The Adventures of the Little Indian Girl

I pulled something in my back yesterday at the gym. This morning I couldn't get out of bed quickly enough and I am working from home. I have to walk this off and what a beautiful day it was just to do that!! It was a high of 70F!!! Yes, it was very windy and oh so humid. But will take it anyway!

But the confusion? Our minds just got used to the notion of winter. We just experienced 10F temps a week or so ago. Our minds have accepted it's going to be freezing cold for a while. And every time I am about to step out in just my shirt and gym pants, you know outside the building to take a walk, my body finds my mind hesitating, grabbing a jacket, a pair of gloves, hats, etc. and this back and forth in the head.

Thank goodness for a balcony to set the cautious mind to rest. Beautiful day!! D & N are out at the park and so is every other kid on the block!! I have to go cook dinner since the day was spent working and going out.

bummer.

D shared this morning, "Winter is fighting with spring! It wants to stay forever and Spring is telling it, it's time to go!!! Silly winter! It has to go to Africa!" (She remembered that when N went to South Africa last time, the seasons were opposite)

And sure is a battle out there! It was nice and balmy last week and we woke up to an inch of snow this morning! Well, it didn't stick to the roads since the earth warmed up so much in a week! So, it looks stunning outside! The contrasts of white, wet wood, brick...I guess I am enjoying even more because it's the end of season! :)

Well, it snowed!! woo hoo! Our first snow!! For all but maybe 15 minutes?? The roads are dry and no one would even guess we had snow or even rain or sleet, or any form of precipitation.

It is however FREEZING cold and oh so windy! My daughter is absolutely loving it! And my credibility that it is in fact WINTER has been redeemed in her eyes! Mommy's no longer lying! And to humour me, she wore TWO jackets! But wai, no hat and no gloves. But that's good too, her hands were warm to touch, she demonstrated by sticking her hand up my arm since I was all bundled up in every winter attire appropriate for the weather! ;)

Stay warm people!

So, this is my annual obligatory post about whining about the cold/snow, when it really is not necessary because well, it really isn't cold compared to lets say Canada or even last week. But I have to remind myself of my roots, on the deccan plateau in India, where all I knew was heat and scorching heat. But I promise this post shows improvement and a possible conversion.

I guess, I should finally unpack my winter clothes. I knew I had at least one turtle neck somewhere. And a thought came to mind. Maybe I could trick Murphy's Law! Get my winter gear out, pack my summer clothes in, organise my whole closet for the season and voila, it will end up being the shortest winter known to the region! Voila! It will be spring! (although reality is it would take me two months to do it and well, yeah winter would naturally end! :P)

I am sure there is some reason God has given winter a purpose. There must be some sound reasoning behind us needing 10 feet of snow in one snowfall or even an inch of it. Aside from the need to crazily ski down the slopes. Maybe it's to give people a break from constantly cooking. I mean, that's what women seem to do back on the plateau. We have the luxury of year round crops. Every festival signifies harvest season for some vegetable or fruit or nut. So, we cook year round. I guess I appreciate winter for that?! But dang it for globalisation and the ability for us to ship stuff from everywhere! D is craving watermelon in the middle of winter, and look we get that! I somehow find that SO wrong!! The only exception I make is to mangoes! :D

It must be some sick joke for someone to sit and watch the near panic a snow forecast does for the region. One mistake the school board makes and they pay for it for the rest of the season! Today, we got an inch of snow. No, less than an inch. There was a chance of ice accumulating, hundreths of an inch (according to the national weather service) and so that entailed ensuring that even squirrels don't slip and slide, causing the VA transport department to pretreat the roads yesterday night and again at 4am this morning. They had trucks ready too! All for an inch of snow. It seemed they were a week late. Arlington delayed by two hours, which was just as silly. Fairfax closed schools. Maybe they got more snow & ice. (N did say the bridges were icy last night). Who knows?! All I know is, it must suck to be on that deciding board!! phew!

So, why!? And then I imagine myself visiting during the summer in Hyderabad, where it's already 30C. And then I find myself grateful that my whole family has migrated to Bangalore. Then I remember why winters are wonderful. Then I remember the purpose of snow. It's not there to fulfil someone's sadistic nature. It's there to give us water. It's the source of water. Which you will find none of on the deccan plateau as they prepare for summer.

So, I will get my thermals out - which I have to thankfully use only when I get brave and take D to a whole day at the park. I have been uprooted a couple of times, in my life. As every year passes it seems I am placing roots here in this coldish-town. And however much I might deny, I am starting to like it. Just a little.

But no, I will not be moving anywhere further north any time soon! I am not THAT in love with the cold! No sirree... I will always love the sun. Which thankfully shows its face every few days! Or I get sad.

It's been a sad week. we are just feeling sad.

• The cold weather has brought around the first round of cold virus. We are all walking around with sore throats. bleah.


• The early darkness that falls upon is just depressing.


• The refusal of dressing in warm clothes is just adding to the misery. I get the, "what a horrible mom!" looks often, while I am all bundled up and my dear daughter is prancing about in a sleeveless dress. She wore a pant/legging as a favour to me. sigh. So, the dresses are hibernating now.


• Just the cold and the forecast of a colder winter than last year is just making me want to revisit the whole, "why did I leave Hawai'i?!" question again. Winter there meant wearing socks with flip flops.


• The election results, I should just pack my bags and go somewhere else. Those who have won at least on the Right are questioning Climate Change. So obviously nothing will happen there! Our work suffers. ugghh... we were feeling blue at the office.


