literature
A tour to Swan Lake
What are they staring at? Is it something interesting or something so eyes catching to them?
Yes! The swan lake. You are looking at the lake as old as the Gardens. It was built in 1866, since than the charming beautiful memories start. There is an island in the lake planted with Nibung palms, these has to be the most remarkable and timeless iconic in Singapore Botanic Gardens.
The Banyan tree is old enough to be our great grand father, and also wise enough to play the old garden song.
Though feeding is not allowed, as long as fishes and the feeder is happy, like-wise the cameraman.
This wooden swan sculpture has been there for many decades but surprisingly; they just couldn’t get out of this place!
There are 2 white mute swans from Amsterdam, always there be an ambassador, gliding like a sub-marine, shinning like a chandelier.
Feed me! Feed me! How could you bear not to feed me?
I’m so lovely and charming bright!
They are not lonely at all
Today is the last day of Qing Ming festival. According to Chinese believes, Qing Ming duration stretch over 20 days that is before and after 10 days of the actual Festive season.
The Choa Chu Kang Cemetery is the biggest cemetery in Singapore, located at west side of the island that takes approximately an hour to reach from my home.
This is the only burial cemetery left in operation but this also proves that many friends will be known in this special community.
My ancestors are somewhere there, the rest are their friends, a group of long living friends!
This Golden Shower tree is a very special friend of everybody. He is the Guard man of this senior home as well as the directional sign.
Some, they like to wave at you and show you the colorful smile over this windy season!
Some, they prefer stay green for lifetime on your head!
Some like us; be a green follower!
And some are so sweet and beautiful!
Some are very union, putting effort to get close to each other and cheer up the environment.
That’s why I’m glad they are not lonely at all…
Crouching Tiger and the Hidden Dragon Pt 2
One blogger put up a request to me for more pictures of these wooden tree stump sculptures displayed at the Green Pavilion, Singapore Botanic Gardens.
In fact, some of the sculptures were also placed as an art deco at the lobby. This is the one placed as a backdrop of the counter. No visitors would dare to confront the counter staff with the three dragons behind them. Perhaps, visitors may have mistaken them for the real ones and wonder why the dragons are let loose from their enclosures.
Do you fancy two gigantic lizards crawling on top of your head?
A miniature Godzilla having a good life here!
I still can’t figure out what animal is this? Could it be an eagle?
Is that real? Is up to you to judge!
Are these pumpkins? What are they doing here after the harvest, waiting for the next Halloween?
Just relax and take a sit, while you enjoy the works of art with our hands, provided by nature.
“Mom, wake up!”
These are the words from a three-months old elephant calf trying to wake up his dead mother. The mother elephant was found dead at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Sabah.
Suspected being poisoned under mysterious circumstances, a total number of ten endangered Borneo pygmy elephants were found dead in the forest.
“We highly suspected that it might be some form of acute poisoning from something that they have eaten but we are still waiting for the laboratory results of the chemical analysis from samples taken from the dead elephants to confirm the diagnosis” said the authority.
“It looks like these animals are from the same family group, as the carnage took place on the same time and space. It was a very sad sight to see all those dead elephants, especially one of the dead females who had a very young 3-month old calf. The calf was trying to wake the dead mother up.” Said Dr Sen Nathan, Senior Veterinarian for the Sabah Wildlife Department. The baby calf was very distressed and had to be rescued. It is now being hand-raised by wildlife rangers at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.
“Mom, wake up!” I heard the voice wandering in the woods….
Running story
In the wee hours of March 29, a secondary school girl, Tian Xiao Qi from Hualian, Taiwan sent her ailing grandma to the local hospital A&E unit for treatment.
She has an exam in the same morning at 10am. According to the news, the exam takes the whole class as a scoring margin. As she doesn’t want the class score to be dragged down by her absence, she’s very insistence to sit for the exam.
With not a single cent with her, she decided to run back to school on her own two feet. Started at 7am and reached school at 10, spending a total of 3 hrs for 23km. When she reached school, her classmates were stunned and touched by her action. They quickly offered her tidbits for replenishments as she ran with an empty stomach throughout the whole journey.
She was asked if anyone offered a helping hand along the way. She responded that 2 policemen from the police post offered but she can’t explain why she rejected the kind offer which will only took her 10-15min to reach her school.
In a good way, she made it in the end! When asked how she felt, her answer was simple “the running was not so difficult, as it is worthwhile exchange for a meaningful journey in life”.
A thoughtful car parking lot
Whenever we look at a car parking lot, it doesn’t appear to be unusual, but at least to me, it is unusual!
对一般人而言，这个停车位是在普通不过了。但对我而言，它有异于一般。
An ordinary public car parking lot is usually made of cement, asphalt, bricks or sometimes just a layer of stones screeds.
一般的停车位用的建筑材料都离不开混凝土，沥青，砖块再不然就是铺上一层小石子。
This parking lot featured here is made of broken strips of thin concrete slab laid out sparingly.
这个停车位是以瘦长的混凝土块以间隔的方式铺设而成。
Nature will fill up the remaining gaps with weeds and gravels.
混凝土块之间的空间就由小石子与植物填补上。
Imagine a little foliage living under a tyre day and night, on the road for months and years. No passer-by realizes or knew their existence.
