Tulip Mania!

                                                                             Tulip (It's looks like flame)

                                                                      Hello World It's me- The Tulip

Red, Yellow, Yellow with red-lines;Tulips are in season now. They are gorgeous. This is my first attempt towards planting tulip. I planted them from bulbs. Every week, I was making sure whether the plants are coming or not. Finally I heard the whispering "Hello World". Happy me at last.

According to the record, Tulips were brought from Turkey in 1593 and introduced to Dutch. The flower became popular because of its beauty and rarity. People liked tulips so much, back in 1637 in dutch golden age, 12 acres land were offered for one Semper Augustus Tulip bulb. 
That period was called "Tulip mania" (Tulips price went extremely high and suddenly collapsed).

There was a book called "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" written by Charles Mackay, a British journalist in the year of 1841, where he mentioned about the Tulip mania and the behavior of the market in a whole.

Even there was a event described in the book, where one guy bought a Tulip bulb by trading all of his money. Unfortunately, his wife accidentally cooked the bulb. Oh Dear!

It's seems like recession is getting deeper here in the US. If I looked back the history, there are many brilliant companies started in the recessions. So possibly, our high spirit and creating new hopes to deal with the current recession, will help us.

Lastly a silly joke of the week:
 Two cows were talking.
Cow no.1: "Are you concerned about this mad cow disease?"
Cow no.2: "No! It doesn't worry me at all. But then, I'm actually a horse".

It's Spring

                                          Dandelion  seed head
I believe this Dandelion would already disappear in the air as I am writing now. I took the picture week ago.

                                 Many dandelion seed head

Possibly this is the last dandelion seed head picture for the season.  The dandelion flower head can change into white globular seed head overnight. The life-cycle  of this flower is amazing. It's a common believe that if you blow the dandelion seed head in air, your wish will full fill.  Lets pick a Dandelion..make a wish..blow the seeds in air.

Bright sun shine has taken over the cloudy sky. Last couple of weeks the weather has been wonderful. As I am writing this,  the days work of the sun has over. But it's not dark yet. I am glad that I have landed on this beautiful planet where the fresh air, now a days smells like smelling a scented flower up-close.

                     Cherry Blossom are every where

                 

 These are little late bloomer, but don't worry they are coming soon.

While taking the above picture I was thinking about myself, I born as a premature baby at seven and half month. I learned to walk and talk little late.

      Today, I found this fellow was quite serious about driving.

Happy Spring and have a lovely weekend.

A creative week!

                                            Paper Crane

After continuous downpour in California,  I believe, it's hard to say that this state had been experiencing drought over more than four years. The colors of the plains and  mountains have converted into pleasant green, the tall green grass and wild flowers have made their appearance everywhere and of course the fresh mud on sidewalks made me think like a child once again

Recently Corner Home was hijacked. I am not sure whether you have experienced the same with your blog or website? I was trying to add a blogger gadget in the blog called nature sound machine which I believe was the source of the problem. I tried to open my blog and after five seconds it redirected to other sites. It was frustrating. I removed the HTML code for that gadget from edit HTML option in the Layout page. The problem solved. I am glad to find the blog back.

As I have mentioned the week was creative, I managed myself towards recycling old news papers into paper bags. I made couple of bags. Also, I think origami is creative enough to do once in a while. I tried to make some paper cranes. I found by folding the papers and making something out of it is also relaxing.

                       Old News Paper Bags

       
The week has been proved itself a creative week. My hubby also made his effort to make his old computer server super quiet. The server was making lots of noise. Yes Lots. He used a plastic sheet and made a passage from the fans to the processor.
The fans are meant for cooling the server. Also he replaced the fans into more quieter fans. So, Now the server is super quite. So, I can say the noise pollution is gone.

                                      Server Air Duct

                                    Server with the air duct

Sometimes, we plan for something, but nothing works according to the plans. Rather something very different happened to our favor.

