• Trees reflected in my dark glasses

    Nature Study was one of my favourite subjects while growing up. I still remember one summer project where we had to press leaves and flowers into a scrap book with their botanical and local names .

    I benefited a lot from this exercise and take every opportunity to introduce my Little Ones to this fascinating subject.

    Last weekend while the Little Ones had a break for Mahashivratri, we took the weekend off .

    We drove down to the Machan, an ecoresort a few miles off Lonavala.

    This resort that offers every modern amenity surprisingly manages to retain its ethos of living with nature. For one , it is off the grid generating its own wind and solar energy.

    Secondly, there aren’t any golf carts offering rides to the far flung cottages . You have to walk every where on pretty rudimentary paths that were essentially to keep the creepy crawlies out of your way.

    An early morning walk through a sun dappled pathway

    Set in a tropical forest that has been restored, it seeks to preserve the bio-diversity of the Sahyadri mountain range. And , with three naturalists on site , it turned out to be the perfect place to introduce the Little Ones to nature.

    A beautiful flowering creeper that covered a tree with this canopy. Does anyone know its name?

    It was a fun experience for us all : spotting birds that chirped around us, identifying plants and trees and stargazing in the clear sky.

    Sharing this post with Parul’s #ThursdayTreeLove-82

    Is there a nature reserve near you ?

    Ciao and happy tree loving .

  • Image for bouquet that left me speechless
    The bouquet that left me speechless

     

    Flowers always make me happy. Somehow, their nodding heads bring a smile to my face.

    It was my birthday on the 12th and I received a bouquet of flowers from a dear friend. I was thrilled to see them. 

    But later in the evening, I received a basket of flowers that left me speechless.

    It was a gorgeous bouquet of 11 chocolate cupcakes iced with the yummiest buttercream icing. Big luscious roses in pastel purple and pink were mixed up with baby roses of the same colour. In between, there sprigs of baby’s breath that added a new dimension to this totally edible bouquet.

    It looked too good to eat .

    But all of us were curious about how it really was and the cupcakes were demolished within an hour!

    Have you received a basket of flowers that left you speechless?

    Joining Esha and Natasha for #WordlessWednesday.

    Happy midweek all!

    Ciao

  • I must apologise  to my regular readers for being missing in action.

    I don’t really have any valid excuse save that of lethargy. Strangely, as the weather oscillated between chilly and oppressively hot, so did my muse.

    There have been many times in these past few weeks where I’ve been tempted to write. Inspiration strikes at the oddest of times. There have been moments just before I fall asleep when an idea comes to me. I actually feel the words flow, sentences form and I tell myself that I must write them down the first thing in the morning when I get up. But of course, the best-made intentions of mice and men scuttle away when dawn breaks.

    As morning peeps in through the cracks of the curtains, I reach out to my bottle of Thyrinorm my daily dose of medication to keep my thyroid up and running. For several years before I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, I used to wonder why my heart would suddenly beat crazily at the oddest of times. Like driving home the kids when the only exciting thing on the road would be a road roller! Or I would feel hot when the whole world felt cold and vice versa.

    Then when I began to complain of chronic pain in my bones, I went for a Rheumatic arthritis test and discovered I had hypothyroidism instead! This was doubly verified by another doctor – and endocrinologist this time whom we had gone to visit for my husband’s diabetes. His sugars were way out of whack but the doctor was more concerned about my thyroid levels which he determined were more worrisome. And this was a spot diagnosis on mere observation of the relative in attendance. He immediately sent me off for a blood test and pronounced that I had ‘Hashimotos’. ‘. Immediately I was put on medication and told to keep my weight in check etc. etc. However, keeping the weight in check is easier said than done.

    Does this happen to you? You go in for a check-up for a particular ailment and land up with something quite different?

    Anyways, I find that reaching out for the thyroid medication has completely distracted me from my original intent of writing down the last thought before I drifted off to sleep…..

    But it’s not entirely my thyroid that is responsible for my lack of productivity. It has also been my erratic staff situation at home.

    Anyone who employs home help will testify that they are most undependable. When you most need them, they simply vanish. In the olden days, they used to produce a telegram that announced the death of a near and dear one which meant that they just had to go home for the last rites. Often times, the same relative was killed off several times during employment and I know a few friends who would insist on writing down a list of living relatives ( before employment) to keep track of their deaths.

    My dear Lady of Shalott who floats about the house while doing her work in an irritatingly slow way has actually gone off to her village to celebrate Mahashivratri.  I have bever known anyone celebrating this festival and I was quite amazed to learn that she was going to spend the entire night and it seems the nine following days, dancing away.

    So while she is making merry, I’ve been wallowing in self-pity. However, I must admit that her absence has made me do more work than normal and this has helped in getting my arm back in shape. Right now, there’s still a lot to be desired as far as movement and muscle strength are concerned, but with regular physiotherapy, I’m slowly getting there.

    I also made trips out of town. One a day trip to my parents in Pune and another a weekend trip to an Ecoresort just outside Lonavala.

    Every time I travel, I come back with some valuable life lessons. I had planned two trips last year that I had to cancel because of my fall from the ladder….But all those who travel will agree that travel does broaden your mind. It teaches you things about yourself. It teaches you things about the world. I found this wonderful post on travel quotes that should inspire you to seek out your next adventure or holiday destination.

    I do hope to get back to more regular blogging once this feeling of lethargy and apathy passes. I plan to share my stories of travel in the near future.

    Perhaps I should stop dreaming up my blog posts and actually start writing them down!

    Ciao and hope to see you soon.

    Image for unishta

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