Transient Lives

My Art Shop on Fine Art America

2011-04-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Several of you had asked about the foster kittens from my previous post - thank you for your concern. Soon as they turned 8 weeks old, the kittens were put up for adoption, and I'm happy to say that they have all found good homes.

I finally compiled some of my photographs and paintings and have set up a shop on Fine Art America. Please click on the link and visit my shop. If you would like to, you can buy prints and greeting cards of the art work there. Even if you don't plan to buy any, if you like any of the pieces, please leave me a comment or "recommend" the piece, so that it will increase the views of my work. Thank you!

If any of your friends are looking for this kind of art, could you also please recommend them to my shop? Thanks. :)

We had a short spring here in Austin, with hardly any bluebonnets. I look back at my post from last April and am amazed at how beautiful it was. There has been little rain this year, and hardly any color. The heat of summer is setting in now. I hope you had a colorful spring, and have a wonderful summer.

Fostering furry babies

2010-11-16T10:06:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time since my past post ... am back with a resolution to be more regular. One thing (or rather five!) that has been taking center stage at home is this litter of five kittens that we have been fostering for a month now. Austin Pets Alive rescues dogs and cats, including those in line for euthanasia at the shelter, and tries to get them adopted over time. In order to make room for more animals, they send little baby animals to fosters who care for them until they are old enough to be spayed/neutered and offered for adoption.

These babies came to us when they were 2 weeks old. Three black kittens, all female, and two tuxedo kittens, one male and one female. All five of the same litter.

At two weeks they had to be bottle fed every couple of hours. They all lived in our cat carrier, sleeping in a tight bundle of arms, legs, tails and whiskers over a heated pad and towels. They would start squealing as soon as we entered the room, and would tumble out of the carrier, groping wildly for the bottle.

Once they finished eating, they had to be "stimulated", since they didn't know how to go to the bathroom on their own. Small wet wipes wiping their rear would feel like mom licking them to teach them how to do it, and all of them would deposit the required treasures on cue.

They also had to be weighed to make sure they were growing at the correct rate. This was easier said than done. They refused to sit in the container, and would fall out as soon as we placed them on the scale. What worked in the end was a small cardboard box into which we would pack the kitten for a few seconds while we weighed them. They all weighed around 200-250 gms when they arrived.

Now they are close to 950 gms, and are boisterous little rascals. They live in the bathroom upstairs, and are constantly at work, demolishing what they can of what ever is in there. They come out to another room several times a day to play, and flit about with extremely short attention spans, play-fighting, chewing everything in sight, and running around at top speed.

Don't be fooled by these innocent little faces. They are naughty little devils that will entertain you for hours together, as long as you keep your arms and legs out of line or their razor sharp claws will slice you open. :)

This is Annie, the runt of the litter. She was always a fussy eater, and needs special attention because she doesn't believe in wasting time eating. She is super active though, and if there is a tussle going on, she is sure to be in the center of it.

Andy is the lone boy in this litter, and has a hard time keeping up with his five bratty sisters. He is growing bigger now, and is also very active and playful. He is always ready for a cuddle though, and will lie on his side quietly if you start to pet him.

Amelia is the only long-haired kitten in this litter, and is adorable and soft. She is extemely playful, and it's hard to put her down because she is so easy to fall in love with. She goes on and on like an energizer bunny, but when she's tired, she will lie down and fall asleep in the middle of the action.

Allie is the other tuxedo kitten. She has the prettiest pink lips ever, so we call her sweet lips. She is a little scared of loud noises and sudden movements, but has to keep up with her rowdy siblings to survive. She is the prettiest kitten in this litter, and is sure to find a family soon.

Addie is a little quieter than her siblings and loves to be cuddled, and will attach herself to you if she knows you might pet her.

We are hoping these sweet kittens find adoptive families soon and go to good, loving homes. But for now, they are our therapy kittens, for just a few minutes sitting with them drains away all the stress of the day.

Peacocks in Austin's Rescue Zoo

2010-05-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

I don't usually like to go to zoos, but the Austin zoo is an exception. That is because it is a rescue zoo and sanctuary.

Last weekend while we were there, I was totally captivated by the peacocks and peahens that wander about freely within the zoo, hopping in and out of other enclosures at will.

I have seen several peacocks in India and here in the US, but I am always still awed by the extreme ostentatiousness of their plumage. How complex the combination of colors are! I wonder if they know how striking their appearance is.

They must be pretty used to the attention they get, because they pretty much ignored me as I stalked them with my camera.

As the sun started to go down, many of them suddenly launched into this cacophony of screams and calls ...

... and fanned out their feathers as they walked about with heads held high.

Of course, the lady looked pretty unimpressed. I wish she hadn't been sitting against those trees, or I could've got a better picture of her.

I had a collection of peacock feathers as a kid in India, and remember well how soft and silky the shiny feathers are.

The weather is turning warm here, but the wildflowers still linger. Spring has taken its time here this year. Wishing you a colorful week, until next time ...

It's wildflower season in Austin!

2010-04-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

It's been almost three months since my last post, and I've been trying to get motivated to start blogging again. And spring in Austin brought me the motivation I was looking for! It's been a very wet winter here, with lots and lots of rain. Maybe as a result, the roadsides are completely bursting with color now - it's wildflower season in Austin!

Carpeting the grassy slopes on the sides of the road is the Texas state flower - the blue bonnet. Dotting the fresh green foliage everywhere are its striking blue petals with pearl-like white tips. To add to the splash of color, there is the bright orange Texas paintbrush - its flower is actually small and yellow, but more prominent are its flame-orange bracts.

This highway runs outside our subdivision and I've been seeing this vision along the roadside all week as I've driven by. Today, finally, I took my camera, got off the road and took some pictures.

Sitting amongst the flowers, I noticed hundreds of tinier flowers, in yellow, magenta and pink, in addition to the blue bonnets and paintbrush that are visible from a distance. The fragrance there was out of this world. I really didn't want to leave.

Spring is so fleeting in Austin ... all this will melt away soon and the dreaded Texas heat will soon be in place. I guess such is life ... But for now, I am breathing deeply and savoring this beautiful season in Austin.

The Best Walk in Austin

2009-12-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

I do believe I live in one of the prettiest parts of Texas. For just a street away from ours is a greenbelt that extends for miles and miles into the center of Austin. This greenbelt was the main attraction that convinced us that we were choosing the correct house to live in. And it has certainly not disappointed.

A short walk from home brings us to a little stream that often completely dries up during hot summer months. So most of the time we can skip over the rocks and cross over into the greenbelt and start our hike. It has been raining heavily in Austin this winter though, and so the little stream is now a swelling river! We could still have waded across, but we took a longer, drier route into the greenbelt some days ago.

A short distance down the trail there is a "waterfall". There is never much water here, and though the pool below the fall has always had at least a little water, it's usually dry enough to sit on the rocks above and watch the pool. So imagine our surprise when we saw this pretty waterfall that completely stopped us from crossing!

This beautiful greenbelt has a network of trails where one can easily get lost. So there is always another route that we can take if there's a problem with one of them. Instead of crossing over the fall as we usually do, we continued on this side of the stream and followed the trail further.

We were in the shade, but the setting sun lit up the trees across the stream from us, and their reflection in the still water was breathtaking.

We soon came to a second, more shallow waterfall where the water going over the smooth rock sheets was transparent as glass, then exploded like crystal as it fell on the rocks below.

We continued on the trail, and followed the sound of the water falling as it tripped over gnarled tree roots exposed by the force of the stream.

Further along, the setting sun lit up the foliage and its reflection marked the water like liquid gold.

We had by then walked for an hour and a half, following the stream, and the sound of the water falling.

It was getting dark, and so we stopped at this point where there was a deep, clear pool of water beneath us, and flat rocks along the stream. A perfect campsite ... and so close to home! Much as we wanted to continue along this endless trail, we decided to stop since it was rapidly getting dark. As we headed back home, we decided we would be back here to camp.

Three hours of walking in the crisp, cool air, listening to the gurgling sounds of water ... could there be anything more serene?

As this year ends and a new one begins, I wish for you (and for me) a world filled with peace, and serene, quiet moments of delightful contemplation. Happy New Year!

Goddess II

2009-12-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I had posted a picture of a painting that I made of the Goddess Kali. She is a powerful and ferocious Goddess in Hinduism, and is worshiped as the destroyer of evil. Goddesses are usually displayed as beautiful, soft and feminine, but Kali is the embodiment of all that is powerful within us, and I like her portrayal as a warrior - one who will fight evil and destroy it.

My plan was to make a series of three Goddesses in this partial-Madhubani style. Kali was my first choice since her portrayal is so dramatic and interesting. She stands on her consort, Lord Shiva, holds in her hand the severed head of one of the villians she has killed, sits on a tigress and holds in her hands all sorts of weapons. Here's that painting again -

I recently finished the second Goddess painting, and chose Saraswati this time, the Goddess of learning. In complete contrast to Kali, Saraswati is serene and smiling, bestowing intelligence and wisdom on us. She is clad in white, and stands on a white lotus, with a peacock as her companion.

It was a lot more difficult to make this painting interesting ... I struggled with the colors, and though I initially wanted to go with a completely different color scheme, I ended up again in the realm of earth colors, which I seem to always gravitate towards ...

Here she is -

I haven't decided on the next Goddess for this series. Am currently distracted with pottery, as you saw in my previous post. So it might be another year before I produce the 3rd Goddess!

Have a great weekend.

Experiments in Pottery - 1

2009-12-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

I took a pottery class this semester, and we are almost done for the year. The last time I took a class in pottery, it was a fully wheel-thrown, short class. I was also working full-time, so couldn't spend much time practicing.

So I took a class again this semester. This time I mostly learned hand-building, and it was so much fun! Slab pots, coil pots, pinch pots and so on ...

I did try one on the wheel to see if I remembered anything from the previous class several years ago. The result was yet another lopsided pot that I glazed a bright blue. :)

One of my first attempts at making a slab pot was this mug. The glazing left some uncovered spots, and I'm not sure how to fix that. So I won't be drinking tea from it as I'd hoped, but it will make a nice cactus-holder!

This coil pot I made just a couple weeks ago, and I think this is the one that turned out closest to what I wanted to do with it, so I quite like it. I've not quite decided what I'll do with it. It was going to be a fruit holder, but now I'm not sure.

Before glazing -

Glazed and finished, waiting for an identity ...

I have a bunch more that I am finishing up. So parts 2 and 3 will feature more experiments. I'm still very unclear about glazing techniques, and need a lot more practice. So please feel free to give me suggestions and comments.

Take care!

The Texas Capitol

2009-11-22T11:49:00.001-08:00

Back to the blog world after more than a month ... thanks to those who sent me notes over this time asking if I was ok and saying I was missed. It was nice to know I have you as blog-friends. :)

It's just been very busy here with various activities. I'm back for now, and am looking forward to visiting my favourite blogs and seeing what you have been up to.

The photo club that I'm a member of is putting together an exhibit for the Austin Airport, which will go up in January. The theme for this exhibit is "Looking Up." For this I wanted to photograph the dome of the State Capitol from below, and so went over to the Capitol building several times. Once I got there I realized what an interesting place it is to photograph. I wandered around taking lots of pictures.

The dome is so beautiful seen from below! It took a lot of tries to get a perfectly symmetric picture of it, and this one was selected for the Airport exhibit.

Here is another angle - not symmetric, but with more depth.

The House of Representatives has a beautiful ceiling, with ornate carvings. This picture was also selected for the Airport exhibit.

Even the stairway is a great subject to photograph!

Walking outside, I turned around for one last shot, looking up, at the building against the blue sky.

In case I'm not able to post again before Thanksgiving, have a wonderful holiday, with your family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

New pots for my cacti?

2009-09-25T13:40:00.001-07:00

I have joined a pottery class! I took a class on wheel-thrown pottery some years ago, and learned just enough to know that I have a LOT to learn about this, and to know that I really enjoy it.

That first time around I made a series of lopsided pots that are serving time now as holders for my cactus plants.

This blue-green trio usually sits on my kitchen window sill and adds some crooked cheer to that space.

We learned to make all kinds of pots, using one color of clay and two.

My pots are really thick-walled and quite small. I really like playing with clay though, and have been wanting to get better at it.

So since then I've been looking for a chance to take another class, and finally the stars aligned this semester to allow this chance. I have been making pinch pots and pieces using coils and slabs. None of the pieces is finished yet though.

I will get on the wheel next week and see if I remember anything. Only time will tell if I will end up with more crooked pots for my cacti or if the pieces will find other purposes in life. In the meantime I am having lots of fun with this, and keeping really busy.

Hope all is well with you!

The Texas Mandrone, Some Desert Critters and a Strange Storm

2009-09-08T12:15:00.001-07:00

All over the Guadalupe Mountains National Park area in Texas, we found this gorgeous little tree, the Texas Madrone. This tree is a native of Texas, and has the most gorgeous red bark I've ever seen. This particular tree was near the wash area of our campsite, and I spent a lot of time one evening photographing it lit up with light from the setting sun.

It's deep red and orange-brown bark peels off in thin sheets, exposing the light green surface underneath. The contrast of red and green was so beautiful!

I was standing under the tree with my camera, trying my best to hold still to take slow speed shots, when I saw a tiny movement on the branch near my face. It turned out to be this showy little catterpillar. It looked so pretty, its bright green colors blending well with the reds and greens around it.

Later on, on one of the trails we spotted this pair. They were pretty tiny, and so cute and colorful! I have no idea what kind of insects they are. Just haven't had the time to read up on it. Any clues?

On our drive back from this trip to the Guadalupe Mountains, we experienced the wide open Texas skies. It was very hot, but it was also beautiful in a stark and rugged way.

We also had the oddest experience with this tiny little storm. I have never seen anything like it before, though it probably is common in this part of the world. Though it was generally bright and sunny, there was this one cloud to the left of the highway that was darker than the rest. And there were sheets of rain coming down from it on to the ground directly below. It was moving towards the highway, and kicking up a lot of dust too. We could feel the force of the wind, and drove faster to get out of its way.

This wasn't the only one - we saw more small rain clouds like this a couple more times on this 9 hour drive back to East Texas.

As it got dark, I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw this - the sun setting in the West, on the Guadalupe Mountains, as we sped away from it back home to the East.

Have a great week.

Desert Sunrise & the Roof of Texas

2009-08-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

It turns out Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas is in the Mountain Time Zone. Just two hours east of there, we get back to Central Time. We didn't know this on our first night there, and set our little watch alarm for 6:30am, hoping to hit the trail early.

