Star of the Month

Australian oranges become our first priority of fruit this month. Their virtues are very juicy, fleshy and fibrous. It is difficult to keep the flesh “uninjured” when the skin is peeled since the latter sticks close to the former. The South African Sunkist oranges are much inferior because they are navel-less as well as too tough to bite and swallow.

The stickers on the Australian oranges are interesting and funny. In one of the brands (Australian Citrus), the sticker shows a “cartoon” man in front of boxes of oranges. Another set of stickers (Australian grown) shows several red strokes, simply enough to be recognized as a kangaroo.

The colour of these oranges is in an inviting rich orange. I always consider this rule correct: “The more orange is to the oranges, the sweeter the oranges are.” The texture of the skin is as rough as that on the moon because there are small depressions all round.

In these photos, some of the oranges appear as pumpkin-like, some with a “volcano” top, but they all look common by their distinctive navels.

A Delightful scene of sea birds

This series of photos were taken on a BC ferry (see the big chimney) at time of crossing the Strait of Georgia that separates City of Vancouver from Vancouver Island.

The arrival of these unexpected visitors on top of our heads startled me with joy. I supposed they were sea gulls. Their flying skill was superb. They flied at the same speed as that of the ferry. For some time, say, twenty minutes or so, they followed close to us. Some of them were stable in the air. I wondered if they would finally land on our ferry.

It was the best moment to take a few pictures of these friendly birds of the twenty-first century. Since they did not succeed in getting any food from our ferry, somehow they disappeared behind us. No wonder their leader led them away to hunt for fish elsewhere in the sea.

Please click the above collage photo to enlarge it.

Graca Trams in Lisbon

Gracia trams (奎卡電車) are main means of transport shuttling up and down the narrow and hilly streets of Lisbon(里斯本), the city itself surrounded by hills on three sides.

The old trams are single-decked with wooden decorations. Our old Hong Kong trams looked almost the same, but double-decked, running on flat lands along the northern shore of Hong Kong Island. Those in San Francisco are quite different from Graca because they are open on both sides with seats arranged on two sides along the central line. Passengers can step on or off any time they want if they are quick enough.

The Graca trams are small and always crowded with people. In two of the photos here, you can see how narrow the streets and pavements are. Driving through these streets need skill and care! Graca trams usually run very slowly. One may take a lot of patience in sitting inside before he/she reaches his/her destination.

Photos at Breakfast time

These photos were taken when Abby and Elly were eating a breakfast of cereals in milk. Since the cereals had soaked in milk, they became soft and easier to be eaten. The two girls ate, drank and soon finished the breakfast.

When I took a few snapshots at Elly, she gave me back “automatic” smiles. She knows that she should smile when someone aims a camera at her. On the other hand, Abby used her arms, hands and fingers to show different postures.

White Followers

There were some twelve to fifteen white seagulls flying behind a marine police patrol boat yesterday when it sailed along the Tolo Harbour. I wondered why because there was nothing to eat on such a boat. Did the birds consider this boat as a big whale which might know where to find for fish?

We experienced such an interesting scene when we were at sea on a BC ferry heading for Victoria, Vancouver Island. A flock of sea-gulls chased after the ferry for a certain distance away from Tsawwassen Ferry Pier. They flied alongside the ferry at almost the same speed. For some time, they followed the ferry and soon they left. My only thought at that time was that the birds were saying good-bye to the ferry or perhaps, us because it was sailing away to Vancouver Island.

Full of Satisfaction

On the night of October 18, 2011, we dined with daughter’s family at our usual restaurant. The bun, soup and the dish of roasted chicken, fish and spaghetti suited my appetite.

Philip bought desserts of fabulous cakes (each sold at $13) after dinner. The cakes were in flavours of Green Tea, Mango and Strawberry. I love Mango best. Abby loves Green Tea and Elly loves Strawberry. We are in three Colour Parties – Green for Abby, Yellow for me and Red for Elly.

The 25 de Abril Bridge

How amazed I was this Monday afternoon when I saw a bridge in Portugal which looks like the Golden Gate Bridge in television!

