Food for thought

Read this somewhere...

You can't have everything...where would you put it?

As if it wasn't enough!

view as I was coming down the stairs, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Thursday afternoon the snow came down pretty hard. We had almost a feet of snow I believe..and as if that wasnt enough...we got a good share of snow/ice/sleet/wintry mix..you name it we got it..on Sunday....
Its actually been snowing almost everyday..and every Sunday there has been sleet for the last three weekends in a row..makes my Mondays all the more interesting and making me looking forward to sculpt my car out of the ice...

Here is the link to this set.

Let it snow! Let it snow

, originally uploaded by digijinx.

What more can you do now..
Rather than letting it snow
I am slowly beginning to enjoy winter.

Here's the whole set

Digg Stories

Found couple of interesting news on Digg and thought would share it with you all and I am saving this for myself on my blog.... :) of course there is the selfish interest always! I was cleaning out my bookmarks.
Thanks Digg and the many other websites (i really dont remember where i read them if not digg)

read it
what happens to all the confiscated stuff at the airport? Read this to find out more

Caught sleeping at your desk? Some ingenious excuses you can come up with

Some tips to be romantic

Some tips for unusual uses for kitchen items

15 ridiculously useful websites

25thing to do in Boston under $25

When insults had class

How cool is that? Delhi and Varanasi are in the list

improve yourself

pictures

This is incredible. Not sure what he uses to carve them with

A kid all over again

Laugh your head off

Favicons

Vista Wallpapers..some really neat stuff

Standing tall

the office going beer drinker hehehe!

I wish I could click someday like this..sigh!!

Amazing paper art

This is one amazing picture. Hatsoff to the guy who clicked this beautiful view of Chicago

Who has the best sorry page?

funny clix

Signs signs

cool stuff with junk

Did it happen really?

Safeguard your bike

videos

You would have already seen this..but still its amazing!

Cool game to test your typing skills

funny

when they have no fires to put out..when they are bored..

how to impress your boss?

It happens only in INdia

Deal with telemarketers this way

this last one is really weird

‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‮҉weird stuff

an apple a day keeps the doctor away

an apple a day keeps the doctor away, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Apple picking a fall tradition in the US and I did just that with family and friends. Juicy red apples, tangy green apples...it was fun clicking,biting and crunching and hunting for good apples. We were never happy with the tree we were nearby, always on the hunt for better ones. The green apples with some salt tasted just yummy. NO i didnt bake any apple pies, ended up eating them all just like that.

Here is the link to the whole set

Fall in new England

, originally uploaded by digijinx.

These are some pictures from the White mountain trail in NH. This is another awesome place to catch some fall colors.
Here is the link to the whole set.

The UBS thanksgiving parade

Confetti..i like this shot, originally uploaded by digijinx.

I saw Odie,Bob the builder,Curious George, the Looney tunes et all at the Stamford UBS thanksgiving parade. The parade lasted for almost an hour and a half and ended with Santa and Frosty. The kids and the crowd kept chanting "SPIN! SPIN! SPIN!" whenever any float passed by and the people holding the floats obliged and would run around spinning the float. One particular float...of Pink panther..the guys were smart and they all just spun instead of spinning the float and it drew immense laughter from the crowd.

There were lots of kids dancing in the parade and the clowns would go at it too..putting in their own funny steps. There were also lots of freebies and ppl were going crazy all over the place to grab something for themselves. Am sure all the kids had a blast.

Click here to view the slideshow of the whole set.

Strawberries and smoothies...NYC

Strawberries and smoothies, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Had recently been to my favorite city NYC ofcourse...with some friends. It was a day of fun,frolic,laughter,good food and happy clicking. We went to catch a show at the Madison Square Garden and then some ice skating and I of course wandered off into the street fair. NY is awesome...I enjoyed every bit of it. I can see that I am writing less these days and posting more pictures...well...will def. come up with something soon.

Here's the link to the whole set.

Say Cheese!!

Say Cheese!!, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Halloween just went by ( I know I am late with the post...but as they say...better late than never). We had a potluck at our workplace for Lunch and I managed to get some good shots of the food. I especially like the photo of the cheese cubes.

Here is the link to the whole set

Still Falling...

This leaf was standing up thanks to the wind..posing an interesting picture, originally uploaded by digijinx.

I know, I know..you are already bored with fall colors...but believe me New England is fabulous in fall. This leaf was standing up thanks to the wind..posing an interesting picture. The Heublein trail is not really that long, but it takes up a lot of your time because of the occasional stops for clix. Here is the whole set

Fall in Mass

, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Though its very late...Mass is still peaking with fall colors and the red,yellow,orange leaves everywhere makes it so beautiful. Some of my recent clix have been from local roads and backyards. Its been a busy fall. Link to the whole set

Harvard...