When the alarm went off (5:30am locally), it was still pitch dark. So we lay partially awake in the tent and waited. It was very pleasant after the rains of the previous night, and so I wasn't in any hurry to get up.

Soon however, it started getting light and I opened the tent flap and peeped out to see this -

I quickly pulled out my camera and scrambled out of the tent. No one else was up in the campsite, and I watched the fiery red sunrise as light slowly spread through the sky.

After taking these pictures, I quickly went in to wash up. In the short time I was in there, the strong desert sun had come out and all the red was gone from the sky. We could feel the heat rapidly taking over. So after a hurried breakfast, we started on an 8.5 mile RT hike to the roof of Texas - Guadalupe Peak.

There was literally no shade on the trail. It was dry and hot, but at 8:30am there still was a soft breeze that made the walk pleasant.

The trail led steadily uphill via switchbacks, and we quickly got higher up in elevation.

The view got better and better with each turn.

Little lizards darted under rocks as we approached, and desert insects kept up a steady chirping as the sun climbed higher into the sky. Bright red flowers peeped out cheerfully at intervals from the rocky landscape, relieving the monotony.

It took us about two hours to get to the top. Guadalupe Peak, at 8751 feet, is the highest point in Texas. The view from the top was lovely, and it was quiet and serene. We were the first people up there on this day, though we saw a dozen more people heading up as we made our way down.
We didn't stay long though, because it was too hot to sit out there under the sun.

The weekend is here again. Aren't the days just flying by?! Have a good one.

Guadalupe Mountains & the Bookmark Draw

2009-08-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your comments and positive words on my previous (and 100th) post. I drew three random numbers today and matched them to the comments. The bookmarks will soon be in the mail to:

1. Blu
2. Celeste Maia
3. Raph G. Neckmann

Thanks for participating!

***
Every summer we try to do a little hiking trip to one of the great National Parks in the US. This year we tried and tried to make plans, but they kept falling through. Finally we decided to just take a few days and drive down to West Texas, to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Compared to many other national parks in the US, this one is pretty remote. The only accommodation within the park is in the form of a few campsites, which you cannot reserve in advance. The campgrounds have toilets and potable water, but there are no camp stores where you can buy food or batteries or anything you might have forgotten to bring. No showers, and nothing except the wide skies and open desert with sparsely marked hiking trails.

Rough, stark natural beauty everywhere, and as much solitude as you want.

What I found most fascinating was that this park is an ancient, marine fossilized reef! Apparently, this dry desert was under a vast tropical ocean about 250 million years ago. The tall mountains that jut out into the sky today were part of a reef that stretched over 400 miles of the shoreline! The ocean eventually receded, and slowly the reef emerged, and with erosion over many, many years, the peaks were formed.

Guadalupe Peak within the park is the highest point in Texas, and we hiked to its top one day.

We arrived in the park in the middle of a harsh thunder and lightning storm. We found an open campsite, but sat in our car wondering if the showers would stop at all. The clouds were dark and low, and the lightning was incessant.

After an hour or so, the rain stopped and we could see the clouds slowly moving on. We quickly got out and pitched our tent, so that if it did rain through the night, we'd have a place to stretch out!

So this was home for the next couple days, where we sat every night under the trees, watching the incredibly clear night sky, with billions of stars shimmering like shards of crystal. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is so very far away from any city that it has some of the clearest night skies possible.

Later that evening as we were getting settled in, the rain had almost completely stopped, though bulbous dark clouds still hung from the sky. What made us feel completely welcome though, was this pair of cheerful rainbows that were painted across the sky!

Have a great weekend.

One hundred posts and some bookmarks

2009-08-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a year and two months since I started this blog one hot, hot summer day last year. This summer has been just as hot, and as I sit cooped up in my air-conditioned bubble, avoiding the sun at all costs like a mole in a hole, I am amazed that it has been this long.

I wasn't sure then how long this will last, but this here is my 100th post. A milestone!

To mark this occasion, here is a modest little give-away. Having been bitten by the bookmark bug (see my previous post), I have been making some more bookmarks, painting the designs on paper. Since they are a little flimsy, I thought I would get them printed on better paper, and laminated as well.

I know most of you are avid readers. So if you would like to have this set of three bookmarks, leave me a comment. I will pick three names at random about 10 days from now, and mail these out to those three of you.

Before I show you my bookmarks, here are some from my collection, along with some of my favourite books.

Can you read that? This and the next bookmark are Ilan Shamir's words. Check out more about him here. This one says:

Advice from a Bat

Trust in your Senses
Spend Time just Hanging around with Friends
Get a Grip
Enjoy the Nightlife
Sometimes you've just gotta Wing it
Guano Happens!

This one says:

Advice from a Bear

Live Large
Climb beyond your Limitations
When life gets hairy, Grin and Bear it
Eat Well
Live with the Seasons
Take a Good, Long Nap
Look after your Honey!

This third one was a present from a friend who visited South Africa and wanted to get me something small. I thought it was a very thoughtful gift. Such a simple idea, no?

Now, here are my three bookmarks. Remember - if you leave a comment, you are at risk of being picked to get these in the mail. :)

This past year of blogging has been fun. Through this medium I have found some of your incredibly creative blogs that I find so inspiring. Keep creating, and keep posting!

Chaurasia on the Flute: Sublime!

2009-08-04T08:05:00.001-07:00

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is a genius on the flute. His name is synonymous with the hindustani classical flute in India, and his music is divine, really!

If you haven't yet heard him, you really must. His music literally lifts you up and transports you to a serene, happy place. I tried to download a video of his from youtube and upload it here, but I got errors from blogger. So here's a link, to a beautiful piece by him, recorded in his youth.

(click on his picture for the link to the video).

He also is one of the many artistes in India who are happy to do fund raising concerts for charitable organizations, and as a result has been on tour in the US several times expressly for fund-raising concerts with specific groups.

While I was still a graduate student about 14 years ago, I got to listen to him live for the first time. It was so utterly magical! After that concert, I was one of the students who escorted him to his host's home. During the drive, he asked me simple questions like what I was studying and what I planned to do after graduation. I don't know what I replied - I was so tongue-tied!

He is older now than in the above video. He is 71, but the music still is as sweet as ever. We listened to him live over the weekend. A part of the proceeds were going to AID (Association for India's Development), my volunteer group.

When he came to the US on tour in 2000, I was a volunteer with Child Relief & You, and I had made these little flute-shaped bookmarks to give away at his concert. But since I did it at the last minute and we didn't have the time to print them, they never got used.

This time, I again remembered these bookmarks on Saturday, and quickly re-made them for AID, in powerpoint. A quick dash to Kinkos for copies, and we were able to hand these out to those who showed interest in our AID table.

I haven't ever taught myself to use better software ... so these aren't perfect, but they worked for the tight deadline, and served the purpose.

Hope you like Chaurasia's music as much as I do!

A package from Shady Grove

2009-07-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I was the lucky winner of a giveaway on Chris' blog. If you haven't been there before, you must visit. She posts beautiful pictures of the Wisconsin countryside, and shares her art and creations as well.

Chris is a quilter and stained glass artist, who makes the most unique and pretty quilt-block earrings. I've never seen anything like them before. So when I got lucky and won her giveaway, I took the chance to request one of her cute earrings.

On Friday last week I received the package in the mail, and it was pretty exciting.

Inside were the earrings I had requested, a card, and an extra snowflake ornament gift too! That was such a neat surprise. Here is her card, and the pretty snowflake. It's transparent glass, but in this picture the glass seems to have captured the sunlight in purple and green hues, making it all the more beautiful.

And here are the earrings that I am really excited to receive. Aren't they pretty?

Please take a moment to go check out Chris' blog and her two etsy stores where she sells beautiful quilt-block jewelery, embroidered handbags, gorgeous hand dyed fabric and more. Here is her card.

This is the first time I have won any give away. Thank you, Chris!

Howdy Du, Some Rain

2009-07-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

(1)
Thanks to all of you who have sent rain thoughts my way. It worked!! It finally rained here after weeks and weeks of temperatures in the 100s. The rain started last evening and for a few minutes I just stood still and started at the wonder of it ...

* sheets and sheets of cooling rain drumming a steady rhythm on the roof
* steam rising from the thirsty tar road and pavement
* sun-scorched leaves of the tomato plants in our vegetable garden nodding in the rain
* fat cat staying close to my feet under the desk - he's the only one that's not happy

Here's the avocado plant with fresh raindrops. See how well it's doing!! :)

(2)
Last weekend I did my first duathlon: Howdy Du 2009. It was a 3 mile run, 17 mile bike ride and another 3 mile run. It was a hot and extremely humid day, but still a lot of fun. I finished in 2 hours and 9 minutes. The runs went well, but I really need to work on my cycling speed. In Austin everyone is into cycling - thanks to Lance Armstrong. We recently joined this group, and it's been a lot of fun so far.

The weekend's almost here ... enjoy it!

Unexpected Visitor

2009-07-14T19:23:00.001-07:00

We had an interesting visitor a few days ago. I happened to take a break late in the afternoon on this day and thought I'd see how hot it was outside. Stepping out onto the deck, I saw our fat cat sitting on the stones in the backyard, swatting at something. I chased him away, thinking he'd trapped yet another lizard. But on closer scrutiny, it turned out to be this:

Do you see it? It's right in the middle of the image, at the edge of the shade. Here's a closer look:

It was a gorgeous little Red-Striped Ribbon Snake. It's non-venomous, and likes to live in ponds and swamps. There's a creek a short distance from our backyard, so maybe this little one wandered away from there.

After I shooed our fat cat away, I ran inside to get my camera. But this little guy didn't budge at all. I don't know for how long our cat was terrorizing him there, for he sat completely still; a beautiful little model for my pictures.

Husband came home from work just about then and picked it up and relocated it to our vegetable patch. It did emit a foul-smelling odor in self-defense, but I'm sure it was safer within the fenced patch, away from the cats.

Hope it's cooler where you are than here. We've had 100+ degrees for the past 4 weeks straight. If you have lots of rain, do send us some.

Fireworks

2009-07-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

I learned something new this July 4th. And that was how to photograph fireworks displays. I have joined a photo club here, where we have friendly "competitions" every other month. This month's theme is Fireworks.

I need to decide which of these photos to take to the competition - I can take a max of two. So here's where I need your opinion. Which two of these eight photos do you like most? Do tell me your first and second choice. I'll number and title them through this post.

(1) Harvest

(2) Dandelion

We watched the display at Ladybird Lake in downtown Austin this time. Maybe watched is not the right word, because I hardly saw the display. I was frantically working with my tripod and camera, changing lenses and trying to get at least a few good pictures.

(3) Feathers

By the time we got to Ladybird Lake, it was pretty packed with people. The neatest thing we saw was a whole bunch of people out on the lake in their canoes, lit up by the ambient light, paddling toward the area where the downtown skyline and fireworks display would be clearly visible. What a great idea! If I hadn't been in such a hurry to find a good spot and set my tripod up, I would've got a picture of them.

(4) Cotton Candy

(5) Sun Rays

Since we got there so late, I couldn't get a spot where I could photograph the lake and the skyline along with the fireworks. Even as we got close to the lake, the first few fireworks went off, and we hurriedly found a spot under a bridge where there were no other people. Because of this bad location, I could only hope to take close ups of the display, which is what I have here.

(6) Flower

(7) Purple Rays

While I still have a long way to go in getting this right, it was fun to learn how to do it. Next time I will go early and try to get some landscape along with the fireworks.

(8) Hibiscus

Hope you got to watch some great fireworks too. Have a great week, and do let me know your choices.

How can you Buy or Sell the Earth?

2009-06-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

Some years ago when we were in Rocky Mountain National Park, we bought a poster called "How can you Buy or Sell the Earth". Here's the story:

In 1854, the United States Government offered to buy two million acres of Native American land in the Pacific Northwest. The following statement on behalf of the environment was supposed to have been made by Chief Sealth (Seattle) in reply to President Franklin Pierce in December, 1854. It has been described as the most beautiful and prophetic statement on the environment ever made.

Note: There is some controversy about whether or not these words were exactly what the Chief said, but the words still hold a lot of wisdom, so I'd like to think they are true.

The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer.

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us...

This we know: All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my people. We will live apart, and in peace.

One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover - our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land: but you cannot.

He is the God of man; and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.

But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where in the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will consider your offer to buy the land.

If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from the earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as a newborne loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And preserve it for your children, and love it ... as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all.

We shall see...

The words are deep with wisdom, and I wanted to frame the poster in a simple way that matches the sentiments expressed in it. So I bought some hemp twine, dark handmade paper and wooden sticks.

I painted the sticks and tied the poster to the sticks with twine, the way I've seen some Native American art framed. Here is how it looks now:

What do you think?

The Avocado Story

2009-06-24T16:07:00.001-07:00

I took a little time off from blogging to focus on some other things without distraction. I've missed reading many of my favourite blogs during this time too. It's time to catch up.

I'd posted earlier in February (see here) that I'd put a couple of avocado seeds in water to get them to grow into plants. Here is an update on them, four months later.

When I first put the seeds in water, I didn't have much hope that they would sprout. I'd done this many times before, with no results.

This time again, the seeds sat suspended in water by the windows, while I patiently watched their apparent inactive state, all the while hoping something was happening inside. They had the full benefit of morning sunlight, though they were sheltered from its intensity indoors.

Some time later, their bottoms cracked open and slowly split apart, allowing a root to peep through. These roots rapidly grew longer and I checked their progress daily.

Soon the entire seed cracked open from one side, allowing me a glimpse of the seed within, and the shoot that was beginning to emerge as well.

How was it that both my seeds sprouted this time, while I had failed on all previous attempts?? Probably because I had a secret helper, assisting me all this time in his own quiet way.

Shadow likes slimy rainwater - this we know. But it seems like he has a taste for avocado flavored water as well! He came in every day to take a few licks from this water, which might just have been my magic ingredient! Here he is - caught in the act.

After some time, I decided to move the seedlings to pots, and took them outside to plant them. Shadow watched me doing this, and came over for one final drink of avocado water.

And so it is that we now have two happy avocado plants (in the white pots) that are growing rapidly. They grow to be large trees, and I don't know what I will do with them when they grow larger. For now, this experiment has been very successful, thanks to my little helper.

Beagle Channel: Harberton Farm

2009-05-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

At the end of the Beagle Channel cruise off the coast of Ushuaia, we visited Harberton Farm, one of the oldest Estancias in this region. Besides being stunningly pretty, with sweeping vistas of daisy fields and grazing horses, this farm has a lot of historical significance as well.

