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| Botany Downs Landscape Print on Canvas Roger Smith 2015 Copies available here. |
Showing posts with label Botany Downs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Botany Downs. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Monday, 27 January 2014
White Clouds & Dark Trees
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| White Cloud Botany - After Ansel Adams Roger Smith 2014 |
I took this photograph on one of my afternoon walks and gave it the 'Ansel Adams' treatment. The white cloud was neatly framed by the trees which made for a successful composition.
Monday, 27 August 2012
Song Birds, Spring and Haze
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| Tui Roger Smith - August 2012 |
By comparison, the air in Singapore is once again predicted polluted by the seasonal haze; a recurring problem created by the thoughtless actions of Singapore's neighbours as they burn off large areas of jungle for oil palm plantations and farming.
The likelihood of a El Nino weather pattern isn't helping matters either. The last significant one to hit Singapore, the first year of our arrival, and I remember looking up Oxley Road and not being bale to see the Gurkha soldiers standing guard outside Lee Kuan Yew's residence. No doubt they could see me as I made my journey from Oxley Mansions to Lloyd Road but the air was so thick with pollutants that I felt sorry for them having to stand in the smog.
So while Singapore may have been named "healthiest country" by Bloomberg, I wonder if any of their media people ever visited country during the 'hazy days'? They might have formed a slightly different opinion or at the very least, broadened their criteria.
Monday, 19 December 2011
Walk To Meadowlands
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| Stream Roger Smith 12/2011 |
Thursday, 7 July 2011
A Year On - Pandan Thoughts & Hot Soup
This week marked the 1st anniversary of our departure from Singapore and arrival back in New Zealand; for me a moment of sad reflection.
Being one of those people who did not go to Singapore to live an Expat lifestyle, I found myself welcomed by colleagues and made good friends over the four years of our stay - most of the time living in Queenstown.
I admired Singapore before I went to live there and I admire it still. It's not perfect but no place is. It is a safe and there are no winters! The sound of night birds and the lushness of tropical foliage even goes some way to mitigate the omnipresent heat and humidity, although I confess July in the Republic can be very trying.
By contrast, here in Auckland it is the season of porridge and hot soup. Prices of good quality, tinned soups such as the Watties brand are great value; two servings for $NZ2.50 and these keep us fortified.
It is also the season for multiple layers of clothing and a quick sprint across the cold bathroom tiles first thing each morning. At least as I write there are patches of sun between the strong westerlies and showers, which meant that I could get out for a walk.
It remains somewhat of a challenge to circumvent slowly pacing pensioners, their dogs on leash, as they hog the pavement and force one into the muddy slush on either side of the concrete.
Quite a change from my walks to the Queenstown library in Singapore where I hugged each patch of shadow under the HDB's to avoid the cranium-boiling sun. A bottle of water was always in my carry bag as was my small umbrella, its silver side upwards to deflect the worst of the rays.
One of the more distinctive and welcoming smells of Singapore is that of the pandan leaf, which is used in a variety of kueh kueh and gives kaya toast its sweet aroma. Now these same leaves are being used in Asia's first aquatic science centre to filter out nitrates and phosphorus which promote algae growth and effect water quality.
While the NEA has problems stopping people littering their condos and HDB's to their credit they are on the ball when it comes to water quality.
Being one of those people who did not go to Singapore to live an Expat lifestyle, I found myself welcomed by colleagues and made good friends over the four years of our stay - most of the time living in Queenstown.
I admired Singapore before I went to live there and I admire it still. It's not perfect but no place is. It is a safe and there are no winters! The sound of night birds and the lushness of tropical foliage even goes some way to mitigate the omnipresent heat and humidity, although I confess July in the Republic can be very trying.
By contrast, here in Auckland it is the season of porridge and hot soup. Prices of good quality, tinned soups such as the Watties brand are great value; two servings for $NZ2.50 and these keep us fortified.
It is also the season for multiple layers of clothing and a quick sprint across the cold bathroom tiles first thing each morning. At least as I write there are patches of sun between the strong westerlies and showers, which meant that I could get out for a walk.
It remains somewhat of a challenge to circumvent slowly pacing pensioners, their dogs on leash, as they hog the pavement and force one into the muddy slush on either side of the concrete.
Quite a change from my walks to the Queenstown library in Singapore where I hugged each patch of shadow under the HDB's to avoid the cranium-boiling sun. A bottle of water was always in my carry bag as was my small umbrella, its silver side upwards to deflect the worst of the rays.
One of the more distinctive and welcoming smells of Singapore is that of the pandan leaf, which is used in a variety of kueh kueh and gives kaya toast its sweet aroma. Now these same leaves are being used in Asia's first aquatic science centre to filter out nitrates and phosphorus which promote algae growth and effect water quality.
While the NEA has problems stopping people littering their condos and HDB's to their credit they are on the ball when it comes to water quality.
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