I was sitting out on the balcony early in the morning with my cup of tea. Everything was going on as you would have expected. The sky was getting brighter, the school buses came by, cars started plying and then boom!.. something very strange happened. There was a glow of orange all around. The sky became overcast and turned more and more orange by the minute. The picture here does not do justice to how it felt. It was like the whole world was lit by a huge orange halogen lamp.

And then just as suddenly, the thunderstorms rolled in. The sky got dark quickly and your run of the mill mid summer Atlanta heavy rainfall with rolling thunders ensued!

After morning walk to coffee shop followed by shopping in Farmers’ Market, we now have added this : Listen to “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” on the old style radio at 10am!!

Saw this in Alpha Loop during our walk to downtown Alpharetta. It is like Nature has neatly arranged the leaves in each twig in increasing order of hue!

This is a straight shot of the moon (zoomed in) from my iPhone. And my iPhone is a 4 year old iPhone 11 !! In camera technology, 4 years old is synonymous with “Amish”. Still, the camera did a wonderful job.

This is the aspect of Atlanta I love the most. The greenery. Also the aspect of the old house I miss the most.

Jay Jay and I went out this morning to walk in the Alpha Loop. It had rained slightly thru the night and the trees were still dripping raindrops as some light breeze wafted thru. That rain drenched green color everywhere was breathtakingly mesmerizing. There were numerous birds chirping and trilling all around us. We stopped many times in the walk so that I could listen to the cacophony of all the bird tweets.

I was expecting many more people this morning in the Loop. I was wondering if there was more rain in the forecast that I might have missed. It eventually dawned upon me that it is a Monday today.

Ah! The bliss of not having to go to office in the morning!!!

Went for a typewriter show and tried a few. I think I am zeroing in on what I want. In all likelihood, a portable Royal (e.g Royal Arrow). Last time I had typed on a real typewriter was in 1983. After my tenth class exams, I had started going to a typewriting class in Benachity.

That old feeling of tactile feedback came back all over again. (Very different than computer keyboards). Also got to know Tom – who is an absolute authority on typewriters. He has a collection of over 100 typewriters. That matches my fountain pen count.

But unlike my fountain pens, he makes some serious money by simply renting out his typewriters to movie sets!!

The dark on your stereo right is of course Lake Michigan.

It is 4 in the morning now. Stepped out on the balcony to see what minus 12 degree F with wind chill (that would be minus 24 degree C) feels like.

IT IS BONE CHILLING!

Certainly feeling bad for the postal workers I can see (from inside the house now) busy unloading mail out in the open from the mail truck that just pulled in!

This is the lowest point we are going to hit with this Bomb Cyclone. We will start warming up from now on.

Had this idea for some time. Finally got to put it together. Put in a glass sheet on my writing desk. That is not interesting at all. What is though, is what I kept under it.

Tirtha, I was finally able to do justice to your gift. I now have all those old tickets of Kolkata bus, tram, train, autorickshaw, metro and ferry service neatly arranged on the left. I will see them everyday I sit down to write something.

On the right, is a collection of currencies from 25 different countries that I have visited in the past. For most of them, I had paper currency. Excepting four.

Mahmoud, you will notice that I have those two coins frrom ancient Indian civilization that was gifted to me by Mohammad Abu Ali also now on display!!