Pizza on a plate 20190428

Mani went out at lunch time to get a pizza which I photographed for the school poster on eating.  Then he ate it as I didn’t want to eat cheese.  As the pizza was larger than any of my plates I took a picture of one of my plates and assumed it would be easy to fit the pizza on to the plate in the picture.

It was not easy as I thought it would be.  But eventually I did manage to get something that fitted rather well on the poster. 

Today I said to myself ‘When I go to UK’ so maybe I am going after all.  I remember the same thing happened when I first came to India.  I was saying to myself that I was going before I knew definitely that I would/could.

Bud 20190427

I just love this picture.  A bud so full of possibilities.

Maybe this is Buddha Garden right now.  Or me.

Colours 20190426

I was walking around Buddha Garden today and came across these kitchen towels hanging up near the compost bins.  I love the colours and the textures.

Had lunch together with everyone in Buddha Garden today.  We made decisions about the building and talked about some new products which will make money if we organize their making properly.

Vivek has just moved into his new place and I get the feeling that on many levels strings are untangling.

Learning 20190425

Today I learnt how to take an image from one photo and insert it in another.  I have done it before but this time I realized how to do it much, much better. I am so pleased with the results.

Spent a lot of time talking to Vasantha and trying to sort out what she wants to do.  She says she wants to carry on working here with her cleaning job so we are giving her yet another new start.  This includes a bicycle and new work timetable.  We will see how long that lasts.

How expensive? 20190424

Went and saw Pierre today to see about the fence and how much it is going to cost.  Pierre said he is going to do some crowdfunding and asked me to take some pictures of the holes in the fence and this very cronky gate.  He wants more fencing than I first realized and it is going to be very expensive.  Unless he manages to raise money through crowdfunding the farm will have to pay it all.

Two sets of builders came to measure up for estimates for the roofs and two of the four fans were installed.  I should soon know how much everything is going to cost and can then work out how we are going to pay for everything.

Elsie 20190423

I just love this picture of Elsie taken by Emma on Easter Monday in the park when they had ‘very hot’ weather there.  27C there but its up to 38C here and is still more than 30C when it comes to bed time.  They don’t know what ‘hot’ is!!!

Have still not decided whether I am going to UK this year or not.  I really want to see everyone and feel quite torn.  But it is so expensive to go and we need so many things here.  Not sure I want to continue living in two places….

Flowers and a bug 20190422

Did a lot of photos this morning and got this one of a bug on a snake gourd flower. I am very pleased with it and I love how the photo shows the delicateness of the flowers.  They are like lace.

Lonely 20190421

Did the video this morning and used this image as the last shot.  I actually took it a few days ago but there have been many beautiful sunsets recently.  Went to get lunch with Mani who agreed to eat up the chicken I needed to buy for a photo of a chicken meal.  I've put this on the relevant flipchart about eating; which is starting to look rather good.  Now all I have to do is a photo of a pizza.

A very quiet day when I have felt lonely. 

Gradually does it 20190420

Spent some time going around Buddha Garden looking for and taking more photos for the flip charts I am doing.  I’ve decided to use this picture of these lovely white drumstick flowers for this diary as I don’t have a use for them in the flip charts at the moment.

Found out today that my regular yoga class finishes next week.  But I seem to have established my own practice at least for the time being.  Had a long chat with Emma and ended up feeling rather depressed, I think because we talked about the last few months and how I have got so burnt out.  I do feel better but it is going to take more time for the deeper layers to heal.

Reporting 20190419

Went down to the end of Buddha Garden because I wanted to report on some land activity there. On the other side of our fence there is peremboke (common) land which it looks like someone is trying to take over.  He has fenced the land (illegal), removed the green cover which included mature trees, drilled a well and as the picture shows wasted a whole lot of water flooding the whole area.

As its not Auroville land that is encroached there isn’t anything we can do.  Except let someone know.  So I’ve written a report and included all the pictures I took including this one.

Very quiet day 20190418

It was election day today so a day off and no farm work.  I have spent the whole day doing flip charts.  This has meant going out and getting photos, but also putting a lot of stuff together into the posters.

I have really enjoyed doing it.  Now I feel more relaxed I have so many more ideas!  Went to a small meeting with people who want to bring some students to Auroville to learn about farming.  It sounds good and they would be the sort of people who could learn from these posters and books I want to re-write.

I finished a poster about the seasons which I have illustrated with pictures of the sky in different seasons.  I took this one today of a hot season sky.

Round at last 20190417

Went to Transition School this morning only to find that I’d got the date wrong and next week is the last week of term.  When we are going to close up the beds for the summer.

A bit annoying but it did give me time to get some really good photos from the forest for the flip chart I am doing about ‘nature’.  I got a really good picture of dead wood returning to the forest. 

Even better, as I was cycling around I realized how to make round pictures with my software, which is actually quite easy.  I’m extremely pleased after all that effort.  I also figured out how to update my anti-virus software so now that's done as well. 

More blue 20190416

Some more blue flowers.  These were really tiny which doesn’t show very well on the photo.  In real life I almost missed them completely.

Went to a Farm Group meeting which, while not actively hostile, was very political.  I know I can’t get out of it completely but I just don’t want to be in and around lots of political shilly shallying at the moment.

