crassula -transplanted

my bucket propagator - pic on right hand corner shows the crassula i propagated in Autumn.
there were branches , leaves that fell when i repot my older crassula. not wanting to throw away the broken branches i poke the branch into the mix (leaves are just laid on top of the mix) and voila -in Spring- they are so much taller and fighting their way out of the bucket and leaves become new plants. so i transplanted them into their own pots (middle pic). there are still some plants in the propagator bucket yet to be put into individual pots. 

Mt Maunganui

mt maunganui is about 1.5hrs -2hrs drive from auckland. i tagged along to one of jake's traffic conference. mt maunganui is famous for its sandy white beaches and is a favourite spot for surfers. given its name, one has to walk up to the summit of mt maunganui at least once to enjoy its scenery.


comments on pics - (left to right)

• walking on the beach , people were playing beach soccer. i was more concerned of sand getting into my shoes. (day 1)
• pics taken from our room - our room's facing the mountain.
• taking my own shadow early in the morning (day 2) before jake goes to his conference.
• while jake is in his conference, i walked about the main street in town, taking pic of surfer boy.
• the drainage cover is so cute -each one of them has a dolphin on top of it.
  
• lunch break in the car with jake - i was bored , it was sunny..jake was on the phone.
• he's still on the phone - i snap pics of the car
• after his conference, we decided to walk up the mountain. the mountain is 232m high. on our way, we see sheeps grazing. they are shy creatures, they ran when I try to go near them.
• they are sort of everywhere on the lower part of the mountain. btw, you can walk up the mountain or walk around the mountain. there are many tracks to choose from.
• we frequently stop to rest. noticed a ship is sailing into port of tauranga.
• jake is slowly catching up with me.
  
• we reached the summit and i take pics of the sky while i lay on the top of the mountain.
• more clouds pic.
• overlooking the town from the summit.
• taking pics of the cliff
  
• more pics on the mountain, since we walked for an hour plus, we had to take as many pics as possible on top of the mountain.
• going down through the bush track.
• the beach - the black dots are people playing volleyball
• back to sea level.
• walking back to our accommodation.
• notice the kids burying their frens in the sand.
• the garden in our motor inn/apartment.
• hot water pool across our accommodation. i was disappointed to find out its like a big swimming pool.

we tried cafe hasan baba for dinner. it serves middle eastern food ..it is run by kiwi.
jake was super impressed with one of the waiter. we think he is the taukeh's son. he's about 1.35m tall? probably 9-10 years old. and he talks and acts like an adult. (very professional in his tasks too) he wore an ear stud and he's terribly mature for kids his height :P we had garlic bread and some hummus, chickpea filo pastry thingie for entree..


as for main course, i opted for the chicken moussaka and jake had the hassan baba feast (which is lamb rack, and some other meat , can't remember what). i had to doggy bag the moussaka back to the hotel since it was huge.


we actually have the feast menu, so it came with dessert too..we had baklava and some ice cream. i was so full, after dinner we had to go for a walk.

day 2 - i was really craving for fish & chips so we went to the main street shop and ordered kumara chips and a 2 person combo. well, we customised the combo and it is no difference to purchasing each item individually. we had great fun eating it by the beach :)

p/s: notice the two fish & chips was wrapped in the same page of newspaper. AIKS!!!! the fish & chip seller must have many sets of old newspaper.

fuchsia - what's blooming in November

i bought 4 fuchsia in sept and they were about 20-25cm from ground. they are also known as dancing ballerina to some people because the flower resemble what the ballerina wears. the size of the flowers varies just as how human can be petite, tall, bla bla bla..
anyhow, before i further digress, i took some pics of the fuchsia when they started to bud. *i was extremely excited because the plants were real tiny and i have never planted fuchsia before.

