The Last Few weeks in pictures! & words!

Dinner & Movie with Friends!

The Last Few weeks in Pictures! & Words!

my 1st trip to Golden Temple, Amritsar.

Snowy - Sleeping under the Lemon Tree! :)

Sunshine on my Fingertips!

A New plant & favourite biscuits  - with Tea for us, and as a Treat for the pets!

Some Color!

New Velvet Plant Collection.

White-blue bush! Lovely, but name not-known.

The Weather lately - 4 pm on a Friday!
View from my office.

Champa flower & white-blue flower bush!
(for size ref.)

Get Together....to munch on some biscuits!

Eating, Talking and making NOISE!!! with friends!

The month so far has been super hectic, with WORK, Travelling ( I now travel 3 hours a day for work!), catching up with friends and generally being over-whelmed and busy :)

The highlight's DEFINITELY are:

1. My 1st ever trip to the Golden Temple and sight-seeing around Amritsar, Punjab.

~ This was also my 1st ever trip to Punjab, India!

2. Increase in Travel time from round trip of 1 hour to 3 hours. I now get to - catch up on calls with my friends at leisure, listen to radio and sing along :)

3. Learning new stuff at new workplace!!!

4. Talking, sharing, chatting, gossiping, learning, being merry  and positive and being motivated to LIVE a BETTER LIFE!

5. Spending Quality time with Friends :)

A SATISFYING FEW WEEKS :)

1st August

The weather this past week has been lovely - THE RAINS ARE HERE! Finally, a break from the heat spell. It hurt my heart to see my beautiful plants and trees wilting, or their leaves going brown coz of this heat!

The good news is the VELVET Flowers, the chillis plant and the 2 aubergine plants are doing well, green & growing :)

The grass we had sown/planted in the garden's bald patches have it SEEMS finally taken root and begun to grow again.

The HERB SEEDS we had planted mid-July have also begun to sprout (tiny) now! :)

All in ALL, id say, July-Aug seem to be good months in Gurgaon to sow and grow.

the only thing i need to figure out is - what nutrient do i need to put in the pots and garden so that the flowering increases, and the leaves decrease!!!

July-Hectic & planting

This has been a super hectic few weeks, in a conversation today with a dear friend (sonu), as i was sharing the sheer overwhelming no. of tasks on my plate for the coming few days... she just laughed and said 'well, that's your normal life, and so its all good'!!! uhhh....welll..... uummm.... no, i was kinda hoping that with passage of time, things would get more sorted, and manageable, i would be more organised and able to do the things i need to do at leisure, with meditative pleasure...not in a rush to get it all done!


back to the garden  - The HEAT has been relentless, so many plants on my garden and the neighbourhood have died... the trees which i would have thought would be hardier, have scorched leaves... all we can do is water them, try and shade them where we can, and hope!


On a hopeful note, NEW PLANTS and PLANTING of SEEDS - 
Mid-July is the season for planting HERBS seeds.
Mid-August is the season for planting winter flower plants.


so, i have planted seeds of some herbs (more on that on a later blog)


and, plants saplings of some winter plants... (more on that later too).


Focus for this week - ADEQUATE WATERING!!!!


I have also got a packet of organic manure... so this week, i experiment with that too, and see what happens!

Its so HOT!

As much as I love MAY, I don't like just how hot it has become. I have had a terrible case of skin burn and allergies already, for which I lost 2 weeks from work and reading and fun! and there is still another few months of heat to go, before the season begins to change!!!

On the plant front - I had thought that a lot of the sun-summer-loving plants would do well, however my bougainvilleas are having a very tough time, but those that grow on the roadsides in our city are flourishing.
I have tried thrice to grow sunflowers, and all 3 have died. they didn't grow at all.
A lot of the other plants too are not doing well either - the leaves are bearing the brunt of the heat, and the soil always seems very dry ( does anyone know what I can do to counter that?).

In real life - With a 7.50 Rs hike per litre on petrol, our hard lives have just become tougher... coz petrol price hikes ALWAYS impact all other things... so everything is becoming costlier, hence the same amount of money is lasting us even less than ever before. frugal living, anyone?
Electricity is another pain... we have barely had any electricity this last week... how productive, efficient and happy can anyone be sweating in candle light?
All in all, the last week has been a week of lows in terms of just survival.

On the other hand - I have had rather mixed experiences on the work front - people actually try and take advantage of you, especially if they know you are in need!
Why would you not appreciate the skill and hard work of a person? why try and cheat and fleece? Sometimes people are not what they seem!

On the studies front - I am completely confused with my syllabus, and my exams start from 1st June... fingers crossed!

Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

I LOVE MAY!

MAY is one of my favourite months :)

 
The heats coming on, but the plants are all green and growing!

Today I spent a lazy day - reading some of my favourite blogs and visiting some new ones!
This inspired me to capture parts of my lovely week past...well, little tidbits of it really.

It's the time for Salads and Coolers!

Its the time for tasty yummy light food and times with friends!




I also finally joined a local BOOK CLUB (I have been searching for, and wanting to be a part of a book club for many years now).... the schedule is rather challenging ( I just hope I can cope along! and participate!) - 1 book every 2 weeks! aaaiiiyaaaiiiiiyaaiii!!!

I LOVE the cottagy feel of my new home, and that I have my very own room! Don't have to share it with anyone, by own a/c and entertainment centre :-D and a door and window which open into the garden.

