Northwesterly winds and many mini storms...rain, rain and rain...

The continuous northwest winds blew, the sky became enveloped in gray and winds took up highspeed, turned suddenly turned into mini storms. This is what we have been facing for several weeks now, may even be more than a month. 

After the strong winds, thunder and lightening, all at once, water gushed down, ending in heavy downpours. Then suddenly, it all stopped and everything became peaceful again.

Although, it submerged land, destroyed crops, it relieved us from the scorching heat and the trees, flowers grew profusely and all the greens flourished. 

Summer colors ........bright and beautiful

Although, I say summer colours here, I have a lot of seasonal and permanent plants flowering at the same time. After the summer heat and rains, they all blossomed together. Like, the late winter or spring ones, cosmos, gerbera and dianthus, they adjusted to the summer heat and blossomed to their true colors. And the frail and dainty cosmos plants and flowers fluttered in the wind and rain and the plants grew to taller heights than usual winter ones. And the frangipanis, just when they started to get their leaves, bloomed to solid fuchsia!

Hope you enjoy the colour array....

Miraculous sunsets and evening skies

As the sunsets, a sudden stillness approaches as if a veil has been drawn over the dayas its been desbribed. The night covers the day with darkness. Then, at daybreak, the silence is broken by the chirping of birds as the sun rises, ushering an opening of a bright and beautiful day. The usual rhythm of the day! What lies in between the changes, are the magic of enchanting sunsets and sunrises, at specific moments and locations and it becomes ever memorable moments to capture in the mind, by not just its captivating colours, the majestic aura, romantic mood, but just simply being magical! Such are two such moments below that each one may have experienced in their rare or routine moments, depending on where you are located. 

It was after one of those seasonal norwester storms. These skyscapes came after a mini storm. And the clouds were collecting again or not even all washed after the brief rain. More was coming, one could see. 

It was most likely the first northwester winds that brought rain this time of the year. With the strong winds, of course, came the lightening and thunder, followed by pouring rains. It came, all at once and as the sky was already getting all set with clouds filling up the spaces. Although, the as much as the winds swept strong and the thunder roared and lightening struck hard, yet the rains only poured only little, felt much of the clouds were left for the rains, to come at a later time point.  

When the rain stopped, the air felt very fresh, and a nice wet breeze kept blowing. It had been really hot, the previous days, I thought of breathing some nice clean air from the fresh rains. And when I went up to the roof top, I found out what a magnificient sky was waiting! It felt much larger than usual, and the wind kept blowing and the clouds sailed from here to there, one end to the other. I was watching more the sky, and got drowned in all this movement going on and stuck in awe by the gray and white clouds meeting and filling up each space that was available. Seemed someone was organizing them for some next big event. It was a busy, beautiful layout of clouds, tonal variations were there in the evening sky, a sudden brightness amidst the reddish tinge and few white clouds were left too, and then gray tonal arrangements of rain clouds blending one with the others, covering the entire sky. I went back home and quickly came back with my camera, took some magnificient skyscape snapshots, shown above. 

Then suddenly I looked on the other side, my gaze was struck by the beauty that lay before my eyes! 

I wasn't prepared for this sudden splendor, so was taken a back. As I had only come to get some fresh air and hadn't seen that it was sunset time, since I was too busy with the stormy sky, and check it more storm should come by night again. I realized, I was lucky to have witnessed this moment of such an unsual sunset colours that th epost storm atmosphere created! The sun was setting in a splendid tone of rust orange, fiery yet in wet smudge from the fresh rains, and the moisture cloud laden sky played the trick, bringing the colours to a natural blend. It was simply captivating, as the sun shown through the orange-rust aura at the backdrop. 

And the glow from the setting sun, created a silohuette of the trees. The dark shadows of the early spring leaves, felt like birds waiting, or had just come safely back home after the havoc. With time the tones of gray set in, with its darker tones appearing as the sun dipped down leaving an emptiness in the surrounding.

Again, as I looked back at the sky, after the sunset, a kind of light brightened the sky from nowhere, and the cool breeze was still on. blwoing with ease. 

Then as I looked back at the sunset the glow at the horizon had disappeared like magic, and empty colours felt like a washed canvas, as the rain clouds had smudged and slowly went on covering the sky above, while a clear border became visible at the horizon.  As if bringing an end to a story. 

Now you can just compare, on another set of sunset series, from a memorable desert trip, we visited and watch a completely different magical and mystical moment.  How different each one is!

As the enormity of the desert sky gives a spiritual feeling and the sun becomes smaller and smaller before it dips below the horizon, the vast sky changing its colours and making the sun feel like a tiny ball and the beige-brown stretch of endless desert sand and the dunes, brings a sudden stillness and silence, that a drop of pin could be heard. All at once, one feels so tiny as if the vastness of it all tells us how little we in the universe we belong. Later on, as the darkness enveloped, the desert sky played the magic with an amazing glitter of stars sparkling like diamond dusts sprayed on a huge open canvas, as we stared and gazed at the sparkling night sky. 

After the beautiful first sunset, next morning rain came heavily after the night storm, to bring the real downpour we were all waiting for...felling a lot of trees causing losses for many and submerging roads yet cooling the atmosphere, , and drenching the corners of our hearts from the heat that was burning before.......and making the spring greens, fresh and clean....