The placid wall on my West Garden has been a fascinating flora cliff, where the daily lives of inter-mingling plants … well, mingle. Here we have the Mexican Coral Vine or Antigonon leptopus, also commonly known also as the Honolulu creeper, an unyielding climber with beautiful pink bi-pedal petals with searching tentacular vines sprayed precariously…
When we ponder over the idealism of humankind’s strive for progress and perfection, we are captivated by the notion that dissatisfaction with the status quo leads on to great things especially if we have the motivation to embark on such endeavors with a purity of heart and mind. This is unfortunately a tall order for…
In this dreamscape image at the American Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, hikers stand on the shore of Dream Lake and admire the traverse between Hallet’s Peak and Flat Top Mountain to the west. Dream Lake is accessible from the popular Bear Lake trail head, on an fairly easy hike through fresh snow tracks…
Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’ How sweet…
We will never know what happened to the carcass of the other nestling as it emerged in the dim but clear photo, a tinier head wedged beneath its better formed and oh, slightly bigger sibling. My housekeeper had counted 3 eggs in the nest when she last peeped, but I had barely make out two…
In the planting season when the padi fields are left to fallow before they are flooded and the new saplings planted, the Balinese ducks get to partake of the fallen grains, when the stalks of rice are cut and the grains threshed and winnowed by hand. The rice stalks themselves, once de-grained, get fed to…
There is a quiet solace in the sleepy air that envelops a tropical afternoon at the year-end, when the weather is cool and kind, the soft skies are heavy with clouds and the rain drives in gentle or sharp torrents, Here, the sleeping dog lies, bolstered by the faith that with evening, her proverbial daily…
Traveling through rural Japan, in the island of Kyushu, one is reminded of the fate of the Christian missionaries who were mercilessly persecuted by the then Shogunate of the Edo era. The fate of those who ministered to the Way, and their proselytes have been dramatized in the 2016 Martin Scorsese’s period portrayal of Shūsaku Endō’s…
In the quiet shade of a sun-filled morning, in a year that has just past its Autumnal Equinox, the lady brown-throated Sunbird rests and preens herself beneath the leafy sprinkles of a Dwarf Peacock, while a nearby Jumbo Wax Apple tree displays its nearly ripened offerings to a variety of impatient creatures as they careen…
Today’s reading in the Catholic tradition, from the Second Book of Kings have words of such simplicity yet depth of meaning, as to transcend through the ages in its relation to the Miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6:1-15). It is also the hallmark of hospitality in many cultures, both Eastern and…