Solitary And Strong (ThursdayTreeLove)

"Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong"
Winston Churchill

This tree grows alone by the edge of a quarry... I have seen it for at least a decade and I am fascinated by the shape of its trunk. Its obviously endured some trauma - either natural (wind etc) or human but it stands strong as ever.

Let me leave you to enjoy the tree and hopefully my image will convey the beauty of the spot it grows at.

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see some fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in! 

Upside Down (ThursdayTreeLove)

Majority plants we see have their flowers or inflorescence growing upwards.. or facing the sky.
I am sure you all must have noticed it.

But there are some beautiful species where the flowers actually face downwards.. towards the ground.
Up side Down as it were.
Let me first share two of my favourites..
Moha .. A species indigenous to India and has huge economic importance especially for tribals. 

Here are its uniquely shaped flowers.

Moha is known all over  by its botanical name of Madhuca longifolia and belongs to the Sapotaceae family.Just like Fall Foliage of the West, this tree puts up a spectacular show in spring when it bursts into new leaf. The book Jungle Trees of Central India by Pradip Krishen has two full pages devoted just to the spring reds of the Moha.

Yet another lovely bloom is the Bakul or Maulsari . Its flowers have a divine fragrance and in fact the tree is blooming right now in Pune! Its flowers face downwards as for Moha. Bakul goes by the botanical name Mimusops elengii and belongs to the Sapotaceae family.

Glorious Gulmohor (ThursdayTreeLove)

May is peak summer in Pune. 
Its also the time for the May Flower! 
Its blossoms have a soothing effect despite the brilliant red... a colour that is usually associated with heat.

This is a beautiful Gulmohor tree growing on my regular walk route. Here it is..

From a distance.. looks like the rising Sun on the horizon!

Walking closer to the tree

Overlooking its huge canopy

Brilliant 

Thank You Trees (ThursdayTreeLove)

Thank You! 

Due to the Covid19 lockdown, stores were open only for a couple of hours in Pune. 10am to Noon. People had to stand in a queue in designated spots to buy their needs. 

Every shop had such circles marked out where customers had to queue up.. 

April is a pretty hot time of the year for us. Which means, this wait would have been really hot and trying if it were not for these wonderful trees by the roadside.

It did not matter if the trees were exotic, indigenous, flowering, fruiting, ... they gave a welcome cooling shade for the folks below waiting patiently for their turn. 

Thanks to the folks who planted these trees maybe two or three decades ago and we can now reap the benefits! 

"One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade"- Chinese Proverb

I am sure all of you must have noticed and enjoyed the trees in your lane or your society in the lockdown period! 

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove bloghop. Do head over to see some fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in!

Stay home folks and stay safe! 

Reflections on 2020 AprilAtoZ

Hello! This is my seventh attempt at the April AtoZ blogging challenge and my was Experiences of a first time grandmother! 
Some sweet, salty moments and learnings! 
In case you have missed out, you can catch up here. 
Congratulations to all awesome bloggers who have completed this challenge. This year is unique as all of us around the world are facing the Covid19 pandemic. 

Luckily, the Internet Gods were kind enough to allow me to schedule, post and comment on many posts. The AtoZ master list listed 510 participants and 89 bloggers revealed their theme on the #BlogchatterAtoZ Theme reveal and I saw 144 awseome posts on the first of April!! Obviously I still have a lot of catching up to do, something that is top of my to-do list. 

I had delayed my decision to participate (its my seventh attempt) and once I did, I went into a frenzy of writing and managed to schedule all my posts much ahead of time. Y turned out to be most difficult and I was gasping for ideas till the last day! My posts were not image-intensive as it was more about my feelings and emotions and I did not make the effort of looking up memes to accompany the posts. Does it indicate a certain weariness? I cant say really! 

Visitors to my blog were generous with their comments and I Thank all of you! Even if you have not commented! ;-)

Across all the challenge, I saw the popular themes related to writing, books, travel, cooking and best of all, I found 4 blogs about babies/kids and one by a grandmother one about future grandkids!! Yay! I was not alone!! 

Z is to Zone Out

Hello! Welcome to my seventh attempt at the April AtoZ blogging challenge. My theme this year is Experiences of a first time grandmother! Some sweet, salty moments and learnings! My posts are totally based on what I felt (may even border on rants) and are not meant to be a guide. 

Zone Out
When I look back, the day when Daughter went into Labour and next 2 months are a blur. On the one hand time seems to have flown yet all days were almost identical. 

It was a period of intense happenings in our country.. major political decisions had been taken which naturally generated much discussion among friends and family. 

I had Zoned Out. 
Switched off from the world.

Y is for Young

Hello! Welcome to my seventh attempt at the April AtoZ blogging challenge. My theme this year is Experiences of a first time grandmother! Some sweet, salty moments and learnings! My posts are totally based on what I felt (may even border on rants) and are not meant to be a guide. 

Young

Every stage in a woman's life involves a huge change.. its difficult to say which is a bigger challenge ... 
- Puberty which changes a carefree girl to young woman 
- Marriage that makes her simultaneously balance the hats of a 'daughter in law', wife and professional.
- Motherhood which entails carrying, giving birth to, nurturing and then moulding the mind of her young one.
- Mother in law - this is equally challenging as she has to 'let go' of her child (son or daughter) to set up his own nest .. IMHO it may be more difficult for the mother of a son. 
- Becoming a grandmother.. again not something to be done lightly.. and this AtoZ is all about becoming a grandma..

The best part of becoming a grandma is that I can play, sing, dance with Grandbaba without inhibitions.. Baby talk becomes a norm as does miming nursery rhymes and stories.