It was constructed in 1886 by Reverend Thomas Bridges, who had a close relationship with the native Yamana people (see this post for more about the Yamana.) He authored the first Yamana-English dictionary, which has helped preserve this language whose native speakers have almost completely died out.

The 150-year old main house was constructed in England, brought in pieces by ship to Ushiaia and re-assembled here. Along with the house, lupins were also brought to Argentina and were first grown here. The Estancia garden was filled with their color when we visited.

This farm was a safe haven for the native Yamana and Selk'nam people, who were otherwise treated quite badly by the settlers. They found work here, and could live on this farm with dignity. Upon their death, they were buried alongside the family, all in one common grave. The crosses marked "Native" belong to the graves of the Yamana who lived on the farm.

Today the farm is owned by Tommy Goodall (Thomas Bridges' great-grandson), and his American-born wife Natalie Prosser, a famous biologist. The traditional activities in the farm have long come to a stop, but relics from those days are visible everywhere.

Now the main activity on the Estancia is tourism. I couldn't get enough of the beautiful scenery there. The deep blue of the peaceful waters and sky, lush green fields filled with white and yellow daisies and wildflowers, horses grazing lazily in the warm sunshine, and the timelessness of the place itself.

Though there were no daffodils there, Wordsworth's poem played itself in my mind, and I tried to retain the sights in my memory, for when I am in a "vacant or pensive mood" later.

Have a peaceful day.

Cactus Flowers

2009-05-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

In Austin, soft spring days are lengthening into the warmer days of summer. The purple sheen of bluebonnets along the roads in the hill country are slowly fading. Golden yellow wildflowers still nod cheerfully along the roads, sprinkled with reds and pinks here and there.

It's a beautiful time here. Red-headed cardinals sing sweet songs from their perch in our backyard trees. The cats laze in the sun and the squirrels in the trees scold them incessantly. Woodpeckers and hummingbirds too visit, on occasion.

Above all, these early days of summer are when the cacti are in bloom. How bright and showy their flowers are! Here are some pictures from around where we live and from near my university.

Have a colorful week!

What a Wonderful World

2009-04-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

This is one of the sweetest videos I've ever seen.

It will soon be baby deer season. We have had baby deer in our back yard, and our cats have sat patiently close to them, watching them. But I've never seen something like this. It's amazing.

Truly - what a wonderful world this is! How can people hunt deer for recreation?

Let's do our part to protect this planet, and advocate the cause of innocent animals. They don't have a voice. We should speak for them.

Have a wonderful day.

A day cruise on the Beagle Channel

2009-04-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

The Beagle Channel separates the largest island in Tierra del Fuego from some of its smaller islands. This strait is 240 kilometres long, with a minimum width of about 5 kilometres.

Many companies offer day cruises on the channel from Ushuaia, to visit some historic locations and to see the channel's famous inhabitants - the sea lions and Magellanic penguins.

When we arrived at Ushuaia's beautiful pier early in the morning, the sky was overcast and metallic grey. I wondered if it would just rain the whole day and we would have to see the sights through the boat's rain-spattered windows.

As we pulled away from the pier, it started drizzling, and all of us crowded into the room below. It rains most of the time in Ushuaia, so no one was perturbed. Though a little disappointed, I decided I would still make the most of it, even if it rained the whole day.

Thankfully though, the rain stopped within the next hour, and we could see the clouds lifting at the distant horizon. Though there was a cold, wet wind still blowing, we bundled up and went up to the deck to watch the dark grey waters and the cloud covered mountains in the distance.

Soon we passed the Eclaireurs Light House standing on a small island. Bright orange lichen covered the rocks, contrasting beautifully with the blue and white surroundings. This old light house dates back to 1919 and is one of the landmarks of Ushuaia.

The Beagle Channel was named after the famous ship HMS Beagle on which Darwin first sailed as an amateur naturalist from 1826 to 1830. The ship's mission was to survey the coasts of the southern part of South America. When the ship reached the channel on 29 January 1833, Darwin first saw the region's glaciers and wrote in his field notebook "many glaciers beryl blue most beautiful contrasted with snow."

We tried looking at the scenery through his eyes, as the first colony of penguins, sea lions and gulls came into view, framed by snowcapped peaks at the horizon.

It was snooze-time for the sea lions and they lay basking on the rocks, enjoying the cold, brisk wind that froze my fingers!

Tiny penguins briskly walked around on the cluster of rocks, going about their day as we gawked at them from our boat.

We next arrived at what appeared to be beach day at the penguin colony. They were out on the sand, soaking in the watery sunlight, with adults just lying around rolling in the sand while the young ones chased each other, diving into the water.

Most of them were busy preening themselves and looking cute for the camera.

But some waddled up close to the boat and stared at us with their cute, smiling faces. I so wished I could communicate with them!

There were a few that stood there with their eyes tightly shut, probably praying that we'd be gone when they opened them again.

We were all very quiet, and the only sounds were from the water lapping at the sides of the boat or from the racket created by the penguins themselves. The sun had come out by now and was slowly spreading its warmth around us.

It is such a beautiful world out there! Even as we hurry back to our lives in the concrete jungles of the world, these penguins and sea lions will still be here in these tranquil surroundings. Our wasteful actions will deplete the quality of their air and water, and will change their climate. But they will never realize it.

We soon left the penguin beach behind and headed over to Henderson Farm, a historic landmark of Ushuaia. More about that in the next post.

P.S. I am busy trying to make some progress on my thesis, because of which my posts and blog visits have become less frequent. Once I get a chunk of work done, I hope to have more time ...

Hope you are all doing well.

Ushuaia by Night

2009-04-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

I have been limiting my time spent on reading/writing blog articles to about once or twice a week, because it was getting out of control! So though I may not read/comment on your posts at once, I will get to it once a week.

In my previous post I had written a little bit about Ushuaia - the city at the End of the World. It was nice to see your interest in my travel stories.

We visited Argentina in the summer (Dec-Jan), and since Ushuaia's latitude is 54 degrees south, we had sunlight until almost 11pm every day! It was wonderful to have the loooong days, because we could fit so much into each day, and then have time for even more before we had to get to bed.

For local kids of course, this is incredible because they can play outside for that much longer. As we were walking to our room at around 10:30 pm one night, we saw boys playing soccer in a field, and stopped for a bit to watch them. The setting was so idyllic, with the mountains surrounding us.

Jude had asked about Ushuaia's economy. The city does get a large part of its revenue through tourism. But there is also livestock farming, fishing, lumbering (yes - from the lovely old growth forests of Tierra del Fuego), and eletronic goods firms. So while food is expensive here, electronic goods are pretty cheap - we didn't try to buy any, but read about this somewhere.

One evening we set out with my tripod, to take some night pictures of the pier in the city. It is a spectacular location for night shots, since the pier is surrounded by snow capped mountains. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, but you can imagine how amazing it would be to have a full moon in the sky casting its reflection in the water as well ...

This bright red boat kept moving and I had to wait to get it in the position I wanted for this picture.

The pier in Ushuaia comes alive at night, with twinkling lights from the city and the matching lights from the boats that softly bob on the waters.

It was almost midnight before we had darkness, and by then the streets near the pier were pretty empty. The sky was very overcast, as you can see in the previous picture. Since we were there for just about five days, and it was raining on and off most of the time, we had to made do with the weather we had for these pictures.

From Ushuaia, we went on a few interesting day trips. The best day was spent hiking in Tierra del Fuego national park - the southernmost in the world. We also went on a day cruise on the Beagle Channel to see the penguins and sealions there, and a visit to the Haberton Farm which was truly idyllic. More on these trips in later posts ...

Hope you enjoyed the Spring weather over the weekend.

Ushuaia - The End of the World

2009-03-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I had written about Tierra del Fuego, the archipelago at the southern tip of South America. Even just a hundred years ago, this region was untouched and exactly as it has been over centuries. But now it is completely transformed and the ancient people have almost completely died out or mixed in with the European people who settled here in the 20th century.

Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego is a modern city now and holds the title "Fin del Mundo" or "End of the World". There is one Chilean city even south of Ushuaia, called Punta Arenas. But Ushuaia in Argentina claimed the title first.

Arriving in Ushuaia is an experience in itself, because of the dramatic approach to the city. Flights from the mainland skim low over the southern tip of the Andes before dipping down into the cluster of islands, landing on a tiny airstrip that runs from tip to tip across a small island!

This landing is often rough due to the constant strong winds in this area, and I was quite nervous. So I left my camera in the overhead bin fully expecting to be jostled about. But the landing turned out to be perfect, and absolutely smooth. Others we met who landed the very next day said they didn't have such a smooth landing, and so we were pretty lucky.

The plane almost skimmed the water's surface on its gentle approach, and just as I thought we would be landing in water, we touched down on the tip of the island on a bright and sunny day. Since I couldn't get up to get my camera, I have no pictures, but here's one from our take-off, when we left Ushuaia.

The city is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and has variable weather always. It can go from sunny and warm to breezy, cold and rainy in hours, and one has to be prepared.

Lupins were in bloom everywhere when we visited in January, and the city was absolutely beautiful. Lupins are not native to this region though, and were introduced by European settlers.

We stayed at a little bed & breakfast which was a 15 minute walk from the main downtown area of the city. These red lupins were on either side of our door.

Here are some more pictures of the bursts of color we saw all over the town as we walked around. I couldn't resist taking pictures of them!

We walked several miles every day getting to and from the downtown area, because we got almost all our meals from the only ALL vegetarian take-out place in Ushiaia - called El Bambu.

We found it really hard to find vegetarian food that I could trust in Argentina. The only pasta dish we would find in the restaurants in Patagonia would usually smell odd, but I would eat it quickly without delving into details about the ingredients, because I didn't have many other options. Then we took to cooking our meals at our hostel, but after a long day's hiking, cooking isn't the easiest chore!

So we really appreciated the delicious, affordably priced food at El Bambu!

Most Antarctic cruises start from Ushuaia, and the port is stunning at night. I took my tripod out there one night and took some pictures of the night lights at the port. More of that in the next post.

Here's one more lupin picture before I end this post!

Please STOP the seal hunt !!!

2009-03-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

The annual Canadian seal hunt is underway. I break down and cry every year when I see this cruel, cruel practice. How is it that we humans are capable of so much cruelty?

Seal hunting takes place in Canada, Greenland, Namibia, Norway, US, and Russia. Apparently Russia has banned it this year.

Do we really need to club baby seals to death for their pelt, blubber and meat? If we do have to have these things, can it not be done more humanely? What kind of world is this, where such actions are legal and commonplace?

Please click here if you'd like to sign the petition to protest this year's seal hunt.

Austin's downtown

2009-03-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to Pink Dogwood of Wandering Mind for giving me an award. Thanks, Pink Dogwood - your comments have always been encouraging and I'm glad to have found you in blog land!

Today's post has a few pictures and some history from Austin's downtown area. The best thing about Austin (I think), is Ladybird Lake, which lies in the middle of downtown and offers greenery and pleasant walks in the midst of chaos.

As a result, high-rise condos and apartment buildings are sprouting up all over, offering views of the lake, and proximity to the trails around it. I don't know the name of this building, but it's a new one, and gave me a good sunset picture one evening.

There is constant construction in Austin, as in most metro areas, and taller and taller buildings are coming up everywhere, with gleaming glass panels and geometrically precise shapes.

The Frost Bank Tower is one of the most recognizable buildings in Austin today. It was completed in 2003, and stands 515 feet tall.

This one is the Bank of America Center, a 26-story office building that was built in 1975.

What was more interesting to me about the Bank of America Center, was this lovely little building from across the street that was reflected on its polished glass exterior!

This is the 8-story tall Scarbrough Building, which was built in 1910. This building was Austin's first steel and concrete structure. It was originally the Emerson Monroe Scarbrough's dry goods store. Locally known then as Scarbrough's, it was the finest department store in central Texas. It is now dwarfed by tall sky scrapers all around, but still holds its place in Austin's downtown.

Many such beautiful, ornate buildings stand literally buried among the tall matchbox-like newer structures all around. One has to look carefully to see these fine buildings, but they are still there.

The picture below is of a statue of Mrs. Angelina Eberly (1798 - 1860) on Congress Avenue. She was an inn keeper and is remembered as a hero of Austin.

The story goes that Sam Houston, the President of the Republic of Texas in the mid-1800s, thought that Austin was an inappropriate location for the capital, and campaigned to have it moved to Houston instead. When the congress disagreed, Houston sent a delegation of Texas Rangers to steal the government archives.

In December 1842, when the rangers were loading their wagons in the middle of the night with the documents, Mrs. Eberly, an innkeeper, heard the sounds and ran down the road to fire off the town cannon to alert everyone. She missed the Rangers but blasted a hole in the General Land Office building a few blocks away!

The cannon fire woke everyone up, and they stopped the Rangers from stealing the documents. Houston would now be the capital of Texas, if Angelina Eberly hadn't fired the cannon! This statue by Pat Oliphant stands on the sidewalk near where Eberly helped preserve Austin as Texas' capital city.

I took these pictures on a downtown field trip that our photography class took a few months ago. I am usually not too interested in taking photos of buildings, but was pleasantly surprised at how interesting this trip was.

I had to wake up early in the morning for this (which I don't usually do :)), and as a result, got to capture the early morning light and shadows that all disappear by the time I usually am up and about!

Have a good week.

The ancient people of Tierra del Fuego

2009-03-17T10:06:00.001-07:00

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southern tip of the South American continent, and is made up of several small islands that are exposed to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the cold currents from Antarcica to the south.

This is a windswept land where winters are freezing cold and summers are cool, where a day can change from sunny and pleasant to bitterly cold with gale-force winds within hours.

Yet, this fascinating land has been occupied by humans for more than 12,000 years now. Nomadic hunter gatherers crossed a land bridge from the main continent to get here all those years ago, before the sea level rose and separated the islands from the mainland.

Their descendants, the Mannekenk and Selknam (or Ona) people still lived here in 1869 when the first white settler founded an Anglican Mission in Tierra del Fuego. Since then, the indigenous people who had lived here for so long, have quickly died out, due to exposure to different ways, diseases and so on.

All that remains is a small, modest museum in the city of Ushuaia, which tells their history in simple, but carefully prepared displays that at best look like school projects of gifted children.

In contrast, the more recent history of this area is displayed in larger museums (with steeper entrance fees).

The Yamana Museum

We skipped visiting the more recent museums, but spend a large part of an afternoon inside the Yamana museum. No one else visited while we were there. We were told to take as many pictures of the displays as we wanted, so I took a lot of them. It's a good way to encourage sharing of the fascinating history of these cultures.

