| 1. My Pink Pentas flowers |
June is my 3rd blog anniversary month, so I am extremely thrilled to receive The Versatile Blogger award from 3 fellow bloggers. It is indeed nice to read other bloggers' views about me.
Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label About Me. Show all posts
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Versatile Blogger Award on My 3rd Blog Anniversary
June is my 3rd blog anniversary month, so I am extremely thrilled to receive The Versatile Blogger award from 3 fellow bloggers. It is indeed nice to read other bloggers' views about me.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My Blog Plans for 2010
My Dear Friends,
Today, I'm going to talk about my blog plans for this year. For a start, I have found this free site at the web and created my own mangatar. If you wish, you can also try doing your own at the Face Your Manga. I like cartoons, anime and manga too. Sometimes, I am quite curious to know why my teenage son is still watching cartoons, so I join in as he watches his Naruto and Avatar cartoons. Seems interesting, so far, but my fave is still Tom & Jerry, The Road Runner and Pink Panther. I still watch them because they make me LOL .
I am using this avatar in Blotanical now.
This is what I intent to blog on:
a) My Home garden
b) The gardens of 1-Utama Shopping Complex, namely The Secret Garden, The Rainforest and The Victoria Amazonica Water Lily pond.
c) Gardens and plants in the places I visit
As I am a Do-It-Yourself gardener, I shall be writing about what I am doing in my garden. I plant many different types of flowering plants, shrubs, foliage, vegetables, fruits, herbs and also medicinal plants. My garden landscape is always changing according to my whims and fancies of the moment. As I live in the city with limited garden space, my posts will be mostly about urban and container gardening, with occassionally some old wives tale or grandmother stories thrown in.
I also live with 9 koi fishes in a water fountain, 9 gold fishes in a little indoor aquarium, 1 garden tortoise, some frogs, butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies, spiders, some other visiting wildlife and also a fat & white, freelance cat who occassionaly come to my house to peep into my kitchen, then walk around my garden to pee and poo. My garden consists of a few eco-systems with a bio-diversity of flora and fauna.
The Secret Garden of 1-Utama is an experimental garden using novel technologies to grow 500 species of interesting, rare and unusual plants in an open tropical roof-top environment. The soil medium is based on granulated horticultural carbon. Chilled water is provided by sprinklers at night. The plants in the garden fall under several themes. The names of the plants and their origins are provided in small labels at the base of the plants. Yor are welcome to take photographs but please observe that this is a NO-SMOKING area.
.... from the words of Consultant Botanist, Dr. Francis Ng in their brochure.
This is the place where I satisfy my hunger for knowledge on plants and also where I practise my photography skills. Here I can find tropical, desert and even temperate plants. With close to 600 species of plants now, I can write a post each day for each plant continuously for nearly 2 years! Usually I will take pictures of those plants that are blooming and record the information about the plant 's botanical name and origin.
Once, I am back home, I will surf the internet for details and information about the specific plant. By the time I post in on my blog, I would have done my research and homework. This way, I find that I can learn a lot about native plants around the world and I also hope to share this knowledge with you. There are also some rare and unusual plants grown here too. Some examples are the grass orchids, Arundina sp; Kinta orchid Papilionanthe hookerina and Tapah orchid Arundina gramilifolia. I will be posting about them soon.
As we know, growing native plants in our garden has a lot of advantages and it contributes positively to our environment. If we know more about the native plants and their origin, we can select the suitable ones to grow in our garden. Many native plants are hardy and easy to grow in their places of origin and they also have medicinal values.
Learning about and teaching our kids about rare plants will raise awareness on the need to do our little part or what we can in preserving the environment that we live in and in preventing rare and endangered species from disappearing altogether from Mother Earth.
There is a wealth of information to be learn from this roof-top garden in the city.
This garden has taken urban gardening to a new dimension.
The Rainforest of 1-Utama contains real forest trees and hundreds of species of plants. This is another good example of beneficial urban gardening.
Can you imagine a rainforest inside a shopping complex? There is also a pletora of fresh water fishes, making it a very good learning ground for adults and kids alike. The flora and fauna here are properly labelled.
