Category: Updates from Deepthie

RU-22 !

Hi my dear Sam ,
Here is a brief ‘write up ‘ on the Class of 64 Gathering in Colombo-
October – 2022, along with some photos .
I have sent this to a few people, others can see it on the blog .

——- Here are a few pics taken when a few of us gathered at Renuka, on
two separate occasions ,   at Renuka City Hotel for Lunch .
After two years of Covid and other issues plaguing  the world as we know it
today, we were glad to be with each other again .

Life is Short .

The first was Oct 8th – with Abey , Praxy and my self from over seas .
We have the Three Good Convent Girls, ( Praxy, Ranjani and my self )
then, the gp photo at Renuka .
By then, Abey had left , and we were very glad to have him with us, even
for just a little while .
The guys – Abey , Laki Senanayake,  Ajith and Kumar .
We enjoyed each others company and a great Bath Curry meal !

The second time we met was today – Oct 21- again, at Renuka for a nice
hopper feed for lunch .
Nirmalee and little grand daughter were with us, for just a short while,
and they left.
It was nice to see Nirmalee and the little one , even if it was a for a
short while . — Thank you Nirmalee .

Narme , Ranjith Almeida and Roshie , Ranjith Perumal  were there with me an
Praxy , for the rest of the afternoon  , that was filled with fun talk,
jokes, pranks , each one contributing some wild tale of good old days  !

It was sooo , sooo good to see each again , for who knows, who will be
around next year .
Praxy and my self we plan to come again next year ,  mid October , for yet
another round of Class of 64 Gathering in Colombo .

Praxy and my self, we plan to make this trip, yearly, till  we die, and if
any one is willing to join us next year, you are most welcome .!!!!

Keep well – Good Wishes to Class of 64– eagleD .

Please add on – Anoja and Rose  as the gals that came on the 8th , and also – Gita Senanayake .

Mini RU

Kellas  and One Kolla of The Sixties, in Their Seventies !!

Shared By Deepthie

Deepthie 1

—– Here are some nice pic taken at my place, when Indira, Ananda and
Indrani came for a wonderful Day Trip to my place .
It was a real nice ‘ Mini RU ‘– thanks to Indrani and her grand daughter,
who decided to make the trip to Ontario, from Wisconsin , for a one week
stay .

Here you see, all of us on the beach, next to my home, and Ananda had a
blast being a real Gal Hora and there was no security/ customs check on
departure !
He loves rocks- -just like I do, and had his fill , filling up bags of
rocks from the beach .

Indrani, my self , Ana– seated on my ‘Beaver Lounge ” log stools , my ‘
Serenity Spot ‘ !

Trip Back in Time

Deepthie Logo     

HI Sam,
I had this terrific moment of nostalgia, as I was watching the ‘Jaffna’
post sent in by Narme .

If you think these pic are ok for the post – please add them on . 

— Sunset Reflections …. A moment to Pause and Reflect …
— Nallur Temple with a group of young Roman Catholic Nuns — something one would never have seen in days gone by . This is the ultimate Unity in
Diversity .
I was happy to see them, and the ‘mother superior ‘ took this photo of me
with her group .

— Drive along the Kayts Causeway , Visiting the temples , Jaffna Market —
Sunset Walk along the Jaffna Fort area , were memorable moments .
Though I must say, returning to the mainland after visiting Nagadeepa and
Nagapoosani Amman Temple , in a very , very over loaded SL Navy Ferry was
some cause for anxiety- for I thought we would all perish !

— The Jet Wing Lobby photo- -the young lad- I had to take this pic as , for
me was Rajabalendran in his younger days !!!!

Rajabalendran and Maithri were very helpful to me, in the planning of this
trip and Walkers Tours did the rest with the car/ driver / accommodation etc
.
A most memorable trip it was for me .
Thanks again for the Jaffna Post .
Deepthie .

Starling Murmurations

Amazing! Watch on full screen with sound
Shared by Sam

Message from Deepthie

Read with great interest the post on Starling Murmurations.
I had about a thousand of them in my garden  this year in the fall, and
because of the large number of trees in the garden, I could not take a
meaningful video.
The noise they made was truly deafening.  
However, I did take some photos and a few pics, when they rested on the
trees for just a little while before they took off again. 

Here is a photo – of some of them, at the local  Awenda Provincial Park
that is virtually a mile away from where I live. 
These flocks hung around in my area for a few days – and yes- it was a dark
cloud indeed – thousands of them. 

Deepthie

Osprey

Osprey. Also known as the fish hawk, ospreys are raptors that are well adapted for fishing. The birds have long legs and large feet with specialized barbs on the pads, hooked talons, and a reversible outer toe. This allows them to easily grasp fish with two toes pointing to the front and two pointing to the rear. I took this picture few days ago in our neighborhood.

