Belief

This happened yesterday.

Angel said something which I am not able to recall now and I responded by saying, “Okay, I believe you”

After some time when she was ready for her dinner,

Me: Did you wash your hands?

Angel: Yes, I did

Me: with soap?

Angel: Yes

Me: Are you sure?

Angel: Yes Mama, you said you believe me

This was said in a very good humored way but that little statement from my little one forced me to think. Sometimes, its not enough to say good things, you really have to mean what you say, especially to your children. They might not judge you, but are observing you and your actions nonetheless and in turn, shaping their personalities! Incidents like this makes me realize that parents have such a huge responsibility of molding the future generations.

The 100 Books Pact 60/100

51/100 After You( Me Before You Series, Book # 2) by Jojo Moyes

This is a series of 2 books (I don’t know if we can call it a series if it has only 2 books). So I read the second one first (not knowing that it’s second) and I could easily make out that it’s a sequel to something. However, fortunately, I had seen the movie “Me Before You”, long back that I faintly remembered, which happens to be based on its prequel and I could connect the dots. So Lou Clark is all lost after the death of Will Traynor. She is doing a job which she has no interest in. She survives the fall from her terrace and gets to meet Will’s daughter, Lily, the existence of whom was unknown to Will himself. She also meets Sam Fielding along with a couple of other characters. I appreciated how Lily challenged Lou to move on without feeling guilty and Sam for teaching her how to love again.  It’s an emotionally charged story about healing and learning to move on after a painful loss. 

52/100 Me Before You (Book # 1) by Jojo Moyes

As mentioned above, I had seen the movie based on this book, so I already knew the plot, I still decided to read it as the characters were still fresh in my mind. This is a story of two individuals, Louisa Clark and Will Traynor, who meet each other by chance and change each other’s lives forever. After an accident Will is left in a wheelchair with no hope of recovery. Lou gets fired from her job and is looking for a new one. Will’s mother is looking for a caretaker for Will who can keep him company, make him see the beauty of life and hired Lou for this job. After that memorable first day, she and Will start to get used to each other and even on occasion opening up a bit one with the other. And what follows after that is a series of outings with Will, to try and make the 6 months that he has left as memorable as possible.

It lovely. And Sad. And full of life. And frustrating. And heart breaking!

53/100 Third Class in Indian Railways and Other Essays by Mahatma Gandhi – I had never read Mahatma Gandhi until this. It’s an interesting peek into Gandhi’s early thoughts. This book is a compilation of 6 essays on various things like travelling third class, non-violence, swadeshi and his dressing style. It’s written almost 100 years ago there has been no drastic change in the third class of Indian Railways. Do read it once to have a picture of what pre modern India looked like.

54/100 The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 2) by Ellie Griffiths

After reading the first book in the series The CrossingPlaces (Book # 30/100), I wanted to read more about Dr Ruth Galloway and her adventures. I had placed a hold for this one long back and finally got to lay my hands upon it after 2 months of wait. So as soon as I got this one, I placed a hold for the next one in the series until I finished 8 books. I was obsessed with Ruth at one point in time, she was the last thought that came to my mind at the end of the day and also the first one next morning. So coming back to The Janus Stone, I still liked the main characters, Ruth, DCP Nelson and the quirky Cathbad. This time Ruth is investigating the body of a young girl, found dead in the old house. She also finds herself pregnant.

The plot has many layers, is quite intricate as it twists and turns upon itself and is fun to read.

55/100 The House at Sea’s End (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 3) by Ellie Griffiths

I absolutely loved this one. The plot is fascinating ant the characters empathetic. Ruth is just back from her maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter. How she struggles as a single parent along with the mystery dated in 1940s with a background of WW 2 forms the essence of the book.

56/100 A Room Full of Bones (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 4) by Ellie Griffiths

We are at Book 4 and this is the weakest book of the series. So far. The first half is too long and dull going on about the exploration of Australia and the aboriginal holy relics. In the second half, the pace picks up. As usual there is humor and mysticism.

