Wednesday 25 May 2011

From buds to blooms

Here goes Part VII of my Nature series.
In middle school, everyone had to study science and history, mathematics and the languages. We had to write, draw, calculate... we had no say, no preference, no choice. It was especially difficult for those who couldn't handle art (I must say I wasn't too bad at drawing, but struggled with numbers). If we'd had cameras and been allowed to paste pictures we'd taken ourselves, how different life would have been for many, and such fun! Now that I can click pictures, though there is no drudgery of homework, I sort of freak out with my phone camera when the opportunity presents itself.
For our biology homework, I remember we had to draw pictures of, among others, an amoeba, stages in the growth of a cell, germination of seeds, types of leaves and parts of a flower.
These I recall because they were my favourites, for even then nature's marvellous ways could cast a spell on me. We had a small lawn, and I'd get late for school because I wanted to gaze more at two new yellow flowers on a ladyfinger (okra) plant that were mere buds till the other day. I could spend hours watching a bumbling black and yellow caterpillar munching leaves off a lemon plant that hardly ever bloomed.
Nature has been very kind to me, and I'm blessed now with a family home that has a midsize tree which never stops blooming the year round. Giving us teeny-weeny buds to beautiful flowers to fruit in a space of just weeks, this tree is the darling of the family, especially the husband's.
Can you tell which tree is it? I'm saving the photo of the fruit on the tree for another time.
How many of us have actually witnessed this bud-to-fruit cycle? Not many, I suspect, for our urban jungles leave little space for such beauty to unfold and prosper. Welcome to this celebration of buds and blooms.
Meanwhile, do make a guess: what tree is this?

1 comment:

  1. hahaha..your labels give away the secret!! (I knew the answer already though :D )

    ReplyDelete