San Francisco-The most eco-friendly city

                         Sculpture of the lady, San Francisco

Last week I had a chance to visit to San Francisco city. Although the temperature was a bit low but still I had encountered a moderately sunny day. The city has always something new for me even sometimes the same old Albert S Samuels Clock build in 1915. This land mark on Market St. looks like a new discovery for me, even though I have been seeing that clock as a land mark, twenty times. I called it San Francisco vibe. This time I noticed a brand new landmark, A huge sculpture of a lady had been installed up at Linden. The art had been made using recycled iron rod, chain and wire. It was quite an experience, watching such a huge art work that was so perfectly made. My every visit brings me joy or something new to think about. The old houses with astonishing  colors, the Art and architecture.... amazing.

Being the most eco-friendly city in the world, no wonder its been the most green city, dominated by the nature. The city has abundant opportunity for artists, art lovers and someone like me, who appreciate everything, surprises at its every corner. Most of all every kind of Arts and architectures feels at home here. I too feel comfortable here, so it's a indication of me being artist at my heart. who knows some day I might would be a Sculpture artist, may be at my old age.

                                   Ocean Beach, San Francisco

After around four miles west in Geary blvd. there is a  beautiful beach called Ocean Beach. This particular beach attracts many surfers, because of its strong current. I had my lunch there while enjoying the sky and the sea without anything in between.

My eyes captured many historical as well as newly constructed  churches in the city. I found the architecture were amazing and so as the art and design ware eye catching. I am planning another new post about those churches in San Francisco.

                                              Trolley Bus

Spider wave like electrical wire, up above the head, used for Trolley buses in San Francisco. The city itself has largest no. of Trolley buses. These buses are entirely pollution free and quieter. I noticed many more two wheelers, as a comfortable medium for transportation.

San Francisco city people prefers to walk a lot, love to use alternate energy source and  serious about recycling/reuse . The city contains largest city-owned  solar insulation in entire US/Canada. All of the local peoples contribution and tourist understanding made it one of the most greenest and eco-friendly city in the US.

Library Book drop Boxes!

                                              Eagle library book drop box (Hayward, ca)

 

Elephant

                                                                                Zebra

You may not have given much thought to library book drop boxes, But I think these book drop boxes are lovely, and worth a posting. I noticed many electric grid supply boxes have been transformed into mural artwork.

I liked this idea and its implementation a lot. Back home, when I was in high school, always thought that it would be great  if the street walls in my hometown painted in vibrant colors and murals instead of some faded and some new advertisements. It took many years for my wishes to fulfill, as of now, I can proudly encounter the murals on the walls of my hometown, instead.

                                   A mural on a side walk back home: twin city Cuttack/Bhubaneswer(India)

Great works always leaves its signature in our mind. Those artists who volunteer for these lovely art for public display are admirable in all aspects.

                                 A nice Mural on power sub-panels

 I wish all the library book-drop boxes would look like some-kind of art.
Have a great week ahead.


P.S- I received couple of e-mails about posting some more pictures of Library book-drop boxes.  Here are they (All are from Hayward Public Library)

                                                Drive through book-drop

Hello there,

Its for you.

                                                                                                                                                                              

Flower Power!!

I am wondering the name of this flower.

  

Our Window

The flowers have decided to bloom overlooking our window. Everyday I saw them blooming little more.  Its a beautiful feeling. I think, every flower have unique personalities just like human beings. Doesn't matter whether they are expensive well-known flowers or just some unknown grass or wild flowers but they are all beautiful and unique.

 

Orange wild Poppy (its widely seen)

• A simple tips to enhance the atmosphere of  your home, in a frugal way is to collect any flowers, leafs and put them in a glass jar with water. That's all and of course enjoy!

While writing this post I came up with a title named "Flower Power". I searched the name in the internet and found Flower Power was a popular slogan used by American counterculture movement during the late 1960's, as a symbolic action of protest against the Vietnam War. Its originated in Berkeley, California.

               The muddy water in Don Castro Reservoir

I went outside today and took these flowers photos. The reservoir water has became muddy after the continuous downpour. Since the Earth socked up  I found many smiling wild flowers.
I would like to share some links below, to admire some spectacular wild flowers. The seasons starts around February.

