Smells like sunshine...

It's been raining continuously here and as much as I like the rains, I don't like the way my clothes smell when I dry them indoors. So when the sun showed up the other day in all its splendor, I quickly washed my clothes and dried them outside... and they went back to smelling so clean and warm like sunshine.

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

Steve Martin

A friendly neighbour...

With the destruction of boundaries...

You get to meet friendly neighbours... like Princy.

Princy is a cute little thing...

Love your neighbour, yet don't pull down your hedge.

Benjamin Franklin

Oil Burnt Art...

A few drops of hot boiling oil splashed on my hand while frying chicken for my strictly non vegetarian husband. Here I've drawn flowers round the burned spots... my first ever oil burnt art and I hope the last.

Art is man's expression of his joy in labour.

Henry A. Kissinger

An obscure spiritual figure of the 18th century

My folks at home went to this awesome place at Aralvaimozhi, where Devasahayam Pillai is believed to have been martyred. He's apparently a great spiritual figure of the 18th century who suffered martyrdom for Christ... no one's really sure of it though, which is actually weird cause St. Francis Xavier arrived in the 16th century and his name is still alive and active in my hometown. They have a huge feast in his honour every December and pilgrims throng the area and the schools remain closed... the whole town is practically devoted to St. Xavier, but a man of the 18th century they find hard to remember... beats me.

Anyway, my sister sent these pix's and my mom asked me why they weren't up in my photography blog and I said 'Only the pictures I take go on my blog'. My mom told me not to act too smart and to put these pictures up here... so here they are.

Isn't this nice, the hills, the clouds and a turret...

This could easily pass off as a church in Italy... very pretty.

Isn't this spectacular... similar to the one in Brazil.

Bell Rock: It seems when Devasahayam was being murdered, huge chunks of rocks started tumbling down the side of the hill making a sound like that of a church bell ringing, kinda like a death knell.

The rock you see en caged below is apparently one of those 'bell ringing rocks', if you strike it with another stone it makes a ringing sound, whereas when the other nearby boulders are struck, you hear a normal rock on rock sound.

The church...

The view from the church...

I am definitely going here the next time I am home...

Droopy Tongue

Saw this fella at the beach a few days back...

The more I see of man, the more I like dogs.

Mme. de Stael

On the river banks...

These were taken in Kerala, just standing there and taking in the sheer beauty of the place was overwhelming...

Love is the river of life in the world.

Henry Ward Beecher

Boulders galore...

Muttom beach (back home) is characterized by huge boulders that lie all over the place... I like this little fishing hamlet.

My heart is full of longing

For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

Henry Wordsworth Longfellow.

Uncle and Niece...

I like this picture... Tonio and baby Michelle. He likes to play with her and she seems to like him, she smiles when he is around (must be the resemblance to her dad). This picture was taken on my mobile phone hence the less than perfect image.

Babies are such a nice way to start people.

Don Herrold

Look what I saw, while hanging up the clothes to dry...

Every creature is a word of God

Meister Eckhart

Fergie all decked up

This darling little mutt (Fergie) makes me laugh, she is all love. Here after the makeup, we had to lure her with one of her toy bottles to stand still... that's why the heart felt longing in her big brown eyes.

Who can resist such soulful eyes, she's one hugable dog... I miss* her.* Don't worry, she is still alive and kicking... and from what I hear happily pregnant too. We had to give her away, so many things were happening (back home) and there was nobody to take care of her.

A dog is not 'almost human' and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such.

John Holmes

The Windmills Welcome...

The windmills near home... resembling sentinels that loom protectively in the distance along with those rolling hills.

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.

Anne Bronte

Kids and summer...

Here you see a typical temple pond where a few kids are playing and trying to beat the summer heat in Kanyakumari (my hometown).

Looks like they caught something in their cloth net... kids and summer are an exciting combination, and if you happen to grow up in the countryside, you can bet nothing could be more exhilarating.

A new found blogger buddy - Meri, who is into interior designing and the like did a post on Outdoor Spaces and I sent her these pictures of a typical Indian-village-outdoorsy shot, you can check them out at her blog here.

When I was a little kid, of course, I was brown all summer. That's because I was free as a bird- nothing to do but catch bugs all day.

Roy Blount Jr.

God's cotton candy...

These pictures were taken when I was on my way to Bombay to attend Tina's (my cousin) wedding...

I especially love this picture below, reminds me of the 'care bears'... those distinct swirls of curly cloud look like God's own cotton candy.

Those clouds are angels' robes.

Charles Kingsley