Infested

Orange-colored bugs infested an okra plant.

"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control.  It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star.  Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper." 
           ~ Albert Einstein

Linking to Orange You Glad It's Friday

Mandarin Orange Monday

Reflections

Moonlight

The true joy of a moonlit night is something we no longer understand.  Only the men of old, when there were no lights, could understand the true joy of a moonlit night. ~ Yasunari Kawabata

Dawn

We went down into the silent garden.  Dawn is the time when nothing breathes, the hour of silence.  Everything is transfixed, only the light moves.  ~ Leonora Carrington

Sunset

In silence the three of them looked at the sunset and thought about God. ~ Maud Heart Lovelace

Linking to Mandarin Orange-Monday

Monday Mellow Yellows

Brick facade/Mandarin Orange Monday

Brick facade of Liliw Church

Liliw, Laguna

"The full measure of a man is not to be found in the man himself,

but in the colors and textures that come alive

in others because of him."

~ Albert Schweitzer

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Orange slush/Mandarin Orange Monday

A glass of orange slush I had the other day.  

Heaven in sheared flakes of ice

that kissed me back.

"Of hunger and thirst, thirst is the greater imperative." 

~Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Buds and a flower/MoM and NF Abstract

A shy thunbergia with buds swaying in the warm summer breezes.

We turn to stories and pictures and music because they show who and what and why we are, and what our relationship is to life and death, what is essential.  ~ Madeleine L'Engle

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday and NF Abstract

Maki/Mandarin Orange Monday

“I've long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we're talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime 'associates,' food, for me, has always been an adventure.” ~ Anthony Bourdain

Linking to Mandarin Orange-Monday

Rocky coast/Mandarin Orange Monday & Monday Mellow Yellows

A rocky coast near Edgewater in Subic Bay. 

"You are only as strong as your purpose, therefore let us choose reasons to act that are big, bold, righteous and eternal."  

~ Barry Munro

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday and Monday Mellow Yellows

Casa Manila/Mandarin Orange Monday & Blue Monday

 straight out of the camera

Arched passageway at Casa Manila that connects the patio to a museum, a restaurant and hotel.  Casa Manila is inside the fortified city of Intramuros, a meticulously reconstructed replica of a mid-19th century home that would have belonged to a wealthy illustrado (middle class Filipino) family.  

There was a bunch of construction workers in blue shirt working on a portion of the patio--my contribution to Blue Monday.  The second photo was enhanced to highlight the terra cotta pots for Mandarin Orange Monday.

adjusted colors and saturation

Salmon Sashimi/Mandarin Orange Monday

Salmon Sashimi for Mandarin Orange Monday

"Sashimi is velvet dust, verging on silk, or a bit of both, and the extraordinary alchemy of its gossamer essence allows it to preserve a milky density unknown even by clouds...my cheeks recalled the effects of its profound caress." ~ Muriel Barbery

Driftwood

Don't be a driftwood...know where you're going, focus, keep growing.

"If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of your problems and start focusing on the size of you." 

~ T. Harv. Eker

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday
Monday Mellow Yellows

Caladium Bicolor/Mandarin Orange Monday

straight from the camera

Caladiums (sometimes commonly called Angel Wings) are Arum family members that are grown exclusively for their bold and colorful foliage. Calla-type flowers, if present, are usually hidden. Plants typically grow in clumps to 1-2.5' tall. Arrowhead-shaped leaves (to 1.5' long) are various shades of green mottled and blotched with pink, red, white or combinations thereof often with distinctively colored veins. Synonymous with C. x hortulanum.

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Orange Lanterns/Mandarin Orange Monday

Chinese New Year is celebrated today by Chinese communities all over the world, including the Filipino-Chinese community in the Philippines.  CNY, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the end of the winter season.  It ends on the 15th day with a Lantern Festival.  I am looking forward to niangao, popularly known here as tikoy, from my Chinese friends.:p

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Fern, Platycerium superbum

This beautiful fern wrapped the tree like a ribbon.

 @ a garden in Davao City

Platycerium superbum, commonly known as the Stag Horn Fern, is a Platycerium species of fern.  It is native to Australia, in east central New South Wales north of Nabiac and in Queensland.  It is a bracket epiphyte occurring in and near rainforests.  Platycerium superbum is very widely cultivated as an ornamental plant.  

straight out of the camera

 
Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

Monday Mellow Yellows

Cassie/Mandarin Orange Monday

Cassie, short for Casserole, was a stray adopted by Mang Rudy, Em's beach-house' caretaker.  Em's husband named her Casserole after he caught her in the act of opening a casserole.  She was sunning herself  one morning at the patio when I crept behind her and took this photo.  Cassie's light orange coloring is perfect for today's Mandarin Orange Monday.  

Fern/Mandarin Orange Monday

Fern at my aunt's garden.

 “come back
believer in shade
believer in silence and elegance
believer in ferns
believer in patience
believer in the rain”
~ W. S. Merwin

Linking to Mandarin Orange-Monday

Journey/Mandarin Orange Monday

The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants and discovers, along the way, what he needs. ~ Wally Lamb

Here's to new adventures in 2013!

Join us @ Mandarin Orange Monday