57/100 A Dying Fall (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 5) by Ellie Griffiths

This was an enjoyable read where the setting changes to Blackpool where Nelson was born and raised. And coincidentally, Ruth has to travel there with now 18 month old Kate to investigate the death of her college friend Dan. There are several new characters while a few old ones like Clough and Judy have minor roles. It had plenty of suspects and actual danger for some of the characters. My heart skipped a beat when Cathbad had that nasty fall! I thought I had the culprit figured, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I was wrong.

58/100 The Outcast Dead (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 6) by Ellie Griffiths

In this book a woman gets accused of killing her own child and at the same time Ruth has discovered the body of who they think is notorious Mother Hook who was hanged 1867 accused of killing children. The story revolves around the two center plot lines. Cathbad is my favorite character in the series. There is a major positive development for some of the characters and I was so happy for them as if I really know them. The pace never lets up and I couldn't put it down. I thoroughly enjoyed it and never guessed the perpetrator at all. 

59/100 The Ghost Fields (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 7) by Ellie Griffiths

In this book, during the clearing of a field in preparation for development, a World War Two era plane is discovered. The surprise is the body in the cockpit. For further details about the body, I refer you to the book, but I also suggest you begin with the first book in the series. I missed Cathbad in this one, however we see more depth in other charters, one of them being DS Clough. I loved this book until I read the ending. I thought Ruth was a fool for not accepting Frank’s offer to move to the UK. Why Ruth, why?!

60/100 The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway Mystery Series, Book # 8) by Ellie Griffiths

I think by now I am growing pretty tired with Ruth. Her belittling herself for being old, unattractive and fat, so many times is getting on my nerves. Also archaeology has taken a back seat to religion in this one. It’s not preachy, just historical with a sub plot with women priests. There is also a major revelation and I hope that there is a resolution to this relationship triangle. There is one more book in the series which is not available in my library at the moment. I will still read the next book to find a closure. I don’t like to give up on characters I was so fond of once!

Science # 2

A lot of my friends have been asking about the silence on my blog, which means that at least some one is reading it J  They also asked me about the activities that I have been doing with Angel these days and since its winter time again we have been doing quite a few of them, so here I am listing some of the science activities that we have been enjoying lately. As always, my motto is that it should be done with minimal ingredients and time.

1.      Water, Salt & Glue Painting – In this Art+Science activity we explored colors & absorption. It basically requires glue, salt, water colors, card stock or construction paper (we used a chart paper which we had in hand already) and droppers. So start with creating designs using glue on to the paper. Sprinkle generous amount of salt until the glue is covered with salt properly.           
        

Now using the droppers add paint onto it and watch the thrilling process of how far the water colors spread as they are absorbed by salt.       
                 

While this is not a “forever” project as the salt will crumble and come off the glue when dry, Angel had fun during the process which is what is more important!

2.     Slime – We had been to a science exhibition a few months back where we learnt how to make slime and Angel had such fun with it. So we decided to try it at home. For making slime add 1-1.5 tbsp of borax powder in 1 cup of water. 
           

Pour the amount of glue as per the amount of slime you wish to make and add the food color. Pour the water+borax mixture into the glue slowly and keep stirring. 
            

     You will notice that the slime will start to form almost immediately. Pour the water solution as per the desired consistency and store them in zip lock bags for later use.

3.     Borax ornaments – Because of the huge pack of Borax powder procured for making slime and I am not sure what to do with that, we did some activities which called for Borax Powder. So we made the crystallized icicle ornaments. It was fascinating to watch the icicles form. This experiment requires borax powder, hot water, jar, spoon (for mixing water & borax) metallic pipe cleaners and cello tape.

Start by twirling the pipe cleaners around a pencil to give them a spiral shape. 

In the jar dissolve 9 tbsp of borax into 3 cups of very hot water. Stir the solution very well until its clear and the borax is thoroughly dissolved. The tape the pipe cleaners around the jar making sure that they don’t touch each other. 