Malaysia's rainforests has an incredible biodiversity of flora and fauna and they also have a wealth of rare plant species which are very important to medical and scientific research. Indigenous people who live in the rainforest have their own medicine men (MM). These MMs are already very old now and may be into their 70s. They know a lot about the medicinal use of many herbs and rare plants. Whenever an MM dies, a wealth of knowlege is burried together with him/her and this knowledge may be lost forever. There is a real and immediate need to "Save The Rainforests" from further destruction and/or disappearance. The least we can do is to learn more and then to educate our children and future generations to the best of our ability, to care for the environment.
Next, during my travels to other places, I may come accross interesting local plants which I will highlight in my blog posts.
Hopefully, when you read my blog, you get to know more about tropical, equatorial Malaysia, our rainforests and our gardens.
Finally, before I sign off, your feedback and all comments for improvement shall be greatly appreciated. Comments do not have a closing date, so there is no such thing as a 'late comment'.
My post today is dedicated to jodi DeLong, writer, editor and photographer from Canada of Bloomingwriter: Gardening in Nova Sotia. She was the first commenter of my previous post on the Cardinal Creeper. At the time of writing this post, her blog is the no. 1 most popular blog at Blotanical. Congratulations!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Where Am I Planted?
Once upon a time, in a land far far away in Malaysia, lives Autumn Belle of My Nice Garden. Do you know where on Earth that place is ?
This post is inspired by Ms Janie of An Obsessive/Compulsive Plant Collector. In her post titled, "Where Are YOU Planted?" dated 2nd Nov 2009, she posted about where in the world she lived. Since we are in a global community with thousands of garden bloggers, she suggested a blog-a-rama where we were to post about where we live, and link back to the original poster so everybody could read what everybody had to say. I think this is a brilliant idea. Since this is the begining of the year, I might as well tell you my exact whereabouts.
I come from Malaysia, a country in the region of South East Asia. Our immediate neighbours are Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Geographically speaking, Malaysia is located just above the Equator at 2 degree 30' North latitude and 112 degree 30' East longitude.
We have tropical weather influenced by the monsoon climate which comes twice a year, the wettest season being in the months of Dec -Feb. Our annual rainfall is 2 670 mm, so you can expect to find vast areas of tropical rainforests in the hilly regions.
Temperatures average around 23 - 33 degrees Celcius. Humidity is more than 80%.
Overall our climate is warm and sunny during the day and cool at night all year round with occassional rain in the evenings. Four seasons? No way! Malaysia is a land of everlasting summers and evergreen rainforests.
Malaysia is made up of 13 states and 3 Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan). Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia while Putrajaya is the administrative capital of Malaysia and the seat of the Federal Government. Our country is ruled by an elected monarchy and the head of government is the Prime Minister. Malaysia is separated by the South China Sea into 2 regions; West Malaysia (aka Peninsular Malaysia) and East Malaysia (formerly Borneo).
Summary of some useful facts:
Time Zone: Universal Time (GMT) + 8 hours.
Estimated Population: 29 million in 2009
Composition: 50% Malays and Indigeneous people, 23% Chinese, 7% Indians and 20% of other ethnic groups.
Official language: Malay
Official religion: Muslim.
We are free to practice our own faiths, e.g. Buddhism, Toaism, Hinduism, Sikkhism, Christianity, etc.
Official currency: Ringgit Malaysia (approx. 1 USD = 3.50 RM and 1 Euro = 4.92 RM)
The fomer British colonies in Peninsular Malaysia achieved independence on 31st Aug 1957. With the addition of Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia existed as a unified state with effect from 16 Sept 1963.
I live in the city of Klang in Selangor state which is about 32km west of Kuala Lumpur. Klang has a population of about 1 million and is the 4th largest city in Malaysia. Klang probably obtained its name from the Klang River which runs through the town. The entire geographical area in the immediate vicinity of the Klang river which begins at Kuala Lumpur and run all the way to Port Klang is known as the Klang Valley.
