Perfect Drop

Spring is finally here and since the daylight saving time has changed the evenings are bright and balmy.

Miss Haana and I went for a walk after dinner in our neighborhood. We headed first towards the gazebo facing the lake. Played around for a little bit and then walked next to the lake; along a pathway lined with tidy bushes. As we were walking by suddenly a cat raced through the bushes, scared both of us and ran away. After we realized what happened, we both laughed at ourselves. The cat turned around and looked at us from a safe distance in dismay.

A couple ducks came by towards us in a hurry. Probably expecting dinner from us, but were soon to be disappointed. The little girl looked over at them and said "Hi duckie!" Ducks turned away disappointed and Miss Haana mused "Why didn't it say quack-quack?" 

All along Miss Haana had been picking up dry leaves from the ground and handing them out to me for safe keeping. I may be partly to be blamed for this. Earlier in the fall when beautiful red and golden leaves were beginning to fall off the trees, she and I collected bags full of colorful leaves. They were later dried, sealed and converted into an art-and-craft project. I tried telling her these leaves were now too dry, but soon realized it was not the winning side. 

So I kept holding the dry leaves she was handing out to me. Occasionally she would check to make sure I'm keeping them safe. When we were heading back towards home I wondered what to do with this bunch of dry leaves in my hand. I thought of leaving them on a bench and wondered if she will remember them just before turning to our lane and demand I get them back...

Such situations can be tricky!! We slowly ambled on.

Finally, now on the last leg just a few houses away, I quietly slipped the leaves from my hand away behind my back. And as we turned inside the door I heaved a sigh of relief when the topic of the leaves did not come up..

Unfriendly Neighborhood Ducks

The ducks in our neighborhood are not the friendly kind. That's what I learnt the other day:

I looked out from the living room window one evening and saw two ducks crossing the front yard gate. Evening stroll. I immediately jumped up. So far Suhaana has only seen ducks from afar on the lake. But here they are on the front gate, this was different!

I called out to the little girl and opened the door to show her the ducks on the front gate. I didn't even have a chance to put her slippers on and she was gone!

She ran behind the ducks, who seemed mildly amused but kept a few feet's safe distance. But my little girl was too excited to pay heed to that. She ran behind them and pointed an excited finger at them: "Duck! Duck!".

The ducks were slowly moving to keep a constant few feet's distance with the pesky child. But the little baby was persistent! She ran behind them for a long distance. When they quacked, she even quacked back at them to initiate familiarity. "Quack quack!" she shouted! I ran behind the three of them (two ducks and a little girl) laughing at the cuteness of it all.

Evidently the ducks didn't appreciate the intrusion, and eventually realized they can't shake off the child so they flew away. Poor Suhaana kept calling "Hey Ducks! Ducks!" after them but they were gone. Mumma had to console the baby the ducks have gone to bed, and now it's the baby's turn; and returned home.

Friendly ducks they were not!

Hidalgo The Beautiful Horse

I saw the movie Hidalgo yesterday- a friend of mine privy to my ardent appreciation of Mr. Vigo Mortensen and also of horses was nice enough to lend the DVD.

I liked the movie. The details about the actual race were okay. But I loved the horse. I loved the part where in the end, the cowboy comes back and buys all the Indian's horses and frees them all. There's something about an unbridled wild horse that to me embodies the spirit of freedom (both mental and physical), and beauty. Maybe it represents a life I want to have but don't. Maybe it's just a myth and none of us really live a life of truly being free of our demons, vices, inhibitions and fears. And then I see these beautiful animals running free - mostly on screen but once in real - and that's what they represents to me. That something that beautiful actually exists.

While watching the movie it brought to mind two things -
One being my agenda of having Suhaana learn horse riding maybe when she's three (have to check minimum required age). This is the part where I thrust all my unfulfilled aspirations on Suhaana. And I need to do that before she's old enough I have a voice and say no! Well, she is already there in some ways. But I actually think she'll enjoy it as well. She loves the outdoors. She likes the animals she's known so far - dogs, ducks, cats. She was curious about the giraffe we saw at zoo last week. So I'm hopeful she'll like it.

The other thought was a moving target. I started wondering how do we want to bring up Suhaana. Should she grow up closer to nature than to TV. Should she grow up closer to amenities and interactions or some place more serene and slower - so she has time to know herself before getting on any group bandwagon. But what are the skills she needs to have to live in the world today and or tomorrow. Is it love of nature or is it the ability to network in an ever inter-connected web of social life? I wonder..