In the garden, not alone

Pi is the only one in the world I know to have green thumbs. Everything he touches turns green. Here in Pontianak he works the garden at his best: mung beans, cucumbers, string beans, ulam raja (english name of kenikir aka Cosmos caudatus), and so on. He even tends more kinds of hibiscus: roselle grows at their best, producing crimson fruit pods and striking red stalks contrasting to the green background. Pi grows cotton too! Love the yellow flowers.

Pi introduces taro to me. He dug some tubers, peeled and fried some. Tasty it might be yet it burnt my throat! Should’ve marinated them in the brine! Lol

Mi tends her small garden too! She has cincau plant, liang teh plants, some sour leaves with tiny blooms, and some strange plants whose leaves she uses to flavor fish cookings.

I guess they have patience of a farmer :)

The Trees Nobody Likes

I borrow the title from an NG's article from 1977. Think I've written about mangroves before. But I'd like to write about it again, having clicked this picture from CI's website: beautiful. and what are those things clinging on the roots? just fascinating!

I admire mangroves, their oddities, and strange appearance. an encounter with a very slender snake at mangrove forest on Pulau Untung Jawa was surely memorable. so, i admire these trees--only from a distance :)

Luck be the Lady!

(photo by Lisa Saputra)

Lisa shot the most adorable photo of the week. love the colorings. the ladybug here hitchhikes our bus on the way back from Tanjung Lesung to Jakarta. Even bug needs holiday!

The Cat with Diamond Eyes

Le chat, looking for midnight snack. Busted! :)

Le Cien, L'Oiseau, et Le Papillon

Up in the sky, the dog is chasing a bird and a butterfly!

On Taking Chances

One scene in Ocean movie keeps playing in mind every time i think of saline water: lighting crashes, rain falls, it storms. one coconut tree is struck, falls into the sea. Meanwhile, a medium-sized monitor (biawak) rushed to the scene and swims to the fallen trunk, embarking on a journey to an island or a beach or ... to uncertainty.

Think that's why water monitors (Varanus salvator) roam on small islands like ones i've visited in Kepulauan Seribu. Some of these lizards even grows as fat and big as the komodo dragons--ones i had an encounter with at Pulau Rambut.

(Mr. Monitor after morning bath, photo by friend Tetty aka 'tettyyangmotoloch')

Yes, I admire them:  their slender appearance, graceful movement on the land and in the water as well. i admire their skin pattern. bag, camera case, and shoes made out of monitor skin are my wish list... no, kidding! :)

Last weekend at the beach of Pulau Biawak, Indramayu, i stood admiring its residents. The monitors. and all i could do was wowing. They're such incredible reptiles, swimming and walking--and running away--gracefully :)

they took chances and got there. So did I.


PS: I wonder why--for centuries--komodo monitors (V. komodoensis) unlike distant cousins V. salvator, remain landlocked in Komodo Is., Rinca Is, and some smaller islands nearby, and do not take chances. too heavy-bodied? Nature is a big mystery.

The Full Nest

Steffi sent a very eager sms, telling of her discovery: she found a nest full of tiny red eggs. the bird nests 0.5 m above the ground. behind the pots in front of our house. cool! wonder what kind of bird it is.