Beauty Forgiveness Healing: 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Beauty in the wind

I am so very lucky. During the Christmas week I went to the beach daily. I cannot remember when I have enjoyed lingering on the beach as much as this time. It was absolutely lovely.
I wish you a great year 2013 - I hope that your needs will be fulfilled!
There is a Chinese proverb that says: "A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers." I am giving you this flower. I can smell the fragrance (of beach, salt and sea) on my keyboard already!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Happiness

I wish you will be happy and content during the holiday period! Let's aim to enjoy the little things in life - such as flowers! I will start posting again in a week. I am off to an island. Be well.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Cycle

Christmas is almost here. A year gone... again. Another starting soon.

This plant produces pretty flowers and ugly, hard balls. Just like life.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Fun

I went to a pre-Christmas party yesterday. It was fun. And this is very strange for me to say as I am an introvert. But I feel I have changed, maybe just slightly but enough for myself to feel a big difference. Or maybe I have just adjusted myself through meditation.

Here is an image of a flower that represents fun to me. It is the colour, I think, that makes me think of lighthearted living.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Grand view

Light makes all the difference, doesn't it? If the late afternoon sun did not hit the eucalypt tree trunk, the image would have been bland. Always wait for the right light to proceed with the task at hand!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Seeing things as they are

Sometimes I do not even see the plant properly when I am photographing it... This was the case with this bottlebrush (?) flower. On the last day of the meditation course I had received a permission to take a few photos of the place and this flower was one of the pictures I took. I saw the tree first, it was a scrubby, forgotten, messy-looking, no shape really, not at all photogenic, and there were only a few flowers but sort of hiding here and there. I walked closer, saw this flower, thought 'oh well, I'll take a snap'. During this time I did not really, truly realise how fantastic it looks until I saw it on my computer screen the other day. I am intrigued by it now. It looks absolutely fascinating, and the pink colour is to die for!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Beauty comes with thorns

I photographed this bougainvillea at my backyard yesterday morning. It looks beautiful with the massive bunches of flowers but be aware: it has big, thick, needle-sharp thorns running along the branches! Bougainvilleas have lots of different colour variations. I have a purple one at front, and when the light touches the petals, it simply looks gorgeaus, like hundreds of butterfly wings stuck together.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Prickly wheel

I took this photo yesterday morning. It reminds me of the wheel of life. Life that is full of miseries that go around and around.

I am not on a negative mood. I am actually on a very positive mood because I am consciously working on an attempt to cease every moment, and be aware of the moment, and not to worry about the future and not to think of the past, except only fleetingly and in an accepting and understanding way. I am slowly getting better. The Vipassana meditation really helps. I had a big meditation experience last night. I swayed and shook most of the session like a woman possessed! It is hard to explain - it has to be experienced to be understood.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Red spot

It has been a good day. I woke up super early (4am! I am obviously still on the 'monastery mode'!), meditated for an hour and then went to backyard trying to figure out what the neighbour's dog was barking at. He was up on the hill and kept going on and on. There was no apparent reason except lots of haziness in the air and a strong smell of smoke. At this time of the year there is always the worry of a bush fire. And the weather has been hot and windy, yesterday and today, which makes the conditions perfect for bush fires. Anyway, I worked on the backyard for the best part of the early morning and managed to cut down the clumping bamboos that have started sprouting again. They are beautiful and but very, very messy, especially around the pool. I will miss the sound of bamboos in the wind though... Maybe I will plant them somewhere else some other time. They grow so fast anyway.

Here is an image I took the other day at the nursery. I do not know the name of the plant but the lonely red spot caught my eye.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Lighter

I came back today from a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation course. It was a tough challenge to say the least but... I feel so much lighter and happier now! (Please google such words as Goenka (Vipassana teacher) and Vipassana meditation centres if you are interested. There are centres around the world, including a few here in Australia and one in Finland. The service is free - you may donate some money after the course if you so wish.) Oh dear, I do not even know where I would/could start to explain what happened during the ten days... because superficially I did not do anything else but ate, slept and sat in silence but internally there were turmoils, and gross and subtle sensations at every waking moment, and that is practically 24/7 as the 'unconscious' never sleeps) but in brief: through (at times painful) meditation sessions I gained new insights to my life, behaviour and mind in a profound and powerful way.I am so thankful I came across with this type of meditation. Recommended! (Please note that this is not about religious stuff but spiritual growth and practical mind-cleansing.)

Here are some light-coloured flowers from my backyard to brighten our day!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Dancing

Here is a bit more pre-Christmas cheer... This image somehow reminds me of girls dancing in a circle and waving their scarfs.
I will be away for the next 10 days. By the time I get back the summer will be really here. Yesterday we already had a killer heat wave that really took my energy away.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Colour of love

I love these trees. Especially when I am driving a car and they have been planted along the road, and then it is spring! like suddenly spring!, and I can feel the red in me. It is like an energy buzz and I become happy for a while. And sometimes even a bit longer than just a while. Love them!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Towards the light

Here is an image that I took at the nursery one day. I think this might be a meat-eating plant.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Crunch time

A strange sound woke me up this morning. I thought the neighbour is at the backyard drumming plastic bowls with xylophone mallets and I could not understand why he would do that... It turned out that two furious (normally these species look very calm and collected) pidgeons flapped their wings and tails against each other like there was a war between them. I am not sure whether it was a violent mating session or two males trying to show off. Or two girls fighting over a boyfriend. Or maybe it was a domestic dispute. Anyway, for a while it looked like it had started snowing. Feathers were flying everywhere.
This picture is of the bottlebrush bush in my front yard. These beautiful-looking culprits crunch away the green matter.

