Ushering in the Year of The Water Dragon

My garden has a new look to usher in  the new Lunar year. It is the year of the Water Dragon, and my fish pond has a fresh new look, as the water element plays a prominent role, I think, this year. No, I'm no Feng Shui expert, I'm just showing off my pond which has had a spring cleaning!

The bed of mixed perennials which I had last year has now been replaced with a long, wavy flower bed reminiscent of the curves of the dragon, winding its way from the Eastern wall at the entrance, towards the pond! Now that sounds quite professional, but that's just my imagination at work.



It is a good time in my garden, with the bright yellow, orange, lilac and mauve of other  blooms adding to the festive cheer!

                                  The reds were putting on a show, too!

And the canna lilies were just so obliging, turning up in all colours! Each time a new colour blooms, I feel like giving the flower a huge hug.

On my patio, the flowers were bursting with a joyful, springtime spirit!


 



And the view from my sunroom, mostly mellow...

with some brilliant accents!






 

Inside the sun room, some vandas make their presence felt.

More blooms to flaunt when I post another feature of my garden all dolled up for the festivities.
But a peep at my grapes in the backyard...they've nicely ripened, for the new year. Sigh...

my garden haven

malaise's relief,soul's music

rapture to my heart

Linking to:

Outdoor Wednesday
Watery Wednesday
Share The Joy Thursday
Skywatch Friday
Sensational Haiku Wednesday 
Poetry Picnic 
Poets Rally 
Haiku My Heart

Fertilizer Friday

Macro Friday

Weekend Flowers

Macro Flowers Saturday

Today's Flowers

Macro Monday

Mosaic Monday

Weekend Reflections
Haiku Heights
Scenic Sunday
Shadow Shot

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A Photography Field Trip in Melaka

While out on  a field trip recently during a photography workshop on "Aperture", I took the opportunity to shoot more than just photos with a small depth of field, though that was what most of us were more interested to do to show off our skills. For someone like me who has been relying so much on Intelligent Auto, this course was an eye-opener, so to speak. I actually gained some confidence in using the manual functions of my camera. It is indeed necessary for me to make a resolution not to rely on all things 'auto'. I need to give my brain something to work on!

resolve to learn all
scour the scale from rusty brain
till mind shines brightly

                               

 It was a fun field trip as we went to the public garden of the Town  Council Complex. The marigold-celosia-periwinkle combination worked well in the garden design they had there.

Here are some of my favourite shallow depth of field shots...

1. 

These shots with a greater depth of field, using smaller aperture settings allow us to see the photo in focus from the foreground, all the way to the horizon. See, I was  paying attention. Don't ask me about shutter speed, though. Haven't learned that yet.

These other photos sort of came out crazy...definitely not to be assessed as assignment photos. Some were focused on the background, some did not have any focus at all and many were out of focus! Despite all that, I sort of like them.

And some of the shots turned out great after some tweaks!

we travel so far

when what we seek is so near

homespun silk seems coarse 

Linking to:

Outdoor Wednesday
Watery Wednesday
Share The Joy Thursday
Skywatch Friday
Sensational Haiku Wednesday (Prompt : Resolve)
Poetry Picnic (Week 20)
Poets Rally (Week 59)
Haiku My Heart

Fertilizer Friday

Macro Friday

Weekend Flowers

Macro Flowers Saturday

Today's Flowers

Macro Monday

Mosaic Monday

Weekend Reflections
Haiku Heights (Prompt: Travel)
Scenic Sunday
Shadow Shot

My dancing hibiscus

I've been collecting hibiscus (mainly the double variety) and have a number of different colours. The double variety appeals to me not only because they are bigger, and fabulously showy, but also because they are great as subjects for photography. Their petals appear to have motion...and the flower seems to be doing a dance routine each time I get close to them with my camera.

This one is decidedly showy!

See what I mean...this one just won't keep still...she is swaying to the music of a waltz.

A Viennese Waltz!