想象这些小植物日以继夜在车轮下生活。可曾有人留意它的存在？
Are we able to feel the hands of hard work behind these thoughtful parties, who are doing a great job for our Garden City? With intelligent ideas that combines concrete forest with nature green into a song. A beautiful song composed by a harmony melody and an activist conductor, the orchestra just goes on and on…
你可以感受得到那幕后功臣在这花园城市里所付出的努力吗？把绿意与钢骨森林结合成一首歌曲，这首美丽的歌曲由和谐的旋律与活跃的指挥家组成，不止如此，旋律会不断地播下去，继续地播下去。。。
A story about the three little Hornbills
These three lovely little Oriental Pied Hornbill were found in Pulau Ubin, an island in the north-east of Singapore.
They were discovered on 7 Jan 2013 by park rangers from the National Parks Board (NParks) on 7 Jan 2013. The three eggs were abandoned by the mother. The rangers decided to send it to the national bird park (Jurong Bird Park) for proper care and nurturing.
For lesser than a month, the first infant hornbill was successfully hatched on 25 Jan, weighing 22.6g.
The second chick hatched 3 days later, on 28 Jan, weighing 21.8g and the last little one was hatched on 1 Feb, weighing 20g.
Greatly appreciate all parties involved for bringing this delighting piece of news and a life of new to us!
Reliving the Cactus Song
Yesterday, I received an email from a US based song writing and artist development company.
They’ve stated in the email that they were fond of one of my song series – The Cactus Song, which I have written last September on my 2nd month of blogging. They offered me a package into buying my lyrics but I have to pay an upfront. The company will then complete the lyrics with vocal and music to compile the song and do the advertising for me.
Though this is a brand new experience but I’m not sure why I felt uncertain about it. Perhaps I can take this opportunity to relive this song and recap my inspirations to my lover – the Cactus Song
I live in Texas my homeland, a desert an untouched ground
I love the sun being my clothes
And I love the sweet, warm breezy blows
With a grouchy cuckoo on my head
No autumn leaves or winter snow
No splashing stream or falling rain
Just an empty Paradise on my own,
With the rocks and stones.
I like to dance in the falling night,
With the cowboys dancing around
That is my homeland, a desert an untouched ground
I live in Singapore IKEA my homeland, a concrete desert ground
I love the air-conditioner being my jacket all year round
And I love the halogen light giving me a good shine
With a grocery shopper passer-by
No autumn leaves or winter snow
No splashing stream or falling rain
Just a perfect Paradise within my reign
With my color and little sands deco
I like to sing in my own shadow
With the shopper’s cajoling around,
This is Singapore IKEA my homeland, a concrete desert ground.
Friend (28) – The backyard friends
Backyard is not only a place for laundry or cooking matters. Backyard is a place where I could natters and observes my green friends grow. Though, space is a concern and constraint, we have to live with it. To me, space is not about how much you own, it’s all about how much you’re optimizing it.
We can’t change the size of the box, but we are able to change the setting within. A potted plant wouldn’t obstruct our movement so much. But when you feel so sick about the piled up laundry and the undone dishes, take a glance at this little green fairy, it’s smiling at you. You would be sure, all along you are not doing the mundane work alone.
后院不止是一个可以让我们晾衣服与展示厨艺的地方，它也是一个提供我们与绿色朋友交流的地方。虽然无法改变空间，还要去适应它。但对我而言，空间不在于你拥有多少，而是你利用了多少。
当然，外在的局限我们无法改变，我们也只好从内在的设计着手。就好比放一小盆植物，相信它不会占用你多少空间。而它的魅力就是当你把厨房的工作看做叠成山的碗碟当儿，你无意识地看它一眼，这绿色仙子其实在对着你微笑。这时你才了解你不是孤独的。
Sometimes, they will laugh over my cooking skill.
有时侯，它们会在那儿取笑我的厨艺。
Sometimes, they feel so shy to tell you.
有时侯，它们会不好意思告诉你。
Sometimes, they just can’t breath over the oily stuffs and trying to jump out of the window.
有时侯，它们会受不了油烟而逃出窗外。
You can consider owning air plant, if space is really constraints.
如果空间真的局促，可以考虑种植空气凤梨，空气草。
Some are slim and elegant.
因为有些即修长又优雅。
Some are just very space compromising.
有些还有包容心。
Most importantly, we need a space for green within ourselves.
最重要的是，心里要有绿色空间。
We need a friend, and you’ve got a friend.
This is a group of friends I get to know during my language enhancement course the year before. We got a chance to get around this Chinese New Year. Snap some photos after our meals. The treat is awesome but the gathering is even better than anything on the table.
We need friends all the time, we all know. Especially, the unsurmountable bond that we has shared, it can’t even be measured through times. Friends are not only beneficial to our well being, exchanging of ideas and care are just as important. So, I always make an effort to call or message my friends to see how they are doing and it’s purely out of my hearty concern.
I’m glad I got to know these few classmates through this path of my life. What has brought us together is just like what has brought us on this earth. Be it for a reason or not, it’s not important to know. The crucial point is we have been through the fun and have come a long way through the course structure. It’s just like a curvy stream, it’s cooling and smiley as a whole.
That goes the same as the law of nature. We need water and care for the green. Do not discard the withered, when the leaves turn yellow. Not capturing the best side of all, but the ups and downs in fact. That makes life more vibrant.
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