It's been an eventful year for us, and that's really an understatement. Life's been more than chaotic in the past few days......it's been a rumba with suitcases, decisions,and emotions. Our move to West Coast has been shelved, for now.
Life in rear view mirror as we left Virginia and drove up further north with the whole kit and caboodle that mattered to us packed in our "Merry Oldsmobile". Hope you all are having a great holiday season and here's wishing all a beautiful year ahead.
:) We graduated yesterday in our academic regalia, amidst radiant smiles and bushels of congratulatory wishes. One chapter ends, another begins. I am gonna miss all that the old one entailed.......As my husband and I move on to find our niche in Corporate America, I am gonna miss working with him (outside home, that is :D). Did I tell you before that we worked for the same advisor, had more or less taken same classes, were an unbeatable team in projects we undertook together, and were what you can call BOGO offer, that's "Buy One Get One free" for the acronym-challenged??? :D
Results of my fooling around with camera while my husband single-handedly works upon our impending move to the other coast this January.
I feel weird posting these!!!! While Old Man Winter seems to be busy painting North white, it looks and feels like Spring in these parts!!!! Would one of you please pack some snow and send my way????
"Ahhh!!! The bliss of solitude"
Three's a crowd??? Love the way they seem to be saying "Look there!!" :)
They say, "Good things come to those who bait!"
Looks like, they do! :)
We are back from our trip to Key West and this time, the trip was more about enjoying the relaxed, unpretentious vibe of the island than exploring the place. It was warmer than expected at this time of the year but the friend from Michigan appreciated the dose of Florida sunshine while we totally, absolutely loved his company :)
The color scheme in Miami is Crayola! As the afore-mentioned cousin exclaimed "Ostentatious!!!" in his impeccable British accent at the first glimpse of the city, my husband and I could not help but chuckle :) Few minutes around the city and he was agog with child-like enthusiasm, "This is exactly how you see Miami in movies!!!" he spluttered as we drove him around Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. He was totally amused by the whimsical Art Deco buildings. It's fun to act like tourist guides for family and friends....and now we have a friend down from Michigan for Thanksgiving holidays whom we get to show around Southern Florida. Off we go to Miami and Key West again.....I feel like a Key West veteran already...this is my third trip there within a year's time!!!!!!!
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, all !!!! :)
This summer, my husband's journalist cousin was down from UK to soak in the Florida sun. An avid reader of the award-winning works of Miami Herald's Carl Hiaasen on South Florida's unchecked development and its effects on Everglades' ecosystem, he insisted we take him to Lake Okeechobee. This summer was one of the driest here and Lake showed the damage done by the intense summer and insatiable greed of man. The second largest fresh water lake in the country showed one of the record low water levels while I am assuming that grass on golf courses glistened. An embarrassment of riches??? It was on our way back from lake, when we met this red head. I was busy admiring her till her partner came towards me in what was clearly an aggressive stance, almost screaming, "leave us alone, will ya?".......I captured them on my lens and scooted :)
Update: The red heads are sandhill cranes.
Yet another leaf-y post, you'd say! But fall colors are such a rarity in these parts that when I got a chance to click these happy-hued leaves on our jaunt to Washington, I almost went berserk with delight. They were the most colorful locals I came across on grey, moody days we spent there. I would love to see sunlight filtering through them some day but for now I am happy with just these......happiness in small measures!!!! :)
This is certainly not your Florida-scape!!! So where do you think I am currently?? :) This was my first glimpse of the region as we "cascaded" down into the city last afternoon. This is gonna be a cinch but let's play along a little....the city named after an Indian chief is in a state named after yet another great persona from the history.........Hail the chiefs!!! And no, it's not the most caffeinated US city ;DDD
As temperatures come down, sunsets seem to get intense. Today was one of those days: a slight nip in the air and we had to head seawards to catch the sunset. It was about time we hit the beach anyways, considering that we have been cooped inside for too long. As you can see, we were not disappointed. The sun on its way out created such fiery reflections in the waters and the skies that almost everyone stopped and watched as sea slowly consumed the glowing ball.
Care for a plastic Calla, anyone??? :) It's been great weather in these parts of Florida these days and now that most of the deadlines have been taken care of, we are busy relishing it.....Hope you all had a great Halloween and are looking forward to a great weekend ahead :)
IT'S DONE WITH..the thesis has been accepted... and now we are on our way to graduating in a month's time :) I'm so relieved that I can't seem to find words to write here today. Thanks all for rooting for us!!!! I will not think twice before dedicating my thesis to the virtual friends I have made through this blog :)
I am continuing to dig into archives for the moment! The Arch Rock that looks out onto Lake Huron at Mackinac Island is a favorite photo-opp site for the tourists. We too (armed with camera) decided to pay it homage when we visited the island this June. But what fascinated me the most were the Native American legends associated with it. My favorite version: the Arch was formed when a beautiful Indian maiden's tears washed away the limestone bluff as she waited in vain for her lover to return. The romantic in me can't resist the legend :P
A little walk from the rock and one gets greeted by this vista....made more precious to me by the twin lights. Though one can't see it clearly here, the farther light, Round Island Lighthouse, now restored, is a darned pretty building.
I know there's been an overload of "blues" on this space lately (pun intended) but When I need to escape from the realities of life, blue is the only color that will do it for me. So there!!! And for the ones concerned, I defend my thesis in 3 days from today!!!!
Nothing unique about this pic but it so aptly depicts my current state of affairs: at the end of my tether, ready to break into a flight any minute. The countdown's begun..one week from now we defend our theses and while it's been a rough going presently.......it's now only 7 more days of misery!!!!!!
Thanks all for giving me company while I am spending my nights away in the lab. Amidst all those number crunching and typing, a new comment in my mailbox always leaves me smiling and visiting your blogs gives me that much needed break :)
The Window to Key West.
What does one do when there are no new pics to share? Simple! Dig into the old collection, re-live the times well spent in past and share them here :)
This was the view from the rear window of Key West Light House that gave a glimpse, almost like a teaser, of the beauty that's gonna unfold before us as we schlep ourselves through 88 steps to reach the top. They are pretty considerate folks out there: you get to sport a badge after you have climbed the steps, to announce your achievement to the world :D
And below is one of the several spectacular views of the island from the top. I love the blue ocean merging with the sky in the backdrop. Have a great weekend!!! :)
This one's for Blue who long back had expressed her desire to see wild flowers from Florida. They are not a common sight in the hot, muggy climes of a landscaped Florida so when I recently spotted these bunch of scraggly wild flowers (White Cinquefoil???) growing in gay abandon, I had to click them.
I love wildflowers : they have, for the most part, minds of their own - springing up amidst bushes, trees, along the street or a stream, sweeping across hills and abandoned pastures, adding a touch of wild, unkempt, spontaneous beauty to the place. That even William Blake sang paeans to them does not go unnoticed!
PS: I have recently discovered this collage tool I am mighty stoked about, so please indulge moi for sometime, while I get over my latest craze for collages and get back to the regular way of posting .......:)
There's only so much of number crunching my teeny-weeny head can take. So I finally put my work aside and decided to make hay (or shall I say photos) while the sun shines gloriously in Florida.
Steve from New Orleans Daily Photo has tagged moi to list 8 Random facts about myself. Earlier Radha and Granati too tagged me for something similar. I decided to pull up my socks and finally do the tag. Here you go! :)
1. I am born allergic to UV rays...so stepping out in sun even for 5 minutes leaves me with a potential chance of getting a nasty sunburn. That explains why I love rains as much, I guess.
2. I'm a hopeless, incurable romantic.
3. Sometimes I think I was just not born with the music gene. I can't even hum a tune right : One reason why I hold musicians in such awe.
4. Day dreams are my mini getaway. Often, you'll find me dreaming with my eyes open.
5. I have wanted to be a teacher, a doctor, a tennis star, a journalist (in that order) at different stages of my life and ended up being neither of them.
6. The tennis star bit of dream (too pie-in-the-sky, I know) was partly due to Steffi Graf and partly coz I totally love those cute tennis skirts :D
7. I want to travel for a living and I want to take my husband along. But I want to be able to come back (whenever I want) to a modest, pretty place that I can call home. Guess, I want it all or I do not know what I want!!!! (Can you count the "wants" here :D)
8. I can go on and on with my "I's" ...... it's time fellow-bloggers shared a little of themselves with moi. I will love to know you better. Please take up the tag and let me know that you did.
With or without the tag, have a great Sunday, all :)
Spent.This is how I feel right now after sending the preliminary report to my advisor.But chuck that!!! I shall not mix academics with pleasure :)
In a land inhabited by Oaks, a Maple tree is such a welcome sight. I had no clue that Florida has some till very recently, on my way back home from school, I noticed this solitary leaf lying close to our stairway and I had to exclaim "Look at what the wind blew in" :) Thence began my search for the Holy Grail called Maple and surprisingly I found the source of my joy not far from my home, over the fence :) And just in case it's not Maple and you know better, I beg you not to burst my bubble!!!!
Meanwhile I was hoping to share this lovely video (on Autumn) and this post seems to be a perfect fit. It lasts less than a minute but leaves you smiling. Have a look :)
What's on yours??? :D
I am under house/lab arrest currently. My husband and I are defending our theses in the final week of this month and there's hardly any time for anything other than research and thesis work right now. That explains the series of indoor shots here. I'm itching to step out, more so with the weather being fabulous and light glorious in late afternoons but--- if wishes were horses!!!!!
"She left a lamp lit in the window,
To shine it's beacon soft and warm,
In case a stranger might be wandering,
Cold and hungry, far from home."
For some strange reason I find this one image very reminiscent of the Dickensian world. Must be my imagination running amok!!!!
The World outside my window. As a friend given to poetry described it, "Can't you just hear the page of that day tip over?" :)
Oats dancing in the winds are from Tybee Island, near Savannah, a beautiful island facing Atlantic, as rain storms gathered. I was the happiest when I found a lighthouse there to add to my collection :)
Tybee Island Lighthouse
On another note, I have to share this : this must be a charmed blog. Remember once I mentioned here how my husband jokes that I should look for a job in Seattle, considering my propensity for rains. Well, I did not but he nailed a job there. So we'll be moving to West Coast by the end of this year. It feels like I have hardly seen any of East Coast and it's time to move on. Already? ......I have lived like a nomad for so long now that no move seems daunting anymore. Much as I am looking forward to leave school and move to a fresh life (that does not entail living paycheck to paycheck :D) and new place, I'm gonna miss the friends here and the place too (minus the heat). Hope everybody is having a great weekend :)
This was shot in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist at Savannah where we took refuge from the intermittent rains. I had almost forgotten about it till I saw Ash's beautiful "Prayer" post today. This elderly gentleman's head bowed in prayer compelled me to take this image though I generally will let people be alone in their intensely private moments.
I have lived a little more than the quarter of a century on this earth and as I grow, my faith acquires different dimensions too. It's no more religious but it's as powerful as ever in the smallest of the creations and acts and beliefs. As we all start a new week, all I want to say is Keep the faith :)
Remember the brick wall in Key West that caught my fancy?? The building fascinated moi enough to explore its darker, underbelly side .....I went behind the building to find this ornate staircase adorning its rather unkempt rear. I knew there are treasures to be found in these bricks and I discovered a few (not to mention those shorts, remember??) ;D
Have a great weekend all :)
P.S. : I have no idea how that white fuzzy distraction at the top right in the pic came by! I'm guessing the faded, paled out bricks looked so in that corner unless someone knows better and can help moi!
