Subtle beauty

I'm back! After a brief hiatus, I'm getting this blog going again. First a quick update. This is the first posting I'm doing wirelessly from my house. Yup, my house is now wifi enabled. YEAH! Cil, thank you for this.

I'm writing this posting on my laptop that is parked on a table at the car porch, glancing occasionally as my daughter paddling her trycycle. Who knows my next posting will be while I'm sitting on a park bench under a mango tree.

Now back to the picture above, driving past a padi field near Kota Marudu recently, I spotted some what appeared to me were poppy-like flowers by the road-side.

Their pink petals were a nice contrast with the green fields in the background.

Lesson here: Beauty is everywhere, just keep an eye out for it.

The sun sets over 2006

As this will likely be my last posting for this year, I thought it was appropriate for me to attach this picture of the sun setting at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, the northern most point of Borneo, a three hour drive from Kota Kinabalu.

The title of this post does sound corny but I couldn't resist it. It seems so dramatic. A nice touch to close a year.

Looking back at 2006, while there weren't any really dramatic moments for me I'm glad to have got some things done including getting this blog going.

Now the only thing is to keep it going. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that.

Update

I'd like to say a big thank you to those who have given me feedback about this blog. The encouragement is keeping me going as well.

As a result of starting this blog, I have made a concious effort to take my camera with me where ever I go. As an editor once told me there is a story tell any where as long as I keep my yes and ears open.

Phil, I've done the necessary corrections and yes, I shall be a gentleman blogger and put in my mugshot as well.

Once again, thank you to all.

Ruben

Dragonfly

I was about to leave for the office one morning when I spotted this dragonfly perched on a mango leaf just outside my bedroom window.

I quickly grabbed my Canon S3IS camera to take some shots of it. Seeing me giving it some undue attention, the insect kept flying and perching from one leaf to another. I was finally able to grab a decent shot.

The experience made me appreciate the difficulties professional photographers experience just to get those excellent wildlife shots which we often take for granted. It made me also realise that I don't have to go far to get some pictures of nature as well.

Father and son

As I sat in the cool comfort of a resort at Pulau Mabul off the east coast Semporna district sometime last September, I spotted man and and boy paddling their outrigger canoe nearby under the heat of the noon sun.
It was a weekday and it occured to me that the boy should be in school and not in that canoe.
And then I reminded myself that finding their next meal may be the most important thing for them instead of thinking about how having an education could mean a better future.
As they paddled past me, the boy noticed I was taking their picture and smiled. I waved to him and he and the man waved back. And then they were gone.

Deft hands

Her hands may be gnarled with age, but Mak Cik (Aunty) Ida can still stich pandanus leaves colourfully dyed in various rainbow hues to make this tudung luang, a traditional food cover that her Bajau community has been using for generations.
Now in her 60's, Mak Cik Ida carries on her craft without the aid of spectacles. Her reputation of making the finest tudung luang is so established that she is usually invited to demonstrate her skills at the various handicraft events around Kota Kinabalu during the Kaamatan or Harvest Festival in May.
But it is at her simple wooden house at Kampung Kuala Abai in Kota Belud district, about an hour's drive from Kota Kinabalu, where Mak Cik Ida quietly goes about stiching together what has become a distinctive Sabahan souvenir.

Lush and green paddy fields.

The leaves of a mango serve as a frame for this paddy field I found in the northern Kota Marudu district, a three hour leisurely drive from Kota Kinabalu.

Such scenes are becoming scarce at what used to bepaddy growing areas near Kota Kinabalu such as Inanam and Penampang.

Population growth has resulted in higher demand for land and this has resulted in paddy fields being filled up and transformed into housing estates or worse yet industrial areas.

I can only wonder how long will we continue to see paddy fields in smaller towns around Sabah being reduced to sites for illegally constructed workshops or warehouses.