Animals we've enjoyed visiting

The deadly Piranhas. But dont they look so harmless and paavam here?

White shark.

Dont miss the two leopards sleeping under the tree.

Our ancestor.

Ostrich. Hippo getting a sun tan.

Penguins.

Baby elephant enjoying a bath given by the trainer. They lifted their foot for washing.

A day's trip to the zoo

Some pictures of the animals in Toledo zoo. Our second trip to the place. It's a one-hour drive from our place.

This time we had a few friends joining us. It was cool when we started out. Later it became warm. There was lots of comments like: you going to visit our friends; say Hi; why go there? just visit our home, u can see everything. Another wise crack was that you visit this home, that home, that home and go back and say u saw the zoo!
After all this we reached the zoo, walked a bit, saw a demo of training seals.
The polar bears were showing off which was amusing - running and diving into water, really playful. Sloth bear was near the glass.

Tigers all came out to show off.

Oh! Peacock did its beautiful dance.

Saw some ducklings, some duck/swan eggs. all diff shapes, sizes. Of course, we can't forget the huge birds of prey, cute colorful ones, ostrich...
While one person imagined having roast duck egg and duck curry, another dreamt of fish fry, curry.

The white lions atleast was close by to look at. The leopards were lazing but did see them this time.

The reptiles did not see me. But the boys loved it!

We did not cover half the stuff we did last time. But this time we did the train ride; last time we did the boat ride.

Spent time eating of course with trying to hold on to our plates/food ..which thanks to the great wind was all over the place. We had to finally weigh down our plates with heavy stuff..

As usual the camera had its hitches. This time it was memory full! Another person's battery down. How the cameras know us!

Hope kids can enjoy these photos. You must have seen quite a few in your growing years!
The trip reminded us how old/unhealthy we were. Could not walk a few steps before sitting and relaxing. Ofccourse I had to top that list!

River walk

Nature and a warm spring morning around us.

The Canadian geese flew before we could get the camera... common..

p.s. waky, all of u, before Rosh comes. there should be lot of post for her to catch up on!

Wedding Anniversaries

Miller& Griz - sorry, (belated) wedding anniversary greetings. wishing u both the best.
Also to Annie and Sajan, Rosh and Vinod, Maha and Arul Sir...
May heaven's choicest blessings be with each and everyone of you ...
WISHING YOU ALL PEACE AND GOOD HEALTH..
And Miller's birthday. Next month also some birthdays - Annie, Venki . Wishing u all early happy birthday.
Birthday boys and girls ... May God bless you all too with the best in Health, Happiness. Good luck with everything.
HOPE YOU ALL HAVE EXCELLENT DAYS AND WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD.

Chennai shots

Swans at a hotel on the East Coast Road. A drive down the ECR is not to be missed - there is the sea on one side and rural landscape on the other. Next time you NRIs come down take a trip to Pondy.

Summer is here. The temperatures have been in the 39 to 41 degree Celsius so far. It is expected to peak to 46 deg C soon. Sugar cane juice and tender coconut water are ways to cool your system. Here is a nice stall in Anna Nagar Shanti Colony.

Me having a "quick meal" of sambar rice, curd rice, keera rice, chapati-kuruma and kheer. The variety in the Tamil Nadu cuisine amazes me. Topped it with a watermelon juice without sugar :0

NEW LIFE? NEW WIFE?

Who is that?
aaahhhhhhhhhh.... open mouthed are you? don't worry, many did that to me already.

Upset- got that from hubby. He was first not too happy, but now he is enjoying all the reactions. heeeeee

hey mum u look like me. Noel just smiled.

Oldest was upset she was not there to tell them how to do the latest style and coloring.

Other comments:

"Hey that poor uncle is 80, don't let people fall flat and spoil his party."

"Who is Thomas's new hot date who looks like Sharon's sister?"

"she looks chic, nice, cute."

"hey , i knew u got a new home. did not know u got new wife or would get one."

"hey why did u not do it then before the house warming?"

"give me that hair. or don't throw that hair, u can use for dance."

Life is short. We need to help others, also enjoy ourself. This was reminded to me with a knock. so trying to make others to do a Aaaaaaah.

Let's keep the blog running. Hey contributors, come on. Help wake the rest of us with a post.

Housewarming party

Basement setting for the party. Food for the guests.
Final touches being checked by us.
All set.
Mouth-watering, aint they?

Blessing the home

Guests at the formal housewarming ceremony.

3 Achens (Priests) officiating the blessing of our home. This is the formal dining room, one entrance leads to pantry, other to the kitchen/dining/living(great) room.

UP

Very interesting -- you think English is easy???
Read to the end . . . a new twist.
You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car . At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ..
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP ...
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP, so......... it is time for me to shut UP .!
Oh . . . one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning the last thing you do at night? U-P

James at his recital