Grand Old Tree (ThursdayTreeLove)

Today I have yet another tree from my Travels. 

A beautiful tree that .. hold your breath... more than 400 years old!

Yes you read that right.

Its the Robinia pseudoacacia that has its home in Paris at the Square Rene Viviani. Planted in 1601 this species is also called Black Locust and belongs to the Fabaceae family.

The tree was not native to France but was brought from North America by Jean Robin and it surprisingly flourished in its new home. 

The tree has survived many a traumatic phases in history and even was in danger of falling under its own weight. Hence a V shaped support was installed. 

The tree has obviously been given much love, attention and care by many people across generations which  allows us to enjoy its beauty even now.

Here you go!

Tree Drive (ThursdayTreeLove)

My title suggests i would be writing about some tree plantation drive.

But that is far from the truth.

Recently, our Tree lovers Whatsapp group was swamped with photos of a Yellow Seemal. Thats right ... Bombax ceiba with yellow flowers. It looked wonderful and is rare in this part of the world.

Like everyone else on the group, I too wanted to see it. 

The only problem was the location was over 60kms away. 

I got major FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) when more folks visited the tree and shared the images. 

Luckily for me, dear husband agreed to accompany me and he drove all the way. 

I packed some sandwiches and we set off early to avoid heat. Surprisingly the road was superb and I ignored all other trees enroute. (That was on the return journey and for another post!! :-)

It was a joy to see the tree at the precise spot, standing alone and in full bloom . The road was lonely, and locals drove or walked past without a second glance. I would like to think they had already had enjoyed the blooms as flowering had been going on for a few weeks at least. 

Without much ado.. here is the Yellow Seemal aka Kate Sawar in Marathi or Silk Cotton Tree. 

Do Trees Have Emotions? (ThursdayTreeLove)

A recurring thought among ThursdayTreeLove bloggers is .. what if trees could talk? what must they be seeing and feeling? I have expressed such thoughts often as well.

Todays tree has been featured earlier on TTL before. It is a Mulberry (locally called Tooti) . Morus alba of the Moraceae family. 

Its home is in an old apartment complex where the ageing buildings need major revamps that are only possible via redevelopment. The Mulberry grows in the centre of the plot and will certainly be affected in the rebuilding, and this rebuilding is vital for safety and health of the people living there. Obviously, home owners have to temporarily shift elsewhere till works are competed. 

(Local laws mandate trees to be suitably replanted when such redevelopment takes place.) 

For all these years, I have seen the tree grow upright and tall and full of fruit when in season. 

Recently I noticed that the Mulberry seemed to be bowing down, its canopy touching the ground. Yet it is full of fruit. 

Could it be sensing the upcoming changes? Must it be missing the laughter and chatter of people walking in the premises? 

Or is it just a case of being top heavy and its wet branches becoming too heavy for the not very thick trunk to hold up especially in the heavy rain?

Cousins (ThursdayTreeLove)

I had a different tree in mind for todays post but I just read Parul's TTL 132 post and decided to share some plants from my home balcony garden. 

To be more specific, three plants that are so called 'cousins'. 

They belong to the same Genus of Malpighia but the specific epithet is different. Hence they are different species. I am growing them to be Bonsai and they do grow as trees in Nature. 

They all belong to the family Malpighiaceae and you can see the distinct flower similarity. The frilly flowers are very pretty but not fragrant. The three plants I am sharing all have simple opposite leaves. 

Here is my Cherry or Malpighia emarginata. The leaf stalks are short, margin are entire and the leaf tip maybe rounded or notched. This is an exotic species but seems to like the environment in my house. It is in fruit right now. 

Cherry flower

In fruit. This is an old image. I have repotted the tree to a different angle now.

Here is the Hawthorn or Mapighia coccigera. It has spiny leaves which makes it difficult to handle or hold the branches or trunks. My plant is very young and will take a while to become a proper bonsai. Come November, it flowers in my home but has not yet borne fruits.

Spiny Leaves

Here is what we call Frooti. There is a lot of debate about its correct botanical name and it is definitely from Malpighia genus. Most likely Malpighia glabra. Its branches tend to droop unlike the other two above. Leaves have a wavy margin and pointy tip. This plant flowers profusely once it rains and also bears fruit in August/September. This fruit is much smaller than the Cherries on my tree. 

Frooti flowers and buds

Fruits of the Frooti

I hope you enjoyed meeting these 'Cousins' in my balcony garden ---- with a teeny bit of botany thrown in!

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!

Feast (ThursdayTreeLove)

 Who would have thought that my tiny balcony would be the site for a feast for birds!! Yes that is what happened when my Wax bonsai was in fruit. Click here to see the photos and video. 

