It is spring in Melbourne and I am not there. I had a taste for it before I left for India. The japonica was flowering and there was a sprinkling of blossom on the plum trees and wild prunus. I wonder if the lilac has bloomed and finished. It is now nearly the end of September. Did the poppies bloom? And the wild azalea? Have the forget-me-nots and the borage covered the garden? Have the roses at Ivanhoe survived the lack of care? What about the persimmon? Are the hollyhocks good this year? And the grevillea, correa and salvia that I planted only last Autumn? It may be too late to plant the tomato seedlings from Lyn. Maybe I will be back home in time to see the quince bloom. I am making up for my lost spring by creating small gardens in the balconies of my place in Dharamshala and my sister's house in Delhi.