What do you remember your mother most for

Dear Ma,

It's Mothers Day today.

As I was looking at your picture,  dusting off  with a kleenex,  I was thinking of you.
" What do you remember your mother most for?" - was a question posted by a celebrated writer in the Face Book

Ma, form high up there you must by now know what FB is all about.  I don't want or need to explain that to you now, I believe.

You must also wonder why am I writing in English,  not in our mother tongue, Bengali?  Well, because your grand daughters and their off springs will not be able to read or understand that language so much, but your blood runs through them.  May be you have passed on some DNA of yours in them...I don't know...But think you kind of live through them to me.

Now, the question- what did you give me that is most precious?

Ma, I bow down in shame - how can I judge that?  I kneel down in gratitude for what you have given me...I don't have the capacity to count that really.

You gave me birth ( oh I know  now with how much pain and joy...I have gone through that). I came with your flesh, your blood.  You nourished me with your milk, stayed up endless nights to bring me up with sweat and tears.

You were the most proud person when I shone.

You cried with me when I was hurt.

You didn't bother to hold back any thing, scolded me when I strayed away and  needed the right direction, held me tight when I fell apart.

But, Ma what I remember most after all these years,  is your love for beauty-  that deep need and appreciation of it in life.

You were beautiful yourself, indeed.

I remember how one day -  it was your last year probably, you asked me to bring me a jar of " Those new thing - what do they call it age defiant?  Garnier or some thing?"

A smirk faded in my face as I wiped off my tears.  This half paralyzed, bed ridden stroke victim still wants to reach for a jar of beauty!

No, that's not the point really.

You tried so hard to keep our home beautiful- with so little resources that you had on those days.  How you saved from the grocery to buy a bouquet of flowers to dress up the dining table, I remember when I went to the  market with you.

Most of all, you knew when to stop...which so many people don't.  Now looking back I feel awe struck that you had that style, and  probably I  had never told you.

In your time,  and where you were coming from, people were totally unaware of these little things that make such difference in life.

You were never noticed for that.  Probably you even did not know you were quite a Martha Steward in your time.  And no one ever noticed.

 But I did.  And I do it more now,  after you are gone.

You gave me that keen sense of appreciation of true beauty.

You worked hard to keep  beauty in tact in relationships and how carefully and meticulously you tread ed the  ocean  of family dynamics !

You tried  to keep  life beautiful,  living beautifully and that is what you had passed on to me.

Bead Soup 7th year - 3rd reveal by Dita Basu

 My bead soup is ready. 

The auspicious day cometh

This is the 3rd and final reveal of the Bead Soup Party - 7th year that our Lori Anderson had organized.

In this party what happens is: 

We sign up for the party, then the organizer Lori, matches us individually with another willing beader
 ( any where from the world) and we send each other beads- actually we must send one focal piece and a clasp and some beads.  Then comes the revealing day when we show off what we did with the sent beads, 


The ingredients that I received  were rich and yummy I hope my bead soup  is not too bland, or too  spicy.  You taste it and tell me.

In my previous post I showed you what  my partner Iveth had  sent me.

What I had sent her?  Iveth wrote a wonderful post  and  you may want to   pay a visit to her blog  after you are done with mine. She wrote a beautiful post on it.

My challenge:

 The focal  that Iveth sent was so pretty I wanted to keep it just the way it is,  with a pretty organza  ribbon or a bronze chain.

 But bronze chain or the ribbon? Take your pick  - said  the inner chef in me.

Hold on...I must make some thing with it. I can't just hang it with a ribbon and say that's it! - I say.

 How about knitting with some wire of the same bronze accent?  I love to do wire knit things...that's kind of my style.  But, nope! I did not have the right shade wire.

So I took a trip to my neighborhood bead store and got some antique bronze wire
 ( Soft Flex brand 26 g ).

Would it be just the plain wire knitting or speckled  with some color? Plain  broth or some spices added, m'lady? - she interrupts.

Some spices of course-  I shout.

Which ones m'lady?  whines the inner chef again in a bland voice.

Cheer up, boring you!- I holler.  Can't you see I am trying to match the colors of the  focal? I make a big mess sprinkling all kinds of beads on the bead mat.

My inner critique does not like it.  She has to clean it up later.

 Some thing blue, some thing... why of course, Iveth  had already sent me those beautiful turquoise beads.  But it needs another color to give  the oomph.

Pearls.

 I hunt through my pearl box.  Nope...these are not the right shade.

I yank out the car again from the garage.  Another trip to Just Bead It  store and I found  the very  right shade of dyed antique bronze  fresh water pearls that I was dreaming of.

Now I have them all ready.

Time to string them all up.

 But  in what design m'lady?

