Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Swimming

Swimming is an exercise which has many benefits. It is a low-impact exercise suitable for all fitness levels, reducing the risk of joint injuries. It improves coordination, balance, posture and flexibility. It relaxes, is therapeutic, and in the tropics here, it is also a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day.

Swimming is an exercise that is popular as an all-around body developer. It is a great full-body workout that uses arms, chest, shoulders, stomach muscles, and legs. Like all exercises, swimming releases endorphins in our brain. These hormones make us feel good.

I have been swimming more these days since finding that brisk walking is getting a bit too stressful for my back. Luckily there is a swimming pool that is within walking distance from my home. Although there is a bus going to the pool, I make it a habit to take the half an hour walk there, swim for an hour and take the half hour walk home. I think that is plenty of exercise for a day.

The swimming pool is usually rather quiet in the afternoon. There were times when I had the whole pool to myself for the good part of an hour. During such times, I feel like a VIP swimming in the empty pool with half a dozen lifeguards looking out for me.

However, the pool does get used. In the mornings, it is open to seniors for water aerobics. The pool is also opened to the schools nearby for conducting swimming lessons for the students. Private swimming instructors rent the place to conduct swimming classes for their students. And of course, nearby residents used the pool too. It is just that the period between 1pm and 4pm is a bit quieter.

Another great thing about the pool is that seniors, like yours truly, get to use it for free any time of the day, as many times in a day.

A nice size pool.

This is a children's pool, and further out is a wave pool.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Monday, 28 April 2025

Humorous Wit

Laughter truly is good medicine. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain. It's linked with improved cardiovascular health, pain relief, and immune system functioning.

Take a look at today’s selection of witty aphorisms. I hope they make you laugh. Have a great week ahead and may your days be filled with laughter.

If you can keep your head about you when all about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation. - Rose Kennedy

You can’t judge the ability of a doctor by the amount of praise the undertakers give him. - Evan Esar

There is a very easy way to return from a casino with a small fortune: go there with a large one. - Jack Yelton

It’s important to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out. - Rick Radebaugh

Everybody wants to help Save The Earth, but nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes. - Tom McMahon

If there were no bad people there would be no good lawyers. - Charles Dickens

Many people lose their tempers merely from seeing you keep yours. - Unknown

If you keep your mouth shut, you will never put your foot in it. - Austin O'Malley

By all means marry; if you get a good wife you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one you’ll become a philosopher. - Socrates

Life, in my estimation, is a biological misadventure that we terminate on the shoulders of six strange men whose only objective is to make a hole in one with you. - Fred Allen

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Saturday, 26 April 2025

Macro Flower Shots

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.

Flowers add colour to the landscape and scenery, brightening and livening up a place. Fragrance from flowers fill the atmosphere with a nice scent. They are said to calm one’s nerves, raised one’s spirits, and helps in reducing stress levels. That is why, sometimes, walking into a garden, one’s mood and spirits are immediately lifted.

Here are some close up shots of flowers taken with my cell phone. They turned out quite well, don’t you think?

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” - Ernst Haas

“Did you know… that when you walk past a flower, whether it be in somebody’s garden or on a vacant hillside, the flower will always smile at you. The most polite way to respond, I’ve been told, is to cheerfully return the smile.” - Ron Atchison

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Thursday, 24 April 2025

Old Singapore Photos

Some black and white photos of old Singapore. Images are courtesy of Facebook Pages ‘The Long and Winding Road’, ‘Heritage SG Memories’ and '十里之外'.

Chinatown in the 1970s
Street Hawkers
Yio Chu Kang 1790s

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Tuesday, 22 April 2025

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum, aka ‘Queen of the Night’

The Epiphyllum Oxypetalum is one of many varieties of the night blooming Cereus. Because of their big showy white flowers, they are also known as Queen of the night, Princess of the Night or Lady Cereus. Some called the flower a ‘majestic water lily’.

The flowers have a nice fragrance and are almost always white. Unfortunately, they only bloom in the early evening, and by the next morning the flowers have wilted. Hence the name ‘Night Blooming Cereus’. You have to stay up to see them in full bloom.

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum are known as some of the easiest houseplants to grow. They are low maintenance plants. Give them water and you can pretty much leave them alone to grow. They are okay with sunlight, but not the whole day. Otherwise, they will turn yellow and look sickly. However, they need to have space. Their ‘branches’ can grow to quite some length. You can propagate them from ‘stems/branches’. Just cut a section of the ‘branch’ and stick them in the soil. Give them time to settle down and they will start growing.

I have been growing Epiphyllum Oxypetalum for some years now.

These were cuttings from the mother plant. There are about half a dozen of them. Unfortunately, only a few look to be healthy. The rest, although surviving, are kind of stringy. I will see what happens in the coming days before deciding what to do with them.

It was just over a year since I propagated them. I was rewarded with a single bloom from one of the branches last week. I was delighted. I am always very pleased to see them bloom. I followed their blooming process and took pictures of them right up till before I went to bed.

A young bud.

The branches were a bit dusty due to the renovation next door.
This was the bud in the early evening, getting ready to bloom. Blooming typically happens after sunset and it will be fully bloomed by midnight.
The flowers are white, large – some described them as flashy, and have a nice fragrance.
The short-lived flower wilted by morning.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Monday, 21 April 2025

Cheeky Humour

Always laugh when you can. Laughter might not solve your problems, but it will help to take the edge off your difficult moments. Life is more bearable when you laugh. So, laugh whenever you can. And it doesn’t matter if you revel in the coarsest puns or the raunchiest jokes. As long as we keep your sense of humour, you keep the doom and gloom at bay.