The Yamana: Canoe people of the Beagle Channel

The Yamana or Yaghan people were still living their traditional lives in Tierra del Fuego 150 years ago, so this isn't ancient history.

They were sea-going people who spent long periods aboard their canoes, living off the sea. While out on the ocean, the men hunted seals from the prow, while the women collected shellfish from the oceans.

The fact that utterly fascinates me is that only the women could swim. And since the Yamana didn't wear any clothes, these amazing women took to the icy waters with only seal grease protecting them from the cold! It was so cold even in the summer while we visited, that it is mind boggling to me that these women were so tough.

The Yamana always carried fire with them, even on to the canoes. They set the fire in a space in the middle of their canoes. This was so that they could instantly start a larger fire once they arrived on land, since it was always so cold.

The arrival of European settlers in 1884 mostly wiped out the Yamana due to a measles epidemic. Also, the Yamana way of life was very finely tuned to the environment they lived in, and had been honed over hundreds of years. When well-meaning missionaries tried to clothe them, the Yamana contracted pneumonia from the damp clothes that they wore, since their sea-faring ways didn't match the clothes they were given.

The last of the Yamana, Abuela Rosa, died in 1982. Some descendants of the Yamana still live in Tierra del Fuego, but there is only one surviving speaker of the Yamana language alive today.

The Selknam

The Selknam or Ona were powerful, fearless people who also lived in Tierra del Fuego at the same time as the Yamana. The community hunted guanacos, eating the meat and fashioning clothes out of the guanaco skin. They were expert hunters who used bows and arrows with great skill.

When European settlers arrived here in the 1880s and set up sheep farms, they fenced off large areas of Selknam land, and prohibited entry to the native people. This led to conflict, especially when the Selknam started hunting the sheep, since any animal was fair game to them.

This unfortunately led to a systematic genocide of the Selknam people. Headhunters were paid money for bringing in heads of the Selknam they had killed, with bonuses paid for pregnant women. The heads were even shipped off to collectors and museums in Europe. Poisoned meat was also given to the Selknam in the attempt to get rid of them.

In 1881 around when Tierra del Fuego was first colonized, about 3500 Selknam people lived on the big island of Tierra del Fuego. By the late 1920s, the hundred or so of the Selknam that remained, had to succumb to acculturization.

The last two pure-blooded Selknam: Lola Kiepje and Esteban Yshton passed away in the late 1960s.

For the whole time that we were in Tierra del Fuego in the city of Ushuaia, I felt a little disconnected from the modern city around me. It was cold and rainy on most days, and as we walked up to high glaciers and hiked in the forests, I felt the presence of these ancient people around me. I kept trying to see this land through their eyes. What a great loss it is to us that their culture is no more!

PS: The photos above are the ones I took from displays at the museum. I don't know who the original photographers were.

The Bluebonnets are here!

2009-03-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

It is Holi today in India, the Festival of Colours! This festival is celebrated by throwing coloured powder and coloured water over others, lots of dancing, and good food as always.

In the south of India where I grew up, Holi wasn't celebrated with as much fervor as it is in the northern parts of India. Several stories exist for the origin of this festival, and each one is very interesting. They all have one ending in common though, that it is the celebration of the victory of good over evil.

Traditionally, natural colours and powders were used for the festivities; the bright yellow of turmeric, the brilliant red of kumkum, the healing green of neem, and so on.

Since the change of seasons in the spring usually brings with it colds and other viral infections, this was possibly a way by which people invoked the protective powers of these Ayurvedic herbs to arm them against the germs.

The synthetic powders that have replaced the natural ones to some extent these days are toxic, so it might be wise to go back to the old ways of celebrating Holi!

To celebrate this Festival of Colours, I give you some bright natural colours from Austin. :)

Spring is here! Though spring in Austin is definitely not as much of an explosion of colour as spring in other cities, it does have its own fleeting charm, which I am slowly beginning to appreciate. We lived in Atlanta before moving here, and I loved spring there. I think that part of the country has the most vibrant spring ever, and will do a separate post on that. But in Austin, though one has to look more closely, the beauty is definitely there.

The redbuds were the first to bloom. Their bright pink petals contrasting beautifully with the silver grey bark. This tree in my neighbor's yard was at its peak last week when I took the picture, but is already fading.

Cactus flowers have started to appear.

And so have other small flowers in my front yard - not sure what kind these are.

The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas and grows in small bunches close to the ground. Their little heads are already nodding along the highways on the grass, and the open spaces are starting to shimmer with a blue haze. Soon we will see them everwhere. It's such a pity that they don't last very long.

More colour is yet to come, before the heat of summer really sets in. I'll leave you with a sample of pictures I took last year, during late spring. This is what we can look forward to.

Happy Holi, everyone!

Where is Home?

2009-03-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Shayla to post the 4th photo from my 4th folder. But since I'd done something similar recently, I decided to modify her tag a little. The photo she posted led her to wonder about being home. And I've picked that theme up for this tag.

Home ... where is home?

I've lived almost exactly half my life in Chennai, India and half in four different states in the US. But when I sit down and think about it, the picture of home that comes to mind is a place where I've never lived, and have visited only about 3-4 times.

Kerala - a Southern state in India where my parents were born, and their parents were born ... though I've never really lived there, and only partially understand the language, I feel it is home.

With a large part of its land covered in evergreen forests and hills, and a long and beautiful coastline, there are aesthetic reasons why Kerala can make anyone want to live here. There is lush greenery everywhere, and this is a state that is famous for its backwaters.

Coconut palms grow everywhere ...

... and fruit trees & flowers grow in profusion in the fertile land. Jackfruit is so common that no one will pay money to buy the fruit in the market. I once found this deliciously sweet fruit at a farmers market in Atlanta. I had to leave it behind when I found that a slice the size of a slice of pizza cost $25 !!

Wild pineapples fall over with their weight ...

... ripe cashew fruit hangs from trees all over (sorry about the blurry photo)

and cool coconut water can be had by the roadside.

It is a land of beauty and nature's bounty. But beyond all this ...

It is the place where my parents, grandparents, and their grandparents before them lived their lives. On a recent visit to India, I went with my parents to Kerala, and visited the places where they lived as children. These places are still almost exactly the way they were all those years ago when my grandmother was a young girl, and I could see their stories come alive before me.

The temple tank that my grandmother used to visit daily as a young woman ...

Did she admire these pink lilies too?

The beautiful temple that generations of my family worshipped at ...

Where the sweet perfume of the Nagalinga (cannonball flower) scents the air.

Did my grandmother linger beside the tree too, mesmerized by the perfume ...

There is so much history here, and so many stories of my ancestors that I have heard, that I can almost feel their presence in these places. It is strangely satisfying to walk along roads they walked on and visit the places they visited every day.

So though I have never lived there, Kerala is home to me.

How about you? If you would like to ponder this question too, please feel free to take up the tag, and leave me a comment letting me know. I'd love to come over and read about it.

Have a great week.

Wood Apples and Avocados

2009-02-23T12:10:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit lazy about posting here lately. There are still some accounts of hikes in Tierra del Fuego and some interesting historical tidbits I'd like to share. But for now, here's some more mundane stuff ...

I was in the World Market the other day, and saw this bag of lovely carved wooden balls. The whole bag was only $5, and the balls looked so pretty that I bought them and brought them home.

On closer inspection, upon reading the label inside the bag I realized that these balls were actually wood apples! I hadn't seen a wood apple (or bael fruit) in at least fifteen years, and hadn't ever seen any art using them. So this was an interesting surprise.

I did my entire schooling in a campus in South India where wood apple trees grow wild. As kids we have eaten these fruits in all stages of their growth. The shell of the wood apple is thick and hard, and we used to break the fruit open with a stone or by hurling it to the ground.

Here's a picture of a wood apple tree I found online:

While still raw, the inside is a green mass that is extremely sour, and it smears itself to the palate. I don't know why we would still persist at eating them at this stage! I guess when you are about 8 years old and have nothing else to do, this is good entertainment.

The ripe wood apple fruit is brown on the inside, and sticky with a sweet-sour taste. This is cooked into chutneys in India and rarely eaten as is, except by kids. :) These were hard to find because most kids had their eye on the same ripening fruit and I was rarely the one that got it. When I did though, it used to be a treat. Maybe the struggle to get it made it sweeter than it really was!

Here's a picture from Wiki of a ripe wood apple:

This fruit has a lot of good uses too: (info obtained from Wikipedia)

As food: Indonesians beat the pulp of the ripe fruit with palm sugar and eat the mixture at breakfast. The sweetened pulp is a source of sherbet in the subcontinent. Jam, pickle, marmalade, syrup, jelly, squash and toffee are some of the products of this versatile fruit. Young bael leaves are a salad green in Thailand.

Other uses: Bael fruit pulp has a soap-like action that made it a household cleaner for hundreds of years. The sticky layer around the unripe seeds is household glue that also finds use in jewelery-making. The glue, mixed with lime, waterproofs wells and cements walls. The glue also protects oil paintings when added as a coat on the canvas. The fruit rind yields oil that is popular as a fragrance for hair; it also produces a dye used to color silks and calico.

Nutrition: A hundred gm of bael fruit pulp contains 31 gm of carbohydrate and two gm of protein, which adds up to nearly 140 calories. The ripe fruit is rich in beta-carotene; it also contains significant quantities of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin, and small amounts of Vitamin C.

Medicinal uses: The bael fruit is more popular as medicine than as food. The tannin in bael has an astringent effect that once led to its use as a general tonic and as a traditional cure for dysentery, diarrhoea, liver ailments, chronic cough and indigestion. In fact, Vasco da Gama's men, suffering from diarrhoea and dysentery in India, turned to the bael fruit for relief. The root juice was once popular as a remedy for snakebites.

The seed oil is a purgative, and the leaf juice mixed with honey is a folk remedy for fever. The tannin-rich and alkaloid-rich bark decoction is a folk cure for malaria.

I wonder if any of you has seen other art using wood apples?

Moving on to avocados ...

I've read in several places that it's easy to grow avocado plants from the pit of the fruit. The process and the plant look so interesting and beautiful in the pictures online that I've tried multiple times to get this to work. I've never been successful.

But that doesn't stop me from trying! I made some guacamole over the weekend, and once again, I have suspended the two pits in water in the hope that they will grow into gorgeous indoor plants one day. Wish me luck!

Have you ever got this to work? If you have, do tell me what I'm doing wrong!

Enjoy your week!

Run for India 2009

2009-02-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

Last week was a busy one, and the weekend was even more packed with activity. So I haven't been checking the blogs I usually read, or been able to compose new posts ... will hopefully catch up on that soon.

Sunday, Feb 15th was the day of the Austin Marathon & Half Marathon. Our team from the Association for India's Development (AID) runs this race every year as a fundraiser. This year, seventeen of us participated - eleven volunteers ran the half marathon, and six ran the full.

Over the past few months, Saturday mornings have been exactly the same: wake up at 6am, get to Lady Bird Lake (see my post about the lake) by 7:00 or 7:30am, and run the prescribed distance for the week. Some days were beautiful, and running was a pleasure. Other days were cold, windy and miserable, and running was really painful. But it all paid off on Sunday, coz all of us had a good run.

R and I ran the half this year, since we had lots of injuries after running the full marathon last year. It was a perfect day on Sunday, partly cloudy and cool. The 13.1 miles seemed pretty easy after having done the 26.2 miles last year on Austin's hilly course.

Our bright yellow team t-shirts stand out in the crowd (I designed these last year).

This run is the biggest fundraiser for our volunteer group each year, and the training program is called Run for India. Runners raise money through their run, for supporting projects in rural India that are sustainable and holistic in their approach:

"AID is a volunteer movement committed to promoting sustainable, equitable and just development. In solidarity with non-violent people's struggles, AID supports grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women's empowerment and social justice."

The idea is to learn from our project partners on the ground, and have study groups where we try and understand the issues behind the realities that exist on the ground. As a result, we learn a tremendous amount from our NGO partners in India.

I coordinate two projects (with NGOs Kalpavriksh in Delhi, and Exnora Green Cross in Vellore), both of them related to environmental issues, since that is what interests me. I serve as the link between these two NGO partners and our group so that we can learn as much as possible about the issues - social, political and scientific, that relate to the projects that we support.

It is work that has taught me so much more than I have been able to contribute. Our group of runners are all volunteers - students as well as professionals. The energy and excitement in this group is awesome, and now that we have raised some money, it is time to invest it in some deserving projects on the ground in India!

Hope your week is going well.

Hiking in Patagonia

2009-02-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

In my previous post I had written about the two major peaks in Los Glaciares National Park in Patagonia: Fitz Roy, and Cerro Torre.

One special thing about this national park is that entry into it is free. The ranger explained to us that they want to keep it this way, so that everyone can enjoy nature's beauty - and not just the ones who can afford it. I was very impressed with this sentiment.

The two main hiking trails in the park are the ones that take you to the base of these two mighty mountains, where mountain glaciers form jewel-like pools and melt into icy cold, crystal clear streams. This post is about these two spectacular hikes.

Laguna de los Tres hike

This hike is about 15 miles round-trip, with an elevation gain of 750 meters, and goes to the base of Mount Fitz Roy. It is also one of the most scenic trails in the park, and we chose this one as our first hike.

Due to the steepness and exposure to wind in some parts of the trail, caution is advised. On extremely windy days, which occur quite often here, the rangers advice hikers to not go on some sections of this trail. We were lucky to have a perfectly still day, on which we could complete this hike.

Even from the very beginning, the trail takes off steeply uphill, with wildflowers on either side, and with the views getting better and better with every turn.

The trail winds through densely wooded sections of forest, with gnarled, twisted trees with dark brown, peeling bark. These are old growth forests, with some species unique to this part of the world and the Australian regions (they shared these species when they were joined as Gondwana land). These forests seemed to me to have a different character, and a mystique about them. It was probably just my imagination ...

After a few hours of walking through the narrow, forested trail, we came to a more open and exposed area, with a cute bridge over Rio Blanco, formed from glacial meltwater, which we had to cross. The river didn't have much water in this section, but the water was clear and cold.

Soon after this, vegetation became sparse, and the trail again took off uphill. This is the section that gets closed off when it's windy, because it is quite exposed. It was quite still on this day, and we could see Fitz Roy looming closer and closer.

After some determined walking over scree slopes with pebbly trails, we went over a hill and saw the lagoon in front of us, lit up by the sun. Fitz Roy was completely covered in clouds though. What looks like sky in this picture below is really the mountain covered in clouds.

It was cold and windy by the lagoon, so although we wanted to sit down and take it all in, we decided to head back after a little while. Our fingers and toes were slowly freezing, and we still had a long way to go.

