Elly drawing on an i-pad

Yesterday night, after I had helped Abby spell some English words for preparation of her dictation today with an i-pad, little Elly wanted to draw something on the “chalk board”.

That was a good idea for Elly to draw something herself through her mind and hands. At once, I took a photo of her drawing by camera and studied it carefully. I did not ask her for what she had drawn at that moment.

It may be interesting to express my perception of the drawing.

1.    The rectangular thing is the eyeglass which a diver wears. The two circles are the eyes of the diver. The “S” is a worm or an eel that comes before his/her eyes. The diver is swimming in the sea towards Elly, so we cannot see the body.

2.    The other “S” are worms or eels that stay in the sea swimming or dancing orderly as Elly drew.

3.    The left-hand colourful “mass” is a coral fish also swimming towards Elly.

4.    On the left of the coral fish described in no. 3 is another fish which we see is the lengthwise (side) of the fish.

Here is what Elly describes her drawing:

1. The rectangles are twin doors with circular door-knobs.
2. The "S"s are English letters which she learns from her father in previous Saturday lessons at home.
3. The left-hand colourful mass is her mother.
4. The other one is her favourite sausage roll.

From this, I learn that Elly recalls the letter "S", the vision of doors and the bread she likes most. One thing which is important - she never forgets to put her mother in the drawing.

Though all these are loose images without a close linkage, but it shows to me that  Elly receives good experience in daily life such as food, love from her mother, literacy and the protection device of doors.

Australian Oranges

Recently this kind of Australian Oranges (Navel 6476 - with the map of Australia on labels) are sold at a very cheap price of $8.70 for every three. Its sweetness ranks high than Sunkist Navels or Non- navels (South Africa), Sunkist Valencia (South Africa), Outspan (South Africa) and Red Navel Cara Cara 3110 (producing country unknown).

The latest and sweetest Australian orange is one called Australian "ONE" 4012. Its photo is below.

The sweet Sunkist oranges from the United States have not arrived at the market yet, otherwise they will compete with the Australian ones at costs and degrees of sweetness. I am waiting for that moment for sure.

花比葉多

這些龍船花像趁墟一樣一下子把自己同根生的綠葉遮蓋了。

驟眼看去，矮叢變成一張用花瓣編織成的立體名貴錦繡，也許蜜蜂群已經在這些開得燦爛的龍船花身上採去了不少花蜜作過冬之用。我相信這個景象至少可以維持兩三個星期呢！

Same Bus looks different

There are two kind of new KMB buses here.

My discovery is that the same kind of buses can look remarkably different when they are painted in modern or nostalgic style.

Under the current “gold” paint, the KMB buses look a "wealthy" class of “gold” bars running on the roads of Hong Kong while the nostalgic-look KMB buses bring us back to the old days when we inserted “coins” or bought “tickets” from a bus-conductor or conductress.

A taste of Russian chocolate

Russian chocolate is rarely seen in Hong Kong. Thanks to our relatives who joined a tour to Russia this August in giving us one packet of 75 percent of cacao chocolate. What interests me most are the Russian Alphabet (33 letters) in their language and the figure of a knight on a horse at the top of the packet!

The 20 chocolate chips are nicely packed in 2 layers in a rectangular tray which can be pulled out from a paper “pocket”. On the surface of each chip, 5 grams of dark chocolate, is chopped with a picture of a half-opened cacao pod of seeds and a leaf. It is first wrapped up with beautiful paper in light gold colour, then by a dark brown paper coat with the labels of “75% Kakao”, the type of chocolate and the brand name.











From the “shape” of a chocolate chip, I wonder if this confectionery in Russia produces “puzzles” of chocolate because each looks very much like a piece of puzzle.

To tell you the truth, the chocolate is a little bitter to me, but not to my wife and son. Perhaps they are real chocolate lovers who like the “roasted” taste.

Though I do not know the price of such chocolate from Moscow, I feel it is quite expensive in terms of their luxurious packaging and lovely picturesque leaflet.

Wild Turkeys have landed

“The Eagle has landed” is an interesting book I have read. The name of the book itself is actually a message written to Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer of the SS and chief of State Police on the morning of Saturday, 6 November 1943. It meant that a small force of German paratroops had landed safely at the moment in England and aimed at snatching the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, from the Norfolk country house near the sea where he was spending a quiet weekend.

