The setting sun reminds me more than anything that the present moment is Now.
In a couple of minutes time, the sun will have sunk below the horizon.
In 15 minutes, the sky will have darkened and the day will be coming to a close.
The photo was taken in Langkawi, Malaysia. It reminded me so strongly that I shouldn’t be chasing sunset anymore and should be back at the hotel for dinner.
This week’s photo challenge is Now.
Clocks (and watches) always remind us of Now – the present moment. Of course, it is related to the concept of time or even to relativity.
While travelling in the Latvia, I stumbled across this clock tower. The face of the clock is interesting , so were the details around the edges.
I have to take this picture at an angle as the clock tower was quite tall. By doing so, I compressed the clock’s image in the vertical direction. Thinking about it, it is not the clock face that I want to compress, it is time that I want to compress and if possible, save time into a bottle as the Singer Jim Croce suggested in his Time in a Bottle lyrics.
This week’s DP theme for the Photo Challenge is Now.
I have a series of pictures here taken with a similar background – the skylines of the Hong Kong Island with the hills behind and the Victoria Harbor.
All pictures have also in common the Star Ferry harbor crossing vessel.
The first picture have been take in the 1950s, the second one in the 1980s.
The last one was taken Now.
It can be appreciated from the photos the tremendous change that has happened to the shoreline / skyline of Hong Kong Island.
I didn’t take the first two photos, they were downloaded from the internet. As the source cannot be ascertained, I am unable to ask the photographers for their permission to upload. The credit of these photos belong to these unknown photographers.
I don’t really know the common or scientific names of these animals in English.
They are definitely not the racoons which I like.
Here is a gathering of these interesting animals in the ChimeLong Park, China.
This is one of the stunning picture taken by my wife during her trip on the Milford Track.
I still have to make out what the green undergrowth is.
Given it is a Holiday Season, I am a bit lazy to research. Hope you will bear with me.
The holiday season has meant that I am unable to spend much time on blogging.
The photo was taken by my sister-in-law in Botswana.
It shows a gathering of elephants.
They are quite intelligent and sometimes have grudges against people.
New Zealand is probably the country that is the first to welcome the arrival of Christmas 2015 and the first one to see the sun set on that day.
This photo was taken by my wife while travelling in NZ.
Merry Christmas!
My mind has been wandering off from photos to poems and calligraphy.
I think I better go back on track to feature photos for this week’s Photo Challenge.
I have seen many giraffes gathering together.
However, I have chosen this photo as it not only shows a gathering of these and other animals but also a tranquil place with a placid pond.
The picture was taken in the ChimeLong Safari Park, China.
The second picture was taken also in ChimeLong.
It shows a den of lions.
You can also say it is a gathering of lions.
I have been learning Chinese Calligraphy for three and a half years now.
For practicing the art, we used to write Chinese poems.
Here is the one I like best – it is known as the Poetry “Lin Jiang Xian” or Fairies by the River.
I have translated it into English, accompanied with the Chinese words.
As to my calligraphy, I have written it in the Cursive Style.
A presentation which have characters in curves and in a flowing style.
Please enjoy the poem:
滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。
The roaring Yangtze disappears to the East, crushing waves take away many a hero.
是非成敗轉頭空，
Right or wrong, success or failure, it quickly turns to nothing.
青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅！
Yet green hills remain and the sun rises and sets, leaving streaks of red.
白髮漁樵江渚上，慣看秋月春風
As for the silver-haired fishermen and the wood choppers on the river island,
they are so used to viewing the Autumn moon and enjoying the Spring breeze.
一壺濁酒喜相逢，
With a bottle of cheap wine, they happily greet and cheer meeting each others.
古今多少事，都付笑談中！
Many a legend old and new, they would just laugh them away!
This is what I saw this morning.
The rain has just stopped and I decided to take a stroll along the seaside of the Tolo Harbor, Hong Kong.
The rain clouds were still staying low. It looked as if they have penetrated in between layers of hills.
So, I quickly took this picture with my smart phone.
The picture is quite monochromatic but I like the effect.
retireediary 