Klang city is the royal capital of Selangor. Klang's history dates back to the bronze age. It first started as a territory under the Malacca sultanate which later fell to the Portugese, then to Dutch and the British. Selangor state's prosperity started with the booming tin and rubber industry during the 18th century which also attracted a lot of Chinese immigrants. Today, Selangor has the latest facilities, infrastructure, business complexes, shopping centres and industrial areas. It is the most developed and the richest state of Malaysia. With a population of 5 million in 2008, it is Malaysia's most populous state.
Now, Autumn Belle's home and garden plot is situated on the plains or flat land in the southern region of Klang city.
Before photo. Front portion: 10 ft by 18 ft
The soil was full of construction waste and debri, sand and gravel. We covered it with course sand, followed by a few layers of black soil.
After photo.
This is the main section of my 'laboratory' where I experimented with many different plants and also my 'studio' for photo shoots. This area is quite sunny, so I plant mostly flowering shrubs, perrenials and annuals.
Before photo: The side and back portion, area maximum 5 ft (varies fr 2 - 5 ft) by 55 ft.
This area is quite narrow, therefore I don't have much room to play about.
After photo.
Most of the plants are in containers. Even trees and shrubs are planted in containers. My hibiscus plants seem to be growing well like a small tree eventhough it is planted in a container. I am not so lucky with my chempaka tree which has not flowered yet eventhough it was blooming in a small plastic bag when I bought it at the local nursery. (Update: My cempaka tree in a pot has started to flower in 2012! I am ecstatic because I am growing this 40ft tree in a flower pot).
Garden Theme
I'd like to describe my garden as DIY, experimental and naturalistic or "rojak", after a very tasty Malaysian salad dish. This rojak dish is actually a mix of raw local fruits topped with spicy peanut sauce. I grow many native plants in my garden which is kept free of harmful chemicals and pesticides. My garden is wildlife friendly. It is like a resort cum maternity home for birds and butterflies. Birds come to my garden every evening to bath and butterflies are free to lay eggs and hatch their caterpillars here. My garden is also a garden of love and memories. Many plants in my garden has a story to tell.
I have many different plants, perhaps one plant of each type to satisfy my curiosity and also because I love variety. I can't settle for a few types, I want to try many many types. Herbs and vegetables are planted from this point onward towards the back of my house. Now many of my babies have grown into teenagers and young adults, each having their own characters. My green family is the source of my daily happiness and joy.
As you can see here, I have a lot of work to do. My garden is getting unkempt and dull looking. The current rainy season which brings rain and little sunshine almost every day didn't help much either. I need to spruce things up before the Chinese New Year in February.
This post is dedicated to Keats the Sunshine Girl, the first commenter for my very first post of 2010. She is a person I admire very much for her many voluntary social work and storytelling abilities. She is currently participating in the Blog4FT Contest. Do vote for her when you visit her blog.
This post is inspired by Ms Janie of An Obsessive/Compulsive Plant Collector. In her post titled, "Where Are YOU Planted?" dated 2nd Nov 2009, she posted about where in the world she lived. Since we are in a global community with thousands of garden bloggers, she suggested a blog-a-rama where we were to post about where we live, and link back to the original poster so everybody could read what everybody had to say. I think this is a brilliant idea. Since this is the begining of the year, I might as well tell you my exact whereabouts.
We have tropical weather influenced by the monsoon climate which comes twice a year, the wettest season being in the months of Dec -Feb. Our annual rainfall is 2 670 mm, so you can expect to find vast areas of tropical rainforests in the hilly regions.
Temperatures average around 23 - 33 degrees Celcius. Humidity is more than 80%.
Overall our climate is warm and sunny during the day and cool at night all year round with occassional rain in the evenings. Four seasons? No way! Malaysia is a land of everlasting summers and evergreen rainforests.
Malaysia is made up of 13 states and 3 Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan). Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia while Putrajaya is the administrative capital of Malaysia and the seat of the Federal Government. Our country is ruled by an elected monarchy and the head of government is the Prime Minister. Malaysia is separated by the South China Sea into 2 regions; West Malaysia (aka Peninsular Malaysia) and East Malaysia (formerly Borneo).
Summary of some useful facts:
Time Zone: Universal Time (GMT) + 8 hours.
Estimated Population: 29 million in 2009
Composition: 50% Malays and Indigeneous people, 23% Chinese, 7% Indians and 20% of other ethnic groups.
Official language: Malay
Official religion: Muslim.
We are free to practice our own faiths, e.g. Buddhism, Toaism, Hinduism, Sikkhism, Christianity, etc.
Official currency: Ringgit Malaysia (approx. 1 USD = 3.50 RM and 1 Euro = 4.92 RM)
The fomer British colonies in Peninsular Malaysia achieved independence on 31st Aug 1957. With the addition of Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia existed as a unified state with effect from 16 Sept 1963.
I live in the city of Klang in Selangor state which is about 32km west of Kuala Lumpur. Klang has a population of about 1 million and is the 4th largest city in Malaysia. Klang probably obtained its name from the Klang River which runs through the town. The entire geographical area in the immediate vicinity of the Klang river which begins at Kuala Lumpur and run all the way to Port Klang is known as the Klang Valley.
Klang city is the royal capital of Selangor. Klang's history dates back to the bronze age. It first started as a territory under the Malacca sultanate which later fell to the Portugese, then to Dutch and the British. Selangor state's prosperity started with the booming tin and rubber industry during the 18th century which also attracted a lot of Chinese immigrants. Today, Selangor has the latest facilities, infrastructure, business complexes, shopping centres and industrial areas. It is the most developed and the richest state of Malaysia. With a population of 5 million in 2008, it is Malaysia's most populous state.
Now, Autumn Belle's home and garden plot is situated on the plains or flat land in the southern region of Klang city.
Before photo. Front portion: 10 ft by 18 ft
The soil was full of construction waste and debri, sand and gravel. We covered it with course sand, followed by a few layers of black soil.
After photo.
This is the main section of my 'laboratory' where I experimented with many different plants and also my 'studio' for photo shoots. This area is quite sunny, so I plant mostly flowering shrubs, perrenials and annuals.
Before photo: The side and back portion, area maximum 5 ft (varies fr 2 - 5 ft) by 55 ft.
This area is quite narrow, therefore I don't have much room to play about.
Most of the plants are in containers. Even trees and shrubs are planted in containers. My hibiscus plants seem to be growing well like a small tree eventhough it is planted in a container. I am not so lucky with my chempaka tree which has not flowered yet eventhough it was blooming in a small plastic bag when I bought it at the local nursery. (Update: My cempaka tree in a pot has started to flower in 2012! I am ecstatic because I am growing this 40ft tree in a flower pot).
Garden Theme
I'd like to describe my garden as DIY, experimental and naturalistic or "rojak", after a very tasty Malaysian salad dish. This rojak dish is actually a mix of raw local fruits topped with spicy peanut sauce. I grow many native plants in my garden which is kept free of harmful chemicals and pesticides. My garden is wildlife friendly. It is like a resort cum maternity home for birds and butterflies. Birds come to my garden every evening to bath and butterflies are free to lay eggs and hatch their caterpillars here. My garden is also a garden of love and memories. Many plants in my garden has a story to tell.
I have many different plants, perhaps one plant of each type to satisfy my curiosity and also because I love variety. I can't settle for a few types, I want to try many many types. Herbs and vegetables are planted from this point onward towards the back of my house. Now many of my babies have grown into teenagers and young adults, each having their own characters. My green family is the source of my daily happiness and joy.
As you can see here, I have a lot of work to do. My garden is getting unkempt and dull looking. The current rainy season which brings rain and little sunshine almost every day didn't help much either. I need to spruce things up before the Chinese New Year in February.
This post is dedicated to Keats the Sunshine Girl, the first commenter for my very first post of 2010. She is a person I admire very much for her many voluntary social work and storytelling abilities. She is currently participating in the Blog4FT Contest. Do vote for her when you visit her blog.