conditions needed: -according to the plant tag, fuchsia like shaded place (I place mine south facing, under the eaves) and they need good drainage and regular watering (ie daily)

i bought 4 of them and the names are - celia smedley, beacon rise, sunset and genii. looking at the names, i can almost guess their colours, beacon rise, sunset will have pink colour in it.

anyways when beacon rise starts to bud, (check 2nd row left pic), i was extremely overjoyed.
a few days apart, celia smedley also budded. HEHEHE!!!!!! - can tell celia smedley is going to be white by the light coloured bud.

actually, the plant tag also has a small pic on it but nothing beats the plant flowering physically plus due to transportation, poor organisation, sometimes wrong tag gets placed into the plants.

first set of pics are taken early Nov. 2nd set (below) taken mid November.

check out celia smedley, top left, i love how the flowers look- it has big , white and pink and dark red petals. i flipped up the flowers to check out the inside.

below is the beacon rise, flower is of smaller size but the whole tree is covered with bud.

as of writing, genii and sunset are also budding.

anyhow, i totally recommend celia smedley , seems like a reliable plant, beacon rise is recommended for people who likes the pink colours.

meet Masdevallia Coccinea

I was invited to Michelle's house after the orchid meeting and she decided to give me a Masdevallia Coccinea. when i received the plant, the left (tall spike) is in bud. about a week later, it bloomed. the 3rd one is still to bloom (the middle spike).

i have never tried planting Masdevallia before - borrowed a whole book about Masdevallia from the club library . but i haven't sat down and 'study' it. so far, i mist it every now and then. i understand it originated high up on the mountain approximately 4000m /13,000ft high from sea level..there is a wide range of colours available ..

p/s: michelle is my orchid club friend and has 3 cats which is not really hers but she feeds them and treats them like her children. she has amazing garden and besides growing orchid, she is also into Bromeliad. 

Louises Rainbow x Harold Hirschii

ever since our pc was reformatted, our card reader has failed on us.
i had to resort to downloading photos to jake's laptop and then transfer that to our pc.
it's really taking forever. the above Louises Rainbow x Harold Hirschii (dendrobium cross) was blooming in October.
7 flowers altogether. only one spike survived as the other one couldn't withstand the winter weather. i bought the plant during the visit to the grower sometime in April. 

Walking Her Home

my favourite song by Mark Schultz
he's one of my favourite musician, he plays the piano and his song is always telling a story.

Looking back
He sees it all
It was her first date the night he came to call
Her dad said son
Have her home on time
And promise me you’ll never leave her side
He took her to a show in town
And he was ten feet off the ground
(Chorus)
He was walking her home
And holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled it stole the breath right out of him
Down that old road
With the stars up above
He remembers where he was the night he fell in love
He was walking her home
Ten more years and a waiting room
At half past one
And the doctor said come in and meet your son
His knees went weak
When he saw his wife
She was smiling as she said he’s got your eyes
And as she slept he held her tight
His mind went back to that first night
(Chorus)
He walked her through the best days of her life
Sixty years together and he never left her side
A nursing home
At eighty-five
And the doctor said it could be her last night
And the nurse said Oh
Should we tell him now
Or should he wait until the morning to find out
But when they checked her room that night
He was laying by her side
Oh he was walking her home
And holding her hand
Oh the way she smiled when he said this is not the end
And just for a while they were eighteen
And she was still more beautiful to him than anything
He was walking her home
He was walking her home
Looking back
He sees it all
It was her first date the night he came to call

nz taiwan festival

following auntie Julie and Zhang Ma's invitation, we went to the nz taiwan festival on 4 Nov.


