how far will you go to be green?

of course we like to be environmentally friendly when we can around here. we recycle, and we try to save energy and repurpose stuff.

i would like to say that we do this just to help the earth, but the reality is that we do it to help our own budget as well. let's face it...being ecofriendly is usually budget friendly.

one thing i find interesting in america though...at least in the south, is that sometimes christian culture can be very opposed to the whole idea of being environmentally friendly. which i find down right bizarre really. whether or not global warming is true, shouldn't we always do our best to take care of the earth that God has given us? it just seems like we should be more of a driving force behind this movement and give balance to it rather than opposing it. anyways...there's my soap box!

of course shomik and i could always do more. i've dabbled in the idea of composting, but i just haven't quite gotten myself there yet! it sounds all good and nice until i think of everything rotting in my yard.
but i do hope to make some kind of rain barrel at some point...

it seems in some areas though that ecofriendly has turned really commercial and trendy in the US. like i see no reason to throw perfectly working items into a landfill so that you can buy more ecofriendly ones...that kind of defeats the purpose.

anyways, all this to say that americans can have some double standards in this area. myself included.

when i think about india in this sense, it's very different!

i think india would probably be one of the most environmently friendly places in the world...if people didn't throw trash wherever they liked...and if there weren't so stinkin' many of them...people i mean.

because seriously, when we're in india, i am hard pressed to find any kind of disposable paper or napkin....and trust me...i've looked.

it's just how people live.

napkins are like the kryptonite to my ecofriendly efforts. i need like 12 for any meal, and that's when i'm eating with silverware...which is not the indian tradition. in india you eat with your hand. (or in my case...still with both hands!)

                                                    (note...all this food wasn't for me!)

so i think toilet paper goes unsaid. i know. it's a horrible demise for a tree, but i just can't help it. i need it. the splashing water bit just doesn't cut it for me.

but in most indian households you won't find any of these things. napkins, tp, kleenex...i had a cold in india one time, and that was an interesting situation. i didn't realize that people still used handkerchiefs.
there's no waste of things like hot water or gasoline either...you heat the water for your shower right before you need it, and people take public transport, or else pile as many as will fit into one vehicle.

                                                        (riding the train in mumbai)

somehow i find myself able to do these things in india when i need to...but get me back in the US, and i definitely need my tp...and i may take the train or bus occasionally, but it's rare.

i don't really know what the point of this particular blog is...right or wrong, i guess just to point out the fact that there are a lot of discrepancies between myself and my ideals...and these are things that it sometimes takes another culture to fully bring out.

i've always been jealous of people who have a green thumb.

i love nature and greenery...there's something almost therapeutic and spiritual about gardening to me...maybe because it's the original job that God gave us...
though sadly, i'm usually better at killing plants than keeping them alive.

we will have lived in our house for a year this month. it really feels like our place now that we've been making memories here and making it our own.

one place we're still putting a lot of work into though is the yard. our yards were pretty much a blank canvas to start with when we moved in. this is the backyard from before...

since then we've been really trying to make it into a garden oasis we can enjoy. we still have a way to go, but  this is what things are looking like now...



we built the mini pond last summer. we were kind of insane...out digging a hole in 100 degree weather...but we found this cheap pond kit on clearance, and we had a vision in our head! haha. we found all the rocks buried in our front yard, and we hauled them to the back one by one. it was an interesting and bonding experience..but we were both pretty happy with it in the end.
nothing is quite as relaxing as water...


like much else around our place, it seems that our wildlife is inspired by india. like our little lotus plant here. we have goldfish in the pond as well, but they're kind of shy.


the cannas, the hibiscus, the lotus...all these plants make me think back to our honeymoon in south india where we had the chance to visit this amazing flower field. i guess that's why i'm drawn to those sorts of plants more. plus those have been fortunate enough to survive my gardening!


oh, and we did plant a couple trees in the fall as well! i just love trees. they're still pretty small, but it will be fun to watch them grow over time. our little peach tree looks like she'll make fruit for us already this year!


and you can't forget our little bird neighbors! from birds to toads and lizards, the pond and plants have been bringing more friends to our yard. i haven't been able to get a good picture yet, but we have a family of birds living in our little red house that we brought from germany last year.


