NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

Let me start by wishing you all a very Happy Easter. It was a beautiful and cool morning this Easter Sunday. It was dark when we drove down to attend the Sunrise service. We were served the traditional buttered hot cross buns and boiled eggs. It was fun to meet and greet people.   I was carrying my camera to see if I could catch the rising sun. But by the time we got out of the town, the sun was quite bright. I was looking forward to taking photos of a flock of peafowl in the railway colony on our way back home. But they too moved from their perches by then.   The weather has played up and way below the Suncity normal at this time. The summers may not be that harsh I suppose. Let us keep our fingers crossed.   On our way back, I took a little shortcut from under the bridge to our colony. No, we were not breaking any traffic rules but wanted to meet our dear Mynahs. It being nesting season, they are very active under the bridge. Every year around this time we go and say he...

  LESSONS FROM A WEED   LT COL NOEL ELLIS   03/IV/2026   It is a solemn day being “Good Friday” and it also happened that an acquaintance passed away too. It was time for us to pay our last respects. God Bless her soul and may the blessed soul rest in peace.   A visit to the graveyard doesn’t give a good feeling. The silence is deafening. It is better to stay as far away from it because one day they will pack you in a ‘coffin’ and bury you six feet down under till eternity. You won’t know who was buried before you and also won’t know who will go down in the next grave. The good thing is that no one will ever disturb you there.   The expanse of this graveyard is huge. Graves of all colours, shapes and sizes are there. It appears well laid out like a drill square. The graves are in one straight line from both sides. Well-dressed up and one behind the other. Well-disciplined now, I suppose.   One death and the church congregation, relatives, friends, neig...

  I had just opened a pack of vermicompost to feed the plants some manure. These days they seal the ‘kattas’ or bags with an ‘auto stitching machine’. Farrrrrr is how it goes and under a second the bag gets locked and sealed.   Opening such a bag is an art. One has to pull the correct side of the string to remove the thread in one go. You pull it from the wrong side; it becomes a complicated task. The thread was synthetic and very soft and silky but very strong and difficult to break. Having ripped it apart like a professional, I was about to discard it in the dust bin.   A thought occurred. Why not reuse it to tie an adenium seed pod that one had recently harvested. The pod had ‘crackled open’ recently. If it is not tied in time then the dry seeds disperse with the wind. This year one intends to grow adenium seeds and use the seedlings to graft some rosy variety of adenium varieties. Rosy varieties are multi-petal adenium flowers. This thread was ideal for bi...

    I have been quiet on this ongoing war in Iran. The more it prolongs, the more I feel disillusioned about what is in store for the world and us. Those who are fighting are bearing the brunt. Many innocents, who are not fighting/involved are also being bombed to smithereens. Some countries are neutral but are coming to a grinding halt because they are running out of petrol and gas. Thanks to Mr Trump. (Nominee for the ‘Nobel War Prize 2026’).   We claimed victory in the 1971 war, 93,000 prisoners and created a new country. We were victors during Op Kargil & Sindoor. We started rising economically and then we are being thrown over the precipice by the one and only sitting thousands of kilometers away, who has no business to ‘poke his nose’ in other people’s affairs.   It reminds me of a British comedy series called “Mind Your Language” which we used to watch very intently in our childhood. There is now a need to remake another one called “Mind Your Bus...

 💕DIL KHUSH💖 https://youtu.be/FZUfbNC6N7s 

    It was 4.30 in the morning when I got up. It is best to catch on with social media. Some friends are so active after 10pm, that they dump everything which they never read or vetted but are eager to forward to their contact list and groups.   I spend time reading, especially articles which I save. The mind is fresh; thoughts are not contaminated by hooligans who have a habit of poking their nose into everything for no rhyme or reason. The hate mongers and blind followers are ‘dime a dozen’. Who has the patience and inclination to read 300 plus messages that spread hate. Delete without reading is the best thing to do.   Having waited for dawn to break, it was time to move out and smell the fresh air and feel the chill of the morning desert breeze. Flowers greeted me. Some plants said that they wanted a drink, while the others said, they didn't need one. Still, I poured a ‘Siano’ to all.   The birds were around. Then, I heard the chatter of the ...

  As the month of March is marching out and April is inching forward, there are a few unusual things that I noticed in and around our garden. It was literally about the birds and the bees. The real birds and bees.   First was the change of place of the ‘humming bird feeder’. They came; they looked around and made a ruckus. Tweeting at the loudest, like saying where has the feeder gone? Who dare change its place? The hubbub was understandable until one hummingbird found it. Just a meter from its original place became the bone of contention.   I shifted it to get a better look from inside the drawing room when these beautiful birds came to enjoy the sweetened water. More than that, the feeder was exposed to the sun the whole day. Imagine if you are served a warm rather hot ‘cold drink’ or beer. A little shade may help, was the idea behind. Now that they found it, all is well.   The second unusual thing was that this year I couldn’t spot any Bulbul’s nest....

  Watching the clouds can be fun. They change shapes every minute.