Comments of the pics: 1st row: Snapped a pic of a balloon with the taiwan flag;more flags , the stage and its decors with vintagey looking things, like chinese fan, cupboard that my grandma uses;
2nd & 3rd row: a wedding sedan! -that reminds me of the wedding sedan me and jake sat in shenzhen :P ; the gifts delivered during the wedding; handicrafts that taiwanese primary students make;sheep ,apple and fire engine shaped tv. they look so cute, but ain't cheap and the screen is a bit too small for me. taiwanese rolls; candy floss machine; more 'cakes' by the Bakery king stall;
4th row: the 'bread lady' selling the bread; (there were heaps of stalls there) a poster of the event; throngs of people trying to get to the foodstall and into the hall to see the events and tradestalls;puppet stand, (doesn't it remind you of chinese opera ), jake buying taiwanese produce (sesame candies etc) ;ornamental lion head;me holding the taiwanese sausage (my favourite of all the food I tried) ; cooks busy preparing the food.

the foods we tried: curried noodle with pig kidney(*YIKES) -this dish is certain not for me. It loses to msian laksa hands down. i could be biased but i just didn't really like the taste of it.
the 'pulut panggang' thing is pretty good, rice cake with mushroom and egg -this one is average but i think the rice cake made by the ah poh in sibu pasar malam is better. the 4th pic is a meatball thing -totally NOT my thing!!! the bamboo shoots really stinks...

all in all, I rather enjoy the event, the shows were nice - dances, singing, display of cultural things. the taiwanese sausage has made the trip worthwhile

less than 8 weeks to christmas

there's only less than 8 weeks to christmas. i am looking forward for the statutory break i get during those time. time to do absolutely nothing or if i feel like doing anything, i would potter about.

work has been super hectic. 'month end' definition has changed for me. clock is ticking and i had to deliver out the results for review. thank god for answered prayers - at some point, i feel like pulling out all of my hair ...*argh.

anyways on happier note it's weekend.. *YAY!!!!

finished reading: Pounding the Pavement by Jennifer Van Der Kwast the ending is left to reader's imagination. i don't really like this sort of ending but it is a very entertaining book.

embarking on : Bad Heir day by Wendy Holden

Gardening updates:

last saturday ,transplanted the crassulas i propagated in autumn into their own pots. they seem to have crowd the propagator bucket. check out my cute bucket. didn't take pic of it a week ago where the mix is al covered with new shoots/growths of the crassula.

70s & 80s party

recently BIL's gf organised a surprise birthday party with 70s and 80s as the theme.
guests were invited and sworn to secrecy but birthday boy knows better. he knew we were doing something for him but he isn't prepared for these!!!!




ppl come dressed as 70s chicks, rockers duo, afro boy


charlie's transformation from rockers to er...spice girl?? pass the ball was played. charlie was lucky enough to get the ball 3 times, hence the 3 different outfit he has to wear on top of his own wig and other stuffs..

everyone with their outfit from the pass the ball..

me in the flowery dress and big sunglass courtesy of jocelyn!

howick annual spring show

on sat, sept 30, the howick orchid society held its annual spring show. the committee took friday afternoon to assemble the hall and on saturday morning, it started at 8am-judges judging the plants and trophies awarded.

i volunteered as the certificate writer, so time past real quick and the show opens to public at 10am. i was also in charged of the door, so me and jim, collect and dish out entry tickets to the public.

show was a success. due to my limited memories in my memory card, i took only some 60 pics..but here are my favourites.

1st row: l to r: numerous trophies, beautiful cymbidium, more cymbidiums in different shades of colour, the most right is called Son of Freak. What a name.

2nd row: white paphiopedilum (Slipper orchid), odonts alliance type orchid -they are really colourful and i am tempted to buy to add to my collection but i didn't, as they can be quite demanding.

3rd row: cattleya/laelias, lycaste, more cattleyas or laelias- they come in all shades of colour, thanks to the work of hybridist.

