Flower Photography

Flowers, sometimes called blooms or blossoms come in many shapes, sizes and colours. They are the seed-bearing part of a plant, consisting of reproductive organs that are typically surrounded by brightly coloured petals and a green calyx.

Some close-up photos of flowers taken with my cell-phone. They turned out all right.

Composition in photography is almost as varied as composition in music or words – melodic or atonal, safe or daring – and can enhance subject, theme, and style. Every photograph you take involves you in some compositional decision, even if this is simply where to set up the camera or when to press the button. - Michael Langford

“Do not hurry. You are only here for a short visit. So be sure to stop and smell the flowers.” - Walter Hagen

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Sansevierias

I was given two pots of sansevieria recently. Sansevieria is also commonly known as the snake plant, Saint George's sword, mother-in-law's tongue, and viper's bowstring hemp.

My friend assured me that they are easy to care for. Just give them some water once or twice a week, he said. In each pot, there were four to five plants grown very closely together. They look a bit crowded.

A month later, I noticed that in one of the pots, one of the plants was in a bad way. I didn’t know what happened. Maybe I gave it too much water, or maybe there was not enough space in the pot. Whatever it was, I needed to do something. I pulled out the plants, ditched the dying plant, separated the rest, and gave them each a new home.

Here are the re-potted plants. It’s been two months now and they seemed to have settled in nicely and have grown new leaves since. So, that is good.

Sansevieria plants are reported to be able to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide using the ‘crassulacean acid metabolism process’. “The microscopic pores on the plant's leaves, called the stomata, and used to exchange gases, are opened only at night to prevent water from escaping via evaporation in the hot sun.”

Sansevierias are mostly used as ornamental plants. They are also popular houseplants, due to their ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, and they are easy to care. They can survive with very little water and sun.

There are many cultivars of sansevieria. They differ in their variegated foliage with some having yellow or silvery-white stripes on the leaf margins.

Although sansevieria does bloom, I have never seen one that blooms. I guess they do not bloom very often. You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Go For A Walk

When you feel out of sorts or are plagued with problems, go for a walk. Walking will help take your mind off your problems. Sometimes, you get ideas and inspirations while walking. If you are lucky, you might get ideas on how to solve a particular problem that has been bothering you. If no ideas are forthcoming, at least you will feel refreshed and ready to look at the problems with a new mindset. Here are some photos taken when I was out on my walk.

Can you spot the tree lizard clinging to the trunk of the tree?

A young monitor lizard. It must have come on land to forage for food.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Expectations

We will always have expectations. It’s human nature. Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them. Even when someone tells you that he or she has no expectations, there are expectations, except that he may not be duly disappointed when things do not turn out the way he or she wanted.

Since it is not possible to have no expectations, the next best thing would be to lower our expectations. This way, we will not be terribly disappointed if things don’t go our way, and be pleasantly surprised if things turned out better than we expected. In the final analysis, we should not have too high expectations and should always be prepared for the worst.

If you expect to have it all, you will have nothing. Learn to be happy with nothing – and you will have it all! - Ernie J. Zelinski

Trade your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly. - Tony Robbins

A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes. - Mark Twain

The best things in life are unexpected – because there were no expectations. - Eli Khamarov

There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare. - Mary Renault

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Hibiscus Moscheutos

According to Wikipedia, Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, tropical, and semi-tropical regions throughout the world.

Hibiscus have dark green leaves; flowers are big, colourful, and trumpet-shaped, with colours ranging from white to pink, red, orange, yellow, peach. They bloom throughout the year. They are widely cultivated as ornamental plants for their showy flowers, or used as landscape shrubs.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Witty Truisms

Here are some humorous and witty quotes to start your week. They are funny, and at the same time, there is some truth in them. Keep a collection of the ones you like and go impress your friends with your wit and humour. You will find yourself very popular because we all like a witty person with a sense of humour.

May your days be filled with laughter.

If governments are involved in covering up the knowledge of aliens, then they are doing a much better job of it than they seem to do at anything else. - Stephen Hawking

A pat on the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results. - Bennett Cert

The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it. - Richard B. Sheridan

If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stock, not selling advice. - Norman Augustine

You have to be careful about being too careful. - Beryl Pfizer

If you want to be found, stand where the seeker seeks. - Sidney Lanier

Anybody who’s walking on clouds is apt to be carried away. - Franklin P. Jones

If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher. - Unknown

A penny will hide the biggest star in the universe if you hold it close enough to your eye. - Samuel Grafton

When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure. - Alice Hoffman

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Dinner at Ernest’s

Two days ago (Friday), a group of jolly good old fellows gathered at Ernest’s home for dinner. They were the usual suspects plus one. We had a new member who joined us for the first time. We hope to see her more often at our future meet-ups.

The group meets up about once a month and we take the opportunity to celebrate a birthday boy or girl in the month. Sometimes, we go to a restaurant, but most of the time, Ernest volunteered to cook for us. It is more relaxing celebrating at home.

Dinner was at 7pm, but those who were free can drop by anytime before that.

These were the night’s dishes prepared by Ernest. We had Chinese for a change.

Fried noodles with Chinese mushroom and ‘gu chai’ (garlic chives). Noodles represent longevity in Chinese culture. So, in a birthday meal, there is usually a dish of noodles of some sort.

