Winter Flora and Fauna

The cold has been pretty brutal this year, mostly because we have hardly seen any sunshine. What should have been a cheery first post in the new year actually got to the finish line only because I had done my homework in the last month itself, when the sun was still out and the year-end festive feels kept up my mood somehow.

Indian Pioneer butterfly 🦋

All the creatures you see here have long disappeared due to the intense cold, fog and sunless days. So have the flowers...

But just a month back the skies were so clear and blue, that it appeared every creature was in celebratory mode. Including our national bird, that gave us quite a few grand appearances on our evening walks.

Proud peacock 🦚

While our chrysanthemums were blooming, this fellow would appear almost every day to bask in the sunshine. But once the weather turned grey and bleak, the poor guy turned black and sluggish, trying to warm itself on our front porch.

Garden gecko 🦎

I was intrigued by the colour of its wings, and initially mistook it for a bumblebee variety. Till I discovered it's real identity and saw it furiously collecting nectar from whatever blossoms it could find.

Carpenter bee 🐝

Finally a glimpse of our Lohri bonfire this year to beat the cold. Was a very short window of relief but we made good memories.

Praying for the sun to be out soon and for the soul-withering cold to abate.

Enjoying Fairs & Forts

 

No posts in the last two months all thanks to the hectic festive season during which both major festivals - Durga Puja and Diwali - were thoroughly enjoyed. Now with the festive frenzy of behind us, and the children keeping busy with college and exams, we as a couple are finally finding some time together again. 

In these last two months of the year, as the year winds down, it is time to enjoy some selective pleasures. So the anniversary was spent at a well-organized local fair.

Felt great to be out on a sunny day and feel the mela vibes after a long time. Then about a month later we finally visited the iconic Red Fort in Delhi. 

That turned out to be a great trip too as we packed in the art biennale on at the premises. We finished off the trip with a short walk down famous Chandni Chowk to savour some jalebi rabri and soak in the purani Dilli vibes.

Red Fort & Chandni Chowk 

Hope to repeat this with the next gen in tow soon.

Going Organic - Part 8

 

Writing an organic farming post after a long gap but today I will focus on summer vegetables that are easy to grow. And both of these can very easily be grown in containers, so are a blessing for balcony gardeners. 

The best part is that you do not require any special seeds or starters; just sourcing from your kitchen at the beginning of the season (around March-April) will ensure you have a steady produce in autumn (September-October).

Colocasia

This root vegetable (also called arbi/kochu) has giant leaves resembling elephant ears, and can be a showpiece for the garden all year round. The fresh leaves that come aplenty during the rains can also be steamed and made into a scrumptious side dish (patod/paturi/pathrodu). You can find an easy recipe here.

Colocasia or Elephant ears 

After the first season make sure to remove the produce, cut down the leaves, and replant the colocasia. They multiply easily and quickly; remember the more plants you have, the more produce you get. I had about four-five plants and got half a kilo arbi at one go.

Half the total produce

Bitter Gourd

On spotting well-formed seeds in some karela I bought from the market at the beginning of summer, I planted them on a whim just to see if they take root. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

'Karela' blooms 

Occasional rains ensured that the plants grew quickly, and by the second week of August we started getting flowers and the first batch of bitter gourd.

Five in one go!

Bitter gourd leaves have such a beautiful shape that I love incorporating them in my artwork. Of course, there are other creatures that seem to love this vegetable too! 

My garden of Eden!

So keep an eye out for infestation and spray pesticides if required. Adding NPK mix to the soil in the beginning ensures a good crop.

Happy gardening!

Frangipani Fiesta

When we moved house four-and-a-half years back, I had to leave behind a few pots due to paucity of space. The yellow frangipani was one of them. 

The old yellow frangipanis

A cutting of the same I planted on ground in our new abode did not take well to the new soil and developed fungi, spoiling soon after.

The large fungi at the base of the yellow frangipani 

To make up for the loss, the hubby planted a stem of white frangipani taken from the neighbour's garden. 

The white frangipani 

A year later I got another cutting of a red frangipani from a cousin. This year they both flowered well, thanks to the abundant rains.