Joy (Wordless Wednesday)

Every morning, my small balcony garden has new delights in store. Here is a glimpse of some of them. 

The Will

 Using the word prompt and photo prompt to write flash fiction ... Click here ... Who do you think is the beneficiary?

Henna (ThursdayTreeLove)

 All of us love Mehendi or Henna.. It rightly deserves a place in TTL..

Click here to read  more about this tree...

Mirror

Continuing the new found creative streak ... another installment of Flash Fiction..Using the word prompt Mirror.

Click here to read this story....I am sure some of you will relate to it! :-)

Surprise

 Meena sat desultorily in the Mall, guarding the numerous bags that Anu, her daughter-in-law had deposited in her care along with the children. Anu was getting her nails done.

Catch up with Meena's experience at the Mall here.. 

The Fall

Fiction is not really my forte and if at all, I can write something when prompted.

Here is my effort from Vinitha's Fiction Monday using the picture prompt..

Awaiting your feedback.

:-)

Click here to read my story...

Thanks for stopping  by folks! 

A Change Is In The Air

Dear Readers!

After a long period of procrastination  and cold feet .. I have finally taken the plunge and I am getting this blog its own domain name. 

Everything remains the same .. but please do bear with me till I figure out the tech details and beautify (?) my new space in the World Wide Web.. This blog continues as it is for now. 

Please do visit here . Your comments and suggestions to make it reader friendly are most welcome!!

:-)

Full credit and many Thanks to my daughter and my son-in-law for hand holding me through his process which is still on going...

See you around folks!

Stay Home 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.

X is for eXcitement

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. 

X has always been a challenging alphabet in the AtoZ Blogging Challenge..
So today again I will use X to outline my version of what I felt and did...

eXcited 
eXercised 
eXhausted (on a few days)
eXplained
eXalted
eXplored
eXamined
eXuberant
eXpressed
eXasperated
eXtrapolate
eXpedite
eXamine
eXhilerated
eXquisite
eXplosive
eXperiment
eXcuse

eXcellent for SAH Grandma!!

All eXtraordinary and eXceptional feelings!

I am sure my thoughts may cause a deja vu to some of you especially someone who has hosted a new born. I would love to hear from you!

See you tomorrow folks!

Here are links to my previous AtoZ attempts. 
2013 Mixed Bag
2014 Exercising For Fitness
2015 Gardens of Pune
2016 Herbs
2018 Contemporary A to Z
2019 Caring for the Caregiver
Disclaimer: My posts do mention some products or service providers but these are not sponsored and not meant to be an advertisement.  

W is for Wear

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. 

What has been your experience? 

Wear
Considering that I have showcased my new found tailoring skills (you can catch up here at my E and M posts), I am sure you expect me to talk about clothes that I made for new Mommie or the baby.

Well, not quite.
I am going to talk about Baby Wearing.
Rather my feelings about it.. because there is plenty and more about it on the Internet. 

V is for Visitors

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. 

Visitors!
While at any other time, I love for people to visit us, I dreaded any one to call us with an infant at our home. 
I can almost hear the surprise in your mind, dear readers..
Let me clarify..

Traditionally, the new Mother and her baby were kept almost isolated.. Washing feet and hands was mandatory for anyone who wanted to see them.. obviously to protect them from infections. 
In our modern set up, it is a tricky job to ask visitors to do so..  People were actually offended when I asked them to. 

Of course Corona has now ensured everyone has reconnected with this particular and important hygiene aspect at all times. 

Then came the next hurdle.

U is for Unconditional

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. 

Unconditional
Unquestioning
Unqualified
Unreserved
Unlimited

Phew.. As usual, despite a theme, some alphabets are a huge challenge in the AtoZ. My thinking cap for today's alphabet kept throwing out the above words..
That's when I realised that for a Grandma to truly and properly do her 'job' in looking an infant and the new Mom is to be unconditional.

Do what is to be done with unlimited love, without expectations and no reservations and overcome my own reservations if needed. 
There is no place for ego clashes, petty behaviour. 

T is for Toys

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. 

 

Toys! 

As  we awaited our Bundle of Joy, I found myself in a totally new world .. one of baby products! I guess I must have mentioned this in almost every post, its a whole new game out there!

It is now all about sustainability, non toxic materials, learning experiences and so on... Ofcourse there are the usual brick and mortar but online shopping from various start ups opens up a fantastic range as toys go traditional. 

There are toys made from cloth, washable ones with non toxic materials. Some were so cute, I almost ended up ordering one for myself!! 

This cute cloth Elephant is actually a Rattle!