...and our swing from india must be one of my favorite things! it was interesting bringing this back in my suitcase though. haha.


so there it is. we still have a way to go, but i think part of the fun of a garden is time. it really makes you appreciate seasons and the growth...

being married to an indian means we tend to cook indian food...a lot!

i have no problem with that...because first of all, there are a lot more healthy indian options compared to american food. also, it's cheaper and easier to make once you get adjusted to using the new spices. and last...but not least...my husband happens to be a great cook!

not to down play my progress and accomplishments in indian cooking over these past few years...i think i can hold my own...especially for a 'gori'. (that means white girl in case you wondered)
but there's nothing like a man who cooks.

here he is with ghee. a key ingredient for getting a lot of indian foods just right. it's basically just indian butter. hehe. whenever there is a picture being taken, shomik only makes a really serious face or a super goofy one...there's no happy mediums with him...but anyways...

the other night he made one of my favorites because i special requested it.

it's called posto wada.

even a lot of people from india won't know this dish because it's pretty specific to west bengal.

basically you take poppy seeds and blend them with salt and chilies, and then lightly fry it in mustard oil.
so it's pretty much an opium patty if you think about it. (maybe that's why it's so addictive)

i know it sounds weird...but trust me, it's really yum!


here it is shown with spinach and dal. the posto is the lumpy tan substance on the left.

i don't know if there are any restaurants that even sell this stuff, but if you happen to find one, then trust me, you need to try it! otherwise you might just need to make some bengali friends.
just take my word for it.

so when we get any free time around here, it's a regular occurance in our family to head over to the dog park.

yes, our dogs do enjoy these little outings, but i think there's someone who enjoys them even more...
my husband.

shomik doesn't really have addictions...he he's not even hooked on caffeine like most of us...
but the dog park is his guilty pleasure.

before i proceed further, i feel that i should catch you up on the latest edition to our family...

and no, it's not that.

remember that sweet mutsy pup we were looking for a home for back before my blogging lapse?
well...meet our newest dog, bindi!

she's a 50lb pup now. and we tried to find a home for her...we really did. at least i did.

i was so adamant that we could not have a third dog...i think shomik might have been counting on me being a big softie from the start though.

we actually thought we might have found a home for her with my brother and sister in law. they took her on a trial basis for a week. but during that week i thought my husband was going to die of doggie grief. we'd had her for almost 2 months already at that point...i'll admit it, i missed her too.

so i guess it was fortunate for everyone when my brother decided they weren't ready for a dog yet.
well, fortunate for everyone except maybe our couch...


long story.  the truth is that she's normally a pretty good dog...and i've almost forgiven her. a bug actually flew into the hollow part of that couch, and let's just say she's obsessed with chasing bugs...

anyways...so now we have 3 dogs in our little family.
we're officially outnumbered over here.
but we're a happy hairy family. hehe.

well this is my second father's day now without my sweet daddy.
so i guess you could say i've been in a bit of a funk this week.

you never realize how much commercialism there is around these holidays until you're trying not to think about them. good job advertising industry.

for the past couple weeks it's been kind of bombarding my thoughts with ads everywhere in stores and all over the internet... 'don't forget father's day!'

how could i forget father's day...
my dad was only the most influential person in my life.

all of our family was very close. but i was a daddy's girl from day one...
he always bragged about how he gave me my first kiss.
so somehow when we lost him, i felt like i lost 'my' person.

i think it was partly because there is just a special bond between fathers and daughters. i don't know why that is. but also i think it's because i was more like my dad than anyone in the world. i was literally made from the same stuff as him. some people get a mix of their parents...i mostly got my mom on the outside...people say we look like sisters, but it's like if you cut me open you'd see my daddy.
so i think because of that he understood me better than anyone in the world did...and maybe loved me more too because i was like a little clone of the woman he adored.

i'm so thankful that i had him. i think you can never recover from losing that kind of love though. but it was worth it. i'm so thankful to God that He gave him to me...even though our time was too short...no amount of time could have been long enough.

i'm thankful also to have a husband who loves me very much. maybe someday through him God will somehow redeem this day and give it new meanings.
but i will always remember today the first man who ever loved me.

happy father's day daddy.

wow, it's been awhile.

for a few months there i completely forgot about this place...hopefully i can get myself back on track.

the truth is i love blogging. really i just love to write.
not in an MLA/turabian sort of way...
but i just like to have an outlet.

sometimes i think i process life better on paper.
ok, so maybe not actual paper these days...but you know what i mean.

too much has happened in the past few months to really catch up on...so i'm just going to jump back in i think like i never left off.

but life is good.
weird...but good. more on that later probably.

my sweet husband has been having to travel a lot for work these days.
we both hate it. but i'm waiting now for him to be home very soon. i miss that boy.

i keep hearing this song this week and it's one of my favs...
anyways, it makes me think of my baby when he's gone, so i shall leave you with this while i go make some cookies and get ready to shower my hubby with kisses...