California Wild flower: Table Mountain
Ohio Wild flower
 Wild Flower Identification Guide

100% Pure Air freshly packed from unpolluted Areas!

                                  A Ranch in Mission Blvd, Ca

Its a Sunday afternoon. A cloudy sky with little windy outside feels like already evening. The weather forecast showing upcoming rains form today to whole week ahead. There you go. So no reason to go out for the rest of the day unless until its an emergency. Sometime its nice to get out of the house and go for a long walk in the reversed forest areas; its the fresh air, the trees, the grass, the bugs on the grass...  Well, I believe the more we are well equipped with civilized equipment the more we realize that actually we are close to nature. Today I had a thought popping in my mind which is forcing me to think about it repeatedly. The thought " may be after couple of decades if we want to experience fresh air we have to buy it, packed from unpolluted areas, like bottled water from natural springs". I wish I could have written a since fiction on the basis of this particular thought I have.

As we have already entered into another decade,  the awareness has grew within us about our surroundings and environment. We also have been emerging with modern information systems and tools quite rapidly. If I would like to know what is the composition of pure air or say about anything else,  I can Google it and get the answer right away. Wow!.

After couple of decade we may be well-equipped with all shorts of things from our wish list but I am wondering may be in our corner store, they will have to add a self for bottles of 100% fresh air freshly packed from the most unpolluted areas ???

Inhaling real lean fresh air is quite an experience. The pollution in the Earth already has reached at alarming level. I suspect with the rapid forwarding movement of mankind, we are going to live in a world we are imagining in our movies one day, like Gotham city in Batman, robots will take care of all of our everyday works shown in  I, robot and our own clone will be our medical insurance in movie like Island and so on...Also the movie like WALL-E the robot, is a perfect example of our impending future...that the worse we could imagine, the way mankind is moving forward. Believe me, nothing wrong with the moving forward matter but I hope balancing should be the mantra for everything.

Now the rain has been starting already. Dancing of the raindrop sounds wafted through my windows as I write this post. It feels comfortable and safe when weather starts producing the result its supposed to. Its been more than three years the rainfall amount is below expected in California.

Geese are busy in search for food in the patches of melting snow (Lake Tahoe Area, Ca)

Happy New Year to you all!

Holidays has been over far too quickly as the year 2009. A closure analysis of my failure and triumph of last year hope would help me to face the New year quite logically.

The geese in the picture are busy in search of food which is precious for them in winter. They are so focused that when I took the picture they have not even distracted by my presence. I have no idea about the year 2010. What is it holding? But I hope the new year would hold all of our desired goals. I believe, by focused search and planned work, we can achieve them.

A Christmas Dinner!

                           Christmas Tree in San Francisco, Ca


Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!. This year we ( me and my husband) had a different experience in the Christmas since we were invited for dinner from a family from Guatemala. well I was a bit grump about attending the dinner since I knew that we were the only outsider. But the thing is the person who invited  us to attend his family Christmas dinner was very persuasive. So I don't want to disappoint him and managed to motivate myself to visit his family. the family had a tragedy just three month ago before Christmas. They lost their youngest brother in an accident. That's another reason which motivates me to visit the family since I can at least support them in their terrible time.

The family have four sons and two daughters and their kids and the mom who is seventy-nine year old. Its a lovely family. All my hesitation disappears the moment I steeped in to the house and hugged by the mom. I fit right-in like her own daughter. My bad is I do not understand Spanish and obviously I should not expect mom to know English since she has been visited to her sons from Guatemala for 6 month. but Its seems like I got couple of volunteer translates right away (including kids). Each and every family member talked about the brother they lost. They show us his favorite place in his house, his passion...and almost everything about him they remember the exact time in last Christmas he got home from work. how he was a part of their heart. And now...he is not here.

The only thing after having dinner interests kids most is unwrapping their gifts. Usually they exchange gifts among all cousins. As, they are feeling the heavy atmosphere of the house and also have been noticing their uncle Rafael is crying whom they never saw crying, but still they are bringing the Christmas charm on their face.