Monday, June 1, 2009
About Me - Accolades
Pleasure is the flower that passes;
remembrance, the lasting perfume.
~Jean de Boufflers
My grateful thanks to Mr Stuart Robinson for creating this wonderful Blotanical community of Garden Bloggers around the world, and
Thank you very much to all Blotanists worldwide who have voted for me.
The Blotanical 2009 Awards:
I joined blotanical and started blogging in June 2009.
In Sept 2009, My Nice Garden was voted:
In Sept 2009, My Nice Garden was voted:
2nd Best Asian Blog
4th Best Commenter
5th Best Native Plants Blog
MY CHEST OF CYBER TREASURES
On 14th August 2009, Jessica of The Magical Mundane from Michigan, United States has passed along a Meme Award to My Nice Garden which is my first ever award. My grateful thanks to Jessica for giving this award to me. It is indeed very much appreciated and a great honour to me.
"Autumn Bell at My Nice Garden, located in Malaysia. Another spectacular blog that focuses on garden blooms but still adds in highlights of the region. Another tour guide in training" ..... Jessica
"Its about her urban gardening adventures and personal stories. I often enjoy all the garden stories and the native plants she discovers and write about"..... James
1. On 22 Nov 09, My Nice Garden (MNG) has received a second Honest Scrap Award from Babara_elaine of Gardening in Mannheim, Germany. Her post is titled, "Proud to be an Honest Scrap. "
"Autumn Belle at My Nice Garden. Another blog I've become familiar with through Blotanical, a website where you can find all of these blogs and hundreds more, united by a common love of gardening"..... Babara Elaine
2. On 23 Nov 09, MNG received a Best Blog Award from LeSan of Blue Gate Gardens. Her post is titled, "The Red Carpet Needs Shampooing".
"My Nice Garden by Autumn Belle is as lovely as she is and a pleasure to visit. She delights me with flowers that are wonderfully exotic to this Northwestern American. She shows me a world I have never seen and I would love to have her as my tour guide if I was ever fortunate enough to travel to her corner of the world ".....LeSan
3. On 27 Nov 09, MNG received a Best Blog Award from Wendy of Greenish Thumb. Her post is titled, "....... why someone would consider this blog "best".
"Autumn Belle (My Nice Garden) in Malaysia, is such an interesting person who will occasionally share cultural aspects that are sometimes very different, but sometimes remotely similar to my own".....Wendy
I would like to thank Babara, LeSan and Wendy for having me in mind when giving out the awards. It feels great to be appreciated.
My Press Articles
Thanks to the wonderful opportunity, I am now a guest columnist and writing fortnightly for News Straits Times Press Berhad's Life & Times Section, Garden Column, Saturday Edition. This was with effect from 12 March 2010. It would have made my parents proud for The New Straits Times was their favourite daily newspaper.
My Nice Garden was mentioned in the February 2011 Home & Decor Magazine, Malaysia edition.
In 2012, June was my anniversary month, so I am immensely thrilled to receive the above award. It is so nice to about other bloggers' views about me!
1. Thank you very much to James Missier of Garden Chronicles for giving me this award on June 15th, 2012. His post is here. James is an empath and plant rescuer who loves to inspire others and enjoys singing. He says,
"Autumn Belle from My Nice Garden. She is so rich with her passion with flowers and plants.She also blogs in My Garden Directory, Klang - Malaysia Daily Photo and My nice flowers. (Wow! that's Versatile".
2. Thank you very much to Aaron of Aaron's Gadening Blog for giving me this award on June 16th, 2012.
"Autumn Belle from My Nice Garden. She's an extremely versatile gardener, and her blog is very entertaining to read. She's very passionate in her hobby of gardening."
3. Thank you very much to Adam of Growing Paradise for giving me this award on June 17th, 2012. His post is here. Adam who speaks Cuban Spanish and Cantonese, cooks, gardens and love nature, cats and living in the tropics says,
"Nice garden - a beautifully-done blog about gardening in Malaysia. The author is a lot like me in that she finds it hard to not plant what others don't want!"