4th row: Pleoines , they are alpine type plants, heaps of australian dendrobiums, another white/greenish intermediate cymbidiums, and finally, the grand champion, - masdevallia.

distressed

as much as i like spring, i also detest it. it gives much of those 10 sec showers all through the day. today the wind is particularly chilly. heard on the news it's due to the south westerly.

anyways i am distressed because many of my plants have been blown all over the place. the mix is all over the compound. *Grrr and it's too cold and wet for me to clean them. i managed to put some of my plant back to where they were.

and i have moved the zygo out on saturday because i discovered mealy bug on one of the leaf of the zygo. (this is a sign of warmth). but now it's raining so much, i am worried the poor plant will not cope. *ARGH! meanwhile, i have taken in the dendrobium (harrold hirsch x louises rainbow) because the flower's starting to bloom

currently :

reading: dan Brown's angels and demons

snacking: jack link's Beef jerky peppered flavour- i feel like i am chewing plastics. the rougan is so much better!!!!

congrats to the newlywed

on Sept 23, jake and i attended hanford and sarah's wedding. hanford was jake's sch mate, then colleague, now ex-colleague.

their wedding was held at belmont baptist in the north shore. it was a mixed ceremony of english sermon and chinese exchange of vows. i thought it was very sweet. they did a powerpoint of pics of them from when they were newborns to adult. and i find it real interesting, as kids, they have posed at the same spots around HK. (they met in NZ)

at night, the reception was held at a chinese restaurant. here, we took a pic with the newly wed.
the food were yummy... 

Mid-autumn 06

yesterday it's the chinese mid-autumn festival. i remembered writing a post last year about mid-autumn. we had steamboat last year. the agenda hasn't changed, we had steamboat again last night. it was just nice as the weather was cooling again yesterday.

about a fortnight before the mid-autumn, aunt SY made us some mooncake. HOMEMADE!!! yum! see pic above. there're a few flavours - red bean paste with pine nut, red bean paste with yolk, lotus with yolk, lotus with pine nuts. Man, we were spoilt. i think her mooncake looked bought too, except it didn't come in those fancy boxes.

was told that to 'set' the mooncake after baking, it has to be laid bottoms up.
i flipped two over to take the pics of the patterns of the mould. 

spectrum 3

recently the health & safety nurse came to access our workstation. when she came to mine, she was happy with the rest of the set up but she was unhappy about my chair. it needs to be re-gased. (chair sinks when I sit) apparently, it costs almost the same to buy a new chair. so my boss gave me the go ahead to order a chair for myself. i studied the catalogue quite intensely and narrow down to 3 choices, spectrum 3 being one of them. i even wanted the fabric to be ruby in colour..

i contacted the supplier who then said our head office indicates all employees to use spectrum 3 in a special fabric called 'wells'. okay ..wells then.. my new chair arrived on wednesday. hehe.. smells nice and it looked like the pic above, but the colour is more grey-ish/navy-ish.

btw, did you know that arm rest are no good for your posture. so i didn't get arm rest attached to the chair although i like them 

gardening update

jake's gone to melbourne @ 0430 this morning (departing @0630) for business and i am left to my own devices again.

decided to weed the flower bed. the weeds have come back with a vengeance after winter. so armed with a mini hoe and two plastic bags, i spent the afternoon pulling and hoeing the bed. feeling extremely pleased to see the flower bed clear of weeds. i also gave my potted plants a check and weeded them. jake's cacti's probably going to bloom in late spring (see bud forming). i transplanted a few succulents here and there while weeding.

checked on the succulent that marnee gave me. was shocked that there were holes on the leaves :( and couldn't see any slugs or snails near it. a check on the gardening book revealed that there could be a caterpillar in the plant. TRUE enough, there was a small one (1.5cm) amidst the leaves of the black rose. needless to say, i killed the caterpillar. it must have been feasting on the leaves for at least 1 week and a half now.

coming projects:

1. improving the soil condition and start a hedge on the flower bed. couldn't decide whether i should have buxus sempervirens (english box) or lonicera nitida (box honeysuckle aka poor man's box). i think final decision rest on the sort of soil condition these two thrive in.
2. transplant crassulae ovata (jade plant) from the propagator bucket to new pot. they seem to outgrown the bucket.
3. start to propagate something since it's spring. (maybe hebe -a type of shrub)
   

update

i have been MIA for a while, reason being the pc was getting reformatted thanks to the malicious stuffs we got while surfing.