The red frangipani 

In case you are wondering why I'm inclined to call the good old Champa as the frangipani, well I admit I find this name rather exotic. This plant that adds a touch of regality to the garden comes in many colours, is native to south-east Asia, and is also called the plumeria. But the best part - it is hardy and easy to transplant. 

Of Happy Endings...

 

This post is surely about happy endings. And perhaps, new beginnings... After all, endings and beginnings do go hand in hand.

But let me start at the very beginning. In mid-February, a pair of purple sunbirds built their nest on a hanging hen chime in our patio. While we watched in anticipation, the obvious never happened. For sometime in March, amidst a spate of untimely thunderstorms, the sunbirds disappeared and wouldn't return to the nest. I'm assuming (from whatever little footage we could see via our CCTV) that a bigger nocturnal bird attacked their nest.

Then again in May the purple sunbirds came back. After diligently repairing the nest, the pair started raising a brood. And this time three little chicks magically appeared one day in June.

Within a couple of weeks, with the parent birds' due care and nurturing, the triplets grew quickly. From pink blobs of flesh with eyes closed, they turned into beautiful little chicks with soft yet strong wings, yellow beaks, and the most shiny black eyes.

The nest suddenly became full of activities - the parent birds' coming and going multiple times as they brought food and groomed their babies, the chicks scrambling over each other in their eagerness to get ahead, and plenty of cheeps as the siblings moved around, perhaps flapping their new-found wings.

And before we realised, on the last morning of June, all three of them flew out, one after another. We could catch only one of them in flight, on camera.

It was the happiest and most heartwarming sight to watch the sunbird chicks take wing. With their pretty plumage all bright, the chicks flew away to new beginnings.

We marvelled at the intricacies of nature, and at how clean these tiny birds had left the nest. As we became empty nesters, albeit with our hearts full! ❤️❤️❤️

May Musings

May was a month of many firsts... For starters, it didn't feel like summer at all as occasional spells of rain mostly kept the temperatures bearable. In fact May was so cool that it mimicked the spring weather of March. Even the blossoms got confused, with lilies and chrysanthemums blooming together in our front lawn!

The pleasant weather also brought back the sunbirds. One fine morning they returned to the nest, repaired it, and refocused on their original plans of starting a family. So far, so good.... the birds are still active at the time of writing this post.

The daughter surprised everyone with her superb scores in the school-leaving exams. And then we turned adversity (daughter's entrance exam centre at the other end of Delhi) into opportunity (as a morning slot ensured we'd be free early), and gallivanted around town to some of our favourite places. 

The quacking ducks and their fuzzy yellow chicks stole our hearts, of course! As we relieved some precious moments from the past...

All in all, a pleasant month full of good memories. 

When Climate Plays April Fools

 

First day of April, balmy weather, and a relaxing Saturday.... just too good to be true! Well yes, as the evening seemed straight out of apocalypse. Read on to know what happened...

This was our garden in the morning, full of spring blossoms and produce. As the son had finished his college exams, he headed out to the gym in the early evening. While the hubby and I went out to wrap up some chores and pick some stuff. Dark clouds were gathering so I hurriedly put in an umbrella in my bag before moving out.

In the next half hour, we got caught in a furious squall with gale-force winds and accompanying hail. The hailstorm lasted for about 15 minutes, with icy stones pelting our spring garden, destroying our lilies and many other plants, while the lawn looked like there had been snowfall.

Hubby and I waited it out at the local bus stop, thankfully protected from the battering by the human wall standing around (we were seated). We later walked home through a steady drizzle and inundated roads. Hubby used the umbrella while I covered my head and neck with a stole. Both of us had shoes soaking wet when we reached home. Son booked a ride home on a bike to avoid the swirling waters. Daughter, who was managing the home front alone, reported mild indoor flooding.

The episode was quite a lesson for all of us. Climate change is real, and here to stay. Such unpredictable weather is going to be the norm rather than the exception. And it can occur any time, anywhere. So mentally we must be prepared and thinking on our feet all the time. Tough times! And yes, April Fooled by the elements.