I Chirp because I'm Happy

from whence the chirping cometh

That's a twist from His Eye Is on the Sparrow

SParrows. Those cool birds.

Last Saturday I went to Alice's wedding ceremony at Katedral Jakarta. I thought, that would be cool because i admire the building and the choir. And lucky me Martha came along. Alice chose to wed her long time bf, Pak D, now christened Demitrius.

I sat in the third row (I must get every detail of this sermon, I said to myself) and when I turned my head to the right I saw something bizarre. The seat and the kneeling part were stained with droppings! Whoa!

Then my mind went back to 7 years ago.

I went to that church for Easter Mass back in 2001 with Kak Elda, Didin and Uria. Our main aim: listening to the choir. we heard nice words about it and we expected Latin mass. It turned out to be Indonesian mass and the choir sang a little. A seminary guy read the passage in singing tone. Beautiful though.

One thing i remembered was the chirping sound of sparrows throughout the mass. They nest here, in the house of worship, I thought.

So, i divided my attention: half for the holy matrimony (sacrament) and the other half for the sparrows. In the quarter of the mass, they came out of the mini gothic tower near the altar and began to make noise. Chirping!

when we prayed, they chirped
we sang, they chirped
we knelt, they chirped
we listened to the vows, they chirped
we listened to the sermon, they chirped

amazing! no wonder they're affectionately called burung gereja (church birds).

I suspect they nest behind those gothic carvings--from where the chirping was. These highly adaptable birds flew here and there, to the beautiful mozaic and ceiling, and to the lampstands. it was a beautiful sight to me.
Chirp! chirp!

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth"

After that, Martha and I sat and ate awhile in the garden near the huge heap of corals (Cave of Mary) and we were serenaded by the chirping and a new beautiful noise--perhaps of a starling (jalak).

Cool coexistence.

Margarineflies

Why people called the lovely winged insect butterfly is not my problem. The problem is they seem to be virtually unseen in the city like this.

last trip to Cilember (2006) and recently to Pulau Pramuka brought me some hope, especially when reading "Butterflies Sanctuary" boards.

"You're late, Mas. It's long been deserted. Look at the dome," said a mister at Cilember.
The dome was half open so was that at Pulau Pramuka.

The moral of the story: butterflies are meant to be free (or people should care for the wires)

Xem

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.

Bamboo Song

Japanese garden has it and a hotel in Bali does too. and my discoveries at Mirota, Kaliurang, Yogyakarta are samples of genius. I've never seen this kind of version.
bamboo has long been known to be one of the finest wood to produce great sound. Think of bamboo flute, angklung, etc.

if i had a garden of my own, i will plant some ornamental bamboo like Heksa did in front of his house. Oh, with tortoises too!

Hocus Lotus!

you know, it smelt so strong that I had a mild headache. amazing, no?
(this plasticlike thing is real, I used VGA cam)

Orange Delight

Oh boy, finally I knew its name. It's not the clown fish (locals affectionately call it kelonpis) but it is kerapu. the stripes makes this ubiquitous fish easily spotted from the pier.

"We fry or grill it," he said, smiling triumphantly over his lunch. It only took minutes for him to catch it with squid lure.

Fish are abundant to the waters nearby Pulau Pramuka.

Historians were Right

I felt terribly sorry when I found out that the fishes I bought in Magelang died--possibly because of oxygen shortage and shake (I went home by bus). That morning I let the river took them (larung). I don't remember with whom I went home (Kak Es n Mami or with Papi). Thankfully my turtoise Ucha survived.

Perhaps that's why most tour operators ban animals and plants on their vehicles or why there are quarantine centers on ports.

what i'm talking about is about plant and animal spread. these plants on the boat were going to be transfered from mainland Jakarta to Pulau Kelapa, 40 miles apart.

It reminds me of a story in Album Walt Disney back when I was child. Kwik, Kwek, Kwak tried to escape from a villain that held them hostage. the illustration of the hardship was a rat climbing a rope. It was about to get onboard but suddenly find a barrier in the shape of a sharp and wide disk attached to the rope. "Even rats can't escape the island..."

Historians believed that's one of the ways of migrations. Simple at it may seem on the photo, those pots of aglaonemas and jasmines were making journey to find a new place at the island and will adapt soon. Their presence would affect the entire island. Think of bees who never taste jasmine, for example, or young couple in love sniffing jasmines.

If I were the major of Kepulauan Seribu, I will order hundreds of sukun tree to be planted on the beach as wind breakers and source of carbs (and income) and order some hundred thousands of Florida mangroves to be planted on the beaches (they reportedly grow faster).

Oh one thing. those eggs also drew my attention. Now I know why eggs are pricey on the island (a sunny side up costs Rp3000).

The destiny of those eggs will not be inside the hatchery. They will end up on plates :)