THIS MONTH HAS LOADS HAPPENING... I can see my long list, and I am quite happy with the possibilities opening up -- now, just 'fingers crossed' that everything works out - the best way it can!

 I have 4 assignments to complete this month, with exams on them coming up in 1st week of June. such FAT books... I must summon the courage to read & study them :(

2 meetings lined up - which could open up interesting opportunities and possibilities professionally...hopefully, both these meetings will  happen this week...so, dear god...please watch out for me :)


For the 1st time, the dogs have their own space too :)

I do feel that space is important! space to breath and just be! it's not the real estate, but the mental state!

 

I cut the grass the other day and  got a little boo-boo from the lawn mower... treating myself to some feel good cold coffee therapy :) 

Project Garden this week will include: adding nutrition to the garden and plants by way of - Cow dung and fertilizers, and regular watering.
I hope to fortify the plants so they can handle the approaching scorching heat!

I made a quick 1 day trip out of town, yesterday - with quick trips, you spend most of your time in travelling or waiting for transport, lots of walking from one point to another, and very little time at the actual event!
so in all the travelling and meeting everyone and participating in the event, I FORGOT to take pictures!
So, We have to wait for 1 year, before i go back for this annual event again!

However, I LOVED meeting up with everyone again... it was in November last year when we were all together at my cousin's wedding!
Yesterday was more relaxed, chatting, lots and lots of tea, great food!
I was put on 'butter the bread' duty... fragrant slow job :)

A rather unusual thing is happening in my driveways... from the crack is growing - 'sadabahar' ` literal translation is 'always spring'. Its a lovely plant, which needs very little care, and blooms pretty much on its own. I/We didn't plant this... it just flew on over, and have made home in our driveway... adding a welcome to all who visit the building!



some more pictures from around my garden and days coming soon!

wise cracks

Whichever kind of life you want, you will in all probability have something completely, and sometimes somewhat, different! certainly, Different!

You can live in your little corner, or on a street corner, or in the middle of the street for that matter... If that missile is meant for you - It will find you!

So, the decisions are your very own - Where do you want to LIVE?

Do you want to live? or just exist, going through the shenanigans of every day?

When a plant blooms, I am over joyed and will tell everyone about the wonderful sight. But, I clearly take no credit, for the wonder of nature is that you have to do so little, for such large returns. All I do is water the plants!

A different perspective, for a plant who only needs water, your (little) action means everything!

(Thanks Shama for the wisdom :) )

such is life.... every little action, thought, feeling, conversation - All add up, and give life to something new, or could mean the death of something old!

underplay or overplay, an action is an action. Inaction is also an action. dilly-dallying between actions is also an action. Being who you are, or not being who you are is also an action - a decision in that moment for that moment.

you can be in the moment, sometimes you can be lost to the moment.

you can blame yourself, or forgive yourself for anything & everything.

In the end, you have to face the mirror! You have to live with yourself!

Finally, Life is dynamic, changing, moving.....

Blooming Roses - Bliss!

The promised post with the pictures from my day -

 The wonder of this plant is that over this season the plant has given us flowers of different shades of yellow... so, you never know what color the next bud will bloom into!

6 feet tall rose plant :) With roses as big as my hand, fragrant and pretty pink! LOVELY!

12 blooms, 6 buds and growing and counting!
If you stand on the road outside - you can see the roses peeking over :)
I look forward to going home and seeing my garden again!

...Dreams are built on the solid foundation of a hard day's work!

BLISS!!! :)

Bliss!

The weather is changing! summers are coming.... everything is blooming... its absolutely lovely :)
Early mornings and late evenings/night time are the best for taking a stroll and visiting all the plants.

Super happy with this very tall rose plant (it isnt a bush, coz its only 1 main stem) which has lovely big pink fragrant roses blooming on it! current count: 10 blooms, and 4 buds.
I position my chair wherever i am so that when i look up i can see the flowers. I hung a small wind chime next to it too... so even a slight breeze means business for the chimes!

Absolutely lovely is the experience when late at night, or early morning when I am still in bed, I can hear the birds chirping, the wind chime chiming (?) and the (tribal) air mobile right outside my window floating round and round in the gentle breeze  - BLISS!

Is it any wonder I spend most of my time - Day Dreaming? :)

The only draw back is the birds add their white decorations to the bushes where they perch - any ideas, anyone?

the other task on my list which needs attention are the tomato plants - since its my 1st time - I am unable to judge their health, and also the problems i see - flies, some white tiny thing, and leaves - whether these are BIG problems or small ones - and can be resolved!

Pics are due - coming soon!

Gardening!

I have had the most wonderful time over the last weekend attending a very interesting and informative workshop on GARDENING - more on that later!

I have been busy with work (i know, nothing new there), and with the chopping season - my garden has gone through a balding process... I felt almost sorry for the trees by the time the 'malis' (hindi for gardener, but trust me they are NOT gardeners by any stretch of the imagination - they do not know, understand or LOVE the plants!) were through with the chopping and hacking...in the process, those poor plants, shrubs and budding trees which came in the way of the sharp scissors edge were also sacrificed to the zealous chopping by these malis (i offcourse instead want to use some cuss words at this point!) :(
(actually i do, for sure feel really bad for those lovely plants, not to mention all the time and effort, and dreaming time i have spend with them).

Now, I have more information than ever before, and planning to create a custom plan for my garden and get to it!

more stories from the garden and pics later :)
leave a note if u come by :)

Super Duper Happy New YEAR

Super Duper Happy NEW YEAR :D