Harvard, originally uploaded by digijinx.

A friend of my mine had visited me a while ago and I had been to Harvard,MIT..Boston et all with her. This was probably the first time I have set foot on the campus. Harvard is all old style architecture...while MIT stands tall with its multi-storeyed buildings. I personally liked Harvard a lot for its authentic looks and I bet the campus would look lovely in Fall. Its right outside he Harvard square station on the Red line to the campus. Once you get in ...John Harvard welcomes you sitting on his pedestal. Its quite a huge campus and we didn't explore it all..but spent a considerable amount of time there.

Ofcourse here is the link to the whole set of photos

The next thing that always interests me about Harvard is you get to play chess for a small amount @Harvard square. I met this Russian who was waiting to play chess there and you know how that is...Never play chess with a Russian...unless you want to lose. Anyway jokes apart, he also teaches this game and he was very friendly and posed for a few shots.

Next stop was MIT. The campus is a short walk from the Kendall/MIT station. Took a couple of pictures here and there. I really did not spend a lot of time on this campus. The walk to the campus is really nice though with a lot of flags in the median...(hmm..I wonder why they have it)

On that note...I bid adieu...will post more travelogues soon.

~RR

Whale watching yet again

The water spout from the humpback whale..can you see the colors on the spray?, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Whale watching yet again in Province town,MA. The cape was amazingly warm for end of September and we also visited Marconi point. In case you are wondering...Marconi was the inventor of radio and telegraph.
Here is the link to the set of photos

The Marconi beach was so beautiful and I didnt feel like going back..but I had to. The whales were logging, (resting) and moving around as usual. We again spotted two mother and calf pairs. The humpback whales are migrating to the Carribean for the winter and they breed there and come back. I learnt a little about baleen whales (they are the toothless ones) in this trip.

Maine Mania..Magic..yet again

It was one awesome trip yet again and I had the best time in one of Nature's most treasured corners, Maine. Trying something different in this post with more pictures. Of course in case you don't want to read through the post...
here is the link to the whole set of photos

Here is the link to the post from my visit to Maine last year (2006 FALL)...there are some pictures here too...


I went up to Moosehead lake yes..again...and made a couple of stops on the way to click some shots....beautiful colors...wild flowers...workhorses..


There was this one beautiful house with awesome colors and this flower here was shot right opp to that. There are pictures of the house et all in flickr as usual. The horses were in a nice setting and they were very majestic and royal. They were workhorses..and they were well..not working..

Our first stop was Houston Brook falls and we almost missed it. The pleasant ridge plantation was a good landmark and we hiked through the woods to catch a glimpse of the Houston Brook falls and it finally reaches the Wyman lake...You can catch a clear view of Wyman lake from the falls. Its absolutely beautiful



Moosehead lake did not disappoint me so much even though I went a week ahead of peak foliage season. I completed all the scenic drives and it was funny because we were trying to spot a Moose and ended up seeing a lot of deers. The drive to Kokadjo from Greenville was really scenic. I enjoyed clicking pix of the Blair mountain from a distance at the First roach pond



The last scenic drive Greenville-Monson-Willimantic Loop was the most adventurous of all...it was spectacular with the wilson stream flowing and little cascades. People were camping right on the cliff! I wish I had done that! sigh!!
The view as we entered this loop was breathtaking with the Borestone and Barren mountains at a distance.



We also spotted deers on this drive and it was really a very narrow lane..allowing us very little freedom to make constant pit stops. We still managed to do so..and I clicked this deer.



I was disappointed since I could not do the floatplane ride and I was so looking to click from the plane...it was too windy on the Saturday that I went...and I just had to take it.


Day2 was spent entirely at the Acadia National Park. Its on Mount Desert island and it is a national park...how kewl can that be??

We started off with the intention of visiting the otter cliffs and the Bass Harbor head lighthouse..but ended up doing a lot more. We did the whole loop at the Acadia National Park. The Park loop is the most travelled one of all in this Park. There were some beautiful bridges. You could see people hiking, biking and exploring this beautiful park.




There were lots of viewing spots with good parking space for a glimpse of fall colors as we drove up the Cadillac mountain to the summit point. It is named so because of Mr.Antoine Cadillac...who owned these islands once and also well was the one who founded Detroit..and yes..his name lives on with GM's luxury cars..Cadillac. Interestingly it is the highest point in the Atlantic coast(1530 ft) On our way up the Cadillac mountain we spotted a stubborn seagull. It had a good spot and wasn't budging from there...no matter what.