Its Christmas! well, the singing, cooking, eating and crying like chorus or a bit like spices of life. I could not stop myself crying. next day morning I was bit down in my usual mood. I forced myself to plan for a visit to local Fry's store for a camera I was thinking to replace or even a visit to Lake Tahoe for New Year Eve.  But nothing seemed like working. Took a deep breadth and thought what is  life anyway? Its about living in the planet or living in the memories of loved one?.

Hope you all have a lovely New Year!

A warm smile!

                  A view from a ranch on mission blvd,  Ca

May be 10 smile (sometime more then that) I got everyday starts from sidewalks and sometime ends with the smile from the neighbors guest. All are strangers but anyway after all its just a smile. I could not remember one of them. I bet no one could.

But once in a while in a blue moon we get a warm smile.from a stranger.And want to remember.
            

Today it was a cloudy day. I was at the toll gate waiting to pay my toll fee. I slides the car window glass down and stretched my hand with five dollar while thinking something else, to the person standing at the tollgate. I stretched my hand again to get my one dollar return back before my eyes concentrate on the road. I noticed a smile on the face of the man while he was returning back my dollar bill.  Yeah a real warm smile which touched  my heart. The man was wearing a blue turban which was around 10 inch high. His long white beard was touching his belly. The only visible thing in his face was his long nose and eyes and a warm smile. I looked at his eyes and returned back another smile with warmth (I hope).

 The bottom line is, we are still getting pure sunshine, pure water (unless until we are making them impure). Our inner self can still recognize the difference between pure and impure. Then why pretend?

Green Gossip!

Gossip! Yes, I mean negative gossip. In some point we all do that. At work, at home, in phone...
We don't even care how much energy and time we are spending through gossiping.

For some folks, gossiping is a daily habit.They usually gossip about their co-worker, family members or neighbors.
Why they gossip?

To show (the entire planet if possible) that the person about whom they are talking (gossiping) is less then them in every aspect of life. Also to give a big picture about themselves.

The sad part is, some folks goes beyond by putting obstacle in the persons path. So, in simple word negative gossip is not a healthy practice for our environment. Its take time, energy and also pollute the positive vibe of the place and home.

Can we stop gossiping? There is no rule like gossiping is prohibited.

Can we make it green? Yes, Absolutely.

How?

When we  gossip (talk), we can talk about our next green project or how someone can help a needy person without their knowledge or at work lunch time we can spend it by volunteering in the nearest pet shelter....so on... by spending same amount of energy and time we spend in negative gossip.
 
Grown up hesitate to appreciate openly if they like something (may be they do not like anything). We analyze everything microscopically. Are not we?
Another green gossip practice is learn to appreciate openly and spread the Eco-friendly message through gossip.

Happy Green Gossiping!

Lipika


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Reduce plastic from your household

Plastic is harmful for everyone and for the Earth. Below there are some tips to reduce plastic from your household.

1- Reduce ballpoint plastic pen-

Keep one pen and pencil in every room where it would be very handy in stead of ten plastic pen in a pen holder.

2- Garbage Can- instead of plastic you can use one of the Cardboard box for dry garbage.

3- Use wood comb Instead of plastic.

4- Keep some canvas bags or cloth bags for grocery and vegetable shopping.

You can make a habit of not to bring even a single plastic or paper bag to your house hold.

5- Instead of plastic Soap Case re-use one of your glass jar or buy non-plastic case.

6- Avoid buying plastic hair clips.

About

Welcome to Corner Home! I hope to inspire you with fresh eco- ideas, information and my thoughts on anything I stumble upon in my everyday life. I am an IT professional trying to live a greener life one small step at a time.
I believe in love and learning.
Please share your comments with me as I love to read your thoughts too. If you have any question feel free to e-mail me at mohapatra74@gmail.com.

Thank you for visiting.

Green Chaat!!!