The 25 de Abril Bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril) "25th of April Bridge" is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the south bank of the Tejo river. It was inaugurated on August 6, 1966 and a train platform was added in 1999.

Because of its similar coloring, it is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA. In fact, it was built by the same company (American Bridge Company) that constructed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and not the Golden Gate, also explaining its similarity in design.

With a total length of 2,277 m, it is the 21st largest suspension bridge in the world. The upper platform carries six car lanes, and the lower platform carries two train tracks. The bridge was named Salazar Bridge (Ponte Salazar), in honour of the Prime Minister until 1974.

Soon after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the bridge was renamed the 25 de Abril Bridge, the day the revolution had occurred. A symbol of those times was captured on film, with citizens removing the big "Salazar" brass sign from one of the main pillars of the bridge and painting a provisional "25 de Abril" in its place.

The First flight of Boeing 787 to Hong Kong

For the first time, All Nippon Airways (ANA) flied a Boeing 787 carrying about 200 passengers, including aviation reporters from Toyko to Hong Kong the day before yesterday, October 26, 2011. It arrived at Hong Kong after a four-hour and eight minute flight.

The aircraft is more fuel efficient than other planes because carbon fibre is used instead of aluminium for its construction. The special charter flight came after years of delay as Boeing engineers dealt with glitches.

On Japan, the only major aviation market where Boeing clearly dominates its European rival Airbus. ANA expects to have added 55 Dreamliners (as people call Boeing 787s) to its fleet by March 2018. That was welcoming news to Boeing after China Eastern.

The 100 seats available to paying passengers were sold out soon after they went on sale, with more than 25000 people scrambling for scarce tickets. It is known that a pair of tickets that ANA offered on an auction site for charity sold for more than $90000.

Look at the pilot at the cockpit and how our Hong Kong Airport welcomed this "new visitor". Was he a Japanese? In my opinion, he was.

爬滑梯

世上有爬格子動物(從事寫作的人)，也有爬山專家，阿比和艾莉卻是爬滑梯能手。

兩星期前，我們帶阿比和艾莉到屋苑小小的遊樂場去玩，可以給她們多些手腳運動。大家都知道滑梯應該是從上而下滑下去的。兩個小妮子取難不取易，要違反地心吸力定律，盡用四肢向上爬。首先她們彎著身體，手握著扶手用力向上拉，將腳板微微曲起成勾狀，盡量抓緊滑梯面，同時奮力向前衝。

初時，阿比的鞋太滑，她索性把鞋脫下來，妹妹見狀也跟隨拋棄了。結果她們三番四次爬上滑下，腳踏在深藍色軟墊上好十次左右，換來的是兩雙「藍精靈」的小腳板，這也許是軟墊上的膠粒在日曬雨淋之下脫落變成粉末的關係。太太與我都不約而同的叫孫女們看看自己的腳。艾莉和阿比都沒有多大反應，只是傻笑一下。看著兩孫女樂在其中，弄髒腳板的趣怪表情，心都笑到出來了。

若想看清楚照片，請你將滑鼠移到相的位置按兩下去放大。

A Classic Rolls Royce

On October 1, I found this luxurious Rolls Royce in the colour of "Pink Lady (cocktail)"at City One.

From its decoration on the outside, it was obvious a classic car for a wedding. I could not see the bride and the bridegroom in the car yet. It might be too early and was parked outside a school.

The dolls at the front were bears of opposite sex, a male and a female. The male bear was in a black suit and hat while the female a white wedding gown. They were so placed that their faces touched each other. Behind them were some beautiful roses, real or just plastic ones I never knew.

The car registration number, “GB 183”, when twisted a little, is good . It may mean “Groom and Bride 一 (生) 發”.