We also went to the otter cliffs. people were up there..painting the cliffs. Otter cove point was absolutely beautiful



Finally it was time for us to windup and head towards the BassHarbor head light house and I was disappointed with the view at first as I directly went close to the lighthouse. I had seen pix of this lighthouse with rocks and the sea..and I could not get any of that shot. Then I when I came out..I saw a sign leading to the Bass Harbor head lighthouse..trail..I took that and voila..I had my shot. it was absolutely amazing.



All good things had to come to an end so did this one. I had a blast clicking pix.

News..

I read digg.com quite frequently and I decided to share the news I find there with you all. So here goes the first news in the label News.
Follow this link for some great stories

weird place

this is something awesome

this one is funny

this one too

Washington DC

Capitol, originally uploaded by digijinx.

It was trip to DC on a hot hot weekend this summer. Visited the White house, the Capitol Building, the Air and Space museum, the Renwick Gallery (smithsonian museum), some memorials and of course lunch buffet at Minerva,Fairfax VA. It was one awesome trip. Thats the brief overview of the trip.

If you don't want to read through the blog, here is the link to the entire set of photos of my trip to DC

It was a hot hot Saturday and I was stuck in traffic in NJ for a long time and finally entered DC. Its one of those cities where you absolutely need GPS yet you would get lost. I think I would say the same about Boston city too. Took the Metro(Thats one of the best thing in DC...and its an awesome metro train all over the city) and went to the White House of course and walked the lengths of it...also made a detour to the Renwick Art Gallery...quite a lot of modern art...queer and funny...but very captivating and intriguing. Also had a small picnic at the Lafayette park. The Capitol Building was really neat and I managed to get some good shots of the building.That was it...we were exhausted. The heat was too much to take I tell ya.

The next day we went to the tidal basin, watched the geese, sat near the Potomac...went to the Lincoln memorial...walked the entire length of the reflecting pool (with all the filth around)..also visited the Korean and the Vietnam war memorials..sneaking time to buy some souvenirs. The view of the Lincoln memorial from the WW II memorial was nice with the reflection and everything. The WWII memorial..has its own charm.

It was then time to visit the air and space museum..we also watched a Cosmic Collision show at the Einstein Planetarium. Also walked into a space shuttle (rocket) model. Awed and amazed by the different displays of the planes and then it was time for lunch at Minerva...DC is one place you must visit...at least once. and Minerva lunch buffet is one thing you can go as many times as you please.

Pssst: With this post I have touched 2000+ photos on flickr. That shows the abuse of my camera hehehe!

Big E--New England's biggest fair

Big E, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Big E is an annual event and is one of New England's Biggest fair happening usually in the month of September. The traffic around the area gets crazy alright. Its lot of fun though, so all the craziness goes right through your head.

To start off there are these State houses of New England ( if you didn't know..Connecticut, Maine,Massachusetts,New Hampshire,Rhode Island and Vermont together make up this New England) and each state carries its speciality. The Maine potatoes are what stand out. They are just sooo yummy! Its also perfect timing for leaf peepers to gather information about the fall foliage in all parts of New England.

Then there is the Mardi Gras Parade with floats and beads. I was so busy collecting beads, that I did not click pix. Thats a sign you went to Big E if you wear those gaudy beads around your neck. Dunno why you would do that...but you would still.

If you want to skip reading thru the blog..here is the link to the whole set of photos.

I also went to a Farm-a-Rama and saw like alpacas,Llamas,Chicks hatching from the egg and well Pigs! There was this huge mom pig and some 11-12 piglets...and two of them were literally on each other's nerves having a huge row over saw dust. It was too funny to watch them. I was reminded of Charlotte's web and I was looking to see if there was a spider web somewhere there.There was also a horse show and well the horses were jumping over a pole and stuff...equestrianism.. I believe is what they call it.

The craft common was a delight..there were so many swarovski crystal jewelry..the international bazaar was very nice too. It had those kewl egyptian paintings, those bamboo shots, lucky stones, lucky feng shui charms...intriguing.

At the better living center, saw a guy with a steam iron. Its a pretty neat product and also a vacuum cleaner which can wash and clean floors...neat product again.

There are these hell lotta rides that you could go on till you throw up or get dizzy and the games you could play to win loads of soft toys. its lots of fun doing that. But you need cash...no cards there and there is always this huge line at the ATM machine there.

Some real kewl garden stalls and furniture stalls. May be i would consider buying them if I owned a house! Sigh!!

