FACE OF THE WEEK #4

Terracotta work depicting ‘Man, Woman and Child’.

The faces are hand-carved, hand-painted and pasted on a backdrop of abstract art on canvas.
This work was a gift from a friend on my husband’s birthday. I marvel at the artist’s ability to carve the lovely expressions on the three different faces so vividly.
Could not really settle on which ones to leave out. So I decided on deviating a bit and have made them my ‘Faces of the Week’


I am happy to have come across ’'SPACIAL PEEPOL", home to this exciting meme. Please do check it out. There’s a good chance you might like it too.


Love,

FACE OF THE WEEK #3

(Dame Agatha Christie: Author & Playwright)

‘Nemesis’ was the first ever Christie that I read. I was about 11 years old and I had borrowed it from the school library. Now, each of us was allowed to keep the books for a week and every Tuesday afternoon, during the ‘library period’ we were to hand them over. I remember requesting Sister Rose,our library in-charge (I was in a convent school), to please allow me to keep ‘Nemesis’ for another week as I had not fully understand the book and wanted to re-read it. She let me keep it and thus began my long association with Agatha Christie.


As a young girl, I read them mostly for the thrill of the plots and then, as I grew older, I was able to appreciate the intricate infusion of human psychology in all her stories. That, and the very riveting, very elegant style of writing has me enthralled to this day. So much so that even after reading and re-reading all her works, I still cannot resist buying yet another re-printed Christie, in yet another cover!!
(Which is what I did yesterday! I bought ‘Appointment with Death’ in a lovely ‘tea-stained’ matt-finish cover.)

She died on 12 Jan 1976, just about five weeks before I was born.
But she has been and shall remain, my favourite novelist of all times.

(Picture courtesy: Wikipedia Commons)

And that is why, she is today, my 'Face of the Week' 
(Thank you very much, Sistertex at Spacial Peepol for hosting this beautiful meme.)
Love,

FACE OF THE WEEK #2

Brain Coral

(Colpophyllia natans)

The series of ridges and valleys common to this type of hard coral which resemble the sulci (grooves) and gyri(ridges) on the surface of the Animal Brain, gives rise to its name.

Fascinating Facts:

1. Brain corals are colonial animals and live in a symbiotic relationship with an algae.
2. Collectively they are known as hermatypic corals (after the Greek god Hermes, speedy messenger).
3. They play an important role in reef formation, being the sturdiest of all corals due to their spherical structure.
4. They can form colonies upto 6 feet in height!
5. The largest Brain corals in the world today are 200 years old!
6. They feed at night, mostly on drifiting sea lives, by extending their tentacles which they wrap around themselves during the day.

 Coral reefs around the world have seen vast destructive changes. Silt from the construction activities on the shoreline has been found to smother and suffocate the tender Coral population. Habitations near the shore mean more sewage, oil and chemicals in the water.
Coral harvesting for commerce has also added to the problem.


(I must confess here that I bought my Brain coral from a local fisherman on one of the beaches in the Eastern coast of my country. And that too, for a pathetically insignificant amount of money!)

Thankfully, recent studies have found that an unusual form of algae has evolved in the Northern parts of the Indian Ocean which is relatively resistant to the rising temperatures of the ocean.You can read about it here.

Maybe nature always finds a way of conserving herself, in spite of Man’s insensitive and destructive activities.

love,