It is raining leaves

On my walk this weekend I captured the dramatic 'fall leaves'  preparing the trees for the long winter hibernation.

Listen to the rattling of the leaves as they fall 

The clock struck 3 and the hands moved back

At the stroke of 3 early today the clocks are turned back by 1 hour in most European countries. "Spring Forward Fall Back" is the phrase where once in Spring we turn the clocks forward by 1 hour to gain the daylight saving time to have more sunlight in the evenings after office hours and in the Fall - the last sunday of October at 3.00 AM the clocks are turned back again to standard time by 1 hour . I love this as I can sleep one hour longer in the cold dark winter mornings :-).

Happy Vijayadashami

 Pic Source Wikipedia

Festive fever....

Sekhar just came back from India today and what more can set the tone for a true festive spirit than a bag of goodies from back home and that too with a personal touch :-).

Aarti and Yuti sent me these cute personal notes along with the cute things I wished for

Thanks Yuti and Aarti for making this a totally different experience with personal messages, follow up's and by just constantly keeping in touch :-)

 

and this adds the Indian flavor to my bunch of bags

 

 and for a saree lover like me .... I am smiling :-)

 Happy Festivities to you all.

It takes the rain and the shine....

....to make the Hari Villu ( The lords bow). I tried to describe  it as I saw this from my kitchen window, but could not justify. So I decided to let the pictures speak for themselves. Have a colourful week ahead.

 all pics by my daugther taken from the balcony

Is anyone saying Italian...

With dipping temperatures, outdoor activities take a back seat and the grills and the beach front dining slowly give into cozy dinners around the fire place, catching up with friends, stimulating discussions and happy times. Today we had one such fine dining with friends at Sekhar's colleague Kristoffer's home with special guests of honour. 

fall theme prevailed on a beautifully decorated table

Glasses ready for the legume soup to be served later

Some Cranberry Vodka in an angel glass

As the guests of honour were Vegetarians they zeroed in on an Italian dinner - Bruschettas,Tomato Mozarella cheese

followed by delicious multi Mushroom Risotto made with fresh ingredients and the aroma of Truffle oil lingering on, shredded parmesan, baked Aubergines with pesto and Asparages

and a special Italian dish for the meat lovers too

 lip smacking desert with the Norwegian cloud berries collected above 1000 moh and ice cream with Krokans of caramelized hazelnuts made by elisabeth. It was just YUMM!

 Tea time was desi with an Indian tea cosy covering up Indian chai

 and served in this cup made by Kristoffers mother before the war in 1945

Thank you Kristoffer and Elisabeth for a wonderful evening.

Risotto from here

Autumn 'leaves'......

Shorter days, the touch of cold in the nights, birds flying southwards hmmmm.... not looking forward to the winter waiting around the corner. During my walks these days all my senses become active taking in as much of the sights and sounds of the Fall as possible.   As they fall , they pile and crunch below the feet and paint the ground with their golden glows and rustic reds - the Autumn 'Leaves'.......

Fall 'Leaves' you breathless!

Time flies. It feels like just  recently I did my autumn post and here again I am doing this after a full year cycle. The autumn potpourri is all around and the camera goes....  here a click , there a click, everywhere a click click. The Green walls slowly turned Red, skies are lined in myriad hues and the leaves come tumbling down.....

 

 

 

Happy Fall