for dinner and lunch and gulab jamun, ice cream and caramel custard for dessert.

2016 - Week 38 -September 12 - September 18

Super moon. Cloudy but it was so bright.

2016 - week 37 - September 5 - September 11

Chewing the cud. 

Finally managed to grow a celery plant from the root of one that I bought. Third time lucky. One more addition to the vegetable patch. 

A rainbow after a short spell of rain. It was a double rainbow which I discovered while shooing the bison which had wandered into our property.

2016 - Week 36 - August 29 - September 4

We took a two day trip down to Cochin. A bit of business and pleasure. 

A visit to the Pandhal Cake Shop to buy tins of  Mattanchere Spice brand of matured plum cake. Available all year round so it's Christmas whenever you bite into a slice.

We ate fish like it was going out of fashion. Fish curry and rice and fried fish for lunch and dinner. Pearl Spot fry at The Grand Hotel. Travancore Court does a better job of the fried Pearl Spot though.

The lush green landscape of Kerala captured through rain splattered car window. The monsoon is still active.
Nice little break.

2016 - Week35 - August 22 - August 28

A quiet week.

A number of these bugs are running around.

It's begun to rain. Light showers almost everyday.

2016 - Week 34 - August 15 - August 21

At the end of the week we drove down to Salem for a wedding. On the way we stopped off at a Bee Farm and bought some coriander flavoured honey.  

The wedding took place in a temple early in the morning. A small reunion of friends.

2016 - Week 33 - August 8 - August 14

 I've been making a variety of origami containers to hold two pieces of chocolate. Just a little something for our guests at Welaro.

This is what I settled for finally. A little box with a dragonfly. Hope the guests appreciate this little touch.

Socks has gone walk about. He's a tom cat and it's likely to happen, but I'm worried. A week has gone by. I hope he decides to come home once he's done with sowing wild oats. I'm just praying nothing untoward happens to my pet.  

2016 - Week 32 - August 1 - August 7

Give your Dreams Wings to Fly. A flag book which I completed this week. Click here to read more about this project and see more pictures of the book.

2016 - Week 31 - July 25- July 31

There's a teeny tiny place for coffee and a few fried snacks opposite the Coonoor Market. Thamizhagam Coffee is a recent discovery. A limited menu and place for just ten people to be seated and it's extremely popular. That's the menu and first on the list is filter coffee for eighteen rupees.  

With a hot tumbler of filter coffee one can't resist a bonda or a vada. They compliment each other perfectly. A little square of newspaper is set down along with the snack you order to wipe off the excess oil if you're finicky about such things.  

View of Lamb's Rock and Guernsey tea factory from Drumla.