Preparing For 5th Chemo Treatment

It is Monday again. Wishing everyone a happy new week. Yesterday (Sunday), we celebrated Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all fathers.

I was awake and I wanted to walk out to check if there was any sunrise for me to snap photos.

Sunrise photo.

Sunrise photo.

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Below are some of my surviving plants in my garden after I delegated the garden to my hubby.

Croton: yellow and green coloured leaves croton.

Aglaonema pink lady: placed in semi shade.

Coleus, placed in semi shade.

Bauhinia Kockiana.

This cat has been a nuisance to the neighbourhood. It climbs and left footprints on our car, scratch the seat of hubby's motorcycle and poo in our garden.

Mural.

Photo credited to Julie Chong.

Linking to Skywatch Friday, Saturday's Critters & Monday Mural.

Fathers, do not exasperate your children;

instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

(Ephesians 6:4, New International Version-NIV)

Our Bauhinia Kockiana And Orchid Are Blooming

I was discharged from the hospital on Friday morning after I have finished the chemo treatment. Now I am resting at home before the next chemo which is scheduled on the 21st June, 2023. A day before that, I will need to get a pre-chemo blood test done at the hospital. So far so good, I am doing fine with good appetite and sleeping well.

Sunrise on the 7:35am.

These days the weather is hot and dry. Even if it rains, it is usually a short shower. Sometimes, we hear thunder rumbling but there is no rain.

With some fertilizer and regular watering in this hot weather, our bauhinia kockiana is doing very well and blooming away happily.

This orchid was neglected but surprisingly, one morning it bloomed! Hubby has been rather busy trying to clear and keep the garden tidy but there are some plants he missed watering and yet these hardy plants survived.

The above dog is a stray but well fed by the residents here.

The above mural of a man at the lotus pond and a plastic bag of drink hanging on the wall was shot at a school in Tanjung Tualang.

Linking to Skywatch Friday, Saturday's Critters & Monday Mural.

The Spirit and the bride say,

'Come.' Let each one who hears them say the same,

'Come." Let the thirsty one come - anyone who wants to;

let him come and drink the Water of Life without charge.

(Revelation 22:17, The Living Bible-TLB)

A New Trellis For Our Bauhinia Kockiana Vines

This was the 2nd last day (30th) of May. It was a Monday. We had workmen to put up a metal trellis to support our Bauhinia Kockian vines in front of our house / porch. The first three pictures were before the metal trellis was erected.

These Bauhiana Kockiana vines acted as a screen for the front of our house from the outside.

The vines were propped up with the supports that were put up by hubby.

Hubby used metal and pvc pipes to prop up the vines. Due to the weight of the vines, it looked like the support was going to give way and might collapse any time. So hubby had some workmen to erect a metal trellis to support the flowering vines.

Workmen putting up the vertical support for the trellis.

Putting up the last vertical support for the trellis on a hot day.

I took this photo from my sitting room.

The workmen took less than half a day to finish the work.

One last portion (right hand side) of the vines yet to be support by the trellis.

Once the trellis was completed, hubby will have to dismantle the old support from under the vines which will take a few days to complete.

Will need some time for the vines to start growing and see how it will look like in the near future.

Now, the front of my house looks much neater and the porch area is now much brighter.

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Cooking for dinner.

I bought a fresh bamboo shoot from one of the roadside vegetable sellers. It is not easy to find fresh bamboo shoots in our area.

A big fresh bamboo shoot.

I sliced off the outer layer and discarded the hard part of the shoot, leaving behind the tender part of the shoot. Then I cut the bamboo shoots into strips. Then I blanched the bamboo strips in boiling water before cooking.

Ingredients: Blanched bamboo shoot strips, pork belly strips, chopped garlic, red fermented bean curd cubes (lam yue), dark and light sauce, oyster sauce, salt and sugar to taste and spring onions.

Noodle (mee sua) in white diakon and pork soup.

Ingredients for soup: white diakon, carrot, pork, red dates and gojiberries.

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The following photos were taken at the Gunung Lang Recreational Park.

We saw a pair of white peacocks in a cage.

The other one was resting at the side of the cage.

It seemed to know that there were visitors and without warning, this peacock started spread out and showed off its beautiful snow white feathers. It was a pleasant surprise for us. The white feathers look like delicate lace material.

Linking to Friday Bliss, Skywatch Friday & Saturday's Critters.

I will be your God through all your lifetime,

yes, even when your hair is white with age.

I made you and I will care for you.

I will carry you along and be your Savior.

(Isaiah 46:4, The Living Bible-TLB)

Growing Bauhinia Kockiana In My Garden

Bauhinia Kockiana or Bauhinia Coccinea is a tropical, woody plant or vine. It is also known as Kock's Bauhinia, Climbing Bauhinia or Red Trailing Bauhinia.

Bauhinia Kockinia has dark green leaves and bright striking orange flowers.

Bauhinia Kockinia is a climbing vine and its branches need to be supported.

This climbing vine grows well in normal garden soil with good water drainage. It also loves the sun and needs regular watering and fertilizing.

The beautiful flowers bloom in clusters. They are gorgeous and very eye-catching even from afar.

These are how the leaves and flower buds look like.

The flowers start from yellow, then they change to orange.

Then from orange they turn to orangey red in colour.

When I first planted my Bauhinia Kockinia plants, they took a long time to flower.

But once they started to flower, they have been flowering faithfully.

Bauhinia Kockinia flowers throughout the year round.

This is the seed. In each seed pod there may be one to three seeds. The seeds are flat and round, about half an inch diameter. When the seeds are matured, the seed pod and seeds will be dark brown or black in colour. The seed pod will then explode open and the seeds will be dispersed.

It is not easy to propagate this plant. I have collected the seeds and tried propagating by using seeds but the success rate is very low. I have also tried propagation with stem cuttings and it is also not very successful. I am hoping to try marcotting to see if it works.

So far, only those seeds that have dropped onto the soil and germinated on their own have a better success rate.

Here is one seedling which has sprouted out from the soil on its own. A few times I have dug out some seedlings but they didn't survive. I hope this will not be harmed by the extreme heat.

Due to the extreme heat in my area for the past few weeks, my Bauhinia Kockinia plants have suffered "heatstroke" and the leaves and flowers have curled and dried up. The leaves are falling all over and my plants are almost bald. This has happened before a few times whenever the weather is extremely hot. But after I have trimmed off the dried parts, the plants sprout new shoots again and after some time with much care and watering, the plants are back to normal again.

Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot -
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him -
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
(Isaiah 11:1-2, New Living Translation-NLT)