Yellow summer flowers

We're in the middle of summer and the scorching heat can be unbearable.  But these yellow flowers look fresh under the mid-day sun while everybody was sluggish and wilting in the heat.  Not sure if this is justicia aurea/yellow jacobinia.

The yellow jacobinias basking in the summer sun together with lantanas and blue plumbago.

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.  These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable." ~ Joseph Addison

Linking to Floral Friday Fotos

Today's Flowers

Monday Mellow Yellows

Graffiti/Signs

Drive-by shots of graffiti along Cardinal Rosales Avenue in Cebu City.  Taken in late March while I was stuck in traffic.

The caption of the painting below is "Bunga Ng Iresponsableng Mga Magulang" or literally, "fruit of irresponsible parents".  I'm not sure if the painting depicts a drug addict or somebody with birth defect.  It reminds me of Gollum, J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional character.

Linking to Signs, Signs

Ottoman/ABC Wednesday

O is for Ottoman

An ottoman is a piece of furniture with a padded seat, usually having neither a back or arms, and used as a stool or a footstool, or in some cases as a coffee table.  Ottomans have often a coordinating furniture with armchairs.  Some ottomans are hollow and used for storage.

The ottoman above was developed for DVF a couple of years ago.  The patchwork wing chair and matching ottoman below were in a booth of a Manila vendor during the Manila F.A.M.E.

The ottoman was brought to Europe from--you guessed it right, Turkey, in the late 18th century.  In Turkey, the ottoman was the central piece of  domestic seating, and was piled with cushions.  In Europe, one of the early versions of the ottoman was designed a piece of fitted furniture to go entirely around three walls of a room.  The ottoman later evolved into a smaller version to fit a corner of a room.

Ottomans took on a circular  or octagonal shape in the 19th century, with  seating divided in the center by arms or a central padded column that might hold a plant or a statue.  As night clubs become popular, so did the ottoman which began to have hinged seats underneath to hold magazines.

The birdcage-inspired sofa and ottoman set below was designed by a Filipino designer and a friend, Carlo Tanseco, and was exhibited at the Manila Furniture show 3 years ago.

Linking to ABC Wednesday

Leaves of summer

The day I see a leaf is a marvel of the day. ~ Kenneth Patton

Linking to Monday Mellow Yellows

Pink Orchids

He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead:  his eyes are closed.  ~ Albert Einstein

Linking to Floral Friday Fotos

Today's Flowers

La Tegola/Signs

I was waiting for two friends for lunch at a coffee shop in Ayala Mall-Cebu in mid-March when I took these photos.  The top photo is the entrance to the mall gardens, there is also a Starbucks and a bookstore.  Zoomed in at the sign of an Italian restaurant below Starbucks.  Love their appetizers and pasta dishes.  

Linking to Signs, Signs

Orchids

Even if you think the Big Bang created the stars, don't you wonder who sent the flowers? ~ Robert Brault

Linking to Today's Flower

False Sunflower

Noticed these showy flowers growing wildly at the roadside near the convenience store I frequent.   The flowers look similar to False Sunflower, Smooth Oxeye,  Heliopsis helianthoides, a species in the Aster family.  It looks like this plant has mastered every survival skill.

I learn more about God

from weeds than from roses;

Resilience springing

through the smallest chink of hope

in the absolute of concrete...

~ Phillip Pulfrey

Linking to Floral Friday Fotos

Today's Flowers

Old Presidencia/Signs

A sign spotted at one of the streets in Culion Island, a former leper colony (est. 1904).

I'm glad this old prison was empty and padlocked.

It reads:  

Old Presidencia

One of the old prisons of 

the colony where errant 

patients were put into jail.

Linking to Signs, Signs

Leaf shapes/ABC Wednesday

L is for Leaf shapes

I love textures and patterns and when I see plants, I'm captivated not only by flowers but also with leaves.    Various shapes and textures of leaves are fascinating subjects in photography.  There are more than a dozen leaf shapes but let's concentrate on the L's, shall we?

The leaves in the top photo are called acicular because of the pointed tip.  It can also be described as a linear leaf because it is long and narrow. 

The sharp, lance-shaped leaves of this plant has been compared to a mother-in-law's tongue.  It is also called Tiger's Tail and Snake plant.

Another lanceolate-leafed plant is the Walking Iris, also known as the Apostle's plant.  The name Apostle's plant comes from the belief that the plant will not flower until it has at least 12 leaves, the number of Jesus' apostles.

Papaya leaf is called palmately lobed because the divisions that do not arrive at the center of the half blade.  Aside from its interesting shape, papaya leaves have wonderful medicinal properties.  Juice from the leaves is used as skin cleansing agent, it also heals open wounds and sore.  Fresh leaves are edible; when boiled in water, it is an effective cure for malaria, and can be made into tea to treat bladder and menstrual problems.

These leaflets have fragmented blade, also called compound leaves.

One of the most interesting leaves I have seen so far is that of the Kalanchoe daigremontiana, or Mother of Thousands.  It has oblong-lanceolate leaves with clusters of leaf-like along the edges.  The tiny leaves form roots while on the plant and they grow into young plants.

"Nature will bear the closest inspection.  She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf,  and take an insect view of its plain." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Linking to ABC Wednesday

Elevated parking/Blue Monday & Monday Mellow Yellows

Local fishermen in Liloan, Cebu found a way to protect their bancas from unexpected tidal surge during high tide---elevated parking!:p

Linking to Blue Monday

Monday Mellow Yellows