day 31 // where you relax

The last day! I've enjoyed this daily photo series for the most part. A few days in between, it got a bit tedious, but I think that was mostly due to the subjects for those days!

day 30 // toys

The easiest of all the days....there are toys everywhere!

day 29 // feet

Yeah, I missed several days in-between. Just not been inspired lately and with the camera broken, thought I'd just give it a break for a while. Taking these pics with my old teeny-tiny camera!

day 24 // an animal

A crow on the balcony this morning. Wanted to take a shot of the peacocks we see pretty much every day in the forest nearby. Saw them today too, as we drove by, but didn't want to stop since E was sleeping in my arms.

day 23 // moon

Yes, I'm taking the easy way out on this one. The moon is no likely to be seen since we've had so much haze after the dust storm we had a few days back.

day 22 // kitchen sink

I didn't care too much for today's idea. I've been enjoying interpreting the photos my way and found that the ones that are very specific, like "kitchen sink", "sunglasses", or even "corner of your home", don't give you too much leeway in being creative with the topic. Anyhow, I've been creative with processing this a little bit to make it somewhat more appealing than it originally was.

lately

Sometimes bad things happen for a good reason, right! Well, that's the line I'm telling myself since my camera has got spoilt....stuck with the lens extended and it won't go back in. Not sure if it's just a case of dust and grit or something more serious. I'll be giving it for repair in a couple of days, but till then am using my ma-in-law's camera.

When it got stuck and I wasn't able to fix it myself, after reading tips on how to fix lens errors on the internet, I thought, Ok, so I'll just take a photo break. Then it hit me, what it really felt like not having a camera on hand, to capture E in a naughty moment, to take a shot of some slanting light in the evening or the beautiful blooms of bougainvillea on the balcony. And so I borrowed a camera. I gave in. I'm ok doing without Internet for a while....need to take periodic breaks from it in fact, but I don't want to be without a camera!

In the meantime, here are some shots that I took in the past week, before my camera got stuck!

My mid morning dose of coffee perched on E's rocking horse! 

E loves going to the playground. The merry-go-round is her favorite, then the slide and swings! Here's we're on the swings together, taking a shot looking up at the tree full of old pods and new leaves above us!

Coffee with friends. There were three of us, I was already sitting with my cup of coffee when I took this shot!

E enjoying the fishy view when we went out to lunch one day. Apparently, no photos were allowed at the restaurant, which the waiter politely told me after this! Oops.

Bougainvillea blooms out on the balcony. This is in the evening light, my favorite kind of light.

day 21 // delicious

A fruit custard soufflé mousse of some kind...it was delicious.

day 20 // before and after

My mid-morning cup of coffee. Unfortunately, I got a lens error right after I took the after shot, so the camera is out of action till I get it repaired. Ouch!

day 19 // funny

Fun for her and funny for me to watch her take so much joy from something so simple! She screamed the house down when I told her enough and turned off the tap. Screamed and screamed ;-(

waiting around

It's been a really hectic time lately, but in a very fun way. My long break is going really well, and I've been able to do a lot of the things that were pending for a long time. Such as take an afternoon nap, read the paper on the same day and so forth! Yeah, yeah fun stuff! In between, e got sick so that was a testing time for me, since she needed me to comfort her all the time. Such a beautiful thing that a child needs you so much when they are ill, but it does exhaust you. We visited a couple of doctors too, and that always exhausts me even more. All was fine, but we spent so much time waiting around that I thought, it's time to find a new and less busy doctor. E and me wandered around quite a bit...yeah, she was in high spirits the day we were at the doctors, and interestingly I found that they had all their equipment from the US, such as the Howard Medical medical computer, the trays, the weighing machines and everything else too. See, how much time I had waiting around!

day 18 // a corner of your home

We were out all day....came back home just as it was getting dark and I rushed to take a couple of pics for the day. Had to turn on the light, since the light wasn't good enough, even though this is next to the window.

day 17 // green

Yeah, so it's St. Patrick's Day. And I totally forgot. I took this shot in the morning, out on the balcony. Didn't want to do a regular plant shot, and I like the green against the grey floor.

day 16 // sunglasses

One of the few ones that I did not like at all. Such a boring thing to photograph. Or, I just wasn't feeling inspired!

day 15 // car

Just a little bit of this cute car!

day 14 // clouds

Not a cloud in sight today, but just a general haze, so this is it!

day 13 // a sign

the past few days

Each day goes by with a kind of quiet happiness. I'm doing pretty much the same thing everyday, following E's usual routine, but it's not getting boring, instead it comes with it's own sense of peacefulness. The weekends have been lively, we've been going out for relaxed lunches, some shopping, some wandering about and even a cricket match.

