'Twas a thrilling, absolutely chilling Running ......

........ of the 'Keeneland's' op'ning race.

Spend all this time in horse country and not go to the races?? How could one even think such sacrilegious thoughts! Today we headed to Keeneland to watch the races. It was a lovely day. Cloudy and a biting chill in the air. Not too chill. Just the perfect weather to watch the races under the open sky!
As we entered there we people who were dressed to the nines, and people who were dressed.... er... like us. Which means we sat with junta that raucously cheered the horses on instead of those that watched with stiff upper lips!

Denims are not allowed in the grandstands and pavilions. So we were all in redneck central!

Gowra and pa pored over the racing forms and placed bets. And Pa actually picked 3 winners out of 4!







This guy tooted and started each race. What is with that outfit anyway!
Someone else decided that the whole thing was a yawn and zzzzzzzzz.................










For some odd reason I decided that I didn't like the name 'Admiralty Island' and didn't bet, as none of the other names got my fancy!

But that hoss wouldn't be nice about it won by 4 lengths! And those who won were quite smug about it!







By this time, someone was wide awake and decided to take an active interest in the procedings!


And we thought 'Paper Man' would keep us in diapers for a few weeks. But that &#^)(#$* hoss came first alright... from the wrong end! and we decided to put on a brave face about it!









What's racing anyway without hats!

This is one of those that was within zooming distance!

And from the fence, we could see all the way up into the pavilions, club windows and grandstands.

And there were the people watching the proceedings with carefully schooled expressions.

And I felt like Eliza Doolittle who lustily encouraged Dover to move his blooming arse....

And now I keep singing...

What a smashing, positively dashing
Spectacle: the Ascot op'ning day.
At the gate are all the horses
Waiting for the cue to fly away.
What a gripping, absolutely ripping
Moment at the Ascot op'ning day.
Pulses rushing! Faces flushing!
Heartbeats speed up! I have never been so keyed up!

Kentucky Horse Park

So we finally got around to doing the right thing here.. we went to the Kentucky Horse Park, to see... HORSES!!!!

Jokes apart, the one person who was thrilled to bits by the entire thing was Aditi. She had her first pony ride on a gentle little fella called Copper. After the first circuit of the paddock, she didn't even want me to hold on to her. And she sang about the horse in Old McDonald's farm all along! She was so tickled by the entire thing she laughed all the time. Now she doesn't want her appa to get her a 'Miyya Tom'.. she'd rather have 'Baby hoss'..

The highlight of our trip was the parade of the horses, with riders in period costumes. Quite a show. The first picture in this grid is of Aditi watching the horses with rapt attention.

The other highlight of the trip was that Pa got to see 'Secretariat'... Time magazine's 'Horse of the Century'.. not the actual equine.. a bronze statue!

Pa was totally tickled at seeing lots of Secretariat memorabilia in the thoroughbred museum.

As I blog, there's this little bundle of energy running around at hop speed making 'clip-clop' noises and snorting like her friend Copper.....

This one's cuter :)

Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is the largest restored Shaker community, with 2900 acres of farmland and 34 restored 19th-century buildings. It is a living history museum where the tangible reminders of an extraordinary life are preserved.

We took a lovely hour long ride in a restored paddle boat, the "Dixie Belle" along the picturesque Kentucky River. We passed some scenic spots and charming riverside homes. There was hardly any current along the river, and it's apparently because the river bed is all rock, beepest part being some 35 feet. I didn't get the funda, but... (fanfare, please) .. there's your utterly useless fact of the day!

Started in the early 18th century, the Shakers were an offshoot of the Quakers that originated in England. The Shakers were strict believers in celibacy, and maintained their numbers through conversion and adoption. Once boasting six hundred thousand adherents, today there are only four Shakers. They live somewhere in the mountains of Maine. I found this nice write up in Wikipedia.

These pics were taken in and around the Shaker Village. Volunteers dress up in traditional Shaker costumes.

The highlight of our visit was the Apple harvest. We bought a large paper bag, and were let loose in the apple orchards to fill the bag and our tummies too. We had a blast picking apples. Aditi joined in the fun and decided to have her lunch right off the tree!

Natural Bridge Park and Chimney Rock@Red River Gorge

We all had a really enjoyable drive down to natural bridge park, 2 hours southeast of Lexington. We passed horsefarms (big surprise) and duckponds on our way there.

Natural Bridge park has a natural rock bridge in it... hehehe... how lame!

The rock bridge is sandstone. But apparently this stands on a limestone layer. The park ranger wasn't able to explain the funda of that phenomena. I guess I'll ask Adeeti!

