The vege in my garden...

I love gardening. During my childhood I used to plant vegetable near our house and enjoy watching it grows. As time passes by I became interested in agriculture and wanted to study agriculture. I was dreaming of going to Australia to study at one of the colleges there. The reason of why I had chosen Australia was because at that time there were ship that ply the Kuantan - Perth route and some of my friends did went to Australia by ship. Besides it was the cheapest way of going overseas at that time. Traveling by plane was but a dream which most folks could never afford. Anyway to cut this story short, my dream never came about. I did not go to Australia to study Agriculture but start working in a government agency to make a living.

During all those years I kept learning about gardening and would plant vegetables and flowers to enjoy seeing the process of growing. My experiences in the Boy Scout movement while camping in the woods and learning the way of nature made me understand the best way of dealing with plants. And that give me more knowledge on of how best to handle nature and get better result in gardening.

I have started a small vegetable garden behind my house and the plant has start growing. Some has even start producing little fruits. It is really nice to see these plants grow from tiny seeds into plants that flowers and producing vegetable. Above are the flowers and baby Bitter Gourde and Zukini or Japanese cucumber that are growing in my little garden.

My kind of gardening is more for recreational purposes and whatever gain I get is a bonus, like getting to enjoy fresh vegetables that you grow it yourself.

Have a nice day.

Life.. moving on...

The Ramadan and the Eid Fitri has passed. With that life is back to normal with the normal ritual of breakfast, lunch and Dinner and the occasional tea with friends. Asmah my spouse has been under the weather lately so the kids and grand kids told her to skip the ritual of cooking that she love to do every morning. She has been an active woman all the years and for not been allow to cook, it was not easy for her. Anyhow as to not allowing her to get bored, she did a little cooking with the help of the eldest grand kid. The eldest grand kid has just graduated from the IB program and out of school for now, waiting to continue her study when the semester starts. Other than that the Ramadan was beautiful. Off and on the kids and grand kids was around for Buka Puasa. Then came Eid Fitri on September 10, Lin our youngest daughter came back from Singapore and with that the whole family was around to celebrate the Eid with the usual fun and joy. It was really nice to have everyone around and it felt good to have all the loved one around at this juncture of our golden age. Like most folks in their golden age the kids are on their own now and the house is left to both of us. Where once we hear the cry and laughter of kids, now the atmosphere has changed but as usual we managed to keep ourselves busy by taking the happening a day a time. If we felt like going out to have lunch or dinner or just to shop we would just go to the nearest Mall, like the KLCC, the Great Eastern Mall or the Pavilion. At time we would go as far as the Curve at Damansara where Ikea is nearby. I love Ikea for the innovative ideas of home furnishing and most of the time came home buying new items for the home.

Anyway now that I have most of what I wanted of Ikea, I now concentrate on quality wooden furniture for my love of things made of wood. Just a few days before Eid I bought a teak side table made in Bali. It has a carving of Banana leaf on the top; making it such a unique masterpiece of furniture. I had wanted to buy this table when I first saw it but it was expensive. So I kept postponing buying it and until two weeks ago when I saw one in the furniture shops nearby. It was not on displayed but put up as one of the decorative item. And it was on offer with a special price tag. A few days earlier I had bought two collapsible wooden stools and was hoping to buy that table on my next visit. I told myself that if that table is mine it would still be there when I came for it. Sure enough when I went to have a look, it was still there. I ask how much he would give me for that. The salesperson whom I have befriended for my frequent visit there told me that if I wanted it, I could have it for a special price, sort of an Eid gift to me. With that price I decided to buy it and above is that exclusive teak side table; now my priceless possession. It is an old saying in our culture about furniture, in that the furniture in the showroom awaits its owner. In this instance that furniture has chosen me as its owner. With that folks I am now the proud owner of this piece of a quality teak side table.

Have a nice day.

Grandparents' Answering Machine...

Folks, I got this on the email. In these days of electronic the function of the phone has change our lives. This may happen when you call your parent's home. BTW I am still using the same old landlines phone and have yet to go totally electronic. Anyway read on...


"Good morning!

At present we are not at home, but please leave your message after you hear the beep.

beeeeeppp ...

If you are one of our children, dial 1 and then select an option from 1 to 8:

If you need us to stay with the children, press 1

If you want to borrow the car, press 2

If you want us to wash your clothes and iron them, press 3

If you want the grandchildren to sleep here tonight, press 4

If you want us to pick up the kids at school, press 5

If you want us to prepare a meal for Sunday or to have it delivered to your home, press 6

If you want to come here to eat, press 7

If you need money, press 8

If you are going to invite us to dinner, or to take us to the theater, start talking ;
we can hear you!"

Have a nice day folks.

Of images; the Peaches...

For today just enjoy this photography of mine; the Peaches, an imported fruits best in the can rather than the fresh one. It does made great dessert after a hearty meals. I just love it.

Have a nice day. [Please click on image to enlarge]

Happy Eid Fitri...

Selamat Hari Raya [Happy Eid Fitri] folks. May we continue to enjoy peace and prosperity together.

Above is the scene of my little garden.

Have a nice day.

[Note: This year the Eid Fitri fall on September 10,2010]

Just what's left of a tree...

I took the above image at the Taman Ampang Hilir  [Park] recently. It attracts me simply because I love trees and this one has just been cut down to its stump. From the look of it the tree is still healthy. Probably it has broke down due to strong wind and had to be cut down for the safety of passerby who jog around the jogging path. Anyways folks just enjoy this image which would remind us the important of plants to our lives. Have a nice day.

The Awapuhi-ula-ula in my garden...

When I first got this plant which is already flowering, I thought that it would not be easy to grow and multiply it to get more plants and flowers. I did not even know what this plant is call but love the flower anyway. I posted an image of the flower in my blog. A friend who is now living in Bali read the posting and wrote to me saying that this flower is native to Hawaii and that it is call Awapuhi-ula-ula. Since the weather here is somewhat like that of Hawaii except for the humidity, the plant seem to grow well and blooming all the time, giving us that gorgeous flower as seen in this posting.

As usual with me after the first flower wilted and what left are some new shoots I decided to plant the new shoots and nurture it with care. One thing that I had learned in gardening is that one must nurture the plant with loving care. It is that extra loving care that would later on translate into a gorgeous bloom for one to enjoy. While it grows I just enjoy the green of this plant and was hoping that it would eventually blossom. And after a few months I began to see the center of the plant turn from the usual green color to a light red color. It does not look like a flower but just an extension of the leaves. So I kept nurturing it and at the same time feed it with the normal fertilizer that I had used for the other plants. Eventually after months of waiting it blossomed into a flower red in color as seen in the image above. It continues to grow and it stayed a healthy flower for months at time.

With that first experience I decided to plant more of the shoots, one in each pot. Over times I began to have more and more pots of this plant at various stages of growth. What is interesting about this plant is that the flower never seems to fades away and it lasted for two to three months. So by staggering planting the young shoots I managed to get to see the flower blooming all the year around. So now it is common to see this flower bloom all the time in my little garden. On the left are the smaller plant that is still growing and yet to flower. During this period of its growth it kept the surrounding always green; a refreshing looks indeed.

Have a nice day. [Please click image to enlarge]