Enjoy today’s selection of humour. You might want to remember the ones you like and share them with your friends. We all like to be around people with a good sense of humour, and people who can make us laugh. Be that someone to brighten up someone’s day; be that someone to make people laugh. You will be very popular.

May your days be filled with laughter.

I’ve come to look upon death the same way I look upon root-canal work. Everyone else seems to get through it all right, so it couldn’t be too difficult for me. - Joseph Heller

If a woman is upset, hold her and tell her how beautiful she is. If she starts to growl, retreat to a safe distance and throw chocolate at her. - Unknown

When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to Heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven. - Unknown

Girls do not dress for boys. They dress for themselves and, of course, each other. If girls dressed for boys they’d just walk around naked at all times. - Betsey Johnson

In childhood, we yearn to be grown-ups. In old age, we yearn to be kids. It just seems that all would be wonderful if we didn't have to celebrate our birthdays in chronological order. - Robert Brault

I was depressed... I was suicidal. As a matter of fact, I would have killed myself but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian, and if you kill yourself they make you pay for the sessions you miss. - Woody Allen

How do those who contend that woman is the intellectual inferior of man account for the fact that she can give a man a piece of her mind 365 days in the year and still have a huge reserve supply? - Robert Elliot Gonzales

Never underestimate how much assistance, how much satisfaction, how much comfort, how much soul and transcendence there might be in a well-made taco and a cold bottle of beer. - Tom Robbins

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Sunday, 20 April 2025

Blame

It is human nature to blame. We blame the environment, the circumstances, the people, and anything else we can think of to protect ourselves. Instead of taking responsibility, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.

Although it feels better to point a finger at someone else, we really should not be blaming. Blame is of no use. Whatever has happened has happened. No amount of blame will help. We should look to where the problem or mistake was and rectify it. And if it was our fault, we should own up to it.

The search for someone to blame is easy. Rightly or not, you can always find someone to blame. But the truth is, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Even so, we shouldn’t be too harsh on ourselves. We are not perfect. We make mistakes and we probably have to pay for the mistakes. So, instead of blaming ourselves, we should learn from our mistakes.

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy. - Wayne Dyer

You can’t blame your opponents for applying a strategy that beats your brains out with regularity. - Bill Clinton

The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Blame is just a lazy person's way of making sense of chaos. - Douglas Coupland

Some blame themselves to extort the praise of contradiction from others. - Tyron Edwards

It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself. - Epictetus

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Saturday, 19 April 2025

Motivating and Inspiring Yourself

Keep positive at all times. Hope for the best, be prepared for the worst, and accept what comes. There is a reason why things are the way they are. It might be our doing, it might not. You might not know or understand it now, but one day, when you have the opportunity to look back on life, everything will become clear. You will see that it is the process of dependent origination in Life. Meanwhile, hold your head high, keep smiling, and keep moving forward.

Here are some inspirational thoughts to bear in mind for occasions when things are not going the way you want, or hoped them to be.

Luck can often mean simply taking advantage of a situation at the right moment. It is possible to ‘make’ your luck by being always prepared. - Michael Korda

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. - Unknown

We must beat the iron while it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure. - John Dryden

It is no disgrace to start all over. It is usually an opportunity. - George Matthew Adams

Use the losses and failures of the past as a reason for action, not inaction. - Charles J. Givens

When we are flat on our backs there is no way to look but up. - Roger Babson

Never put on airs when successful. Always remain calm and composed when disappointed. - Unknown

We learn and grow and are transformed not so much by what we do but by why and how we do it. - Sharon Salzberg

It is the experience of living that is important, not searching for meaning. - Unknown

Even if the doctor does not give you a year, even if he hesitates about a month, make one brave push and see what can be accomplished in a week. - Robert Louis Stevenson

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Friday, 18 April 2025

Adenium Obesum aka Desert Rose

Adenium obesum aka known as Desert Rose is a popular houseplant and bonsai in temperate regions. This flowering succulent plant also goes by many names such as Impala Lily, Mock Azalea, Sabi Star, and Dwarf Bottle Tree. The locals here call it ‘Flower of Prosperity’, or ‘Prosperity Flower’.

They are well known for their beautiful pink blooms. The flowers are trumpet-shaped, red and pink, with a whitish blush outward of the throat.

Adenium Obesum is actually quite an easy plant to grow and relatively low maintenance once they are established. They like the sun, but not too much water. Apparently, they can live for years.

They are also very easy to propagate. Just cut off a section of the plant and stick it into a pot. Give it some water. Once it takes root and settles into the new environment, it will reward you with beautiful blooms, like these in the photos.

The sap of the Adenium obesum plant is toxic. They are said to be used as arrow poison throughout Africa for hunting large game.

This is one of a few plants we grow at home. This plant grew from a cutting from an older plant. I had trimmed it back a couple of times already because they are grwing too big for the pot. I haven’t decided what to do with it this time, whether I should let it grow, or should I trim it again.

There were thirteen flowers in this bloom. One flower will bloom each day, and it last about a week. By the time the last one bloom, the earlier blooms would have fallen off.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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