Brazilian Skyflower

Skyflowers... The little wishes of the forget-me-not family... each tiny flower carrying a recollection of a memory.

Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories. Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart - Thomas Fuller -

Memory makes us...

Memories warm you up from the inside but they also tear you apart - Haruki Murakami - 

Childhood memories...

I'd give all wealth that years have piled, the slow result of life's decay, to be once more a little child for one bright summer day - Lewis Carroll - 

Friendship memories...

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart - Elizabeth Foley -

School memories...

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory - Dr Seuss -

Love memories...

The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death - Oscar Wilde -

My memories and I

Though miles intervening us
and distance keeps us isolated
Nothing can ever transform
The love inside my heart
For you are everlastingly with me
In a little thousand ways
In thoughts
In moments
In daydreams
It only takes a flashback to get from here to there
Contented that you are always with me
To keep me going in this lifetime... til the very end.

- Jo-Ann Tan -

Java Glory Vines

One of the meanings of "glory" is take great pride and pleasure in... so this entry I like to remind everyone to stop for a moment and recognize your accomplishments in life.

Sometimes the most fulfilling things we do  bring little recognition, yield no monetary profits, and come without fanfare... yet they can still mean a lot and be completely rewarding.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more - William Wordsworth -

What do you have to say for yourself?

Next to temperance, a quiet conscience, a cheerful mind, and active habits, I place early rising as a means of health and happiness -Flint-

What are some moments that defined your life?

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have - Eckhart Tolle -

How did you make yourself happy?

Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever - Peter Hagerty -

Have you spent time listening to yourself?

Use your heart. Understand. Learn to see things in the now, not as they were or will be, or as they might or should be, but as they are, right now, in this moment. The hearts sees the now; the mind only sees the next. If you can't learn to see the now, you'll never see what's truly there, and then where will you be? - E. J. Patten -

Get to know yourself again, if you have unconsciously ignored you! Explore. Feel. Love.

Lemon Clover (Yellow Oxalis)

 A weed... an unloved flower.

Weeds are nature's graffiti  - Janice Maeditere -

 I love these tiny buttercup bublets.  I only noticed them once creeping along the sides of my garden. Only managed to take these few shots but I now have their snapshots of delicate beauty for keeps.

I learn more about God
From weeds than from roses
Resilience springing
Through the smallest chink of hope
In the absolute of concrete 
- Philip Pulfrey -

i

Today is Easter Sunday in Malaysia and I was reading the history like I do for everything else, as often as I could, to remind myself of the magical old days. Historically, it is the arrival of spring and light, and the awakening of life around us. The renewal of each day is what we get to experience each morning, a new chance to be creative, a day to look forward to and be enthusiastic about, and to just celebrate life.

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. - J. B. Priestley -

Thought of the day...

SMALL is the new big! 

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way - Napoleon Hill -

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies - Mother Teresa -

Great things are not done by impulse, but by series of small things brought together - George Eliot -

Orchids

Many orchids exhale different kinds of fragrances - from wonderfully sweet odors with a hint of chocolate right to stinky acrid smells!

Did you know that the lip of an orchid flower is where each unique fragrance is produced?
Why?  Simple! It is to attract specific types of pollinators.

Delicate thoughts, strong creativity, perseverance, beauty and strength. Gentle on the outside but with strong inner resilience.

In a gentle way you can shake the world - Mahatma Gandhi - 

Happy New Year my friends. Welcome to the Year of the Goat 2015. Can't believe this year my first entry is only now in March. Better late than never. Thank you my friends, old and new, for constantly following my blog and messaging me.  You always give me great encouragement and inspiration in your own unique way. I am tying in the characteristics of a beautiful orchid to a cute gentle goat for this entry. I see similarities in personalities and goodness, both depict softness and hardiness at the same time. A gentle start, with deep cravings for a better tomorrow, for you and I....

You and I ... and every one else... with our diversity of dreams and visions for our future, let us set out in gentleness yet with an inkling of stubbornness; good stubborn! I prefer to call it DETERMINATION!

I can't be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it - Maya Angelou -

My wish: Be determined to go through all kinds of "fragrances" that life emits.  Yet, be passionate in our pursuits.  Even though roads ahead may not be all gloriously paved,  may our walk in sacrifices and love be meaningful and rewarding in the end.

Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than your, their choices no more easily made. And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you possess. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace - Kent Nerburn -