NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   30/IX/2025   We were rejoicing about the cool weather which had started descending when suddenly things took a nasty turn. It became very hot and humid at the end of September as if it was July. It made us humans sweaty. The sweltering heat affected the plants in the garden alike.   Last evening, it felt as if ‘Loo’ the local hot breeze had returned. Then nature changed things upside down. Out of nowhere came the clouds followed by a ‘squall’ which brought some rain. The weather cooled, but the humidity was at its worst.   To my horror, one of our succulent plant pots was lying on the floor. Thank God, it didn’t break. However, its innards were spread on the floor. The plant lay on a side the way it had arrived bare rooted. It had to be replanted.   The culprits were known. They are a pair of kittens who are almost adults now. They venture in our garden often for shikar of birds near the grain feeder. They must ...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   2/IX/2025   A unique vine which has memories related to my childhood always fascinated me. I had written about it in 2023. It is a ‘perineal climber’ of the ‘pea’ family called the ‘Rosary Pea’ also. Its botanical name is ‘Abrus Precatorius’ commonly known as ‘Chirmi’ in Rajasthan.   We were lucky to have seen this climber in our childhood. The boarding school campus in which we used to stay in Sainik School Kapurthala, Punjab was an ecosystem in itself. The school was donated by HH Maharaja Jagjit Singh to the government. HH ensured that trees and shrubs from every country and region of the world grew and flourished in his estate.   This creeper grew naturally and abundantly at many places in the campus. We kids were more interested in collecting its seeds and swinging on its thick stems which must have taken this creeper ages to become so woody and thick to take a man’s weight.   One day, while searching an online portal, I fo...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   16/IX/2025   As I walked out of the front door today, there was a little chill in the air. The weather felt good and one was happy that the plants got a breather after the intense heat and rain that they had to bear in the months gone by.   As usual, I checked the bird feeder. It was empty. The ‘refill’ container is kept amongst the pots next to the fish tubs. As I bent over to pick it up, a very strange looking item caught my attention at the bottom of the tub.   It couldn’t be a snake, or a caterpillar. It did look like a bloated one alright. To remove it from the tub was my first priority before it contaminated the water of the tub. By the size of it, it appeared as if it had ‘tanked-up’ lots of water and ballooned. The print on its body appeared to be that of a ‘viper’. It did take me a little while to identify it.   These days, slugs are sticking to leaves. They leave a silvery trail behind. It was n...

  Rain lily and Insulin plant flower ❤ Dil Khush 💙

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   24/IX/2025   Oh! What an action filled morning it was today. Literally, the birds and bees were in action all over the common garden. Zip zap zooming from tree to tree, branch to branch, flower to flower, even doing acrobats on lightning conductors.   Our baby Drumstick saplings which we grew so painstakingly from seeds have now come to flower. The top of their canopies is laden with them. Their mother or the mother plant whose seed pods one had collected, grown, and distributed alas fell to expansion and modernisation of a home it was anchored in.   Watching her go was painful. She was the fulcrum of many shoots where I must have docketed about twenty different species of birds which came to roost on it. Birds would romance on it, make love, bring their babies, fight intruders, have inter bird rivalries and duels, besides some making nests and hives in it was axed.   However, when the children take the parents ...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   23/IX/2025   There is an old man who comes to our colony to wash cars early in the morning. He and I exchange good mornings of the loudest kinds. I am sure the people still asleep must be getting irritated at the tone and tenor rather his volume and pitch of his greetings.   As he was washing our neighbours car (mine is cleaned by a different person), he got in a conversation with the owner. The owner had just cut down his sweet lime tree. In that context this old man told him that if he was planning to replace the tree, not to plant a Mango tree as it brings death, he said.   My ears popped up. So many questions started churning in my head. Is it true or is it a myth? Has this got any evidence or correlation? Is it just a coincidence, or superstition/local folklore? Or, is it a hearsay without a proof?   Death could occur, not by planting a mango tree. Instead, the reasons could be. One, a huge mango tre...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   19/IX/2025   It was not the usual morning for me. As I drew the drawing room curtains open, there was something missing. It was our little darling Budgie called Mithee. We were already missing her. Hope her new home and companions will give her a long and happy life.   It was time to check the plants in the garden and meet my morning walker friends, who halt and chat awhile. We exchange notes and laugh a little. A good beginning to the day is what one looks forward to.   Just then, I heard a loud rattle of a Kingfisher. This guy is a regular visitor and he has been seen sitting either on our solar panel or on its lightning conductor.   Birds roam around in search of food. With fish galore in the waterlily tubs on the roof, they must be his major attraction. I am not sure how many he has polished off till now. One is yet to do a fish census.   Out of the blue a Dove came and nudged Mr Kingfisher and disp...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   17/IX/2025   It was finally time to bid farewell to our very loving budgie called Mithee. She arrived out of thin air. Where did she come from? How did she travel in this unforgiving environment? We don’t know.   She was destined to give us happiness for this period without any fuss. Initially, we had no idea what to do with her. Mithee appeared weak and frail. She had been hungry for many days. She also was too tired to fly.   When my wife bought her small bowl of water, she dived into it and drank to her heart's content. By joe, was she thirsty! We felt relieved. What to give her to eat was the question? Everyday, I feed the birds outside with Bajra, same was served to her.   We spread some grains in a saucer. She recognised food immediately. Mithee wasted no time to dive in. She was not used to the window sill and the security grill where she had perched. A small knock here and there and she came down to feed herself. She loved the ...