Red and green for the holidays …
Red and green sari by photographer Poras Chaudhary:
Painting at Dakshina Chitra exhibition:
A large antique palace rug at dilmaghani.com:
Antique Indian kumkum box:
Red and green sari:
Temple bells at At Anandamaya Design:
When the construction dust got to be too much, I sought escape in gardens and plant shops. Perhaps I was subconsciously seeking fresh oxygen.
Here I stand on top of our apartment, enjoying the rooftop views of the coconut trees:
A few coconut trees shade our balconies below.
Bamboo lines the compound walls. Here bamboo seems to be reaching for me, pulling me into the back with leafy green fingers … (don’t be fooled, there’s only mosquitoes back there):
There are banana trees beyond the walls:
We have banana trees too. For special occasions the huge leaves are cut to use for serving meals.
The sun was just right to cast the coolest shadows:
This may be the only moment I appreciate the neighbor’s blue corrugated metal fence:
Beyond the gate are more trees in the street. But if you open the gate, beware … our construction debris is right there. Yes at this point I’m composing and cropping carefully:
A cool combo of pots that our neighbor’s little boy painted:
For weeks we kept passing a beautiful garden shop. Of course I had to go in, and cannot leave empty-handed. This is my orange plant, left behind in the care of others:
After this wild orange plant, something got into me. We got chartreuse and purple plants at another T Nagar plant shop, to pair together. Yep, those bright ones, right there:
And a bunch of those little purple ones there please, to go under the chartreuse leaves:
Our apartment is only a few blocks away so we crammed 10 pots of chartreuse and purple leaves and our 2 butts into an autorickshaw and off we went:
And now, for the grand garden finale. Our current patch of scratchy dirt in Chennai cannot possibly compare to the gardens at Amethyst. But I hope. Someday. Behold, the gardens at Amethyst:
There is a lovely cafe on a veranda overlooking the gardens, and a shop with clothing and jewelry and some home decor items upstairs. If you’re in Chennai, take a break here, it’s beautiful.
Posted in Garden, Travel in India
On my last evening in India, we took a walk around our apartment’s neighborhood. Firecrackers beckoned us out beyond the gates …
Diyas and kolam (or, rangoli):
Generations live here. We passed the home of our nephew’s friend, who came out to chat. This friend is the son of a friend of my husband, when he was in school.
Beyond the beautiful gates of this beautiful home, more beauty … of candlelights.
Another kind of light — firecrackers — were set off in the street:
Finally today I have moments to clear away fall decorations and replace them with Christmas. An Old Tyme Main Street on the mantle. Fir greens and pinecones on the front doors. Red shiny bells. But I do wish I had temple bells and cow bells, actually …
From Viva Terra:
