Overview & Best Season of Delhi............November 2012...we're planning!

Delhi presents a high variation between the summers and winters climates.

• Summers (March to June) are scorching with temperature rises to 47°C. Typically tourists avoid visting Delhi during the hot months of April to June.
• Winters (December to February) are very chill, with temperature dropping down to 1°C. January is foggy with heavy fogs disrupting traffics.
• Monsoons (July to September) are accompanied with heavy flooding rains intermittently. The gardens in Delhi are getting enlivened up during the monsoons.

Best season to visit Delhi is from July to February. Keep off high winter period of January with heavy fog during which flights are also getting delayed indefinitely due to poor visibility.

• July to Septemebr is good for city trips and short sight seeing trips. Keep a watch on road blocks due to rains.
• October to December is ideal for all kinds of sight seeing activities in and around Delhi.
• January is chilly and fogs may disrupt the morning hours activities.
• February and March are pleasant and suitable for outings.

September...my favourite month....Toronto International Film Festival - aka TIFF 2011 is underway next weekend and the films have been chosen...fresh mornings...brilliant colours....I feel energized to paint again, sew, decorate and most of all knit!

Something I have always wanted to do...and perhaps I can convince hubby to join me on a little road trip this long weekend to Creemore to the "100 Mile Store".

http://saffronandsilk.blogspot.com/    Check out the beautiful fabrics and products from Saffron and Silk.  I am afraid I will absolutley have to buy something even if I do win 1, 2 or 3 of these pillow covers in the 'contest'.  Fabrics interest me some much, especially South Asian fabrics so rich in colour and pattern.

Sept.2/11...Red Tape - 1   Grant' Visia - 0   Maybe another time...Grant can visit us


Grant's visa application process has hit some red tape....more details needed at this end....said details supplied and we wait...for news.

Makes me think how fortunate we are not to need visas to travel to so many places...not needed to visit Jamaica but Grant needs one to visit Canada.  A holiday.  A vacation  I don't understand!

Happy Birthday Canada! 

I love this country...um  I didn't say I love the climate...not always but most times I do. I love that we are part of the Royal Empire and in honour of our 144th birthday...such a young country...here is a picture of the special visitors to 'the true north strong and free".

Around my garden

Guess who is coming to Canada?   Grant!

Our friend and trusting guide in Jamaica will fulfill his dream to see "our" world.  I am happy our Jamaican jungle family can assist him with this dream.  Our lovely yoga teacher took it upon herself to make the passport happen for Grant, and now the visa is in progress.  A group reunion in the Owen Sound area,  with Grant, seems highly possible now...later next month. He will love the Bruce trail, although may find the summer climate a little cool. Our new friends - rasta girlfriends from NYC - will be making their first visit to Canada as well.  Ja mon.....blessings....one love.

Leslie S, Lyon, one of our guides and the local bush doctor, me, and Christina, our spirit guide for the week and the person who made the whole adventure happen for us all. 

www.ompalace.org is Christina's web site.
www.river-lodge.com was home for the week

Jamaica...I was shifted...I see life more clearly now...I have been home two weeks now and shall begin to upload some photos and my thoughts....'soon come'.

This vacation started about 6 years ago when my best friend and I thought we should really do something special for the year of our 60th  birthdays and 50 years of best friendship. We pondered many possibilities but in the end time (off work), and money dictated the choice.  That meant India was out...Morocco was out...Italy was out....but yoga in Jamaica was in!

Tucked away in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica in a lively Rasta community we spent a week at River Lodge, yoga 2 x day and excursions to places the resort tourist would not see or experience.  It was a blissful week and opened my eyes and heart to myself...I found me in Jamaica.  Now the task is to keep me in this urban world that I live in.
 

 Fruit stand on the road out of Kingston, JA

 Punja ceremony on our day-before-leaving

 A view around River Lodge

 Dining room

Yoga platform

...more pictures to come!

This photo of Coba is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The pyramid that Bryan climbed...I tried 5 steps but the steps were very high and the 'railing' was a rope at step-level.  My camera pooped out so I have borrowed pictures.


