Bye 2021 Howdy 2022- Zita

Bye 2021 Howdy 2022

Zita Perera Subasinghe

2021 you gave us a hard time
From the beginning to the end
Covid on the whole's a crime
And now you've lost every friend

 
We tried in our simple way
To keep an undisturbed mind
And get on with effort each day
And even a spread a word kind
 
Now we face another New Year
Let there be a kindly spell
Of good health peace and good cheer
So, impatiently, we don't yell
 
2022 could be just the best
Health restored and spirits on a high
Friends and family in the nest
Give in relief a great big sigh!

 

Zita may not be 100% health-wise but she values the blog and always has time for it.

Thank you Zita.

MY PAINTINGS OF CACTI FLOWERS- Chirasri Jayaweera Bandara

MY PAINTINGS OF CACTI FLOWERS

Chirasri Jayaweera Bandara

Cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. They are succulent perennial plants. Cacti generally have thick herbaceous or woody chlorophyll-containing stems. Flowering plants with 2000 species.

Cacti are native to North and South America, British Columbia, Alberta, Chili, Argentina and Mexico.

Few Tropical and Sub Tropical in dry zones.

Cacti can be distinguished from other succulent plants by the presence of areoles, small cushion-like structures with trichomes ( plant hairs ) and in almost all species, spines or barbed bristles (glochids )

Areoles are modified branches, from which flowers, more branches and leaves (when present) may grow.

In most species, leaves are absent, greatly reduced as modified spines, minimizing the amount of surface area from water can be lost, and the stem has taken Photosynthesis functions of the plant.

The root systems are generally thin fibrous and shallow ranging widely to absorb superficial moisture.

Ball Cactus  (Left)                                                          

Native to Central South America. Life span 10 to 200 years

Sea Urchin or Hedgehog Cactus (Right)

Native to South America, Growing up to 5 feet in height. Bloom with flowers that open during the evening. Flowers last only a  day.       

Organ Pipe Cactus   (Top Left)                                               

Gets its name from the slender curving vertical Stems which resemble the large pipes of an old Fashioned organ. Usually grows to a height of about 15 to 20 feet. Life span over 150 years.  

Torch Cactus or Ribbed cactus  (Top Right)

Found in South America. Stems may grow in clusters reaching a height 2 feet tall making it a columnar cactus. The radial spines are 1.5 inches long, with a Mature plant with 12-15 ribs

The large flowers come in a wide range of Brilliant colour combinations rivalling those of Orchid Cacti.

Range of Cactus Flowers

 

Blue Cactus

Columnar cacti called Pilosocereus that are so Vibrant and blue that you almost believe they’re real……

They often have contrasting orange spines too, which makes them look even more beautiful and unreal.

Native to Central and Northan Mexico. Found in Brazil and the Caribbean.

Flowers white and white yellow. Mature size 6 to 12 feet tall 2 to 4 feet wide.

The more the sun bluer the stem.

Leaf cactus 

(Genius Epiphyllum) also called Orchid Cactus (family Cactaceae) native to tropical and subtropical America, including West Indies.

The plants are mostly epiphytic (grow on other plants) but sometimes grow on the ground.

Christmas Cactus

These are prolific bloomers and produce flowers pink or lilac at the end of leaves. Each flower lasts for 5 to 7 days, the plant may survive for decades.

Starfish flower Cactus

It is native to South Africa.  May produce amazing five-petaled flowers that exude a rather unpleasant odour. The scent attracts flies.                                                      

Whither our Blog- Speedy

 WHITHER OUR BLOG…..gush, trickle.. ?stop. NO!

Our Blog, in my view, is a success story. With a 10 year uninterrupted history, it is bound to have active periods and lean ones. Currently, we are experiencing a quiet period. I have no doubt that after a period of sound sleep and recuperation, it will wake up with fresh vigour (vigor for the Yankees!).

What can we expect from it?

