Projapoti Musings

On June 6, my garden club organized a trip to three nurseries in PA -Seasons Past Nursery and Farm, Gettysburg Gardens, Hosta Hideaway. Usually my husband is not involved in my garden activities. However, during this pandemic my husband accompanied me on my garden outings as I love company during the long drives. The drive to Seasons Past Nursery on a winding, tree-lined scenic byway proved pleasing. Hosta Hideaway Hosta Hideaway On June 28, my garden organized a tour of three private gardens in Baltimore County. Karen Offut's garden originally designed by Oehme Van Sweden, Carol Warner who runs Draycott Gardens, a specialty iris nursery, and Thompson's garden filled with antique ornaments and sculptures. Japanese maple in Karen's entry garden Witchhazel near front door with liriope as groundcover Black Sambucus Amsonia hubrichtii in foreground with oakleaf hydrangea in background Masses of coreopsis in Karen's garden Now, its July 4 wkend, we are still working from ...

As a child, I had read about Ireland's gently rolling green meadows, cows grazing on the green grass in the meadows, rocky cliffs, its butter, potatoes, and whiskey. I wanted to visit the country and experience it all except for whiskey, which my taste buds cannot stand.  My husband and I had not taken a honeymoon trip after our marriage. For our 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to visit Ireland. We chose to take a 7-day guided tour through Costco/Trafalgar.  We had never gone on a guided tour so we had no expectations, and therefore everything was a new and mostly pleasant experience. Apparently, the tour director had mailed the tour itinerary so that people could plan the free times allotted in the tour. However, we never received one but because I had taken some tour books, we were  able to make good use of our time.  Day 1: We flew into Dublin around 12 noon, and headed to the Trafalgar tour meeting point in the airport. Soon, other tour participants ...

At last, I visited Copenhagen, a city that has strong ties to my childhood memories.  The name Copenhagen was a source of immense amusement to me and my sister in our childhood.  When my father was in elementary school, a question on his geography test was “Where is Copenhagen?”  His answer,  “Jekhane Copen moshai hagen” [translation: a place where Mr. Copen goes to crap.  “Hagen” means to crap in Bengali.]   My dad was full of such funny tales, and they kept my sister and me well-entertained. My sister was visiting Copenhagen for work, for a week.  Because of our history with Copenhagen, she asked me to come along.  The Copenhagen trip dates coincided with Durga Pujo, my favorite festival.  But I decided to skip the festival as I got to see it every year, but a trip to Copenhagen was once in a lifetime event.  My hubby intended to travel to India, so Copenhagen became a way-stop on his way to Ind...

When I recall my childhood years, I remember eagerly waiting for school to end, and summer vacation to begin.  Summer vacation meant two months at my mother's ancestral home in Bihar, in the eastern part of India. Summer vacation signaled endless, aimless hours, where no school or homework intruded. Summer allowed a loosening of the rigid rules and regulations that bound our lives during the school term. Summer was the season to devour lots of sweet, juicy mangoes. I looked forward to those idyllic times we spent in the three-storied house owned by my maternal grandfather and grandmother ( Dadu  and  Didima  in Bengali), where a gaggle of aunts and uncles and cousins would gather for the summer. We had to travel by train for nearly 2-3 days (depending on where we lived -in Delhi or near Bangalore) to my grandparents' house. Even though I was impatient to get to our destination, the chugging rhythm of the train soothed me. At night, the rhythmic movement of t...

Welcome to my bIog.  I had to find an appropriate title for my blog. I wondered what it should be. I wanted a name that would reflect my myriad interests and passions  --reading books, writing, cooking, travel, making bead jewelry, fashion, gardening, architecture, interior decoration, etc.     Hmm....melding my native language, Bengali and my adoptive language, English --seemed most appropriate. Like a butterfly [" Projapoti" means " butterfly"  in Bengali], I flit from one topic of interest to the next, thus my musings are mish-mash of my thoughts from one moment to the next.