Parvati singing at Piano Man on International Jazz Day

Come September!

    Three pictures taken at sunset on September 20, 2013

With the Equinox just two days away, sunsets are creeping closer to 5.20 p.m. Sunrise is still before 5.15 a.m. so the husband is happy that the tea gets a little over the prescribed eleven hours and fifteen minutes of daylight.
We had a very wet start to September, but a hot and dry fortnight followed. If only we had some moderation - regular rainfall and not too many ups and downs in temperature! Equinoctial thoughts.
Sunset and sunrise follow a steady pattern, climate change or no climate change. I give you good even.
See skies from around the world at http://skyley.blogspot.in/

Old Men in the Park

A Bridge Too Far (Away)

That is the River Dima, which flows close to the tea estate where we live. The bridge in the distance is a rail bridge. The bridge from where I took this shot is brand new. It was constructed to take the place of the one that was washed away in the floods of 1993!
Twenty long years to get the bridge up, three months from completion of construction to inauguration, and TWO opening ceremonies in one day. It's true. Do read on: http://in.news.yahoo.com/bridge-opening-twice-one-day-000000420.html

I took this picture on the last day of Durga Puja, the festival that marks the beginning of mellow skies and cooler weather.

See skies from other people's worlds here : http://skyley.blogspot.in/

Big Up There!

I took this picture on a Sunday afternoon in September. My vantage point was just above Phuentsholing, Bhutan, and I was looking out over the Indian border town of Jaigaon in North Bengal. That big river flowing in the distance is the River Torsa. And that cloud? Well, it rained for a week where we live, some miles south of Jaigaon and Phuentsholing.

This is my entry for Skywatch Friday. Be sure to check out other people's skies across the globe at http://skyley.blogspot.in/ like I enjoy doing!!

Harvest Time

Dry Days

Juice for Breakfast

Morning Cuppa

Come feast on poppies with the bees










 

February Day in the Garden

Noon

 
Work!

 
What my husband wants me to call 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'!

 
What, me work?

Hang Out There

Tindharia in the Darjeeling hills is the first important railway station on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
It is on National Highway 55 which connects - when it is in working order - Siliguri to Darjeeling.

We drove up to it one Sunday afternoon with some friends last July. One of them, a Darjeeling tea expert, pointed out the Tindharia Locomotive and Carriage Workshop to us. The three rooftops perched on the top of the hill made a pretty sight.

We drove past and went up to the railway station. It was also a lovely old building. I wished we could have taken a train ride there, but the train service had been suspended because landslides had snapped the road link and damaged the tracks beyond Tindharia.

We wondered whether repairs would be completed. The scene changed completely in September, when the earthquake struck. A large part of the hillside below the locomotive workshop fell away.

We drove up in the direction of Tindharia today with our younger daughter. She loves the railways, particularly the DHR. This time we couldnt even reach the station.

I did not have my camera with me. These pictures were taken on my old fashioned (four years old is old fashioned these days) phone camera.
No complaints. They pretty much convey what we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) is a World Heritage site.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee describes it thus:
"The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is the first, and still the most outstanding example of a hill passenger railway. Opened in 1881, it applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problems of etablishing an effective rail link cross a mountainous terrain of great beauty. It is still fully operational* and retains most of its original features intact."

*see above

Box of Rain

I watch the rain from my new perch in Siliguri. What a downpour!



This one was taken two hours after the first picture.


And these two several hours later. These are the Darjeeling hills.


 

Compliments of the Season

Ixoras are in full bloom and this first picture is a pot-pourri - by Mithoo the gardener. There are several colours and sizes of flowers to be found on different bushes dotting the compound.





This bush in the picture above produces both orange and yellow flowers.


This one is a classic flower - fiery orangey red.


This is a bush of miniature blooms.



Wow, strike me pink! This is the first time we've managed to grow this colour!


I have no words for these - but Mithoo Mali has done a great job arranging them.



Another precious new entrant this year - golden yellow.
I hope these flowers have brightened your day, wherever you are!

...And March Sunset