One Lovely Blog Award

Today I was given an award for my blog.  I am honoured and humbled.

   So first and foremost thank you to
   World of Julie B for giving me this award.

    To accept this award, I have to pass the award
    on to 15 bloggers.

    Here they are (in no particular order):

5 Minutes just for me - this is such a pretty blog and some very interesting posts, Natasha also hosts the pinning and singing party that I link in to from my other blog. Thanks Natasha.

Cards, Craft, Kids Projects - some amazing craft projects here. So creative. 

Taking Back My Life - Carla is truly taking back her life. I love reading her journey.

Ropcorn - This is such an interesting blog. Alexandra has some amazing stories and beautiful pictures.

Jungle Luv - Linda writes some very interesting posts - lots of variety. 

Life in Technicolour - I get all my movie news from Sonal. 

News from Italy - Italy is one of my favourite countries and there's lots of information here on Italy. 

Part and Parcel of Life - I love Haiku and this blog has some fabulous Haiku.

Colours Dekor - A truly beautiful blog. Love looking at the decor and other pics.

Soul Speak - If you need inspiration, this is the blog to read. Beautiful and inspiring posts.

The Engineer's Other Life - Lovely photographs and nice snippets to go with them.

Journeys through Time - Ann has some amazing stories. Love the way she writes.

A Life's Journey - Lovely blog, so much variety.

Friday My Town Shootout - so much fun to read and participate.

Foxy Confessions - This blog just makes me feel good. Nice posts too.

Please read their blogs as they are all amazing.

I'm not sure where the rules of this award originated but searching through the internet I found many variations. So I decided to choose this one:

To accept this award:

 -  Share 7 random facts about yourself

 -  Award at least 7, 15 would be great

 -  Drop them a note to tell them.

And so to be fair I should list my 7 random facts ...

1.  I am a green belt in karate

2.  I love the colour blue 

3.  In the school house system I was in Green house

4.  My first trip overseas was to Singapore

5.  I was 2 years old when I took my first trip overseas

6.  I have one brother

7.  My last furry pet was a guinea pig

Enjoy your day and post a comment here so I can check out your random facts.

Winding Road

Here's my first post for Scenic Sunday.

Not sure if the picture does the scenery justice.

The road caught my eye more than anything else.

click on pic to enlarge

Linking to:

Photo Hunt - Broken

I'm not sure if all of you have fun reading my posts that link up to themed photo hunts but I have great fun looking through my photos or just walking around my city finding things to match the theme.

It's also fun to look at what others have posted on the theme - the photography is amazing.

And it's good exercise both for me and my camera!

Here's another photo hunt I found and it looks interesting:

PhotoHunt #289


And this week's theme is Broken. So here is my "broken" pic.

My Town - Creepy Crawlies

Ugh ... I don't like creepy crawlies.

I almost gave this post a miss as I hunted high and low for some. Perhaps it's too windy and cold in my city or I'm just not geared for hunting out creepy crawlies. Probably the latter.

And then suddenly out of nowhere ... this got into my lounge ... ugh ugh ugh ... but there it was just creepy enough for this post

And here is my plan B pic - my back-up in case the real creepy crawlies failed to appear

Bush lizard on my boomerang I bought some years ago on one of my Aussie trips.

Linking this to My Town Shootout Creepy Crawly

Sepia Scenes - Lamp post

Taken in Winter on a rare snowy day here.

Related snowy posts (but not in Sepia):
   Snow Snow Snow Unbelievable
   Frosty the Snowman

Linking to:  Sepia Scenes #154

Wordless Wednesday - Rocks and Ripples

click on pic to enlarge

Linking to
Wordless Wednesday   
WW at Organised Chaos   
WW at A-Work-in-Progress
WW at Erica Price Designs
WW at Create With Joy

The Festival of Lights

October 26 2011 Indians all over the world celebrate Diwali the festival of lights.

Diwali signifies the end of a year and the beginning of a new one, the end of any darkness in our lives and the hope of bright and happy days. Hence the lighting of the lamps or diyas.

Some Indian communities celebrate the day after Diwali as the New Year.

So here's wishing all of you a very Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year or Sal Mubarak (sal = year, mubarak = auspicious blessings).

Wish you all peace, love, good health, prosperity and joy.

Here are my Diwali lights

Linking to

Spooks and Sparkles

It'z Festival Time

Weekend Bloggy Reading Link up #28

Shopo Giveaway Wish List

To make our Diwali extra special Colours Dekor and Shopo.in are giving away a gift to 3 lucky winners.

So here is my wish list (in no particular order) :

I love bags so this purple Silk Tote is perfect for my ever growing collection.

I collect mugs and love this Hand painted terracotta mug

I love Rangoli, but haven't got a clue how to do it. The weather here is just not conducive to powder rangoli so this beautiful Rangoli blocks 6 piece set would be just perfect. I could put it anywhere - on the table, in the foyer, even on the carpet.

Scarves, stoles, odhnis, dupattas are so useful all year round here. And this Cotton yarn dye multi coloured stole is so pretty.

Thanks  Colours Dekor and Shopo.in and good luck to everyone.

Linking this to

My Town - Scavenger Hunt

I found another interesting blog party so will give this one a go as well.

