Maybe one day I'll learn how to take pictures in the dark...

Fireballs shoot up high in middle of new construction, Bath

It happened after 5pm so hoping there weren't any fatalities. Two or three big explosions and fireballs rose up accompanied by thick black smoke. It looks under control now although the sirens are still wailing through town and the train station is closed. Trains are stopping at the small station before the middle of Bath - Oldfield Park. BBC says it was just a gas canister...must've been a big gas canister!

Who's been dancing in little frost feet?

Signs of Spring

Frost

Who says fish aren't cuddly?

These two always cosy up to one another at the bottom of the tank!

Summer is too busy. Must spend time indulging kids' whims before they turn into teenagers and it is too late. I have jury duty on Monday, so I expect i won't be able to say a word about it. I might have two weeks worth of lunches up to £5 in value at the Crown Court Cafeteria...what on earth is that going to be like! Maybe I'll finally get to do some food blogging. They may search my camera before leaving the premises though.

Sunny Intervals - Jacob's Ladder, Bath

This is only the middle bit of the climb up the hill. More steps before and more steps after. I don't always walk it, I confess. But I try to do it more than once a week, hopefully at least three or four times! I caught it in a quiet, summer moment between rain and schoolboys sliding down the bannisters. Apparently they have been doing that for decades from the boy's school at the top - sturdy steel worn smooth by countless...er...slides. There is always birdsong, you'll be able to see the year's progression from these steps: first Spring, now Summer. When the leaves begin to fall, I will chart them to the bareness of winter.

Monster Slug eats Bellflowers

Actually, this was a small slug.


Raindrops on ladies mantle...

The back garden will be evolving slowly and organically. :)

Back garden before...

There's a large pictsy along the garden path. Will post after work pictures if the slugs don't eat everything aargh!

Started to dig (How many HSS does it take to build a Garden?)

*update: It is done now. Top view of garden above and from my front door view of the new grass and herb bed! Two weeks before we can actually walk on the grass!


Front garden being cleared...

Summer is here, make room!

Nigella sativa and Nigella (photo by Francesca York) http://www.nigella.com - this photo is for Kenny. Learn more about the herb here.

These are not quite the right colours but I like them, some strange technical fairyland has touched the edge of my photo! Surreal.

My garden is being dug up and replanted to make an aromatic herb garden. I am excited. Will update you on progress.

I'd like some blue roses, wouldn't you?

First strawberries of summer

I always try to catch that first elusive taste of an English strawberry. It's so subtle, vanishing as it melts in your mouth. These tiny little berries pack a small explosion of it - and you have another and another...until the whole punnet is gone. Even better go out to the all-you-can-pick place on the old Roman Road and get them fresh off the plant in the benign English sun or drenched from the quiet rain.

What I Miss Most

Rain Trees at the Taiping Lake Gardens

I read this poem at Readings, organised by Sharon Bakar at Seksan's on the 26th of May. It was my first time reading poetry in Malaysia.


I.

What I miss most
Are the rain trees,
The limestone hills in the North;
The sight of a big brown Brahmin bull,
With a bright white egret on its hump,
Under the attap thatched roof,
Of the rickety wood bus stop.

Tin mine white sand,
With weeds struggling to live,
In the barren silverness.

Rice paddy patchworks unfold,
Railroad tracks follow the coast, where
Tiny silhouette huts stand,
Husks of boats, fishing nets,
Abandoned to the wind.
The moist warmth still echoes on my skin.

II.

When I am here,
I am as indivisible as the water,
Crashing as the waves,
Onto Ferringhi Beach.
I forget where two worlds,
Will pull me apart.

I can lie under the casuarinas,
And kiss you,
Like I will never, never leave,
I will stay, stay and whisper
(Like these waves),
Insistently into your nights,
Never letting you sleep.

We watch the fishing-boat lights,
Move far out at sea,
Singing their false songs,
To squid swimming towards the moon.


Published In Earnest Spring 198_ Harrisonburg, Virginia

Penang Views

Getting on a plane gives me that shiver of anticipation and adventure. Where to next? What new experiences, new food, new friends? I was not let down in my excitement. There's lots to catch up with. But first a few photos of Penang by mr G and me.
View from my window at Tanjung Bungah Paradise Sandy Bay Hotel. I used to visit my granma here when it was all fishing villages.

We got to go on the ferry - childhood nostalgia!



mr G took the girls to the Butterfly Farm in Penang and he took some lovely pictures.

I like this picture of me rushing to get to the hawker stalls on Macalister Road. Charge! Can't leave Penang without some Char Kuey Teow. I have to say that the man who sells pork intestine porridge here was really rude and action. hmf! goodness me, he has a high opinion of his place in the universe!

More later, gotta do my after holiday laundry and housework. sigh.

Deckchairs by Mr G

Seaside towns. Along the pier at Weymouth. This is my favourite picture by Mr G.

Busy bee picture in the lazy garden

This is the favourite of all the pics I took this weekend. The flower bracts are from the euphorbias at Lorton House. More pics to come.

Wot I et this weekend

I put my mouth where my blog is and cooked a wild garlic omelette - mmm...like ku chai or chinese chives, with a very light oniony taste. Not bad, if I were foraging in the forest, I would definitely choose this!

If only I knew how to identify safe mushrooms...







I also made rendang, but we ate it before I could take a picture. I obviously have not got the idea, plus since I used brahim rendang sauce, as I was busy, felt like it was not real cooking!

I only had one chance with this cheese on a cracker because I then ate it - it was blue enough to walk I think, so I ate it fast. Or I was impatient. I think I am too impatient to be a food blogger because I just want to eat the food, forget about shooting a nice pic of it!

(all this while pondering my reader impressions...aiyah, must have food for thoughtlah!)

Ramson or Wild Garlic

Allium ursinum

click for recipes

A visitor

The apple tree in the back garden is about to burst into full blossom. Mr G took a great photo this morning.

Going to Glencot

Glencot House Hotel

We went to a party for the launch of a new hotel. Everyone had to dress with "decadence". I usually wear a cheongsam to such things, but mr G was disappointed not to have a red velvet smoking jacket and a cravat. He almost refused to go. But once we reached the elegant Victorian villa with flaming torches on the terrace, and he had had his first sip of wine and nibble of chocolate eclair, he settled down to the ambience of candlelight and stuffed peacocks, ornate mirrors and overstuffed armchairs. There was a roaring fire or two and the crowning glory of his night was the abundance of Daim chocs everywhere, jars and dishes overflowed with his favourite treat. You can see the top of the jar above. The gin cocktails ran out in an hour (400 guests, free booze!) but the Daim remained and a goodly few came home with us.


Having a laff with my girlfriends!