This resident cat was looking at the princess yesterday when I brought her out for an evening walk. It was ready to raise its fur to intimidate the naive and fearless bitch.
Sometimes, one does not know what is death until one encounters it. Our previous mixed terrier Ginny got into a brawl with a cat in the past before she ran away and hid under the stairs with her tail tucked under her. She finally learnt her lesson that the resident cats could not be bullied. Would Sandy learn her lesson someday too?
I know my blog and posts are boring to most people but it wouldn't stop me from posting because this has become like a photographic diary to me. I could never maintain a diary for more than 3 months but I have this blog for more than a year now and I still have not entertained the idea of shutting it down. For this, I am proud of myself.
So anyway, these are some interesting plants at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The first is the strongly variegated Sanchezia nobilis, which I find astonishingly and amazingly beautiful since the first time I saw it at the former Alexandra Hospital.
The second is the native Peristrophe roxburghiana (common name: Magenta Plant; Family: Acanthaceae) with small purple two-lobed flowers. Frankly, I am not particularly wowed by this herb.
Then there are these very cute Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Trailing Salamandar' (common name: Coleus) and the uncommon and straggly Plumbago indica. I posted on the Ardisia gigantifolia on 7 Aug 10 and looked how big they are now. However, I hate it that they are suffering from severe nutrient deficiency symptoms.
Other than the pristine white and clean interior, the plant decoration is one of the reasons I really like to eat and drink there. Just look at the beautifully arranged tabletop plant displays.
Other than the fake Hydrangea, the rest of the plants are real and amazingly healthy looking. The combination of Fittonia, Peperomia scandens and an unknown green plant in the light brown basket container is brilliant. The other pair of Syngonium and Ficus pumila 'Sonny' is simple but clean.
I don't know how much effort they put into their plant decoration and maintenance and whether they replace the plants regularly but how can I not like an establishment which takes such good care of its plants?
Recently, a Green Anole (scientific name: Anolis carolinensis) arrived with a shipment of plants and was placed into one of the terarriums and I sort of adopted it rather than leave it to die.
I brought my vivarium container, put in a piece of driftwood and a few plants but it didn't seem happy because it changed colour from green to brown, which may be an indication of stress and malnourished condition etc. Then we bought crickets and mealworms but it refused to eat. The crickets were probably too large for it. But it turned its face away when I put a mealworm next to it's face.
So this morning, I changed its container to one with lights and tried to feed it mealworms again. But it was adamant about not eating. According to my colleagues, it seemed thinner than a few days ago although I really couldn't tell. All I know is it is stressed, judging from the amount of time it remained brown, closed eye and lifeless. It didn't even try to drink any water I sprayed onto the leaves of plants.
I am at my wit's end and think it would eventually starved to death if it refuses to eat. I am afraid I don't know what else I can do now.
Anyway, the following are some links on the interesting lizard from Florida:
- http://www.anapsid.org/anole.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychrotidae
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_anole
- http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/733845
- http://www.essortment.com/common-health-issues-green-anoles-lizards-41458.html
NB on 2 Sep 11: The lizard was finally rescued from my hands. I hope it finds a good home and lots of happiness for the rest of its life in a faraway foreign land here in Singapore.
I don't know what you call this art piece but we once learnt how we can do our own version of this using just disposable wooden chopsticks and cable ties. All one needs to do after the whole thing is done is to cut off the protruding cable ties and spray paint it to a colour that one likes.
Don't believe me, just try it.
My Acalypha reptans is growing so well and I am so happy to see it everyday when I walk past the common corridor.
The Hoya has also started to flower again. How wonderful!
I also posted on this combination of Coleus before and this beautiful group of plants are looking so much more bushy now compared to before. Maybe we should do up a Coleus garden somewhere to showcase the range of cultivars of this plant species.
I posted about this tree recently on 17 Aug 11 at 8:58 pm and just days after, the bare crown is now covered with lots of newly sprouted green leaves. I love the form and texture of this interesting tree.
I told myself I have to write about this. I went to the usual family clinic to see the doctor for a small lumpy growth below my right eyelid. It only started to appear about a week ago.
So there I was, greeted by a new face, when I went into the doctor's room. I have never seen her before and I must say she is quite young, probably in her 20s or at most early 30s? Anyway, she concluded I have an eye cyst caused by an inflamed hair follicle.
At the reception counter, I received an eye cream Foban Cream and eye drops Optichlor. The senior clinic assistant mumbled something to the junior assistant who handed me the medication and remarked it was for the eye. The senior assistant took a look at me and whispered something else, to which the latter commented that she didn't know and the stuff was prescribed by the doctor. This set my alarm bells ringing.
When I reached home, I immediately googled the medication given to me. To my horror, the first link showed that Foban Cream "should not be used near the eye and care should be taken when it is used near the eye". It was also stated that the cream should not be used to treat eye infections. A second link indicated that the "sodium salt of fusidic acid has been shown to cause conjunctival irritation. The ointment should not be used near the eye". A few links are attached below for reference:
- http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/consumers/cmi/f/foban.pdf
- http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/f/Fobancrmoint.pdf
- http://www.mims.com/Singapore/drug/info/Foban%20Cream/
I went back to the clinic and asked the senior clinic assistant whether the cream can actually be used for my condition. She advised me to be careful not to let the cream touch the eye to which I exclaimed that it was impossible to do so for my case. So she suggested replacing it with another cream, which was what I had in mind. She took another cream Fucithalmic eye ointment and passed it to the doctor who approved the replacement.
This is a case where I think the senior clinic assistant has more experience than the junior doctor. I seriously do not know what would happen if I use the cream or if the senior assistant was not there at the right place at the right time. I don't think I would be sitting here typing this.
I would still go back to the same clinic but I will never want to see this same doctor again. I refuse to be a guinea pig for her.
This is a Hemigraphis-lookalike weed possibly from the Scrophulariaceae Family.Yes, this interesting purple-leaved weed was growing well in this bag. So I kept it around and we planted it in the garden with the hope that someday this ground cover can be introduced as an ornamental plant into our gardens.
Oh, on a separate note, my boss whispered to me today that he heard I have a blog on weird plants. Weird plants? Seriously? Or was it a weird blog on plants? Absolutely not. I would prefer to think I have a blog written on beautiful plants. I am curious to know who was the informant.
These are some uncommon beautiful breathtaking plants that cannot be found in our gardens. They mostly prefer cooler environments and it would so great to see them to masses.
Most are uncommon to me but let's start with the variegated Hostas. There are beautiful Begonias, annuals, Pelargoniums, Aeomiums, succulents, Streptocarpellas, Streptocarpus, Kohleria, etc.