Sam

More Pictures from Eagle Deepthie

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 These are pic I have taken over the years . The latest- taken Sunday Jan
12th- 2020- in Sedona , AZ.

Bald Eagle .– is a ‘sea eagle ‘ – and live near water, where the preferred
food source is fish . It will become an opportunistic feeder- feeding on
rodents, snakes, crabs,  rabbits , carrion of road kills ( deer, )  when
fish is not available.
Like the Osprey- – it grabs the food by its claws — tallons – as they are
called .  They are curved , hook like  , to grab and hold on to the prey
while flying .

Eagles- and Osprey are NOT friends with each other as they compete for the
same food source , and will harass each other , and usually the eagle wins
the battle .
I have seen this play out in REAL Life,  on Georgian Bay, Ontario, where I
live .
Very interesting to watch this hide and seek game between the avian top
predators .

Also-  the Bald Eagle will  raid nests of Blue Herons , for eggs and chicks
– when salmon gets scarce in the salmon spawning rivers of British Colombia
, due to various reasons , mostly due to  increase consumption of salmon  by
human , bear and salmon wolf.

Eagles- have a Feast and Famine metabolism and will go without food for a
few good days , like four days . It will gorge on food when plenty, and
regurgitate it and eat it  over a few days .

Nesting — Osprey- commonly will  nests on human made structures- like
platforms  made by Osprey Society of Ontario , TV antenna,  Telephone poles,
like I saw in Florida .
The nest that is shown in Sam’s photo is a man made platform for Osprey
nesting . They will return to this same nest year after year .
They will also nest on tall trees .
Eagles- nest high up on trees –  White  Pine and Cedar, that grow near
water , making large nests weighing many hundreds of pounds and will do
‘home reno’ year after year .
Both species mate for life, and if one spouse dies, the surviving one will
find mate .

Bald Eagle – considered as Sacred for ALL Indigenous Peoples of North
America and Canada . Only Indigenous tribal members are allowed to carry
Eagle Feathers across the US- Canada  Border .

Bald Eagle– National  Emblem of United States of America, since  1782, but
it got almost wiped out due to DDT spraying in the later 1940’s – early
1950’s .
Once DDT was banned , the population bounced back — Thanks to the efforts
of Rachel Carson — look up Google on the Life and Times of Rachel Carson .

Largest population of Bald Eagles in USA- found in Alaska.
Canada it is in British Columbia – where hundreds gather during salmon
spawning season . They gather in large numbers near fish processing plants
and garbage dumps in – BC , Delta, BC , near the Fraser River .
There are  Bald Eagle Festival days for BC , Canada,  and for different
States of USA, along the Pacific Coast States , during the month of November
.

Enjoy the Story Telling of Eagles and Ospreys !



Eagledeepthie .

Update from Deepthie

HI Folks in SL , and the rest of us scattered around the globe . 

I am still dreaming and Re- Visiting  of the Class of 64 Gathering  we had
at Beruwala just a few weeks ago .
Hope these photo will trigger a good memory for all of you !

And it is time to think of the NEXT one , NEXT year- Same Time,  Same Place
. 
Beruwala- is now like ‘home to me ‘ – -Home of The Class of 64 so to speak
. 

It seems like yesterday to me , that we all met and had such a good time .
Though the crowd was small , like what Praxy mentioned in her wonderful
tribute to the class  gathering , it was a lot of fun , just being  together
and shooting the breeze so to speak , with no formalities what so ever .

Anoja – hats off to you, for orgainising the boat trip and the photographer
at such short notice .
This photo  -something that all of us will treasure . 
For some reason, we did not have such a photo last year ( 2018 ) .

So,  I am asking you all – specially the folks in SL- Ranjith , Narme,
Anoja, Laki,  Indrajith , Ajith — to put your heads together and get
something going for next year .

As for my part — I will be in SL – ever year, same time, for the next 5
yrs or so- or till I kick the bucket !
I have  already planned my    —  ”Trip to SL for 2020 ” – -Time is
Running Out and so I am Running With The Time !

Good Wishes to ALL –
Deepthie .

Winter Fun !

Deepthie Logo

Winter can be fun, if one can get out and enjoy it  , in the best way you
can –

Walk in the Woods, Work out in a Gym/ home ,  to some Baila tune , Sit by
the cozy fire place , curl up and read a book  or follow The Web Class of
64, !, or eat comfort food to fill your belly and soul !

Better still- Run Away from it ALL to a Warmer  place , like will be doing
in a month,  to Arizona !!

Februray is THE worst month – temps at minus 20 deg C for the entire month
and it is killing cold  to be alone here, out in the boonies ,  at this
stage in my life .
In my younger days- it was fun to walk on the frozen lake- not any more !!

