Organ Pipe Cactus

What is a native Mexico & United States cactus doing in Malaysia? It has to be the love for the sun. We might not be a desert but we are summer all year round and we certainly have our share of droughts and stormy spells.
Cactus symbolizes endurance and warmth.....
I love my morning walks as it's usually quiet and I enjoy the fresh and cool air. This columnar cactus has caught my attention a long time ago...because I am amazed that after the sun rises, the beautiful huge "rich" flowers closes. Certainly....they are midnight blooms.
Because of a cactus' exceptional survival abilities...I see "victory" each time I walk pass this giant beauty. Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory. (William Barclay)


Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope. It can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen. (Anonymous)

Year 2010...

This year has been exceptionally difficult for all of us around the world. Even to the last month, I see people battling with floods and snow storms. There is a Japanese saying...Beginning is easy, continuing is hard...so here's to the CONTINUATION OF LIFE everybody!!! Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning; to make our time, bodies, and words into instruments of love and hope. (Tom Hard)

Happy New Year to all :) May the love in our hearts continue to burn...to free us from the weights and pains of life xxx

Wild Crocus

When the sun touches them, they open like stars and bask...
None can have a healthy love for flowers unless he loves the wild ones. (Forbes Wilson)
According to legend, young Crocus was a shepherd boy of fine and noble spirit. The gods were so impressed with his deep love and devotion to the beautiful nymph Smilax, they granted him immortality and turned into a flower. In addition, Smilax was turned into evergreen, the yew, so that the lovebirds would live happily ever after :)
Happily ever after..................does it exist???
Being happy is something I have to learn. Every morning, I have to remind myself that I have the power to make me happy. The choice is all mine and mine alone. So I guess "happily ever after" may exist for everyone depending on how one sees happiness and how contented they feel about their lives.
The crocus means love...
Since Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner...family love comes first to my mind. Family love is life's greatest blessings. I am truly honored that I have my own family with me at all times, and families whom I have spent time with in the past years. Memories that have been embedded in my life forever more.
I like to take this opportunity to give thanks to families across the seas, whom I have had the honor to spend time with, for moments shared, for tears and laughter, and for blessings poured upon my life until this day.
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. (Thornton Wilder)

Orange Lily

The Lily generally symbolizes "beauty"...however this particular Orange Lily symbolizes "hatred" in some countries and "passion" in others. These light orangey-pinkish lilies are common flowers in Malaysia...you can actually see them growing wildly by the ditches. Some people actually detest having them around as they grow fast and can be quite uncontrollable. If given proper care, I think these flowers are beautiful. Beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder :)

...A love-hate relationship...

Almost everyone I know has experienced a love-hate relationship...when it comes to the famous Mother-in-law...or is it Monster-in-law?!!!! Especially when one has been brought up in an Asian country where respect is priority to our elders....no matter what. My late grandma used to say "If you do not speak, no one will say you are dumb"...in other words "Silence is golden" for most daughter-in-laws :))))

My late Mother-in-law was a typical China woman. Strong. Determined. Stubborn. Cute at times! We were not close because of our large age gap; she was as old as my grandma. But I was determine to have a peaceful household therefore, I learnt to shut up when I need to!!! Fortunately for me, there were no fights, no throwing pots and pans, no pulling of hair....*grin*

I actually have a fond memory of her. I remembered we took her to the cinema to watch "Babe". Mom-in-law loved animals and even though she didn't understand English, she was happy enough with Chinese subtitles. Haha...for the life of her, she couldn't understand how that piggy could talk!!!!

A loving heart heals hate...Terri Guillemets
You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived...

You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back or you can open your eyes and see all she's left...

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her or you can be full of love you shared...

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday...

You can remember her only that she is gone or you can cherish her memory and let it live on...

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back...

Or you can do what she'd want,

Smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

*** David Harkins***

Jamaican Cherry Tree

Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it....
A very plain looking unkempt tree...usually known to be a nuisance just because it attracts bats...but when you look carefully, the Jamaican Cherry Tree flower is one little pretty thing :)
Amazingly...these fig-like fruits (cherries) hide comfortably under long leaves that have sticky hairs until they turn red.


The Jamaican Cherry Tree reminds me of myself these 2 months. After a tough start of the year and battling obstacles, I finally got to sit down and breathe in August. Felt exactly like these cherries; all I wanted to do was to hide in the comfort of my home and do nothing!!! It has been a good long rest for me and now I hope to end this year, smelling as sweet as this flower.


September...a memorable month for me...the month I had my daughter 13 years ago :) This year reminds me a lot about 1997; my baby girl was born in the worst haze situation throughout the nation. This year 2010 has been chaotic for our nation as well; struggling to survive never-ending storms :(

Still...every day is a new day, we all must seize it and live it. Never let the odds keep us from doing what we know in our hearts we were meant to do. When we feel like giving up, remember why we held on for so long in the first place!
That it shall never come again is what makes life so sweet...xoxoxo

Lotus - Beautiful As Ever

Is this myself I see?
Ignorance & darkness...
Unfolding petals...the expansion of the soul...


Going through emotional experience and yet, never giving up....steadily pulled up by the warmth of the sun...

Illumination in the splendour of the light...

Flat-topped seed pod symbolizes offspring and fruitfulness...


Lifting up any wilted spirit...

Lotus seeds...known for its endurance and permanence.

Thoughts...
Growing up with the Lotus, I never realize the uniqueness of this beauty. Many never even give it a second thought of how this flower/plant enriches our lives. I have enjoyed lotus root soup, munching lotus seeds in mooncakes and wrapping rice dumplings with lotus leaves... TODAY, I like to share with all of you the lotus flower, when it blooms and when it wilts. I enjoy watching my lotuses growing just outside my kitchen window, graceful and majestic, and over a few weeks I have patiently taken the above shots.

I have just successfully finished my thesis for my Education degree and the blossoming of the lotus is exactly how I felt throughout the course of completing it. Given only 2 weeks to get a thesis done is no joke; almost impossible. I related to how a lotus starts its journey through darkness and ignorance...slowly going all sorts of emotional experiences...never quitting...and in the end, standing up to be the exemplar of beauty, purity and humility.

To all my friends...may the Lotus continue to inspire you, to continue to strive through difficulties and to remind you that life is beautiful :)

John Bay's Collection

There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other humans beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and if often more profound. (Diana Cortes)







There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul. (Edith Wharton)
The beautiful photos above are compliments from a very dear friend, John Bays, who lives in the United Kingdom. He takes such fabulous photos (flowers are from his own garden); I just want the world to see what he sees. John and I share a passion in photography. Living across the globe from each other doesn't stop us from sharing our passion together. Thanks John, for our special moments :) Thank you for the trust and comfort,and always making days more special for me.

John is like a shady tree...beside a summer's way
He is like sunshine that makes my perfect day
He is like a flower that I wear close to my heart
He is definitely treasure...I will not wanna part