There is food everywhere you turn, funnel cakes, fried dough, french fries, lobsters, hot dog stalls,pizza, beer garden,taverns, lemonades, cotton candy, kettle corn...the list is endless.

There is a chinese drum show and a live band playing everyday. You can see kids dancing off stage for the music, its so much fun watching them do that.

There is also a free zoo and then you can ride on an elephant, a camel...man its a mini country altogether this fair I tell ya.
Its on till Sep 30th. If you are in the New England area, don't miss it.

Niagara Falls

Niagara
Originally uploaded by digijinx

The best time to visit this place would be Summer! I did just that and it was one mindblowing experience yet again.
I will shortly list why it was so.

Here is the whole set of photos.



There is a lot of history behind the falls and if you are interested read this.

• Did you know that the American falls was completely diverted in 1969 for erosion control
• All together, Niagara's generating stations can produce about 4.4 GW of power.
• The volume of water approaching the falls during peak flow season is 202,000 cubic feet per second (5,720 m³/s)
• In October 1829, Sam Patch, who called himself The Yankee Leaper, jumped from a high tower into the gorge below the falls and survived; this began a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the Falls.
  
• In 1901, 63-year-old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to go over the Falls in a barrel as a publicity stunt; she survived, bleeding, but virtually unharmed
• In what some called the "Miracle at Niagara", Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over the Horseshoe Falls protected only by a life vest on July 9, 1960, as two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from the river only 20 feet (6 m) from the lip of the Horseshoe Falls at Goat Island.
• The flow of water was stopped completely over both falls on March 29th 1848 due to an ice jam in the upper river for several hours. This is the only known time to have occurred.
  

I did visit the Niagara Falls last year and thought that the cave of the winds was exhilarating...and nothing would get better than that. I could remember standing under the Hogenekkal Falls and thinking the same...but I proved myself wrong yet again. This time around I took the Chopper tour of the falls and man was it awesome! It was beyond believable. This picture here, you can see the rainbow across the horseshoe falls. The cave of winds and the maid of the mist was once again refreshing rides. We also saw the fireworks over the falls on Friday evening and also saw the falls in the lights. Yellow, red,blue...That was yet another rainbow altogether.


All facts source:Wikipedia.org
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm

If only...Chapter 4

If only…Chapter 4
I know...its been a long time since I posted a followup to my story...I found some time to write...so here goes chapter 4. To catch up read the previous posts under the tag If only



Dhruv Joshi, for all the happy go lucky guy that he was, was a multi talented creature. He was a Robotics Engineer and he was a DJ too at one of the local clubs. He lived in Bangalore. A little shy of 6 feet tall, he was the TDH package bundled into one, throwing in a humorous nature. He was just too good to be true.
DJ sounded a bit happy when he hung up the phone with Roshni. “This time it ought to work”, he told himself, crossing his fingers.And he was getting ready to board the train to NY City and he bumped into Suraj at the station. Suraj was Roshni’s brother.
*************************************************************
Roshni was still wondering how he gathered enough mettle to call her. Not that she didn’t enjoy talking to him again. His voice still had that magic and stirred up so many memories. She tried to brush away thoughts about Viv and get on her with her life. It was difficult, but she was sure she would get through this.
*************************************************************
It was still early October, and the fall in New York City was gorgeous. Vividh was strolling through Central Park and he was still thinking about his conversation (or rather monologue) with Roshni. They had not talked to each other in 6 years and he occasionally would hear DJ mention about her and would gather news. He never pressed him for any info. DJ was always surprised as to how Viv could keep so quiet when he knew in his heart that he loved Roshni so much. The kind of relationship Viv and Rosh shared, it was difficult to explain with words. They were the best of friends, perfect for each other…. And DJ only wished they would grow up.
Viv was lost in thoughts as he sat down in the sheep meadow which was now covered with vivid fall leaves, there was some guy raking leaves at a far corner. Kids were enjoying It was late in the afternoon and it was not much crowded for a Saturday.
“Gosh! I love this place in fall”, he told himself as he pulled out his camera to click some shots. Viv was a passionate photographer and he loved NY City in fall and Central Park was in his daily routine. He would somehow squeeze in a visit in a day. As he started clicking he realized how much he missed Roshni.

He was remembering how the gang used to go upto Nandi Hills and they would trek in the mountains and he would go crazy clicking everything and how she would laugh. Her laughter was so full of life, just like her. Everything about her always amazed him. It was when they went to Nandi Hills just after their first year in college, he realized he loved her and could not imagine his life without her.

