Remember how I said I was sowing more seeds? Well, I was puzzled when I saw these pale blue egg-like things in one of our flower pots…

…until I remembered how basil seeds develop a jelly-like exterior when they get wet! Here they are after germinating.

I was taking a photo record of how the bittergourd plants are doing…

…when I suddenly realized that half a foot away was a sunbathing Oriental garden lizard! If you look in the previous picture, you’ll see its tail coming in from the right side of the picture. It didn’t run even after I took its picture, so I apologised for disturbing it and went away.

If you look within the mass of leaves, you should be able to make out the bird nest and the rear end of a speckled dove poking out over the edge of it. My mum noticed it earlier this week in the mango tree.

The parent bird looked alarmed that we had spotted the nest, but we have no intention of doing anything apart from peeking out and taking photos!