oNe PhOtO a DaY aUgUsT 2026

AUGUST 1st RED: One of the very few things that seem to be  always red. Our fire extinguisher sitting in the entranceway and purchased after a series of bad fires in our neighbourhood and thankfully never used 

AUGUST 2nd ORANGE: comes with serene, Buddhist blessings in Wat Ounalom in our hood 

AUGUST 3rd YELLOW: A fine example of restoration and renovation in our neighborhood. Yellow is the traditional choice for both interiors and exteriors 

AUGUST 4th GREEN: A tiny green Buddha that lives in our bedroom

AUGUST 5th BLUE: The sky is the blue everything else that is blue is compared to, in my world. This was taken just over a week ago in Kampot and I love those early morning reflections and cloud patterns

AUGUST 6th PURPLE: is one of my least favourite colours but this detail from the painting Morning Glory Vine by Chea Sereyroth, which was in the gallery we visited today, is very sweet

AUGUST 7th PINK: A sofa in a public place I spotted -take a break

AUGUST 8th BROWN: As a mad keen cyclist this caught my attention. What a beauty- the owner was photographing it so I too took the opportunity to do so

AUGUST 9th BLACK: the black of night highlighting the moon and a local sky bar we adore. An archive shot for me but taken a week ago from our terrace and finally a moon shot I love

AUGUST 10th WHITE: I have long admired these artful arrangements of jasmine for altars so after feeling very poorly for about a week I bought myself one today and it has cheered me up no end

AUGUST 11th GREY: stone carvings I spotted in Russian Market this morning

AUGUST 12th METALLIC: Just a small selection of the many stainless steel utensils in regular use in our humble kitchen. Cooking up an Asian fusion feast today

AUGUST 13th PASTEL: shades from nature in patterns of a leaf

AUGUST 14th NEON: sign to a little place we know in our neighbourhood

AUGUST 15th MULTICOLOUR: detail of a Chinese scene on a porcelain vase in the temple in Min Sheng Chinese School in our neighbourhood

AUGUST 16th OMBRE: I stumbled upon this painting called the Colors of Memory by Roma in a local gallery today and thought that’s it

AUGUST 17th WARM COLOURS: Our bedding seems to fit the bill

* chosen in Facebook’s Fab Four

AUGUST 18th COOL COLOURS: For a lot of my childhood I hankered for a particular brand of colour pencils that came in an astonishing range of colours and finally some time during my fifties I bought a basic set for myself - these are the cool colours it contains

AUGUST 19th POP OF COLOUR: Today’s $2 flower purchase. Too hard to resist

AUGUST 20th BRIGHT: Street Artist Theo Vallier’s painting titled Remains of Debris from the exhibition, which we saw this morning

AUGUST 21st MUTED: The old,

traditional, wooden shutters against the weathered facade

AUGUST 22nd YOUR FAVE COLOUR: I pretty much have an obsession with both orange and scarves so this is the current collection

* selected on Facebook for this prompt

AUGUST 23rd A COLOURFUL PATERN: created with sushi by a vendor at the Walking Street tonight but it’s certainly not the colours I associate with sushi

AUGUST 24th TWO COLOURS: a small detail from the exhibition by Ponleau we visited this morning

* WOW … this was a Fabber

AUGUST 25th RAINBOW: Well I didn’t spot one today as this is not the season, but I did see a rainbow coloured lion sign. Somehow this rainbow month has evolved into a lot of visual art, however I’m not concerned as I do find it something that always attracts my attention

AUGUST 26th COLOUR IN NATURE: right now the spectacular flowers of the cannonball tree are in bloom across Phnom Penh and there and many such trees in temples, parks and gardens around the city. They are very striking and the name is derived from the hard, brown seed pods, which are the size and shape of coconuts

AUGUST 27th A COLOURFUL OUTFIT: An archive shot from that one time I walked the catwalk for a friend as a part of her final examination in her fashion design course. She designed, painted and constructed it

AUGUST 28th SHAPES IN COLOUR: The tile work scattered among the older colonial buildings here is so stunning, I have to snap shots. Some of it is incredibly well preserved too. Every discovery is a joy hence I have a collection of shots that is ever increasing and this one is from nearby Wat Phnom

AUGUST 29th A COLOURFUL CORNER: the tiny entrance to our apartment that means from the front door you see only this

AUGUST 30th ONE COLOUR: the brilliant yellow of the fresh egg noodles drying on the footpath at the neighbourhood noodle makers’ premises as we walked home from the market this morning is my choice for today

AUGUST 31st NEUTRAL TONES: With my love of wood, basketry and bamboo I knew immediately that this would be the way it went with this prompt. And BTW it took a lot longer to remember where they had to be returned to than it did to round them up in the apartment in the first place

PROMPTS 

One perfect day

 I have a habit of reflecting and journaling and radom writing and this morning I discovered this in a note in my phone. I have no recollection of actually writing it but it made me feel good to read it and realise there is something heartening about appreciating the little things. Living quietly and simply and understanding that, that is a privilege. This morning I also received positive feedback about my blog. which I so often fear is self indulgent so why not blog it?

One perfect day 

Life is good. It’s been a while since I thought that. 

I’m grateful I found new bathers (Is it only Aussies who use that term?) and went through the ordeal of trying them on in a closet sized fitting room today. I bought them. Well Ian paid actually. Best of all, they are my favourite colour and cost a quarter of what I usually have to pay.

Swimming for sanity is an established routine with me. I need it and it helps me unwind and relax as much as it challenges my physical being. I always leave the pool feeling calm and clear headed, in a better mood and more attuned to myself. 

I’m also delighted that we walked and distributed muesli cookies to several enterprises we know today too. Walking and observing the street scenes is a regular activity for us. Maybe we are urban strollers despite the challenges or maybe they are the appeal. If a task can be done on foot, it’s our preferred option, regardless of the obstacles. We also seek shade in preference to shortcuts. Though alleyways hold a special appeal too. 

The Decathlon employee we first proffered an open container of cookies to, was not shy. That was encouraging. Neither were the proprietors of Paradise, who just for the record hooked in straight away. We loved that too. Our server at Dorsu, positively beamed at the prospect. How good is that? This is not our first encounter with any of them but I’ve never offered a homemade cookie before. Maybe I will again. Adopting another idiosyncrasy cannot be the most judicious decision right now but it felt good.

Tonight, as we often do, we made dinner from scratch, from ingredients purchased in the local market, just that morning. During that excursion out we were instantly given two limes when we bought passionfruit. Later we selected two mangoes and the stall owner pointed out the bruise on another one and gave it to us. That experience set the tone for the whole day. We also purchased almost more produce than we could carry home. By now, we are well recognised regulars in this local market. 

Cooking commenced once we’d returned from having my bag repaired. It was a dash downstairs to the shoe repairman, who conveniently sits at a stall opposite the entrance to our community. He repaired the strap that broke for the princely sum of $2.50. We then climbed the four flights of stairs for the third and final time and decided that was it for the day. Thirteen flights in scorching heat is more than enough and the knees were both objecting by then. 

We shared some ciabatta, chapattis and baba ganoush with our neighbour. All Ian’s creations. Hummus and salad accompanied Ian’s bread for our causal dinner on the terrace and we washed it down with a few beers.

I liked me and the world I was moving through a whole lot more today than has recently been the case. It’s been a while since I felt that inner sense of calm. I’ll take that. 

Feels like one perfect day to me. 

20/6/26

I just returned to that date on my camera roll and included all the photos I took on that day and they seemed to work perfectly too. 

Life IS good.