Above – Alo’s “silly face” at home before our field trip.

Below, Kando doing what he did most of the day yesterday. He is such a good baby. We were out driving and doing things from about 9:30am until 9:30pm. He slept most of the time and only cried when he was hungry. While he was awake and not hungry he was content and happy.

This stuffed bear was Jamie’s when she was a baby. When Robb was  born, Janni doctored it up quite a bit, sewing new feet, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and of course a heart. I saved it and now it’s Alo’s (& maybe Kando’s too). It was nice to see Alo with him (or her). Lots of sentimental value here.

We headed on a road trip for about an hour (although we drove much of the day) to Pt. Reyes, an absolutely beautiful coastline community north of San Francisco. According to Wikipedia, “Point Reyes National Seashore is a 71,028-acre park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California, USA. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve.” This is a very large area consisting of pine trees (Bishop Pine, Douglas Fur and Coastal Redwood) in the inland area and miles and miles along the coast on the peninsula of still-operating historic cattle ranches established in the mid- to late 1800s. We saw a lot of cattle, deer and elk and a possible mountain lion sighting on a far hillside. Also, many birds of prey, a couple of which sat atop simple barbed wire fence posts just next to the road. According to one of the informational signs we saw, the area of water surrounding this peninsula is the home of the largest population of great white shark, and with that said, not surprisingly also one of the largest populations of sea lions in the world.

Before heading to the coast, we stopped at this park just outside the town of Pt. Reyes. The weather was perfect, and there weren’t a lot of people there.

Time for a selfie.

At this park is the Morgan Horse Ranch. The Morgan horse is one of the earliest horse breeds developed in the United States. Here Robb and Alo admire a big pile of horse poop.

This horse was very friendly. Alo actually touched it … one time. 

Selfie. I think it liked me because I felt it nibbling on my shoulder.

Selfie. Alo wasn’t going to take his eyes off the horse.
  
  

Bug on a bench outside the restaurant where we stopped and had lunch. 

The bay just along the restaurant

We didn’t eat here, but this was worthy of a photo. Tons of oyster shells. They raise and farm oysters here.

Alo at lunch.

Selfie – me and Kando at lunch. He had already eaten and was very content.

At Drake’s Beach – Akuch and Kando enjoying the beach and weather. Kando was awake and just chillin.

Selfie at the beach. 

Robb and Alo enjoy the water. Sort of … as long as Robb didn’t put Alo down.

The beaches here are beautiful and go on for miles. Here we are on the south side of the peninsula – view of coast to the north.   

View of coast to the south.

We left here and drove to the lighthouse. I have more photos I’ll post tomorrow.

Robb has to work today, so we’re meeting up with Akuch around 10am and probably going to a pumpkin patch. We’re expecting more of the same good weather here today.

Blogged on Amma’s MacBook with LOVE!

Robb, Akuch & the kids met us at the airport yesterday & we met our new grandson for the first time. So far we haven’t heard him cry.   

    
We went out for Indian food (the kids were wearing their Indian outfits I got them in Pune). Here Alo is working a vending machine. He didn’t get lucky though …

 I was wearing a turtleneck because it got chilly. Alo: “Amma, where’s your neck?” Another time he looked up at me, touched my face and said “I love you.” Precious.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed out. I had gotten up in the wee hours of the morning (1:30am, yes I consider that wee hours…) and needed to get to bed.

Today we have an outing planned and will be heading out after breakfast.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Above – at Liberty Station after music class.

Last Wednesday marked Sparty’s first music class with Amma. He looked pretty bored during the drive there.

   
Still not too excited here. I didn’t take any other photos during clas because he was pretty much clinging to me the entire time with random bursts of tears for no apparent reason. It might take a couple weeks for him to get used to his crazy Amma. Today was much better with no tears! Still a bit of a cling-on though so no photos to show for today.

 
After class we took a walk around the fountain across the street from class. He liked that a lot.

Funny – Today Maya and I were looking at my blog post from yesterday (one of our favorite pastimes), and when we got to the photo of her foot stuck in the fence she said “My foot was stuck,” then she looked at me and we both started laughing .