The weather in Patagonia is extremely variable, and quite windy. We were really lucky to have had good weather on this hike, because those that did it on the very next day couldn't go all the way to the lagoon, and had to turn back at Rio Blanco due to fierce winds.

It took us about 8 hours to do this 15 mile round-trip hike. We had left at around 11:30am, and got back to El Chalten by around 8:30pm, when the sun was still quite high in the sky! The hot shower and dinner we came back to couldn't have felt better. :)

Laguna Torre hike

Laguna Torre is the lagoon at the base of Cerro Torre, and the hike to this spot is 13.6 miles round-trip, with a 250 meter elevation gain. We started on this one around noon, and spent some time finding the trailhead.

And then we saw this landmark that we had read about, and knew we were on the right track. The sign says: Monument to a careless trekker. The story is that this tree's death was caused by a tossed cigarette. Due to the winds here, fires quickly burn out of control. So trekkers are urged to be careful on the trails.

For the first few miles this trail was pretty boring, exposed to the sun and very dry. I had been excited about this hike because this would take us to the base of Cerro Torre - the mountain that has had such a controversial history, and that is considered one of the hardest in the world to climb. But this initial stretch was a little disappointing.

Soon, however, we entered a stretch of dense woodland again, which was covered in bright green ferns and other vegetation. It was truly beautiful, and I soon forgot about the exposed section. There were hundreds of caterpillars along the trail, crawling slowly across it. Sadly, many had been squished by hiking boots. We tried to move many of them to the side, but it was a drop in the ocean.

Bright red Chilean firebush along the trail.

Soon we came to a wide glacial stream, which we heard even before we saw. It flowed briskly down, bringing with it a cold wind from the direction of the mountain.

Further along, all vegetation disappeared, and we were on pebbly, rocky terrain and it got very windy and cold. Cerro Torre loomed ahead, but was almost entirely covered in clouds. We could however, sense its bulk even through the cloud cover.

The trail went over a hill, and then there was Laguna Torre, dotted prettily with icebergs, with Cerro Torre and its glacier in the background.

Though it was cold, the sun was shining brightly on us, so we were quite comfortable under our layers. We sat by the lagoon for at least half an hour, enjoying the view and marveling at Cerro Torre's sheer 2km of vertical rock so close to us.

The clouds were moving fast, but continuously swirled around the mountain's peak, refusing to allow us a glimpse of the summit that has mesmerized the rock climbing community.

Once we left and were a little distance from the lagoon, I turned back to take one more look at the mountain, and to my delight, the clouds had completely cleared and I could get some pictures of the peak.

Imagine climbing this needle-like rock! And climbing it when it is buffetted by 100-knot winds is another story. Jon Krakauer writes about his experience climbing this mountain in one of his books, and it is awe-inspiring.

We did a bunch of smaller hikes in the park which were also very beautiful, but these two hikes were the highlight of our time in Los Glaciares National Park.

It's time to get my thoughts back here though because it's Sunday night, and time to get ready for the week! Have a good one.

El Chalten and two Magnificent Mountains

2009-02-02T19:29:00.001-08:00

The little village of El Chalten in the Argentinian Patagonia serves as the base for trekking and climbing excursions in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Until 1985, this region was frequented only by climbers from the world over who would come here to test their skills on some of the most difficult mountains in the world.

In 1985 though, Argentina successfully claimed this area f rom Chile, and founded this village as a base for trekkers worldwide who want to also enjoy the wilderness in the national park.

The name Chalten means "smoking mountain" in the language of the nomadic Tehuelche people who used to live throughout the Patagonian region until the 1900s. The "smoke" refers to the plume cloud that usually is seen at the top of the Fitz Roy peak, which the Tehuelche considered sacred.

El Chalten lies along Rio de las Vueltas, nestled among the mountains. It has several hostels and restaurants, one market and a couple of small shops as well as a bakery (where we bought freshly baked sweet breads every day to take on our hikes).

Here is a (fuzzy) view of El Chalten along the river, taken well past sunset. Darkness would come only at around 11pm here at this time of year. This was very convenient, for we could go on long hikes during the day and still return before it got dark.

Here is a picture of Rio de las Vueltas taken as the sun was setting.

From anywhere in the village we had a view of the surrounding mountains. The most legendary peaks here are Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. I have read several absolutely incredible climbing stories of expeditions on these mountains - world class climbers have come here to try their luck on these two peaks, and several of these attempts have ended in tragedy. So I was in awe the whole time we were in El Chalten, realizing that this is the place where all that drama played out.

Fitz Roy is the tall mountain in the center of the picture below. Cerro Torre is the needle-like peak on the left, covered in clouds.

Mount Fitz Roy is named after Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle, the ship of Charles Darwin's famous voyage. It is 3375 m tall, which is less than half the height of the Himalayan mountains.

However, its steep and sheer granite rock walls present difficult technical climbing for even expert rock climbers. The ever changing weather and constant strong winds in this region add to the difficulty of this mountain. It was first climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone, and its peak still remains fairly elusive to even the best climbers in the world.

Here is a shot of Mount Fitz Roy and its cloud plumes, with pretty pink lupins in the foreground.

The other famous peak here has fascinated me for a long time, and so this visit was almost like a pilgrimage for me! Cerro Torre was considered impossible to summit by climbers for a long time after Fitz Roy's peak was successfully reached.

Cerro Torre's needle-like peak thrusts sharply into the sky, and its 2 kilometers of sheer, perpendicular rock surface presents a dizzying challenge to rock climbers. The unstable ice the constantly coats the mountain, and the winds that whip around it are daunting obstacles that few climbers have been able to conquer.

The tallest needle-like peak in the picture below is Cerro Torre, taken from the trail leading to its glacier. It hardly does justice to the magnificence of this mountain, but this was the only time the clouds cleared for me to get a picture!

Cerro Torre is also shrouded in controversy, with the spell it has cast on the climbing community. In 1959, Italian climber Cesare Maestri and Austrian climber Toni Egger made the first serious attempt at reaching its summit. Egger was killed on this attempt, and Maestri returned with the announcement that he had reached the summit. No one believed him.

In 1970, an angry Maestri returned to Cerro Torre, and drilled bolts all the way up the mountain to its top. This act has been considered by many as a violation of the purity of the sport, though Maestri's bolts are still used by climbers today!

Even this attempt by Maestri was brushed aside by the climbing community since he hadn't climbed over the giant ice mushroom that tops the mountain - which is considered by the community as the true summit! In 1990 Maestri announced that he hated this mountain and wanted to see it razed to the ground. Such is the power of Cerro Torre to arouse passion in the toughest of men!

The first successful ascent of Cerro Torre that has been accepted without question is that by Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari (from Italy), and Pino Negri in 1974.

Here is a little alpine chapel built by Austrian craftsmen in memory of Toni Egger who first attempted Cerro Torre and lost his life on it. Fitz Roy is in the background.

In the five days that we spent in El Chalten, we had excellent weather, and went on numerous hikes around the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre mountains. It was awe inspiring to be in a place that has seen so much drama and tested the strengths of so many strong men and women.

Here are a couple of charming views of the little village.

A tag and more Painted Mirrors

2009-01-30T15:17:00.001-08:00

I've been tagged by Megha to do the Meme of Sixes. She has an imaginative and artistic blog where she posts her interesting creations, so do go over and take a look.

For this I had to post the 6th picture from my 6th folder. I have some weird and silly pictures in my set, so was a little apprehensive as to which one would pop up ... but I was so happy to find that it was this picture -

How cute is that?! This is Cheyenne, my niece's cat. We had her company for almost a month between this past Thanksgiving and Christmas, when we watched her for my niece who was out of town. It was very interesting, for we already have two cats - big boys who found petite and pretty Cheyenne to be very interesting company. It was highly entertaining to watch their love/hate relationship play out over the month. Here Cheyenne basks in the sun, lying on the bed.

I'd like to pass this tag along to 6 others who I know love to take photographs:

Blu of Blucamels in Brittany,
Vagabond of Through the Lens of a Vagabond,
Vamsee of Lets go for a vacation,
Pink Dogwood of Wandering Mind,
Jude of Cariad in Crete, and
Om of Om Chaya Chitralay.

Here are the rules:
1.pick the 6th picture from your 6th photo folder.
2.tell the story around it.
3.pass it onto 6 other people.

It's been really busy, so I haven't been able to find enough time to paint, though I've started one regular painting, and another mirror frame. Will hopefully finish them some time soon. Here are two that I finished before the last year ended ... the blue one inspired by Warli tribal art from India.

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Glacier Trek on the Perito Moreno

2009-01-25T18:17:00.001-08:00

The best way to experience the spellbinding beauty of the Perito Moreno glacier is to sign up for a glacier trek.

There is just one company in El Calafate that offers this experience: Helio y Aventura. After visiting the view point for a panoramic view of the glacier, and admiring it from all angles walking along the wooden walkway that I described in my previous post, we settled back with excitement for the drive to the shores of Lake Argentino. For there we would be met by the boat that would take us to the glacier itself!

The sun was high in the bright blue sky, and the colors of the mountains and lake so beautifully blended together in hues of green and blue that I wished I could just sit for a few days in a warm bubble there and paint what I saw before me!

As the boat swiftly approached the glacier, our entire group huddled on the open deck above, taking in the view though the wind was bitterly cold.

Once we landed close to the glacier, we quickly ate the sandwiches and fruits that we had packed for lunch, and were ready for the trek. As we waited for the guides, we sat by the windows of the refuge and took in the scenery. The landscape was so stunningly beautiful!

The silvery blue waters of Lake Argentino were kissed by the sun, and the glacier was glowing as it towered over the lake.

Soon we set off. The guides fitted us with crampons and led us on to the glacier in single file. The wind was quite fierce, and it blew dusty snow on to my face. I wondered what we looked like from above - tiny dots crawling in a corner of this gigantic, living mass of ice!

The angles and planes of the ice formations, and the shades of gray that the dust from the land made on the fringes of the glacier made the landscape look very pretty, like a watercolor painting!

With the sun shining brightly down on them, ice crystals were glistening and shimmering on the surface of the glacier. There were fantastic ice formations all around us, glowing as if lit from within. I tried to take photographs - but mine don't do justice to the beauty I saw around me.

We slowly made our way around small glacial streams and shallow pools reflecting the brilliant blue of the sky.

There were ice caves, and small crevasses - we were on very stable ice on solid rock, so the crevasses were not too deep. Still, we could hear the movement of the glacier, and the tricking water below us as the sun melted it and fed it to Lake Argentino.

The hour and a half passed too quickly, and before we knew it, we were done. The guides led us to a small clearing on the ice, where we got to toast this experience with delicious Argentine chocolate and whiskey on fresh ice from the Perito Moreno!

Before we left, we walked up to the very front of the glacier and took one last look. And then we left it reluctantly behind and walked back to land.

At the start of the trail back to the refuge, someone had carved these faces on a dead tree trunk.

All along the trail we had views of the glacier to our left.

And then it was time to head back. The boat was very quiet on the way back, with everyone watching the quickly receding glacier, lost in their thoughts.

The Perito Moreno Glacier

2009-01-22T01:00:00.000-08:00

When I first learned about glaciers in school, I imagined this river of ice that slowly grinds its way down the valley between mountains, advancing so slowly that the human eye cannot detect its movement. Since then I have seen many glaciers, all of them on mountains, and none of them matched that initial image my mind had conjured up as a kid learning geography.

When I saw the Perito Moreno glacier though, it was as if that first geography lesson had come alive before me. This was exactly how I had imagined a glacier would be!

Glaciar Perito Moreno is located in the southern sector of Los Glaciares National Park, about 80 km by road from El Calafate. Several buses take visitors from the town to the national park, and we booked ourselves on one of those.

The road runs along Lake Argentino for the most part, so we had pleasant views of the beautiful lake throughout. Primarily fed by meltwater from the glacier, this lake's milky turquoise blue coloration is very unique.

We had a guide on the bus, and at a bend in the road she announced with a flourish, "ladies and gentlemen, here is Glacier Perito Moreno." And this is what we saw!

Glacier Perito Moreno is named after Francisco Moreno, an Argentine explorer who led several expeditions into the Patagonian region in the late 1800s.

This massive glacier has an area of 250 km² (97 sq mi), and extends 30 km (19 mi) in length. The ice field is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water, and Perito Moreno is one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing. Its immense size and power is hard to describe in words.

There is a well-constructed walkway about 300m from the edge of the glacier, from where one can have excellent views of its expanse. The walkway is like a loop trail that takes about an hour to finish.

The front edge of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km wide, and it towers 60 m (197 ft) above the surface of the water. The walkway starts high up near the road, from where we can have a great view of the expanse of the glacier. But as it descends lower, we can really get a feel for how massive the glacier is.

Even from this distance, we can hear periodic loud cracks, like sharp claps of thunder, followed by huge splashes, as giant chunks of ice break off and crash into the lake.

The constant grinding and rumbling of the glacier also makes it seem like a living thing, slowly moving forward in this enchanted landscape.

There are a couple of interesting-looking ice tunnels at the base of the glacier. The walkway leading to a closer view of these tunnels was closed, so we had to be content with a distant view.

The red blossoms of Chilean Fire Bush add a splash of color to the beautiful landscape. Note how tiny the boat is in comparison with the glacier!

We were so thankful to have a clear and beautiful day for our visit. We walked around there for close to two hours, trying hard to soak in the sights and sounds of this marvel of nature, for recollection later. Is there a limit to how much a brain can retain? Mine was stretched to its limits, trying to capture and store all the information from this visit.

If one is not content with viewing the glacier from afar, there is one company that offers glacier treks. This is an opportunity to get an intimate feel for the glacier and experience it from up close. We got to go on one of these. More about that in the next post.

two awards and some weirdness

2009-01-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months I've got to know many very creative and expressive people through this blog world, and it has been really interesting and inspiring.

It is so encouraging to receive your comments and feedback to my writing, photography, and art. It really does make me strive to do better in each of these activities.

Leslie of Flowers of Life has passed along to me the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you, Leslie! You should check her blog out - she participates in the Chemo Angels program, using her art to bring some joy to those who need it most. It's a great initiative.

The rules ... State 6 things you love, and pass the award on to 7 others.

I love: animals, the wilderness, adventure, the ocean, mountains and my family/friends.

Do all good things come in pairs? Well, Barbara Martin, who has an interesting blog with historic tidbits, and details about the lovely hikes she goes on, has passed on to me this award. Thank you, Barbara!