5. Malar of My Little Garden, thank you very much for the Versatile Blogger Award. I am very honoured!
Malar says, "Autumn Belle at http://www.mynicegarden.com - If you want to know more about plants, visit her blog! It's so informative!" - 24 July 2012. 5. The Liebster Award and Beautiful Blogger Award.
6. I would like to thank Ash and Stiletto for the following awards:
(a) Ash of Houris In The Garden blog (Liebster Blog post) and (Beautiful Blogger post).
(b) Stiletto of STileTTo blog (Beautiful Blogger post).
"...Your blogs are a treasure trove of information. Recently I discover that it is so easy to verify plant ID through your other blog, The Plant Finder. I have high regards to you as the sifu."
Stilleto, thank you very much for these inspiring words!About Me - My Cameras
IN THE EARLY YEARS - We don't have a camera!
I'm the one sitting on the left of this dragon boat during our first family holiday at Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia. There are some fishing boats and fishermen behind us. Dad paid a photographer money to take our pictures. We then had to wait a few weeks for the photos to be developed in a dark room and then mailed to us. I wore a bright red dress and the boat was also very colourful but technology in those days could only manage a black and white.
Today I salute this year 2010's Nobel Prize for Physics winners, Mr Willard S. Boyle and Mr George E. Smith for inventing the charge-coupled device (CCD) which forms the basis of the digital camera's electronic eye and Mr Charles K. Kao for the fibre technology. With these technological advancements in digital photography and the www internet connectivity, life has become so much more colourful, brighter and global.
I'm the one sitting on the left of this dragon boat during our first family holiday at Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia. There are some fishing boats and fishermen behind us. Dad paid a photographer money to take our pictures. We then had to wait a few weeks for the photos to be developed in a dark room and then mailed to us. I wore a bright red dress and the boat was also very colourful but technology in those days could only manage a black and white.
Today I salute this year 2010's Nobel Prize for Physics winners, Mr Willard S. Boyle and Mr George E. Smith for inventing the charge-coupled device (CCD) which forms the basis of the digital camera's electronic eye and Mr Charles K. Kao for the fibre technology. With these technological advancements in digital photography and the www internet connectivity, life has become so much more colourful, brighter and global.
Penang or The Pearl of the Orient has remained until today one of my favourite holiday destinations. It is a beautiful island.
My first digital camera is an Olympus C-300 Zoom which I purchased on 18 Dec 2002 for RM 1,350.00. This is my biggest investment todate. It is very reliable, giving me sharp images and it lasted until now. The only problem with age is that whenever I tilt the camera, it shuts down. This camera which was unveiled on 8 May 2002 is an archived item now.
Specifications: 3mp, 2.8X optical zoom., uses 4 AA batteries
This camera takes clearer pictures than the Olympus FE-45 and FE-4000,12mp compact.
I used this Olympus FE-45 for 1 round of about 295 photos in September 2009. I am not satisfied with the pictures quality and I find that using 2 AA batteries to be very inconvenient since the battery life is very short. I upgraded to the model below within 7 days and paid the difference.
Money Invested: RM 499.00
Specifications: 10mp, 3X optical zoom, 2.5" LCD display, 2 AA batteries
With effect from October 2009, I am using this entry level point and shoot camera, Olympus FE-4000 digital camera for my photo shoots. A micro SD card of 2 + 2 GB storage comes with the camera. Each card can accommodate up to 300 photos. This camera was launched on 27 July 2009 and available in September 2009. I am very satisfied with the macro shots but the scenery shots are not up to my expectations and as for the night scenes, I rate it NG = Not Good!
Money invested = RM 599.00
Specifications: 12mp, 4X optical zoom, 26mm wide angle, 2.7 LCD display, Lithium Ion battery Li-42B
Exactly 1 year and about 10,000 pictures after purchase, my camera started to shows signs of wearing off.
With effect from 23rd October 2010, I shall be using the Casio Exilim EX-A16, another entry level point and shoot digital camera. It comes with a 4GB SD card. This model was launched on 20 Sep 2010.
