Robin's company for a while

The metal bench on the grass
Glistening under the sun
I took a seat on it
I sat not in solitude
For a robin hopped closer
She glanced left and right
While examining the grass
She would do a few hops
Before she rested for a while
Until she spotted a wiggly worm
She picked him up
And flew away quickly
May be to her chicks in the nest

Mother's Day

I just go around doing the normal tasks around the house. Yes, wait wait, am going to tell that. Normal tasks including yelling at kids and being lazy sometimes. Well, that having been said I'll come to the point of this post. Then one day comes called Mother's day! Whether they do it on their own or do it at school upon being instructed, kids do some cards for mother. And you can't imagine how much those cards touch my heart and make it melt. I feel like am standing on top of the world (don't ask if that is in the North Pole). Those cards make me feel as if am the ONLY best mom in the whole wide world! Well ladies, don't come to hit me..I agree there are many out there.

I have to be behind my eight year old to unpack after school, change dress after coming from outside, wash hands etc etc. But what a surprise! He collects ingredients for a cake with so much precision that I feel like a fool. He preheats the oven, mixes the ingredients in a bowl and bakes a delicious cake. And of course the 'worrying me' puts the pan in the oven, but am sure if I let him do it he will do carefully.
And the next day comes and again am behind him to unpack...

Happy Birthday to my Love

My Love, here's your birthday
May you be blessed in bounty 
I do not carry any gift in my hands
I have kept them free to hold yours

Indeed I was caught 
By the thought 
To give you a present
To make your day pleasant

Darling! I went to buy a bouquet
The flowers said , 'Your love,
Is brighter and more fragrant'
So I went to buy a gemstone
All the gems rattled, 'Your love,
Is precious than all of us combined'

So I went to buy a dress
Which too rustled, 'Your love,
Does not have wear and tear'
So I looked up at the sky
Only to see the moon hide

Wondering what to gift you
Strolled I, clueless wasn't I?
Caressed by the breeze
An idea bloomed in my sense
And here am I, having filled 
The air with my love, all around

That is my gift unseen
Yet always with you
No matter where you are
My Love will be there
Happy Birthday!

Would you like a cup of tea?

What a wonderful day it had been! And am here writing it in my blog. Well, that cup of magic which awakened my mind and made my fingers dance here on the keyboard, is nothing other than TEA! What a wonderful delicious drink is it! And more special when you have it with a dear friend chatting as if only the two of you exist there with a teapot of tea. How many flavors are there and how delicious they all are!
As I write, I give many quotes here about tea in blue color!

“What kind of tea do you want?"
"There´s more than one kind of tea?...What do you have?"
"Let´s see... Blueberry, Raspberry, Ginseng, Sleepytime, Green Tea, Green Tea with Lemon, Green Tea with Lemon and Honey, Liver Disaster, Ginger with Honey, Ginger Without Honey, Vanilla Almond, White Truffle Coconut, Chamomile, Blueberry Chamomile, Decaf Vanilla Walnut, Constant Comment and Earl Grey."
-"I.. Uh...What are you having?... Did you make some of those up?” 
― Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

When you are offered tea and you accept, that is the beginning of a wonderful time!
“In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting. 

In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.

I liked the Irish way better.” 
― C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman

Well, me and my dear friend discussed castles in Ukraine over a calendar with beautiful pictures of castle. We talked about moats around few forts in India. We also discussed some traditions from Russia and Tamilnadu! Making cakes, soaking raisins in rum, mango leaves being antibacterial and antiviral, aviyal (mixed vegetables curry), breads and lot more!

“A cup of tea would restore my normality.” 
― Douglas Adams 

“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.” 
― Sydney Smith, A memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith

“Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims

We also discussed about Science, art, and went over beautiful pictures in a calender, which had beautiful pictures from the State Hermitage Museum! See one of the pictures,  Madonna from the Annunciation. 
 
“Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?” 
― D.T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture

If you are cold, tea will warm you.  If you are too heated, it will cool you.  If you are depressed, it will cheer you.  If you are excited, it will calm you.  ~Gladstone, 1865
 
What a collection of tea calendars my friend had! All with so many beautiful pictures of tea pots, tea cups and all the decor. Just brightening our spirits! Then we had English tea with slices of lemon, sprinkling sugar over the slices. What a treat! Now we know how important and enlightening tea is!!
No wonder there are so many quotes about tea! I enjoyed the tea and sharing the pics and quotes with you!!!! 

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.  ~Japanese Proverb

Coffee is not my cup of tea.  ~Author Unknown
 
Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!  ~Author Unknown
 
Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on.  ~Billy Connolly
 
What a nice time it was! It was definitely a good 'Tea' party! Thanks to my friend!
     

Jelly fish in a bottle

Take a rectangular sheet of plastic paper. pinch its center and tie it loosely like a balloon. Cut the remaining plastic into strips. Pour little water in to the balloon part, that is the head of the jelly fish.

Pour water in a bottle and add food coloring. Then put the jelly fish inside. Shake and move the bottle around to see the jelly fish float. :)

You can cut less number of strips and discard the remaining plastic. It will appear more neat. I didn't have that patience! ;-)

Swiss Family Robinson

These days, I look for movies which I and kids could watch together. I have seen quite a few and all of a sudden I thought it might be helpful if I record those films. May be we could see those later again. So here I start..
Yesterday we watched a movie named 'Swiss Family Robinson'. Its a 1960 Walt Disney movie. A family traveling to New Guinea gets shipwrecked. The captain and the crew abandon the ship and the family is left alone in the broken ship. They manage to get to a tropical island nearby. The family of three boys with their parents try to do their best to stay alive and happy. The elder boys and the father bring as much stuff as possible from the broken ship and build a tree house. They also try to find out if there was any population nearby. In the mean time they discover pirates who are roaming nearby. The family works together a plan to fight the pirates. Finally when the pirates arrive, the family fights them off bravely.

It is a great story about staying together as a family in all circumstances. Would love to watch again one day with my boys.

Day as good as you

Gentle shower
Gentle as your love
Calm trees
Calm as you
Cute dew on the grass
Cute as you
Cool breeze embracing me
Cool as my sweet heart
The day is good
As good as you, my Love

Written on 9-13-06, after having gone for a drive in the woods...