The award "Premio Dardos" is for the appreciation of merits—culturally, literary and individually—of every blogger who expresses him/herself on his/her blog. The rules:

1. be tickled pink ;)
2. copy and paste the award picture to your blog;
3. write down the regulations;
4. link the blog who bestowed you the Award;
5. and finally nominate 15 blogs for the Award.

I always have a hard time nominating others to receive these awards. Each blog I read regularly is interesting in its own way, and each is pretty unique too, so it's hard to compare them and choose. So I will cheat ... and pass these awards on to all my readers, whose encouragement inspires me to write/paint more and take better pictures.

You will find the list of the blogs I like to read, in my profile page (until I figure out how to add them on the main page :)). Please visit them.

I've also been tagged by Vagabond to reveal 8 weird things about me ... I guess I cannot get away with saying there's absolutely nothing weird about me? ;)

1) I don't eat in restaurants that serve food in disposable (especially Styrofoam) plates and use plastic spoons and forks. If I do go to one of these, I carry my own spoon and plate from home. :)
2) I find the small details of ancient history utterly fascinating.
3) Once I commit to doing something, I cannot leave it incomplete, however hard or inconvenient the task may be.
4) I have been peed on by squirrel monkeys, capuchin monkeys, and a wild chimpanzee.
5) I lose interest in anything that becomes predictable.
6) My biggest fear is to have lived a life without meaning.
7) I am a pisces, but cannot swim. :(
8) I used to eat chalk when I was little - never colored chalk though - just white.

All done!

Goofy dogs and Laguna Nimez in El Calafate

2009-01-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of dogs on the streets of El Calafate. They are cute and goofy, and not at all scraggly or ill-fed, as you would imagine strays to be. They look healthy, well-fed and have an enviable air of contentment about them.

What is distinctly different about these dogs is that all of them have an aura of importance about them, and run about with such an intense look of purpose on their faces, that I was tempted many times to follow them and see what exactly their important mission was!

They weren't your usual mutts. They looked like pedigree breeds, and came in all shapes and sizes. What I suspect is that while some of them are strays, others have homes (those that wear collars), but are allowed to roam free, so they all get together and have a party all day long.

If you even nodded at one, he would instantly adopt you and start trotting at your heel as if you were family. We were thus adopted by several of them whom we couldn't shake off, and so I had to stop talking to or making eye contact with many of the extremely cute mutts that we passed.

There is a market on the main street, where we stopped often to buy fruits, yogurt and bread. There were always dogs outside this market, lying patiently at the entrance, and looking at the shoppers going in and out with hope.

This cute little fellow sat still and watched us go by. I don't think he was a stray, but he made such a pretty picture against the pink walls of this house!

There is a bird refuge in El Calafate: The Laguna Nimez Reserve, which has about 70 species of birds frequenting its peaceful environment. It is a treat to birders, but the trick for them would be to get there without attracting canine company!

We took a walk there one evening. On our way there, we were promptly adopted by one girl doggie. As the three of us were walking towards the refuge, we saw one other traveler coming away from it, with two dogs in tow. Seeing the three of us, those two dogs instantly left her side and hopped over to us with a look of "ok, we're here, what are we doing now?" !

This would be bad news to birders, but we were just there for a little walk, so we were ok with their company. As we slowly walked along the narrow trail in the refuge, the three dogs stayed by our side. There was a pleasant breeze (not the gale force winds of the previous day), and the pink stalks of grass in the refuge were moving as if to a symphony.

The girl doggie stayed by our side for most of the walk, but the two boys ran loose with wild looks in their eyes. They were bursting with joy, and were in doggie heaven! There was a peaceful band of birds near the water's edge, and before we knew it, the two boys were charging at them, causing the birds to simultaneously take off in flight.

They came back to us looking very proud of what they had done. I hope they aren't damaging the environment for the birds, or hunting them ... stray dogs aren't allowed into the more fragile national parks in Patagonia for this reason. But they definitely looked like they had been to this refuge many times before.

It was also quite clear that the two male dogs were trying to impress the girl by our side - they were trying to outdo each other to see who could roll more in the slush, and come back looking more like a total clown. The girl didn't look too impressed though, and stayed very close to us even as the two wild boys kept running off, looking more and more dirty.

Without their company, this walk would have been just another pleasant stroll with beautiful scenery and birds to watch ( and not bad at all!). But with them by our side, the walk was charged with the joy of being alive!

When we turned back, they left us to adopt another man who was walking further into the refuge. These dogs love their life - it was plain to see. In their goofy grins, wild eyes and generously friendly nature there was an infectious quality, so that they left us with wide smiles on our faces too.

Onward to Patagonia!

2009-01-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

One way to get to the Patagonian region from Buenos Aires is to fly into El Calafate, a little village located in the southwest part of Santa Cruz Province. It is named after a little bush with yellow flowers that one sees all over Patagonia, which has small, blue berries called the calafate.

From El Calafate, one can access the gigantic Perito Moreno Glacier, or take a bus over to El Chalten, from where all the hiking trails in the Los Glaciares National Park can be accessed. And this is just what we did.

As our plane approached El Calafate, I excitedly peeped out the window, expecting to see snow-capped mountains, giacial streams and greenery below me. I was a little taken aback to see a rocky desert landscape, littered with small clumps of pale brown grass. Was this really Patagonia?!

At that point, those sitting on the other side started excitedly taking photos, and when I craned over to see what they were looking at, I saw the milky, turquoise blue waters of Lake Argentino shining in the sun like a jewel amidst the brown tones of the rocky desert landscape. I couldn't get a picture, since I was on the wrong side of the plane for that.

Here is a beautiful image from NASA, showing Lake Argentino (max width 20 km, and surface area 1,466 km²!). It is a freshwater lake fed by melt water from several glacial rivers, giving it its rich turquoise color.

El Calafate is a dusty and windy place. When we got off at our hostel America del Sur and stepped in, there was a sign asking us to please leave our hiking boots at the entrance so that we wouldn't trail the sand into the hostel! Here's a picture of the hostel entrance - Lake Argentino is visible to the right.

America del Sur is a very friendly hostel, with a clean kitchen and helpful young staff. This was the common area at hostel where we had some very interesting chats with other travelers - most notably a Dutch naturalist who leads annual cruises to both the Arctic and the Antarctic - what a career!

We shared a dorm room with two women from Poland. The lovely lake was visible from our window too.

Before heading out to explore, we quickly made some lunch (Maggie noodles that we'd taken along) in the hostel's kitchen, and ate it at a table by the huge windows, with a view of Lake Argentina in the distance.

In the early 1900s, El Calafate was just a place of shelter for wool traders. It was officially founded in 1927 by the government of Argentina to promote an increase in its population. Once the Los Glaciares National Park was founded, this little town became much more popular, with increasing numbers of trekkers and travelers arriving here each year.

I will remember El Calafate as the town of roses and goofy stray dogs. Huge and colorful roses were in bloom in every yard, the stalks bending over with the weight of some of the larger flowers. Here are some pictures from around town.

Colorful roofs and fence posts, along with the flowers make this town really cheerful and charming.

The girls at the hostel told us that there are flamingos on Lake Argentina, just a short walk away. So we set out to look for them. What we didn't count on was the wind! Patagonia is a very windy place, and as we got closer to the lake, the wind was so strong that I was afraid to even move! We were being pushed in directions we didn't want to go, and eventually we just gave up and walked back to the hostel.

The stray dogs of El Calafate are silly, adorable, and the happiest dogs I have ever seen. They deserve their own post ... next time.

Recoleta: "May they rest in peace"

2009-01-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

The Recoleta Cemetery is one of the landmarks of Buenos Aires, and I was at first a little doubtful about visiting it. I am glad we decided to go take a look though. It is a fascinating place, and utterly different from anything I had imagined.

As you enter, it feels like you have entered a little city of miniature houses. The small, fenced property is full of crisscrossing, narrow, cobble stoned alleys, with what look like miniature houses stacked along the sides. The main alley is lined with trees, and looks very pleasant.

The story goes that in the mid 1700s, this location used to be a garden within The Monastery of Barefoot Franciscan Recoleto Monks, who found the area's tranquility ideal for "recollection". The monks were removed from there by the city governor in the 1800s, and this exclusive cemetery was created in the monastery's gardens instead.

There is a strangeness and beauty to this place that was very unexpected for me. Tourists cluster around the more famous of the tombs, but you always can find a few alleys that are empty. These look like the streets of an abandoned city, whose Lilliput inhabitants locked their homes and left long ago. It is strange to think that the inhabitants are in fact right in there. It is a little morbid, but very unique.

Various architectural styles are displayed here, and each grave is indicative of the fashions of the time when it was built. Yet they all exist side by side, creating a very jumbled canvas.

Several famous and influential personalities are buried here. The most popular of them being María Eva Duarte Perón (Evita), Argentina's former first lady. There was a crowd of tourists around this simple (compared to the others) tomb, so I rushed quickly past it, clicking a hurried photo.

This cemetery has inspired poets and writers over the years, such as Borges (poem La Recoleta, 1923), and writer Martin Caparros. And one can see why.

Even though there were many tourists walking about there, there was a certain romantic quality to the place that was undeniable. The mossy walls, intricate and beautiful architecture, graceful angels, and narrow alleys, with the light of the setting sun casting interesting shadows ... all made the place very interesting to photograph.

In a place like this, with layers of history visible at every turn in such a small plot, one is acutely aware of the transience of lives; even entire eras. Great wars are fought and entire lives are lived under violence. We can never really own land, expect perhaps a burial plot ... and it's a beautiful world out there. The futility of violence and conflict is all the more poignant in such a location ...

This picture below is my most favorite of this set. Just because I feel it has captured the mood of the place, the way I saw it.

To end on a more cheerful note, we saw several long-haired, lazy cats wandering around in the alleyways there, looking totally at home. We also saw one person put out some cat food for them, so it looks like they are well fed too!

I wished I could take an entire series of photographs just on "The cats of Recoleta!" But we were in a rush, so that will have to wait.

Argentina

2009-01-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

In two short weeks, a spell has been cast, and I am in love ... yet again, with South America! In this, our fourth visit to the continent, I remembered why I am drawn back to its rugged beauty over and over again.

Argentina is a vast country, with the eighth largest land area in the world, and diverse geographical features that are interesting to explore. It is land where dinosaurs have been known to roam; ancient land where there is evidence of human occupation from 10,000 years ago.

With just two weeks to spend, how does one choose?

There is the vibrant city of Buenos Aires, with its beautiful architecture, abundance of greenery and lovely parks with interesting sculptures and fountains, laid-back, romantic people, fascinating culture, and tango dancing on the streets.

The mighty Iguazu Falls, in Argentina's north-eastern border with Brazil are legendary ... and there are the Pampas, fertile grasslands, where the horizon extends forever and time seems to stand still.

Then there is Patagonia, with its windswept mountains, sparkling glaciers, and enchanting forests, with miles and miles of hiking trails. At the Southern tip there is Ushuaia - the "End of the World", and the Beagle Channel ...

Since we wanted to experience as much of the wilderness as possible, we chose to spend all our time in Patagonia and Ushuaia. Best laid plans can still go awry if all factors don't come together. Especially when the plan is to spend most of your time outdoors, I firmly believe that nature and the mountains have to allow you passage. This time, I am delighted to say, all factors did come together, and the Argentinian wilderness allowed us a glimpse of her exquisite beauty.

But we did have a day in Buenos Aires, where we saw enough to wish we had more time here. The city is vibrant and alive, with tango dancers and musicians at street corners, and city parks at every turn, where people sit together in the sun, talking while their dogs play in the grass.

The city has preserved most of its historic Spanish colonial architecture in spite of extensive urban growth, so that beautiful, ornate buildings stand side by side with more modern ones, blending very tastefully.

The Obelisk is a landmark at the heart of Buenos Aires, built in May 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first founding of the city.

Close to where we stayed was the interesting barrio of Puerto Madero, which is very pleasant for an evening walk along a waterway. Boats bob in the water on one side, while there is music from the restaurants that line the other side.

Further along, there is a very striking bridge across the waterway, called Puente De La Mujer (Bridge Of The Woman), designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

The bridge is meant to illustrate a couple dancing Tango, the man towering over the woman who is leaning back horizontally. Since the surrounding neighborhood has streets primarily named after women, the name of the bridge is all the more apt.

After one day in Buenos Aires, we left for Patagonia and the wide open skies of southern Argentina. I hope to re-live my experiences through my next few posts. I hope you will join me for the trip ...

Happy New Year, everyone!

Recharging

2008-12-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

In two days we will be off to Argentina, to reconnect with nature, and do a whole lot of hiking in the Argentinian Patagonia. So this will be my last post this year. Since I may not be accessing the internet while I'm gone, I'll just look forward to catching up on all my blog-reading once we get back in the second week of January.

Sweetmango had tagged me some time ago, to list 5 things I do to stay mentally healthy. While I am nowhere near as grounded as she is, here are five things I need in my life, even if I don't find time for them on a daily basis:

1. Exercise and a periodic escape into the wilderness to hike or walk.
2. Books - I couldn't live without good reading material.
3. Having a creative outlet through painting, writing, gourds or something else.
4. My family and friends - I need them in my life.
5. Volunteering - the problems in the world can seem quite overwhelming at times. While it's easy to get disillusioned by the complexity of the issues, the only thing we can do is to make a small start by volunteering our time to make a small difference where we can. I absolutely need this for my sanity!

I tag any of you who wants to take this up and think about the essentials in your life, to stay at peace.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday season, and a new year filled with peace and good health.

I will be back in touch in about two weeks.

A Midnight Turtle Walk

2008-12-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

It's that season again! The season when endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles return to the East Indian Coast to nest after their mysterious wanderings at sea, having traveled long distances - even all the way to Australia!

It is a wonder of nature how these gentle creatures remember the beach of their birth. The female returns to it when she is around 12 years old, and lays her eggs in the night, after which she returns to sea, leaving her babies to fend for themselves. They arrive at the beaches of India during nesting season between end-December and March.

What sights they must have seen on their wanderings, and how interesting their stories must be! But sadly, rather than being received with awe and being allowed to follow their ancient tradition in peace, these smallest of the world's sea turtles are facing dangers in many forms as they return to nest.

Fishing trawlers, oil exploration platforms, and development along the beaches are all major dangers that they face. With the trawlers for instance, they get ensnared in the giant nets, and unable to surface for air, they suffocate and die. They are discarded by the trawlers and wash up on shore, dead.

In response, many volunteer groups and researchers have set up night-long vigils, trying to maximize the success of the nesting season. One such groups is the Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network or SSTCN.