破浪前進

吐露港彷如一個湖泊，來往的船不多。偶爾間可看見大大小小的船隻把恬靜的海水破開前進。相中的小輪勾起了我一絲絲的回憶。

上中學時期，因家住灣仔，每天都要從灣仔碼頭乘渡輪過海，然後坐巴士返校。當時行走灣仔和油麻地的渡輪首尾廂座是開放式，每每海風吹來，熱氣盡消；要是下雨天或遇著惡劣天氣時，坐在這裛一定會衣衫盡濕，唯有悶坐在緊閉窗户的中間船艙；遇上大霧的早上，當船離開碼頭的時候，心情開始緊張起來，因為四周一片白濛濛，渡輪當然要慢吞吞的前進，自身要不時響號，通知前面的船隻要躲避；那時我總會有些恐懼，每刻都東張西望，看看是否有龐然大物撞向渡輪；平時只要用二十分鐘的船程，在盲目前進之下，船會用上雙倍時間以上，當我離遠見到淡黃色的(油麻地)碼頭霧燈時，心情才平復過來。

幾年前，有一次和女兒、女婿、親家奶奶及太太遊船河，正是乘坐類似相中的小輪從馬料水公眾碼頭出發，經吐露港，繞過船灣的黃竹角咀，進入印洲塘海洋公園，登上鴨洲看風化石，然後船駛吉澳島全團用膳。吃過飯，船繼續向東駛，事關船又細，大浪令船搖晃得像大家「騎馬仔」一樣，不過船仍然努力破浪前進至老遠的東坪洲。上東坪洲主要是看地質及岩石被侵蝕的痕跡，大家不難上了一課地理堂。當日坐了差不多五至六小時的船程，上岸的時光只有兩小時左右，回到馬料水公眾碼頭時，太陽已經開始下山了。

Small berries

A big surprise came to me today as I was studying some small plants with light green leaves and thin branches in a park. Suddenly I noticed some berries of different colours had grown out from these plants– green, white, pink and red. I think they may attract small birds to eat them.

Does anyone of you know the name of this kind of plant? Please tell me if you do.

Elly and Abby melted into cartoons

It so happened that Elly and Abby walked near the TV set as they were watching cartoons yesterday morning. I took several snapshots at such precious moments.

Inside television, there was a Mexican visiting a restaurant with the chef making food for him.
They looked as if they were inside the cartoon show.

Sea cucumbers

Today, let us look at some sea cucumbers at the ocean floor if the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Most of us know that Sea cucumbers (海參) are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single branched gonad. They are found worldwide on the sea floors. There are a number of holothurian species and genera, many of which are targeted for human consumption.

It is interesting indeed that sea cucumbers communicate with each other by sending hormone signals through the water.

A remarkable feature of these animals is the catch collagen that forms their body wall. This can be loosened and tightened at will. If the animal wants to squeeze through a small gap, it simply liquefies its body and pours into the space. To keep itself safe in these crevices and cracks, the sea cucumber hooks up all its collagen fibres to make its body firm again.

Some species of coral-reef sea cucumbers can defend themselves by expelling their sticky cuvierian tubules to entangle potential predators. When startled, these cucumbers may expel some of them through a tear in the wall of the cloaca in an autotomic process known as evisceration. Replacement tubules grow back in one-and-a-half to five weeks, depending on the species. The release of these tubules can also be accompanied by the discharge of a toxic chemical known as holothurin, which has similar properties to soap. This chemical can kill any animal in the vicinity and is one more way in which these sedentary animals can defend themselves.

Like sea urchins, most sea cucumbers have five strip-like ambulacral areas running along the length of the body from the mouth to the anus. The three on the lower surface have numerous tube feet, often with suckers that allow the animal to crawl along. The two on the upper surface have under-developed or vestigial tube feet, and, in some species, lack tube feet altogether.

In those sea cucumbers that lack regular tube feet, those immediately around the mouth are always present. These are highly modified into retractile tentacles, much larger than the regular tube feet. Sea cucumbers have between ten and thirty such tentacles, depending on the species.

Fishing at Fort William

There are two beats on this short river, River Arkaig (10 miles north east of Fort William, Scotland) between Loch Arkaig and Loch Lochy, the lower beat has deep rocky pools. Occasional salmon and sea trout are caught in high water.

The River Nevis is less than one-half mile from Fort William town centre. Fishing on the river is controlled by the Fort William Angling Club. Fly and worm fishing are both permitted and the river provides both Salmon and Sea Trout when in spate. Spinning and float fishing are not permitted. Fishing for Brown Trout is allowed above the lower falls at Polldubh and no permit is required above that point. Permits are issued on the day of fishing at 9am and are available from The Rod and Gun Shop in Fort William.