Here comes a short description of the wild turkeys that have landed (better say resided) on a residential seaside site in the San Francisco Bay area. The birds have been there for 2 or 3 years. Obviously they have been multiplying, for now, to several generations already.

How interesting and orderly are they, in groups of 5 to 3, walking quite fast, like Hong Kong people, around the area on the pavements almost every day. To some extent, they are quite shy. At least they will walk away from people quickly when they see them.

In spite of their huge and heavy body, they CAN fly and fly all the way to the top of houses and stay at the roof to overlook the harbour, sea and hills. They must be living in their 'homes' among the trees in the adjacent country club golf course.

Several months ago people saw them going around with their chicks -- these must have grown already by now to adults.

They make noises, loud enough to wake up people who get short sleeps. One bad thing they do to the small community is to leave behind their faeces wherever they go.

Bonus peg-board pictures

While playing Diamond Dash game in my iPad, I suddenly find the frame of the peg-board twinkles with stars. In a few seconds, rays of lights fly towards a few squares and when the latter are clicked by the mouse, a simple picture will appear.It may be a “heart”, a “key”, a "star", a “house” or something else.

So far, I have collected eleven of these pictures. Can you recognize what they are?

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天降楊桃

八月十日早上，不用湊孫，又沒有下雨，兩口子如常往吃早餐。

在車站旁邊行人通道走著時，喜見幾個楊桃散佈在地上。從這裡望上去的楊桃樹樹冠非常大，樹枝和葉子生長得極茂盛，一時間要我找到其果實的位置，實在難上加難。當我低頭把這幾個熟透的楊桃一一攝進相機時，突然感覺到有一樣東西掉在背脊上。如我所料，細望地上，正是一個楊桃的兄弟姊妹。這個大半邊綠得可愛，細半邊成熟得要命的楊桃就是這麼早叫我一聲「早晨」。

回想，若果今次掉下來的是個榴槤的話，我相信又要鑽進醫院去了！

KMB buses in new colour combinations

Recently, it is interesting to see KMB dresses some of its new buses in old colours, traditional red and yellow.

Today, Kevin Tsang found one in white and red running route 112 (North point to and from So Uk Chuen). I like particularly its new look and colour distribution.To me, it looks like a tube of Colgate toothpaste.

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A Hello Kitty doll

What is this "Hello Kitty" made of?
Please guess. The options are:
1.    clay
2.    chocolate
3.    flour
4.    mud
5.    foam rubber
6.    wood

Late Season

The two-word message, “Late Season”, on the black label of a Sunkist orange in June signifies that this kind of oranges is the last lot of the harvesting season. This obviously means that sweet oranges from America will disappear in our market for some time.

Soon different kinds of oranges from South Africa and Australia replace the first-class ones from the States. They are paler in flesh and skin and less sweet even if they are navels. We have to bear the sourness of the current oranges until the sweet oranges come again in a few months’ time.

in my mind, tangerines are only produced in China. This year I find that I am totally wrong. United States and Pakistan are also tangerine-growers. I first discover Sunkist tangerines several months ago. My grand-daughters love them and so I buy quite a lot to satisfy the two girls after dinner.

A Special Rainy Day for Elly

Elly was happy on her sister’s graduation day of kindergarten (June 16) because it rained heavily the whole morning, a very strong reason which she could bring her new umbrella along to attend the ceremony.

We arrived earlier than Elly and her mother. As Elly was stepping on the stairs at the doorway, I stopped her and told her to turn round so that I could take a few photos of her with her purple umbrella.

Well, I could read the cheerful smile on her face though water was still dripping down where she stood. Here are three interesting and memorable photos of Elly with her favourite umbrella.

Watching Sunrise on a Quantas

Watching sunrise on a Quantas can be fun. The plane was flying over the mainland of Australia after it passed a little eastward of Singapore, across the Pacific, over the archipelagos of Indonesia, the Gulf of Carpentaria.and above the "red" desert land of Queensland.

Looking eastward from a window of the plane, one would find the land below still dark while the distant sky first appeared blue with a narrow margin of yellow. Then the blue colour whitened and the yellow turned orange red. The sun soon showed its face and the brightness glared the lens of any camera on the plane.

In a short while, the sky brightened up and thick clouds of white laid below like a fluffy carpet of wool.The Quantas still flied steadily and speedily, heading for Sydney, its final destination. What an experience!