I found out today my favorite alternative rock radio station, KPRI, sold out on its listeners. After a couple decades of great music with the best DJs on the air and Sunday Morning Unplugged being the best music on the radio, this once San Diego independent radio station was sold to K-LOVE, a nationwide syndicated “pop” Christian music station. Disappointing.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Above – silly kids having chocolate milk in the fort.

Last Monday, we built this pretty cool fort in the yoga room.

I was able to get Sparty to smile.

I was able to get Maya to smile.

But I’ll be darned if I could get them both to smile at the same time!

I got a couple silly faces.

And once again, only one smile, and another silly one at that!

Then some silly upside down faces.

  

Bribery will get you everywhere! Sparty was working hard on the candy sprinkles toppings. 

Is Pappa eating worms again?

Sparty’s not afraid of Hogan.

And look! Neither is Maya!

Sweet! And look … Maya’s still wearing the friendship bracelet I brought her from India. When that one’s worn out, I have two more! Different colors, of course.

I’m in LA this weekend at a workshop and will be home around 3pm Sunday (tomorrow).

Bruce and I are getting excited and looking forward to our trip next weekend to meet the new grandson!

Blogged on Amma’s MacBook with LOVE!

In bloom today.

  
Bear & me sharing a front row seat for the pitiful Chargers game Sunday.

 
Who is that in the isle standing on her head just to the right of Birjoo at the Birjoo Mehta Workshop (gray shirt/orange-ish leggings)?   

Perhaps Sparty will become a Station 22 fireman one day … ???

   
I have lots of photos from our afternoon with Maya & Sparty Monday but had to move through these photos first.

Today – a first outing with Sparty to his music class, then an afternoon with Maya at gymnastics and fun.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Above – It’s a little blurry, but proof that I’m back!

What did I do on my first day home? Well, I slept in until 10:50am when Bruce woke me up because I had an 11:30 haircut … in PB! In my jet lag super, I jumped out of bed and into the shower, grabbed my poached egg on a piece of toast Bruce had waiting for me and ate it open face style while I drove to my appointment. I really needed the appointment because I had an interim haircut while I was in iNdia and the woman botched it up pretty badly.

After the haircut I picked up the silly little gymnast and took her to her gymnastics class where she wound up getting a private lesson because none of the other kids showed up. She’s a super star!

I brought over some Indian clothing I bought for the kids. Here’s Sparty wearing his outfit for probably the first and last time … 🙂  I think he looks pretty darn cute.

  

And look – The Navy Seals came out to welcome me home. I must be pretty important!

That’s about all I have to offer right now.

Blogged on Amma’s iMac from HOME with LOVE!

Above – Check out the huge bubble on my fresh lime soda at the Chetak! Grand-E-Oso!! What exactly IS a fresh lime soda, you ask? It’s an iNdia favorite consisting of club soda, lime and sugar. The drink is served like this: a glass with lime squeezed in the bottom, a bottle of club soda and a small bowl of sugar (on the side). Instead of a bowl of dry sugar sometimes it’s served with simple sugar (liquid). When it’s all added together, it’s like a chemistry experiment. Rule #1, always mix the sugar with the lime BEFORE adding the club soda. If you add the sugar after the club soda is poured, an eruption occurs and at least half the fresh lime soda bubbles over the rim of the glass and all over the table nonstop (trust me on this one). Even if you add the sugar first (which I did above), there will still be a tremendous burst of bubbles.

After seeing the Kelkar Museum Sunday, Nana took me and Jill to see some more temples. This is the Ramakrishna temple. Ramakrishna Sangha was founded by Swami Vivekananda who was the first known person to bring yoga to the West. There are Vivekananda temples in Chicago and San Francisco, as well as others.

Plumeria growing in front of the temple.

I captured this drive-by photo on our way to the next temple.

Does this need a description?

This is another St. Dyneshwar temple (St. Dyneshwar – the same saint who took live Samadhi in Alandi).

Man sleeping in temple.

The shrine.