Here is what I came up with.

I turn to my inner chef.  She is the harshest critique I have ever seen.  But she did not pout or make faces.

I  make a couple of earrings too.

Here it is all.

 I put it on around my neck.

Not too bad, I kind of like it. Do you have some suggestions?


Blue is my favorite color.  Thank you Iveth.

 And THANK YOU  Lori,  for arranging  this big event with over 400 participants for the last seven years for us.  This my fourth time and I enjoyed it so  very much.  Again, my heart felt thanks for you, Lori

 Dear reader, please do visit all the other blogs of the  bead soup participants and see what they have cooked up.

Focus on life - Taking a Walk

This week's topic is Taking a Walk - part of  the 52 week journal commitment I had taken with Sally Russick and many other bloggers.

But, "I am late! ..I am late"  - I scurry like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.  All the other ones are ahead, I have fallen behind, way, way behind.  This post was supposed to be done last Saturday!  I am three whole days late.

That's my story.  In the walk of life too I do feel I am falling behind.  But why?  What's the hurry?

Any way, it was my birthday last Saturday.  I did take a walk.  I won't tell you where yet, let me see if you can guess.  Well number one clue is it is close to my home in California.

Now let's look at the pictures.

This is the first shot as I got down from the car.   Walked a few steps and

 this is what I see.  Do you think it is a lake, or a river or the ocean?

On my right there is a Yatch house.  Occasionally I can hear the chimes of a bell from the Light House,  may be?  Sea gulls swoop by...some come closer and make silly noises.


If I look down, close to my feet a beautiful bush of pink flowers say, -  Hello!  Are they straw flower,  lavender of a pink variety...I don't know.

I take a few steps going clockwise

Lots of  boats.

I see birds flying above.  Canadian geese migrating.  Checking out this place?

And more flowers close to me, beneath me, sometimes, on my path. So humble, so beautiful.

I feel  blessed to be part of this Earth, so blessed to be born...so blessed to be able to take a simple walk today.  I feel like kneeling down and hugging the soil with my two arms, the air, the sky, all my loved ones who are part of my life in this  long  journey.

I felt as if  Mother Earth couldn't help smiling,   seeing me so emotional all on a sudden, and  whispered "Happy Birthday" through the murmurous leaves.

                                                          *   *    *     *    *

By the way, if you are still curious about the place - it is Berkeley Marina.  I see the bay as the waterfront,  the faint line of the San Francisco city and  the Gate bridge on the Pacific Ocean and on the other side is the Berkeley - Oakland Hills with the Campanile Tower of the Berkeley University.


 I could not capture everything I had seen and wished, because it was an amazingly dazzling day and you know what happens when you want to take pictures at those times, you can  hardly see anything through the lens.

  Right?

Or is it just me?

So it was a great surprise to me too, until I found some shade, some darkness to see how I did photo shooting.

Please do visit the other bloggers and see what they had captured on their walks. I am on my way.




 

Storing Beading Tools

Storing or organizing the beads,  beading supplies and the  tools  is quite a job.

Here, I found a great idea for storing the  beading tools.  I was keeping them inside a big cup or jar, or   laid them  flat on a tray but some how they tend to get all mixed up.  Inside the cup or jar they got tangled with each other and it was cumbersome- did not quite work out.

My friend, Suparna, another jewelry artist from Ottawa, Canada came up with a fantastic idea.  She uses a bangle display to stand her tools.  The legs of the tools are just right for that width of the bangle holder  and the tools  look really organized and beautiful.

 Suparna chose a Rajastani wooden bangle holder from India.  Even if I can not manage to find such a lovely piece, I think an ordinary velvet bracelet holder will also do the trick.

Organizing beading tools

Another shot

A better picture added- This  image credit :  Suparna.M.

Want to see some more bead storing ideas?

How do you store your beads and tools?  Please leave your comment with your link so that we can visit your wonderful site too.

Bead Soup Cooking- getting ready for the 3rd reveal

I am in the 3 rd group for the  Lori Andersen's Bead soup party.  Yes, we  got some extra time in the kitchen.

Well, I had been all over the world the past three months.  First, in India, then to Washington DC - at the other side of USA - three thousand miles away from my home town...and then the last leg was Ottawa Canada, a visit to my high school friend.  While I was flying I was thinking that it is high time for me to sit down with my diary and sketch out my resolution plan for the new  year 2013.  On the hand hand, the year is four month's old now...one third of its life is spent...its not so new any more...oh well.

I was greeted with a basketful of mails to be read when I came home.  But one of the sweetest thing was a yellow packet from Iveth Caruso, from Creative Atelier,  my new  friend, and  my bead soup partner for this year.