SSTCN volunteers walk the beaches of Chennai (my hometown) every night during nesting season, keeping a lookout for turtle tracks. They follow the tracks, locate the jar-shaped nests underground and retrieve the eggs within. They take measurements of the nests and re-construct them at a safe hatchery further along the coast and re-bury the eggs there.

Hatchlings emerge after 45 to 60 days, and follow the trail of the moonlight to the sea. Due to lights along roads and homes along the shore now, confused hatchlings head in the opposite direction instead. So volunteers use torches to light their way to the sea.

A couple of years ago, on a visit to India during nesting season, Raghav and I went on a turtle walk with the volunteers of SSTCN, to help collect eggs from nesting sites to relocate to a safe spot in the hatchery. It was incredible and sad in many ways.

I didn't take my camera along, because we would be working with our hands in the sand, and so all the pictures here are from the website of SSTCN.

We were led on this walk by an experienced volunteer named Arun, and were joined by half a dozen other volunteers as well. There was a small group of ~10-year old school kids as well, getting a first-class biology lesson right there on the beach. Their excitement and wonder filled me with hope.

The beach had completely emptied by the time we started our walk close to midnight. I watched the rolling, dark waves pounding a rhythm on the beach and wondered how many turtles were out there, swimming to shore right before my unseeing eyes!

Since we were not using torches and were walking by moonlight, it was very dark. The children had gone very quiet, and the whole group was intent on locating turtle tracks in the sand, as we walked along the beach.

Soon tracks were sighted, and we followed them to a soft spot in the sand. We watched as a volunteer quickly felt around the neck of the jar-like nest and extricated soft, ping-pong ball sized eggs that were quickly transferred to a bag. Once the nest was empty, we walked on.

Soon afterward, the kids started squealing in excitement. I looked in the direction they were pointing and saw two full grown females on the sand. Excited, we ran toward them. The experienced volunteers held back. They knew these were dead. Washed up ashore having met human-made obstacles as they approached the beach. It was the saddest sight ever.

I felt frustrated and deeply disturbed. As we rush headlong towards modernization, we should ensure that we take all the world's creatures with us into the future. Our actions are destroying habitat quality and availability at an alarming rate! We need to do something. Except, I didn't know what to do.

When the next track was sighted, Raghav got to extricate the eggs while I held the torch for him. I sent a prayer into every little egg that we pulled out and willed that baby inside to get a chance in life. That was the best I could do.

Here's a picture of SSTCN volunteers with freshly laid eggs.

After collecting around 240 eggs from 2-3 nests that night, we were at the end of our 7 km walk, and at the hatchery. I helped dig a jar-shaped hole in a corner by the fence, while another volunteer measured it so that it would match the nest from which that group of eggs was taken. After burying the last egg, the kids took their bus home and the rest of the volunteers went to sleep.

Raghav and I were too wired to sleep. We sat at the sea side in the moonlight and contemplated what we had witnessed. We were at a loss for words though, and sat in silence, lost in our own thoughts.

In a couple of months these eggs would hatch, and volunteers would guide the little babies out to sea. The big sea out there with its trawlers and polluted waters seemed too vast and dangerous for the tiny little baby turtles. They seemed just so fragile!

Only one in about 1000 hatchlings survive to adulthood, and we had collected just ~240 eggs! And even those that survive will face more dangers at sea as they make their way back here to nest. Will this beach welcome them when they return?

As the end of the year draws near and we enjoy the Holidays with family and friends, there are Olive Ridley females in the ocean out there, swimming against distant currents, following the magical instinct of their ancestors to the beach of their birth. I pray for their safety this season, and in the years to come.

Bandelier: A Walk into the Past

2008-12-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

I had written about Santa Fe some weeks ago in this post. It's time now to revisit New Mexico and take a stroll through time ... we will visit an abandoned pueblo (village) at Bandelier National Monument where the Anasazi, or the Ancient Ones, lived over 700 years ago.

There is a short loop trail in the park that takes us through the Frijoles canyon to the remains of the pueblos. Tall cliffs tower over the landscape, silently watching history unfold below them.

Humans arrived in Bandelier over 10,000 years ago, when nomadic hunter-gatherers followed their migrating wildlife-prey through these very canyons. Ancestral Pueblo people (the Anasazi) settled here over 700 years ago. So these cliffs have seen the drama of life and death play out countless times here, over many centuries ...

After a short walk we come to a Tyuonyi, which is a pueblo of about 400 rooms - one to three stories high - arranged in a circular pattern around a circular Kiva - a room that was used for religious purposes by the Anasazi. What remains now are just the walls of the rooms around the Kiva. When they were functional, these rooms had thatched roofs and ladders to get up to the higher levels.

Here below, is the Kiva. Imagine a thriving community here. In these rooms entire lives were lived. People got together around this Kiva to celebrate and pray, to dance and to sing. If we could put our ears to these walls, maybe we can hear the rhythms that they have absorbed over the years ...

A short distance from this pueblo are the cliffs of Frijoles Canyon. The canyon was formed by erosion when Frijoles Creek cut through the volcanic rock in these cliffs, which are full of natural cavities. The cavities were formed from air pockets in ash deposits from volcanic eruptions several thousand years ago. The Anasazi moved into these natural caves and created homes there.

There is a walkway there now, with a railing one can hold on to. As I walked along this path, I imagined young boys and girls scrambling over these rocks and through these holes, playing and sometimes falling, as their anxious mothers looked on ...

I was amazed to see this face appear on the rock wall. Tuned in as I was to the many ancient lives and stories here, I imagined the many stories that this face could tell me.

There are ladders in a couple of places, by which one can crawl into these cliff cave homes to see the world through the eyes of the ancient ones for just a few minutes ...

These walls contained life at one time. Families slept here, huddled against the elements. Within these rooms there once was laughter and grief; mischief and melancholy.

Little babies crawled on these floors, young children played hide and seek. Dreamy lovers sat here watching the sky fill up with stars ... anxious adults tended to their aging parents, and found shelter here from the rain and snow ...

Can you see the festivities down at the Kiva below, with crackling wood fire lighting up the dancers, and music reverberating off the cliff walls? What a sight that must have been!

So many untold stories buried here ... life's transience was never more apparent.

Further along there are more clusters of homes backed up against the cliff walls. These homes must have been several stories high and must have connected with the cavities in the walls as well.

Cactus fruit adds a dash of color ...

The Anasazi were artistic people, as we know from their exquisitely decorated pottery. Artists must have lived in this pueblo as well, drawing inspiration from this very landscape ... there is one well-preserved petroglyph along the trail. One can only wonder at the fingers that created this one.

As we walked back along the snow-covered trail in the warm sunshine, other natives of this land watched us go by. Their lives are woven with our own ... their ancestors provided company and nourishment to our human ancestors who lived here. This is their history as well.

By 1550 the Ancestral Pueblo people had left their homes in the Frijoles canyon, and moved to other regions. This abandoned site was designated as a National Monument on February 11, 1916.

Back home, I made a small 6"x9" painting of a familiar Native American motif to remember this visit by.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Decker Challenge

2008-12-08T21:45:00.001-08:00

On Sunday our team ran the Decker Challenge Half Marathon. Until last year this race was a 20K, but this year they increased the route by 0.5 miles and made it a half marathon.

We were up before sunrise - it was that time in the morning when the sky is still inky black, and the bright pink of sunrise is fighting its way into the sky's color palette. We were running late, so though I had my camera with me, we couldn't stop for a photo. All I got is this one a little later, from the moving car!

We were all ready to begin at 8am, and our Run for India team stood out in our bright yellow t-shirts.

This course is very hilly, and a little boring. But all those training for the Austin full marathon in February run this one as part of their training. It is organized by the Austin Runners Club, and they do another 40K one in January.

I'm just planning on running the half marathon in February, but wanted to do this one as well. Running used to be such a joy. But after about 20 years of it, the knees give up. I was fine until Mile 6 and doing a good pace. But after that my knees became very sore, and the run got increasingly more painful over the next 7 miles. The finish line was a welcome sight.

It is a very meditative activity, and I like its simplicity. I miss how it used to be though; running without pain, and just enjoying its freedom. But they also give awards to those who limp through the finish line, so here's what I brought home.

And speaking of awards, I'm thrilled to receive two from bloggers whose stories and pictures I enjoy very much.

This one is from Blu, who takes stunning photographs of her enchanting town and forest in Brittany, France. Thanks, Blu!

The rules are:

Copy and paste the rules and instructions in your post.
When you post about receiving this award, make sure you include who gave you the award and link it back to them.
Post five winners and link it back to them as well.
Post five of your addictions.
Add the award image.
Let your winners know you gave them an award by leaving them a comment on their blog.

I think I'll cheat a little here and pass it along to just one other blogger. Since Blu takes lovely photos, I'll give this award to Vagabond, who also takes lovely pictures.

Addictions ... my absolute necessities in life ... those would be

1. Silent time for contemplation
2. Hiking, and a periodic escape into the wilderness
3. Creating
4. Sunlight
5. Animals

The second award is from Chris of Shady Grove, who makes beautiful quilts, and totally unique quilt-jewelery. Thanks, Chris!

Here are the rules:- Five people are allowed to receive this award: four dedicated followers of your blog and one who is new to your blog and lives in another part of the world.- Please link back to the person who gave you this award.

I'm again going to cheat and pass this one along to just one other person - who lives all the way on the other side of the world in Australia: Sweetmango.

Have a great rest of the week!

... continued

2008-12-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

Let me pick up from where we left off on the previous post ... we were on the trail around Ladybird Lake in Austin, and had stopped at a water stop by the dog park ...

As we continue on the loop trail, we pass the statue of Texas musician Stevie Ray Vaughan, standing tall by the lake, silently watching the prancing dogs and strolling people around him with his guitar in hand, as if waiting for the right moment to break into song.

Now we are on the other side of Lamar Bridge. Framed by the Fall foliage, the bridge and its reflection make a pretty picture.

As the sun begins to dip even lower, there's a hush around the lake, and we pass fewer people. We can hear the plop of the oars striking the water as the last rowers return to the docks, and we hear the calls of birds settling in for the night.

The parts of the trail that are tree-lined get much darker, and the trees seem to loom taller as we pass under them.

We pause at the boat dock, to watch the intensity of the colors in the fading light. The deep blue of the water, and the reds and browns of the trees reflecting on its calm surface.

As the last of the runners drives away, and the last canoe is put away, a quiet descends on the lake, and the residents settle down for the night. I love the way the setting sun makes their orange beaks glow!

Have a good evening!

Hike and Bike trail

2008-11-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

Austin's Lady Bird Lake has to be my favorite place in this city. It used to be called Town Lake until last year, but after Lady Bird Johnson's (former first lady) death last year, it was renamed after her, since she was involved in beautification projects around the lake.

This is where our group trains for the marathon. Last weekend I finished my run on Saturday, but Raghav ran on Sunday. So I took my bike and went along with him and got some pictures of Fall colors as I rode around the lake.

The lake is only a 10 minute drive from home, and it has a loop trail around it which runs for a maximum of 10 miles. Several bridges connect the two sides of the lake, and so loops of 3.5, 4.5 and 7 miles are also possible. We do combinations of these, as we increase our mileage in training for the full and half marathons.

The light was low and it was almost sunset. So I got some copper-hued pictures of the sights around the lake. Austin is beautiful in the Spring and Fall. There is a rowing center along the lake too, and many people take classes there. You can rent canoes there as well. This is the view from Lamar Bridge.

With the little bridges along the trail and the ducks and birds, running here is very pleasant and distracting.

After crossing over the lake on the next (First Street) bridge, we come to a water stop. One of the running stores in town sponsors water for runners and so there's always water on our runs. It's so convenient. There is also a dog park here, with lots of wild-eyed, happy dogs running loose.

There's a remembrance plaque for the homeless there, and on this day there were flowers next to it.

Across the lake, the setting sun had lit up the buildings of downtown Austin.

I'll have to leave you here ... blogger won't let me upload any more photos on this post. So I'll continue next time, and we can finish the loop in the next post!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Comic books!

2008-11-23T15:15:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered a large stash of Asterix & Obelix comic books in the public library here. And it seems like Raghav and I have lapsed back into the time when we were 10-13 years old and reading these back home!!

Asterix & Obelix is one of my two all-time favorite comic books (the other being Calvin & Hobbes, which I started reading only around when I was ~20). Tintin is a close second.

The setting of the Asterix & Obelix comics is the year 50 BC, in a coastal village flanked by idyllic forests teeming with wild boars, in Armorica, a province of Gaul (a region that is present-day Brittany in France). This little village is the only one that has held out against Julius Caesar and not become part of the Roman empire.

The origin of their power is the magic potion that Druid Getafix brews for them, which makes them temporarily invincible. Asterix and Obelix are the heroes, and they take us on several adventures all over the world, along with little Dogmatix. Here are the protagonists:

Most kids in India love these comics. I also think the Asterix comics served as an art school for me. As a kid, I used to spend hours over weekends drawing the characters from these comics. I still am spellbound at the attention to detail, and the humor in the illustrations by Albert Uderzo. They are genius!

My mother has saved almost all my drawings since when I was about 5 years old. At least, everything that she could get hold of before I tore it up. She had collected them all in a box, and recently made me bring them back with me to the US.

I sorted through them after we stumbled on this stash of comics, and sure enough, I found the ones I'd drawn from Asterix comics, along with others from Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Beetle Bailey, Betty & Veronica, Tintin, etc. etc.

The paper is yellow and brittle, and all kinds of marks have seeped through from the back of the papers - I used to draw on the back of paper my father used to discard from his work. The papers really are this yellow now - it's been about 25 years since I drew them!

But looking at these, I remember vividly how much fun it was to lie sprawled on the floor, and study the lines of the hands and eyes and expressions captured so well by Uderzo, and learn by copying them. Those were good times. :)

Now as we drove over to the public library after finding these books on the catalog online, we could remember exactly how exciting this process of discovering a stash of books used to be when we were young! Nothing has changed, and it's been almost 25 years!

Our bedside table is littered with Asterix comics right now, and we are reading them like our lives depend on it. I don't think it would be this much fun if we just went out and bought all of them. There's something exciting about discovering books unexpectedly. :)

The only way to finish up this post is to do it with a traditional banquet in the Gaulish village. This is how almost all the comics end, under a sky full of stars, when all is well with the world.

So what are your favorite comic book characters from your childhood? Would love to hear about them, so let me know!

Ode to a Spider

2008-11-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

She came into my life early this summer, in June, when she chose to build her home on the front wall of our home. Her meticulously woven, elaborate web was a marvel and she tended to it fastidiously, picking out debris, and mending it even if it had the slightest tear. I let her be, and admired her web each time I stepped out.