For the select group of enthusiasts who contribute, I say please continue to do so Do not be put off by the paucity of comments. There are many, in fact, a lot of people including those who are not in our Batch, who access and enjoy the contents. I know that for a fact. I was pleasantly surprised today at a zoom when I spoke to a Royalist who was senior to me who said that he enjoys our blog a lot and makes it a point to read it a few times a month. And, there are many more like him, I am sure.

We must also remember that there are groups within us who have maintained contact since qualifying and find the Blog more useful than others who have accumulated a whole lot of new mud on their shoes in this life journey and do not particularly like to dwell on those past glorious days. This is only human.

Yet another factor to consider is the difficulties that some of you may have faced in trying to post comments. This runs the risk of being misconstrued as apathy.

To my friends who read this but do not post comments or have not indicated that they do access the blog, keep going Sir/Madam! Your ideas are important. The feedback loop all of you are familiar with in physiology operates here too. If you have anything to contribute, all you have to do is to email me or Lucky and I can guarantee that you will be lucky and that you will receive a speedy response!

My Final message is simple.  The Blog was, and still is, a great idea. Let us keep it alive. If you are a contributor, do so in the spirit of just giving and not expecting anything in return. Whether you are a regular or an occasional reader, please continue to do so.

“Long live the Blog”!

Speedy (Act Blog Admin)

Year	Posts
2011	33
2012	92
2013	57
2014	108
2015	180
2016	153
2017	138
2019	114
2019	110
2020	95
2021	80 (Nov 12.2021)

 

 Continuing Family News

(6) FAMILY UPDATE FROM RAJAN “PATAS” RATNESAR

Sorry for not writing earlier, have been busy with family matters and believe it or not I am back working. 

First, my oldest brother Balu an engineer passed away at age 93 in Perth Australia. He really had no illness that caused suffering, his mind was perfect till the very end, playing the stock market, communicating via the internet in spite of severe Glaucoma which had blinded one eye and had taken away about 75% of his vision on the other eye. He lived by himself, refused to go to a nursing home though he had difficulty in walking and had fallen many times. This time he knew he would not be returning to an independent living. On a brighter note of his life, he went to that so-called “prestigious school on Reed Avenue” in Colombo, and played 1st XI cricket under Mahes Rodrigo sometime in the forties but was a reserve for the big match with “school by the sea”. He also won the De Soysa science prize which I am told is quite an honour. In fact, I took him to the hall where the prize winners’ names are there and did recognize a few of our batchmates who also had won this prize. 

A few years back I started a free primary care clinic for the low income underserved and served as their Chief Medical officer for a couple of years. I have been enjoying retirement happily, till I got a call from the CEO asking me to come back on an Interim basis, so here I am in my eighties reading through federal gazettes, excel financial statements, developing policies and procedures to comply with the feds. So to all our batch mates never say you are too old we can function nearly as well as those young pups. 

To add to all this my wife Queelan and I were blessed when my children decided to spend a long weekend with us. We had 6 adults plus and 5 children between the ages of 8 and 1 and half. Lots of excitement noise laughter, cries and toys in every room in the house including the bathroom. What joys those kids bring.

That’s my update and I do enjoy reading the updates.

 GREAT PUNS – forwarded by ZITA 

These wonderful popular puns were sent by our Zita! She may not be in the best of health but she certainly hasn’t lost her sense of humour!

how does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.
Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!

A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.
I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.
England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool .

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.
They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.

I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
Jokes about German sausages are the wurst.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.
I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
When chemists die, apparently they barium.

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.
Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection you know urine trouble.
Broken pencils are pretty much pointless.

What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
I dropped out of the Communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen. As of now, it appears the police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Velcro - what a rip off !

 

Note from Admin: The pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. Origin is speculative, perhaps from pundigron, meaning the same thing (though attested first a few years later), itself a word of uncertain etymology, perhaps a humorous alteration of Italian puntiglio "equivocation, trivial objection," diminutive of Latin punctum "point." This is pure speculation. Punnet was another early form. In Tamil, "Sledai" is the word used to mean pun in which a word with two different meanings. Google translates “pun” as Vadan (වදන්)