Clouding My View

My iPhone beeped two days ago.

It was a reminder I keyed in from last year to alert me of today's event.

I was all excited yesterday to wake up this morning to witness a phenomenon... even though it is only a "10%" event. Nonetheless an important one because it happens only once in every 18 years and 11 days.

Alas, I woke up early this morning to a heavy rain. The sky was dark and the rain poured hard and relentlessly as I got ready and made my way to work... disappointed.

By 8:30AM, the local TV channel was already telecasting live broadcast all the way from China. The Total Solar Eclipse was already starting.

In the thunderous morning, I watched the live telecast for about 15 minutes while having my morning break with a group of friends. Singapore would have seen the maximum 10% partial eclipse at 9:30AM.

Instead, my most anticipated moment was clouded by dark skies and heavy rain with streaks of lightning.


It was left to the imagination until before lunch. A colleague forwarded an email from her friend who is stationed in China the images of the phenomenon that happened this morning.

It was fascinating just by looking at the images, but it would have been a spectacular experience to watch it live...

Well, now will look forward to see a Lunar Eclipse that will happen on 6th August 2009. Will it rain that night, or will puffy floats cloud my view then too?

Showers Of Bloom

Looking at the sky as I alighted from bus Service 7, it seemed not an inviting day for an outing.

I decided for some alone time doing two of my many favourite things... being close to nature and amateur photography.

The ideal place for such an activity was definitely the Singapore Botanic Gardens at Napier Road, I thought. This is the second post of that outing. The first I posted was called "Kaleidoscope in Cactus" during the park's celebration of 150 years back in April 2009.


The weather was not as cooperative as I had hoped. It was cloudy and dark clouds were approaching from afar. Not much light for good photography I figured and as predicted, it rained heavily in the late afternoon.

Nonetheless, the water drops on the subjects added drama to the photos.

I took hundreds of photos that day but showed only the few in that one and only post. The rest are still stored in my iMac waiting for me to do something about it.


I have not forgotten about the photos, but have just not enough time to sort through them and choose the ones for my posts. The last time was cactus, so this time is about flowers. Macro shots of them, my favourite style in photography.

Nowadays, the digital camera can do wonders to make the photos look stunning. My Canon EOS 450D dSLR did most of the technical job while I provided the hands and legs, while my eyes kept a lookout for the colorful beauties that were bursting out in all its glory from the greenery.


I can remember my quiet time there, exploring the park, witnessing the beauty and tranquility nature has to offer.

Next to cactus, flowers are the most easiest to photograph. Other than that occasional gust of wind swaying my subjects back and forth, with a little patience the photo can turn out quite nice.

I cannot say the same for the fauna yet though. The many fast-moving and elusive animals at the park were just to quick for me to steal a picture from. The ones that I did get were blurry and uninspiring... the good ones are too few and far in between.


Moving subjects are hard to target and missed moments are just too many. I am so far away from being skilled to take pictures of animals or insects in the wild. So the paid entry to the zoo for photos of the animals there was my restitution.

There are so many flowers to choose from. These are some of them, but only wish I had taken down the names of these beauties...

Wild & High

My parents have lived in a 3-room flat in the old Woodlands housing estate for over 5 years now. When their last chick flew and left the nest, they moved from their larger 4-room flat in Tampines Street 22, a second home of 20 years, for a smaller, more manageable home on the west side of the island.

Tampines New Town was our first apartment building living we moved into when our village was taken over by the government for redevelopment.

Since I first noticed the grassy hill behind the block of flats opposite my parents' the first few times, I have always wanted to explore that patch of nature. Seeing the hill while waiting for a cab with my parents at the car park entrance, I was curious of what the hill was like at the top.


Little that I know it was already a public park for the residents there. The entrance to the park is obscured behind blocks of flats and its view is hidden by thick mature trees. Driving by or walking pass by the roadside does not reveal much of what is in store there.

My curiosity was further aroused when I visited a local Blogger's Seen This Scene That site about Woodlands Town Park East. It prompted me to visit the park the first chance got when I was at my parents' place.


I finally made an effort to visit the park after taking Dad back home from his cardiology appointment on Wednesday.

The large boulders seem to be the park's signature. From the entrance and upwards to the top of the hill, the pathways are lined with boulders and softened with a variety of flowering plants and bushes.


The large shades are provided mostly by the current blooms of the Tanjong trees, I believe. The noticeable sweet smelling flowers filled the air around the park as I explored the hill top.

The view at the top of the hill is beautiful and is not blocked by the block of flats around it. It is higher than the highest blocks of flats there... a nice change to see "forever" as far as the eyes can see.


Though there were many joggers and groups of people enjoying the cool afternoon breeze and the view, the whole place felt actually very serene and tranquil... very pleasing to me.

It is unfortunate that the park is not wheelchair or tram accessible. Else, my next spontaneous impulse would have been to bring both Mom and Dad to enjoy the park that is situated practically right in their backyard... so near, yet so far.


As the day was getting dark, and that I have to work the next morning, I did not get to explore the wooded area where the shaded path leads to. Nevertheless, I know I will be back there again to explore it further and downwards this time. I noticed the path also leads to a large pond at the bottom of the park separated by the road.

Hopefully, my parents may well be able to visit that portion of the park. Wifey has got to see this park as well. Slowly, but surely, she will be able to climb the gradual steps all the way up the hill to experience the view and tranquility the park has to offer all its visitors.

Kaleidoscope In Cactus

A trip to the Singapore Botanic Garden was a treat for me especially to practice my budding interest in photography.

The best subjects for photography are the still ones... trees and flowers are wonderful, but cactus are the very best. Simply, these plants are hardy and do not sway with the wind. Perfect still-life subjects for these shaky hands... and for my stubbornness of not wanting to put the camera on a tripod. A quick snap and I was onto the next subject.


Navigating and discovering the fantastic features of the camera, I shot these few out of the many other subjects I came across and had the pleasure of taking photo shots throughout the 52 hectares of this 150 year old garden. Well, I actually got to explore only about half of the tropical garden. Opportunities abound for my next trip.


With the help of iMac's iPhoto software, I was able to make my photos a little more dramatic than usual and with the help of a free-to-download AutoResizer program to reduce the size of each photo to a manageable size for the web upload and still decently retains its details.

Jewels Of Changi

More of the wonderful and relaxing outing Wifey and I had over at Changi Point Coastal Walk with photos I took along the way.

Without ever leaving the wooden-stripped floor board walk, one can find jewels of Changi beach along its path, just waiting to be discovered.