anyhow, i have been reading novels this month. So far, have read:
1. Guy Next Door by Meg Cabot or Meggin Cabot (UK edition)
2. The J.A.P. Chronicles by Isabel Rose
3. The School for Husbands by Wendy Holden

funny how all three novels have pink covers ;)

today i went to the garden centre with the intention to get English lavender but i came out with fuchsia instead. 4 of them. i have never planted fuchsia before so they will be an experiment. the ones i bought were: Genii, Celia Smedley, Sunset and Beacon Rosa. They colour of the flower range from shades of purple and red. Genii particularly has very light almost golden colour leaves.

spring is here..

i can't believe spring is here. weather's warmed up, flowers are blooming and daffodil is no exception. i have only come to realise how pretty they are this year. i used to associate them to cancer society flower but last saturday was an eye opener. they are so many varieties out there. see sampler above.
they come in all shades of colors and sizes.. some are huge and some are tiny..
some are fragrant... the big ones look almost like artificial silk flower.

the daffodils above are exhibited by howick horticultural society. marnee's active in the club and invited me to check them out.

besides daffodils, there's plenty to see in the show. check out the camellias (below). i had mistaken some for hibiscus and carnations.



different shades of camellias..

there were also orchids and fruits being exhibited. i don't know how they judge the fruits ..but it's interesting to see.

stace, that big giant spike of little yellow flowers are part of the black rose..(left to right :3rd pic)
i am waiting for mine to give out big spike of flowers like the pic ..kekeke.

this is a flower from the magnolia tree. they are in abundance now..they are as big as my palm.

south auckland orchid society show

i brought my two orchids (one zygo and one cymbidium) to the club meeting on 13/08 for the purposes of club display and to get more advice on how i can better plant them. The people loved the zygo. J Scott who's a very good grower said it was very well grown during the plant commentary. J Duff who grows really good zygo, along with several other people said i should put mine into the coming show at papakura on 19/8 The zygo won the best novice votes ;) at the club meeting. so at the end of the meeting, i left my two orchids with G who will bench them for me. i had to admit, i was a bit hesitant that they were not coming home with me.

on saturday, i was nervous. talked jake into going to the show with me. brought my camera and as i entered the hall, i started looking for my plant.

i found them in the novice section and the zygo's won 1st prize and the cymbidium won 2nd prize in another class. i was and still am over the moon. i entered the competition not expecting to win anything and i bagged two prizes home.

Thai Exotic Fruit Festival

a while ago, (mid july) i went to the Thai Fruit Show and Exhibition @ Auckland City. In fact it's really close to China where I had yum char (read previous post).

It was an eye-opener, and i was really impressed with what's in the exhibition.
I couldn't stop snapping pictures when I was there. there were orchids, fruits, silk, and FOOD ..the festival was to clebrate King Bhumipol's 60th year of becoming the King of the Thai kingdom.

l to r: above: lady making the silky thread, what's produced, yards and yards of the silky thread.
l to r: below: thread in different colour, and some description of thai silk

more silk, in all types of patterns..

i reckon almost the whole auckland thai community is there. the girls were doing the thai performance. i like their head ornaments :)


couldn't resist taking pictures of the colorful silk threads.

saturday morning-yum char @ China

despite its name, this restaurant has contemporary setting but also utilises antique looking stools and tables. the specialty for the dim sum menu is mostly durian flavoured.

i particularly like the presentation of its dim sum dishes. it is much better looking than the regular chicken feet. ie, there's peanut and capsicum with the chicken dish, and the pork ribs.


*the durian flavoured bun.

the price at China is mid-range from $4.00 - $8.00 a basket.
China's located near Britomart in Auckland city.
i will definitely go back again :)