Thursday 27 August 2015

Of birds and wasps

The past Sunday when I went to water my plants in the balcony I noticed a small nest with two eggs next to the pot of fern.  It was the laughing dove who had used the space to build a nest.  I would think it a little bit inconvenient but turns out that the bird was smart.  From the outside the nest is completely hidden situated as it is between two pots both bearing ferns.  The dove, apparently the male does the incubation, has been sitting on the nest for 6 days.   It will be another week to 10 days before the eggs hatch. 


The upstairs neighbour of the dove is the rock pigeon who just finished giving birth about a month back.  The pigeons take great pleasure in strewing the balcony with all kinds of rubbish.  As the balcony is off-limits for Sumitra it is in an appalling mess.
 On the other balcony inside the cupboard that I built to keep all the discarded newspaper and gardening stuff the wasps have built a nest.  I have to be carefully while putting the newspapers into the cupboard as they have a nasty habit of stinging when least expected.
The rains this year, mercifully, have been plenty for Delhi.  The chrysanthemums have been planted. The hibiscus are blooming and I am looking forward to the parijatam tree to blossom sometime next month. In the kitchen garden front, apart from the spinach,  this year I am experimenting with cucumbers and tomatoes.  The only disappointment has been the rajanigandha or sampangi plant which has not bloomed at all.
Finally I got around to making pineapple upside-down cake. It is one my favourite cake and I experimented using fresh pineapple. It came out good or at least Sumitra's two sons enjoyed it.


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