Today, the Arian Ox was in the mood to explore and lead the nomadic life. She led the walk out of the park, across the overhead bridge and into an adjoining neighbourhood across the road. And then, the “pack leader” couldn’t make up her mind where to go from there.
There she is standing quietly in the big courtyard. Nevermind, let’s take you where you can wrap yourself around a tree.
You’re welcome.
Somehow the image of an woodcutter chopping up a tree and yelling “timber!” as the tree fell is ingrained in my memory, even if there is no woodcutting culture or industry here. Hah! That’s the power of the media for you.
Anyway, the tree cutting has started. Here’s the guy who will take the tree apart, limb by limb.
Phoneography Monday Challenge: Nature – I seem to be making a habit to take pictures of man and/vs nature nowadays.
Apps: GorillaCam, Snapseed, Camera+ (Cyanotype and Toy Camera filters)
S7F5XFJMWQHA
It is sunny here all year round and the town council maintenance guy didn’t get to this tree soon enough.
Walking the dog has made me notice more the outdoor environment around me. In general the weather here is hot and wet but there wasn’t any rain in the last couple of weeks, and when it finally poured some areas in Jurong experienced hailstones… in the tropics! Go figure~
This is a shot of the neighbourhood childrens’ playground that I took last week. On any other day, the picture will be clear and sharp, the buildings in the background would not look as faded simply because we are generally a hot, sunny island with very clear visibility. And yes, there might be a child or two about the slide, ladder or climbing wall.
We have been beset by smoke haze from hot spot fires in Sumatra, Indonesia from last week and the PSI index reached as high as 401 (air quality is described as hazardous when it climbs above 300). Over the weekend, things seemed to have improved, and air quality seemed to have stayed more or less moderate so that’s good.
On another day, I noticed the sun reflecting off the windows of a building.
I turned around searching for the sun and there it was.
I was telling Mr P how without the haze shrouding the sun, the picture above would have been impossible for me to shoot. And then he shared with me his own photo that he took coming back from work at 3a.m. The picture was shot from the carpark downstairs.
Mr P doesn’t take pictures very often, but the moon, red from the haze is something neither of us has seen before.
While I may whine and gripe about the haze like everyone else, I also have to concur with Wiley who was wise to say,
Not sure how to pay it forward in this case :P Mostly, we are just thankful Donna and I have the option to hole up in our tiny air-conditioned study when necessary. Although I expect the electricity bills will climb.
Dogs lick themselves when they are relaxing, bored or stressed it seems.
Note:
Haze is a yearly occurrence in Singapore normally in the months August-September. We’ve been lucky to escape the worse of it in the last few years and one barely notices it if one is stuck at work in the office all day. This year’s haze is so unexpected and it’s not until I experienced how severe it can be in our own backyard so to speak that one starts to empathise with those who have to live with it daily.
Haze health tips for pet owners, read this previous post.
This post is a companion post to Weekly Phoneography: Population, in capturing our already very urbanised neighbourhood at a point where:
Phoneography Monday Challenge: Architecture (challenger’s choice)
New flats less than 2 years old on the left; old flats easily more than 20, 30 years old on the right.
As buildings grow taller, trees are growing shorter.
Excerpt from The Sunday Times, May 19, 2013
I have written before about the impending removal of some tall Angsana trees downstairs to make way for three new blocks of flats.
Change is inevitable, but I do like trees that stand as tall as 12 to 13 storey flats. When walking the dog, they provide welcome shade in our hot, bright climate although yes, they also harbour poop-dropping birds and life-threatening falling branches when it storms.
Wherever they stand, trees and the oxygen they produce enable life.
This is the main road junction of our neighbourhood. Look how well the trees obscure the blocks of flats behind them, and then scroll back to the first picture. How hard and stark the buildings are with the small trees. And then I think about the haze and know that I will always still prefer the big trees of life that cleanse the air around us faithfully.
Note: Copyright of the newspaper belong to SPH, I will be obliged to remove the clipping if requested.
Not the smartest advertising around but this will have to do :P Just a quick banner pointing to the Phoneography Monday Challenge since this post below is my late submission for it :P
Chandeliers in Formal Dining Space
Hanging Lights in Casual Dining Space
We were at Tim Palace (pictures #1-#3) for Fathers’ Day lunch.
The colour laser lights dancing on the chandeliers made them flash and sparkle above where we were sitting. It was interesting how different they look closeup from the bottom up (#1-#2) compared to the long shot (#3) of the dining space at the other end of the room from where I was sitting. Over there, the main light source was from the large screen display and the curved floor-to-ceiling windows since it was mid-day. The light and sound crew were setting up for a formal dinner later in the evening. There were security scanners being set up outside, which according to our uncle meant that either or both of the two key figures in our country will be attending the dinner that night.
On a different day, I took a more casual snapshot (from the moving escalator at the basement) of the organic cafe called Real Food where I had lunch. One sees straight lines at first, but notice the curved wash of light from the lamps that mirror the darker curved design in the flooring.
I didn’t plan it but once I had all the pictures in one post, I thought the way the pictures were taken were pretty reflective of the formal and casualness of each of the different dining experience:
| Formal Dining | Casual Dining | ||
| > | bottom up | > | top down |
| > | details | > | general long shot |
| > | planned shots | > | shot from moving escalator |
| > | more time to be trigger happy | > | 1 hasty shot |
Chandeliers in Formal Dining Space
Location: Tim Palace, Toa Payoh Safra Club
Picture #1, #2 – App: Camera+, Ansel filter
Picture #3 – App: Snapseed, Black and White filter, Center focus (vignette)
Hanging Lights in Casual Dining Space
Location: Real Food, Novena Sqaure 2
Picture #4 – App: Snapseed, Black and White filter, Center focus (vignette)
My last entry for Black and White Phoneography Monday explored light reflection, light and shadow in the interior of a mall called iVillage. I seem to like to picture interiors in black and white.
The air quality deteriorated this week as the winds brought in the haze from Indonesia created by forest fires and agricultural practices that include the use of fire to clear land.
Before haze,
After haze, as you can see buildings in the distance are obscured.
Before haze even with the rain, one can see the shadowed hills lying behind the buildings in the distance.
After haze, that rolling relief is obscured.
It’s still not too bad near home although the smoky, burnt smell in the air is palpable. In the city to the south of the island where Mr P works, the visibility was even worse he said. Still a health advisory was issued, and we are to keep indoors. This comes on top of our dengue threat. We are just at the starting of the dengue season.
And since we are a kiasu nation, face-masks and mosquito-repelling plants are apparently snatched up as soon as they hit the shelves.
And all this means, outdoor walks for Donna may have to be shortened depending on the PSI index. Donna’s bored, but at least she gets to enjoy the super rare treat that is air-conditioning.
The neighbourhood street cat? Not so lucky.
Ah this stupid haze, retreat! Retreat!
Actually, he/she was more retreating from a trigger-happy human and her dog. Hah!! I’m sorry for harassing the neighbourhood cat. It was not harmed in anyway, and Donna was walking and stopping with me the whole way and not a threat to the cat either. ;)
You know the Adopt, Don’t Buy slogan? It makes sense if one wants a pet and is not picky about the breed. Save a life from a shelter and they can get more injured/unwanted strays off the street.
Note: The newspaper has copyright over the newspaper. So I’ll be obliged to take it down if requested to.
A black and white of Donna panting slightly from running around after her toys playing fetch and tug.
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weliveinaflat health articles get the added insight from our vet partner, the lovely Dr Jo from Creature Clinic, so you may be sure what we say is credible. ;)
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