Purple Circles (Wordless Wednesday)
Fragrant Stars (ThursdayTreeLove)
These trees growing along the fence of a prominent hotel in Aurangabad were eye catching even from a distance. They had dark green leaves with mysterious shadows broken by the intermittent breeze.
On walking closer, I was happy to see that these were the Maulsari or Mimusops elengi . It was December and the tree was in bloom and the tiny star shaped flowers with their haunting fragrance made the morning more beautiful. These flowers are prized because they retain their scent even when dry.
Maulsari is called Bakul in Marathi and is found in many parts of India. It is a native tree belonging to the Sapotaceae family. The leaves are glossy green and have a wavy margin. It bears pretty red coloured fruit which is said to be edible (I have not eaten these and I dont recommend readers to do so unless they have confirmed information about it being edible).
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| Bakul fruits – this image from a tree growing elsewhere |
Pune homes and streets in Pune have Bakul. Does this tree grow in your city? Have you seen garlands of these fragrant flowers?
I am joning Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove bloghop. Do head over to see some wonderful trees from around the world. Better still, join in!
Crooked Tree (Wordless Wednesday)
River View (Wordless Wednesday)
Tree House (ThursdayTreeLove)
This is one tree that almost everyone would have seen, admired and possibly also know its name.
Thats right this is the Cassia fistula of the Caesalpiniaceae family. It is commonly called Amaltas / Bahava / Golden Shower Tree or Indian Laburnum.
The trees were in full bloom in Pune in April and its blazing yellow blossoms were actually soothing despite the mercury crossing 40Deg C. I did not complain having to halt at the traffic signal as I could photograph the lovely cascading flowers!
On one of these trees, I spotted a bird’s nest … It must be such a beautiful sight to sit among these beautiful fragrant flowers and watch people race around on the road below!!
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| Can you spot the nest in the centre of the image? |
Here is a close up of the flowers but from another tree some years ago..
Glorious is it not?
Bahava is easily among my favourite trees.
Have you seen the Bahava? Have you spotted any nest on it?
I am joining Parul in ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see some lovely trees from around the world. Better still, join in!
Pink (Wordless Wednesday)
Surreal (Wordless Wednesday)
As summer sets in, a large number of trees shed their leaves. While the authorities do carry them away and people compost the leaves yet the volume is often overwhelming.
This means leaves are burnt irrespective of the sideeffects of this action.
Yet the smoke from such leaf burning created this effect on the early morning rays of the Sun as they streamed through the canopy of a Rain Tree.
I am joining Esha and Natasha on Wordless Wednesday. Hop on!
Z is Zombie
Hello and Welcome to my sixth attempt at the AtoZ blogging challenge.
My theme this year is Caring for the Caregiver. My posts are based on my experience and are not meant to be a comprehensive guide on the subject. I would love to hear your experiences..
You can catch up with my previous posts here.
With each post, I am sharing a sketch that I have done as a means for stress busting.
Zombie
Care giving is demanding physically and mentally and can turn us into Zombies!
My theme this year is Caring for the Caregiver. My posts are based on my experience and are not meant to be a comprehensive guide on the subject. I would love to hear your experiences..
You can catch up with my previous posts here.
With each post, I am sharing a sketch that I have done as a means for stress busting.
Zombie
Care giving is demanding physically and mentally and can turn us into Zombies!
When the caregiving period ends (either because our wards have healed and are fully independent now or any other not so happy reason) – it creates a void. Suddenly there is nothing to do. One can feel empty or guilty of not having done something.
We need to ‘switch off’ as it were, phase out our minds away from the situation of illness/handicap/dependency that we had to deal with and get on with our lives. If possible take a short holiday or a long one if you wish. A change of scene does wonders. This is especially helpful if you have had a long spell as a caregiver.
Dont be in a hurry to sort out paper work or possessions in case your ward has passed on. These things can wait.
Consciously avoid becoming a Zombie during a care giving phase or once it is over.
However, as I said before…
There is no one size fits all solution.
Every family has to find something that suits them best.
At best, posts such as mine will inspire a family to come up with their unique workable plan.
The final sketch…
Part of the time when I planned these AtoZ posts was spent at the waiting room at a hospital where I escorted my Mom for her Radiation Therapy. It had a Fish Tank which I guess was meant to distract or soothe patients. I dont know how many people even noticed those lovely colourful fish as they swam around their glass tank, looking out at folk sitting on the chairs.
Here they are…
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| Can they feel the pain and distress of the patients as they try to come to terms with their diagnosis? |
And here is my sketch .. to mark the end of my Mom’s therapy and the end of this challenge.
I have had a very busy time, as care giver. Hence some of my posts are not what I had envisaged them as.
I do plan to update them along the way.. so do come back ..
This has not been an easy topic to write about. Some of my thoughts may sound harsh and heartless at times. I hope I have been able to encourage and help caregivers in some way.
How has the AtoZ treated you?
I would love to hear from you.