Whale watching in the Cape Cod

Nothing can describe this experience. I was skeptical at first too...when I was thinking about whale watching..but when you really see them...gosh they are humungous and specatcular. The videos are a little shaky because the ferry kept bobbing up and down with the waves, so the quality is not so good and may be the videos are not that spectacular since they were shot with the canon powershot A510



Did you know that waves leave footprints on the water too? The oil from their bodies washes out to the surface and creates a big circular oil slick! (whales are hunted for this oil), the males are BULLS and the females COWS and the young are calves. On my whale watching trip in the Atlantic Ocean I spotted 22 Humpback whales.



There was this one whale named Anchor, who did the flipping (officially termed as Breaching...and also Lobtailing) That was really something special. I was watching it flip so I did not really bother to capture it...may be another time. The lobtailing video is the last one.

Friends...

Clicked this one in Boston. Was really cute. To all my friends out there...You all are the best!
Give yourself a pat in the back.

The wait

I have defied hail storms, gusty winds, snow falls, heat waves and stood the test of time and weather. I have seen kids grow up, I have listened to many sad stories, I have witnessed many happy endings. I have played home to many homeless. It has not been easy. I have bore the brunt of wrath and hatred, been hit (I almost died once ,a bus almost killed me once), been spit on, (Thank heavens for the rain, I am all clean and shiny...although a bubble bath once in a while wouldn't hurt). Once in a while I do carry the wet paint sign, yet people touch me to really believe it! Its been a long journey and I carry with me so many memories. Now I am all old and dead beat and yet still wait for those happy moments when I can serve tired legs, when I can listen to those laughter and giggles. I am still waiting.... for that damn bus to comeby on TIME! Am waiting...

Bridge of Flowers more photos

Phlox
Originally uploaded by digijinx

some more pictures from the Bridge of flowers, this time around I was properly adjusting the exposure, Aperture value in my Canon Powershot A510 and I was fully prepared for what was coming. There was this one small white flower which was tricky last time, I nailed that shot and also the eryngiums, the small spiky blue flowers was really nice to capture. Flowers are a real treat to the eye.
Enjoy!
Click here for the set

~Rambler

Chak De India

Pic courtesy:Nytimes post

This is a must watch movie, Shahrukh Khan has played an entirely different role...and has really delivered a good performance. You might have probably read a hazaar(thousands) reviews abut this movie already, so am not going to write more but will briefly state some moments i enjoyed ....just recommending that its a must watch. Vidya Malavade playing the goalie Vidya Sharma, Shilpa Shukhla playing Bindiya Naik, Gunjan, Komal, Soimoi, Netra, Balbir......gosh..the gals all have done an extremely good job. The introduction of the team is entirely different and they have introduced the element of comedy in there, which probably makes it even more enjoyable. A lot of issues have been dealt with. When Kabir Khan's friend says "Ek galthi tho sab ko maaf hai" and Shahrukh says..."Sabko nahi"...I felt that really was a very good dialogue in the movie. The last scene where his knees go weak with joy...and the expression on his face...tooo goood!! I am a Shahrukh fan, and it really wont convince you if I go all gaga over his acting in this flick, but yes he has done a good job (I believe am saying that for the second time in this post)Music by Salim Sulaiman does justice to the tempo of the movie. Camera is obviously good, the hockey field/turf is shown really well when the game is being played.
Just like Ab tak Chhappan, this movie has delivered. Shimit Amin..you rock...This is one director to watch out for.

~Rambler

Backyard visitor

Backyard visitor
Originally uploaded by digijinx

Was picking some flowers from the garden, when this little guy caught my eye! I know some of you might think..am growing crazy by the day...but a friend of mine told me if I venture into macro photography...I would soon get into the world of insects. And believe me it is fascinating. I now want to chase down lady bugs, bees and capture all colors. I personally felt, this ghopper guy should have been a different colored background..would have made the picture look so better. This one is not really a good shot.

~Rambler

Just heavenly!

Picture perfect!
Originally uploaded by digijinx

Bridge of flowers at Shelburne Falls,MA is a really nice place to visit, I have been there two years in a row now...and the place is loaded with flowers. The trolley line bridge, now converted to a beautiful bridge of flowers. You can find all varieties of flowers there...let me see if I can recollect...there were ofcourse Roses, black eyed susans, Dahlias, Tiger lilies, Lilacs...yes i learnt a few new names this year. Check out the flickr page for more.

Cheeni kam

Really amazing performance from two of the best stars and the movie lives up big time to its expectations.

Big B rocks with his performance as this stickler for perfection and Tabu dazzles you with her usual charm. Its a win win combo, these two. A really funny movie with some subtle comedy. A must watch.

