Farewell to Summer

Summer 2010

Fall 2010 begins!

      Summer is officially over and Fall has begun. Each year I bring to this blog many images of nature, that inspire me to write, paint and blog. By this time of the year I bid farewell to summer, by bringing all of these images together, in a single post. To those among you who are new to this blog, here are two posts from the past years:

• Romanticism in a Digital Era … in 2009
• Vernal Equinox…in 2008

      You may call it a gratitude journal or a digital herbarium or even a nature preserve. Its great to consolidate all the images here, so that they may be savored later, in the dead of winter With this as the backdrop, I bid farewell to summer, with a new leaf in my gratitude journal.

I would like to thank,

The Cherry blossoms for creating a parallel between Washington D.C. and New Delhi,

The Oklahoma Redbud blossoms for bringing the joy of discovering a new tree and author,

The Magnolias for shedding new light on old paintings,

The solitary creeper for bringing serenity into my world,

The Chinese Tulip for showing me sunrise in a petal,

The different shades of leafy green that made me paint grass not once but twice and inspired me to finish painting a tropical leaf,

The Peonies for teaching me patience over three years,

The Strawberries for bringing heaven in my garden,

The Strawberries leaves for inspiring me to paint twice,

The Ornamental Onion blossoms for creating an urban oasis,

The Hydrangeas for graduating with flying colors,

The Roses for bringing their predictable loveliness in June,

The Lilies for blossoming in great numbers (see above), beyond my wildest dreams and

The Sunflower bud for telling me that even this blog has changed colors from green to yellow.

      Thomas Jefferson  has said that during summer the garden is like a stage and each plant is an actor. Each one performs his part (blossoms) and then leaves the stage. To this may I add, that just as at the end of each performance all the actors come together to take a bow, so do all the plants come here together, to take a bow, through the above lines.

      As I wrap up this post a few lines from a Hindi/Urdu gazal come to my mind, that I find very appropriate to quote at this time. They voice my feelings towards the summer garden:

Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm may lati hai hamay

(Whenever life brings me in your association)

Yeh zameen chand say behatar nazar aati hai hamay.

(This earth looks better to me than the moon)

      With this I hope that your summer was as lovely as mine and I welcome the colors of Fall into this blog (above right).

Ratna

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Last year on this blog: From Bill Clinton to Wall-E

Two years back, on this blog: Changing Colors of Changing Seasons

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Summer is a multitude

Autumn is an aptitude

- Elaine Equi