Money invested = RM 500.00
Specifications: 12mp, 3X optical zoom, 4X digital zoom, Lithium Ion batteries (NP-80)
I have since change to a Panasonic Lumix DMC FH-1. The offer price of this Lumix DMC FH-1 camera in Malaysia now is RM 599.00Reason: It is the same 12 mp with intelligence auto (iAuto) mode and stabilizer but the colours are more vibrant. The macro shots are clearer and can be taken at a nearer distance. The wide angle (28mm) is larger, zoom better (5X optical) and clearer. It has HD movie recording feature and uses Leica (German technology) lens, which My Dear has high regards for. The rechargeable Li-Ion battery can last about 200 photos. I first saw a higher end Panasonic Lumix FZ-100 camera that I like from Diana of Elephant Eye. Then I was very encourage with positive feedback by commenters of my previous post, e.g. Bom of Plant Chaser blog, my daughter and also a few anonymous blog readers who wrote to me.
My next target will be the Canon Powershot S95 or S90, a high performance compact camera. The Canon S90 price has dropped to about RM 1,200 with FOC extra battery and comes with 8G memory card, waranty 1+2 years (until 31 Oct 10) due to introduction of new model S95 at RM 1,500 but it has exceeded my current budget.
About Me - Part 1
My real name is Elaine Yim.
I'm a DIY gardener living in the city in the tropics. I come from a family of avid gardeners.
Life at the temple
I had a happy childhood growing up in a small town in Perak where my free time after school was spent helping my grandmother pottering around the compound of our village home or the temple grounds when she was the caretaker. We reared free range chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys for our own consumption. We had dogs; "Lucky", "Wong", "Lassie", "Spunky" and "Kopi" to help guard the house and cats; "Spots" and "Tiger", "Tan Ngan Chai (One-eyed), "Short Tail", "Fatso" to keep the rats population in check. All of them were strays or newborn giveaways adopted during different time periods of course. Sometimes even tortoises (turtles) and pigeons wander into our kitchen but we didn't slaughter them to make delicacies and herbal soups! You see, some people believe that "fong sang" or releasing animals in captivity was good for the soul, hence tortoises, pigeons and other types of tweety birds were released during birthdays and festivals at temples. Whenever there was a heavy downpour, the water from the pond nearby would overflow and fishes would be washed off to the drains that flow into the temple grounds. My siblings and I would be happily fishing - i.e. scooping fishes; mainly fighting fish, sometimes snakeheads (ikan haruan) or Clarias batrachus (ikan keli). We liked to rear the fighting fish in used glass jars.
My grandma was an avid gardener. She never went to school but she was already well equipped with much of the necessary living skills when she married my grandpa at the age of 16(?). Her specialty was ornamentals like bougainvilleas and dahlias. Whenever there was an important event in town, e.g. a singing competition or fund raising, my grandma's colourful and blooming, potted bougainvilleas would be used to adorn the stage and venue.
Life in our home, then,
My father was an orchid enthusiast and loved the challenge of taking part in orchid competitions. We were very proud of his gorgeous orchids and most of my evenings were spent watching him painstakingly tending to his prized orchid collection. Friends and visitors from far and near came to our house to view his flowering orchids.
We also had a big compound around our house where we grew fruit trees like jackfruit, custard apple, guava, papaya, rambutan and mango. Believe me, yes! we had a mini 'farm' and an 'orchard' within our house compound. We composted the dead leaves, collected rain water and recycle our rinsing water for the plants. Excess rice, vegetables and cooked dishes were shared with our chickens, ducks, turkeys, dogs and cats. Dad's idea was to save cost but now we know that he was already helping to reduce our carbon footprint!
Mom was a great cook. She grew aloe vera, tapioca, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, pandan, chili, lemon grass and the curry leaf plant. With so many fresh ingredients at hand, Ah Ma was never short of supplies for her beauty regimes and culinary adventures.
This is how I learnt most of my gardening, cooking and home living skills.
