It was to be an ethereal autumn, to be nestled by the banks of Lake Towada, in Aomori, Japan, and to experience the beauty of Oirase Gorge and its surrounds. And indeed if wishing to be in an ethereal moment was to be desirious of its eternity, then it was surely an outstanding …… but…
Nature, Posts
The Aerophytic Orchids in June
When the aerophytic orchids bloomed in March in tropical Singapore (where there isn’t really a Spring season), they were besetted with the approaching parched and dry sunny weather. Yet Mother Nature gives as it takes. On a mild Sunday morning in June, an overnight tunderstorm has refreshed the air, moistened the flora, and blown down…
Persons, Places, Posts, The Arts
“Country Doctor” (1948) by W. Eugene Smith
W. Eugene Smith was known as the pioneer of photo-journalism. The photo-essay above of Dr Ernest Ceriani, a country doctor in Colorado was widely acknowledged as an original journalistic form. One of the most vivid images shows Ceriani looking exhausted in a kitchen, having performed a Caesarian section during which both mother and baby died.…
Nature, Posts
The Aerophytic Orchids in Tropical Spring
The aerophytic orchids that hang by threads of weathered linen on the peacock tree is blooming in profusion. Meanwhile, the peacock tree, feeling parched, clipped, and facing its own existential threats, is not providing enough to shield and relieve the orchids’ entitled blooms. Sun-damage! The bottom-fishers bloom with abandonement. While seeds fall to the ground…
Nature
Sunbird on a Peacock Tree
Panasonic GX8 Olympus 275 mm F6.7 1/640 sec September 2023
Books, Complex & Simple, Persons, Places, Posts, The Arts
The Genesee Diary – A Reflection on the Monastic Life by Fr Henri Nouwen (1976)
I chanced upon the Genesee Diary in a Thriftbooks store somewhere in my travels. It was owned by an ‘Anne Green’, scribbled in pencil on a discreet corner of the first page. The cover was tattered and a little worse for wear, an added attraction to a yet unread book with a strange title and…
Nature, Posts
My Singapore Sunbird
The Singapore olive-backed nectar-loving sunbird that visits my garden is bright and chirpy in the morning. That’s why she’s a sunbird. Her effervescent presence permeates the early morning humidity as she announces her presence on the ginger. You can tell it’s a she from her upperpart olive-green plumage and completely yellow underparts. The juvenile sunbird…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Posts
Sundays in July 2023
These July days will be the hottest in 100,000 years. Thankfully, we have the flora, fauna and the occasional thundery showers, to remind us of the eternity of Creation. Singapore Garden. Panasonic Lumix G9. M.Zuiko 75-300mm July 2023.
Complex & Simple, Nature, Places, Posts
Spring is Black – Travels through the Aso-Kuju Highlands
Spring is Black, Summer is Blue, Autumn is Red and Winter is White. Thus read the colours of the seasons in the 1770 book “Kuju-sanki”, which describes the landscape of the Kuju Mountain Range, its people, lifestyle, and the 260-year history of Mt Kuju Hakausuiji-temple Hokkein, which was a site of mountain worship (From the…
Complex & Simple, Nature, Places, Posts
We too, are Sowers
Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell…