• Night of snowy magic

    Thanks to weather.com, I knew it would snow the day after I landed in America and was quite prepared to step out into a winter wonderland in the morning.

    But when I woke up it was brilliantly sunny. Knowing that the snow and sun are unrelated I looked out of the window to find the roads dry and black . It seemed that the weather forecast was wrong.

    However, at 10 in the morning N our host who had invited us to dinner sent a message saying that since it was going to start snowing at 7, we should pre-pone the dinner to high tea and meet at her place for night .

    As afternoon deepened the sky turned grey and still , almost like a monsoon sky but different – with a kind of heaviness behind the grey.

    Then at 6. 30 our host announced that the snowfall had begun . I wanted to take a photograph of his deck that looked enchanting with the white frosting on his patio furniture , the trees dotted with snow and the soft, powdery flakes dancing gently to the ground.

    But I was more concerned about the drive home and wanted to reach home well before the snow mounted up.

    Half a mile into our journey we came upon a traffic hold up with three cars ahead of us, stopped and waiting for no apparent reason because there were enough cars coming from the other side of the road.

    After what seemed like an eternity the car immediately behind the first car, overtook the stopped car. The next car was hesitant to move and after another eternity followed suit . Luckily we could move along but it was scary trying to drive with the snow falling on a road that was downhill and in complete darkness save for the lights of the cars.

    Thankfully we reached home safely.

    I’d quite forgotten the snow. A chance glance outside found me captivated by these footprints.

    Whose were they I wondered as I saw the trees covered with snow .

    Though snow is not new to me , driving in snowfall was a first for me . What a lovely ending it was to a magical day.

    Image of Bellybytes

  • February has been a mixed bag so far with the skies unusually smoggy and dreary in the first week of this month.

    Luckily the smog lifted and we’ve had some interesting cloudy skies.

    Of course we’ve also had some hullabaloo about the Blue Moon which was far from Blue or red

    And after the cloudy skies we’ve had our glorious sunsets which I failed to capture.

    So I’m leaving you with just a glimmer of a February sunset which painted the sky pink and purple and fuschia.

    Happy weekend all!

    Image of Bellybytes

    Linking up with #SkywatchFriday where bloggers from all over the world share pictures of their skies

  • ” Ma’am, are you a Senior Citizen ? ” the bank officer would ask me anytime I stepped into the bank to make a deposit

    “No, but do I look like one ?” I used to retort , extremely offended by this remark.

    ” No , No ” he would mumble apologetically, ” just you get more interest ! ”

    “What?” I would ask in mock surprise.

    Well for just a measly half percent I certainly wasn’t willing to get grey haired and crinkled. But of course time marches on and on Monday I woke up as a Senior Citizen.

    I always knew I would reach this age but with some class mates and contemporaries falling along the way, I would get the occasional doubts : was that sharp shooting pain in the left arm anything alarming ? Was the sudden drop or energy, the excruciating pain, the unexplained palpitations any signs of something sinister happening in my body?

    Luckily it was nothing other than normal signs of ageing. So I continued adding a pound every year , some wrinkles to my skin, ridges on my nails and grey in my hair that was growing thinner and frizzier each year. Yes, with my shoes becoming flatter and more sensible, my hearing difficult and my clothes shapeless and comfortable, I have slowly but surely become older.

    All of yesterday I got messages from my friends wishing me for my birthday and advice that 60 is young.

    Another friend told me that 40 was the oldage of youth but 60 was youth of  old age.

    Yet another agreed with me that at 20 we thought 40 was unimaginably ancient.

    Some said that I had a lot to be thankful for.

    Yet others wished me a stress free year .

    All in all it was a wonderful celebration of growing old in the company of family and friends .

    60 is liberating- more than 40 . You are more comfortable in your skin. You have come to terms with your reality . You have made peace with most of your dragons and you are in cruise control mode.

    Most of my friends who are approaching this milestone birthday are radiating a different kind of calm- an aura of contentment.

    Most of them have been there and done that. They have either achieved the goals they had set themselves or accepted the fact that they are never going to do so .

    And they are truly living in the now. Some are in better health than they’ve ever been. Some are in better shape than they ever were.

    Do you think 60 is the new 40 ?

    Looking forward to your views on growing old .

    Sharing this on #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne of Everyday Gyaan

    Image for Mondaymusings

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