One PhOtO a DaY oCtObEr 2024:

OCTOBER 1st FLOWERS: -lotuses to be specific. Today is the first of the three days of Public Holidays for Pchum Ben here in Cambodia. These flowers have been especially folded for altars and offerings and so I had to buy a few for our little spirit house this morning

OCTOBER 2nd TEXTURES IN NATURE: presumably designed to protect the tree from climbing foragers but so very prickly. Tree huggers beware

OCTOBER 3rd A FEATHER: from Australia but now I’m not sure if it was from a magpie or a piping shrike. I can’t resist collecting little treasures from the streets and surrounds on our walks

OCTOBER 4th A MOUNTAIN VIEW: Hard to believe that only four months ago we were hiking in the Himalayas and surrounded by what have to be some of the most iconic mountain views in the world

OCTOBER 5th BEAUTY IN THE ORDINARY: Twilight at Wat Phnom the hornbills are a very common sight, but I still get a huge thrill out of seeing them and capturing them in flight

*Happy to see this one appeared in the fabbers grid for this day 

OCTOBER 6th GOLDEN HOUR: At Wat Phnom yesterday. I waited today but it’s stormy and about to rain

OCTOBER 7th GREENERY: on our terrace in the early morning, with evidence of the violent, evening storm activity we have been experiencing in the final throes of the monsoon season. Not complaining at all. The storms are dramatically spectacular and mostly confine themselves to the late evening thereby washing everything clean for the start of each new day and the garden is booming

OCTOBER 8th A FAVOURITE TREE: in the National Park in Kep and one aptly named and labeled the “Increditble Tree”. We visited it often when we lived there

OCTOBER 9th ON THE GROUND: at the entrance to one of the many buildings in Wat Ounalom, is this lovely, if somewhat grubby terrazzo depiction of a lotus

OCTOBER 10th A BODY OF WATER: I waited for evening to get the sunset cruise boats returning to dock on the Tonle Sap just a couple of blocks from home

OCTOBER 11th BIRDS IN FLIGHT: This is an archive shot and I’ve already posted a hornbill this month but I never tire of spotting hornbills and we see them so very often

OCTOBER 12th A CALM MORNING: in the streets of Phnom Penh before the chaos of traffic and the local monks are at the flower and fruit vendors’ stalls issuing blessings on their morning alms walk. They do not eat after noon until dawn the following day so the donations of food or money sustain them and in exchange they chant blessings. It’s always a delight to see them

SEPTEMBER 13th SHAPES IN NATURE:  Lotus root being prepared for one of my signature dishes - Lotus Root Salad

OCTOBER 14th WILDLIFE: in the inner-city besides marauding monkeys, there are limited opportunities to see wildlife. The dragonflies swarm sometimes in the early evening and this one with beautiful translucent wings came to visit our terrace a few days ago

OCTOBER 15th WATER DROPS ON A LEAF: on our terrace this morning. As the monsoon season winds down, it occurs less and less often. Only a week ago mops and squeegees were on standby to ensure that there was no flooding

OCTOBER 16th GARDEN PATH: at Umpherston Sink Hole in Mt Gambier: an archive shot from our last visit home

OCTOBER 17th DRAMATIC CLOUDS: at that time of the afternoon when the skies start to darken and the thunder rumbles before the monsoon rains start 

OCTOBER 18th SEASON: Here in Cambodia there are basically only two season the wet and the dry. Today began with one of the dramatic torrential rain storms that occur at the end of the monsoon season

*Checkout the rain at breakfast time this morning when this shot was taken

OCTOBER 19th A SERENE LANDSCAPE: the lush paddies of young green rice and the sugar palms of a quintessential Cambodian rural scene

OCTOBER 20th A TRAIL: This is an archive shot on a quiet and deserted trail leading up to Semtoka Dzong in Thimphu earlier in the year.  Shinrin Yoku or the practice of forest bathing, soothes the soul

OCTOBER 21st UP CLOSE OF TREE BARK: This reminded me of the shot I took of an elephant’s eye so I couldn’t resist posting it

* the elephants eye

OCTOBER 22nd UNDERNEATH A BRIDGE: The covered bridge in Thimphu from a time now long gone when you could still hang prayer flags from it

OCTOBER 23rd PATTERNS IN NATURE: A dried seed pod from a lotus flower. I love how this pattern starts in the root continues through the stem and reappears again in the seed pod with the number and configuration of the holes remaining the same. Nature’s fascinating little quirks 

OCTOBER 24th A FIELD: An archive shot of a field of ripening rice looking as the fields appear right now except that we live in the inner city and no longer get to see them as often 

