It was a strange day, when I spied this leaf that was somewhat reminiscent of an Orwellian novel…. One leaf of this Mulberry tree, (oh, by the way, this was the first mulberry tree that I had seen in Chennai) had eyes and a perfectly formed face with a brown beard. It was a at strange sight and begged to be captured.
Although my fascination with plants goes back to the time when I was a child, I have never been exposed to the plants called as “Air Plants or Tillandsia” until recently. It was during a visit to a nursery in Calicut or Kozhikode in Kerala wherein I spied some different plants and decided to try my hand at growing them. I live in Chennai, a coastal city in India with high humidity, so I was assured that these plants would thrive quite well.
While the actual purchase of the plants was simple, as they were inexpensive, (however, not all Air Plants are inexpensive) their care and display took on a whole new meaning.
Youtube has been a great help with a host of videos talking about the care of air plants. For display as well, there are lots of videos and they have inspired me in many ways.
One of the ways to display is to mount (either fixed or loosely mounted) on driftwood. My current sojourns to the beach also include searching for driftwood, especially ones where we can mount Air Plants.
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
Inspired by my father’s storytelling, I watched Guns of Navarone at least 6-7 times and have read the lovely book behind the movie, by the same name written by Alister Maclean. Although there are minor changes in the plot between the book and the movie, both are independently a treat to read and watch. Both the book and the movie are highly recommended for fans of action, war and thriller genres.
It was on the drive back from the East Coast Road home at Chennai, when we spied a beautiful moon through the trees, and a short detour brought us to one of the many beaches dotting the coastline. We reached in time to take some pics of the amazing moon rise as well as eat some snacks from the beachside vendors before happily returning home.
Santa's Reindeer 