Unpredictable Weather!

 The weather is rather quite unpredictable these days.  

Although it is still the South-West Monsoon season, which usually is the rainy season here, we have been getting a lot of hot, sunny days.  Not that I am complaining.  It's been great to have such beautiful, nice, warm weather and I am totally loving it!

 

  

It would be bright and sunny one day, and I would be seeing blue skies while out kayaking, and the next day it would be storming up!

Anyway, the sky is always interesting when it is stormy.  

 

The weather can also change really quickly.

 And when it's been raining and it gets all misty. 

 While the mangroves would always be evergreen.  

Such a contrast!

And if you've been wondering..... Yes, I did get drenched while out kayaking today!

My Patio Garden Of Potted Plants

Snake Plant, Bird's Nest Ferns, Spider Lilies and Jasmine Plant.

The Japanese Bamboo Plant that's been growing taller with all the composting over the years, so the flower pot now looks really small in comparison.....

 

More Snake Plants in the corner and the Cheese Plant that's finally looking lush and beautiful after a lot of tlc!  

Feeding Your Plants!

Am still feeding my potted plants with vegetable dregs regularly and quite frequently and I guess this Japanese Bamboo is quite happy to sit in its pot even though the pot really looks like it is getting too small for the size of the plant.  However, I don't think I'm even going to try to repot it at all.

Anyway, new shoots have started sprouting up recently and it looks like there'll be another giant stem.....

Just compare this new sprout to the older stems in the pot and you will understand why I call it a 'giant' and you will see there is a huge difference in size as it is getting a lot of nourishment from the compost.  And it is about the thickness of my index finger, which I found to be quite amazing.

 

And since, I was out there taking photos of the Japanese Bamboo, I thought I'd take a photo of one of the new fronds of the Bird's Nest Fern that had caught my eye...... 

Yeah, I guess I probably have too much time on my hands, eh?

Monitor Lizard On Vertical Limestone Wall

Was out kayaking in the mangroves this morning and came across this Monitor Lizard making its way up the vertical limestone wall.  

Eventually it decided to stop right there at about 10-12 metres above the water, and it stayed there for a very long time.  When I kayaked pass it again a half hour later, it was still clinging there at that same spot on the wall!

It is quite interesting to note how the Lizard had dug its claws into the cracks on the wall and it had rested its weight on its hind legs.  These Monitor Lizards are very strong swimmers and strong climbers!   

It's giving me the urge to want to go do some rock climbing again!  How I've missed that!

Again And Again And Again......

How could I not look forward to spotting these snakes each time I am out kayaking in the mangroves?  

These Mangrove Pit Vipers are such beautiful creatures!

Yes, they are venomous.  

Yes, it can be scary if you were to stare at one in the eyes directly in its face!

Yet at the same time, it is not so scary after all.  

Just do not disturb it or provoke it or get too close.

And it really is quite cool to get to take a peek at these Mangrove Pit Vipers in their natural habitat.

Must have seen hundreds of them by now.....

Loving it!

Swarming Dragonflies!

 

Been sitting on a comfortable chair on my patio and watching several groups of swarming dragonflies the last few days.  Mostly Pantala flavescens, and I'm guessing, possibly a few dragonflies of one or two other species together in the whole swarm.

There must be several scores of them in one of these swarms, zapping to and fro just above the coconut palms.  The closest swarm is about 10 metres away from me.  And I get a good view of these swarms since I'm on the first floor and looks out to just about the top of these coconut palms.  From time to time, a few of these dragonflies would stop to perch on the palm fronds.  But mostly, after a while, the swarm would gradually move further and further away. 

By then, I would have finished my breakfast as well and have to get to work anyway. 

But it's always nice to start the day watching these dragonflies and spend a bit of time pondering about nature and all its mysteries!  These are such amazing insects!  There's so much energy there!  And these dragonflies seem just so free!

As I watch them, I often imagine myself being one of those dragonflies in those swarms there..... 

What a feeling!

Food For My Garden Plants

The food dregs from my meal preparations that will be fed to my garden plants.  

Garlic skins, onion skins, end bits of carrots and beans, broccoli stems, etc.  

Sometimes I use the thick broccoli stems for making broccoli pesto sauce but that does not happen all the time.  And when I don't, the thick stems get chopped up for the compost.

And in the last few years, I've done away with a compost bin and bury these veg dregs directly into the soil, a few inches deep in the potted plants. 

Works just as great!

Great nutrition for the plants, less rubbish in the trash bin and less stuff to go to the landfill!

That Elusive Little Blue Damselfly

I've only recently realised that I've lost the photos in my older blog posts that were transferred from the Multiply blog site.  Not anyone's fault but my own as I probably omitted a step or two when transferring all the posts over.  That was quite a daunting task for me with thousands of things to transfer over and especially when I don't exactly have a high level of IT competency! 

Earlier in the year, I did notice that when I clicked on a photo in an older post, it would link back to the related Multiply blog page but it did not occur to me then to rectify it and that it would be a problem when the Multiply site is shut down.  Now that it's been shut down, these photos have disappeared from the blogs on this site and have gone to cyberspace!

Anyway, I've taken on the painstakingly slow process of updating these older blogs with the photos that should be there and in the process, have come across a few photos that I'd forgotten about.  One that is of importance to note is the photo of the Paracercion calamorum dyeri (Fraser, 1919), from the family Coenagrionidae.

This is the damselfly species that's a new record for Peninsular Malaysia.  You can refer to the earlier post here:  http://not-just-odonata.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-new-record-for-peninsular-malaysia.html

So here are the photos:

I wasn't the one who took these photos though, so the photo credits go to Robin and Wei Ling, as I was with them when we caught this species and they'd snapped these shots.

It is quite an attractive little blue damselfly, isn't it?

Gray Skies

Another of Mother Nature's gifts and creations.

Even on an overcast, gray day, there is a beautiful painting on the canvas in the sky...........

 

I'd just gotten out the front door to leave for work and as a habit, I'd always look up into the sky and look at the hills.  And I'd totally loved what I saw......

The sun looked like it was just about coming up behind the hills then.
Quite a sight to behold!

On A Hot, Beautiful Day!

This picture does not do this enough justice.  

It really is a breathtaking view looking out into the the sea from here.....

On a hot day like this, all you want to do is get out there!