Both can cut and either can kill — Time and again, I come across and experience situations in which someone bad-mouths another. Like a freelance writer who called a young editor a b**ch just because the latter had rejected the former’s story submissions, one after another. After calling this editor names, the contributor continued to submit his manuscripts…

Placing the phrases ‘writing for a living’ and ‘not all about money’ in a sentence smacks of contradiction. But, really, it isn’t so. — The phone call was not unexpected. It was general election year, and crunch time for the candidates was only five weeks away. The caller, for the second time, wanted me to accept an election project. Her client was a candidate seeking re-election to a national post.

The hoarder leaves me with no choice but to hoard, too — BEING new to a well-established garden aside from being ultra-green in gardening itself, I was not aware of how naughty a wildlife creature could be. The usual visitors in our previous garden were the common birds, bees, butterflies, beetles, and perhaps a hedgehog or two. No bad behaviour from them…

They were out and about with their glam and glitz but I did not have the heart to design fantasies for them — If you live in a highly urbanised city, gazing at stars may be impractical. Think of the smog up in the sky, obliterating the starry view. If you live in the countryside, or where there are open spaces, stargazing will be a joy. It gives us a feeling of being…

Birds survive the fall going into winter divinely but help from us, humans, is more than godly — Verdant leaves are turning As wind chill’s increasing Nighttimes pick up longer As daytimes become shorter Trees will soon be bare Leafless limbs in pray’r Carpets of crinkly gold As crispy treading go bold How do birds live and survive winter As skeletal trees provide no shelter Do they languish like the…

Satisfaction may strike the heart dumb in two seconds, then crash and burn in the third and final second — like a shooting star — FROM the moment I first saw this particular feeding table in the property, I knew exactly what to do with it. The table is not just weather-worn. It is shabby. An eyesore. What bird or squirrel would want to eat from it? My initial idea was to get rid of…

Maybe you would feel the same after listening to Pipe Major Paul Burns playing a lament as the Queen’s coffin was being lowered onto the ground — Music means many things to people. Listening to it may be for relaxation, or to get out of a funk and rush into jollity. It could be to set the mood for romance, or for an exercise warm-up — or perhaps these two could be connected? I like to listen…

After extracting the treasures given by Mother Nature, it’s just right for her to reclaim this gift and be returned to the natural world — Going over my nature photo files, I realised that a good number were taken at Betty Eastwood Park. Located in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, this park is just one among 119 parks in this metropolitan county, the largest in England. Yes, I do live in God’s Own Country, and if…

I shall be with the millions whose hearts are full to the brim with gratitude, reverence and sublime love — I grieve for the haters Not because they didn’t know any better Or for their disordered enmity for the sceptre I grieve for the haters Not for broadcasting to all they are bitter Or for airing their malice and ill will that fester I grieve for the haters, few they…