Spring rocks

We were in Philly this weekend to take a nice walk down the river front and snaps some pictures of Spring flowers before they make way for the plants. We snapped some pictures of cherry blossoms and dogwoods and magnolias. Ill post it as an album soon but here is the best pic of the lot. Its a close up of a flowering cherry.

Spring is finally here

OK. I can proclaim it this time. After a bunch of false starts Spring is finally here. One of the lesser known things about Spring is that there is a lot of color. Note the pictures in this post and you'll see. Other than the sudden spurt of green all over the place (literally), there are purples and pinks and blues and whites that make Spring very pleasant (and not just weather wise).

The pink flowers belong to the Pink Dogwood. The white ones are from a cherry blossom tree (Sakura). They are spectacular and trust me, they are much better in person.

Nor'easter, Virginia Tech and Nandigram

The world is changing and nothing captures is more than the events unravelling at this moment. A rare April Nor'Easter hit the northeast of United States resulting in massive rains, snow and the inevitable flooding. Upto 6 inches of rain has fallen in a single day in some places. The picture above is taken at a nearby creek which "barely" felt the effect of the Nor'Easter. If this is barely, you can well imagine.
Here is more info on the Nor'Easter: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/04/16/storm.ap/index.html

Today, a tragedy of unfathomable proportions stuck Virginia Tech, my alma-mater. A shooter (brain dead) armed with 2 guns (where do these people get these guns?) went around shooting students and staff in VT resulting in 33 people dead (as of this moment) and more injured. Why?. My sympathies to the parents, friends of the affected folks and the people of Blacksburg. Sometimes you wonder if there is a sense of justice in this world. For more on the shooting and the developing story, head over here:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html

Finally, in yet another tragic incident of great ramifications, the CPI-M party sanctioned the rape, death and destruction of the town and townsfolk of Nandigram, WB, India. This happened a month back and until now, nothing has happened. I ask the President, what are you waiting for?. Dissolve the Goverment, arrest every minister of the party and launch a high level investigation into this Darfur like incident. Thats the least we can do in response to a "Jallianwala Bagh" event in the 21st century.

For more on this, read here:

http://news.google.com/news?q=nandigram+massacre&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=zcu&um=1&sa=X&oi=news&ct=title

Garden 2007:02: More First Signs

The Magnolias are flowering and so are the cherry blossoms. I managed to get a snap of a magnolia tree this weekend and here it is. I am waiting to snap the cherry blossoms soon.

More on the Magnolia can be found here and here. And if you are a movie junkie, here is the reference to the Paul Thomas Anderson ensemble drama starring Tom Cruise.
My limited understanding tells me that this is a Magnolia soulangeana.