(Click gallery to see photos individually.)
Posted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Vibrant
Two years ago, I put birdhouses on some old posts that were standing in a corner of my back yard. Last fall, I looked inside of the birdhouses and discovered there was a nest in one of them.
Yesterday when I was talking on the phone, I happened to glance out of the kitchen window. I saw two small birds flying around the houses. I even saw one of the birds look inside its potential home. I was so excited!
I am optimistic that there will be baby birds in the birdhouses this year.

Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Optimistic
Friends have sent me two powerful and mesmerizing videos recently. I thought both were excellent and hope you find them to be as valuable as I did.
The first is a talk by Dr. Vadana Shiva. She has been described as an author, activist, pioneer, scientific advisor and mother.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crP5EVZdvLE)
The second is a September 12, 1962 speech by President John F. Kennedy. As you listen to it, consider how we can apply his words to solving the problems we are facing in the world today.


The Friday before I left India, my friend Lalita and I decided to go a garden near Amma’s Amrita School of Ayurveda. Even though I had been to the property before, I wasn’t sure how to get there so we hired a rickshaw.
When I saw a garden across from the college, I told the driver to stop and let us out. It turned out not to be the garden I had planned to see, but it was “no accident” that we stopped. We were soon walking in a wonderland.
The garden is named Amrita Herbal Garden and it is part of the School of Ayurveda. I learned later that it covers 5 acres and that there are 500 rare species of medicinal plants growing on the land. The plants are used for research and for making Ayurvedic medicines.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
(Click on the gallery to enlarge the photos.)

This is one of my favorite photos. It came to mind when I thought of weightless.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Weightless

I have been fascinated by this photo ever since I took it. Not only is the sun a circle, but so is the reddish area around it. I had wondered if it was some kind of an orb, or if it was something the camera created.
If anyone knows what caused the circle around the sun, please tell me!

Posted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Circle
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