Elephant...and the other animals and The Rhode Island visit

Originally uploaded by digijinx

The Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, RI is definitely one of the unique places I have been to this summer or for that matter in my entire life. Must thank one of my managers for loaning me the book, New England Travel Guide. I have seen bushes cut as a big round...thats the best I have seen with creativity as far as cutting bushes was concerned, but this place was something entirely different. When you enter through the doors you see some arches but if you look to your left you see a man standing and that would be the Policeman. As we walk through the garden we spot all kinds of animals ranging from Unicorns to reindeers to a dog, a donkey..a camel...and some cute Teddy bears. They also have a vegetable garden and a beautiful flower garden with a pond and some water lilies. The basket of flowers was also a real treat to the eye. You know the drill, click on the picture for flickr...more there.
There is also an antique toy museum with huge doll houses...its a nice place to visit.We also stopped to click a windmill.

Then we headed on to the Breakers in Newport, a Mansion owned by the Vanderbilts and which has 70 rooms and one of the oldest elevators (about a 100 years old) and all the marble and alabaster and the carvings in gold. They had a huge flower vase about 4 feet tall I would say, with beautiful floral arrangement. Also there was an antique car show going on. The huge balcony on the second floor overlooks the Atlantic...Gosh! I wish I owned this place :)

Then off we headed to the Portsmouth beach, playing in the sand, collecting seashells, sea gull feathers, chasing sea gulls...and surprise surprise...we found a lot of hermit crabs...teeny tiny ones. we caught them and played with them for a while and then a small picnic and time to head back home. Another fun filled summer outing.

~Rambler.

Peace Lily..White Sails

IMG_0654a
Originally uploaded by digijinx

This was yet another fun filled trip this summer, and many more to come after this. My naughty niece and my mom were here for the weekend a while ago and we went to the Magic Wings, butterfly park and the Yankee Candle factory. We did not spend much time at the butterfly park but spent a lot of time...a whole lot of time there making candles, tasting blueberry jam, becoming princess and queen mother...it was a beautiful experience. I have written about the Magic Wings butterfly park, so am not elaborating on that, except for the fact that I clicked this peace Lily...aka White sails. It was one beautiful flower alright.

The Yankee Candle Factory is a real treat. There is a Black Forest, a Santa's Toy Factory at the North Pole...and there is Santa too...roaming around the Toy Factory. There are well lit Xmas trees, there is a theater that has shows every half hour or so, there is a Big Fort at the village of Bavaria and then you get to be crowned as Princess/Prince, Queen/King....We obviously had a Queen Mother and a little Princess. There is a puppet theater, blueberry jams, salsa dips...and best of all it snows every 5 minutes. Gosh..the place is just wonderful with toy trains running above you, snoopy snowboarding/skating... and then ofcourse there are the candles...if you step near the aisles, you can smell all of them at once...intoxicating.

We also get to make our own candles, we made a rainbow candle, a sun,moon etc., and dipped them in colored wax! it was a real thrill for my niece to do all this.

And once you step out of the factory, you have beautiful flowers lined up the entire stretch of the shop hanging from baskets from Pansies, to begonias to roses to well almost all kinds of flowers and colorful cows and also a Cart of flowers. Simply a very enjoyable trip.

Its definitely a must visit place.

This is the first trip among the many that I am undertaking this year.

Enjoy!

Making hay while the sun shines :)

~Rambler.

Vacation time

There comes the time of the year..in summer when you take a vacation...and am doing that right now. busy taking ppl around showing them the sights of New England et all.
Shall post in a week's time.
Believe me am exhausted :) and you too will be once, I post and u read 'em all.

Life Rocks!
~RR

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This book is way beyond AWESOME. I can see myself reading this book over and over again. I completed the whole book...sort of a marathon and Boy! it was gripping and I didnt feel like putting it down. The book has the perfect ending and you could not ask for more. I am not going to be a tattle tale...read on and enjoy. Shall post another review in a couple of days...when the war is over.

Pssst.....Currently also reading....THE NAMESAKE...by Jhumpha lahiri. But since tthe HP book was coming out, i read,reread all the other 6 books in the series just to refresh my memory....the reading of the namesake was sidelined for a while, now am back to read it.

Fireworks galore

Fireworks galore
Originally uploaded by digijinx

Boston Pop Fireworks, on 4th of July was really a very spectacular event. We(almost 10 of us) went there hours before to get a good spot to view the fireworks. Craig Ferguson(Comedian/TV host) was gonna be there, the blueman brothers..some kinda orchestra..All along the rain was threatening to bring the house down...but we held on and the wait paid off. The whole thing was just awesome.
The time to kill was worthwhile, since I spent that walking and clicking the sights of the Clarendon and Newbury st., and it was a real treat. Though personally I felt a little sunshine would have helped with better lighting. Anyway..worked with what I had. Here is the link to the set. Click on the picture otherwise to take you to flickr.

