Sky Watch Friday: A Bird Eye View of the City

From EverGreen Tree

Standing atop the roof of our 4-storey Office building with other colleagues, gazing out into the horizon, I could see a maze of steel n concrete, sparsely interspersed by the greens in between. The sky a clear blue, sans the clouds, the birds appeared soooooo serene this morning, at the onset of this l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-g beautiful working day.....

Thought for the Day

We'd never know how high we are,
 till we are called to rise;

and then, if we are true to plan,
our statures touch the sky....
@ Emily Dickinson

Have a Wonderful Day ahead......

Be Still....

"Be still

And discover your center of peace.

Throughout nature

The ten thousand things move along,

But each returns to its source

Returning to center is peace.

Find Tao by returning to source."

@ The Tao of Inner Peace ~ Diane Dreher

The OCEAN is a marvelous symbol of Tao: 

Vast, fluid, constantly in motion. Beneath its turbulent surface are the quiet depths. 

Beneath the restless surface of our lives lies a deep source of peace, power and inspiration.

True Peace is achieved

By Centering, 

so Be Calm n....

BE STILL

Wordless Wednesday

~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~

An April Challenge @ A Plant Fanatic in Hawaii :

 Please do visit the link above and find out more about 'WORDS THAT INSPIRE'  April Challenge.

Have a great Wednesday ahead....

Imitation is the Best form of Flattery

They say imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

 and I am so flattered!!

This Blog is dedicated to a dear friend Kimberly, from Garden in Paradise.

Please do visit her blog ‘Tuity-fruity’ which is a mirror image of my own blog ‘Tootie-fruity’.

Its amazing, how we connect and share a similar love for plants, flowers, trees,… via our  gardening blogs here at blogspot, in spite of being miles and miles apart, living under different climatic zones, and yet nurturing so many similarities.

Dear friends, here’s hoping we continue sharing n spreading this GREEN cheer and joy, celebrating both the similarities and the differences, from across the miles.

Happy Gardening n Happy Sharing! Have a lovely weekend ahead.......

Saying it with Flowers... Hail 2010!

Where flowers bloom so does hope.....Well...so, Lets all HOPE for a Better n Brighter, Blooming n Blossoming year ahead!

The Garden Light with Mums in the Background

Pearly Droplets on Pink Mums

With a little help from Google...Picasa

Can you spot the teeny-tiny gold spider amidst the flowers?

The Garden Lights, the Mushrooms n Mums

Wishing all.... a great year ahead....
with LIVE... BLOOMING Flowers from the garden....

These snaps have been clicked during Christmas...
 Hope you like them!

To REAP Where One Has Not Sown….

This ‘Jack Fruit’ photograph has been clicked by me sometime in June when I had visited Nawabgunj with Dad. I was in awe, just to see soooooooooooooo many full blown Jackfruits growing… huddled together on a single branch.

This tree and scores of other trees, including different varieties of Mango trees, growing in this Orchard have been planted by  my grandfather and my father, the fruits of which.... we, our family,  our friends, & the local villagers @ Nawabgunj have been enjoying year after year......

Whoa! Felt good just to capture the moment and the memory in the snap and relive it again, while I share it here on my blog today.

“I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, we must in turn plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will benefit the generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time…..”

- N.R. Narayana Murthy, in his book: ‘A Better India…..A Better World’

Courtesy: – Nichin Bonsai, 01 | 2009


Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Reflection

This year, the Monsoon season has been rather disappointing, in this part of the world.....
.

However, after a prolonged dry spell through July n August, the Rain Gods… finally did decide to shower their bountiful water-y blessing on us, sometime early Sept.

And so, it rained n it rained n it rained some more…. enough to waterlog the yards, so that I could have a field time capturing the reflection of ‘my muse’ on water….a Checkered fencing, some bark n leaves, doors,  flora-fountain, a distant Palm Tree, a Car parked in the vicinity, Bldg n Play ground…. ‘N’ lots more…..