I took my shoes off, and my coat off and sat down to open the packet right away- what  did she send me?

 Iveth wrote-  I think  it is not too spicy.

Like Goldilock,  I felt -  It's not too hot, not too cold...just right!

I love the focal she sent and the beautiful hand hammered clasp.  Iveth told me ahead that her favorite colors are blue and green and indeed she sent me what she loves.  That's call sharing- you give  what you love. I was touched.

Iveth's packet for the Bead Soup

I was thinking of the colors of this years- 2013  spring fashion trend  -  the dusk blue and gray jade, all the cool  hues of blue and here I have just the right shades to make some thing special for this spring.

Fantastic focal

Yes, the ingredients are ready, now I have to cook it up.  Stay tuned and drop by April 20 to see what we have done.  Make sure to check out Iveth's bowl too and all the other participants.

 This is my 4th year in Bead Soup parties.  I love to cook  bead soups. 

Luncheon at a yester years' toll house - Mrs. K's Toll House in MD.

I had a wonderful treat this afternoon- a luncheon at a great restaurant that was a toll house in another time.

Yester Years' Toll House is today's Restaurant

In the early 1900 this Tudor building functioned as a toll house.  The price to pass the toll house was 2 cents- same as sending a letter in those days.

It was complete with living quarters for the keepers and their families.  I heard that Blanche and Harvey Kreuzburg of Washington DC bought this house in  early 1930  and on April 1 opened their restaurant - Mrs. K's Toll House.

Mrs K's passion for antiques and gardening shows off in the ambiance.

We had a sit next to her amazing collection of Lutz glass, Blue Plates and Christmas ornaments of another era.

Antique collection of Mrs K behind us.

Lutz Glass collection

The garden with a cute white gazebo and water fountains with charming daffodils would make you feel like having a wedding party here.

Food was great.  My daughter, Rinti and I shared a delicious salad with pear and blue cheese ( I am starting to like blue cheese, hmmm) and a plate of crab cakes.  One should not leave Maryland with out tasting the crab - remarked our waiter .

He was cute and gave us a tour later on.  But before that I must mention the hazelnut latte I had - so mmm and also the dessert that we shared - a pastry with salted caramel.  Rinti told me ahead of time to leave room ( and WW Points) for the dessert.  She feels very discouraged when people shove away the dessert menu...that's the best part m-a-n!

YES.

Then we took a tour down the little steps, dark and spooky,  to the wine cellar and the little rooms  which are  now  open for cute dining corners.  In those days people slept there. It was magical going back to another era.

An antique cart

And then climbing up, we  passed the old cart and the vintage gramophone that played music on its own like a player piano.

Strange gramophone that played on its own

Then you come outside to the garden and take a deep breath.  What a treat!  Thank you Rinti.

Tags:  Holidays,  Washington DC, restaurants in DC, jewelry,  Lutz glass

FAITH - Focus on Life Week 13

This week's topic on Focus on Life by Sally Russick is FAITH

I had been out for a long time and got  kind of diverted from this 52 weeks' walk that I was committed to take  with Sally.

 I am back and will catch up with the rest.

Faith is a strange word.  Once I heard this saying -" Faith is something you believe when common sense may say otherwise."

I also often like the saying  - "If  winter comes can spring be far behind?- I don't remember who said that also.  But it gives me hope and faith.

Let me tell you what I have experienced in the last few days and how it relates to the topic of Faith.

I came to my grand daughter and her mom and dad to spend the spring vacation in Washington DC.  Last year on March 25, 2012 this place  was full of cherry blossoms.  See how Zoe and her little rag doll  were  thoroughly enjoying it.

This year on March 25, 2013  it snowed.  It snowed so heavily that  Zoe's school remained closed until10 am.  From their 9th floor apartment the nice parking lot  looked like this :

I thought we were doomed.  But the next day the sun came out and  there were only  few dollops of snow  left, not even enough to have a snow ball fight.

It was warm enough for us to go to the Martin Luther King Memorial place and then I was energized by- 

"Out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope "

I was recharged.
What a beautiful day we spent.  As I was heading to the car I was feeling that Faith is as natural as breathing to me.  How can one survive with out hope and faith?  But then,  I take it so much for granted.

When I came home we found Zoe is very sick.  She got a stomach flu bug from her school and it totally knocked her  down.  The chirpiest, most shiny  personality is so mellow today.  She can hardly keep drops of water even  for a couple of hours today  and we are praying that she recovers soon and we don't have to take her to the hospital to give IV.

One more time I face Faith.  As I look out the window I see the sky darkening with cloud  but  it is strangely lit with a silver line.

It is time for me to go pray .

 Thank you my readers.  Please check out all the other participants and see what they have for you on this topic of FAITH.