• Yet, Ted Cruz was earlier claiming they are going to continue the fight against horrible laws being passed. So, have to say it's the first time in history that politicians were running on, "we are not going to change!" ticket. How do we continue to reelect people who have been so unproductive!! Hubby would have been fired long ago if he tried the same thing! bleah...

bleah.... But we had a nice weekend! D took a long nap yesterday afternoon - she's clearly still fatigued from the bug. But our friends came over and the two had a blast! Today, D & I went to a German church service in DC with friends, where we made lanterns (I think related to St. Martin, somehow? I don't understand a word of German, although they did translate!)! We are walking in the parade next week by the White House! Looking forward to it! D made a lantern for Jasper's 2 year old sister, abandoning her own since she wanted to make Leila happy! She took very good care of Leila.

So, really I should not be complaining. I know we are fortunate that we get a break in the cold weather every now and then! But hey, I am a summer-girl. But just miserable nonetheless. 

Left to right:

• Library had a book sale last week. I vowed not to go since D's bookshelf is overflowing. N keeps a fare share of books away, but D always finds them. So today and tomorrow I have to sort them and donate them to the library or have them picked up on freecycle, when she is not around! But I went and bought like 20  books from the sale! Many of them were small stories that we could also take on road trips, fit in my purse, etc. We can't leave home without a book!


• D likes this particular smoothie from Trader Joe's that has beetroot in it. We tried making it at home but she wouldn't drink it. We now, saved the bottle and make it and refill it and seems to be working. Bad sneaky parents, I know. But we have to save money somehow! She loves the purple mustache it creates! We call her Joker (from Batman)


• Once in a while she asks for ponytails! She had three on and yesterday it was 4!


• She rolled chapatis! She actually rolled nice circles but she kept making them into balls and rolling again...never made it to the pan. Maybe in a few more months (years) before she makes consumable chapatis!


• We are ready for snow! Well, I am wishing we get maybe 3-4 2-inch snowfall this winter! Yes, I am very careful what I wish for!! :P She & I got snow boots! Hers were found at a consignment sale (actually so did the sweater, & the hat! The sweater is "boys" one - it was cheaper and thicker!!


• I dug out the patch-quilt I had started making for D 3 years ago. I realised it was actually done, needed batting and sewing the back. But now it would be too small for her and so am adding more to it. I need to buy the batting material and will be done!


• D's first ice cream cone! She never liked ice cream! Until, a month ago!! Now we can't keep any at home as she will want it for lunch/dinner! :S

Yesterday evening we were warned of a snowstorm. It had started snowing late afternoon yesterday. Snow were just small flakes and looked harmless. N's Boston office had declared the office to be closed on Monday in preparation of the snowstorm expected. DC office made no declaration.

It was well into the morning as we awoke. But it still it looked bleak and dark outside. Maybe we woke up too early. But the clock did show 7:40am. And we were late! N quickly got ready and I got to the kitchen to get breakfast and things ready. Our steps though stopped midway as we looked out the window. It was snowing still. A surprise winter storm passed through the Northeast region of the country since yesterday late afternoon! The cars were covered with a thick layer of snow on top. People in the Monday morning rush struggled to scrape off the snow. Those using the public transport struggled to walk through the snow. We just watched for a while as we sipped on our hot cup of mango tea the flakes flying in all directions as the wind gusted at whopping speeds.

Lucky for me, it's my day off. But not so lucky N had to head to office. But we were lucky in one big way and that is he didn't need to drive anywhere in this inclement weather! We were envisioning our lives if we were to be living in a house elsewhere in town and again thanked our lucky stars. Instead of sipping hot tea and enjoying the view, we would be shoveling the snow away!

The skies are clearing up as I type this. But it's still snowing. The snow is picking up off rooftops and also the roads as the winds continue to be gusty! What a sight! Tomorrow morning if the sun doesn't do it's job well today, will be a tougher struggle as the semi-melted snow will turn to ice!

( few more pics )

On a completely different note.. just used this for my 2008 year... and thought to share in case someone stumbling across hasn't known about this! Neat idea!



Turns your journal into a PDF Book.


LJBook (gads_ljbook)

Yesterday I walked on ice for the first time in my life. Well, more like slid on it. The weather was horrible here with freezing rain! There was such a thick layer of ice covering our car that the door was frozen shut! Hubby took over half hour to get the ice off the windows! But the weather also showed us what a wonderful neighborhood we live in! A nice gentleman (lives in the same building) who happened to park next to us helped with the scraping off the ice! If not it would have taken an hour!

We discussed politics, as the people of Virginia, Maryland & DC went to the polls yesterday! We also talked about Bangalore a bit. As the gentleman had gone to Bangalore back in 1980! I shared with him that a lot has changed since then. When he asked was it for good or bad, and I couldn't really answer!

Overnight it snowed like quarter of an inch. So the flakes are covering the trees just enough to paint them a shade of white. It's a cool sight. Of course, people further north are getting weather much harsher. But don't forget I am an equator girl! When is summer coming?! sigh...

I kept mumbling why people live in the cold. hehehehe... But this weather has an effect on me. It makes me feel so dreary. sigh. But I guess it's not as bad as I was expecting it to be.

It's funny that the folks at CNBC just concluded that Congress is wasting its time on holding the Clemens hearings now and yet they will air the trial for the next hour. I guess it's not them that are choosing what plays. So all the news channel are airing it now. I find though even after an hour of watching the "NEWS" I hardly get any information I can take away.

I am hooked on scrabulous. I just love the game scrabble! Should play it at home with hubby! We have the board at home!