Weather

I've written before about how changeable the weather is in Mussoorie. We basically have three seasons -- monsoon from late June into September, winter from October through February, and summer from April to June. You might notice some missing time that could be called spring or fall. April and October are generally the best months for visiting -- sunny pleasant days, cool evenings. However, sometimes things go awry. We expect to have stormy weather during the two equinoxes in March and September. These storms are usually accompanied by thunder and lightning and, often, hail.

This year we arrived on March 28, expecting to have finished with winter. In fact, the first couple of weeks were quite nice. But this week has been wild. Sunday we woke up to find it cold and there was rain off and on all day. I took a pass on our lunch in the bazaar, but Dan went. I was really glad I had my long underwear and wool sweaters.

Tuesday it was even colder and raining almost all day. It was quite windy and in the late afternoon there was even thunder. We heard the hail starting about 5:00 and I went outside our apartment to get some pictures. We are on the third floor of the Quad (Mrs. Biswas' old apartment for those who knew her). Just outside our door is the roof of the veranda below. The eaves were full of hailstones.

The roof across the Quad was also covered. That area, formerly the young girls' dorm, is now the Lower School Library and computer classroom space.

Looking down on the Quad, the roof over the walkway was also sprinkled with hail. If you were to walk around that corner at the top of the photo, you would be ready to walk up the ramp to the high school or to visit the Business Office (in the area that used to be the Music Cells).

This morning (Wednesday) we woke to a beautiful sunny day. It's still cool, but likely will warm up nicely. Maybe we are finished with bad weather!

The sun was bright on Midlands when I went out.

Trees, Part 3

Continuing the theme from yesterday...

Those of you who are familiar with the WS campus will be able to follow along as I left the back gate and headed back along Tehri Road toward the bazaar and the WS front gate.

Last spring I did several blog entries on pushtas, the retaining walls that help to hold the mountain up. Our campus has many of them! When they are building a new pushta or repairing an old one, a good attempt is made to keep any trees that are growing on the side of the hill. Our area is a preserve and no trees are allowed to be cut. And of course the roots help keep the mountainside together as much as possible.

This tree is below the back entry pathway.

Looking up toward the back corner of the Quad.

This pushta is fairly new, I think. Unfortunately, the tree doesn't look at all healthy.

I especially like the outline of the branches of this one.

The building in the back is the front of the Vera Marley Library, which projects out from the older High School building. Nice flowers are blooming in the pots now, making the entry to school quite lovely.

Looking down from the entry area -- how do these survive??

Looking up "Jacob's Ladder," the steep way into the Flagpole area and entrance to the High School.

In the background is the ramp that goes from the Quad up to the Gym and the High School.

Trees, Part 2

Friday's post on Trees had several pictures of branches of just one tree. Some people have commented that they were interesting "trees," but in fact it was just one. Today's pictures are all of different trees. I walked out the back entry to the Quad and around on Tehri Road to the front gate. So all of these are on school property and very close to the main building.

In this picture you can see the back entry to the school. This tree is growing below a pathway going up to a storage shed above the cement at the top of the picture. It is tenacious, but appears to me to be in danger of washing out one of these years.

Looking down toward the road from the back entry path, there are many trees clinging to the steep hillside.

This view is coming around the corner below the school (the Lyre Tree is at the top of this corner). 

More trees who thrive even in such adverse conditions.

Trees

The other day as I was walking along Tehri Road between the school gate and Woodstock Villa, I noticed an especially gnarly tree growing just below the road. The more I looked at it the more interesting it became. It set me off the next day looking for interesting trees to photograph on my daily walk. Warning: this may develop into more than one post!

The first photo is the fullest view I could get of the whole tree from the road.

The next few shots are closer views of some of the branches. During the monsoon, they are covered with moss and ferns. Now you will see some dark pieces of dried-up growth hanging from some of the branches.

One more view of most of the tree.

Pep Rally for Win Mumby Tournament

Yesterday was the opening day of the annual Win Mumby Basketball Tournament. Nine boys' teams and eight girls' teams are participating. Many of the schools are in Mussoorie or Dehra Dun, but some are from as far away as Delhi, Patiala (in the Punjab), and Nainital (another hill station). This is the second tournament that has been held in our new gym. This gym was dedicated in the fall of 2009. If you are new to this blog, here is my post about that event. The games continue through Saturday, with the semifinals in the morning and the final in the afternoon.

We hosted a pep rally for the whole school and the visiting teams after tea (4:00).

"Palma non sine pulvere" is the school motto -- "Palms come from striving." A nice banner for this, the 11th tournament, was below the permanent motto hanging in the gym.

Dr. David Laurenson, Principal, and Ajay Mark, Head of Athletics, officially opened the tournament and welcomed the visitors.

Our students and staff filled the main bleachers.

The Jazz Band performed before the rally got started.

A group of high school girls performed an energetic dance with elements of gymnastics.

 

Grades 3 and 4 performed an interesting dance, too.

At the end the group lay down on the floor and formed a large W (for Woodstock, of course!).