I had my Winter Fun- yesterday – dec 13th, out in the woods near by .
Came across just what I was hoping for – Wolf / Coyote track , as this
always gives me a ‘good feeling ‘ that I am not alone in the woods and I am
being watched and guided by those who were here, before I came along to live
in Turtle Island  as it how North America is known to the Native People who
lived here for ten thousand years .

I have seen the Wolves / Coyote a few times along this trail,  and on the
road side,  in the summer , and  in the winter , crossing the frozen lake
behind my home , from Giants Tomb Island  -gorgeous creatures  they are,
specially to see them on the white frozen lake  on a winter moon lit night
..

One time, in the summer ,  it was right in front of me- where I saw the
scat( poop )  yesterday , we made eye contact  , for a split second ,  I
said ‘ Mayeengun ‘  the first word that came to my head , the Ojibway word
for Wolf.
Strange that I could not get the words Wolf , Vuurkaya  ( Sinhala ) out
that that time .
I had completely forgotten the Sinhala word, until I wrote about it to
Narme last year January and he wrote back the Sinhala word for Wolf !

Follow the photos .
— the foot prints are very, very  fresh- likely a few hours before I saw
them,  about 3 inches  deep in the snow ,  indicating it is a mature fully
grown animal, at least 50 lbs wt .
— tracks are in a straight line – —  knows exactly where it is going  and
this is typical of Wolf / Coyote, where as house dog tracks are hapahazard
and always there is a human foot print near by .
— my foot print to indicate size- a mature animal track .
— Stone Cairn  – I made this,  at this location, to indicate to me  the
direction I should take to go home — I learnt this the hard way one time a
few years back – and thank god it was summer ! The tracks lead up to the
stone cairn, and the community beyond the woods .

It is easy to lose your way in the forest – specially in the winter, when
the usual land marks are all coverd in snow .
There are few human prints along this trail- so this helps .

— many tracks coming together –  there were many tracks criss crossing the
woods ,  about a kilometer after I passed the stone cairn, and  the Scat (
poop ) at this location  to mark the Family Territory , indicating a family
group that went hunting , perhaps the Alpha Male marked the territory .

From here, the tracks part company again , and a few tracks followed my way
to the street ,  and went into the deep woods that follow the street for the
next 3 kilometers and into Awenda Provincial Park- a 6000 acre Natural park
/ Camping grounds, beaches etc .

— an earlier photo with the sunshine and blue sky- taken Jan 2nd – 2017-
when the snow was VERY deep, along the same woodland trail.And, belive me,
this particular day, it was hard slugging on the snow that was 8- 10 inches
deep !- I should have known better, not to venture into the woods, when the
snow was that deep !
Live and Learn !

For those who want to know this location – look up google maps- Awenda
Provincial Park/ Champlain R d, and I live on a side street off Champlain
Rd, just 2 km from the park entrance Awenda Park Road .

Eagle Deepthie

 

Passekuda Trip

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Passekuda Trip .

Many thanks to  Praxy and  Rani for organising this  real fun bus trip to
Passekuda .

We had a great drive   in the rain , on Sunday morning . This did not
prevent us from having a good time in the bus .
Faisal Zavahir very kindly gave us three Cd’s + a set of song sheets  to go
with it  specially done for the bus trip ,of the songs he  sang at the
Friday night BBQ dinner .
 Praxy kept time with the little symbols – we all had a great sing along .

 Then, there was a loud card game at the front of the bus ,while those
sleepyheads at the back took a nap, despite the noise in the front !
We stopped for a bit of lunch on the way and  I had my very first Lion
Larger- as Damayanthie told me, ‘ drink it Deepthie – I tell you, it is good
! ” so I trusted her and had my first sip ,and the rest is history . !

Then we reached Passekuda a bit late into the evening-  due to the rain
all along the drive up there .
Saturday morning –  Voila !!- The  sun came out   and so did we , and the
sun was with us, till we left on Tuesday morning .
What did we do ?
Just R and R !!–  Went for beach walks, , boat rides, talked with local
fisher men,  and generally had Fun in The Island In The Sun !

I will send a video clip of the Sing Along in the Bus — – if I can get it
across to Sam .
In the meantime, just enjoy the photos .
Oh by the way-    the guys convinced me to drink Pol Arrakku-  ” It is good
for you Deepthie – take a sip ” so said Gaspar and Shauket .   The  sweet
mild taste  was  confirmed by Damayanthie – my trusty room mate for 4
nights- at Eden and  Amaya .
Again- the Rest is History !!

DSCF8127

Eagle in The Island in the Sun .

%d bloggers like this: