On LJ, as on other social networking/blogging sites, "friends" need not always be *friends*, I heard someone say. But for me, that doesn't work. Friends have to be friends. Most of my LJ friends are actually people whom I have met face-to-face, whether before or after they have become my friends on LJ. And many, whom I have not met, I email or call on a personal basis! So today I would like to talk...

I know squirrels are extremely common animals, and are sometimes regarded as pests, but they are so interesting to watch! They watch you from the ground... They watch you as they climb the tree quickly, to get out of your way... They continue watching you carefully after they are in the tree (oh, I really loved photographing that beady little eye!) But when they *think* you're...

On a mailing list to which I belong, there has been a discussion of "top-" and "bottom-posting"...that is, when replying to an email, whether one should type one's responses over the reply, or under it. Someone gave this example of how top-posting can be confusing: The problem with this practice (top-posting) is neatly summed up by the following FAQ entry: A: No. Q: Should I include quotations...

Yesterday evening, there was a thunderstorm and guess what happened...the power was switched off, and stayed that way for a few hours! I felt that I was right back in Bangalore.... The weather was cool, so the lack of air-conditioning made no difference, but the TV, the internet, the fridge, the freezer, the microwave.....the household does NOT work without electricity. It was a "homely" feeling to...

I meant to post this earlier, before I left to spend the day with rushthatspeaks at the Gardner Museum . (It was awesome.) Better late than etc., although I still have to talk about my dreams and Zatoichi. I am informed by erzebet that the limited edition of " Postscripts from the Red Sea " sold out within the afternoon. Eric points out quite reasonably that there are more than...

It's going to be raining the next few days, but this morning I was able to go for my walk, but the sun scudded through the clouds.... asakiyume shares my love of the sky and I learnt the phrase, "sky ocean" from her...

Among the old stuff we got from the estate: old paper and matching envelopes. I'm in love, y'all. I don't know if I'm allowed to use it, but ... check this out! I could write a letter using antique paper on an antique desk with an antique fountain pen ... by the light of an antique lamp or something ... with ... an antique hat on. Yeah! Wearing old jewelry or something. asakiyume particularly...

I do love the walks I take; Forest Park is a beautiful place, but I like walking around the neighbourhoods, too. This evening, to walk off the excessively heavy masala dosa and upma that we all had at the St Louis temple, I went for a long evening walk too.... I'll start with the birds... The HOUSE SPARROW is not well-regarded here; a board on the golf course seems quite unfriendly to me, in a country...

First the skies give the signal... (Note: this one's for asakiyume as usual....it was this morning) There's an arching need to find a companion: (Note: I took this when we took our friend Subash for a sight-seeing drive yesterday) So they go and get paired off.... (Note: a lot of wedding groups come to have their photographs taken in Forest Park) Then the Nativity...

Tuesday's fishbowl got off to a good start, and then prompts continued to trickle in through the day, which was really nice. I started at 11 AM and stopped at 9:45 PM when I was worn out writing, for a total of 8 hours 45 minutes given lunch and supper breaks. I wrote a total of 20 poems, mostly medium and long; no epics this time and very little on the short end. Usually when I write poems in the...