Green Chaat

Chaat is an Indian snack and famous street food in all over India. Different verity of Chaat can be available and typically its a plate of snack made with potato's, fried dough and spices(cumin, chili, coriander powder ..). Each and every mouthful of chaat has surprising test (its test sweet, sour may be hot, crunchy, salty... ) because of its layer with different spices and ingredients.

Green Chaat is my version. I tried the recipe many times. Its healthy, fun to make. The most fun part is you can change the recipe and it can be your version. There is no strict rule. Fun, testy, healthy, quick and easy.. what more we want?.

Now the real part....

What we need:

Mung Bean

1) 1 cup of Sprouted Whole Mung (Green Gram)

3) 1 tsp of your choice of green olive or green mango
4) 1 small cucumber diced

5) Cilantro leaves (can be mint leaves, or basil leaves)

6) 1 tsp onion (thinly slice)
7) 1 tbsp Plain Yogurt
8) 1/2 tsp Chaat Masala or any seasoning you like
9) Salt, Pepper and lime juice for your taste.

*Chaat Masala can be available in any Indian grocery store.

Or

Fry the Cumin seeds and dry Red Chili then grind them together. The end result would be perfect seasoning for chaat and

 its also ideal for using the seasoning in other dishes

Cumin Seeds

<--Ground cumin and chili 

Add all the above ingredients from no. 1 to no. 9 one by one and......

Enjoy!!!

Lets everyone knows your version  of Green Chaat. ( All versions of green chaat recipes are welcome)

Maldives- Underwater Meeting...

... is a warning for all of us. I listened the BBC news on October 13^th about Maldive's president has told his cabinet members for an underwater cabinet meeting later this month. The main propose for this meeting is to show the world about the effect of global worming on low lying countries like Maldive. Maldive is 2 meters above sea level and it's the first country expected to go underwater first because of global warming and climate change.

The rising water level of Indian Ocean will first swallow Maldives. The bottom line, does not matter weather it's the first or last but the result is terrible and created by us. We all knows “percussion is better then cure”.

Maldives is a popular tourist destination. The air traffic would be much crowded and so as CO2. If they propose a rule about the number of flight per year, I hope that would be a small percussion for the Island.

Even though we are all trying to save our planet by contributing personally and also businesses and companies are going green but still it needs more effort and mindfulness.

The Packet

 Recently, I got a free sample from a natural skincare company in my mail box. I was happy for getting the sample but when I opened it I found a pencil slim 2 inch bottle in a safe packing with more then enough paper. The packet they send me is 6 x 4 x 1 inch. The packet is too big for such a small bottle. The recycle icon on the packet says this packet is made with 100% recycled paper. So, again even though we made something out of recycled material, should we be wasteful?

Power of consuming more and having everything, they say its called luxury or comfort. Right? But what is the cost? Maldives is the popular tourist destination for its rare underwater beauty. It is sad that our behavior of over consuming of everything and wastefulness leads us to a dead end road.

Consuming less is another way to prevent global warming.

Please consume less.

The Big Red Tomato

Weekend. Ah......Not really. Buying vegetable for the week, writing, studying........ all included with some extra sleep. Today morning I was on the fruits and vegetable farm where you can pick (u-pick) the vegetables by yourself. I was resting besides a small group of tomato plantation while observing others including my husband. The tomato plants were really big with yellow flower but no tomato had made their appearance yet.  

I heard a voice whispering "The Biig Red  Tomaatooo"

The voice was so crisp and motivating that it made my mind to think about eating big red tomato and also writing this post. I noticed a kid admiring the tomato plant in his way and he is the one who whispered.. the big red tomato.

However, by just watching the tomato "plant" with "flower" he imagines the Big red tomato's in the branch. How wonderful, hopeful, relevant and clear the imagination is?

Now my point is, there are countries where kids are learning how to use weapons instead of learning to read and write. Do they really need to use the weapons....for what propose...for whom? There are people who are programming kids mind in a negative way.

providing a hopeful environment they imagine better far better and I think by giving them the reverse of course,  the imagination would be opposite.

Have a great weekend!

Connection!

I always thought ,why I have to see the big Redwood tree on my way to work which is standing proudly before one block from my office?. The answer I found for myself, I am trying to describe here in this post.