For the singing of our school song, "Shadows," and our fight song, "Cheer for the Brown and the Gold," the words were projected on the displays near the ceiling. Our fight song uses the tune from Notre Dame; a probably apochryphal story has one of our students arriving in the US only to find out that Notre Dame had stolen "our" song. If you search "Woodstock School song" on YouTube.com you can listen to several different renditions at reunions and gatherings.

The Tiger mascot suit made its debut at the Gym Dedication 18 months ago and is brought out on suitable occasions. The kids love the Tiger! You can see some of the school teams on the side bleachers in this picture. They filled both ends of the gym.

Visitors

Monday morning two visitors arrived at Woodstock. One is Li Chu, who manages the alumni database and comes regularly to train the office staff in its use.

The other is Malcolm Russell, a member of the class of 1944. He left Woodstock in 1940, when his father, a United Church of Canada missionary doctor, moved the family back to Canada. He is a very interesting man. He studied violin here at Woodstock and remembers his teacher very fondly. He later switched to viola and is looking forward to talking about that with Dan. He was very happy to hear that our daughter is a professional violist. He ended up with a career as a choral singer, partly at least with the CBC, and doing carpentry on the side.

It is interesting to talk with Malcolm about his memories. A lot of them are faded after 71 years, as is to be expected. On his first day, he spent a lot of time in our office looking at the Whispering Pine yearbooks from his years in school. He also had a tour of the school buildings. We recommended that he take a rest after lunch, as the altitude and vertical walking were taking a toll. However, he told us on Tuesday that he couldn't wait and had walked out to Oakville (where his family had stayed when on the Hillside) and back before going for a rest. I just hope that I am as fit and determined when I am in my 80s!

Tuesday I had lunch with him and he said he had been down to the dorm areas in the morning. Again, that is a fairly major walk for someone not used to our hills and altitude. When I left him he was on his way back to the Principal's Cottage, where he is staying. His visit here is a result of a mutual friend of his and the Principal's.

Zigzag Path

Saturday afternoon I took a walk from the school up the Zigzag Path. Zigzag is the main path that goes from Woodstock to Sisters' Bazaar. It begins just near the flagpole and literally zigzags its way up. 

From the back of the kitchen there is a path that goes up to Tehri View and across above the new gym to connect to Zigzag. This picture is the roof of the gym with Witch's Hill in the background.

Redwood Cottage is the first house along the path.

Here, looking down you can see some of the zigzags.

These markers for the boundaries of Woodstock property are all over the hillside.

I couldn't resist a close-up of a rhododendron; most of them are too far away to see the individual flowers well.

In some areas the steps are very high; it's nice to see these little half-steps that make it easier.

Zigzag House -- did the house or the path get the name first?

Shanti Kunj -- a wonderful name for a house -- "House of Peace."

Near the top there has been a lot of recent work on the path -- it's quite built up with new layers of dirt and gravel. In fact, the inside ditch is several feet deep in some places.

Friday Dinner

On Friday evening I was invited to a dinner at the Marks'. They live in Palisades, the house just below the school gate where we lived from 1975 to 1980. The dinner was in honor of a visiting former staff member, Kermit Gingerich. His daughter, Kim Gingerich Brenneman, was in the class of 1979. She leads a semester-long tour in India for Eastern Mennonite University about every two years. The Marks were friends and neighbors during one of the Gingerich's several times serving at Woodstock.

It was a fun evening with lots of good conversation (and food). And what a treat to see how nice our old home looks; the Marks have done a lot of good work in it.

Outside the house, they have put a garden inside some old pillared archways that they got from a village.

Kermit in the living room. The doorway behind him leads into the downstairs bathroom and to the upstairs.

The dining room.

The kitchen. It wasn't this light and well-done when we lived there!

The dinner was delicious -- lamb kofta, dal, two kinds of vegetables, deep-fried okra strings, cold beets, chappatis, and a special Kumaoni-style yogurt (raita).

Earlier on Friday the group from EMU came to the school to have a tour. Immu and I each took a group of 12 around to the high school, gym, music department, and lower school.

Lunchtime Walk

We are staying in a guest room in the Quad at the school, which means I only have to go down a flight of stairs and around the corner to get to the office. It is very convenient, but not much exercise. So I have determined to walk daily, at least as far as Hanifl Center and back, preferably even more. That's about a mile and a half, taking me about a half hour. It's a very mild uphill on the way out, down on the way back. I've been doing this just before I have lunch. If I am energetic enough, I will also take a walk in the late afternoon.

This picture is a reminder of what the road and mountainside is like here. Not much level space!

Yesterday I remembered to take my camera along to capture one of my favorite sights -- the fabulous rhododendron trees that bloom here in March and April. These are much larger than the standard bushes we have in North America and the blooms are all pure red. It is near the end of the season.

Along the way I saw two cows who looked well cared for. Although they wander the hillside foraging all day, they do belong to someone. On the way back I saw a group of schoolboys who were moving the cows along with switches, presumably toward home -- or perhaps just for something interesting to do.