She was a Texas Writing Spider or Argiope aurantia, with the most striking orange and black coloration I've ever seen. Wiki says: "The circular part of the female's web may reach two feet in diameter. Webs are built at elevations from two to eight feet off the ground."

Her web was truly grand, and bore the signature of her species, in neat and confident zorro-strokes right down the middle. She was very young then, a slim and slender girl with long legs.

Wiki says: "Yellow garden spiders breed once a year. The males roam in search of a female, building a small web near or actually in the female's web, then court the females by plucking strands on her web. Often, when the male approaches the female, he has a safety drop line ready, in case she attacks him. After mating, the male dies, and is sometimes then eaten by the female."

She took her time finding a mate, and eventually chose a brave young lad who dared to give his life for her attention. This is how I found him one morning, a month later in July.

She was a woman now and eating for two (thousand). She rapidly gained weight and I often saw her eating large insects that she had caught on her pretty web. She extended her web and climbed higher, so that I could photograph her from inside the house, and capture the beauty of her back.

One night in August exactly a month later, after we had turned off all the lights and gone to bed, she spun a small, secure little net under the moonlight and deposited in it her tightly sealed egg sac which held her babies. She secured it snugly to the wall, and stayed by its side for the next couple of days, protecting it and resting.

Wiki says: "She lays her eggs at night on a sheet of silky material, then covers them with another layer of silk, then a protective brownish silk. She then uses her legs to form the sheet into a ball with an upturned neck. Egg sacs range from 5/8" to 1" in diameter."

Once she was sure that her babies were safe, she returned to her web nearby and remained there for another month. One morning in September I didn't find her at her usual place and got worried. As I searched around, I found her higher up on the same wall, and found another little egg sac by her side. She had secured this one as before, but quite a bit higher, possibly to reduce competition between her babies when they hatched.

Wiki says: "She guards the eggs against predation as long as she is able. However, as the weather cools, she becomes more frail, and dies around the time of the first hard frost."

She came back down last week to her original spot. Now that it's November, nights have become increasingly cold, and we just had a string of very cold nights. I kept a close watch on Argiope.

She had built herself a small, messy web near the wall, close to her first batch of eggs. The small web was torn and had a lot of debris on it. I thought about how fastidiously she used to clean her web in her youth, and knew she was losing her strength.

This week, after a particularly cold and windy Sunday night, I checked on her first thing in the morning, and she was gone. I looked for her, but cannot find her. She spent her entire life on this front wall of our house, so wouldn't have just wandered away.

Her web was in front of the lower right window, and her second egg sac is circled in orange near the top right window.

Over the past 6 months I've grown so used to checking on her as I leave the house, and looking for her as I get back, that it's become a habit. I still do it. Only, her web now hangs torn and messy on the front wall.

Come Spring, her babies will hatch and find their way in life. I hope one of her daughters will again choose our wall to make her home on, and I will have her company all next summer.

P.S. I had posted some of these pictures over the summer, but now that Argiope is gone, I thought it would be good to compile them together and tell her story.

Right to Dry

2008-11-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

I've been line-drying my laundry for a little more than a year now. I love it. This is the way we dry clothes in India, hanging clothes on a line on the terrace. I used to love smelling the sun on the clean clothes when in the evening I'd go to the terrace to bring them back.

After moving to the US, I took to using the dryer like everyone else, and it is convenient. But we live in a house with a large backyard now, and I am constantly on the lookout for ways to live more lightly on the planet. So this was the next logical step.

Some of the t-shirts come back a little shapeless, so once they are dry, I spin everything in the dryer for a couple of minutes and they are fine. Most of the electricity here (and most other places) comes from coal, and this is a very dirty form of energy. So any reduction in its use will lessen my contribution to CO2 in the atmosphere.

But this is not a completely noble mission. I have to admit that I love the process of hanging clothes out to dry, feeling the grass under my feet and the sun on my shoulders, hearing the birds in the backyard and watching the little insects that sometimes crawl on the clothes.

I find it very soothing and relaxing. Raghav admitted that there's something very comforting about seeing laundry on the line in the yard. But I'm not the odd one out in this ...

... there is the Right to Dry campaign, where people are demanding their right to dry their clothes on a clothesline. Here's an article that talks about this campaign & the controversy. Many neighborhoods in the US don't allow people to dry their clothes outside. I don't know if there is an issue with this in our neighborhood, but I don't think there is. In any case, we have a fenced yard, and our neighbors cannot see our line. :)

The laundry basket makes woven shadows while it waits for the clothes to dry ...

As the sun sets, we have a basket full of clean, sun-soaked laundry that smells like the fresh outdoors!

Until the next time ...

Painted Mirrors 1

2008-11-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Here are the results of my newest preoccupation ... painted mirrors

I have one more almost done, another one already given to a friend and yet another one half made. Three others wait for their turn while I think of ideas ...

It's rainy and pleasant in Austin. Fat cat sits at my feet, scared. It's ideal weather for some hot pakoras and ginger chai ... yum. :)

Hope your week's going well!

Creative hiking

2008-11-04T23:30:00.001-08:00

We had gone hiking last weekend with a group that likes to combine being with nature and creating art. Though it seems like the most obvious thing to do, this was my first time doing this. In all the countless times I've gone hiking, I've never stopped to sketch or paint what I saw or felt! So this was interesting.

We went to the Grelle Recreation Area in Spicewood, Texas. The trail was a short, 2 miles through some hilly land, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were some pretty tall trees there, with plenty of shade - something you cannot take for granted in Texas.

We soon came to our first creative stop. Here we disbanded for about 20 minutes, when each of us went off to observe and create - one person wrote beautiful words, another took photos and yet another person made some sketches. I found this fallen log and first took some pictures.

When I went closer to the log, I found on it lots and lots of prickly seed pods!

They had all burst open already, and were scattered all over the log along with small dried brown leaves. As I looked at them, it seemed as if I was looking at a bunch of discarded fake eyelashes!

The more I thought about them looking like eyelashes, the more they seemed like little tree-eyes to me! The image of a tree with lots of seed-pod eyes popped into my head and so I put away my camera and started a sketch, which I later finished at home. Raghav thinks it looks creepy. :)

The seed pods were so amazing that I wanted to bring some home with me. I almost did, but then it didn't feel right to move them from this place where they belonged, so I took some pictures of them to take with me.

We continued the hike after this first creative stop. The trail was quite wooded and pretty.

One cannot go into the wilderness in Texas and not see cacti!

At our second creative stop, I took a bunch of bark pictures. There were several interesting trees there with totally different types of bark. I will save those pictures for another post. Raghav got this interesting shot of a tiny jumping spider!

Further along the hike, I was amazed to see Fall colors - here in Texas!

Towards the end, the trail flattened out to where there usually is a lake. It was totally dry that day though, but the ground was covered with these little plants that smelled absolutely heavenly! No idea what kind of plant it was.

As we finished the little hike, the landscape was flat and open. Very serene and the perfect image of Fall.

I think I like this "hiking for the creative types" group and am looking forward to the next trip already!

It's Halloween again

2008-10-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's Halloween and for a month now, the ghoulish decorations have been up outside homes in our area. Walks in the neighborhood are all the more interesting now because some people always come up with different and weird ideas to spook people. I took pictures of the ones that I liked most ...

The tradition of Halloween was brought to the US by Irish immigrants, but it's now celebrated by ALL children here (mainly as a way to stock up on candy for the year :)), by the candy and costume-making industry for obvious reasons, and by adults who get creative for costume parties - which can be pretty fun.

Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic festival Samhain, which is a harvest festival. During this time, the ancient pagans stocked up on livestock meat for the winter, and built huge bonfires where the slaughter waste was burned. Since winter was a time of disease and death, which they associated with evil spirits, they wore costumes and masks to ward them off, or to mimic them.

The name itself comes from All Hallows' Even (for evening) as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day" or "All Saints Day".

A couple of houses have got this giant spider web with a giant yellow & black spider, which I hadn't seen before. In one house they had set it up to go all the way from a tree to the ground, which looked great. But I couldn't get a picture of that one. One of my neighbors had it too, and I got a picture of theirs.

There are the ghosts hanging from trees, of course.

And witches with poor navigation skills ...

The Jack-o'-Lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, who was a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. The legend goes that he tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. Angered, the devil cursed Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside a hollowed turnip.

I didn't carve my little pumpkin this year. No specific reason why not ... but here's my power-point Jack-o'-Lantern.

There usually is a pizza gathering on our street on the evening of Oct 31st, to which parents bring kids in costumes. After the get together, the kids go trick-or-treating. I haven't yet bought treats ... am thinking of buying dried fruit packets this year, to make it a little healthy.

The setting sun lights up the neighborhood during our walk. There are lots of deer here too. Didn't see one on this day, though.

Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin Season

2008-10-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

October is the season of color - bright orange, brown & all shades of yellow, and warm, glowing sunlight which sets the colors on fire. This was a time of wonder for me when I lived in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where trees slowly turn from green to light shades of yellow to orange & red, before softly floating to the ground.

Here in Texas the change of seasons is not marked by such a brilliant display. Still, the orange hues do make it here in the form of pumpkins!

I thoroughly enjoy taking pumpkin pictures. We used to drive up to a farm in North Georgia every October when we lived in Atlanta, to take some pictures. This morning we went looking for a pumpkin patch in Austin.

We found a church that has been selling pumpkins seasonally in its yard for the past 15 years. They had the bright orange globes scattered all over the yard, catching the sunlight and glowing like they were on fire!

There were pumpkins of all sizes, some huge and some tiny. And some of them had interesting patterns on them ...

with bright orange bodies and deep green eyes.

Some dared to be different from all the others ...

And some were metallic green ...

There were quiet ones ...

And there were small gourds with bright green and yellow patterns ...

There was this small submarine gourd ...

And this very pretty one too ...

After taking a bunch of pictures, we left with these two little beauties.

Tagged again

2008-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

It seems to be a season for tags. I've been tagged by Robyn of ArtPropelled and Pinkdogwood of Wandering Mind.

Robyn has a visually stunning, very artistic blog that is an inspiration. Pinkdogwood has thought-provoking posts that are very interesting. So do check them out.

Robyn's tag: 7 Random or Weird facts about me

I am scared of riding on roller coasters and cannot EVER be tempted to go to an amusement park.
I’m pretty sure my right hand is longer than my left, though no one believes me.
If I had three other lifetimes, I would be a full-time artist/photographer, wildlife activist, and travel writer in each of those.
I don’t like cheesecake or vanilla ice cream.
When I look down from heights, I have a small urge to jump (my mind tricks me into imagining a floating experience!)
I cannot wake up early in the morning, though I can stay up all night.
I really, really want, at some point, to be a surrogate mother to an orphaned baby chimp.

For this one, I tag Jude, Karine and Sydney - that's not 7, but my readership is still pretty finite!

Here are the rules:-
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Pinkdogwood's tag:

~ Begin Tag details

copy ~Two questions in each category, answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday - Your oldest memory - What were you doing 10 years ago?

Today -Your first thought today morning - If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?

Tomorrow - This year ….What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

~ End Tag details ~

Oldest memory: I am 3 years old and living with my grandmother, uncle and aunts, doing various things like collecting kundumani (Abrus precatorius: a bright red and black seed), riding on my uncle’s motorbike and walking holding my grandmother’s hand.

10 years ago: I was preparing to defend my PhD dissertation, and had just (~6 months earlier) met the guy who would be my husband.

First thought this morning: Wish I didn’t have to do all that reading for class this evening, so that I can paint!

Time capsule: my parents, good times with my sisters and their families, walks around the Lady Bird lake with my husband, cuddly moments with my cats, sounds of birds chirping and squirrels scolding (the cats) and morning sunshine spilling into my backyard.

This year: not much of it left. Most thoughts are on finishing the semester well and fitting in a visit to see my parents and planning a nice vacation.

14 years from now: Us living much more simply and sustainably, close to forests or mountains, working actively to protect a small pocket of habitat for wildlife, with days spent working outside and not in an office building, with no need for vacation because we are doing exactly what we want to be doing each day. Sigh. Who knows?!

For this one, I tag Priya & Robyn .

To those who have been tagged - no compulsion, since there are lots of tags going around!

Santa Fe: City of Art

2008-10-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that Santa Fe would be a city I wouldn't mind living in. So thought I'd do a post on this artistic city.

Raghav had a conference there last year and I went along because I had some time off. So while he was busy indoors, I explored on foot and visited several of the art galleries and small museums scattered all over the city center.

Pretty painted door

Walking around in Santa Fe is like wandering around in an art museum. The city exudes art. This is mainly due to a decision by the city planners to impose a unified building style in the city. All buildings have to have the Spanish Pueblo Revival look, with earth-toned, adobe walls, rounded corners, subdued lighting, and flat roofs.

Local cinema

A bonus was that it had snowed the day before we arrived, and the beautiful adobe buildings framed with fresh fallen snow made them look absolutely dreamy.

The pink and brown buildings have bright colored windows and there are interesting sculptures scattered all over the city.

There were little artistic touches everywhere. Murals on the walls ... even the arrows leading to the restrooms in the little mall in the city center were creative!

Mural on the wall inside a building

Arrows leading to the restroom!

There was a street market of local Native American artists and potters in the morning one day. They had just spread out their wares on the sidewalk, and were in business! I bought a small fridge magnet from one lady. The piece is very small (only about 2 inches long), with lovely, intricate brushwork. She collects the clay from her land and makes these pieces with natural dyes.

In the past, after harvest in the late summer and early fall large chile peppers were strung to dry so that chile would be available for cooking year round. These bunches of chile pepper pods are called ristras. Today they are also displayed in this manner for decoration, and can be found all over the city - looking bright and spicy.

Santa Fe is also home to the oldest church in the United States, the El San Miguel Mission. The church was built in 1610, the year the city of Santa Fe was founded.

We were there in January, and Christmas lights and decorations still adorned some homes and the big local church. It was beautifully lit at night.

A short drive from Santa Fe is the Bandelier National Monument. A pleasant, short walk here takes you into the Frijoles Canyon, which contains a number of ancestral pueblo homes and cave dwellings carved out of the soft rock cliffs. Very dramatic and beautiful site. Will save the story of that visit for another post! What I wanted to include here is the entrance sign to the monument. Even this sign deviates from the norm and is charmingly decorated with traditional little motifs!

On the drive back to the airport, we had some stunning views of snow covered open land.

And so by the end of this short visit, I had fallen completely in love with Santa Fe!