Black and White

There are black-and-white films, photos, documents and chocolates. Recently, Black burgers and White burgers are created by McDonald's in Hong Kong.

These new-born burgers differ greatly in colours of bread and sesame, being black and white, and in meat, being chicken and beef, but are both packed with marshed potato, lettuce and salad dressing. If one likes to eat beef, then he/she should buy a black burger. On the other hand, if he/she likes to eat chicken, then a white burger.

In my opinion, the main surprise from these burgers comes from the marshed potato. Only the tastes of meat differ and that of bread are the same, but the colour dyes of food do create a completely new look to the burgers.

Night Views of Yellow Duck at Tsim Sha Tsui

These are a few photos of the giant inflatable rubber Yellow Duck that floats recently near Ocean Terminal at Tsim Sha Tsui.

This 16.5 metre sculpture has arrived at Hong Kong for some time and will stay until June 9. Before this, it has travelled to famous cities of the world, such as Osaka, Sydney, Sao Paolo and Amsterdam. The man who creates this over-sized bath toy is the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. "I see it as an adult thing. It makes you feel young again. It refers to your childhood when there was no stress or economic pressure, no worry about having to pay the rent," said Hofman.

The Next stop for Rubber Duck is the United States. The exact destination is a closely guarded secret. I guess it to be San Francisco.

投訴劇

今天下午五時許，我隱約聽到街上有人在演講似的，沒有在意下面發生什麼事情。後來發現下面有一名男子站在行人天橋頂用自己的手提揚聲器向著一位警方人員訴說一些東西。

原來那時消防隊已經張開了救生墊以防該男子跳下輕生或失足跌到街上。這位戴上帽和口罩的男子披著寫滿中文字的白布步步為營，不時左顧右盼，恐怕有消防員或警察去接近他似的。警方談判專家不斷用揚聲器與他對話。

可惜的是我一些都聽不清楚談判專家與該男子之間的對話。從管理員口中，大約知道該男子是控訴威爾斯親王醫院不給予其癌病母親適當治療。

擾攘了個半鐘頭之後，該男子终於肯返回地面，隨著警察上了救傷車，相信是他要接受調查。大約十五分鐘之後，救傷車駛往威爾斯親王醫院急診室作檢查及解決其問題，同時間各消防車與警車陸續開走，終於一場投訴劇下幕了。

The largest mirror in the world

The Uyuni salt lake of Tunupa, covers 12,000 sq. km, making it the biggest salt lake in the world. It is located 3650 metres up in the mountains of Bolivia, and is considered as one of the seven natural marvels of the world.

After rain, the film of water on the salt-covered floor acts as a mirror which creates very beautiful reflections.

Another Snake Bus

It so happened on April 14 that this Year of the Snake bus (a tunnel-bus from New World First Bus Company) stopped a few feet before me at Choi Hung Bus Terminus. This startled me for a few seconds, with my mouth opened. I marvelled at this wonderful “toy”, better say in Chinese (飛來蜢) and simultaneously took out my camera to take a few shots of this pink giant.

In a skilful manner, the bus driver closed the doors of the empty bus and left it there. Most probably he should be on his way for his convenience.

The snakes on the bus were cartoon-like, nothing fierce at all as compared with the KMB’s. This NWFB bus is painted in pink while last time the KMB appeared in red.

I wonder if any snake-buses of this kind wiggle slowly through the streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

難得的雨傘景

  
 上星期五是佛誕日(香港公眾假期之一)，時睛時雨。在這裡，行人和車輛皆稀少，想不到我竟然可以照到一張這麼美麗的相片(左面那幅)。

讓我指出這張照片特別之處:
[1] 這個時刻行人過路燈正是亮起──幾位途人不約而同沿對角綫走過十字路口，而他們手持的雨傘顏色特別艷麗奪目。
[2] 剛好下了一陣雨，地上表面留下一層薄薄的水膜，正好造成一塊平面鏡，產生了一些優美的倒影。
[3] 雨傘下的人究竟是男抑或是女直是一些謎，待我們去估一下。
[4] 相片的構圖不可能由我控制的。它的好與壞要視乎途人走動的方向而構成的，所以這張相片肯定是撞彩攝回來的！

Look like blotting papers

What a big discovery I had yesterday at Orchid Corner below!

These orchids look like blotting papers with purple ink soaked in. I don’t know their names. Hopefully some day someone tells me so. Meanwhile, let this kind of flowers be a mystery to me.