A different purple - in the hills of Yercaud

April 2018

The hills were alive
with the colours of the Crepe Myrtle.
Pride of India.

Lagerstroemia

The Jacarandas of Yercaud town - a photo post

April 2018

Yercaud town was aflame in purple. Every estate, every street, around the lake, across the valley. Fallen flowers on the road, boughs laden with flowers in eye view....

Nellikai!

Gnarled branches
jewelled white,
a delicate touch of pink.
Impermanent
Precious.

Coffee flowers

My first experience of the gentle but persistent fragrance of coffee flowers.

Beautiful of course.

My brain was confused.  The aroma memories of coffee so different from that of these blooms.  Delightful!

A week later, they were all gone.  I was glad for these pictures.

Sunday morning ramble at GNP

3rd March 2017

My first nature outing post surgery?  No, I did go birding at the Bird Race in Jan, but this was a longer walk.  GNP,  so close to home and such a lovely little sanctuary.

Bulbuls called from everywhere, and the parakeets screeched overhead as we set off.  A Golden Oriole sang.

Is this the Ceylon Caper - Capparis zeylanica - I wondered?  

Leaves crunched underfoot as we wandered below the Banyan.  A brown breasted flycatcher flitted above.

The root tips caught the morning light and formed a screen in front of my face.

Above, the branches spread in a beautiful tangle

...of which I took several pictures.

The Torchwood Trees (Ixora pavetta) were in bloom everywhere, and there were bees and butterflies all around them.

An Indian Robin flew by as we stopped by one of the ponds.  We startled a wild dog who had come for a drink.  He watched us warily as he lapped up, thirstily. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Paved with gold

Does that chameleon feel like a king?
Do its eyes behold the beauty?

Basho and me

Wanderer, nature poet and philosopher. Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa aka Basho, Haiku Master.

I was reading his Haikus yesterday, and these ones particularly stuck in my head as so apt for the wanderers in our family.

Wake! The sky is light!

let us to the road

again . . .

Companion butterfly!

Copsia-petal

fell in silent dawn . . .

spilling

A water-jewel.

(The original Basho was with Camellia) 

Ah me! I am one

who spends his little

breakfast

Morning-glory gazing.

Long conversations 

beside blooming amarylses – 

joys of life on the road.

(The original Basho was with irises) 

In the twilight rain

these brilliant-hued

hibiscus . . .

A lovely sunset

Lady butterfly

perfumes her wings

by floating

Over the orchid.

Silent the old town . . .

the scent of flowers

floating . . .

And evening bell.

I'm a wanderer 

so let that be my name – 

the first winter rain 

Punnai

Walking along the streets of Neelangarai, I chanced upon a Punnai in bloom.

Sekar tends one on our street with diligence.  Maybe it will flower soon.

My mother's garden

18th April

It is a sunny summers day in Madras.  I open the gate and stand for a minute.  It is always the same, I enter the garden and my mind is stilled, and life slows down.

This time, I am thankful for this refuge, this personal sanctuary and linger on outside.  I postpone seeing my mother's warm smile and walking in to my father's cheerful chatter as I quietly make my way around the house.

The gnarled trunk of the Bottlebrush tree has always been my favourite, and today, it looks magical with the Peltaforum flowers like little drops of sunshine on the ground

Along the wall, the Quisqualis flowers nod in bunches. 

I stand in their shade and look up at the bright blue sky and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" plays in my head.

The Copsia delights my Ikebana senses, with its graceful lines and delicate flowers

Those flowers, in shades of pink and white, so lovely yet so shortlived.

The lipstick red of the Hibiscus blazes in the sun, while in the shade the Amaralis lilies are more muted and elegant I thought.

I had not noticed this creamy bloom before in the garden, was it a new addition, I wondered.  Or has it been so long since I wandered around the back?

The mango flowers were precursors of the coming season

The crows seem to know too, as they hang around and caw.  The mynahs on the coconut tree seemed to be discussing my presence in a most disapproving fashion, while the sunbirds ignored me, too busy in their search for nectar.

A parakeet went screeching into the neighbour's garden, as I moved on further and came across these flowers.  The little white ones, (need to find out what they are called), I wonder if they belong to the grass family.

In the corner by the wall, the spider lilies grow in abundance, happy for the space, the sunshine and the water it seemed.

As I circled back to the front, the always blooming desert rose greeted me.  The seed from this plant has grown in a pot in my balcony, and I love the way it blooms in the hot Madras summer.

Back to the Peltaforum tree that had showered its flowers under the bottle brush, and I have come full circle.

My little "pilgrimage" done.

The best Laburnum I have seen this year

The Laburnums have bloomed a little late this year. This is the best one I have seen so far. Gorgeous isn't it? In one of the lanes of Kotturpuram.

Alamanda beauty

From my mother's garden she came.  Now happily settled and blooming.
Lifts my heart from the mundane every morning.

Delight

 

White flowers on the ground.

I look up in surprise.

My heart fills.