Happy 2024 to everyone reading! We all agree that winters are the most magical time of the year (barring the very cold patch). AOH too teems with a lot of life throughout the day, an unusual sight some six months later!
And what is more fun than spotting new residents around the block? Let us see some of them.
As we walk past the lawns, the colourful visages of the flowers are hard to miss… The petunias, the chrysanthemums, the salvias, the dog flowers, the bauhinias, and the occasional roses, the vincas, and the rare plumbago and honeysuckles!
Of course the beautiful and varied hues of bougainvillea dominate the landscape along with the clusters of Tecoma and ixoras! Most of the colourful flowers are winter residents, and home grown; we welcome both of these as they bring so much colour and vibrance!
Most insects tend to go into hibernation, but the most annoying of them, the mosquitoes, somehow remain. Even today, one can spot a buffalo-sized specimen that is lurking somewhere in the daytime and emerges as we are about to call it a night with its buzzing!
Of course, we always have new residents constantly moving into Hamlet as some others move out; so often, we have new neighbours around. Accompanying some of them are also some new furry friends.
Of late, we have a new Great Dane, a new Husky, a Labradoodle, and Spitz-Pom mix, among the many others! An honourable mention is for a little golden retriever girl who had been found abandoned and lived here till she found a forever home (she made many friends in the one week she was here)!
Tis a dynamic mix of furry residents that we have here; this contributes to a great environment for socializing amongst them (much to the consternation of those that are at the opposite end of the spectrum :D)
And anyway, what is a new year without all of us having some new friends? Cheers to that thought!