Not an easy one as you have to post a pic or pics from your town to go with the theme of the week and this week it is:

Scavenger Hunt suggested by Mark at Butler and Bagman - Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

So here is mine  - 1 pic to say it all. Whew!

Picture taken at Oriental Parade

Something old = the building on the left
Something new = the building being built
Something borrowed = the crane
Something blue = the sky. I could say the building too but I already took that for the new.


Linking this to My Town Mr Linky Scavenger Hunt

Sepia Scenes - the Lagoon

I've always wanted to experiment with black and white / sepia effects as I think they look pretty cool.

And then I found this blog Sepia Scenes.

So here is my first Sepia post.

This pic was taken today while I spent the day in town with my friends.

click on pic to enlarge

Wordless Wednesday - Zoo Gymnastics

My first Wordless Wednesday post and since it's wordless won't say anything more.

Linking to Wordless Wednesdays

Indian Miniature Paintings

I love the Indian miniature paintings particularly the Mughal and Rajput styles.

Here are some of the paintings I have. (Of course these are imitations). I had to take these from different angles to prevent reflections from windows.

Linking this to
Colours Dekor - weekly story 53

Information Links:

Indian Paintings from Wikipedia   Symbolism of Elephants in Indian culture

Mughal painting is a particular style of Indian painting, generally confined to illustrations on the book and done in miniatures, and which emerged, developed and took shape during the period of the Mughal Empire (16th -19th centuries).

Mughal paintings were a unique blend of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles. Because the Mughal kings wanted visual records of their deeds as hunters and conquerors, their artists accompanied them on military expeditions or missions of state, or recorded their prowess as animal slayers, or depicted them in the great dynastic ceremonies of marriages.


Rajput painting, a style of Indian painting, evolved and flourished, during the 18th century, in the royal cours of Rajputana, India. Rajput paintings depict a number of themes, events of epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Krishna's life, beautiful landscapes, and humans.

My Perpetual Christmas Tree

Plants, sad to say, just do not like me. No matter how hard I try, I just seem to destroy them.

Many years ago in my teenage years, my parents left me in charge of their beloved plants while they travelled. I followed every detailed instruction and yet the plants drooped. On the day they came back, Dad looked at the plants, watered them again and the next morning, they were bright and chirpy.  Hmmm. Maybe this is plant karma for me.

Then about 14 years ago a friend gave me a plant and somehow this plant has managed to flourish and survive with me. I think this is the only plant in the world that likes me.

I call this my Perpetual Christmas Tree (PCT) because I hang my cute little animal toys on it and when Christmas comes along, I'll add some glitter and make it sparkle. Maybe it likes that. Maybe that's why it thrives.

I think hanging these toys, brings out the kid in me. The kid loved it before but now thinks I'm a little nuts (don't you love it when they grow up!).

But I love looking at this plant - it's just so cheerful.

So here it is, my lovely PCT.

Linking this to:
Spooks and Sparkles
Itz Festival Time 2011
Weekend Bloggy Reading Link Up

Haka Bear

I know I've done a lot of posts on the Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2011 on my blogs, but the World Cup fever is rising here in New Zealand and it's great to be a part of it.

Wales will play France tomorrow in the first semi-final and New Zealand will play Australia on Sunday in the second semi-final.

NZ and All Black (NZ rugby team) flags are flying everywhere.  So my contribution to the "Go the All Blacks" support are my haka bear, flags and my RWC T shirt.

My Haka Bear - love his haka face. 

If you press his tummy he recites the haka - he's so cute

My RWC T shirt

Go the All Blacks!

My other posts on the RWC:
 Wellington Regional Stadium - RWC
 Little Things in Life

Links:
The Haka taken from Wikipedia - Haka
Haka is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge from the Maori people of New Zealand, which has become more familiar worldwide because the New Zealand rugby union team All Blacks perform a haka before every rugby game. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment.

Looking at my city like a tourist

Today my friend and I wandered around the city.  It's amazing what you see when you decide to be a tourist in your own city.

Here are some pics I took today (click on them to enlarge)

 outdoor ice skating rink at the TSB arena.

the rink is new but the sails aren't.

sailboats

sculpture of rugby players at the Civic Square

Railway Station. I must have passed by a thousand times, and yet never noticed the little train!

Rugby Carnivale

Statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Railway Station.

buzzy bee

There are many sculptures around the city - will have to walk around again and take some more pics. 

Hope you enjoyed these.

Mumbai, a secular city

Mumbai is a city where all major religions co-exist. Wherever you go in Mumbai, you will come across a temple, church, or mosque.

I picked some of my favourite:

     Mount Mary Church - I love this church. It's so peaceful inside.

     Haji Ali Durgah - this mosque is located in the Arabian Sea
     and can be reached only during low tide.

     Ghanteshwar Hanuman Temple - The temple of bells.
      (Ghant = bell). The belief is that anyone who prays here
      will have their wish come true. And when it comes true,
      they donate a bell to the temple.

Here are some pics (click on them to enlarge)

Mount Mary Church, Bandra

Mount Mary Church - Statue of Mother Mary

Altar of the Mount Mary Church

Haji Ali Durgah, Worli

Ghanteshwar Hanuman Mandir (Temple), Santacruz

Links
Mount Mary Church
Haji Ali Durgah
Lord Hanuman