We went up to the top of the ridge in a chairlift. Aditi loved the ride! Once there we had to trek for a bit. First we trekked over the bridge and under it. Then we trekked to a viewpoint on the other side of the ridge from where we had a panoramic view of the Natural Rock bridge.

The collage above? From top right: that's the ridge across from the natural bridge from where I have taken the other pics of the Natural Rock Bridge.

The collage below.. the top two pictures are pics of the underbelly of the bridge, taken from beneath the bridge. The picture in the bottom right is of the chairlift. The bottom left pic is one of my favourites. We had to walk through this really narrow gap to get to the underside of the bridge. And as we were debating whether our ..(ahem) selves... could get through that crack in the rock, Aditi stood there as if calling to us to just come and get in there!

After that we drove down to the Red River Gorge. All these, by the way, are a part of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Since there was more hiking involved, and the stroller wasn't really an option in the woods, we decided to skip the actual gorge and take a trip to the Chimney Rock.

By the time we got there, Aditi was fast asleep, and Pa offered to stay in the car with her. So Ma, Gowra and I walked the short distance to he lookout point. In the college below, the middle pic in the first row is of Chimney Rock. The rest are just scenic pics shot there.

I saw pretty dasies growing in the rock. Not that you can make out anything in the first pic (top row left). Then there's us mopping up after a hike. And there's my little one looking so cute on her first ever hike!

More DC pics

After queuing for over an hour, we got into the capitol, but didn't get to see the galleries because the senate was in session.

View from the very top (of the Washington monument). Clockwise from top left: 1. the Jefferson Memorial, 2. Lincoln memorial, the reflecting pool and the WWII Memorial, 3. The White House and 4. The Mall all the way to the Capitol

The LincolMemorial, WWII memorial and the Washington Monument.

I really wanted to walk down all the way down the reflecting pool from the Lincoln memorial to the Washington Monument, but the seniormost and the juniormost in our group started to show signs of fatigue. I had brought along bread for the ducks there!

Wait a minute!!!! No one showed me Watergate!!! I want my money back!!

Aditi in lots of poses!

Washington DC

So after a lot of deliberation we finally got our collective butts to the capital, Washington DC. After a fairly uneventful flight, and a quick checkin, I got everybody packed and bundled off the Smithsonian museum of Natural History.

We gave ourselves a good half day to look around and take in the sights. I don't think we missed a single exhibit! Aditi loved the elephant in the rotunda... right after she made her wish list for her birthday, New Year, deepavali and any other occasion....

All she wants are the "Hope Diamond" (left) and Marie Antoinette (below) diamond ear-rings.

I don't really want to say "high hopes.. " but....










The Jurassic display was amazing!


The highlight of my visit to the National Air and Space Museum was seeing the 'Spirit of St Louis'. Aditi loved exploring the aircrafts there and telling her grandfather all about "baby's plane".


We took a 2 day 'Grand Tour' of DC covering all the "Patel" points. On our tour we met with the Reurs, a sweet couple from Arizona, who were celebrating their 55th Anniversary. Elvera Rauer, who was born in Eastern Europe is an author. She told us about her escape from the Nazi armies and how her mother and her siblings landed in New York in '49 to start a new life. She showed me pictures of her nine grandchildren and her two great-granddaughters.



We went to the Ford theater, and saw the box where Lincoln (who was, by the way, born in Kentucky) was shot.
These dolls are the craze at all tourist-traps. Talking dolls of presidents and other assorted politicians.

The Jefferson Memorial (left) and Korean War Memorial (below)

We also visited Mt Vernon, the home of the first president, George Washington. I can't find the pics that (I think) I took there. Then we drove around the old town of Alexandria where our tour guide pointed out places of interest, George Washington's home, another ofGeorge Washington's homes, George Washington's some relation's home, George Washington's school, George Washington's church ad nauseum! My dad finally got fed up and asked me if there was anything else to do with George Washington in the next day's tour! He was relieved when the next landmark was something to do with Confederate General Robert E Lee. I think had had his fill of good old George! We also drove past the Arlington Cemetary.

Miscellaneous pictures

Other places around Lexington

Visit to Berea, the Arts and Craft capital of Kentucky

Berea is a charming town an hour's drive from Lexington. We passed lots of (what else) horse farms on our way there. I'm kind of hitting a saturation point with horses here. But I did see cows in one pasture. I have this doubt whether they are brought out on Derby day to make some of the non-performing horses look good!