The baits used are colourful and feathery. They look very much like toys.

Here is some other information about salmon and trout fishing in Scotland:

Wild Atlantic salmon fishing in Lochaber always put the well-being of the salmon first. The number of rods permitted to fish any one stretch (beat) of a private river is regulated. In most instances, a private beat would be for three or four rods, and is reserved in advance Monday through Saturday. Permits for Single or two rods fishing one or two odd days can be difficult to place at times but is possible with pre-enquiry at association or club rivers and streams and the local fishing school. The vast majority of Wild Atlantic Salmon fishing is fly fishing only with catch and release close to universal. Bait, prawn, worming and spin fishing is mostly prohibited. There is no Wild Atlantic Salmon fishing anywhere in Scotland on Sundays.

There are more than three thousand lochs in Scotland of over 10 acres There are no fishing licences in Scotland. One pays only for the wild brown trout fishing. In most instances, a permit is required. Day permits are from £10.00 and are dependent on the management program of the particular water and quality of fishing. Permits are purchased locally from Tourist Information Centres, tackle shops, Estate Offices, game keepers and the local Fishing School. The wild brown trout open fishing season in Scotland is from March 15th through October 6th. The fisher is generally permitted to keep two or three wild brown trout daily however people are encouraged to return the trout to their natural habitat if they are not going to be eaten. All brown trout over half a kilo (one pound) should be returned as they are the most valuable of the brood stock. Fly fishing is generally the order of the day and certainly so on the best quality waters. Spin fishing is permitted on some of larger lochs. Bait fishing is not permitted in fresh water lochs and rivers.

Blue Icebergs

Take a look at these blue icebergs. They appear as if there were diamonds.

A blue iceberg is, in fact, visible after the ice from above the water melts, causing the smooth portion of ice from below the water to overturn. The rare blue ice is formed from the compression of pure snow, which then develops into glacial ice.

Icebergs may also appear blue due to light refraction and age. Older icebergs reveal vivid hues of green and blue, resulting from a high concentration of color, microorganisms, and compacted ice. One of the better known blue icebergs rests in the waters off Sermilik fjord near Greenland. It is described as an electric blue iceberg and is known to locals as "blue diamond".

Cartoon fans

Abby and Elly are cartoon fans, especially the latter who is totally absorbed in cartoons. She even stops drinking milk from her cup, watches and smiles at the cartoons she is watching.

This time she sees some big-eyed children skating at a playground in television. Though she does not know how to play the game, she loves to see these big boys and girls in TV playing and shares their fun.

She likes Elmo and Abby Cadabby in Sesame Street best because she often asks us to play their videos from Youtube.

Recent programmes she watches are BabyTV and 我們這一家(主角─花師奶,花老爺,花帶柑,花帶桔).

Traffic in Tolo Harbour

Tolo Harbour is never busy. The water is calm on most of the days of a week. The slow-going barges, some with cranes, pulled by tug-boats do not stir up the sea as they go.

Speedboats or fast marine police patrol boats are different. They speed across the harbour cutting up the sea water and leaving behind long lines of white foam and waves.

I like this kind of quiet sea traffic in Tolo Harbour.

Recent Breakfast at Fairwood

Fairwood at City One is always crowded with people. To get a seat there, we must go as early as possible on Saturdays or Sundays.

Last Sunday, we were able to reach it at seven fifteen and found two single luxurious “sofa” seats with a small table in between. There are three such sets of seats by the window in the whole restaurant and we were so lucky to find empty seats for the very first time.

Prices of food rise rapidly in these years and so as those of breakfasts.
Here was our example of twenty-five dollar set: chicken fillet (shrunk in size already), harsh-brown with salted beef, macaroni with shredded ham and a cup of hot drink (we chose Horlicks).

The container of the macaroni shapes like our Hong Kong Coliseum which narrows down. This means that as soon as one finishes the top layer of food, he/she will see the bottom of the bowl.