Here I captured Kurma pointing toward the temple door and the sleeping man with dieties in the background – a 5-in-1!

Hanuman (the monkey god).

Cows like this one are common outside temples.

A look at the temple from another direction.

This man was sitting inside the entrance to the temple. He had a beautiful toothless smile, but when I asked if I could take his photo he quickly posed for me like this. After I took the photo, the toothless smile reappeared.

Nana said this temple dog is always here.

We then walked to this nearby temple next to a river.

There was a group of people on some nearby steps – men cleaning, kids playing.

It wasn’t long before the kids ran over and asked “What is your name?” “Where are you from?” I think they were practicing the only English they knew – those two sentences. But we communicated well enough to share some smiles and take some photos.

There can never be too many selfies. Such beautiful faces!

Then off to a second, much smaller Vivekenanda center.

Beautiful coleus in front of the temple.

Inside the temple. The photo in the middle is Swami Vivekenanda.

Nana …

Just outside the temple hall.

Windows from outside the hall.

You don’t see many of these in Pune. It’s a trash can! 

Back at the Homefront

Peace (did I already post this one?)

It’s now 3:50am Tues Sept 1 and I’m sitting in the Mumbai business class lounge trying to get this post published before boarding. I got 3 hours of sleep before leaving for the airport, so I’m hoping to get plenty of rest on my two legs back home. Next stop – Dubai, then LAX, then SD!

Blogged on Amma’s MacBook from Mumbai with LOVE!

Above, bridge over one of the rivers that runs through Pune.

A rural drive past the Kirkee War Cemetery.     

If you’re interested, there’s a website with details about this cemetery. It’s really quite interesting and a fairly short read:  Kirkee War Cemetery

Yesterday when we were out, Nana stopped at the side of the road so I could take a picture of a cow, which I did. Then the cow started walking toward us so I switched to video. We ended up fleeing the scene because it seemed as though the cow was coming right after us. After Nana took off he saw the cow walking across the street. It probably didn’t even care we were there.

More cows. Did I mention I like cow sightings?

South end of the north bound cow – I really tried to get a better picture of this cow walking across the road but I wasn’t fast enough.

There are a lot of condos similar to the one below. There are so many people here it seems to make sense they built up rather than out. 

Here’s a rural home. Many of the homes have this type of brick/stone work.

Blogged from iNdia with LOVE!

I don’t know how I missed this, but I never before today saw the Namaskar hands just inside the park gate (photo above). Aren’t they cool? It could be because there’s always some sort of truck parked there that wasn’t there today. Who knows, but I’m glad I saw them and am now able to share their beauty with you.

These are the park attendants. I had to sing to them to get them (well, most of them) to smile. What did I sing? I thought you’d never ask … “The more we get together together together, the more we get together the happier we’ll be. For my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends …” It’s true. I’m nuts.

Two beautiful school girls sitting on the park bench.

Nana (rickshaw driver extraordinaire) sitting at the Chetak yesterday while we had a fresh lime soda.

ManYee, who I met here and was a flat mate in 2013, arrived at the wee hours of the morning. She’s also staying at the flat. After practice this morning the three of us flat mates (both are from Australia, mate) took a rickshaw (driver, Amin) to do some shopping. We ended up at a clothing/fabric store where we made a mess of the place.

Fresh lime soda at the Chetak.

Did you know that all the photos I’m taking this year I’m taking on my iPhone? The photo quality is very good and I’m really happy to not be carrying a camera around with me. And I LOVE that my iPhone has time delay and that I can actually be in some of my photos!

More India electrical …

A construction site where men are working. The orange truck is delivering supplies. We had a bit of a road block here but I couldn’t get my act together in time to catch a photo of the chaos.

No hard hats needed here. And don’t worry, McDonald’s is Open.

I had a fabulous 2-hour forward bend practice this morning, and tonight was Pranayama with Rajlaksmi.

After dealing with some internet issues that prevented me from publishing my blog before America woke up, I think I finally got it. Now time for bed. G’day (the Aussies are wearing off on me).

Blogged from iNdia with LOVE!