the charm and the quaintness......

Enjoy the season! loving everything about the season.
the sights,smells and sound
the dusky light in our living room brings a glow in my eyes and a wonderful smile...
warm light pouring in from every quaint window
they all combine to bring an old world charm..
the most pleasant season here..

The lovely people at The Key Bunch blog are celebrating their anniversary by Saying it with Flowers
Wishing you lots more years in the blogosphere and "happy anniversary"

Images and Ideas conceived by Lakshmi Arvind
Pl don't copy them nor save them from the site

the scents.... the seasons...

the cotton curtains fluttering in the wind as if they are dancing to the tunes of a rainfall.

i love rainy mornings.,

the envelope of comfort the rainy mornings give you is immense and the sound of the rain,

rains are giving way for the mellow autumn.

A dusky light entering the living room ..

Its been some days since its rained here.

my mind still revolves around the raindrops still falling steadily.

some dried flowers and leaves show me how much i love them still.,.,

the season of joy and cheer and scents...

they seem to have been from the last autumn......

i am looking forward to the season change for,

baking in something with figs from the market..

waiting for the boutiful greens from the garden..

to spent a lot of time under those same blankets and in the kitchen.

listening to my favourite songs and concocting new recipes to share with both my family... and you.

cook a stew with potatoes and onion and curry leaf, to fill your home with the scents of the season...

I cant think of all the scents of Autumn,but you probably have a favourite too?

love the dusky light in my living room,the warmth,love itgulmohar petal driedbougainvillea fragrance ..love the crushed feel..a neem leaf driedroses and roses driedopening a book and finding this ,brings a smile and a tea to accompany ...

peepal leafjackfruit leaf from home,last seasons..

Enjoy the season...

All images courtesy:Lakshmi Arvind

pl do not save nor copy images from the site

My Village in Monsoons...

Palms swaying in the monsoon winds and the unhurried pace of life at this village is what attracts me to this village,my dads ancestral home and his village..

Its coconut and mango orchards lend loads of beauty. You can either enjoy a game of football on the white sand in front of the extensive courtyard of the house or soak up the rains lazing on the verandah.The beautiful wildflowers and wildly grown home flowers for puja are a sight here.Bees and butterflies happily walk down the lane hand in hand.The green and pink dotted colocasias line the small village roads.The grazing cows are a normal sight here.The mango trees sway in the wild wind and the juicy ones fall down,where we rush to pick them and eat them with salt and chilli powder.Abundant monsoon grass is cut from the fields,growing wildly.Here you can still see the paddy fields and ponds everywhere with lovely lotus blooming...the lonely paths,the mangalore tiled houses and the flowers endemic to these places are the commonest finds here.

Located near the famous Vembanad backwaters,its beauty on its own with the monsoons soaking it up.

This time when we visited ,it was incessantly raining and we just enjoyed the rains.It is always a joy whenever we go there,coz we just soak up the beauty and breathe fresh air.The amazing lip smacking food cooked by grandma and aunties are a joy here.They have the traditional style of cooking food,with logs of wood and a separate kitchen for that apart from the normal one are all that we are in love with .....The banana leaf spread and the perfect lunches are all a part of the secret love that we all share in common.We always wait for the next time,the next time and the next time and the ............

A view from the living room,its all greenery outside,just after the rains...
The well in rains fills up to the brim and we all can dip a mug and take water and have a bath standing here....so much fun when we were smallThe winding paths ,village roads ,the beauty of the lush greenery on both sidesHuge colocasia leaves,love the pink and the green spotsLove the wet feel and the dry leavesFeet fetish and colocasiaButtercups and buttercups everywhere
Wow,the drops,felt like licking them
My love for ixora starts here,we have a huge variety of ixora at home

The white star ixora and a drop of water
White ixoras are specially used for puja in devi temples
Red ixora buds

Wet red Ixora

Fallen and wet
The long village roads
Coffee plant flowers,we make our own coffee powder at home,the purest one,i can smell it here
Small berries and drops of water
Thumpa flowers ,wild ones,used for onam flower carpet
White wild flower
The night flowering flower
Hibiscus in its beauty in rains
All pictures are courtesy:Lakshmi Arvind

Pl dont save nor steal images.

My Own Monsoons.....

the drops just fell on my face,i just shook them after the photo was taken,that feel....
i gazed and gazed to see how delicately and differently the almighty made this flower..
it just fell and fell from the mangalore tiled roofs....splashed everywhere
it was all over the amaranthus plant
hey the little one is going to fall,can you catch,got wet in the rains,drooping heads ....
its all wet
the last drop,can you all see the whole world?
these were plucked fresh from rains,some fell down too...
its tea time...the three of us

In the Rains of Love...

Trying to capture every possible droplet of rain that fell down...

My love towards Malayalam Literature has always drawn me closer towards the love for Rains

Malayalam literature gracefully illustrates the vivacity of monsoons

I love anything that comes with rain,even a simple name:)-

"Butterflies in the Spraying Rain",a translation of a film name that has been watched umpteen number of times.

Dont you all love this name?

Nothing covers Kerala better than Rains,isnt it?

It rained when at home , heavily and elegantly in both with cascading impact drawing even the dry hearts to the niceties of life.

Still my mind is rich with drops of rain from down South...

Hey its raining for you....all...

all images by Lakshmi Arvind,pl dont copy nor save images from the site.

Life's exquisite pleasures at Shaheen Bagh

A last minute dash to the mountains before travelling down south to the monsoons and the seas for the summer vacations.

A lovely stay close to nature, listening to the birds, watching the mist roll down, amazing breakfasts, great photo opportunities. A getaway from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Shaheen Bagh on the foothills of the Mussoorie hills is an ideal place to visit from Delhi on a short weekend.

Visit Celebrations Decor for more on this trip.