watery wednesday: Ambrose's holiday in Thailand

My cousin Ambrose went to Thailand.




http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

JUST LOVELY

I just adore the aesthetics of these photographs from 

Mieke Willems  .....

.... just lovely !!!

via these posts here, here and here

THE BARGAIN LIGHT

I found a home for my vintage cage light yesterday, 

(you may remember my bargain from this post ) ..... 

It gives off a lovely soft light near the bookshelves .....

  and I love its beautiful rusted finish .....

and wooden handle .....

...... nice !!!

BEAUTIFUL SPACE

 So loving this beautiful New York space photographed by the always inspiring Paul Barbera for his "Where They Create" series.

See more Paul Barbera favorites here,  

here, here and here .

NICE

Really liking the decor of this Restaurant in New York.

via here

Sunday Scans: memory lane in 1974

Sports played a big part in Kai Chung School. That year, due to my shouting with Lynn Wong/Leng, A La Man Da, we won. This was Miss Chieng, she was my best girl friend when I was teaching there.

One year, there was a funeral in Sibu, Mr Pau and I accomapanied the students by motor launch aka a big boat. After the funeral, we were treated to an eating house, not exactly a five star restaurant. But to the students from small town Binatang, Sibu was a big place. I recall Mr. Pau telling one girl who had gastric that she wasn't to eat the bigger strands Bee Hoon, but she ate any way. Mr Pau sighed. Mr. Pau has since passed away. I will always remember Mr. Pau.

Then I arranged with my Aunt to visit See Hua Daily news paper. They not only printed the newspaper, they also made plastic bags. I was most impressed how the sacks of whistish granules of rice like plastic could be made into transparent sheets of plastic,

Another of my bucket list.





http://sundayscans.blogspot.com/

Al http://alsphotographyblog.blogspot.com/.

Sunday Bridge and scenic Sunday: Venice

This is what Bart saw from the cruise ship. Can you see the bridge on the extreme right?



http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/


http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/


My Cousin Bart Ngieng is the Travel Manager with Wah Tung Travel Service Sdn Bhd. in Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia. www.wahtung.travel

Flowers: Chinese Lanterns

I was in someone's private garden. I had never seen them before, but read about Chinese lanterns. It is the end of spring here and the flower is now dried up like paper.

Abutilons or Chinese lanterns are closely related to hibiscus, and most of the hundred or so species have pendulous, hibiscus-like flowers. Cultivars produced by hybridising some of the South American abutilons have all been placed in one group known as Abutilon x hybridum, and these are the ones most commonly grown in Australian gardens. They have a wispy, delicate form and colourful, lantern-shaped flowers. For gardeners who prefer plants with a more dense habit, new compact varieties are also available. Another popular abutilon is Abutilon megapotamicum, which is a prostrate ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifr ground covering species with small orange flowers. There is also a variegated leaf form, Abutilon megapotamicum 'Variegatum'. Megapotamicum means 'from the big river' referring to the Rio Grande in Brazil.

http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Flowering-Plants-and-Shrubs/Chinese-Lanterns/868

Macro Flower Saturday
Macro Flower Saturday Macro Flower Saturday ">
href="http://flowers-macrophotography.blogspot.com">Macro Flower Saturday

http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html

FRIDAY FAVORITES

This gorgeous photograph ....

via here

this great space ....

(always love a good book stack and how great is that table !!!)

via here 

 this beautiful skirt by VDC ....

.... and this book should be a good read, can't wait to get a copy. 

via here

 Loving this veggie garden on The Selby .....

this wall ....

via here

..... and this pizza, yum !!!.
via here

We are off to see this play tonight ....

 looking forward it, especially seeing Brendan Cowell ....

Oh and speaking of Brendan Cowell, did anyone watch the last episode of The Slap ? 

What a great series, I'm a bit sad it's finished !!!

It's been a wet old week in our part of the world .... 

here's hoping for a dry weekend ...

