floral: Watsonia's

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 Watsonia's are tall, slender and dramatic. The blooms open from the bottom up which extends the flowering period. 

Blunt Umbrellas

used to have this scenario, now with NZ design umbrella, it should be wonderful not having to ditch a broken umbrella. Just hope it is not too heavy and expensive.



https://www.bluntumbrellas.com/nz/

WHY BLUNT™?

Friends

When I was young, I learn this ditty.

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other gold.

I had left my home town for more than 40 years.
These old friends always entertain me and transport me around whenever I return.
There are 5 of us who started primary one at six years old.

green green bamboo of home.

Next month I will be returning to my ancestral home in China. I have never been and am getting excited. The family income was bamboo. I wonder if they still have it.

succulents

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Parnell Festival of Roses.

Parnell Festival of Roses 2017

Sun 10:30 AM · Parnell Rose Gardens · Auckland

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.co.nz/

One of my Fav places in Auckland

sago

 My first recollection of sago was the "Sago liap". Liap being small. They were small round hard compacted sago flour.

My maternal Grandpa Kong had a grocery shop and produce collection centre. Ibans come sell their rubber, and buy things from Grandpa. We saw the Ibans buy the sago liap and eat them at the shop.
We took the sago liap and ate them. They didn't taste good, hard texture and dry. They stuck in our teeth.Grandma chided us in what would now be unPC. 

Years later, Sis E went to teach in Mukah and learn from the Melanaus to eat with peanut, ikan busu aka ikan belis. All the ingredients were raw, and I couldn't stomach them. May be I was already allergic to peanuts.

Today, the Borneo Post published a photo on Sago symposium where my younger sister is involved. I wonder if Margaret was thinking of Grandpa's sago liap while she was researching it. There she is, 2nd from the left, Dr Margaret Chan.

Photo shows Sis E's grand daughter eating Bario Highlands worms similar to sago worms.

Niah Caves, Sarawak

Niah National Park, located within Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the site of the Niah Caves limestone cave and archeological site. Niah National Park was 31.4 km² when it was gazetted in 1974.^[1] Nomination for World Heritage status of the Niah Caves was sent to UNESCO in 2010. The cave is an important prehistorical site where human remains dating to 40,000 years have been found.^[7] This is the oldest recorded human settlement in east Malaysia. More recent studies published in 2006 have shown evidence of the first human activity at the Niah caves from ca. 46,000 to ca. 34,000 years ago.^[8]
wiki.

The caves are also well known for the birds' nest (Swiftlet) industry. They are a popular tourist destination in Sarawak. Every section of the ceiling in the caves where there are birds roosting is privately owned and only the owner has the right to collect the nests. Collection is done half-yearly (usually in January and in June). The collector climbs up hundreds of feet on a single pole to the cave ceiling and scrapes off the nest in flickering candlelight.

Another activity is collecting guano. the droppings of these birds that fall down the cave floor. This job is not for the weak hearted. Climbing up and down is dangerous especially when you are strapped to have sacks of heavy odorous guano.

I have not been to Niah Caves. my guides tell me that the smell of the guano it very strong and will make the trip unpleasant. So I went to the Mulu caves. There are bats but the smell is not that bad.

Photos by my friend Noel Balan. He captioned them Local’s carrying kilos of guano everyday to earn a living. What are your excuses? Complaining about tired? hot weather? trafic jamm ? wifi slow ? 

Guano (from Quechua "wani" via Spanish) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds, seals, or cave-dwelling bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium: nutrients essential for plant growth.


Quechua /ˈkɛtʃwə/, also known as runa simi ("people's language"), is an indigenous language family, with variations spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Andes and highlands of South America.^[3] Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely spoken language family of indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 8–10 million speakers.^[4] Approximately 13% of Peruvians speak Quechua.^{[5][better source needed]} It is perhaps most widely known for being the main language of the Inca Empire, and was disseminated by the colonizers throughout their reign.

Thanks: Noel Balan.

monster rock cutting machine.

A gutsy Mum verses a monster rock cutting machine.

hebe

Hebe /ˈhiːbiː/[1] is a genus of plants native to New Zealand, Rapa in French Polynesia, the Falkland Islands, and South America. It includes about 90 species and is the largest plant genus in New Zealand. Thanks Wayne.

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‎Ann Chin‎ to All Flow