KEEP THE BEAUTY INSIDE???

See our fence? It still gives me the creeps every time I look at it! There is this strange dichotomy in India. I posted earlier the pictures of our beautiful yard. However, no one can actually see it unless they are allowed inside our gate. So I guess the goal is to keep the beauty INSIDE your garden walls. The shards of glass are meant to keep out "undesirables". Most fences, which are actually concrete walls here, are topped off with either glass or barbed wire. So there are all these beautiful gardens hidden away from public view. I think it's a shame, especially when our only other viewing option is all the trash and garbage strewn along the roads and highways.

It's Puja Time!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Once again it's Puja Time! The annual blessing on everything related to the house and the running of it: the car, the motorcycles, bikes, the generator, the yard, the security gates, the house itself. They light incense, toss flower petals, throw puffed rice and walk around the house with a burning watermelon which they then smash on the road in the front of the house - sort of reminds me of Halloween actually :) Here are photos from this year.

STEP INTO MY GARDEN...

Take a tour of the flowers in our yard... When we moved in last year, there was basically a bare yard. As you can see from the photos, the yard is in full bloom now. This is not due to any green thumb I have, but to our wonderful gardener who is out there every day weeding, watering, cleaning, and fertilizing. We do not personally employ him, but he is employed by the owner of the house. Of course the tropical climate helps too because there's an abundance of sunshine and things bloom continually around here. I'm enjoying it now late in October but also look forward to crisp October days full of changing autumn colors!