Happy Tuesday!
I hope you had a great weekend!

After a busy last week we had a lovely relaxing weekend this past Saturday and Sunday.  I spent most of my time planting up spring bulbs and I also worked on dividing a few of my daylillies and bearded iris in the garden. Speaking of gardening, my Aunty Shashi visited me from South Carolina last week and spent three wonderful days with my family.

Bay Area Visit

The last time I saw her it was under sad circumstances last fall as her young daughter Tara had passed away unexpectedly, but this year her visit is a more upbeat one as she came to celebrate her granddaughter’s 8th birthday down in Southern California; and then made her way up north to the Bay Area to visit with me and my two cousins. It was a lovely time spent with Aunty Shashi whom I affectionately call Shashi because even though she is my Aunty (My Mom’s younger sister) Shashi is only 14 years older than me 😉😀.

Three wonderful days

Shashi spent three wonderful days with us and we had a fabulous time together reminiscing of old times and sharing nostalgic stories of Mom and her siblings. Shashi brought with her the most meaningful present ever – old photos of our grandparents as youngsters and of me and my Mom as a little girl! I can’t believe I am saying this but until now I never knew what my Grandmother looked like as a young woman, I’ve only known her as Grandma with grey hair 🤫.  Same with the photo of my Mom, until now I had never seen a photo of her as a little girl 🤫.

Two awesome recipes

Over the three days she visited I took Shashi to the Indian grocery stores around town, to a couple of Indian restaurants, and we visited with my two cousins, and in the evenings we cooked together.  I learnt two awesome recipes that I am looking forward to sharing with you all. One is a side dish called gotsu which is like a spicy tangy veggie stew that can be had with rice or fish or chicken, and the second recipe is a ginger honey tea that is so delicious and warming on our cold days ahead.

Shashi’s voracious interest in all thing gardening

But I think what I will remember most fondly of Shashi’s visit is her voracious interest in gardening and all things garden! The first thing Shashi asked me when she came home was for me to show her around the garden. Boy did she spend hours appreciating EVERY plant I grow!  

I knew my Mom was a gardening fanatic, I also knew my maternal grandparents were avid gardeners, but I think Shashi takes it to another level!  She wanted a cutting of everything she saw 😀, seeds from every plant that had them 😀, even little seedlings that had self-sowed on the ground like tiny tiny olive seedlings, she wanted rose cuttings, succulent cuttings, geranium cuttings, anything she saw in the garden she wanted to try and grow them back home in South Carolina!  Folks, she took a backpack full of cuttings, seedlings and seeds 😀🥰🌹🍃🌿☘️!!

I asked her to give me an update on how all these seedlings and seeds do back in her hometown.  She sent me a text after she got back and said she is taking lots of pictures of her plantings from California. Can’t wait to see them!

This was a very special visit from a very dear Aunty of mine.  Truly a heartfelt way to start off the month of November 😘😍💕.

Have a great week everybody!