Blue 20190515

A volunteer, who was here for three months but is now living elsewhere in Auroville turned up with her whole family today.  Such a lovely surprise when we have so much to do.  Apparently they are only here for eight days because of everyone having to get holidays that coincided.  The volunteer thought that an experience in Buddha Garden would be good and they looked as if they enjoyed themselves.

I got my camera out and then found myself taking pictures for the Buddha Garden Rainbow video for the hot season.  The colours are much more faded and some are more difficult to find than in the cool season.  Blue flowers are particularly difficult to find and this one was quite small.

Tamil New Year 20190414

Spent all morning doing the video and this is the last shot.  This afternoon I did my art work.  I’ve finished the first of the posters for the flip chart and really enjoyed it.

For the last week I have done yoga every day and am beginning to feel that the focus of my life is changing.  That I am expressing my creative side.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah 20190413

This is a picture of our next door neighbor with her cow.  Apparently she is expecting a calf very soon.  By the way she was spoken of I feel that this cow is part of the family.

Spent another day trying to find an easy way of cropping round photos but still haven’t come up with what I feel is a good solution.  In the process though I have had lots of ideas for the flip chart and for my books.

Even more pleased 20190412

Something I realised today is that I cannot seem to easily get round shaped photos on the software I am using.  As the picture shows, I’ve managed to find a workaround using Word and Paint but its not ideal.

As a result I feel I’ve learnt a lot about different sorts of graphic software even if I don’t always entirely understand it. 

Very pleased 20190411

I am so very happy with this picture of a carpenter bee which I need as a picture on the flip chart.  I sat in the recycling centre, where they live, for some time and took a lot of pictures and this one was the best.  I am very pleased with it although I think I also had quite a lot of luck.

I took a lot of other pictures which I am going to use for illustrating the flipchart.

New rainbow 20190410

Started doing some pictures for the Buddha Garden rainbow video series.  I’ve realized that the colours come from different places in different seasons.  So there is probably going to be a rainbow video for each season.

I loved the colour of these flowers which are actually quite small compared to other flowers, maybe to deal with the heat.

My creative table 20190409

Had another go at making the flipchart today.  This is what my desk looks like now as I’m doing both analogue and digital pictures!

Creative thinking 20190408

Managed to spend a whole afternoon doing creative work.  Its such a different rhythm of work and I realize that things come to me in a different way.  Am really pleased, however, that my idea for a series of posters/flipchart about food growing together with a colouring book seems to be taking shape.  I love the feeling when everything slots into place. 

Its not a case of sitting down and ‘doing it’ as it is with responding to emails.  Rather its fiddling around with different   possibilities as things coalesce into something.  I think some things like some of the videos will have a more linear trajectory as they develop.  But that will depend on the subject and story line. Probably I need to combine a range of different sorts of projects so I’m not doing the same sort of thinking all the time. 

The picture is of the cottage – part of a series I did today of all the buildings in Buddha Garden that I have to put on a map.

Spider 20190407

Got all the work done this morning including uploading the video.  So have had a nice afternoon planning how I am going to do my creative work in the weeks ahead.

Also planned quite a few grandchildren birthdays that are coming up.

In the past I have found spiders very healing as they mend broken things inside me.  So I always pay attention when I see a spider like I did this one today.

Smile 20190406

I did most of the video today and finally decided that the collective noun for sunflowers is a ‘smile’ of sunflowers.

Went to yoga only to find that Angela had left Auroville.  Everything is closing up in Auroville so must think about doing my own yoga practice from now on.

A luminosity of sunflowers 20190405

 We randomly planted sunflowers not so long ago and now we have them all over the place.  I just love them and am trying to think of a good collective noun for them.  A luminosity of sunflowers?

There is something very energizing about them, the way they seem to absorb the sun’s essence. They are just gorgeous.

Sunset 20190404

Saw a beautiful red sun in the evening and rushed down to the (dry) ponds to capture it.  Didn’t arrive until the tail end of the sunset as shown in the picture.  Once it starts here it goes very quickly.

Had a very busy day with three official meetings and two conversations, one of which was with Vivek.  I am very glad to say that things are now less tense between us.  As a result lots of decisions have been made about Buddha Garden and the jobs we are going to do.

I still feel I need to understand a lot more about what happened and why it happened.  I think I pushed myself too hard and got more burnt out than I have ever known.

Grumpy sun 20190403

It is so hot these days that when I am outside it feels like the sun is biting me!  I tried to put that in a picture but came up with this instead, a very grumpy sun.

Maybe the sun is feeling overheated like we are.

I’ve had to try out making sprouts with cotton instead of in jars which are now too hot and don’t allow the air to circulate sufficiently.  I’ve had to throw a lot away that went bad.

Beautiful patterns 20190402

Was out doing video clips this morning when I came upon this Palmyra bark.  Which up close was really lovely.

Went to a Farm Group meeting which wasn’t too bad.  Things are definitely looking up now we have someone very good running the meeting.

Gradually I feel we are sorting out the building that needs to take place here in Buddha Garden.  Have decided that if I go to the UK then I will try and find some work.  I can hopefully earn enough to cover my costs in the UK so what I have saved can be used for building here.

HOT 20190401

The temperature got up to 40C today.  Goodness knows what it is going to be like in May…..  I don’t think I have ever know it get this hot so early in the hot season.

The picture is of Magzhiran and his cousin playing together very creatively with the nursery soil.  They built all sorts of fantastical shapes with it.