Friday, November 30, 2012

View from down under

Made a visit to friends last night. The full moon looked wonderful, especially when it appeared through the winding, gnarly branches of a huge eucalypt tree.
A possum kept making a racket in the trees next to the house. It might have been disturbed by a carpet snake that has moved in in the ceiling structure. The snake apparently comes out late at night and feeds itself with cat food. It is not only the possum that is going nuts but also the cat has started to express disturbing behaviours by waking up the master of the house and pleading him to chase the snake away from the balcony. Once he has done that, he said, he of course goes back to bed, but then the possum, who has decided to sleep on top of their bedroom, starts making alarmed noises on the roof. Nobody is happy.
This picture is, again, of a hibiscus that grows on my front yard.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Inkling

There was lots of bird chatter this morning, which always makes me feel good. Somehow the light looked brighter than usual when it hit the leaves of the rose apple tree. Maybe there is something new going on...
Here is a picture that is full of promise...

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Deeper

The sun is shining again this morning. Yesterday afternoon, half an hour before the scheduled walk with a friend, the sky went darkblue dark and then it rained. Fortunately no storm. Unfortunately no walk.
The Night-flowering cereus is just a memory now. It bloomed for only one night. The scent, that somehow made me later imagine that Imelda Marcos could have been wearing perfume like that, was gone the next day. My son said the following morning that the flower smelled like potatos. And it did indeed. How strange that the plant can produce such a strong, seductive scent for a few hours at night and the next day it smells like potatoes. Why does it do that? I do not think anything happens by accident in nature.
Here is 'an insight' to a yellow bell-flower that I photographed a few days ago.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Gorgeous

I have not taken the short bush walk close to my house since July. Now that my heel finally allows me to make short walks I went to for it yesterday with a friend. I was puffing like a blow fish! The bush looked pretty good, it has got its vigour back after the rains. For so many years it was just so brittle and empty looking, all the undercover plants were gone then. Now the ferns and other lush looking plants are back. My friend said that she had been asked by rangers the other day if she had seen an injured koala next to the rock steps. She had not. Somebody had called the rangers and they had been on the look out to save it. Koala sightings are starting to be rare now. Ten years ago you could see them every now and then but today - rarely. It is sad.
Here is a picture of a flower that looks really sweet and romantic.

Monday, November 26, 2012

A knight in a red armour

I went for a walk yesterday. I photographed, again, the flowers of a particular tree that is standing on a deserted stretch of a creek close to my house. I do not know the name of the tree. The flowers are quite amazing, majestic, looking. They grow in heavy bunches hanging down like grapes in a vine. This is a close up of the flowers.

There were two children in school uniforms running around the creek bed. I could not see them clearly but the other stopped when he saw me, started waving frantically and yelled, "We are exploring!" I waved back and yelled back that I was exploring too.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Day 8 - In the darkness of the night

I went to the backyard at midnight to check the cactus. And it was blooming! For heavens sake, it was so beautiful and the scent was absolutely something out of this world: very heavy, heady, luxurious and somehow waxy. I found out its name: Night-bloomining cereus. It has bloomed a couple of times before in the past ten years, but this time I have a chance to follow its blooming process from the very start. Amazing thing is that when I looked at the bud and later the flower it seemed to be slightly shaking. Maybe it really was growing in front of my eyes.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Day 7 - Scary

It is amazing how much bugs there are in my garden when I take a closer look. Worms eating leaves, spiders hunting, ants everywhere. And when I put my camera on their face, they stop, they turn their heads to me and their eyes gleam suspiciously. I took some interesting shots today of plants that are not in their peak; the dying and the ones that have met their faith by predators. But the one photo I feel I have to publish today is the cactus flower that I am eagerly waiting to bloom. It seems to grow a couple of centimeters every night. This is how it looked today. Be aware!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Day 6 - Pool

It would be wonderful to have an exciting garden around the house. I cannot decide which I love the most: the Australian native bush or the Japanese gardens. Maybe I could have a mixture of a Japanese style rockish garden with Australian grevilleas, and cactis and succulents... Or Japanese style in front and bush at the back of the house. Oh well, it is good to keep dreaming. In the meanwhile here is a photograph of a bromeliad. It would be nice to have a tiny dingy that I could go to sit in and float inside the flower! On other thought... the water looks a bit murky and therefore makes me think of crocodiles. So maybe not.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Day 5 - Paws

It was super hot yesterday at midday when I was walking around at a nursery. There was a storm warning but luckily it evaded my area. It was really nice to see lots of flowering plants and a couple of big waterdragons. Question: Why does not my ginger bush produce flowers? Ever. And for the first time I really realised why these plants are called kangaroo paws! Silly me!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Day 4 - Soon gone

So there is much to photograph at the moment... Especially since I have not been taking pictures for a long while. And I seem to be stuck with the 50 mm lense. Photographing plants close up is a real mindfullness exercise!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Day 3 - Pink

Summer is almost here. Days are getting hotter, blooming is starting to receed and the storm season is just behind the corner. This is a photo of the first frangipani flower on my front yard this spring.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Day 2 - Salad

I had bundled branches next to the road for council rubbish collection. Yesterday there was a fairly long carpet snake hiding underneath the bundles. Its skin looked very bright. This photo is from a few days back. I have been trying to grow salad and chives.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Day 1 - New Beginning

I have not seriously photographed for more than four years. Just last week I got a new camera body after a lot of contemplation. It took me a day to finally get down to attaching a lense into the camera. I then walked around my yard. It felt good. Here is the photo for Day 1.