Skip to main content

SEASONS COME AND GO

 SEASONS COME AND GO

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

03/XII/2022

 

Seasons do come and go but some things leave memories etched in your mind forever. For us, it is flowers. ‘Hibiscus’ is in season. The wait for them to bloom is over. With winters approaching they shall soon go into dormancy. Till the time they can bear the chill they shall delight us with blooms.

 

It is also the season for seasonal flowers to be ushered in. We had two choices. One, to get seeds and grow them. Two, to pick up seedlings from the nursery. We did both. Seeds are sprouting and the seedlings from the nursery are already blooming.

 

With just about two weeks to Christmas, it is time for Poinsettias and Chrysanthemums too. The theme for the season is red, green and white.

 

Today, I have a date with my Mother-in-law. We shall go hunting for our favourite flower plants. Space in our little open patch is limited but somehow our heart is big that we can accommodate more. Let us see what all we can fit in.

 

It was with a heavy heart that we also had to bid farewell to our ‘Cypress Vine’ this morning. It flowered well. Due to the cold weather, it has started wilting and drying. The idea started in our previous location where we made an arch of home-grown bamboo on which we had trained this vine. Here we did the same on the garage posts. It looked gorgeous.

 

From one side we had the red flowered one and from the other the white one till they kissed each other in the centre. Before we finally bid the two goodbyes, seeds have been collected for the next season. This time we were a little late in planting but next year, come monsoons and seeds will be sown. Thank you, Ms Vine, for decorating our abode. Looking forward to meeting you again next season.

 

It was not surprising to find baby ‘Tik-Tok, (Chameleon) hiding in the thicket of the vine. A little cold and scared, it kept hiding inside the vine as I pulled it down from the roof of the garage. As I stretched my hand it just climbed on it as if he knew that I meant no harm and shall take him to safety.

 

I dare say that he enjoyed the little tickle I gave him on his head. I waited for it to change colours to black, the colour of the jacket I was wearing but I think it was ‘fear’ that made him stay white.

He was taken to the hibiscus plot and dismounted on one of the bushes. With one eye, he kept looking at me as if to thank me for the kind gesture. He waited for an opportune moment and scooted into the bush. Now that you have been touched by a human, I will keep you in the wild but make you my pet. Hope this arrangement is acceptable to Mr Tik-Tok.

 

All said and done, I am looking forward to the ‘date’ with my… She being a gardening enthusiast herself, it would be fun for sure. What plants will we buy today? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...
14 comments
Read more

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...
17 comments
Read more

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...
2 comments
Read more