A Day at the Beach

Hyderabad meets Wilmington

One of my friends from Hyderabad's permanent residence is in Wilmington, DE, only about an hour awy from my parents home. She was kind enough to invite myself and my mother to a ladies lunch where we got to meet a variety of her U.S. friends.After lunch she showed us where the Indian grocery store is so I could get all the ingredients I need to create an Indian feast! Spices and daals galore!

Baking

While in India, I greatly missed my oven, so upon my return I quickly started baking cakes and cookies. Umes sent me some great Indian cake recipes which I made to bring a sweet taste of India to my parents. Here's the banana cake in process!

Conehead!

Exploring Chapel Hill

The spice and herb section of a nearby grocery... we'll be able to make lots of great curries with these! Daals and rices and grains galore! I can't wait until my chef arrives :)

Glorious, glorious produce:

Demonstrating the avocado section:

Talking with the realtor while in downtown Chapel Hill:

Where did I leave my keys?

Our adorable new home:

Lula and Yaara: Best Friends

Springtime Dog Play

Yaara Starts to Understand the Concept of Toys

Sunset Out the Kitchen Window

Family Dinner

Springtime at Stillpond

Here are some typical scenes in the springtime at my parent's house.
Dad planting his garden: New addition Yaara basking in the sunlight:

Mom, Yaara, and Zeus hanging out on the porch:

Mom & Zeus lounging on the swing:

Green grass, a young garden, and a daffodil field in full bloom:

Yaara saying hello to the camera:

Yaara

Two days after returning to the States, I fulfilled my wish for the year of getting a dog. I headed down to the Kent County Humane Society and took home this timid shepherd/lab mix. He had come into the shelter a few days previously from a neglect situation. He's about 10 months old, but had spent his whole life chained up and had no idea about anything in the world. So, he spent the first day learning what a leash was, how to go up and down stairs, and how to get into and out of a car. Basically, he's a totally ignorant puppy in the body of a nearly full-grown dog. I named him Yaara, which means "loyal friend" in Hindi; I'm sure he will live up to his name. He was pretty timid at first, but super sweet and friendly, so I decided that my first order of business was to build his confidence in the world and teach him how to play, run, and enjoy life. Luckily, my parents 5 year old German Shepherd was a good teacher in how to be a guard dog. When my sister's 2 year old Portie came to visit, Yaara chased her away! I think he just wanted to play with her, but didn't know how to ask, since the only dog he's ever played with is the aforementioned very dominant Shepherd. After the interaction below, all three dogs became fast friends and rolled around in the backyard together for about an hour.

Back in the USA!

Umes will continue his guest post at some point, but in the meantime, a notice that the content of this blog is about to change dramatically. I have returned to the U.S. as a (half) married woman and now must wait for my hubby while his visa gets approved. To help ease his transition, I will be posting little snippets of my life back here in America. I'll write about the mundane details of my daily life, post lots of photos of our new dog (yet to be acquired) and as I notice the little differences between the U.S. and India I'll post them. Hopefully Umes will feel like he already knows his new home before he even gets here. Now, off to get paperwork completed for that fiance visa...