The epiphytic pink phalaenopsis orchids make another guest appearance this New Year in the north garden. Catching them before they open, one is reminded of a storm trooper – the protective helmet, the hostile snarl, and a eye for danger, but certainly dressed in beautiful regal purple with the deep yellow stamen within. (Lumix DMC-GX85, Olympus…
The little Catholic Church at Tianxiang, Taroko Gorge comes attached with a hostel – basic but clean. Amidst the lovely poinsettia, the chinese Prayer of St Francis, lies a lovely Church and the Christmas Crib.
The two-hour express train journey from Taipei Main Station via the Mountain Line as it emerges and hugs the north-eastern coast into Hualien City is followed by an hour long bus-ride into Tianxiang village deep within the Taroko Gorge National Park. Here the slide-show reveals the kaleidoscope of the mellowing and deepening colors of the…
Jiufen is a small disused gold mining town in northern Taiwan, approximately 90 minutes east of Taipei by train and bus.
A pair of Indian Ringneck Parakeets have been visiting my garden daily for a long time, feeding on the pod seeds of the yellow Dwarf Peacock or Caesalpinia pulcherrima – but it is on Christmas Eve that we finally encounter them (and photographed one), as the worries of the world is set aside, to spend…
How tiny and delicate, this pink peacock flower is as it soak in the verdent garden air, after a tropical downpour. The raindrops linger for as long as possible, clinging to life for as long as they can, before their inevitable recycle into the void of the metaphysical. Eternal has been brought into the Present…
The Japanese enjoy the colors of autumn like no others. Here, amidst the slender trees and the autumn forests of the valleys and hills of Takao in northern Kyoto, visitors stop for a hot udon meal on their way up to the Jingo-ji temple. A missed stopped for an intended visit to Roanji Temple brought…
The South Garden offers great joy and peace because it is a garden we seldom explore in a microscopic way, but takes in on occasions its seemingly endless capacity for growth and sustenance, supporting the flora and fauna that comes to participate in its life. It is an incidental place – of blue skies…
You don’t have to finish First; You just have to finish Together