edenstrauss

If you are lucky enough, you might see the aging "red corn" bursting into an array of "scaly" splendour as shown in the photographs below: However, this phenomenon has only occured to my plants on & off. I observed that it doesn't happen all the time becox quite a number of these "Red corns" would jux get dehydrated into a dry, brown scaly pulp. Out of curiousity, I pried open the white sacs which resembled $ bags to find tiny black seeds hidden in white mesh-like fibre. After leaving these tiny black seeds in the open for a few days to dry it up, I wasted no time in throwing them into the soil to see if it'll germinate & grow into a plant. 2 weeks to as many as 3 months flew by & finally, I spotted these tiny green sprouts growing out from the soil as shown in the photograph below: However, I did observe that these "sprouts" don't seemed to grow beyond this stage. They'll normally shrivel & die off when the leaves & stems turn brown.

The Impermanence of nature's beauty : An aging-rebirth process The "red corn" would start aging when its colour start fading, and gradually turning yellowy-red, starting from the edges of its "scales" & ultimately turning into a dry, brownish scaly pulp as shown in the photograph below: I could feel a pang of deep regret each time when I spotted any one of these "red corns" maturing & bidding me farewell. However, such is life where nothing is permanently beautiful, new & immortalised. Through gardening, I couldn't help but recognise the blatant truth that the plant has already started to age the minute it springs up from the soil or from the stems as a new shoot. And of course, moves on closer to the end of its growth cycle day by day. The end of this growth cycle is always greeted by the birth of its "babies", and I couldn't deny the fact that we humans share much parallels in our growth cycle with that of mother nature. I was fascinated by a huge, fat "baby" sprouting out from an existing stem where a giantic "flower head" (of the red corn) is still surviving at: However, the arrival of this "baby" would also imply the soon-to-be demise of the existing "adult" even though it hasn't withered yet. I came to observe that its fresh chilli-red tone has turned into a darkish sort of brick red, which would soon be aging into a yellowy-red tone. The photograph below shows how much the stem-bound "baby" has grown after a period of just 2 weeks.

continued : ______________________________________________________________________________________ Birdies : Companionship to Ginger plants & their flower buds ... And not forgetting the birds, there is this particular species of bird that is small-bodied but greets these plants every single day without fail with a "he-he-he-he" sharp chirping voice. It is cloaked in greenish & yellowy feathers; characterised by a long, sharp & needled-like beak which is abit bent downwards. Presumably for extracting nectar from the flowers blooming on this breed of Ginger plant. When we had been greeted by a succession of loud, and cheery chirping, we knew for sure that the plants were blooming wtih an abundance of flower food for the birds. If those chirpy darlings greeted us with a short flat tone, we would be immediately aware that they were disappointed that they've got to look elsewhere for food as there are no flowers at all. I've tried to take photographs of the birds who made several trips down to our Ginger plants everyday. Unfortunately, it's scared of humans which is understandable becox they've grown up in the wild so when it detects any movement, it'll take flight immediately & perhaps come back sneakily for food, hoping that the "orge" standing infront of the Ginger plants had disappeared. 2 flower buds were featured in an enlarged photograph of the GINGER "bulb" (not sure what to call it but it resembled a deep, dark red corn) as above. Looks yummy to the eyes & to the birdie.

The different stages of the growth cycle from a new shoot to "adult-hood" :

Photogaphs of flowers blooming: I edited this photograph using flickr.com's editing tools & the outcome does remind me of my wedding photographs

This is a snippet of the lush greenaries, rich in foliage with its signature "red corns" & a "dusky" image in the morning sun ... My plants on candid camera More photographs featuring my plants during different days of the year:

You could consider installing CCTV in your home, which is what quite a number of landlords do nowadays especially when they are working adults.

Thus far, I noticed that there were frequent occurences of a phenomenon whereby the new shoots start growing out from a section (of the stem) that holds the red bulb-like flower heads. Alternatively, new shots could start growing out from mid-sections of the stem as the existing "adult" started maturing. And becox I'm staying in a flat with limited space & sunlight for gardening, those "babies" who grew out from the stems required repotting in new soil. I've resorted to passing them on to the community garden & hope that they would thrive well there. The photograph below shows quite a huge bunch of budding adults growing on an old stem after the "red corn" flower head of the "mother" had been trimmed off to beautify the plant & also, make way for her "babies" who chose to grow out from that section of the stem: If these pretty looking newbies aren't taken down & repotted elsewhere, chances are they would gradually die off as they aren't taking enough nutrients & cannot simply survive based on just sunlight & a limited amount of water resources from the rain. The fact that they were budding with such pretty "red corn" flower heads when they are dwarfs at a height below 20cm, as compared to counterparts growing on soil, might infer that they are not taking in enough fluids & vitamins. Given such a situation, these darlings would have a shorter lifespan than the rest of its "sisters" who were grounded on solid earth, i.e. soil. (Photograph below shows one of their "sisters" growing alot taller at a height of 76cm with a sturdy stem from the soil, but not yet in the budding stage of growing a "red corn") As such, I trimmed down the entire old stem where these "babies" are growing on & chose to assign them to a proper nursery. It's really painful to part with those pretty babies but I hope that they do well in their new environment where they would have all types of plants for companionship.

Apart from CNY decorations being sold all year round in GEMINI Body Shop, they also sell traditional wares which are being used during Chinese weddings. Rental of the Chinese "KUA" which had been used traditionally by the Cantonese during the wedding tea ceremony is also available at the store. I took a snippet of 2 of such costumes in GEMINI Body Shop and they do look pretty & elaborated with the intriccate embroidery of the dragon & phoenix in silvery & goldish threads. Perhaps I should jux rent one for myself for a wedding anniversary photo shoot & my hubby could pair off with me in the Chinese skull cap with his pig-tail!

However, after much serious contemplation while looking through the CNY wares at GEMINI, I've decided to settle down for the traditional red felt scrolls since our Taiwanese fengshui master had recommended a red "painting" or picture on that section of the wall. I was extremely happy that GEMINI has a huge variety of such red scrolls. Although they looked really cliche & typical of an "oldish" CNY decor as there's nothing modernised about it, I had decided to purchase one of these red scrolls since they would serve our fengshui requirements well. After browsing through a good variety of red scrolls, I selected a version that has the Chinese word "FU" written in a hundred ways as shown partially at the bottom left hand corner in the photograph below:

Initially, when I saw a giant version of the Mystic Knot being sold at his shop, I was almost going to purchase it becox I love such knots as it is one of the auspicious symbols in Buddhism. It is associated with an abundance or endless amount of good energy & luck. As such, it had also been known as the Endless Knot and had been very popular with fashion houses & their designers.

When I located the shop at the following address, I was surprised that it had a huge variety of Chinese New Year decorations even after CNY was long over: Gemini Body Shop 57 Pagoda Street Singapore 059216 The boss, Marcus Choo, said that CNY decorations were available throughout the year in his shop. And his signage GEMINI BODY SHOP reflected the festive mood of CNY in a cheery tone of red, which is one of my favourite colours!

Disclaimer: Permission has been sought from Marcus Choo of GEMINI BODY SHOP for his products & store to be featured in this thread. Kindly note that this thread is strictly for the purpose of sharing my humble & objective views of products and services provided by the aforesaid company. And not an advertising platform. I am not affliated to this company and am a client who bought Chinese New Year decorations, namely a red felt-like chinese scroll from the shop. Reader's discretion is therefore sought when viewing this thread. For the ease of viewing and any enquiries related to contact number & address of GEMINI Body Shop, photographs ear-marked with such details are uploaded. Photographs related to GEMINI Body Shop had also been water-marked in view of copyright issues. (I would not want to be implicated in any copyright issues should such photographs be abused by other users!) Thank you for your kind understanding. Hi folks, After walking through renotalk's forum, I've difficulties placing this topic specifically under any category. Since Chinese New Year decorations are supposedly relevant for dressing up one's home during the festive seasons, and that Christmas is around the corner with CNY comign soon after, I've decided to start this topic under the Home Deco category. Several months ago, our Taiwanese fengshui master recommended that we place a red picture or a red scroll on a certain section of our wall. At that juncture, Chinese New Year was well over for a couple of months or so. We were almost going to acquire a mega print of red roses when an elderly PRC national friend well into his 80s mentioned to us that it's highly recommended that we kept to the conventional practice of using a red scroll with chinese traditional wordings on it. His daughter in law then told us that there is a particular shop in ChinaTown that might have what we were looking for. And there I was in ChinaTown, but tracking down this shop wasn't easy becox I had to ask many of the neighbouring shops for its location. It was made extra tough by the unpredictable weather. Sunny one moment but rainy during the next second. However, I finally found it. It was actually running along the street that leads us to the escalator for Chinatown mrt station.

It depends... I do have a balcony at home but it's not that big & becox we've sealed it up with grilles & glass windows, it's no longer considered "outdoor". Yes, my hubby told me that he'll have to get us a place where I could have plenty of plants on the exterior.

Hi buddy, Is such cameras allowed at the exterior of flats? Would you mind sharing with me on where you bought this from? I'm interested in exploring the option of getting one myself Is this gadget very expensive?

Hi Luvping Do u have any photographs to show us becox pictures speak a thousand words? It'll save you alot of effort in explanation too! The workmanship is definitely bad if they cannot even install a door frame properly. However, if there a reason why you had to get your door & frame separately instead of getting it from your renovation contractor? That's the thing about ala-carte in renovation. It becomes a nightmare when you double up as both an owner & a project manager for the renovation of your home. I tried that before, it can be a killer when things go wrong.

