Our daily dose of JOY!

19 Jan '07 10:30 pm

Jacqueline, I love your abutilon pictures (the rest were great, too, but abutilon is one of my many favourites!). I have three of them but it takes a lot of effort to get good results from them here. It's either too hot and dry in summer or too cold in winter, when they must be brought into a cold, bright area where they become overrun with bugs! About every third year, I get a really good show from them. I'm wondering if it's worth the effort!

But yours look so happy and productive!

I can't sleep tonight, it's pouring rain outside, so I'm up playing on the computer. Thank goodness I don't have to get up to go to work in the morning! My lazy dog's lying on my bed with his head sticking out from under the covers, groaning every now and then. Perhaps my light is bothering him!! All I can say is that he'd better not get me up to let him outside at 4:30 in the morning!! He does that sometimes when the bamboo at the corner of the bedroom, beside the window, moves in the wind in a certain way and turns on the motion sensing yard light. I guess he must think there's something out there - we have lots of cats, raccoons and bears here, and they all prowl around at night. You'd think any self-respecting bear would have hibernated by now, but they still seem to be around. Of course, shortly after going out, he's at the door wanting to come back in.

I guess I've spoilt him.

Cheers-

gordonf

21 Jan '07 11:06 pm

Hi Gordon, thanks alot for lovely comment. Sometimes I feel that my garden plants/flowers seem more vibrant on photos than as they exist in my garden. Rolling Eyes

Not that I'm complaining, but they seem to sparkle when captured with the camera and I get to see lovely details/textures which are not visible with my ageing eyesight. Being relatively new to photography (+/- 7 mths.) I've realized that the sunlight has a wonderful effect on the outcome of the pictures taken?
Regarding my abutilon, this one does seem healthier now that we've shifted it slightly into the semi-shade, away from the blazing sun. I'm delighted that the 3 other plants that were trimmed earlier due to attack by mealy bugs are showing new growth.

BTW, your dog must be one happy contented fellow, sharing his master's bed! Smile

We have a pet dog too at our backyard (will post pic later) and I know we spoil him crazy, don't we? Wink

22 Jan '07 3:04 am

Yippee...we have two fruit trees planted in large containers and they're bearing fruits! Some Java Rose Apples have been harvested and there are lots more to look forward too! Very Happy

I've been having a lovely time taking shots of my pet and he seems to like it too...pretty vain hah! Wink

Birds love to stop over outside our backyard, pecking 'who knows what' on the ground and irritates our dog who'll bark them off. I love watching these birds as I stroke and keep company with our dog. During one of these daily bonding with my dog recently I was fortunate to see a black-billed magpie bird engrossed with its find of kitchen scrap thrown by our back neighbour (I really dislike this dirty habit of theirs - throwing scraps into the drain and attracting all the stray cats and rats! Evil or Very Mad

) and managed to capture a few shots before it flew off. I'm so excited over this as this is the first time ever I've succeeded in taking a shot of any bird! Hehe...I'm looking forward very much to capture butterflies too having seen Liza's lovely butterfly pics...hmmm...that was ages ago and I've yet to get any! Rolling Eyes

22 Jan '07 3:45 am

Your pictures are super! I was fascinated by the unusual tropical fruits you grow. I have read of Custard Apples before, but have never heard of Java Rose Apples. Do they taste like an apple?

I also love your pictures of Maxi (such a cutie) and the Magpie. You're pretty good for a professed amatuer.

22 Jan '07 6:39 am

Jacqueline! Being used of the ...mainstream apples of all size and colour, I have to admit that THESE red apples of yours are absolutely special and original! I repeat , like Faith, do you eat them? What do they taste? Concerning the other ones, the Annonas, I still remember your enthusiasm in one of your older posts, when your dear husband had prepared for you one to eat!

But I have this gardening remark, concerning the Javas red apples : do they bloom and give fruit during the same time? Simultaneously? Offering you this exquisite spectacle of their exceptional flowers AND fruit?