Pink show off

Pink show off
Originally uploaded by digijinx

Am rendered speechless every time I visit this rose garden in Hartford,CT.Be it off season or on season. Some fond and funny memories at this garden from last year as I strolled through . As I promised earlier, when I went for the tulip bed, I made sure I was there for the rose weekend. It was magical, I felt like I was in fairy tale land or something magical of that sorts. I went with the hope that I would get to see the roses entwined on the arches...of course my camera has not done enough justice to actually capture the whole magic, but still I tried. There is also a perennial garden and the traditional rose garden, I still have to visit and click those gardens to my fill.
I am really spellbound and the pictures speak for themselves. Feel free to peruse on the flickr.(click on the photo for more pix) or here is the set.

Tubing down the Farmington river!!

Sunny skies, cold water...tubing sure was/is fun. It was a weekend of fun and frolic, just another reminder to ourselves that summer is here.I had started it off tubing and ended it with a quiet walk at the beautiful rose garden in Hartford.
It had rained the previous day and the temperature was down...so it just multiplied my worries about the cold water. I started the day early for a Saturday and left the house around 10:00ish to reach this place. It was a looooooong drive...but I was here before when I went to Kent falls, so its now like my backyard and I enjoy the long drive through the mountains and scenic Connecticut.
Farmington river tubing is located at the Satan's Kingdon State Recreation Park area in New Hartford, CT. The plan was tubing first and then a picnic.There were almost 22 of us gathered (of course at different times), some worried about the depth of the water, some worried about how cold it was (of course that was me! with some kinda crazy throat I had...my voice was sounding very sexy..as Phoebe says in Friends...believe me..the water was cold), some worried about the rapids, some worried about getting tanned/burnt, some just worried about their dear life..and some worried about everything...but we all did it and managed to come out of it in one piece.
Seven of us grabbed our green life vests and our blue tubes and just started floating down the river. My butt got numb in a couple of minutes since i entered the river and so did everyone else's. I was stuck at some rocks soon as I started out. Then of course paddling didnt help, so I pushed myself out of the rocks...my legs came to the rescue. So you can very well imagine I was the last to set out tubing. The first rapids came very soon and we went under a bridge..it was fun..I did get stuck in the still part of the water and paddled my way back to the stream after the first rapids..and I was looking out for the second and the third. They were even more exciting...tossing and spinning at the rapids with water splashing all over me...I caught up with my friends after the third rapids...(In fact they caught up with me) Then we were all holding on and just cruising along and we had to make a decision when we saw that the river forked and we wanted to go right and of course we like all drivers do...went left. Finally saw the tube hanging for the exit (thanks to a hawk eyed friend) and I climbed out of my tube just when my pants got dry...and got them all drenched and cold again. We then waited for the bus to take us back. Can't believe it was 2.5 miles and 2 hrs of tubing...it went by so quickly. Just to think we almost canceled this trip! Gee! I would have repented that.
Then we had grilled corn(the desi style with lime and chilli powder+salt), chicken,sandwiches,wraps and then of course we played some volleyball. In between the game, the ball ran to the water and one of my colleague's husband jumped in to rescue the ball from floating away....and got wet all over again, and he seems have enjoyed his brave act,(we all did) coz he got right back into the game and we did win that one. Then it was time to leave...all sore all over the body..the volleyball definitely didnt help...but it was an awesome day of fun.
The next day we did something too...thats probably in the next post. This one just got long. Since I was in the water the whole time...i of course didnt click any pix.

kent falls..

kent falls.
Originally uploaded by digijinx

Summer, sunshine and waterfalls...it just doesnt get any better than this. Had been hiking at the Kent falls state park a while ago and it was really heaven on earth. The place is not as huge as the Niagara, its a small waterfall which cascades its way down and you get to climb to the top of the falls, from where the view is just breathtaking.

There were lots of picnic tables and i was equipped with my mp3 player and enjoyed the serene sceneries of this park, there is a small bridge as the water flows down from the falls and there is this small creek/brook that flows through and that part of the falls is lush green and the rocks and the grass just make it picture perfect.

Hiking/Trekking...Camping...it sure is lot of fun :)

Rambler...rolling on

Picture ok..but perfect??

Would really appreciate your comments. This would be on only till the thursday 21st June 2007.

Goto this site http://www.naturesbestmagazine.com/index.php

and then click on picture of the week and then enlarge the picture.

