A change of season in the garden!

 

With the caterpillars appearing in the garden, soon the leaves and flowers would become the meal for caterpillars. For another two months. the choice is between using insecticide sprays and abandoning  leaves and flowers to feed the caterpillar. 

This is the dilemma every year during the pre-winter months. The butterflies of different varieties in our garden make the garden colourful during the most part of the year. So they use the garden to complete the life cycle during each season. 

What was left of a pink easter Lily that looked elegant yesterday, was  its stem this morning. Caterpillars thrive on some of these flowers and leaves. 

The Magpie robin, Bulbul, Greater coucal and Mynah birds feed on them. That is how the garden gets protected from an infestation with caterpillars!

This is the inherent ecological regulation which happens in any garden naturally. And Anna and I find seem to choose the path of co-existence. 

I know many do not accept my position on this matter! 

So we have cultivated hedge plants between our cottage and the gate, with plants which are the favourite feed for caterpillars. From now on till January these plants would remain bare without leaves as caterpillars consume them.  That arrangement that Anna planned worked well. We therefore have a caterpillar zone. But they migrate to the main garden like what happened this week!

It is a way of learning to live accepting the changes and challenges!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Interactive parenting presence !

I was delighted to watch how light conditions create different appearances to the flowers!

The colours are inherent, but the light conditions define the details and hue of the flowers!

The intensity of light and the exposure setting we use in the camera define the final colour complexion of a flower!

In one sense the light ambience in the garden affects the brightness of the flowers !

The ambience of a home offers children to develop the manners and behaviour they acquire while growing up years!

I feel disturbed how parents sometimes even consciously allow the ambience of the home to be influenced by the media world and the digital imageries. 

It is what a child sees and hears that would influence the inner world of thoughts, ideas, aspirations and values !

Many parents leave the ambience of he home to be regulated by what media brings home. 

I wonder parents would play a more responsible role by engaging children by creating an interface of conversation and communication during the mid childhood years. 

From the narratives from parents, I suspect that children drift toward the 'third parent', which is the visual media at home!

Just as the light conditions are critical to offer the range of colours to the  flowers, the ambience of intimacy between parents and children which evolve through planned and regulated interaction would make a formative contribution to children's  character, values, choices and way of life! 

A home provides the ambience to get children ready for life and living! That ambience is formed by interactive parenting presence!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)