This ballerina has just done a pirouette and is about to take a bow.

The single hibiscus is more sedate, this one is looking down in a pensive mood.

This one is looking up, as if posing for a glamour shot.

Pure and demure... 

Here's a double in action, wings spread out, ready to cha cha cha!

I like this rhumba posture, don't you?




This is a flamenco, hot and fiery!




Smokin' hot colours of the samba!





She's dressed for dancing, but could she be a wallflower after all?




 

memories of a shy dancer
(a tanka form)
shy dancer looks down
twists the programme in her hands
music fills her soul
 longs to step onto the floor
some one asks her, she shrinks back

alone by the wall
heart pounding to the rhythm
feet crossed, motionless
night creeps on midst revelry
trapped in bubble, she breaks free




(Haiku for Sensational Haiku Wednesday)
 time of timid youth
fettered by painful reserve 
prepare to blossom

Linking to:
GBBD

Share the Joy Thursday

Fertilizer Friday

Macro Friday

Weekend Flowers

Macro Flowers Saturday

Today's Flowers

Macro Monday

Mosaic Monday

Poets Rally (Week 58)

Poetry Picnic (Nostalgia, Memories)

Sensational Haiku Wednesday (Prompt- Preparation )

A Sour-grape Story... Part 2

For those who might have read my post on my grapevine, oh, I don't mean that figurative grapevine, I  mean literally a vine with grapes growing on them, entitled, "The Sweetest of Gardens" you might be interested to know that, that said grapevine has, after being uprooted from my garden and transplanted in my backyard, finally flowered and fruited, after a year's inactivity. This is indeed something to shout about, as I had almost given up on the vine, and only occasionally fed it. I hardly looked to check if it was flowering. So it was the sweetest surprise when someone visiting my backyard pointed out the grapes...there were five bunches! They were not the big, luscious variety you might get at the supermarket, but nonetheless, they were the finest-looking grapes in my neighbourhood. I'm not bragging, it is a fact. Of course, I have to admit though, that no one else plants grapes in my tropical neighbourhood.

Take a look at my tropical grapes:



Perfect in all its imperfection. Having battled against the odds of unsuitable climate, environment and soil...all wrong for it to survive, survive it did, and bore fruit!



Some of the bunches look a tad weather- beaten, but I have no doubt, the worst is over for them. They are certainly bigger than they were before I transplanted the vine. Now all that's left for them to do is...to ripen into dark red grapes.



Oh, and one more thing...they have to do their best to try to be sweeter than they were before. As I had explained in the first of the grape posts, this vine produced really sour grapes. Mind you, they had  a wonderful burgundy colour when ripe, but they were perfectly...sour!



A haiku to pay tribute to my vine is in order:

Ode to Sour Grapes

triumph over malice 

covert mysteries of vine

sour grapes turn sweet

So, here they are, reigning over the other fruit trees in my backyard. The other plants seem to be either hibernating, or sulking about being over-shadowed by the grape-vine. I really should turn my attention to the passion fruit vines (passiflora edulis) which require pruning and pampering, the mulberry bushes have not produced berries at all, the kumquat bushes are all leaves, and the list goes on.





As for now, I shall dream on, in anticipation of the day when my sour grapes turn sweet.

Life

it might not be 

a bed of roses

or

a bowl of cherries

but 

life is what you make of it

and

if you can make lemonade 

when

 life throws you lemons

then 

I can make sweet wine 

out of

my sour grapes

they say

make hay while the sun shines

and 

look for the silver lining

which

you can find in every cloud

I say

I'll take that bowl of cherries

and

live and laugh at it all

Rosie Gan 

Dec 2011

Linking to:
Share the Joy Thursday
Fertilizer Friday
Macro Friday
Weekend Flowers
Macro Flowers Saturday
Today's Flowers
Macro Monday
Mosaic Monday
Poets Rally
Poetry Picnic
Haiku Heights(Prompt-covert)
Sensational Haiku Wednesday (Prompt-malice  )