Your doggy is lovely and funny!

22 Jan '07 9:08 am

Hi, Jacqueline-

Your pictures are beautiful!! Those rose apples look a bit like red pears, but what do they taste like? I also echo the many questions posed by earlier folks about flowers and fruit, etc. More information, please!

Also, I really liked the pictures of Maxi - I wish my Joey would be as cooperative when I try to photograph him. Here's my latest effort, after 10 minutes of slowly chasing him around the living room yesterday!

22 Jan '07 9:48 pm

Thank you, dear friends (Faith, Liza and Gordon!) for your sweet comments. Very Happy

Our pet Maxi, is a wonderful addition to our home and our daily joy booster too! Gordon - your Joey looks huge and happily fed...lucky one to share your home!

Hehe...I do know my photo skill is improving (my hubby teases and compliments me quite often Wink

) However, it's thanks to you all who delight in seeing our tropical plants/flowers that inspire/encourage me to shoot and share! At the same time, I’m rediscovering many garden happenings and seeing them through new eyes! Dear Faith, practice makes perfect and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing - happily snapping almost every day since I retired last June and became interested in photography, maybe about 200 pics per week! My hubby thinks I’m crazy, though he enjoys viewing them too, esp. our doggy and garden pics and the wonderful thing is he helps me to recharge my camera batteries weekly to keep it functioning at all times! Very Happy

Now, a little info here about the Rose Apple. This tropical tree can grow to as tall as 10-15m. with a spread of 10m, though ours is only 8’ tall and 6’ wide being a potted tree. A healthy tree can produce abundant fruits and has two fruiting seasons annually. We had a bumper crop about 3 years ago with a minimum of 200 fruits from our small tree. There are quite some varieties though the common ones have their fruits in colours of greenish or dull yellow, pink and rose-red like ours with a couple of seeds inside or seedless. These lovely ripened fruits are edible, quenching and refreshing on a hot day. I’ll try to describe its fruit a little - pear-shaped, 1½-2 inches long and slightly narrower in wide, skin is smooth, waxy and thin with its flesh coloured snow white or off-white and tasting mildly sweet to sweeter (the rose-red fruits are the sweetest). You can eat these fruits out-of-hand, needing no peeler! The texture is crisp, almost crunchy and juicy with a mild scented flavour. It’s like eating a crisp salad with a sweetish dressing or a Chinese Pear fruit, that’s the closest sampling I think.

Yes, Liza...we get to see their lovely buds, flowers and fruits simultaneously on the tree during each fruiting season which can spread over 4-5 months in total. Currently we’re seeing a mix of buds and blooms...the blooms will mature into ripened fruits in about 1½-2 months. Meanwhile, new buds are sprouting which will bloom in about 1-1½ months! A spectacular cycle indeed! However, we’ve to be watchful as the fruits ripen because they fall easily when fully ripe and deteriorate rapidly!

23 Jan '07 2:24 am

Dear Jaqueline, thank you for sharing these unusual fruits with us - I can almost taste them myself from your description! I can just imagine how lovely it must be to just wander past the tree and pick a fruit off to nibble! Very Happy

And Maxi is so sweet too! Very Happy

How photogenic he is! I bet he practises in the mirror when you're not around to get those poses right. Laughing

Gordon, your Joey is lovely aswell, even if he is a little shy! Perhaps he knows he's going to be put up on the net for all the world to see - I know I'm shy about that! Very Happy

23 Jan '07 2:39 am

Thank you, Jaqueline, for that very good description of the taste of Rose apples. I too could almost taste them while reading it.

23 Jan '07 4:56 am

I have nothing more to add! Only to express my admiration for the way you handle the beautiful English language, which is not your mother language!...

Our daily dose of JOY!

Abutilons!

Some happenings at our backyard!

Bravo Jaqueline!

The most unusual ...apples!

Java Rose Apples

Rose Apple and others

Rose apples

Exotic Apple Tree.