OCTOBER 25th NIGHT SKY: A moody monsoon night sky at twilight. Taken a couple of days ago when I got completely bamboozled and thought that was the prompt on that day, as you do 

OCTOBER 26th VIBRANT FLOWER: a water lily spotted on the riverside today when we were out for a walk

OCTOBER 27th FLOWER MACRO SHOT: The random coxcomb that mysteriously appeared in a pot on the terrace this year. It has an amazingly maze like inner structure 

OCTOBER 28th A SPIDER WEB: This is a back pad used by the Yi minority women of China to protect the small of the back when carrying heavy loads in wicker baskets. It’s a long shot but the design is a symbolic representation of a spider web and tells the legend of how these women were protected and hidden by spiders’ webs.

the object in use in the streets of Dali Yunnan

 

OCTOBER 29th AN ANIMAL IN NATURE: spotted from the car window in Wangdue Phodrang in April this year and snapped while passing. Yak yak yakkity yak

OCTOBER 30th UP CLOSE WITH INSECTS: I have no idea what it was but it enjoyed seeing itself in the reflection on the bathroom mirror and stopped to admire itself frequently enough for me to get my phone and snap a shot

OCTOBER 31st GREEN & BLUE: After prevaricating all day, a miniature snake plant in a favourite, blue pot is all I’ve got but it is sweet

PROMPTS 

Trees I love from places I’ve lived.

The Photo a Day prompt yesterday was “my favourite tree” and I saw it and thought “Who has a favourite tree?” and then started to think about it. I do actually. 

For almost all of the different places we have lived I can recall a favourite tree. One we revisited often and admired through all the seasons and whenever we return have to go check on. 

The first to come to mind was that wonderful Ginko tree in Hiroshima. It was huge and a very busy main road veered around it, so a traffic island was made for it.  Resplendent in a dense coverage of yellow autumn hues we would sometimes ride our bikes there just to check on it. 

Suddenly, I remembered the enormous mango tree in Rangjung, which we were so disappointed to discover was no longer standing this year, when we were able to visit. Oh, how we loved seeing it laden with fruit or walking by without having even glanced at it, only to hear some grade four kid, from Ian’s class, calling “Sir, sir sir,” from the branches and scurrying down the trunk to present us with some of the many mangoes he and his mates were surreptitiously collecting in the huge pockets of their Ghos. That tree was public property and everyone enjoyed its fruit and the shade it provided at kuru matches. We didn’t ask about what had happened to it but it obviously wasn’t development that caused its demise. 

Then I recalled the ancient cypress tree in Jinci Park in Taiyuan, China, our first ever overseas appointment, and how we battled traffic and coal dust riding our bikes to get to the park and admire its huge expanse and then explore the 1,400 year old temples and picnic in the shade with other expats when the park was completely rundown and at its most attractive to my mind. 

In Kep, it was the aptly named  and labeled ‘Incredible Tree’ in the National Park that lured us back to walk the trail again and again never stopping before that point and turning back because that would mean missing the highlight. Often we were carrying a picnic lunch to have at the pond further along the trail and with friends. 

In Dali, China, the big old tree by Er Hai Lake that was the centre piece of a small square, was certainly a favourite. That tree, which may have been a Banyan but I can’t say for certain, was surrounded by a circular, concrete bench at the base and old men gathered to smoke their pipes, women sat gossiping in the shade on lunch breaks from working in the bean fields and children played the sunshine. The small shop windows of houses, fronting it provided local tobacco, snacks, glasses of tea and warm soft drinks. It often inspired us to take the long walk to the lake front which we soon discovered could also be accomplished on bikes. 

For Adelaide, it is the massive Morton Bay Fig at the end of this fig lined avenue, in the Botanic Gardens. That tree has been the site of many a photo shoot over the decades, including the day we were married. Never once have we visited or even walked through the gardens, without going by to check on it. 

Recently while living in Thimphu we fell in love with an enormous cypress in the grounds of the Pangrizampa Buddhist Astrology School. The entire grounds are truly spectacular and we returned there several times to enjoy the serenity and lush gardens and gorgeous mountain views, to say nothing of the delightful interactions with monks, young and old, but for us it was the tree that was the real treasure. 

Here in Phnom Penh?  The jury is still out about which tree might be our favourite but there are many we do love. This heart shaped tree in a very special friend’s beautiful garden is the red hot favourite. Unfortunately, the lack of extensive green spaces is one of the few things about this amazing city that saddens me. 

So, do we have one truly special tree for everywhere we have lived? …..  I wonder.