Outdoor Art Session

Today I met my friend, Aruna, for an outdoor drawing and painting session.

I took art classes in middle school and have always loved doodling and painting, but it's not something I commit to every day.

She messaged me some images ahead of time to consider, so once we were together, we made our choices and got to work.

She is much more serious about the final result than I am.  I'm just enjoying the moment and having fun.  And I have to say, it was very relaxing.  Hours passed by without us even noticing the time.

It was nice to draw and paint birds while listening to birdsong all around us.

I managed another little drawing while she was finishing up.

This colorful little elephant was handpainted by Aruna as a gift for me.

Isn't it lovely?

We had a great time and look forward to planning more creative get-togethers in the future.

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Thankful for Trees

Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky.

(Kahlil Gibran)

One of the books that I've slowly been reading is The Hidden Life of Trees.

The intricacies of nature is something we don't often think about but there are magnificent things happening around us all the time.

I was enchanted with these old trees at the botanical garden in Sri Lanka.

The root systems are incredible.

They are host to colorful lichens.

And even provide growing space for other plants.

Truly amazing!

Learn character from trees, values from roots, and change from leaves.

(Tasneem Hameed(

And check out the incredible jackfruit tree,

It takes a mighty tree to produce fruit this big.

We wandered around the botanical garden for about 2-1/2 hours but I could have stayed there much longer.

Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.

(Katrina Mayer)

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens

The garden was first created in 1821 for growing coffee and cinnamon but in 1843 was established as a botanical garden with plants brought from Kew Garden in London, as well as plants from Colombo and Kalutara.

It includes more than 4000 species including spices, medicinal plants and palm trees.

In fact, a couple asked us if we could take their picture here along the Avenue of  Palms.  It was a momentous occasion for them as they said they had taken the same picture 37 years earlier.  Really would loved to have seen the comparison from then to now.

The garden is renowned for its collection of orchids.

And there is a Couroupita guianensis  a/k/a Cannonball Tree planted by King George V and Queen Mary in 1901.  Although I didn't see fruits on this one, there were others in the garden that were literally loaded.

Interestingly enough, it is grown for its ornamental aspect because of the lovely scented flowers and also has some medicinal benefits, but because the fruit has an unpleasant smell, it isnt eaten by humans but instead is left for wild animals to eat or fed to farm animals.

If you look at the tree above, you might think you are just seeing leaves, but there is another fascinating inhabitant of the gardens

These fruit bats a/k/a the Indian Flying Fox are one of the largest in the world and I find them completely amazing to watch.

As with all wild animals, its populations are threatened because of habitat destruction caused by urbanization and widening of roads.  Thankfully, this colony is safe here in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya.

Much more to share but will save it for another post.

Have a marvelous Monday.

Back from the Blahs

Well folks, I seem to be really bombing with this whole blogging business lately.  It's been a whole month since my last post and though I could say that I don't know where all that time went, in all honesty, I just really went into a state of blahness after our youngest son returned to college on January 20th.  A few other things also happened that left me feeling like I didn't want to do much at all; I wasn't walking enough and was eating a whole lot more than I should.

I might still be feeling that way if we hadn't taken our recent annual trip to Sri Lanka.  We left Kuwait the night of February 21st and arrived to Colombo early morning of the 22nd.  After a 4 hour drive, we made it to Kandy where we stayed for two days.

The view from our hotel balcony.

I didn't sleep on the plane at all (instead I watched two movies: Victoria and Abdul which was good and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which was even better) so was feeling rather out of it the first day.

(Hanafi Mosque, Kandy)

We still managed a couple of long walks around town.

And around the lake.

For locals, monkeys are an every day sighting, but for visitors it is always such an exciting experience seeing them up close, roaming free as they should be.

We took a tuk-tuk back up the hill to our hotel.

  And after freshening up and having dinner, we were ready to call it an early night.

On day two, we visited the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens where I took lots of pictures, so will save that for next time.

Hope all is well with all of you.
Best wishes and blessings,

From Full Moon to the Promise of Spring

The last day of January marked the second full moon of the month.

A super blue blood moon.

"Super" because it was at its closest orbit to earth.

"Blue" because it was the second full moon within the month.

And "blood" because of the lunar eclipse that happened at the same time.

If I had left my house, I would have been able to see the lunar eclipse but that would have meant driving somewhere to get a clear view and I didn't really feel like doing that.  Instead, I patiently waited for the full moon to make its way across the sky and over the buildings in our neighborhood.

The start of February is marked in the Celtic seasonal calendar by a  celebration called Imbolc which I just learned about because of posts I was seeing on Instagram.

@dorothysparkleshoes sent me a link that provided information on the meaning behind Imbolc.  This paragraph is what spoke to me:

It is time to let go of the past and to look to the future, clearing out the old, making both outer and inner space for new beginnings.  This can be done in numerous ways, from spring cleaning your home to clearing the mind and heart to allow inspiration to enter for the new cycle.  It's a good time for wish-making or making a dedication.

It is also described as "the promise of renewal, of hidden potential, of earth awakening and life-force stirring."

In November my husband came home with pumpkin seeds from a friend who brought them from Bangladesh.  

I planted them on December 3rd and by December 17th they had started to sprout.

They might not have the idea conditions in small pots on my balcony, but it's been such a pleasure to watch them grow from seed.

Seeing their tiny tendrils form and fuzzy new leaves appear.

The leaves are huge now and tendrils are spreading out like crazy.

On Friday I put up a bamboo pole and the tendrils have already latched on.

Plants are amazing!  And I'm glad that I don't have to go far to witness the magic of nature up close.

Happy February!