New Year's Thoughts

Happy New Year to my readers!

Thank you for sharing my passion for plants and photography! Like I mentioned earlier in my previous posts, gardening is something that I seek solace in. An escape from the rough and tumble of life and of course as a way for me to re-connect with nature.

2008 had been a year of intense drama. What with the spectacular Beijing '08 Olympics that blew us away to the equally spectacular financial hurricane that not only blew away our hard-earned money in investments but swept in a whole new meaning to the term "financial crisis'.

It is in times like this that we can finally stop concentrating our energies into splurging in the latest electronic gadgets, chic fashion items, dinner outings at swanky restaurants and other consumerist items. No doubt that such buying and throwing of money greases the economy, but when that very grease dries up, the entire house of cards collapses.

Just look at the Lehman Brothers Minibombs saga that caused the entire world's financial activities to freeze in just a blink of an eye.

Maybe this is time for us to sit back and think about our wasteful lifestyle. Maybe this is the time for us to -rediscover and re-enjoy the simple pleasures of nature. It does not have to be hard. Just have a plant at home and start nurturing it. I promise you that you will think of sustainable living in a different light.

To start off the new year, here are some pictures for you. The cacti represents our desire to weather the tough year ahead. Just like the cactus, we will and we can brace ourselves for the challenges that 2009 throws at us. Who knows, at the end of it all, there will be a spectacular cactus flower awaiting us.

Have a great year ahead!

Sneak Preview of Saddiq's Garden

I've always wanted to sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of my labour. And today, I think I'm nearer to that goal so I decided that the best way to capture the efforts I've put in was to take photos of my greenies...

Clicking away furiously, I received a pleasant shock that I took more than a hundred shots in total! Not bad for something who is normally a klutz at photography. After a while, there was even this certain feeling of excitement that made my heart pump quickly as I strained my neck, squinted my eyes and summoned all my creative prowess to capture the spirit of each plant. Sensing that it would be high and nigh well impossible to squeeze in all the photos I took, the best option was to select the choicest ones for show!

Of course, my glorious cacti & succulents had quite a day with me contorting in various positions just to capture their beauty. Have a look at the results...

My Cactus Collection

I have got to admit - I have a soft spot for cacti and succulents. Make that extremely soft spot. I mean, how can I not be addicted to them? Each cactus or succulent is so collectible that I can find myself semi-consciouly being dragged against my will to the nearest pasar malam stall hawking all varieties of flora just to stare at a whole lot of cactus in pots calling me out to be their saviour!

Orchids

Ever since my very first orchid that I bought while on a mini-trip to Dairy Farm with my friends, I have canvassed high and low for quality orchids. My requirements are simple - it must be small, flower regularly and of course simple and uncluttered flowers.

This Dendrobium flowered and bore fruit for the first time ever! How rare!

Other Plants

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures :)

Best Deals at Daiso?

Best deals it seems comes when you least expect them to appear. The same thing happened to me one afternoon as I lazed and sauntered about at Plaza Singapura. The place was huge with innumerable retail outlets offering the latest teenage fashion that ANY teenagers with popping zits and raging hormones would love to have.

Anyway, nauseated by the capitalistic offerings, I slowly made my way into DAISO hoping that a quick dash of cheap-china-made-products (hopefully not with melamine...) products would lift my already sore mood.

I was in for more shock (and delightful surpise!)

Although the store was filled to the brim with cheap knick-knacks (read: cutesy plastic containers that have no practical purposes), the real gem lay right at the very back of the store - the gardening section.

Garden enthusiasts, read on.

It was like I stumbled upon gardening nirvana. What a sight to behold as I drooled at the sight of beautiful and really cheap containers. If you have potted plants that need a sprinkling of life, these DAISO containers will do the job nicely.

On offer were the following:

Trowels
Flower scissors
Containers (metallic, glass, clay and fibreglass)

I'll try to include a few photos the next time I post an entry!

Happy reading!

Major Project! What a Thing!

Phew!

Major Project is literally draining all the juices out of me!
I feel so tired after each meeting as we had to plan out the
Literature Review, Discussion of our Results & Observations
and finally come out with a logical (and of course practical)
suggestions to our "Company" (a major healthcare authority).

Just for your information, Major Project (a.k.a Final Year Project) is
a major component in every Diploma in Temasek Polytechnic.
Final year students are given a selection of topics for them to
play with (I mean research on...)

Which means that we poor souls have to conduct strenous research
into our selected fields (food science, nutrition or food service).
Once that is done, we students are to report on our findings in an
aptly named Final Report. The finale ends with a Poster Presentation

Now back to where I left off...My group is in charge of evaluating
the effectiveness of a child care centre programme right here in
dear 'ol Singapore.

What we were tasked to do includes:

• Compiling the passing and failure rate of child care centres which participated in the programme
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the programme (includes coming up with a questionnaire and interviewing the supervisors and cooks of child care centres)
• Design a pamphlet as a nutrition guide for parents
• Writing a report on our findings
• Present our research to a group of industry veterans

Sounds tough huh? You bet!

Well, that's all I can spare for now...it's back to more research, research and more research!

Introduction

Hey guys

Let me introduce myself. I'm someone who appreciates the intricate beauty of plants, the luxurious proliferation of flora and fauna and the amazing diversity of nature. I've always regarded gardening as one of my most intimate passions.

I hope this blog will shed some light on the beauty of gardening.

Happy reading!

Saddiq