I believe the only answer for it is Connection. And connection can be in any form. Its depends on “how we connect”,”what is it we connect to”. Please correct me if I am wrong. But its the basic need in life. In our subconscious mind we all knows this. But we never thought about it deeply.

Strawberry Farm on Hwy 84 (california)

Last week I saw a small bird through my window. The next day my eyes were searching for that bird. The very moment I discovered the bird, I felt relieved. Again next day same thing happened. Then I hanged a Bird Feeder in front of my windows. That bird came with bunch of birds. And all help themselves by eating the grains from the bird feeder. Again I felt more satisfied and relaxed.

I understood very clearly that I am now connected with that bird . What is a connection actually. When I searched answer from my immature philosophical mind I found this:

Connection is a bridge you build slowly with one subject or object without their knowledge and you feel satisfied.

People often connects to a city, their Hometown, can be a place holds their childhood memories, a tree in their backyard, a Coffee shop, mom's best apple pie may be Jiaozi may be curry. The moment they connect, they want to preserve it.

If we connect (in a positive way) with everything around us, in other word, I can say more sensitive towards our surroundings, I hope the world will be a better and safe place for generations to come.

Cheer!

Lipika

Organic toys a view!

The very moment I stepped in to the Junior Museum & Zoo, where they introduce alternative energy in to Kids toys in Palo Alto, California, my eyes were wide OPEN.

I could not believe how brilliant the Idea and the place is.

The place is around 1000 squire feet indoor setting. They made small green city with miniature houses and gardens. The city setting has connected with bicycle wheels with pedals. When kids were paddling the whole city, brighten up with light and small water fountains.

Green CityI noticed there were many organic playing devices for children. Kids were happy like any thing. I hope that one day we all have the houses with big wheel out side, for all of our energy need. I noticed a wall with color full paper note. What would been written on the note? Before asking question to my self, I found my self in front of the wall. I amazed by reading those small notes written by kids playing there. They had written all short of energy saving ideas. The plan and work they are doing to make the planet greener.

Kids from different ethnicity were so busy with discovering the alternative possibilities of their toys, forgetting their Video games and TV at home .The only expression in their face, I can read is” DO NOT DISTURB ME”

However, while I was trying to catch the warmth and vibe of the place by written words, unbelievable one small girl with little pink dress surprised me by asking” Can you read this book for me?” I replied,” This is my pleasure”. Now I am no more a stranger for her because I am belongs to HER GREEN PLANET.

Happy reading.

Friends of Earth!

Crackling noise of breaking a coke can make my eyes turn around the direction of the noise source. I was in the gas station putting fuel in my car. I found one old lady lost herself inside of a garbage container, searching for Aluminum cans and bottles,which are not welcome in our earth surface anymore. We (all of us right?)  have raise our voice for Global worming already. But again who are throwing those harmful plastics and metals (not me..not me too..then who?).

I wanted to show my admiration to the old lady for her work. After all she is the one who is collecting them and contributing towards making the Earth a safe place or in other word adding some more years to our Earth Life for future use. By the time I found myself in front of her,she was still busy in her work. Her white hair and wrinkled skin was quietly telling me her years of experience of recycling material from outside garbage, which is dangerous too.

I politely admire her by saying , Madam-you are doing a great job. She threw at me a blank look and did not say anything. It seems like she did not understand what I just said or she do not care. I said her again(this time I am conscious about to convey my feelings towards her) -"This is a good thing that you are recycling the cans and plastics". She simply replayed me back"I am getting money by selling them".
Now I could not stop myself from asking her again how much money she is making from one container?.
Its seems like she wanted to give me some of her real information,”she said more then Five Dollar from one garbage container”. Great! I said. But do you know you are a true friend of our planet earth?.

I don't know whether she took my appreciation for her or not but I do not like to disturb her any more. We can find these earth friendly people all most every Country. I simply admiring them by saying Thank you.

Feel free to write comments in this blog,If you know any one who is knowingly or unknowingly contributing to make the Earth live longer.