I’m sitting here on a blue and white striped couch in a New Jersey apartment, surrounded by a benign looking brown, soft, furry teddy bear , an open mouthed Elmo and a faintly bored blonde doll who is incongruously dressed in her terry towel sarong .

It is no time for a romp on the beach , I want to tell Miss Blondie and lucky for you you can’t feel else you’d have turned blue with cold. She stares at me vacuously through her unseeing eyes as I look outside and see the falling snow. All of it turning into water before it hits the ground – it’s too warm to remain snow my friend Cee reassures me sending my fear and apprehension of being caught in a snow storm.

These last few days of unsettled weather – grey and wet alternating with crisp and sunny and occasionally a snow shower like today have left me equally unsettled . I left behind a sunny Mumbai that was gearing up to the Spring Festival of Holi. Here the winter doesn’t seem to end .

There are times when I feel that life has just two seasons – intolerable heat or freezing cold : extremes that leave me yearning for something more balanced. Equanimous days of temperate climes where life goes on at an unhurried pace.

But on the other hand the boring predictability of each day would be dampen the surprises unfolding each day detracting from the challenges and joys each moment brings.

I hear the train horn in the distance and wait for Ms Papaya to return home with her mother . My pot of daal is bubbling on the electric stove. Soon it will be joined by a spicy green and my latest thrill – the glorious rising of a hot phulka!

But before I get back to the kitchen, I will loll around on the couch some more , reading pages from a book that captures a life of decadence long passed. Or are those stories just re-played with a new cast of jet setting souls for whom the champagne always bubbles and the laughter never seems to end?

I’ve already spent the morning getting my girls off to work, talked to people back at home before their day turns into night . I’ve showered and slathered my body lotion and will have a cup of coffee before the girls return .

This is a glimpse of an almost typical day in my untypical life of these days.

Linking up with #FridayReflections hosted by Shalini and Corinne.

And with Mackenzie Glanville for #ablogginggoodtime-82 who blogs at Redlections from Me

Happy weekend all!