May you have a happy , peaceful and prosperous new year.

What does this image have to do with the new year? It shows a lush green paddy field, which is a sign of good things to come

The incy wincy spider that climbed up this water spout had no chance of survival.

It’s been five years since the Tsunami struck the coast of our little island and many other countries across asia. Yet stark reminders like this one can still be seen if you drive along the coast.

Some people have managed to rebuild their lives but unfortunately many others have been left behind. A very small number of people are still without permanent homes even five years later. You can blame the politicians for that.

This photo was shot by my 7 year old daughter while the car was moving. Only the rear potion of this house appears to have been damaged by the waves. It looks like the owners might have attempted to rebuild it but then the front of the house has been swept away once again – by a bulldozer

Nearly an year ago this pup came and stood on our door step as if asking us to adapt her. We were really tempted but in the end decided not to. Though we have adapted strays in the past, now with three kids to look after it isn’t really practical. In fact the two cats that we have are strays, rather the mother cat was a stray, she had kittens inside our house and died shortly after. The kittens never went away and even moved with us when we moved house.

Though we decided not to adapt the puppy, we decided to feed her and some of the neighbors did the same. One of them even took her to the vet for the vaccinations. One time it was she by a trishaw but managed to escape unscathed and soon after even the trishaw driver started to feeding her as well.

All this though is in the past, the dog hasn’t shown up for more than a month, let us hope that it’s because someone has adapted her.

This flower has many different names including Conch flower, Butterfly Pea, Nil Katarolu (නිල් කටරොළු) , Nil Katrol (නිල් කට්රොල්) but the most interesting of them all is without doubt Clitoria ternatea, a name derived from the word Clitoris.