May ended and brought the realizsation of half way mark to the year as June rolled in. Where has this year flown by so quickly? I am yet to comprehend what have I been doing all these months. Is it the same for you? May also heralded in the intense dry summer heat in Delhi NCR; hence this post is aptly titled 😉
The heat has been keeping me indoors and stepping out is only as and when necessary. Air conditioned cars dont help as the sun is blazing hot. We are struggling with 46 degrees here in Gurgaon. Pray and wonder for places hitting 50+ Yes this year the summers are more of a killer than the last. Hopefully the monsoons will bring some respite.
Well all was not grim and hot in May – I did have a whole load of blessings to be grateful for. As always, writing down the gratitude post brings home the fact how blessed and lucky I am.
Intrigued? Pin it for later!
♥ Social Front ♥
My sister was in town for her annual vacay and it was time to meet the munchkin. Oh he has grown and is such a bandicoot now. I couldnt get enough of hugging him and all too soon he was off again. He was delighted to be roped in for feeding the peacocks on the pahadi – we used to go everyday to fill the water bowls and scatter grains. Then sit in the car and wait for the birds to emerge. His transfixed look was just so adorable.
One day my neighbor pinged me as she had made halwa puri. Mmmmm now that was a delightful surprise on a warm May afternoon. I dont need to tell you how I dug into this delish bounty.
May was the month of Ramzan and as always I was keen to step out to Dilli 6 for some of the Eid delicacies. Alas the heat stopped me and also didnt want to go on my own. A chance scroll on FB, I saw an Iftar event to be held in Gurgaon. I signed up for it and had such a wholesome evening there. This was their second such community event for Eid and I am looking forward to being a part of more such.
♥ Health & Fitness ♥
The heat has kept me indoors and I have deferred my morning walks for a couple of months now. Looks like I shall go back to joining yoga for another spell.
Overall, my healer has been very happy with my health reports. I have managed to lose some more weight and am feeling hap hap happy about it.
♥ Bookish notes ♥
My reading spree faltered a bit for most of the month. Then I did some book shelf clearing to give away / sell off some of my books. Thats when I decided to re-read the Wheel Of Time Series by Robert Jordan. Down to Book 5 at the moment and am just so happy to be reading this.
♥ Green efforts ♥
I have been making bio enzyme for quite a while now and am happy to report the journey continues. Just shared some extra with a neighbor and hope to help her start off too.
I started off a petition online to help clean up the Pahari – hoping to create awareness which will result in positive action. Please do sign it if you feel for the environment too and also show some love to two such blog posts written in this regard.
The heat has been killing and seeing the animals go through it is very painful. My colony has a lot of good souls who have placed water bowls intermittently in the by lanes. These are filled on regular basis by them. I am so grateful to them and hope the universe blesses them abundantly.
♥ In the Kitchen ♥
Baking disasters happened again when I tried to bake a really tiny loaf of sourdough bread in the convection oven. Sigh! finally bowed down to the fact that I need a hotter oven to make breads at home. So cheered myself up with baking my favourite oats and cranberry cookies.
The moringa tree I had planted 2 summers back is now ready to give a sapling – made dal with the leaves for the first time. Happy to report that it turned out quite good. I need to look up more recipes to incorporate them in my diet.
Went off bread – one of the hardest things for me to leave. Managed two ten days spell with one break in between. Now not craving it as much and hoping to continue the streak.
♥ Blogging news ♥
Blaming the heat for not being able to sit in my study at all these days; for the lack of writing. I did get 7-8 posts up which did make me happy. Major achievement for me has been to not fret about numbers and visitors anymore. Ever since I have done that, my blogging journey is seeming blissful.
Well that seems to be all from my May for this month’s gratitude post and linking it with Vidya’s Gratitude circle
I really admire your zeal to protect the environment. The summer this year further proves how much effort we should put in to save our planet.
I am a total disaster maker when it comes to baking. Can’t bake a thing!
I would have bought a lot of your books if I was in India. You had a great YA collection.
Sending your way some vibes. Have a wonderful June.
You said it gurl – this summer has finally hit home what climate crisis is going to be like for us. This is the beginning and its a shocker to see the temperature gauge these days. Monsoons are going to be really low and we are going to see a lot of drought like conditions in India alone.
I wish you were here too – would have loved to have you take some of my precious books home. Thanks for all your wishes Raj!
Inspite of the heat, you had a cool month. I love all that work you do for the environment. I read about your petition and the apartment community that came together. Good job!
I can’t imagine how I survived 23 years of summers up North. Thank God for Bangalore but yes, we need to save our trees here too. Atleast you are trying to bake and cook. I can’t bring myself to it other than the breakfast I make on and off. 😛 yay on health! Keep going and maybe Cult will help?
Wishing you a cooler June! hugs!
Thanks Parul – I wish we could all gear up to care for the environment. The heat this summers is proof of things to come for all of us. I have joined Cult from this month and am happy to be back at Yoga classes – they are simply fab!!
Cooking and baking is off for now as the heat in the kitchen is killing – I think that was one last desperate attempt at doing something 😉
Hugs to you too Girl!! 🙂
Love the green efforts you’ve been making, Shalini!
Thanks Damyanti 🙂
Lots of things to be grateful for. I started a photo memory journal and was diligent each week until the end of March, then weekends got real busy but your post has motivated me to pick that up again. Perhaps a monthly one for April May June and then weekly again.
Thanks Suzy – happy to hear my post motivated you to re start the gratitude posts!! 🙂
I can see why you’re longing for winter. I like summer but not ones that are that hot and humid. Then again, I do get to hit the beach so I guess I’m lucky in that regards. It must be pretty stifling and demotivating. Great work on the green efforts and attempts at baking! Hope you have an awesome June!
Yeah your beach escapades are major envy for me 😉 Thanks for the wishes Sanch!
You seem to have had quite a good May, Shalz. What with visiting family & good news on the health front. As far as reading is concerned, I guess we all go through peaks and valleys, but in this case, I don’t think a slower pace is necessarily a valley. It’s actually quite enjoyable at times.
I remember attending Iftar parties when in India, and oh my God, those delightful treats! But ever since we moved to US, I have settled for binge watching YT channels that show-case Iftar food/snacks and/or making them myself.
That being said, kudos on leaving bread, girl. That is really difficult for me. And two 10 day spells are great.Though, is the long term goal to cut down on bread or completely eliminate it from your diet?
Hello Hello Shan – so sorry for replying this late- hadnt realised I had a comment unanswered on this post. Thank you for your lovely thoughts of encouragement; yes its not a valley and I am going through it a day at a time.
The bread bit was doable – I was surprised at myself. Now I did buy a loaf again but am not digging into it with that regularity as earlier – so I guess something got cured by giving it up for a bit. Now I am eating it on and off and enjoying that much too.