自由創作二人組

昨天早上，阿比和艾莉在睡房中好有默契地分別拿著玩具搖鼓和口琴，各自搖和吹起未經編排的樂章。

吹著口琴的艾莉自然無法哼出心愛電視劇「潛行狙擊」的主題曲；阿比則邊搖邊唱，很陶醉地瞇著眼唱出無字的歌。這時刻令我感受到兩姊妹正分享「合奏」的樂趣，而欣賞她們的表演的正是擁著有限音樂細胞的公公！

Landing at the Old Kai Tak Airport

No one disagrees that our old Kai Tak Airport is one of the dangerous airports to land.

Usually aeroplanes had to turn 90 degrees before the “Signal” Hill (with a chess-board on the vertical surface of a small hill at Kowloon Chai), lowered their altitudes, passed hundreds of low buildings at Kowloon City and aimed at the single short runway at the edge of buildings. Sometimes planes could not fly straight at the runway because of strong winds. Quick steering and immediate correction of route were necessary.

The location of the airport was so close to residential buildings made the pilots very excited every time they land, but such awareness for a safe landing raised the skill of the pilots to a high level.

Appreciation of Bromeliads

Without photo contributions from my classmate as well as friend, Stephen Wong, I cannot show you these varieties of bromeliads.

The top two rows of photos and the largest one on the right are Neoregelia.

The second bottom photos show, from left to right, Neo Corriea Araujoi, Alcan Imperialis Rubra, Neo Gee Whiz and Neoregelia.

The bottom photos are, from left to right, Vr. Fosteriana, Vr. Hieroglyphica, Neo Rose Morn and Neo Lambert's Pride.

A Garden of Bromeliads

To study Bromeliads, the best place is Stephen Wong’s garden.

Stephen is mad at growing various kinds of plants of the family of Bromeliads. I am sure Stephen can tell anyone about the characters of each of his plants, their growth and special behaviours.

A Grand House in Australia

This is the grand house of my classmate, Stephen. I have been there before. From my impression, his house resembles a modern palace.

The largest photo shows the view of his house from his backyard. The top left photo shows the front of his house and next to it is the view from his house to the road with wide steps descending to his main door.

Stephen grows a lot of plants, mostly bromeliads (鳳梨科植物), at his front as well as back yard. He tells me that, in the family of bromeliads, he grows Guzmania, Neoregelia and Vriesia.

Red Plums and Pears

The day before yesterday, I found red plums and pears that came from U.S.A. in a “P” supermarket.

The supermarket named the red plums as “恐龍蛋布冧”, On the labels were printed Prune Rouge. Well the plums looked beautiful and attractive. They cost $19.2 for 5. On another side, there was a dearer kind of yellow plums (around $30 for 5) also called as “恐龍蛋布冧”. I bought the cheaper kind and found out that they were not sweet at all. Here I presume the dearer plums are sweeter and that extra ten dollars will be responsible for the sweetness.

The pears are called Scully Bartlett. The weakness of these pears comes from their over-mucous texture.

Japanese Wisteria

Japanese wisteria (日本紫籐) bears the longest flower racemes of any wisteria; they can reach nearly half a meter in length. These racemes burst into great trails of clustered white, violet, or blue flowers in early- to mid-spring. The flowers carry a distinctive fragrance similar to that of grapes.
Japanese wisteria can grow over 30m long over many supports via powerful clockwise-twining stems. From a distance, it looks like a waterfall.

The foliage consists of shiny, dark-green, pinnately compound leaves 10–30 cm in length. The leaves bear 9-13 oblong leaflets that are each 2–6 cm long. It also bears numerous poisonous, brown, velvety, bean-like seed pods, 5–10 cm long that mature in summer and persist until winter. Japanese wisteria prefers moist soils and full sun. It is amazing that the plant often lives over fifty years.

A Flying Chinese National Flag

Today is October 1, the Chinese National Day. I need not go to neither Golden Bauhinia Square nor Tiananmen Square to watch the flag raising ceremony because below me a National flag is flying peacefully and quietly at the roof of a school.

There is no procession, no national song nor ceremony of any kind because all schools over Hong Kong are closed today.

It is very windy, so the flag flies high and flaps all the time. It is definitely different from the “hard” flag the first U.S. astronaut was holding when he landed on the moon.