Morus Pocus (the Joy Mulberry Brings)

love mulberries. nothing beats the joy of sticking purple tongue at friends and laugh together. this morus tree I saw at warung Stroberi (?) in highlands off Bandung brought me back to Lawang. There near Polaman lived a family. The father worked the land best. the small boy i was had to walk slowly 10 m from the gates to the door for he eyed the mulberries. he would act nice so they would let him and friends climb the bush. his daughters was friends of ours. it was routine until i was about 10. everytime i passed their house i remembered them.

I'd climb the wall near Frateran back in SMPK to pick the bright deep red and deep purple berries. i knew exactly what Eve felt when she saw the forbidden fruit tree!

happy i am everytime i pick the berries!

Pome!

just want to say, I admire its flower. Last November I happened to see it for the first time in life. Beautiful! photo courtesy of Enti Nuridah

Vegetal: Highlands of Bandung

Rows that Wow

I see sumpin fishy!

first we take Manhattan!

MANGO: original

Man, go mango

Ah, granny!

Bend it like Beckham

Jacintha!

for 5c!

(Xem)

Garden Bliss

Sara's uncle has a very vast garden. Full of trees and ornamental plants. very green. I was glad to observe and Linda almost felt like home i guess. "You must take pics of me with the trees!" In that means she wanted to climb up the trees.

First she tried the kelengkeng tree (of lychee family) to no avail. She moved to the next. This nutmeg tree was in the state of producing the best ripe crops. I was glad to sniff some. it smells so good and reminds me of chicken soup or magical mung bean soup or the more magical cassava-cum-mung bean soup made at LBTC. Not to mention brenebon. my mouth salivates...

Linda also tried another kelengkeng tree. her act made people laughed like crazy. and she's good at it. i got inspired and tried to climbed the guava tree by the pond. i havent climbed like in ages, so i was very excited. but being 2 m above the ground was challenging. that being said, i prefer to be on terra firma :)

Later i made acquaintance with some bromeliads and orchids. I love that morning

Fig-uratively speaking

Apis: Vit, have u been to Untung Jawa
Vit: Yes, but nothing to be seen
Apis: But the water front looks nice
Vit: Ask Sem
Sem: Haha, like i'm the expert of it
Apis: I read it has a colony of monkey
Sem: not sure. what's the date of the article?
Apis: 1995 or 1994

Speaking of monkeys, when i saw this tree of fig family, it reminded me of Borneo orangutans at rehabilitation and African apes I watched on Animal Planet (it's the only thing i miss from that mad karaokeing woman's house). This fig tree produces fruits seemingly for nobody. Perhaps bats eat one or two, I just wish that the govt brought some apes to populate the small island and harvest the entire tree.

About the monkeys at Untung JAwa Island, perhaps they have found refuge on the neighboring island, Rambut, where it reportedly house some big wild cats and monkeys, along with its mascots, sea birds.

the tree of this kind lives solely on Pulau Karya. It reaches abt 6 m high and 4 m wide.

Jeruk Pontianak

Eventually Papi's patience bears fruits, this time it is jerus pontianak (Citrus nobilis var. microcarpa) from one of his three citrus trees in the backyard. It bears small, thin rinded fruits that tastes sour and sweet.

Once its pistils appear, Papi reduces the clusters to make room for only one or two fruits to fully develop. And he left some for me to pick by hands. It was nice of him.

Last week he bought home some jeruk from Pontianak. When i went to Sara's, Kak Tatik insisted it should not be called jeruk pontianak since it is native to neighboring Sambas. So, from now on, I call it jeruk pontianak from Sambas.

Sem

Persimmon

Kesemek! that's the local name for this beautiful fruit from ebony family, Ebenaceae. you know this by its powdery film coating the fruit and by its mild, fesh and sweet taste. it tastes best when refrigerated.

i had long dreamed to have this plant but the tiny seeds i put on the ground never grew into seedlings.

years later, i saw the trees at Kabanjahe in 2004. they are about 5 m tall with birchlike, gray trunks and yellowish foliage. wonderful slender tree. and i was glad to buy the fresh picked fruits at the local market.

i guess it needs cooler climate to grow. When i have a house of my own, i want to have this tree in my garden.


Sem