Hi buddy, It's not confusing becox u've got the knack in giving coherent explanations & I could relate to what u're trying to tell me. I think it's good to widen the door becox yours is a jumbo flat. According to fengshui beliefs, the doorway must correspond in terms of sizing based on that of the house (flat in this case). R u guys going to buy the recess area? No right? Whoa if the recess area has been purchased, then, it'll be really super jumbo! And maybe there's no back door since the recess area is supposedly fenced up?

oooh, everything looks so nicely done up even though reno is not completed yet. And with such good speed! I thought that the sizing of the main door is standardised? I didn't know that widening of the main doorway could be approved!

Hi, Sorry to hear about your bad experience but do u think u could provide more details about your complaint against Decorille? It'll be good to share with us all becox I might jux require a replacement of windows later on. The very first time I came across Decorille was an advertisement on shower screens. And lately, they did some advertisements in the chinese newspapers on windows that could be used as both in the swinging or sliding mode. Both my hubby & myself wondered how good the mechanism is. Would you have photographs of what they've done for your home? If yes, please share them with us. It'll help to substantiate your complaints against them in the forum.

Hi Olg, I agree with Lauer that you should get the first tier of contractors to address those stains before u approach any 3rd parties. would u mind sharing the colour of your marble flooring? My dad & brother inlaw's marbles are those conventional grayish sort & there were no stains. Only cracks or a lack of lustre after many years. These could be rectified easily by sending in professionals for polishing... but do let us know if those stains could be removed ultimatley. best wishes!

If the rain enters the balcony while only cement screed is left on your flooring i.e. without tiling, then there's a high chance that the unit below would start leaking when the puddle of water left in the balcony seeps through raw cement screed & finally give way at the ceiling of the unit below. This was what happened to us when the unit above ours renovated & their renovator were neligent enough to leave windows open overnight. A heavy downpour took place straight through the night, and we woke up to a "rainy" balcony the following morning. But I trust that u're in good hands becox your reno seems to be moving really fast & smoothly

Hi renotm, Do u have a renovator? If you have already engaged an ID or contractor, you should seek their opinions becox they are supposed to be experienced enough to provide you with some suggestions. U could google up nippon singapore's main number from any search engine, call & select customer service. U'll be directed to her. since your tiles are already pinkish, painting the walls pink would definitely be too overwhelming with pinks. And to be honest, pink can dim out the room like strong shades of yellow. Which might possibly be the reason why your seller painted the feature wall yellow & the rest white to brighten up the place. In our case, we painted the entire living room 1 single colour i.e. earth yellow (nippon's 3 in 1 medifresh) & the entire room is "swallowed" up by the strong yellow. and natural lighting is definitely dimmed out. But we haven't a choice becox of our fengshui requirements.

hmmmm, all the earthy tones that u've copied in your previous comment are the modern contemporary colours which r very popular among home owners. We had many friends who used a twin combination of such colours becox if u use 1 single tone that's darker in shade, you run a risk of a gloomy looking & dimly lit home. I'm sure u wouldn't want a home that looks dark & gloomy... But from my computer screen, I think Worn Path which is a grayish tone might work if you could go for an even lighter gray. However, gray for the entire living room is errrr, too gloomy for me. And we humans might jux be affected psychologically when we returnt to a home that looks "dark". And most of these earthy shades go along very well with walnut coloured furnishings. Peaceful is a new tone, a very subdued & diluted shade of yellow. I managed to find the LILY WHITE online for you. Under the 3 in 1 medifresh colour brochure. here goes: http://www.nipponpaint.com.sg/products/interior-paints/3-in-1-medifresh-anti-bacterial However, I noticed that the colour isn't accurately reflected becox of different monitor settings. It's better if u could obtain a hard copy of the colour brochure... Do you want to contact Cally Chen from Nippon Paint's customer service department? U could request for a colour brochure & at the same time, you could try to ask her if she could recommend you a few colours or suggest what works for your pink marble? U might want to ask her if she could take a look at the photo of ur pink marble flooring. Otherwise, it's very difficult to imagine what colours would work. (the very first time I read ur new thread, I imagine that ur flooring resembles pink coloured jade or pink quartz ) I'm a great fan of hers becox she is very professional, patient & knowledgable when it comes to paints. If u r interested, u could drop by & take a look at some of the threads where I've mentioned Nippon Paint & their other range of products e.g. plastic dropsheet http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40273&st=0&p=632908&hl=+nippon' http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40270&st=0&p=632883&hl=+nippon'

Hi, please check your mailbox becox I've jux PM-ed u 2 person's contacts so that u could check with them if they are able to rectify the problem. However, I was wondering if you have ever checked with your renovator on this? Isn't the contractor supposed to rectify such issues?

Hi Synchron, thanks for your compliments!