Mystery Colors in My Garden

We recently moved houses and that, of course, meant we got a new garden. One morning shortly after a rainfall, I explored the grounds and found a lot of colorful flowers I could not name. Maybe you can help me.

PS. I have added the scientific names below as they were identified with a little help from my blogger friends. Thank you! The names link to sites with more information and, when available, I've linked to a site that describes the plant's medicinal values. 

Ixora coccinea

Ochna thomasiana (Mickey Mouse plant)

Averrhoa bilimbi

This next photo is added after many comments to show the fruit of this bilimbi plant. One of the English common names is cucumber tree. As you can read in the comments or the linked page, the fruit is sour and is used in sinigang (a very sour Filipino soup) and bagoong (shrimp paste). Also go visit fellow blogger Andrea, a Filipina horticultural expert, where her post today elucidates on the properties of this sour fruit. And no, I have not yet tasted this fruit from our tree.

Manila, 2011

 

Heliconia and Mussaenda philippica 'Aurorae'

I'm joining the blogging communities at Today's Flower, Weekend Flowers, Macro Flower Saturday, Flowers on Saturday, Macro Monday and Mosaic Monday. Do check out these meme for awesome flowers, macros and mosaics.

Going Home

After the two boatmen in their banca (a wood boat with bamboo outriggers on each side) dropped us back at our resort, one used his long bamboo pole to push off from shore and home they went. It was late in the afternoon, the sun's rays were dancing on the water's surface, and I thought this contra-light silhouette scene would work in monochrome. Do you agree?

Batangas, 2011

Joining the communities at Weekend Reflection and Weekend in Black and White.

[SkyWatch] Sunset in Anilao

These are three more stunning sunset views from our recent jaunt to Anilao that we savored for SkyWatch Friday.

Batangas, 2011

A is for Arc de Triomphe

I'd be astonished if you were not familiar with the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the famous monument honoring the brave soldiers who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. But you may not know that there are other similar arch structures built around the globe in memory of valiant soldiers who lost their lives for a cause . 

I've seen four other arch monuments in my travels: in Rome, Delhi, Bucharest and Chişinău. Today, for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday and the letter A, I share with you my photos of the small Arc de Triomphe in the small country of Moldova.

We arrived in the capital in the late afternoon earlier this year and I made it to the monument just as the sun was setting. The massive building behind it is the Government House of Moldova.

Chişinău, 2011

Unfortunately, I've been unable to find out what triumph this monument commemorates. I've learned that it is also called the Holy Gates, but to what I don't know.

Built of white stone this triumphal arch is similar in design to the one in Paris, but much smaller. The architectural details are rather pretty, I think. 

Another confusing fact is that the references I found date this monument to 1841, yet the plaque offers the date 1846. It was restored in 1973.

I think these two plaques in the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet (used only from 1938 until 1989) and the Russian Cyrillic alphabet... and I can't tell you which is what... are interesting and will fit sign seekers at Signs, Signs.

P is for Painting

A few weeks ago on a pleasant not-too-hot, not-yet-wet, fall day, my honey and I borrowed two bikes and rode out of the town we use as home base in Kaiping into the countryside to get a closer look at a couple of the nearby old villages we had so often passed by car.

This is the front of one of several villages we explored a bit. There were old gray-bricked houses, as well as a couple of new tiled ones. Aesthetically I much prefer the old houses.

Kaiping, 2011

What I found especially attractive here were the hand-painted scenes that adorn many of the doors and a few walls. On the doors of this first house you see a traditional auspicious spring couplet that reads (roughly translated):

Everything under the sun is glowing

The spring sun is spreading virtuous luster

The meaning of the couplet depends on the reader's own state of mind.
 

In this close-up you can see more painting on the ceiling and the permanent hooks meant to hold festival lanterns.

Another close-up of an old house's intricately painted entryway:

New houses built with cement and tiles, more often than not paid for by a migrant working - or family living - overseas, still keep the village tradition.

 

This next image gives you a closer look at the painting, as well as the good luck bundle hanging from the hook. This bundle typically consists of fruits and other edibles which in Chinese sound auspicious, like luck, wealth or longevity.

 

These paintings are for ABC Wednesday, where the letter today is P.

I share with you one more close-up from this village that shows more lovely ways the old gray houses are adorned.

The sore behinds we got from the hours of bicycling were well worth seeing these (and many other) treasures we discovered by taking it in at a slower speed.

Double-Deck Overpass

In the densely built city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), there was no more room to build roads. So they built up. Countless overpasses snake through the buildings, in some places, like here, double-decked.

Guangzhou, 2011

Traffic in my photo looks bearable, but most times it is bumper-to-bumper, rivaling a frustrating drive in Los Angeles. Car sales started to boom in China in the 1990s and in 2009 it overtook the USA as the largest car market.

That's a very far cry from the days I saw only bicycles on the streets, with the occasional bus or government vehicle.

For Sunday Bridges.

Ready for Coffee

Manila, 2011

A few days ago I readied my cafetière à piston to make my habitual morning cup of arabica. As I placed it on our marble kitchen counter I noticed and savored the light effects and shadows. [Better viewed enlarged.]

Linking with the meme communities at Weekend in Black and White and Shadow Shot Sunday. 

And for the season: