In the rose garden with Rumi

You are my sky, and I am the earth, bewildered:

What makes You constantly flow from my heart?

I am soil with parched lips! Bring kindly water

That will transform this soil into rosebud!

How does the earth know what You sowed in its heart?

You have impregnated it, and You know its burden!

Blood must flow, He said, for the rose  garden to flower, and the heart that loves me is a wound without shield.

 

What was whispered to the rose to break it open  last night was wishpered to my heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You thought that when your house

was burnt down

there would be nothing left but ash.

But look,

moonlight is dancing on white rose.

After despair, may hopes flourish

just as after rain

thousands of roses open.

Surrender to the Almighty -

and be led into life.

 

Stop learning. Start knowing. The rose opens, and opens, and when it falls, falls outward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: Words by Rumi; Pictures by Larra

26 June 2009: Feeling yellow ... and purple

There’s times when you’ll think that you mightn’t,
There’s times when you know that you might;
But the things you will learn from the Yellow and Brown,
They’ll ‘elp you a lot with the White!
(Rudyrad Kipling)

St. John’s Wort @ Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum)

Aquilegia @ Columbine

Herb couldn’t find the name for this flower yet!
 

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. (Alice Walker)

Therefore I must share with you purple too …. below is borage flower

Oh, please take note that those flowers are from the HERB MASTER’s garden.

Happy viewing!

Love - Larra

 

Capers anyone?

I have been contemplating whether or not I should write a new blog. The gremlins that caused my page to look prettier than usual is a bit upset for me. But what the heck "wink" ... life must goes on :)



Do you recognised the above flower? Or just like me, you have not seen it before? :)
I first came to know or rather to eat capers when I first visted Herb back in 2007! He introduced to me caper buds pickled while we were having breakfast (or was it dinner, I can't remember ;)



Since then capers pickled been part of my daily diet :D Picture below is one of my simple dinner - grilled tomatoes with capers and cheddar cheese and served with roasted potatoes (with garlic) and sometimes sauteed mushrooms. This is normaly my simple dinner after a long day at work.



Few days ago Herb showed me picture of capers plant that he said he's going to grow in his garden. I saw a small flower of capers and started google for capers flower. :D

Soon .... I mean maybe in a year or two ;) he will has his own capers bush with lots of pretty flowers like the one above :D

Do you happen to have capers flower in your garden too? Or do you have favorite recipe using capers? Do share! :)

Love - Larra

Let us be thankful

 

Let us rise up and be thankful,

for if we didn't learn a lot today,

at least we learned a little,

and if we didn't learn a little,

at least we didn't get sick,

and if we got sick,

at least we didn't die;

so, let us all be thankful.

 

-- Buddha --

What do you see?

An internally displaced girl fleeing a military offensive in the Swat valley region, carries her ration of bread through the UNHCR ( United Nations High Commission for Refugees) Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district, about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, June 7, 2009.

My eyes wet ..... when I look at her and when I look at my breakfast

What are you reading?

Books are a delightful society. If you go into a room filled with books, even without taking them down from their shelves, they seem to speak to you, to welcome you.
(William E. Gladstone, 1809-1898)


I am talking about book again. Just finished reading 'A Year in Provence' by Peter Mayle and currently reading 'Wildwood - A Journey Through Trees' by Roger Deakin. Oh, I almost forgot this is one of the books that I was talking about in one of my recent blog. I finally found this book two weeks ago at Borders. It is the only copy left and the only Roger Deakin's title available at Borders.

I seem to be enjoying reading books about travel or travelogue. Maybe because it 'takes' me to different part of the world, meet different people, reading about different culture ..... There are few titles that I have read so far that I enjoyed it very much such as, 'The Places in Between' by Rory Stewart, 'Three Cups of Tea' (ah, I forgot the author's name- I lend this book to one of my colleagues and it has been few months now :), "C'est la Folie' by Michael Wright. I also have few more titles .... all about France .... that Herb gave me and yet to be read. :)

Yesterday I went shopping at Amazon.uk .... or rather window shopping :). I was so excited that I found several titles and selected 7 titles (for the time being):

Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah - Tim Mackintosh-Smith £6.99 You Save:£2.00 (22%)

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium - William Dalrymple £6.99 You Save:£3.00 (30%)

The Lost Heart of Asia - Colin Thubron £6.99 You Save:£2.00 (22%)

An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan - Jason Elliot £6.99 You Save:
£2.00 (22%)

Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran - Jason Elliot £6.99 You Save:
£2.00 (22%)

A Shadow Falls: In the Heart of Java - Andrew Beatty £9.09 You Save:
£3.90 (30%)

Almost French: A New Life in Paris - Sarah Turnbull;£5.59 You Save: £3.40 (37%)


I placed it in my shopping basket and the total price was £ 49.58 and what made me extermely happy was that I got a message that I was entitled for Super Saver Free Delivery for my order - meaning that no postage charges! Great! I proceed making payment and before last step to place my order I did final check and I noticed that it was addressed to HerbMaster! (Amazon must has automatic picked-up the first delivery address in my account!). Phew! Otherwise Herb will have to read the books on my behalf. LOL. So, I changed it to my address and guess what? The total price has now changed and I am no longer entitled for Free Delivery and the postage charges was £29!!!!!

Whoa! It seems that the Free Delivery thing only meant for UK! Sigh.

So, you people in the UK and US are lucky to live in a country where most books are published.

I am back quiet.


Larra

Ah, its weekend ...

Another weekend at my doorstep.

I waited for weekend.

But when weekend arrived .... I sometimes feel lost.

* I headed to KLCC (Petronas Twin Towers) this morning, just feel like having caramel capuccino at San Francisco Coffee (SFC) and looking for books that I found on Amazon.

* But alas, there's no seat at SFC when I arrived. (around 10 am).

So I have to change to another cafe and ended up having a terrible capuccino.

* After not so enjoyable breakfast experience, I headed to Kinokuniya Book Store. I went straight to the computer and checked the books that I was loking for. But again, it's a frustrating experience! The titles are available in their system, but the books are not!

* That's one of my biggest regrets when it comes to bookstore in Malaysia!

We don't have good bookstore in Kuala Lumpur. Remember, I shared my frustration with you when I was looking for certain books at Borders in Berjaya Times Square?

* Maybe I should open my own bookstore.  

* It seems that I have to opt for Amazon. One of the disadvantage being in this part of the world is that the postage charges can be 'amazingly high'. Herb sent me 8 books as a present during my recent birthday. Guess what? The postage charges cost more than the total price of the books!

* Oh BTW I was looking for 2 titles by Roger Deakin: "Note from Walnut Tree Farm" and "Wildwood - a Journey Through Trees".  But end up buying books that I wasn't looking for :

• The Green Guide Languedoc, Roussillon and Tarn Gorges (Michelin)
• A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
• The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci

* Anyway, I hope you all have great weekend. While I continue flipping through The Green Guide, I'll leave you to strain your eyes with my latest sketching of columbine flower - the rare view. Happy viewing