Recently the water lilies in our garden show their beauties. All of them are in purple colour. The big blue bucket that can store about hundreds litters of water is their stage. They are not performing a catwalk on the stage but stand proudly above the surface of the water accompanied by their own leaves and other water plants in green colour which let the water lilies being highlighted in purple colour. Bees and butterflies are always attracted to stop by because the water lilies are sweet and have a nice scent.

If you cannot differentiate the lotus and water lily, let me tell you how to identify them. Water lily leaves lies on the surface of the water, whereas lotus leave stand in the air. Their flowers are also different. You can see pedals or stigma in the center of the water lily whereas there is a round-shaped platform with holes in the middle of lotus flower. It is called the lotus seeds head. Both of them are similar but actually different.

From my observation, this purple water lily bloom from the morning till late afternoon. The blooming time is longer than the pink water lily. I saw both of them in a park and found that the pink water lily take her break earlier than the purple water lily. The pink water lily feels shy and hides herself earlier at about noon time.

The scientific name for water lily is called Nymphaeaceae. In Chinese it is called “Shui4Lian2” or Sleeping Lotus, because the leaves are sleeping on the water. There is a type of “Shui4Lian2” has a giant size leave and allow kids to stand on it, but I have never seen a real one with my eyes. From Wikipedia, I cannot see the difference between “He2Hua1” and “Lian2Hua1” (Water lily and lotus in Chinese). They consider both names can be use for both flowers.  Maybe in different places, people address them differently.  But from my understanding “He2Hua1” means water lily and “Lian2Hua” means lotus.

I have taken these water lily pictures from different angles. First two pictures was taken using the largest aperture, however the background is still not blurred enough. That is the limitation of the lenses. I start to consider having a DSLR instead of semipro camera. The 3rd and 4th used the smallest aperture to increase the depth of field.

This last picture show that the water lily is sleeping. She lies down on the surface of the water, but she will stand up again the next morning when the sunlight is strong enough but not too hot. It’s similar to a lady, if it is too dark, she is scared, and if the sunlight is too strong, she won’t step out of the door.

It was another sleepless night before I noticed that the sky has such a beautiful colour.  We were at the vihara very early in the morning.  Some of my friends there were still sleeping, some are preparing breakfast.  I sat in the garden on a set of stone table and chairs, looking at the sky slowly turned from dark blue to orange.  I quickly grabbed my camera.

Can you see an oval-shaped shadow above the watermark on the bottom right corner?  It is a satellite receiver of a house nearby.  Although it is not legal having such receiver in Malaysia, it is very popular in Kuching.  You can see it everywhere in Kuching.  Anyway it added a feature to my picture here.

The fence was too high which blocked my sight to the beautiful sky.  All these pictures were taken while I was standing on the stone chair.  I think my friend who was preparing the breakfast saw me, but she did not say anything.

This was a large piece of cloud with lines and spots on its body.  It can become anything as long as you can use your imagination.

I zoomed in a bit and found out that actually the power or telephone cables were actually clothed as well.  I hoped that its clothes will not affect its functionality where the climbers are climbing all over their body.

This is how a typical pole looks like at residential areas.  Do you think he is lonely?  No, he got friends around, and all of them are linked with each other.  At the time of this picture was taken, the sky was still not that bright, therefore the pole and the cables can only be seen as shadows in this picture which make them all appear in black colour.  I believe they were not in black colour actually.

Do not look down at climbers.  Although they are slim, they are actually the most motivated plants to reach top of the world.

I enjoy the morning.

The other day, we bought a pack of five apples. However, I had one and Colin had one so now there are only three left. Oh wait a minute, there are actually four left. Why? Let me show you why.

This is why! This one happens to be the sixth apple. Of course, it can’t be eaten. It is being made from the “net bag” that supermarkets used to pack the fruits. Maybe some of you have known how to make this fake apple but we would like to demonstrate to you how it is transformed.

First, empty the bag. It looks like a balloon that has ran out of air.

Then, fold the opening of the net upwards.

After that, tuck the opening nicely to form an inverted umbrella. Don’t worry, we are almost there!

Next, fold the inverted umbrella upwards. It’s time to determine the size of the fake apple. You can control the size by adjusting the inverted umbrella folding. Now you must continue to fold it upwards until the tip.

Ta-da! The one on the right is our latest fake apple collection. Actually, there are also green and orange “net bags”. The green ones are for green apples whereas the orange ones are usually for oranges. Hope to get some of them soon.

So, next time when you buy fruits that have these “net bags”, do think twice before you dispose them. They can be recycled to pack other things or they definitely look lovely as decorations!