Take care folks and Stay Happy!
Y is Yes
Hello and Welcome to my sixth attempt at the AtoZ blogging challenge.
My theme this year is Caring for the Caregiver. My posts are based on my experience and are not meant to be a comprehensive guide on the subject. I would love to hear your experiences..
You can catch up with my previous posts here.
With each post, I am sharing a sketch that I have done as a means for stress busting.
Yes
This simple word makes all the difference to being happy care givers.
Say Yes to Letting go
Say Yes to Saying No as well
Say Yes to Staying Happy and Fit
Say Yes to Technology
Say Yes to all means at available to you to do your job more efficiently and happily.
However, as I said before…
There is no one size fits all solution.
Every family has to find something that suits them best.
At best, posts such as mine will inspire a family to come up with their unique workable plan.
My sketch for the day ..
I meant to draw a Dragon but I am not sure if this even resembles one.
😖
My theme this year is Caring for the Caregiver. My posts are based on my experience and are not meant to be a comprehensive guide on the subject. I would love to hear your experiences..
You can catch up with my previous posts here.
With each post, I am sharing a sketch that I have done as a means for stress busting.
Yes
This simple word makes all the difference to being happy care givers.
Say Yes to Letting go
Say Yes to Saying No as well
Say Yes to Staying Happy and Fit
Say Yes to Technology
Say Yes to all means at available to you to do your job more efficiently and happily.
However, as I said before…
There is no one size fits all solution.
Every family has to find something that suits them best.
At best, posts such as mine will inspire a family to come up with their unique workable plan.
My sketch for the day ..
I meant to draw a Dragon but I am not sure if this even resembles one.
😖
Either way, the process of drawing served the purpose and I ended up feeling calmer that when I started off with the sketch.
Only one more day to go folks.
See you tomorrow with the last post.
Stay Happy!
X is X Factor
Hello and Welcome to my sixth attempt at the AtoZ blogging challenge.
My theme this year is Caring for the Caregiver. My posts are based on my experience and are not meant to be a comprehensive guide on the subject. I would love to hear your experiences..
You can catch up with my previous posts here.
With each post, I am sharing a sketch that I have done as a means for stress busting.
X factor
This is always among the most difficult alphabet in the challenge. Except when wrote about herbs as I was lucky to have found a X herb very easily..
Not this time..
So I shall write about the X factor which we encounter in our care giving. Often its the good kind, when we meet someone most unexpectedly and helps us out. I remember how one particular Doctor simply refused to take care of my Dad (his condition was serious) and another Doctor appeared like an Angel to take over.
Now how could the first doctor get away with it, what about the Hippocratic Oath etc are topics for another post..
Then we were just happy with that someone had taken charge.
A not so happy X factor was when our helper was on leave and the replacement also had to take an off.. That meant one of us had to take an off from work!!
Yet another is when our ward simply refuses care or services of a Helper.
Basically, what I am trying to say, is that we will face unexpected situations during the course of care giving. Some will be happy ones some not so. We cannot be prepared for every eventuality but we have to take things in our stride.
Stay calm and things will fall in place.
However, as I said before…
There is no one size fits all solution.
Every family has to find something that suits them best.
At best, posts such as mine will inspire a family to come up with their unique workable plan.
My theme this year is Caring for the Caregiver. My posts are based on my experience and are not meant to be a comprehensive guide on the subject. I would love to hear your experiences..
You can catch up with my previous posts here.
With each post, I am sharing a sketch that I have done as a means for stress busting.
X factor
This is always among the most difficult alphabet in the challenge. Except when wrote about herbs as I was lucky to have found a X herb very easily..
Not this time..
So I shall write about the X factor which we encounter in our care giving. Often its the good kind, when we meet someone most unexpectedly and helps us out. I remember how one particular Doctor simply refused to take care of my Dad (his condition was serious) and another Doctor appeared like an Angel to take over.
Now how could the first doctor get away with it, what about the Hippocratic Oath etc are topics for another post..
Then we were just happy with that someone had taken charge.
A not so happy X factor was when our helper was on leave and the replacement also had to take an off.. That meant one of us had to take an off from work!!
Yet another is when our ward simply refuses care or services of a Helper.
Basically, what I am trying to say, is that we will face unexpected situations during the course of care giving. Some will be happy ones some not so. We cannot be prepared for every eventuality but we have to take things in our stride.
Stay calm and things will fall in place.
However, as I said before…
There is no one size fits all solution.
Every family has to find something that suits them best.
At best, posts such as mine will inspire a family to come up with their unique workable plan.
Today’s sketch is about an unexpected gift from our daughter. seeing my newfound interest in sketching, she gifted me this colouring book for adults. And a set of colouring pens too. It has some wonderful intricate designs that one has to colour. It needs a lot of concentration and effort but I am quite enjoying it. Here is a collage of my ongoing effort.
And here is the (almost) finished picture!
Only two more to go in the 2019April AtoZ!
See you after the weekend folks.
Stay happy!