Blue Boat Home

  Australian books for kids I grew up in Australasia, so was browsing books about it which I’d read out to my imaginary child. 1 Australia for kids https://www.amazon.in/Australia-Kids-Cultures-Children-Explore/dp/1683056078/ref=sr_1_7?crid=389WE37OVU028&keywords=children%27s+books+australia&qid=1667265781&sprefix=children+s+books+australia%2Caps%2C4025&sr=8-7 2 https://www.amazon.in/Around-Globe-Australia-Childrens-Explore-ebook/dp/B01A2YJB7G/ref=sr_1_8?crid=389WE37OVU028&keywords=children%27s+books+australia&qid=1667265781&sprefix=children+s+books+australia%2Caps%2C4025&sr=8-8 : Australia travel guide for kids 3 https://www.amazon.in/Around-Globe-Australia-Childrens-Explore-ebook/dp/B01A2YJB7G/ref=sr_1_8?crid=389WE37OVU028&keywords=children%27s+books+australia&qid=1667265781&sprefix=children+s+books+australia%2Caps%2C4025&sr=8-8 : Australia travel guide for kids 4 https://www.amazon.in/Australia-Explore-World-Chi...

  Twenty books that I’d buy for my imaginary children 1 https://www.amazon.in/Best-Childrens-Classics-Set-Books/dp/9389432006/ref=sr_1_12_sspa?adgrpid=73491899882&ext_vrnc=hi&gclid=CjwKCAjw5P2aBhAlEiwAAdY7dB27cbQOEB2tRH1UClJS5fPLti8sjv9OCH7YQFksBFA_PHdfra_zFRoCftgQAvD_BwE&hvadid=590313710536&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9075295&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=3673170811606162130&hvtargid=kwd-1141620781563&hydadcr=10752_2129244&keywords=for+kids+story+books&qid=1667224646&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjk3IiwicXNhIjoiMS41MCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-12-spons&psc=1&smid=A3H3WE9M6NY1KV : Children’s Classics 2 https://www.amazon.in/World-History-Collection-Knowledge-Encyclopedia/dp/9354401406/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?adgrpid=73491899882&ext_vrnc=hi&gclid=CjwKCAjw5P2aBhAlEiwAAdY7dB27cbQOEB2tRH1UClJS5fPLti8sjv9OCH7YQFksBFA_PHdfra_zFRoCftgQAvD_BwE&hvadid=590313710536&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9075295&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=36731708...

  Happy Halloween I understand that many of us are celebrating this gala after successive lockdowns. Please take care not to overcrowd venues to mark this occasion. The same goes for other festivals. Thronging places raises the risk of accidents and stampedes. You may also mark Halloween at home alone or through parties. This will be my last Halloween post for this year. In 2023, I may explore more of Samhain from where it mainly originated. I successfully avoided watching a series of scary films during Halloween month. That was better for my mental health. Orange and black are the dual colours representing Halloween. Black represents the dark, cold and long winter ahead. Orange represents autumn’s comfort and warmth in the form of the shades of its harvested products. Leaves turn into different shades of orange in the fall season. The fire lit for warmth shimmers in amber. Which orange living being gives the greatest solace to me? #orangeandblack, #orangecat, #gingercat,...

  Bats in the Halloween belfry When dusk descends, our neighbours light lamps and incense and chant mantras. They say that it’s to cleanse the negative energy that they think accompanies the nightly darkness. I illumine diyas only during Diwali. I’ve heard from some people that the goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati reside in the lamp. Love and devotion are expressed to gods/ God through evening aarti [worship with lights], I’ve been told.   My neighbours perform the same in the morning as well. There may be many reasons for performing aarti in the evening which I’m not aware of but am interested to know. I am an irreligious person and an agnostic who talks to cats in the morning and is curious about bats when evening sets in. These sweet nocturnal birds [err…sorry…mammals] flutter to our home. Please note that I’m aware of the counterargument that bats may be carriers of diseases. If I didn’t live in a housing society, I may have built a bat nursery in my backyard. ...

  Hunting hauntings! 3500 years ago in Babylonia, a clay tablet which could fit into one’s palm was moulded. On it was carved instructions on how to make pesky spirits flee. In this manual, a forlorn bearded ghost is described as being led to a blissful eternal afterlife by his lover. This slim and slender phantom had been inhabiting people’s homes for ages irking them. This may be the details of one of the oldest spectres in history. In 2022, I don’t know what the census and population distribution of apparitions are. When leaves change their colour and trees grow bare, autumnal nights grow colder and darker and Halloween sets in; humans think of those who are still hovering in the mortal world after they’ve breathed their last. Old, dark and dreary houses are gradually being replaced by brightly lit tall modern buildings. I wonder if the ghouls find the spic and span modern buildings uncomfortable so flee miles away to a faraway village where there’s a deserted dilapidated ...

Stingy Jack and pumpkin sculpting The history of Jack-o’-Lanterns The pumpkin patch ripens in autumn. We’ve celebrated the fall season with pumpkins for long now. Though these are botanically fruits as they store seeds and have bloomed from a flower, nutritionally they resemble vegetables. Why is a sinister grin carved on bright orange pumpkins? As the old tale goes, once lived an inebriated man called Stingy Jack in an Irish village. He was despised by the town folk. This discontented man has been described as a con artist and thief who duped any person who met him. Other stories chronicle that he was depressed and played tricks on those he came across. This alcoholic man may have been a blacksmith when sober. He ran out of money to ‘fuel’ himself with hard drinks. His addiction may have tragically claimed his life. Jack supposedly met the Devil in a tavern on a cold and dark autumn night. He gulled this eternal fiend to buy him the last drink of his lifetime. He promised to...