The Pink City

After a hotel breakfast of aloo parantha, yoghurt and banana and of course, chai, Bilu picked us up. He had a plan already. We had a full day ahead of us, first stop was the local snake charmers!

Then we were off to Amber Fort.
Under a heavy shroud of fog we ascended. Walking alongside colorfully painted elephants I stopped to give one a scratch on the trunk. He swung his left foot lazily, almost coyly as I spoke to him.

Our guide spoke enthusiastically about the fort, its history and place in the area. His name was Rajish and this was his weekend job, while he was a student of tax. The fort was originally the home of the king and his 2 queens… and each queen had her own rooms. One for winter, one for summer and another for the monsoon season. No detail was left undone and the architects had built in primitive, but effective air conditioning systems, places for the queens to watch from - without being seen, and ramps for their wheelchairs. I guess when you are delicate and wear traditional garb weighing in at 14 kg, walking is not always an option!

Then lake palace and cenotaphs.

We ended at the City Palace in the downtown (walled) part of Jaipur. At this point we were both sight-seed out. Our audio guided walking tour became a speed-walking abridged tour as we made tracks to find food outside the palace.

Karol Bagh

Our hotel was located in the neighborhood of Karol Bagh. A lively, colorful community engaged in hard manual labor, enjoying comradeship and cricket, against the backdrop of intense poverty and mind blowing filth!

We wandered aimlessly, enjoying home cooked Indian desserts and the attention of playful children - apparently we were a novelty for the adults too. Not surprisingly, we didn’t see other tourists in this maze of dark alleys and interesting smells. And it seemed all too quickly that we hailed a cycle rickshaw to head back to our hotel for checkout.

We were heading of Delhi to Jaipur. The chaos of this enormous city was overwhelming and the forts and palaces of relatively more peaceful Jaipur were beckoning.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) our flip-flop decision making process didn’t allow for fully booked trains and we found ourselves in a private car with driver Bilu, for the 7 hour journey. Bilu agreed to be with us for the next 4 days as we traveled to Jaipur, then Agra and back to Delhi before heading to Varanasi.
Note: Half the drive time to Jaipur was actually escaping the Delhi traffic. Holy cow! (completely appropriate here.) Im not going to miss the pollution and dust levels that only come with 11 million people jibing for space on roads without lanes , rules or common courtesy.

Up In The Air

Getting there is half the fun, no?

Um, yes and no. I guess it depends where you are going and how you get there! For us, the 15 hours of flying, broken with an Etihad Airlines stop-over in Abu Dhabi, was a mixed bag. The aircrafts were modern, featuring state of the art entertainment systems and really, really good food. The company we kept was … interesting.

Out of JFK I was lucky enough to be seated in front of a woman who thought if I raised the armrest between Osman’s and my seats, putting the seat controller buttons tantalizingly in front of her, it meant I wanted her to use them.
Not so much!
In fact I thought we were making a bee-line for the ocean floor the first time she decided that my seat needed to be bolt upright - as I lay unconscious in it at 3am! The hostess looked mortified as I flew upright and she managed a weak apology on behalf of Ms Inappropriate behind me.



From Abu Dhabi to Delhi I shared a 3 seat row with a pint sized, 150 year old Indian lady with no boundaries, no respect for airline safety procedure and no inkling that I didn’t understand her when she jabbered to me in her language. Once I had safely kicked her out of my seat (and no she didn’t care what her boarding card said) she spent the rest of the flight nudging me for favors.
I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom… as did 10 other people. The line was long but the bathroom conveniently located near my seat! After a 20 minute wait, I finished in the bathroom and headed back to my movie and book. Just after I had reseated myself, put back on the seatbelt, blanket, earbuds, opened my book and restarted the movie, I got a poke to the arm. She had a pointy, wrinkled finger in the air like she had had a brilliant thought…In fact I could almost see the light bulb going off over her head. She motions for me to go stand in the aisle so she can get out and use the bathroom! Osman and I burst out laughing.
But my favorite “old lady moments” were when she screwed with the flight attendants. They would come by and demonstrate again and again, how to do up the seat belt and to stow her (larger than her) handbag under the seat in front of her for landing. Then she would ask me to help her undo the seatbelt and up would come the handbag. I really believe that she thought she was immortal anyway, and given her apparent age, I might have to agree.

Final Inflight Thought

I had to laugh at this...

According to Etihad, should the plane take a nose-dive into a hill, you might want to lean forward to protect your head!

Don't forget to hold your kids down by the neck too!

Our Back Room Renovation is "Mostly" Complete

I know, I know.
Given that it has taken me another 2 months to update you with progress on the back room, you would expect it might be actually done. But no.

Very close though. And when we manage to organize and hide the tv and DVD cables and get a new back door, there will be a couple more pics. Don't hold your breath.

Before:



After:

Sunday Brunch... Danish Style

What better time to try out my new Ebelskiver pan than a snowy Sunday morning?
A breakfast of Danish, filled pancakes with neighbors sounded perfect after playing with Marley in the yard and watching Osman diligently shovel the front walk.



A good excuse to avoid doing laundry...





Buddha looks quite comfortable in a shroud of snow!



It's all fun and games until someone gets cold feet.



Lemon curd and cream cheese stuffed Ebelskivers...



Followed by chocolate and strawberry Ebelskivers.
Complete with home-made warm dark chocolate sauce and fresh strawberry sauce.

Which One is More Domesticated?

Just when I thought it would be a boring day...

I looked out the window to see a deer in my neighbors yard. Curious, since we don't normally get deer in our yards here and also because Marley had just come in from outside and he didn't smell it? Hear it? SEE IT???

I headed out with my neighbor, Doug to watch it tear into his shrubbery. Marley came too. He took a position, stealth-like, amongst the evergreens, atop of the back yard.



Despite his best efforts not to obvious, the deer spotted him and came over to chat.
Marley stood his ground, tail wagging, not wanting to venture closer than 3 feet!





They gazed into each others eyes a few moments then the deer moved on to my front yard, for some "fall clean-up". Only then did Marley step forward to sniff the fence where the deer had been.

Dog Day At The Pool

Of the 3 of us, it is Osman and I who probably look forward to this day all year... but it is Marley who has the most fun!

Every year, as the swimming season draws to a close, Scott Carpenter Pool, in Boulder, opens for a dog-only weekend. As you can imagine, the Labs and Golden Retrievers dominate the pool, but let's not kid ourselves... their owners (and anyone in the general vicinity) are going to get soaked too!

This pretty much sums up our 2009 "dog day at the pool"...


Who needs a diving board when you can walk on water?


Happy to retrieve that ball over and over and over again.


Check out those paws. With toes spread and tail acting as a rudder, he cuts through the water!



Perhaps a little over-enthusiastic at times.


You know it's time to go home when he can no longer pull himself out of the pool.

The Best Laid Plans

Just when I thought I was 2 steps from finishing the back room... they tell me the flooring (which is supposed to have arrived today) has not passed inspection yet.

Yeah... that was the explanation I needed too!

Apparently inspection is the step before shipping. Meaning my flooring is still in the north-east!
Are you kidding me? Nobody wanted to mention that this could happen as they were taking my credit card details??? What? Did they think I would forget about time and just be happy to see it whenever?

Not happy.
Parents arrive next week and the back room is "mostly done", showing off a gorgeous orange linoleum tile (circa 1950's) and doubling as Osman and my bedroom floor while the folks are staying.

Where is my beautiful stranded bamboo floor???!!!! arrgghhh!

More Progress...

It has been 5 days since my last post. Essentially things are coming together, but I'm at it alone now so it's waaay slower!

Here is a run down on the last few days.

Friday August 7th:

Josh and Brian are back. The walls get a light texture and the slate is installed around the fireplace.

I was able to prime the ceiling and walls (and floor?!) on Friday afternoon/evening. Made entirely possible by the great new lighting and the vodka cocktail I consumed at a friends house warming party during a "break" from painting.

Saturday August 8th:
My neighbor/friend, Donnie, joined in to help paint the walls after I had finished the ceiling.



Sunday August 9th:
If memory serves me right, I spent most of the day trekking back and forth to Home Depot for painting supplies, light bulbs, dimmer switch, window trim and crown molding. It was Donnie to the rescue again as I struggled to maneuver 14' lengths of fairly bendy trim and molding through the house!

Monday August 10th:
As fate would have it, Josh and his team (Eric and Brian) had one more day to give me.
They worked hard to have the tile grouted, the woodwork completed and the trim installed. I love my custom mantle!!! Thanks Josh! :-)