I visited a guava orchard.

On the outskirts of Gurgaon I visited a guava orchard …

it reminded me of the apple orchards back home….the difference is that it's the beginning of december and if I want to stroll around on an apple orchard in bloom in Sweden you have to do that in may-june and then they are harvested in september.

guava,pera or amrod are different names of this fruit and now it's harvest season so I see guava vendors   

wherever I look almost….I didn't know that you should eat the guava with black salt so when the vendor offered me some salt in a tiny little paperbag to go with the guavas I was surprised...

we did try it with salt just not black salt… I used my herb salt instead and it was good….

I love the smell of the guavas…I keep them out in a big fruit bowl and it kind of smells citrusy like….

hmmmm

but they do look like some kind of apple-pear fruit…if anyone wonders what I payed for a kg of guavas it was 40 rupees including the salt…alltså 4 kronor…ganska lagom tycker jag.

Hope you have a wonderful day dear reader !

In a green field outside of Gurgaon

I saw these magnificent nilgai's…

they are also known as the blue cows or even blue bulls…it's the males that are blueish-greyish…so this  is a female with a calf..nil means blue and gai means "cow" by the way...

I was actually surprised of how big they are when you come up close like this…the male can actually weigh up to 288 kg with a maximum of 308 kg…that's a big animal…the females weigh 100-218 kg….still big when you're standing next to them….

of course they got scared when clumsy me tried to sneak out into the field…but it was still so nice to see them up close in the greenery…

most of them where also camera shy….except for one….

We did sees some at the national park also but from far away…

Nilgai is actually the largest antelope in Asia…it's found throughout most of India…from the base of the Himalayas in the north down to the state of Karnataka in the south,being absent only in eastern Bengal,Assam, the Malabar coast and the regions close to Bay of Bengal.

I really need to get up close to a big blue bull…next time I'll put on my best moccasins !

A couple of hours at Janpath and Tibetan market.

yes today my mother and I spent a couple of hours at Janpath Tibetan market in Delhi….so much fun but at times the vendors where a little too much….I can only say that my pictures today is an explosion of colours…so hang tight…here comes colours and things and bling and….

we bargained good today, except from this man….I paid him what he asked….10 rupees for the peanuts I wanted.

First sunday of advent in the house of Susanna.

even though I'm are far away from "home" it doesn't mean that I can't stick to traditions…I just have to do with what I can find here…and some D.I.Y projects…

advent candleholder out of mango juice bottles (preferably empty), white paper and ribbon from all my shopping bags, stars made out of wrapping paper or again shopping bags…so much fun to make these stars…the christmas tree I bought of course…isn't it cute ?

when we where driving home from the national park I said " since we are so cold we really need go home and warm up the glögg…hahaha"….the AC was on and we where anything but cold….. a couple of hours later though

I lit the star in the window….and also the BIG one in one of the guest rooms

I turned on christmas music and started to prepare for….

glögg with almonds and raisin….and yes I had to make my own out of red wine, spices (cinnamon sticks,cardamom seeds,cloves and some sugar) and vodka ! (it actually turned out quite ok according to Mr M and Mrs S since I don't drink glögg)

gingerbread cookies with Danablue cheese and fig marmalade,gouda cheese, dades wrapped with bacon, christmas cookies and of course we did light the first candle….

I used cinnamon sticks instead of spoons ……..it wasn't easy to get the raisins and almonds out of the glass with those but they looked good and it made the glögg taste even better….

we did get a feeling of christmas coming along….next time I'm going to try and make white glögg out of apple juice !? sounds good ?

Sultanpur National Park

Today we went to Sultanpur National Park…which is about 20 kilometres from where we live…

and we all agreed that it was a different feel to the first sunday of advent….sunshine and about 28 degrees….

so nice to get out from the hustle and bustle of city life and walk into a really nice park with lots of wildlife…so hang on …I'm going to show you lots of pictures….

first birds we saw was a grey heron standing on one leg and a merganser drying his wings….på svenska en grå häger och en skrak !

then I met Mr BIG bull and his little friend a cattle egret….I moved closer to get this shot and I tell you Mr Bull wan't pleased…he gave me the evil eye so I moved away…

then we met a super winged plover…I guess…I'm not sure….sorry...

besides the big birds and animals I also spotted this little but big red dragonfly and

all these butterflies…..there where so many of these flying around…

then our driver showed me this tree, Babur ? ….it could be used a natural toothbrush…but he also showed me these bird nests which I wouldn't have found otherwise….I couldn't spot them until I was really up close…

some kind of sparrow….we guessed some kind of weaving sparrow…..

they looked like an upside down basket…

cool aren't they….I tried to spot the birds but I guess I scared them off ….

Mr and Mrs redwatted lapwing..I guess...

the blue kingfisher ….and well, I guess you see the cows..

I so liked this giant grass…it's at least 2 meters high…..

this little lizard was among the high grass…the straws…but again the main attraction at the park are the birds and they are amazing…

a painted stork family…mother and three young ones…

these below are different kinds of storks…there where so many of them ! ...whitenecked, adjutant and painted storks…..

a cool guy…the whitenecked stork

the sky was really different today depending on how I took the pictures….from grey and white to really blue….amazing……anyhow,the park is really worth a visit….we will go back for sure only next time we'll go earlier in the morning….they told us that some more migrating birds will be there within 2 weeks…so I guess we will be back at Christmas time !