My mid-morning coffee on E's rocking horse. I love having my daily cup of coffee once E is ready and heads out to play....then I sit back with a nice hot cup and do what I want to do...read a book, browse mags, watch tv, flickr or blog! Sounds leisurely, doesn't it! That's why I love coming home for a loooong stay, apart from the regular vacation :-)

Chrysanthemums against the window in the dining room. Love how they catch the light. And I love how I have time to wander around the house and catch the light as it drifts across the house.

Watching a cricket match between my f-i-l's old school. Good fun and a perfect Sunday activity!

E playing with my m-i-l's ring when we were in the car. This girl loves jewelry. She wears her wooden and fabric bangles everyday and if she could would wear a ring or two as well!

how to bypass Blogger's country specific urls

Did you notice how Blogger has started to use country specific domains to blogs. So, when I open my blog while I am in India, the address comes as http://oftravelsandtravails.blogspot.in instead of .com which is what it should be. Hey, I don't want my blog url changed to depict only an .in blog, so what do I do?

Well, it turns out that if you add a /ncr at the end of your url, it will go directly to the .com page. So, if you enter http://oftravelsandtravails.blogspot.com/ncr, then it will go to the original .com site, and then even if you click on one of the posts it will link you to the .com page, without having to enter/ncr again. I think there is a way to do this in the script too, so anyone opening your page will not even see the .in, but I have to find the code for that as yet.

Here's the technical answer from Blogger! And another one from The Real Blogger Status.

PS: Page ranking will not get affected by this...hits will still be measured by the original .com url.

PPS: Yes, a post without a photo! I can still do it!

day 12 // fork

A scene from the breakfast table....the focus is all wrong, but you get the idea, right!

day 11 // someone you talked to

Resisting posting too many shots of E....I really could have done all the days with just her pics, considering the amount of pics I take of her! This one is of my ma-in-law, as we went out to see a cricket match. Taken in the car.

daily posts after ages

Well, I've been posting a lot this month haven't I? It's all thanks to the daily photo challenge that I've been doing, which has been a lot of fun. More than I expected actually, since I was dreading the daily downloading and uploading business, which is why most of my shots are usually a week old. But anyway, it's been a hoot and I hope it continues to be so, but in the meantime, I got a mail from the people at http://www.testosteroneboosters.org/natadrol/. I wonder why but it seems that someone there likes my photos too! Thank you very much! It's always nice to get some appreciation, isn't it!

day 10 // loud

Really, how does one depict "loud" without someone yelling? Or maybe the show the volume dial turned up loud? Or show some really bright, loud colors? Well, I used E's book, How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?

day 9 // red

I really didn't want to take a shot of any of my clothes or E's clothes or another bedspread etc. So here are the window blinds and the pull cord.

day 8 // window

A view I see every day, several times a day, and I'm still not tired of it. I've taken this shot many times in different seasons, and the best one is from the monsoons, when everything is green and fresh. Also, took this in the morning, so the light isn't at it's best either. A little later on would have been better.

day 7 // something you wore

The end of my dupatta with silver gota that I wore yesterday. Love the cool colors as the weather is heating up here.

day 6 // 5pm

day 5 // a smile

Yup, she's better now....and smiling too!

day 4 // bedside

My bedside table....full of medicines and vitamins for E who has been down with a viral. A really bad cough and a cold too.

day 3 // your neighbourhood

Strolled down and outside for 10 minutes to take today's photo. Ended up really liking it, even though I had planned a completely different shot in my mind. I do like the way this challenge is making me see things differently.

A second shot....that I thought of using instead of the earlier one. I like it, but that is much better.

day 2 // fruit

So, today's topic is fruit. One of the easiest ones on the list I think. Something that we don't have to wonder how to photograph in that given day. For me photography is all about light...natural light....warm natural light. And these shots were all taken in the harsh morning, before I ate my breakfast, so that I could post them once E napped in the afternoon. It would have been easier to wait till the nice light came around and taken one of my trademark shots, but then I wouldn't be pushing myself, so here they are. Yes, a bonus one too...

day 1 // up

Taking a bold step and participating in a daily photo challenge. I love taking photos and take them everyday, but I never download them on a daily basis...usually once a week is what I do, so doing a daily photo challenge means daily downloading and uploading. But, I think this is the perfect time to do it, since I am relatively free being at home.

Ok, so here goes. The word for today is Up....so I took this shot in the morning...on the balcony. Yup, a bit of a lazy way to start the challenge, but if I didn't take it then, I would have had to wait till 530pm or so till I could have gone down to the gardens. Hmmm, so what was I so busy with since I've just said I'm not doing much? Well, a nice long massage, then a nice long bath, then some play time with my baby. Solid enough reasons, aren't they!

On a more serious note, I am looking forward to challenging myself to new topics, being inventive and creative thanks to the challenge. Interested in taking part? Get the list here on Fat Mum Slim.

I must say, that I would never have considered it were it not for my dear friend Shilpa doing it last month.  Thank you dearie! You're in my thoughts. Come back fast and with a smile.