Sweet potato rice porridge., and some dishes to go with the rice porridge.

Braised salted bean paste belly pork.

Claypot Seafood ‘Tang Hoon’. ‘Tang hoon’, also called vermicelli, or glass noodles is a light version of bee hoon, (vermicelli) typically made from some kind of starch.

Chicken fried with prawn paste.

Stir fry ‘Nai bai’, also known as milk cabbage.

After dinner, as usual, there were fruits and sweets before the mandatory birthday cake and singing of the birthday song.

Fruits - Longan, grapes, jackfruit and guava

Cholocates

Egg tarts

A 'pandan kaya' cake.

We all had a great time. The ‘party’ broke up after nine, and we made our way home with bellies full of food and laughter.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Self-motivation

Aphorisms teach life lessons not taught in school. They motivate and inspire. Reading quotes is good therapy too. It gives you an emotional and spiritual high, lifting your spirits immediately. Try it and see. The next time you are feeling down, or out of sorts, go to any quotes site and spend a few minutes going through the quotes. You will find your spirits uplifted immediately.

The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible. - David Viscott

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. - Ivern Ball

Do not rely completely on any other human being; however, dear. We meet life’s greatest tests alone. - Agnes Machphail

The big thing is not what happens to us in life – but what we do about what happens to us. - George H. Allen

Difficult things take a long time; the impossible takes a little longer. - Unknown

It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment. - Naomi Williams

Don’t give up. Normally it is the last key on the ring which opens the door. - Paulo Coelho

Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life. - Marcus Aurelius

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars. - Og Mandino

I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing. - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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Fame

What is fame? Is fame really important? Is it worth the sacrifice?

To be famous may seem glamorous, but the price is high. When you are famous, the first thing you lose is your privacy. You will be constantly under the spotlight, under scrutiny from the public. Expectations of you are high, and you live a life to please people you don’t know, people for whom you care little.

If you are lucky, you will be famous for a bit longer than others, while the fame slowly fizzles out. But eventually, someone will come along and replace you. Or you could easily fall from grace overnight, because of one wrong word or action.

Ultimately, fame is nothing but an empty name. In reality, there's no substance to it.

The fame of great men ought to be judged always by the means they used to acquire it. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Fame and tranquillity can never be bedfellows. - Michel De Montaigne

It is just the little touches after the average man would quit that make the master’s fame. - Orison Swett Marden

Fame is a bright flower, but weeds abound mostly around it. - Edward Counsel

Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. - Victor Hugo

I think that's the thing about fame or any notoriety. It's an illusion that you don't have to play by the rules any more, the rules of life. - Tom Waits

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Clouds

Clouds are water vapour mixed with bits of dust, ice or sea salt making them look like fluffy cotton. Clouds are constantly on the move. Propelled by the wind, and influenced by sunlight, they move across the sky creating scenes like a painter painting on an empty canvas.

People do not look up to the sky often enough to notice the changing clouds from moment to moment. Cloud-spotting is a cheap, and entertaining pastime.

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storms, but to add colour to my sunset sky.” - Rabindranath Tagore

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Life Lessons

Life’s lessons are passed down from the sages, gurus, philosophers, and the wise men before us who had experienced and understood what life is all about. They come to us in the form of aphorisms, maxims, proverbs and quotes. They are valuable lessons. If we could learn from them, we will be able to get a head start in life. They would be a great help to us in the Mastery of Life

No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don’t ask questions remain clueless through their lives. - Neil deGrasse Tyson

The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. - Ralph Marsto

He who believes in nobody knows that he himself is not to be trusted. - Berthold Auerbach

Yesterday is gone and took away its tale. Today we must live a fresh story again. - Rumi

When someone does something wrong, don’t forget all the things they did right. - Unknown

Will, without reason, is a blind man's motion; will, against reason, is a madman's motion. - Benjamin Whichcote

The man who has anticipated the coming of troubles takes away their power when they arrive. - Seneca

If we can once believe that success is possible, success becomes possible. - Frank Chapman

He who is firm in will moulds the world to himself. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. - Buddha

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Golden Pothos

Golden Pothos – commonly known here as ‘money plant’ is a popular houseplant. The plant has a multitude of common names including Ceylon creeper, hunter’s robe, ivy arum, silver vine etc... However, the correct botanical name is Epipremnum aureum.

Pothos are non-flowering vine plants. They have attractive waxy, heart-shaped green leaves with yellow variegation. Easy to grow and care for, they are touted as one of top ten indoor plants. Apparently, this plant is also efficient at removing indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde, trichloroethene, touen, xylene, and benzene.

People believed that money plants are good luck plants, and growing money plants at home will attract energy of wealth and prosperity. Perhaps that is why you see them in offices a lot.

Growing money plants is easy. They can grow in water alone. However, they do much better in soil. Cut a small section of the plant and stick it in a glass or jar of water. When they start growing roots, you can transfer them to the pot. Once they settle in their new environment, all they need is water and a bit of light. When the vines grow too long, just give it a trim, or grow new plants from the cuttings all over again.

These are some of my plants. They are one of my favourite plants because they are nice and easy to care for.

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