Berea was full of handicraft and antique stores. Candle-making, quilting, stained glass, fused glass, glass jewelry, weaving and quilting studios dominate the little town. There's even an art college where attempts are on to revitalise fading arts and crafts. Did I forget to mention that Berea's a shopper's paradise too? Quaint little shops with the most amazing collection of knick-knacks and antiques! My credit card wanted to swipe for the most amazing quilt made with over 8,000 patches of fabric, but I had to put my foot down. My poor suitcase insisted that it possibly couldn't carry all that! I loved some awesome stained glass sun-catchers. But for the pain of transporting it!

Even Pa found something to his taste in Berea. See these thingies, they are made of recycled inner tubes. They are (supposedly) arty type of pins. It's not the Arty part of it that appealed to him anyway... hehehe...

Visit to Woodford Reserve Distillery at Glenn's creek

The distillery

sour mash under fermentation









copper vats

How could I be in Kentucky, and not see where and how Bourbon is made? Gowri drove us to Glenn's Creek, where Woodford Reserve is distilled. A charming distillery that blends into the surroundings beautifully in a picturesque vale. We had a nice tour of the old fashioned distillery where the mash is still distilled through three copper kettles. We saw the entire process starting from grain measures and cooking of the mash to bottling. But since we visited on a Sunday, when the law says that Kentucky stays dry, all we could do was sniff. No samples. How tragic... Ate lots of the bourbon candy samples and picked up a few as gifts.

Frankfort, KY

Gowra took us on a drive to Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky one evening. This is the Capitol. I expected the capital to be a larger place, but it was a small quiet town along the river.

We even saw a paddleboat!

This is the flower clock. The minute hand is 20 feet long and supposedly moves almost a foot to mark the minute!

And what's Kentucky's motto??

'Unbridled Spirit'.. with an abstract of a horse in motion!

Enough horsing around already!

Jacobson Park, Lexington

These Pictures were taken at Jacobson Park in Lexington. More than the well designed play area, Aditi is totally fascinated by ducks.

We see ducks where ever we happen to be in Lexington! By common consensus, we have decided to carry along duck food as well as baby food whenever we set out on any outing!


This utterly charming park has a large lake (home to the gazillion docks), sprawling grounds, and a lovely kids play area! If the weather is fine, we have plans to go boating in the lake some weekend.

What does Aditi remember best about the outing to the park? The utterly fearless goose that walked up to her and took a biscuit out of her hand!

I can't help falling in love with..

... NEW YORK. Clichéd as it sounds, I was totally floored by my visit to the Big Apple! It was like falling in love again... first time of course being with 'Death By Chocolate' at good old Corner House!

Manhattan is totally awesome. That place has an energy that's totally infectious! 15 minutes into Manhattan and all my fatigue and jetlag were forgotten. I was infused with a sudden burst of energy that left my folks and Murali uncle zapped. Aditi, the sweetheart that she is, kept up with my enthusiasm!

We started out with a visit to see the dame with the torch. Only ma and I had any enthu to walk up the pedestal and take in the view. After that it was off on a train to downtown Manhattan. The train from Jersey City took us straight to Ground Zero.

What happened at the WTC four years ago was a tragedy, but seeing that desolate hole in the ground in person did something to me. Somehow seeing it in person, standing that and seeing a big crater on the ground and skyscrapers all around, and the flags around flying at half mast made the horror and the sheer magnitude of the tragedy very real.

After that we all grabbed a bite and walked to the Empire State Building. Crappy part of it was that we stood in queues and went through all sorts of security checks only and finally got to the ticket counter after nearly an hour only to be told that visibility from the observation deck was zero. I hate cloudy weather!

So we navigated our way out of there and headed to Time Square. I asked Axe to meet me there. And he was annoyed that I stopped for a moment to take a picture of something. Apparently that makes me a "tourist" . Wow.... i guess that's a complete faux pas! How could I do something so thoroughly clumsy or inconsiderate!!! So native New Yorkers may now think of me as a 'tourist'. Damn... I brought that on myself!

I decided to call it a day after that, and just try to catch up on sleep. And I convinced my folks that we should go back there again the next day, and that's just what we did. But what with getting Aditi ready and taking a train to the big apple from NJ, we didn't get there till almost noon.

This time we played it better and took one of those hop-on-hop-off-tours. That was a really good call, imho. We got to the top of the empire state buildings, where dad took lots of videos (I really have no clue why), and Aditi was fast asleep. I take my daughter to the top of the world and she falls asleep...... those certainly aren't MY genes.

And then we spent better part of the afternoon on the bus seeing all the 'Patel points'. I was totally kicked at the sheer number of buildings with Art Deco trimmings. Some of the older ones, especially like the NY Public Library were really ornate. I never thought New York had that many old-fashioned buildings trimmed with scrollwork. And the guide on the tour bus was a bit of an architecture buff, and he pointed out some really lovely examples. We saw Greenwish village, Lower East Side, Wall Street, Time Square and other assorted 'must see' points of on interest.