This photo of Coba is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Another view


This photo of Coba is courtesy of TripAdvisor

View from the top

I Am Alive

I survived the Flu of 2011
I am alive
At the end of day 10
I felt like eating
Drinking
Walking my dog

I survived

:>))))))))))))))))

Day 5 and my improvement is slow but gradual

I think I may have a flu shot next year!!!!

The Flu
First it hit honourable son #2 and he is still out of commission
Then it got me
I held everything together until THE party 2 days ago was over
The party being by parent's 65th wedding anniversary
Then I fell too

Can't get warm
The cold comes from the inside out
It doesn't help that it is -20 C outside
I ache
My neck is stiff
My throat hurts
I cough
I have ahem things happening in other areas as well

This is a time I want a mother to take care of me....us

Just look at these beautiful colourful paintings. 
This image has cheered me up. 

The temperature is cold the snow is falling and I was feeling a bit in the dumps today.  The glorious artwork is from Valentina; a lovely blog I just stumbled on and glad I did. I think I might paint this weekend.  At the very least I will create something.  I have a few cracks in my soul that need mending and so I will take care of me.

Maybe I will win the calendar from the lovely Valentina.  Wouldn't that just make my weekend perfect?

So long 2010....

Yesterday afternoon my dog and I took a long...a very long walk along the Tom Taylor trail that runs from Green Lane to St. John's Side Road - or so they say -I haven't ventured south of Mulock Drive.  I parked the car; we walked down one side of the river and back up the other side.  New Year's Eve afternoon, the sky was grey, the temperature was mild, the path was clear of ice and snow, and we met very few people along the way.  I really enjoyed that very slow walk, 1 hour in length, with my dog.  She walks much better on the trails, being very skittish of cars when we walk the sidewalk around our neighbourhood.

Today, Christmas has gone; all decorations removed and tucked away for another year. We are treated to very unusually mild temperatures of +7C; all the snow has gone, the ground ready to receive a new fresh covering.  Took Miss Lola for a 'block' walk and she poked like never before.  She gets me out, we need the stroll and neither one of us would care if we missed a walk or two or three.

New Year's Day and a simple supper is cooking ... B's turn to cook...we will save the 'feast' of bbq steaks and lobster tail, baked potatoes and Caesar salad for tomorrow...we have 2 sons who aren't interested in a feast today! Say no more.

My New Year's intentions....

• paint - watercolours
• begin to stretch with some gentle yoga
• prepare for THE trip on all levels
• plan a new kitchen-on-budget
• make a new bedroom
• design a simple front and back garden

....perhaps not so much intentions as objects of my desire of creative endeavours for this year...starting with this subject to paint - a photo taken by Bunty in Jamaica.

The year is coming to an end...whoot.
It has been a good year
Full of...laughter.love.heartache.bliss.friendship.garden.joy.some sadness,bigbaddoggiebreath kisses from my Lola
A Divine year

Changes coming
Some silly little changes like
painting a room
Sewing curtains
Some bigger changes like
.................... keeping those a secret for now

Paint...the winter is a wonderful time to paint

Before Christmas

I will make

lemon squares 

 buttertarts

and shortbreads

Gifts from my Kitchen

this year

lovely

Outside

the decorations are simple

but they sparkle

My parents

 Christmas with us

a nearby hotel

Christmas 

Big Breath

I am taking a big breath before jumping into Christmas plans.  Shopping, baking, and decorating will begin soon.  But, until then, this is what I am really looking forward to.......my 60th birthday will be celebrated in Jamaica; the real Jamaica, with my best friend, my bff, where we will also celebrate 50 years of best friendship. 

 Dare to do something different!

if you would like to read the details, just click on the poster

a very peaceful view

 

here we are...about the time we met

...and now...

how sweet life is

 It has been awhile since I posted.  Our new addition...Ms. Lola the bulldog.  We love her.  Adopted her from a loving home (asthma within the family) determined she could not stay there any longer.  We have embraced this beautiful 4-ish year old bulldog named Lola.

She is a good girl..such a lady with impecible manners..I can't remember life without Lola....fun to see my boys paying so much attention to her. She makes me smile and laugh and she doesn't even know it.  Life is good...really..isn't it?

Bryan & Ellen's Halloween Wedding

the new family

yummy cupcakes

wicked witch

Lola...our new dog...a sweet little 4-year old