Sankranthi celebrations, A dull snowy day and a lot of books #MondayMusings

I hope you have celebrated the festival Sankranthi with family. Indian festivals are the happiest times to meet friends, cook and eat great food, spend more time with family and carry on the old traditions.

 I have celebrated Sankranthi well by meeting some Indian friends and by eating and cooking good food. I miss India as I want to put a colorful rangoli with a lot of flowers and colors which I cannot do here as we are staying in a rented home, but I convinced myself by putting a small rangoli with chalk on our wooden floor. 

Traditional rangoli for Sankranthi

Traditional sweet 'Arisalu' for Sankranthi

Bhogipallu (Regupallu)/ Jujube fruits

We did a simple Pooja at home and I prepared Payasam (Indian sweet with milk and semiya) and Pulihora( A rice dish). We celebrated the tradition of putting 'Bhogipallu' for children on Bhogi, the first day of the festival. We usually put jujube fruits (Regu pallu) on kids' head along with pennies and flower petals on Bhogi evening. This is to avoid any ill effects(Buri Nazar) the kids might have. We do this to kids from the first year till they reach 5 years of their age. 

Many people display God's idols and traditional wooden toys as 'Bommala Koluvu' which is very good to see during this Sankranthi. We missed some important Indian food like 'Arisalu' but I don't even dare to attempt cooking them as you know, regular cooking itself is a big headache for me.

Kite flying tradition on Sankranthi

Fortunately, kids got a chance to fly kites.  They enjoyed the beautiful time with other kids.

So, that's how we celebrated the important festival in our Telugu household. 

Today, it is the third day of the festival 'Kanuma' and people having cows, decorate them and perform puja. 

Here, it is a snowy day and I am all huddled up at home watching Netflix, blogging, and reading books. Seems like a lazy day. The weather is very cool but the mountains near my home look great from our window with snow and fog. 

Sorry for this long post, but I want to share my current reading list as well. I have got a lot of variety this month, won't you agree? Looking forward to reading more books in January :-)

No Ordinary Girl by Cheryl Elaine #Crime #thriller
The mask beneath her face by Rafael Chandler #horror
It happens by Karan Sharma #RomanticComedy

The Adventures of Popcorn and Jelly bean by Robert Gillespe #Children'sbook

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins #thriller

How did you celebrate Sankranthi? If you don't celebrate, How was your new year celebrations? I would love to know. Have a Happy January. 

Until next time,

Linking this to #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne.

Also, Linking this to #ChattyBlogs hosted by Shanaya Tales.

Sand dunes under Snowy mountains - Alamosa, CO, USA

From childhood, I have associated sand dunes and desserts with hot, dry weather and snow with cool sub zero temperatures. Obviously,  I am wrong! See, they can co-exist. Sand dunes under snowy mountains. What a sight?

The great sand dunes national preserve

Nestled against the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the Great sand dunes national preserve which is in Southern Colorado has the North America's tallest dunes with 330 square mile deposit of sand. 

The Great Sand Dunes have been formed over thousands of years, as sand deposited by mountain streams and playa lakes on the San Luis Valley floor is carried in the form of small dunes by predominant southwest winds toward a low curve in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

With an elevation ranging from 7500 ft to 13000 ft, hiking the dunes gives a beautiful view of the mountains. We planned this weekend trip recently and this is the perfect place for kids to enjoy summer weather. We reached the park by 9 which is the best decision of the day as the end of may and June is the most crowded time to visit the park. Parking is very difficult to get after 10 am and the sand becomes hotter gradually. 

The dunes

Ensure that you stop by the visitor center to know about how these dunes are formed and also experience the stones and their properties. There is a 20 minutes video shown at the visitor center about the park. 

The sand is soft and so, it is not much strain on our feet. We enter the sand dunes through medano creek. This creek is the best place to chill out in summer with kids. As in a beach, water takes out sand below our feet while it passes. Water level is not high and so, safe for kids. After crossing the creek, we hiked the small and large sand dunes and slid through them. We can rent sand sleds at the visitor center. Sliding through the soft sand is an awesome experience.

Medano creek
pc:Google Image labelled for reuse 

We couldn't go very far as we have a 2 year old to manage but could hike a dune which took us to an elevation of 9000 ft. You can easily spend 2 hrs at the dunes. If you have more time, do visit Zapata falls to enjoy spectacular views of dunes. The road leading to Zapata falls is bad for a 2 mile stretch so it's better to drive by a vehicle with high ground  clearance. 

 If you have some more time and patience,  do try Montville loop trail which is a short, shady hike beside a small creek.

The drive between Colorado Springs and sand dunes is worth a mention too. It's beautiful with curved roads in the middle of mountains.

Drive to park

So, that's about our first vacation this summer, but please do follow my blog on more travelogues to enjoy scenic beauty of Colorado in the coming months.

Until next time,

Linking this to #Chattyblogs link up hosted by Shanaya. 

Dull weather, but a fun week

The last week was dull with rain and showers and less sunshine. I love watching the cloudy and misty mountains from our window but I hate missing my 30 mins walk due to the bad weather. It is spring here but there is no complete relief from cold weather.

The good thing about last week is that the dull weather didn't dampen my spirits.

 I started driving 4 wheeler and became official chauffeur to the family 😉

I went to library and got some interesting books to me and to kids.

Visited the magnum opus Bahubali 2. It was great but my expectations were still higher.

I planted seeds of marigold and cilantro, but i have to see if the cold, harsh weather let these saplings grow.

Tasted awesome soups in Panera bread and happy to find a good restaurant with tasty vegetarian options here.

Prepared blueberry muffins twice and I Thank God that my kids loved them.

Started reading a historical fiction 'Indus Challenge' which is great so far. I have 2 more good books lined up for next.

So, that's how my week went. 😊 How was yours? Join #Chattyblogs linkup hosted by Shanaya and share your random ramblings.

Linking this to #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne.

                    Until next time,