Hope you have a good one

XXX

Skywatch Friday: Rain Rain go away.

http://skyley.blogspot.com/


These two days,
the gale is blustery,
It is howling.

You can't see them,
but it is there.
Where is the wind?

It is evident from the rubbish bin,
They have become litter themselves.
I took these wheelie bins.

Schools cancel their interschool sports meet.
Kids are restless.
It's rain day, they are cooped inside.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
More gales and rain are on the way in the "classic" spring fashion, says a forecaster.

MetService Weather Ambassador Bob McDavitt said parts of the country will be pelted with heavy rain and severe gales tomorrow.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/weather/news/article.cfm?c_id=10&objectid=10767974

The weather warning follows a manic day yesterday which saw a Wairarapa couple crushed by a falling tree branch, floodwaters threatening the South Island West Coast and flights grounded in Wellington.

MetService has issued a severe weather warning for more heavy rain on the West Coast and a severe gale watch from south of Napier to Wellington.

Mr McDavitt said severe gales would hit Wairarapa tomorrow afternoon, and could reach up to 120km/h.

"That's strong enough to break a branch, which could take down a power line."

Southland and Westland could see rapidly rising rivers and streams after heavy rainfall, while Buller could see surface flooding and slips.

He said the heavy rain would affect regions that were already saturated.

Mr McDavitt said changeable weather patterns were a "classic spring scenario".

By Thursday and Friday a strong, cooler southwest wind flow was expected to spread across New Zealand, which could bring gales to the region between Invercargill and Dunedin, he said.

8x10 Film Holder that doesn't have a light leak wanted

It must be just bad luck, but so far I have not purchased an 8x10 sheet film holder off ebay that doesn't have some sort of defect such as a light leak caused by bowing where the darkslide is inserted.  I'm using a very fast emulsion relative to what many people use (for a very interesting experiment) and trying to avoid as many defects up front as things progress.

Anyone know how to reshape a plastic film holder? I am tempted to glue tensioned steel rails on either side to counteract the bow.

Then I can get this rig operating. What you see is a Speed Graphic with its focal plane shutter grafted onto some 8x10 camera, all mounted on a Saltzman tripod. The shutter arrangement works just fine with all kinds of barrel lenses, even the Aero Ektar for close ups, which easily covers 8x10 when extended a bit.  The camera shown is notoriously wiggly, and so is the tripod head it is mounted upon. One would think this might be a rigid setup, but no it is not, as it oscillates quite wildly and in fact if one intended to design it to oscillate, this is a good way to accomplish it.  Nevertheless it is possible to get a sharp photograph by waiting for things to settle down. The focal plane shutter hardly jiggles the camera and is fine for short exposures. Longer exposures like 1/4 or greater are also possible with care.

WHERE CHILDREN SLEEP

I just stumbled upon this wonderful book Where Children Sleep by James Mollison .... stories of diverse children around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms .....

James decided a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children would be to look at the bedrooms of children in all kinds of different circumstances, but he didn't want it just to be about 'needy children' in the developing world, rather something more inclusive, about children from all types of situations.
The book is written and presented for an audience of 9-13 year olds ' intended to interest and engage children in the details of the lives of other children around the world, while also being a serious photographic essay for an adult audience.

 1st photograph

Indira, 7, Kathmandu, Nepal

 

Bikram, 9, Melamchi, Nepal

Jaime, 9, New York, USA

Anonymous, 9, Ivory Coast

Dong, 9, Yunnan, China

Bilal, 6, Wadi Abu Hindi, The West Bank

Ahkohxet, 8, Amazonia, Brazil

Lewis, 10, Barnsley, England

Nantio, 15, Lisamis, Northern Kenya

Kaya, 4, Tokyo, Japan

Alex, 9, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Ryan, 13, North Carolina, USA

I think any child would be fascinated by this book .... 
I'm going to order a copy to have at home for all my little visitors,
oh, and for myself too of course !!!