NEW YEAR YEARNINGS

Y is for yearning

The New Year is approaching fast. We’re readying ourselves to extend it a spirited welcome. We yearn that it be a harbinger of peace, prosperity, wellness, equity, justice and happiness for all citizens of the world. We hope and wish that life, in general, would be better off in the coming year.

On a personal level, I’ve decided to issue an advisory to myself. In fact, it is very significant if I’m to keep my creative pursuits happen on an even keel. It is disturbing for me to realize that somehow I keep breaking my daily writing schedule for one reason or the other. I recognize it very well as it disappoints me afterward. The question arises, why can’t I stick to my daily calendar?

For one it is procrastination. It is like the satanic sweet deception. It is always waiting on the sidelines to weaken our resolves. Secondly, minor health issues crop up unexpectedly throwing life out of gear. Then it takes time to come back on track. Whatever the excuses, quintessentially it is more lassitude than anything else.

Friends I don’t have any bucket list this year. I just yearn to make myself take good care of my health and try to be more self-disciplined to carry on with activities which I love doing. I believe that if one can somehow manage to succeed in fulfilling the above two then all else would follow.

Let’s try to ensure a smooth run of the wheels of everyday life, to enable us to be more productive in achieving our goals.

Let us also promise to ourselves and to others that we endeavor to contribute something for the happiness and wellbeing of others.

Friends I’m curious to know if you also face occasional breaks in your artistic activities and how do you overcome that phase? Pl. do share.

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Life is sprinting on the wings of time,

Make haste before the last bell chimes!

Friends welcome here as always!

Linking to:

ABC Wednesday
Nature Notes 

 

WINTRY DAYS

W is for Winter

Finally, wintry days have arrived in the plains of North India where I live.  Looks like severe winters are slowly disappearing. We are approaching the middle of December, still, it is pleasant, and allows us to move out with just a sweater.  The mild and sweet balminess of golden sunshine gifts the bliss of warmness. Daytime warmth enjoyed while luxuriously lazing in the sun takes the night chill out of the bones.

However, the specter of global warming is real and obvious and warns the world leaders to find solutions forthwith.

Surprisingly we experienced winter rains today. There had been subdued thunder and intermittent light showers since morning. Maybe this would usher in expected and awaited wintry conditions soon. It has to be. Otherwise, piles of winter clothing stored in airtight bags would be compelled to remain in the company of mothballs for another year.

Why rainy days are welcomed by the likes of me? For one, you are least disturbed on rainy days in winters. Even the maid gets an excuse for a furlough. The boon of having plenty of me time to be yourself is pleasurable. You can spend it wilfully and comfortably. Either ensconced in the soft confines of your quilt with a book or listen to your fav songs uninterruptedly with dreamy eyes.

Winter rains are a godsend for the farmers too. The wheat crop, which is yet in its infancy, receives the much-needed slow saturation and proliferates admirably in the aftermath. A drive out of town on the highway gives a glimpse of vast fields of healthy green sheets of wheat spread like an ocean touching the horizon.

                                           Indian turnips   image Google

In our part of the country, winter is synonymous with mouthwatering cuisine. A sumptuous variety of fresh vegetables is available in plenty in the market.  Green leafy vegetables like mustard greens, spinach, fenugreek leaves are popular favorites with all. Saag (all three cooked together after fine chopping) is a much sought after preparation for tangy taste and enormous health benefits. Turnips with their fresh leaves intact make a delicious and nutritious dish. Radishes- the white beauties grated and stuffed into paranthas for breakfast waft flavorful aromas around and activate the taste buds of even the neighbors. 

I eagerly wait for winter for buying shakarkandi (sweet potatoes) another of my weakness. It makes its appearance only in winters. Slicing them into rounds after boiling and eating them with a generous quantity of honey or ketchup is a truly satisfying experience.

It is the late evening of a rain-soaked day and mild rain spell has started once again. Even with the curtains drawn closely, I can sense the atmosphere outside. Sitting in a static position in front of the computer, I feel like standing up to shake my near numb legs. I think I do deserve a hot something. Don’t you think so?

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." - Hal Borland 

Friends welcome here as always!


Linking to:

ABC Wednesday 
Nature Notes
Our World 

A POTPOURRI OF BLOOMS

 V  is for a visual feast!

Enlivening the space in the front of our house!

From my archives. The delicate cactus flower seems to be the one loved by the bees.

 A park closeby presented these gleaming beauties!

Marigold troika!

The cactus flowers open up so joyfully in the morning but sadly wilt by the evening.

This one was captured when I's staying amidst hills!



Friends welcome here as always!

Linking to:
ABC Wednesday
image-in-ing
Our World 
Nature Notes
Pictorial Tuesday
Wednesday around the world  
friday foto friends
 

BLUE BUTTERFLY IN MY GARDEN

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

 After a  lon ...g  time  I could inspire myself to make an effort to capture a critter: here a butterfly.. It's an effort indeed. I followed her flight and eventually succeeded in capturing the designer beauty in my chrysanthemum patch! The morning sun accentuated the glimmer of her multiple hues!

In this pic. the butterfly is perched on the third bloom and below...

  she is sucking the nectar of the middle bloom! Lucky she!






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