Brahminy Kite

Goddess Shashthi

Shashthi is a Hindu folk goddess, venerated as the benefactor and protector of children (especially, as the giver of male child). She is also the deity of vegetation and reproduction and is believed to bestow children and assist during childbirth.

Barren women desiring to conceive and mothers seeking to ensure the protection of their children will worship Shashthi and request her blessings and aid. 

On this facade of a Hindu temple, goddess Shashthi is pictured as a motherly figure nursing an infant. 

Location: Bangalore, India

Smiles

Ashy Prinia

Vanda

Snakes and Ladders

Purple Swamphen of India

[update] Rhonda's post on New Zealand's Purple Swamphen, also known as Pukeko

Almond fruit

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Childhood

Favorite Photos from 2012

Rise above the ruins

Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings. 
--Gustave Flaubert 

My final post of 2012. Thanks so much to all the lovely people who visited my blog. Let us count down to the start of what is hopefully a year of peace and happiness for us and ours.  

Gifts

Gifts make slaves. 
   --Levi Strauss

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Snow White