It has taken me a while… to sort out the pictures, beautify n enhance a select few with borders n all and then finally compile them together into this REFLECTIVE b-log.

 ‘We cannot see our reflection in running water.

It is only in still water that we can see’

- Taoist Proverb

If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind?

Fukien Tree

Carmona microphylla  referred to as Wax Malphigia

Like all previous years, this year too we got few of our house plants (which needed root pruning plus an additional lease of nutritional life with some fresh compost), repotted; sometime in July.

From EverGreen Tree

While we were at it, I also got this teeny-tiny Wax Malphigia a.k.a. Carmona microphylla / Fukien Tree, repotted, for the very first time, ever; in last four/five odd years. However, immediately after repotting, the plant suddenly shed all its leaves, after they turned brown.

Now, I don’t know, what could have possibly gone wrong with its repotting exercise while most other plants seemed to be doing well after their repotting?

Anyways, while I thought I would loose the plant, yet, I kept it under the shade of a Tree, along side other recently repotted plants, checking on it from time to time n silently praying for its recovery.

Wax Malphigia happens to be an EVERGREEN TREE, with dense dark-green shrub like-foliage maintained almost throughout the year. Being a hardy plant, it is quite popular with the Bonsai growers as well, as it readily adapts itself to different styles n shapes.

Hmmm….. I had little hope towards the plant ever recovering, from its distressed n de-foliated state. But to my utter surprise, one fine day, towards the end of August, I noticed these teeny-tiny leaf buds being formed on its branches.

Here’s the Picture of the plant as on 25th Aug, 2009

In the next few days to come… little by little... all its leaves came back.... re-filling the plant's barren n bare crown. It’s been a pleasure to watch it springing back too Life slowly n steadily!

Picture of the plant as on 30th Aug, 2009

It’s these simple n special moments like this, which add a spring n a spark to our mundane everyday life.
.

Picture of the plant as on 18th Sept, 2009.

I just had to share the plant pictures n the details of its recovery, here on my blog under the inspirational head ..... ‘If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?’

IF

Out of the Blue a Poem by Rudyard Kipling.... If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

****

Photograph: White Easter Lily

Garden Party n Garden Wisdom

Hey,
How about a Garden Party with some Delightful Visual ‘Floral’ Treat?

Are you ready?
So here we go………

Hope you all enjoyed this rather lavish spread @ ‘Flower Party’ from our Garden in the form of an colourful slide show.
Now Time for some Garden Wisdom as a Party Return Gift ;-)
“Kind hearts are the Gardens; Kind thoughts are the Roots,
Kind words are the Flowers; Kind deeds are the Fruits,
Take care of your garden, and keep out the weeds,
Fill it with sunshine, Kind words and kind deeds”
Afterall;
Garden Is the Mirror of the Heart....

Whatever is, is Right....

All Nature is but art, Unknown to thee;

All Chance, direction which thou canst not see;

All discord, harmony not understood;

All practical evil, universal good;

And, in spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,

One truth is clear, whatever is, is right....

Butterfly Blues...

Little Wonders
from Nature




Little yellow butterfly, pretty little butterfly
I cannot catch you, much as I try.
You flit here, you flit there;
You are here, there….everywhere.
You are so light and airy,
Much like a tiny fairy.
You visit each lovely flow’er,
Sip its nectar like a lover.
Oh! What pleasure, Oh! What leisure,
Oh! What leisure in your pleasure.

- Mumtaz F. Kachwalla @ Nichin Bonsai, 02 I 2008



Happiness is like a Butterfly.
You run behind it, it keeps flying away…
But if you stand still,
It comes and sits on your shoulder….
So.....
Lets all stand still for a moment, while savouring the bountiful beauty of Nature n Butterflies!

Here's Wishin all my friends and readers lots n lots of BUTTERFLIES!

PS: The video n photograph was shot by me …sometime last year… while out in our garden.