Happy Happy Burrr-day, to ME :P

Strawberry Cheese Cake.


















A flower over-load.


















Tons of foil-balloons.














A whole world's luck.












A bundle of exquisiteness.


















And all the magic.












That's all I ask for :D

Special photography mentions:
1. Sandra A. This is such a rich and exquisite photo-stream; it's to die for!
2. SHGarden For all the food-lovers, this is heaven right here!

Take Me To The-North With You ...

Photographing Polaris

Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. These are some amazing photographs I came across, and it's genius. Since the North Star is the central mark point of the Earth's northern tip, it stays constant to eye-view, while the Earth rotates; but all the stars around it move.

These photographs are taken with at least one hour to 9 hours' worth of exposure, thereby capturing start trails. The shorter the exposure, the smaller the trails, the longer the exposure, the longer the trails.

Picture by Joshua Bury


















Picture by ohad*, Yosemite Valley













Picture by velvet_pow, over Mt. Fuji


















Picture by ngc4594, in S. Korea

The Rainforest

Ok, this may not be a style of a garden (since that is a consciously constructed landscape), but it is awesome enough to have generated several adaptations around the globe, for e.g., at the Kew Gardens in the UK, and at the Mondo Verde in the Netherlands. These sites have developed highly advanced temperature sensitive environments to make sure the fauna and flora species feel at home :D ... I am sure it takes a hell lot of effort to control and maintain these cultured environments. *Standing ovation to the designers, landscape artists, technicians, mechanics and whoever all are involved in the care and development of these places!*

Why the Rainforest? It continues to astonish film-makers even. It's in it's age, it's mystery, it's never-ending possibility to surprise you. There are so many species of plants, flowers, birds, insects in there, it's screaming God! It's pure nature - dangerous, yet captivating.

Rainforest section, Mondo Verde, The Netherlands


















Rainforest section, Mondo Verde, The Netherlands


















Temperate House, Kew Gardens, Surrey


















Olympic National Park, Washington














Rainforest Pyramid, Moody Gardens, Texas














Rainforet Walk, Mary Cairncross Reserve, QLD, Australia













So these were my top 3 favorite styles of gardens :D ... what next?

Japanese Gardens

Yup. This is my second love (although I am not really going in any ascending or descending order, that'd be too difficult). This just had to be, and would be on anyone's list. These gardens are so immaculate and well designed, it's outrageous! The finesse, the detailing, and creation of an ambiance that is so Zen. I can't find the perfect words to describe this style.

This style of gardens were mostly found in Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles. Most of these are dry or rock gardens, Karensansui. Garden-making is considered a high-art amongst the Japanese, akin to calligraphy and ink painting.

The giant goldfish, bonseki and bonsai are a strong symbol of Japanese gardens.

The four types of Japanese gardens are:

1. Karensansui - dry landscape gardens, rock gardens. There is no water used. The rock and moss are used to represent ponds, islands, boats, seas, rivers and mountains in a abstract way.

2. Tsukiyama - This style strives to make small gardens look more spacious. It utilizes shrubs to block view of surrounding buildings to open view to the surrounding landscape of mountains in the distance (Japanese lifestyle). Ponds, streams, hills, stones, trees, flowers, bridges and paths are frequently used in this style.

3. Chaniwa - this is usually a tea house where the ceremonies take place. Usually there are stepping stones leading to the tea house, stone lanterns and stone baskins (tsukubai) where guests purify themselves before the ceremony.

4. Kanshoh - these are viewed from a residence.

5. Pond - for viewing from the boat.

6. Strolling - for viewing a sequence of effects from a path which circumnavigates the garden.

Karensansui












Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon














Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon












Japanese Garden, Hillwood, Washington D.C














A Chaniwa with the ceremony tea room

British Gardens

I am a big lover of gardens (not in the night though, it's creepy). There are three styles of gardens that I absolutely love. The first one are the British Gardens. My being British has nothing to do with it, they speak for themselves. They have a very magical feel to them, and I think it's the magical aspect that has led my appreciation to the three styles I'll be talking about. It almost feels like I am walking through a painting. Have you ever wished to actually be inside of a Disney movie? Not the real ones, the animations!! ahahaha ... like in Space Jam, Michael Jordan gets to go inside the cartoon world ... that kind of feeling :P ... I'd give anything to really be in Michael's place. Well, walking through a British Garden in a similar feeling.

It's romantic, surreal, fresh, and so soothing! The feeling of lying down bare-foot on perfectly kept grass on nice summer day is beyond incredible. It's insane! Well, lying down on any good grass is a nice feeling. Why don't people understand this, and keep their pets off of grass! It's not nice to be thinking of how many pets have answered mother nature in the spot you're thinking of lying down onto. *frusty*

Anyhow. I found some amazing pictures of 4 of UK's top gardens:

Beth Chatto Gardens, Essex


















The Gardens of Samares Manor, Channel Islands














Sissinghurst Castle Garden , Kent














Hidcote Manor Gardens, Gloucestershire

Magical

While the humans fight and kill, there are still places on earth far away from the chaos of materialism.
If there's any such thing as magic, then it is right here, all around us, hidden beneath the waters, up in the skies, and tucked away in little corners of the earth.













































Watching auroras is really on my list of things to do in life. It is so truly magical. But the damn cold isn't something I do very well with *frustrated*

Peepal

This is such a beautiful and majestic tree. We used to have this outside our house in Lahore, Pakistan. It was a rather old one, and it's trunk was quite wide. The houses in that neighborhood were formed around a semi-circle, and the tree stood tall in the middle of it all. It was big enough to cast a shadow in the entire area. Such a calming shade in summer time, almost paternal. And I guess all of us have gone through the smelly process of cleaning out skeletons of it's leaves ... beautiful :)