You know a perfect day when you see it! I woke up to one today :) The first day of the season when you know that the lazy, hazy, scorching days of summer are on their way out. We're poised between two seasons: an effortless segue from summer's heat to fall's lingering warmth. Suddenly my pics don't seem washed out in Florida's sun. It must have been Florida's sun that U2 were referring to when they sang "The sun so bright it leaves no shadows". But today colors looked softer even from behind the lens. I know I am gushing like a fool now but I haven't stopped smiling since I woke up and smelled from my porch, the scent of dry grass filling the air.
Sunlight filtering through the leaves of the trees on a soft evening. Not your typical fall pic but then Fall comes ever so silently in these parts :) Enjoy the days getting shorter as you kiss the last days of summer good-bye :)
A stray patch of sunlight from a dying sun painted this on the canvas of a wall. I am having a lovely weekend and wishing the same for all of you :)
And calls to the winds of morn;
The stars grow pale, and the sun cries, 'Hail!'
To the shadowy fields forlorn;
And good-bye, good-bye, to the Will-o'-the-Wisp,
Who dies when the day is born!"
For my thoughts to live in;
When for earth too fancy-loose
And too low for Heaven!"
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The pesky rains played such a spoilsport ....almost all my images from the collection are hazy or have the rain-blur.We'd walk in rain when it will show signs of letting up and then again rush indoors when it got crazy... Guess, this is the only time ever in my whole blogging life you'd catch me cribbing about rains. But as I said earlier, we tried to make the most of the trip....so while rushing in and out of plantation houses, shops and churches and the carriage ride stops, we discovered this English pub in the heart of Historic District with a can't-miss-it red phone booth awlright!!!! Talk about devotion to details :DDDD It's only later that we learnt the pub's quite a hit with tourists, not just for some good pub grub but also 'coz it featured in the movie Something to Talk About with Julia Roberts. I haven't seen the movie and this nugget of info was given to us only after we had given the pub a miss. Instead we hit another later in the day, that welcomed us with a sign that read :
We are back from our jaunt to Savannah. It's a charming town but it was a totally rained out weekend for us there. The rain let up for just a coupla hours in two days but that was too little to enjoy the town. We did stroll around, soaking to our bones, trying to make the most of our trip.
Meanwhile it's good to come back home and still have a day to ourselves before the frenetic pace of week catches up with us. I decided to put up my favorite corner of our home here while I sift through a hundred odd photos I took in Savannah all the time trying to save my lens under the umbrella. Hope you all are having a great weekend :)
Long weekend's almost knocking on us and a few minutes back we decided, on a total whim, that we are not spending it at home. One week of school and I'm already yearning to hit the road.....so off we go again, this time headed to Savannah, Georgia :)
I am so stoked to see the town Le Monde once described "The most beautiful city in North America," (so claims Wikipedia). I am not using any adjectives till I have been there. Meanwhile, people in the know, you gotta tell me what all to see, do and visit while in town. Anna , Ginnie , I need your help!!!! :)
Have one heck of a weekend, all :)
When Annie displayed her version of Glass Ceiling, I promised to show her mine. We will not only make good traveling companions, Annie, we will make great camera-buddies too!!!! :)
The artist
And his art
Key West is a place where you can sit back and spend hours watching the ebb and flow of people. One place where its hard to distinguish locals from tourists: the whole place has this hot, summery languor about it. Every time we visit Key West, its only for a weekend, and yet unlike in other places, that sense of urgency does not grip me that we need to go about town lest I miss something worthwhile. I'm the kind who relaxes by exploring (is that a camera-lover's curse??) and yet in Key West all I did was amble around the colorful streets, sea salts on my skin and smell of fried shrimps in the air. It does not take long to internalize the laid back pulses of this island. And while strolling, if I chance upon an artist, I will make sure he's on the memory card ;)
Thank you, Sandeepa!!! :)
Thank you, Mark!!! :)
Thank you, JoAnn!!! :)
Thank you, JoAnn!!! :)
Thank u, Catherine !!! :)