Now you just have to wait. We left it overnight and this is what we got in the morning!

4.     Borax Paper Weights – Can also be called Crystallized Beach Rocks. For this we need smooth beach rocks,  borax, hot water, jars, spoons, liquid water colors (we used food colors mixed in water) and paint brushes/droppers. The science is similar to the above activity hence the proportions are similar. Add 9 tbsp of borax into 3 cups of very hot water until it’s dissolved properly. Lower the rocks into the jar using spoons ensuring that they don’t touch each other and leave them to do their thing. The next day you will find beautiful crystallized rocks, place them on the paper towels to dry.                  

             
      For coloring them we first tried with the usual paints and it didn’t work as expected, hence we tried with food colors mixed in water and the results were bright & impressive. We used paint brushes and droppers to paint. 
                               

Angel wanted multiple colors on her rocks and this is the end result. These beauties are lying on my office desk J

5.     Home Made Puffy Paints – This was the first time that we made paints at home and that too the ones that puff up when placed in the microwave.The paints require just 4 ingredients which are easily available in most of the kitchens – 1 tbsp self-rising flour (didn’t have it so used all-purpose flour/maida and baking powder), 1tbsp salt, food color and little bit of water. Combine the flour, salt, food color and add water bit by bit until you get the desired consistency (of stirred yogurt). 

    
      Now take some brushes and get creating on thick paper. When you are satisfied with the artwork, place it in the microwave for 30 seconds and watch it puff up.

  It will be warm while removing but completely set!

6.    Glitter Bottles – This one I saw in one of the fb videos and instantly loved it. They are also called “Calm Bottles” as they help reduce anxiety. I am not sure about that but we loved doing it as it was so much fun. It needs some bottles (duh)(we used the plastic refillable mineral water bottles, glass bottles/jars can be used too), food colors, glitter (glow in the dark glitter would be so cool, if you can find it) hot water and glue.

Fill the bottle 3/4^th of the way with hot water and rest with glue, mix, add food color, mix, add glitter, put the lid on, finally mix, sit back and watch with awe!

7.     Skittles – we also did this skittles activity, courtesy fb again. Though there is no science involved as such, it was a good way to teach her about all the artificial food colors and how we should avoid such things. We have not got skittles home after this activity, so yay! Arrange skittles towards the edge of a circular plate, pour hot water in the center until the water touches all the skittles and watch the beauty unfold.

I love science and so does Angel. And as mentioned before, she might not even be able to understand the science behind the things we do but just the fact that it makes her engaged, curious, observant and away from the screen is enough for me. It might not necessarily make her intelligent, but will definitely make her more rational. Also, importantly, it teaches failures. There were a couple of science fails that we had to encounter. We try to do with great enthusiasm, following all the steps, but somehow, somethings fail, something doesn’t react, something doesn’t change color and so forth. For example -

1.      Twisting the candy canes – I had seen a very cool video of twisting the candy canes, for which I had save 2 candy canes from Christmas and we tried it last month. We put it in the oven for 2 minutes, and some parts were overheated while some turned flaky though we could bend then to some extent. 

 Angel was extremely disappointed since she was waiting to try this since such a long time. It taught us to overcome the failure and we enjoyed and sucked the candy canes as they were.

2.     Oil, water, food color & aspirin – This is a very cool activity which was supposed to go like this, but our aspirin didn’t gave the similar effect. 

"We will try it with 2 aspirins next time" is what I said to Angel as we ran out of aspirins that day. We are yet to try it again but will surely do! It taught is that we can always try again, even a little differently.

3.     Dried apricot – Just as he had derived raisins from fresh grapes, Angel wanted dried apricots which she loves from the fresh ones. So we put them in the bowl but after a few days it caught fungus and we had to throw it. We later found out that apricots can be dried in a dehydrator machine. It taught us to do some research.

We try not to get discouraged by failures and look at the positive outcomes!