Sunday, October 16, 2022

Girija, Shabnam and the colors of life

Yesterday was a day partly of working with Gary in his garden reminding him how to lift iris to separate them, then persuading him to wait till after frost to prune the butterfly bush. It's an easy way for me to garden -- I tell and point, he digs. Then I say "we" gardened.

Lovely walk, after that, this is being a marvelous October, best I can remember



Then a great surprise -- text arranging for two old friends to visit early evening. That was the greatest time, just laughing and catching up.


I'm five foot three and I tower over them! Left to right Shabnam, Moi, Girija.

Girija brought Diwali gifts


Tealights since Diwali is the Feast of lights, candy, scarves, an embroidered wallet, such treats.  

I served lemonade and paneer cookies, they were  impressed I'd made paneer (!) they both being great cooks, that was good to  hear. 

Girija particularly, when she lived across the street educated me on today's Indian food and spices.  And they're happy to hear that Amitha, my next door neighbor, who with her husband bought the house from Shabnam, is keeping me supplied with curry leaves, since Girija did that when she lived across the street.

They ran about checking on what I'd made since they last saw me, and loved the denim vest. Neither of them does anything like this, so it's all a bit of a mystery, and the socks I showed them, too funny to see their faces, how is this done??

I'm so lucky to have such friends, literally my son's age. Looking forward to seeing them again, too 

And meanwhile here's the cardamom tea I made as the first tea experiment of the winter. Pretty good.

Speaking of colors, I did finally get the new Kindle working, it's used to my touch  and I don't have to stab at it now, and found a lot of books I'd forgotten I had loaded on the old one and now transferred them.

I had a whole lot of foreign books in translation, a freebie from Amazon to promote non English writers, so I embarked on this, translated from German.

Set I think in Bavaria, though it's not specified, it's touching and easy reading with a tragic theme of pediatric cancer and joy in spite of it. It's probably a YA book, for young readers, but not childish. I'm glad I rediscovered it lurking in my Kindle library. 

I did lose a lot of Project Gutenberg books I learned to download onto the old Kindle, because there's no Amazon pathway, so once the Kindle went so did they. 

I'd have to relearn how to load them. PG is the anti- Amazon source of free classic literature. You use Calibre software to access them and I think my tablet isn't up to it. I did it originally on my now almost defunct laptop.

Happy day everyone, happy Diwali, lights in your life, enjoy!

And here's dear Sister Corita Kent, nun and pop artist who pursued pop art and joy despite the angry opposition of her Cardinal, there's a back story. He tried and failed to extinguish her art and joy. Art won!



Photo AC 




15 comments:

  1. Hi Boud - good to see you and find you here ... that seems a good division of labour - you to point and tell, with someone else to take action and then join you for a walk afterwards - looks a great area. But what fun to meet up with two friends ... and I love the photos - cheers and all the best Hilary

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  2. Glad you had such a wonderful visit with your old young friends!

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  3. It's great to learn about different cultures and you are doing it through food. I think that's wonderful. Old friends visiting is so lovely too.

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  4. I have a book partly by Corita Kent -- in fact I blogged about it several years ago. Nice to see her work pop up in your post! Glad you got together with your friends!

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  5. You’ve found the perfect way to garden. 😀

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  6. My favorite way to garden! I am like your friends, I have no idea how you make those socks.

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  7. Well done Sister Corita! Good for her!

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  8. Art and joy should win! It is nice to see you smiling with friends.

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  9. How I would love to know a nun who was friends with Andy Warhol! I bet she and the Cardinal did not see eye to eye on many things!
    I've been out pulling weeds in my garden which is not a very strenuous task but it is getting warmer and I am taking a break to cool off and eat my lunch. I will think of you as I eat my soup with ginger and cumin and so forth.
    What a beautiful trio of women in that picture!

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  10. Happy Faces, you all look cheerful. The scarf is gorgeous 1969s.

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  11. Old young friends, as Debra She Who Seeks puts it, as such a joy. They must have been glad to hear that Amitha was holding up the tradition of curry leaves and Indian friendship. Fun to see you towering over Shabnam and Girija!

    Glad the new old Kindle is up and running. Read on!

    Chris from Boise

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  12. Sounds like a fun day with dear friends.
    One of the reasons I hang on to technology for longer than others is I just don’t understand all that downloading and saving and not losing anything
    I really need a new phone and I really really need a new iPad. The one I’m using is going on eight years old!
    But I just don’t want all that bother

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  13. Angela, you and me both! It's only when something irretrievably breaks down that I reluctantly replace it.

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  14. How lovely to have a visit with friends and even better that they came bearing gifts! I'm going to be interested in seeing what you do with that scarf because I'm pretty sure it won't be used in the manner it is intended.

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  15. I've been wearing it wrapped round twice, ends flying, out with jeans and sweater. Very sharp!

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