Flower

Weekend again, yay!

Yucca flowers

The few times I came across these flowers in Singapore, they were too high up and were out of my reach. It was thus delightful to find these flowering Yucca plants in a Botanic Garden in Australia that gave me full liberty to take as many pictures as I liked and allowed me to go close to the individual flowers to take a really close look.

Lotus

My friend whose lotus plant flowered for the first time sent me this image of the flower embracing the strong morning sunlight in his patio.

I got to see this same flower a day later in the later part of the afternoon when the sun had moved over to the other side of the house.

难得有机会看到这么漂亮的一朵鲜花。花开富贵。但是花也代表生命的幸福和愉快。

藏在我心里有许多梦

一天一天过

风一阵一阵吹来

我的梦就好像

一个云朵

被风推过地平线

差点不见了

还好有花有草

什么事没解决呢？

看！花开花谢，每天会从满好多阳光，快乐和希望。

Lilies

What can I say in the presence of such beauty
to borrow a phrase from a song my children sing
I am speechless because words are rendered useless
When the visual brain takes over so completely

Saraca flowers

Every year, a few times a year, these two Saraca trees in my neighbourhood park put on a a splendid show that is guaranteed to turn heads in their direction. Today was such a day, a beautiful sunny Sunday morning close to noon time. I am glad to have spent some precious time with these two trees enjoying and appreciating what they have decked out for our admiration. In the afternoon there was a heavy shower and most likely I would not get to see the flowers as they were on this post for a long time to come.

Water lilies

The lovely lotus flower from my previous post prompted me to look for these old photographs of water lilies in the Singapore Botanic Gardens that were taken years before the digital camera was invented. I had, and still have, the old Minolta SLR camera that produced these pictures. Nostalgia...

A tiny frog is king
or queen exploring his/her throne
What was it thinking
I wonder where it is totally at home

Lotus flower

A lotus flower bloomed in a friend's house. It was not a very big flower because the plant was grown in a small earthen pot filled with soil and water. My friend said that the flower was really at its best this morning at 11am when the sun was shining brightly. It was still very lovely by the time I got to see it even though it was half-closed. No matter, the lotus flower was a joy to behold and photograph.

Basil

One day, on impulse I bought a pot of basil at the market. After a few weeks, the basil plant withered and not wanting to lose it completely due to my ignorance and lack of knowledge about how to care for it, I gave it to my nephew who planted it in his garden. The plant thrived and multiplied under his care and I am relieved that the plant was rescued in time.

I am not exactly sure about the identity of this one here. I learned that there are quite a few species of basil. However looking at the images on the web and pictures in my books, the plant in the photo looks like it is a Holy basil (Ocimum sanctum).

I like the smell of the leaves and other than that I did not know what else to do with it. I know that it is a herb and a friend of mine once made a refreshing sandwich using fresh basil leaves from her garden in the filling. I think it is a herb that is more associated with western cooking than it is with Asian cooking.

Banana flower

I have taken several pictures of this type of banana flower before and I have always taken pains to focus and frame the pictures properly. This time, I had to sacrifice sharpness for the sake of preserving these fleeting moments during which a squirrel hopped onto the banana flower and turned it into food. There was of course no time to do any adjustments to my camera and I just snapped shot after shot because squirrels do not like to pose.

Protea

I was a little early for the debut of this large protea flower. Still, there was much to admire in the texture of this bud and the arrangement of the leaves.

Belated Valentine's Day post

If the world were a rose
let me be the petals
that fold around you

If I were the rose
let me slumber on
so that I will never fade
and love goes on forever

If we are to meet again
at another time and space
will the rose find us
perhaps, perhaps not
could love be eternal?

Summer flowers

Drawing on my stock of Australian flower photos again to spice up this blog with vibrant colours of nature.