Owe this one and anything I click, big time to Ishwar! Thanks. :)

Canon PowerShot A510 you rock big time!!


~Rambler on cloud nine

psstt...For those of you who couldnt make it before the 21st of June...here it is!

rate my life quiz

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.8
Mind:	8.8
Body:	9.8
Spirit:	8.8
Friends/Family:	5.3
Love:	5
Finance:	8.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Your overall life score is very high, much higher than the average. If you wouldn't mind, please take a little time to explain how you manage to succeed so well at this aspect of your life. Your words may be read by someone else who scored very low. Take a moment to give them some useful advice. Your thoughts are very much appreciated. Well I didnt do all that, but was looking at the breakdown and i found that it rates my social life pretty low which obviously contradicts my lifestyle. But it sure was an interesting quiz to take.

Please feel free to just post your overall score in the comments when you take the test. and how you felt abut the quiz.

~RR

Funny

Chek this out. Got this one off digg. too.

The designer of the photo is Jason. He created that picture under the screen
name "modified_dangler" for a Fark.com photoshop contest
with the Theme "Google (or Google searches), 15 years in
the future":

He won that contest with a a large margin, back in 2004.



Here you go! Click here

Priya.

Funny,me and a milestone

Stumbled upon this one on digg and I have to admit..its funny. Its kind of like the picture perfect ad. What brains whoever conjured this one up must have had. It aptly justifies its cause. Man am just rambling, but I cant help. I started laughing out loud after seeing it.





































Thanks blogger freshhome for finding this one and putting it up on digg.

And...a note of thanks to all those who have been my buddies, regulars, accidental visitors,spammers etc., etc., who stumbled upon this blog. This is my 200th post (I realized that after I published the post and I had to come back to edit). I guess that explains the title abut the big deal. :)
Hoping to keep posting in the days to come.

~RR

Tulips..yet again

luv this one! orange and tangy
Originally uploaded by digijinx.

I did warn you all that tulips would be my flower of choice for spring..and true to my word...my macro experiments still continue.
I owe this big time to my camera...Canon powershot A510 ...you rock big time!! This time in Albany,NY. A couple of my colleagues and me set out to enjoy the sun and the flora at the 59th annual tulip festival at the Washington Park,in Albany,NY. A very short drive from our place(some adv. of being near the Atlantic). Yet again it was festival and true to its word..there were hot dog stands, fresh lemonade a thirst quencher, funnel cakes, fried dough...and a band playing on stage...people out with their foldable chairs, picnic baskets,food,beer,..freebies,sale tents...gosh..it was complete chaos, with the weather being so nice and all. We did face issues with parking close to the park, managed to find one like 5 blocks away and then it was picnic time. Drove there straight to have lunch ...our very own picnic. Was really nice.

With fuel to the stomach, it was time to gear up the lenses and start some clicking. To be honest I was kind of confused as to what to click, where to start. There were people all over the place..obviously this is one of the biggest crowd puller in Albany. I had to get my shots and not get the crowd..a very tricky concept. I was upto the challenge, took some shots lying down on the ground(thats not something new is it??) For the first time I say layered petalled tulips. The combinations in which they were placed was just eye catching. I was clicking away...Was just fun. I got decent shots of the tulips I had not clicked before. The sunlight was just perfect for my shots..when I was lying down on the grass to take them...The flowers then looked like they were drenched with the sunlight. Picture perfect I would say.

Then we just sat down to enjoy the tulips and park in general. It was then time to head home and see how the pix turned out.

Enjoy!!

Tulips Tulips everywhere

Originally uploaded by digijinx.

Though spring shows up late here than in the South, its definitely worth the wait. Had recently been to click Tulips.Here,there they were just about everywhere. This shot here is one of my personal favs. Yet again had to get down on my knees and hands to click these(sshh...Don't tell anyone, I think I personally enjoy doing that). When I went to the rose garden it was an overcast sky and it was toward the evening, and I was hoping all along that the sky would clear out. It was not such bad lighting still I was hoping to catch the light from the setting sun. When I reached the garden, I was mesmerized there they were...the Tulips in all possible colors shining bright and flowery. It was just so beautiful.
A couple of minutes later a wedding troop showed up. The bride,the groom, bridesmaids,the groomsmen. It was a picture perfect setting for the couple and they were clicked away. The white tulips were my subject of interest, they were quite low set and I was trying to get some macro shots here and there. The sun peeped out from the clouds and it was perfect lighting for some more pictures. I ended up spending a lot of time at the garden and got out of there only after it got dark. This is actually a Rose Garden blooming beautiful roses in late June, and I am gonna be there again.