And now,
Currently, I have a small garden plot where I try out many different types of plants, vegetables, fruits and flowers. My references are from gardening books, magazines, TV, public gardens and the internet. I also regularly visit The Secret Garden on the rooftop of 1-Utama which to me is like a 3-in-1 mini encyclopedia, self-learning institution cum showchase of live flowering and foliage plants. I also visit MPH Bookstore to update myself on the latest information. I am actually a Bookworm who loves Gardening.
However, I do strongly believe that what matters most is the personal, hands-on experience gained through the years of working on the soil. Each garden plot has its own unique micro-climate and hence requirements pertaining to sunlight, shade, soil, temperature and water, therefore we have to adapt ourselves in order to succeed.
I'm a DIY gardener living in the city in the tropics. I come from a family of avid gardeners.
Life at the temple
I had a happy childhood growing up in a small town in Perak where my free time after school was spent helping my grandmother pottering around the compound of our village home or the temple grounds when she was the caretaker. We reared free range chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys for our own consumption. We had dogs; "Lucky", "Wong", "Lassie", "Spunky" and "Kopi" to help guard the house and cats; "Spots" and "Tiger", "Tan Ngan Chai (One-eyed), "Short Tail", "Fatso" to keep the rats population in check. All of them were strays or newborn giveaways adopted during different time periods of course. Sometimes even tortoises (turtles) and pigeons wander into our kitchen but we didn't slaughter them to make delicacies and herbal soups! You see, some people believe that "fong sang" or releasing animals in captivity was good for the soul, hence tortoises, pigeons and other types of tweety birds were released during birthdays and festivals at temples. Whenever there was a heavy downpour, the water from the pond nearby would overflow and fishes would be washed off to the drains that flow into the temple grounds. My siblings and I would be happily fishing - i.e. scooping fishes; mainly fighting fish, sometimes snakeheads (ikan haruan) or Clarias batrachus (ikan keli). We liked to rear the fighting fish in used glass jars.
My grandma was an avid gardener. She never went to school but she was already well equipped with much of the necessary living skills when she married my grandpa at the age of 16(?). Her specialty was ornamentals like bougainvilleas and dahlias. Whenever there was an important event in town, e.g. a singing competition or fund raising, my grandma's colourful and blooming, potted bougainvilleas would be used to adorn the stage and venue.
Life in our home, then,
My father was an orchid enthusiast and loved the challenge of taking part in orchid competitions. We were very proud of his gorgeous orchids and most of my evenings were spent watching him painstakingly tending to his prized orchid collection. Friends and visitors from far and near came to our house to view his flowering orchids.
We also had a big compound around our house where we grew fruit trees like jackfruit, custard apple, guava, papaya, rambutan and mango. Believe me, yes! we had a mini 'farm' and an 'orchard' within our house compound. We composted the dead leaves, collected rain water and recycle our rinsing water for the plants. Excess rice, vegetables and cooked dishes were shared with our chickens, ducks, turkeys, dogs and cats. Dad's idea was to save cost but now we know that he was already helping to reduce our carbon footprint!
Mom was a great cook. She grew aloe vera, tapioca, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, pandan, chili, lemon grass and the curry leaf plant. With so many fresh ingredients at hand, Ah Ma was never short of supplies for her beauty regimes and culinary adventures.
This is how I learnt most of my gardening, cooking and home living skills.
And now,
Currently, I have a small garden plot where I try out many different types of plants, vegetables, fruits and flowers. My references are from gardening books, magazines, TV, public gardens and the internet. I also regularly visit The Secret Garden on the rooftop of 1-Utama which to me is like a 3-in-1 mini encyclopedia, self-learning institution cum showchase of live flowering and foliage plants. I also visit MPH Bookstore to update myself on the latest information. I am actually a Bookworm who loves Gardening.
However, I do strongly believe that what matters most is the personal, hands-on experience gained through the years of working on the soil. Each garden plot has its own unique micro-climate and hence requirements pertaining to sunlight, shade, soil, temperature and water, therefore we have to adapt ourselves in order to succeed.
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