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We're almost in the middle of February. The past 2 weeks, I was pretty busy, and even though I have so many things I want to write somehow I do not get the time to do.
First, I got back muscle spasm, hence I cannot sit or stand for too long. I am resting as much as possible and also doing a couple exercises and now I am feeling much better.
I ordered a watercolor painting from Nusrat when I met her a few months ago and she painted it so beautifully! Thank you, Nusrat! I have this beachfront photo that I took when we visited my mom's hometown, Makian Island, in Ternate a couple of years ago. The picturesque island holds great memories. It was our first visit to the island and also met many of my cousins, nephews, and nieces. Some of them I met for the first time!
On February 5th afternoon, suddenly we got a hailstorm which was pretty heavy! It was so fascinating to see the yard turning "snowy" white. The last week of January and the first week of February were unusually very cold. And then suddenly this! People in town are pretty excited as this never happened before. The flowers and vegetable garden was ruined but that was a pretty exciting experience.
Another news is the mall next to our house is finally open. Not fully open but at least Pizza Hut was open for online ordering. That's really good news as we have one more option to order in. The area where we live is becoming to feel like a satellite city now. New shops and malls are coming up, in one way it's good that we don't have to spend 3 hours just to get a couple of stuff from the town. I hate going out nowadays especially since the flyover construction is going on nearby. It takes even longer to the city.
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Last week, I took a Chikan Embroidery Online Work Shop with Saba. It was on my list to learn. I was really excited about the class. Chikan embroidery is a traditional embroidery from Lucknow and is still very popular. I LOVE Chikan embroidery and I have a few sets of kurtas and stoles of Chikankari.
Chikan embroidery is traditionally done on white or pastel colors thin fabrics, like muslin, and with white thread. I did not have the thread that is traditionally used, so I used regular embroidery yarn here.
Although some of the stitches are the same or similar to regular embroidery, I am so excited to learn the stitches' names in the traditional Chikankari terms. Listening to Saba tell us the story of how they came up with the name and some historical background of the design while we were embroidering away was fascinating. 3 hours went by in a flash!
I still have to practice a lot and Saba gave us a couple of designs for us to start. But first, I must get a white muslin or maybe Kota cotton.
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| Katey Stitch |
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I went to the Guwahati University Post Office last week to send an order to Australia. This is the second time I came to this PO. Since the rate for FedEx and DHL to Australia is too expensive, I started sending packages to Asia and Oceania by Post. It took about 30 days from here to Australia by Speed Post (EMS). The package is trackable but I suppose due to the flight restriction, most packages, even via FedEx experiencing some delay. The PO is not too crowded, so it was nice to go there instead of going all the way to the main PO in town. The officer in here is also more efficient so the process was pretty quick. I hope they keep it up, now that India Post started international services again. And of course, I always like the drive to the University.
A couple of handmade goodies I sent out recently
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| Extra Spacious Face Mask |
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| Family Passport Wallets |
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| Small Passport Wallet |
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| Gauhati University |
And today was the son's farewell party in School. The program was set in the morning and I love to see the boys and girls dressing up. The girls mostly wear Saree and they look really gracious and the boys look dashing in their suits. My son spent 13 years in Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti Guwahati. I remembered how he used to be very shy and hesitant to start a conversation. Thanks to the teachers and staff in SBGJ now he grew up to be a confident young man, with a clear goal in mind for his future. Insha Allah he will start going to college next fall and we have been going through a lot of discussions choosing subjects, etc. And yes, I do feel anxious and excited for him at the same time. He is going for a big leap this year, will start a new journey et al. My younger one, who is more sensitive, often asks me how I feel about his elder brother going away for college. And when I said, sometimes I feel sad, he said " can you imagine how Nenek (my mom) must have felt when you decided to come here". Ha! I did not see that coming!
Anyway, the party is over now and the boys have to start studying for the Term 2 exam next April. And we still have a lot of things to do. Wish us luck!!
Until next time,
have a nice weekend!
Elvira
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