The evening tour was great. Boy, does Manhattan light up pretty! We were driven over the bridge to Brooklyn, to see the lights of Manhattan.

Seriously though, I could spend a week in Manhattan and still not see all there is! I didn't get to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That was the one thing I really wanted to see! So maybe on my way back Singy I will..... This is one place I wish I could come to and explore it on my own. I could leave Aditi with Arun and come over to NY and explore and enjoy it to the hilt. Sigh.... total wishful thinking!

Pics?? definitely.... when I get around to downloading them. No enthu for that right now

Musings from Kentucky

All I could see from the window as the plane descended towards Lexington was lots of grassy paddocks and lots of horses! Imagine seeing that many horses.

It was great seeing Gowra after such a long time. This place is quite pretty. After all the highrises of Singy, a residential area where I can't hear traffic, where the houses are spaced wide apart, where there's no bright light shining thru windows late into the night, this is really strange! Which is why I'm awake all odd hours updating my blog.

And bear with me, people, about the word verification before posting comments. Got too much spam lately, so enabled that.

Off to spend a month with sis

It's been a totally hectic couple of weeks. I still havent figured out which way is up. But finally am off tomorrow on a nice holiday, and spend a month with Gowra..... Aditi is going to miss Arun like crazy. I just hope she doesn't cry too much at the airport! More blogging from the US.

Why ARE Men Happier?

Men Are Just Happier People- What do you expect from such simple creatures?

Your last name stays put.The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park.

Car Mechanics tell you the truth.The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another petrol station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay.

Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress £3000. Tux rental £10. People never stare at your chest when you are talking to them. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected. New shoes don't cut, blister,or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A 5 day holiday requires only one suitcase .

You can open all of your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is £5.00 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public.

You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original colour. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe even decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.You can play with toys all your life. Your belly usually hides your big hips.

One wallet and one pair of shoes one colour for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter what how your legs look. You do your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

Thanks, Tina... this was a great start to the day. Enjoy folks, and have a good laugh.

A weekend of movies

Mangal Pandey - The Rising

We managed to watch it this weekend. I'd say not bad at all. With all the hype I expected more. The movie could have done very well without Rani Mukherjee and Amisha Patel. Two of the songs too could have been taken out.

Why is Bollywood so fixated with a love-interest for every protagonist? The two so called leading ladies were strictly decorative. And totally irrelevant to the plot!

If you're planning to watch it, ignore all the hype. A good evening's timepass.

Must Love Dogs

Soumya and I decided to spare our other-halves the agony of a chick-flick and went to watch must love dogs. I loved it. It was quite hilarious, deals with the perils of internet dating. Funniest part was, it was just the 2 of us in the theatre! It was good watching a nice chick-flick after ages. Christopher Plummer and Stockard Channing are just great. And Dermot Mulrooney is getting old.....

I really wouldn't call it a romantic comedy. It's funnier than it is romantic. The romance fizzles where it should sizzle.

Not great or fantastic... but total relaxing timepass.

Betrayal

I managed to drag Arun to watch Harold Pinter's 'Betrayal'. Lucky for us we got seats right at the front of the theatre. The play was marvellous. Shabana Azmi was totally understated, but the star of the show was definitely Simon Jones. He was incredible funny as Robert. Total Brit style stiff upper lip and all that. Totally hilarious!

I guess this wasn't really Arun's cup of tea as far as entertainment goes. Until Aditi is old enough to go with me, I'll try to go with Soumya for any theatre productions. If I get lucky, Nayeem might even make biriyani for post-theatre supper..... so much wishful thinking!

Got around to uploading pics

To those of you who aren't quite that bored with pics from our totally predictable lives, here you go.

These are some pics taken on Aditi's birthday and at her party.
As usual no one got around to taking a decent pic of me with Aditi.

Aditi's first day at playschool. My little baby is growing up too fast

A quick count

I got this really funny optical illusion thingie in the mail today. I don't know if the animation is likely to work here, but its worth a try. So are there 12 or 13 men in the picture??

PS: no, it doesn't work. Can anyone tell me if there are any findas about using .GIF files in a blog?

Happy Birthday Aditi

Aditi is another year older. She's all of two years old. Seems it was just yesterday that I took her in my arms for the first time. Seems like it was just yesterday that she turned over, crawled, sat up, stood, walked for the first time. How time flies...

So another birthday came and went without my being able to carry out half of what I had planned. Suff happens.