White Angel’s Trumpet

 
Colour of white
An appearance of purity
They are hanging there
Dancing
Rocking
Blown by morning breeze
Brugmansia candida
What a beautiful name
The pretty angel
But beneath its beauty
Something sinister is hidden
Poison is flowing
Dangerous
Deadly…..
 
 
 
Thoughts:
 
The angel’s trumpet plant on the side of my house is blooming. From my window I can see the large white pendulous bell flowers dance following the rhythm of morning [...]

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Our Garden History

Our house is an old weatherboard house which is well over fifty years old. In the past the garden was very basic with untidy lawn that had several fruit trees such as apple, pear. apricot and plum which was a very common garden style in 1940s. Along the driveway there were five massive trees; a [...]

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Corpse Flower

There are things in life that we never forget. I still remember that time when a corpse flower bloomed in the middle of our sugar-cane field next to our house in Central Java. I remember vividly that day when I was still young. It was a very hot day, my older sister and I, wanted [...]

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Smelly King Of Fruit

Smelly King Of Fruit
Will you eat fruit that taste like heaven, but smells so disgusting? For those that not familiar with this fruit, will think the smell is like over ripe cheese, unwashed stinky socks, or uncollected garbage on a hot day. The odour is overpowering it fills your house in a matter of second. [...]

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Ikeya Seki Comet

Java, late October 1965 and I was 13 years old at the time. That night our father woke us up and told us to go outside to see “lintang kemukus”. It is a Javanese name for a comet. When I looked up, there almost filling across the dark sky was the bright tail of Ikeya [...]

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Strange Dancing Lights

The other day, I found some digital pictures that my son took on December 23, 2005. That night around 11.00PM (Melbourne time, Australia), I went outside to admire the Christmas lights decorations at the front part of our house. They were so bright and colourful. It was a cloudy night without any stars to be seen. [...]

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What I Hate Most Of Australia

Why Australian flies are so annoying? When the summer has started to spread the heat and humidity, these damn animals are everywhere. The most annoying to me is the small flies or what people here call the Bush Flies (Musca vetustissima)
Bush flies are small and they breed in cow dungs or just any dung I [...]

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Rani’s Hero

 
 
 
Central Java 1925. 
 
Slender, light olive colour complexion, shiny dark hair. She was a girl of natural youth and beauty. The 18 years old Rani was exuberantly happy that she was able to go home earlier. She helped her parents with their business selling vegetables and fruits in the market. The hustle bustle of the [...]

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Jasmine Flower

One of my favourite sweet scented flowers is Jasmine. There are many varieties of Jasmine plant (about 200), but there is one that is so close to my heart. It is one species called Jasminum sambac (=Indonesian name is Melati) which is also the national flower of Indonesia. The flowers themselves are small and simple. [...]

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The White Javan Tiger

 Specially written for a precious wild animal.
 
The rugged terrain of the dense tropical rain forest is rough and dark. Giant banyan trees dominate the scene with their big gnarled, clawed like roots. The undergrowths are intermingled with the dangling air roots of the majestic trees.  Almost impenetrable by sunlight, the leaf debris covered ground is [...]

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