Mariamellie

Home Journey

2009-06-15T06:00:00.000+08:00

Never regretting going back home.
Thank you God for letting me flying with Gabriel's wings
through all those 10 years journey.
Though life is still a Mystery,
my Treasure I find at Home.
And the memory
will forever be my treasure.

Heart, don't fail me now

Courage, don't desert me

Don't turn back now that we're here

People always say

Life is full of choices

No one ever mentions fear

Or how the world can seem so vast

On A journey...to the past

Somewhere down this road

I know someone's waiting

Years of dreams just can't be wrong!

Arms will open wide

I'll be safe and wanted

Fin'lly home where I belong

While Starting here, im learning fast

On this journey...to the past

Home, Love, Family

There was once a time

I must have had them too

Home, Love, Family

I will never be complete

Until I find you...

One step at a time,

One hope, then another

Who knows where this road may go

Back to who I was

On to find my future,

Things my heart still needs to know

Yes, let this be a sign!

Let this road be mine!

Let it lead me to my past

to bring me home...

At last

Waiting in Vain

2009-06-08T13:00:00.004+08:00

I am waiting in vain..
10 years..
well.. then...

Let the Destiny fulfills Itself.

"Hey Destiny, come on fulfill yourself, I have fulfilled mine!"
...smile...

Waiting in Vain by Annie Lenox, Ost. Serendipity

More music here:

A Surprise Pink

2009-06-07T06:41:00.005+08:00

Hello,

here is the pink lily, a newcomer in Mama's garden.
Her coming is a surprise since we didn't think we still had pink lily, we only had the red one.
So, here she is.

Isn't she lovely?

Happy Sunday!

of Fast Food and Recycle

2009-06-04T06:00:00.002+08:00

50 Tips to Save our Earth

Here are the next two tips:

ONE: Avoid Fast Food!
Fast food industry produces the most amount of waste in the world.

TWO: Recycle!
You know what I mean... =)

More on Nature Notes and Think Green:

Fresh and Red

2009-06-03T16:22:00.003+08:00

It's been
such a hot dry season lately
in East Borneo.
Would be
so delightful
to be fresh and wet
like this red Canna.

This is my belated watery post, see more watery here:

Up Close and Personal

2009-06-01T18:17:00.006+08:00

Dear Lovelies,
I don't know how much I thank you all my dear blogging friends for visiting me, giving me support and appreciation in your lovely words!

And it is truly a treasure to meet you all. You all have proved to me that we can touch each others souls in this unique way, of blogging! It is a real treasure to get to know your blogs, interests, arts, beautiful works, that you all present in your blogs! Really, for me it is a real treasure! It is so lovely to receive your supports and sharing! Really make my day and put a big smile on my face!

So today I decide to appear up close and personal to greet you all.

For me blogging has been such a therapy in which I discover myself more through the photos I take and the words I wrote for this blog. I am amazed on how this all going so far that makes me tremendously happy, for what I discover about myself: my new hobbies, my interests, my new talents.

It is truly a treasure to get to know more about myself.
I didn't know that I would fall in love with botany and gardening as much as I fall in love with Political sciences and International Relations. It was also a real treasure to re-discovered my old hobbies like knitting, embroidery works, and home design!
Guess soon I will be a diplomat all at once a gardener, an artist, and a designer .. and a blogger! =)

The past few weeks have been surprisingly busy for master degree scholarship application, and so the weeks were all for writing the papers and documents required. Finally the application was sent last Tuesday to Fulbright of American Indonesian Exchange Program. But some more application will be coming like for Australian Development Scholarship (ADS). Anyone of you apply for the same scholarship..?? tell me..! =)

And since last Wednesday till Sunday I was quite occupied by my niece's wedding... ya ya.. my niece got married =) and it was both fun and challenging for me doing the peyote and beads embroidery for my Kebaya, the Indonesian traditional women dress that I wore as you see in the picture! =)

Anyway, a little update about Mama's Garden, some new darlings flowers are coming, some photos are taken already but I'm still not able to upload them.. well.. let's see...ooohh I still have some translation jobs and some materials I have to prepare for my classes. =(

Anyway, have a lovely week ahead to all of you!
Thanks so much for keep visiting me!

and oh... it has been a long time not checking something from the Mellow Yellow Monday... =)

Cheers everyone!

Today's Flowers # 42: Fragrant Orchid

2009-05-31T06:00:00.005+08:00

Dear lovelies,
thank you so much for visiting me today through Today's Flowers.
And thank you so so much for Luis Santili Jr. of Today's Flowers for inviting me
as the Guest Friend today.

Today I welcome you all with this "Anggrek Dupa", one of a very well known orchids in East Borneo. This darling has a lovely fragrance in our Garden. Hmmm... can't you smell it?

Dendrobium Anosmum

Dendrobium anosmum var. huttonii
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family:Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Dendrobieae

Sepals and petals are white, lip is magenta.
5 to 10 cm wide with fragrance,
found in the lowland forest of Malaysia, Laos,
Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia,
and Papua and New Guinea
at elevations of around 1300 meters.

Have a Lovely Sunday and a Great Week ahead!

Don't Hide

2009-05-22T07:56:00.003+08:00

Don't hide in the dark, come out to the light and feel the warmness.

Happy Friday everyone!
So sorry for not posting regularly these days... I am so busy with scholarship application which include study objective, motivation letter, and research proposal as well. I'm getting back to my study of International Relations. Yes.. surprise surprise.. that is my root. I post you this pic as it is a reminder and a lovely note to myself, I do hope it also can be an inspiration for you all.

Thanks for keep visiting me these days. I miss visiting your blogs too, really.

Love

Times of Your Life

2009-05-18T06:44:00.001+08:00

Times of Your Life
Joanna Wang

Good morning, yesterday
You wake up and time has slipped away
And suddenly it's hard to find
The memories you left behind
Remember, do you remember

The laughter and the tears
The shadows of misty yesteryears
The good times and the bad you've seen
And all the others in between
Remember, do you remember
The times of your life (do you remember)

Reach back for the joy and the sorrow
Put them away in your mind
The mem'ries are time that you borrow
To spend when you get to tomorrow

Here comes the saddest part (comes the saddest part)
The seasons are passing one by one
So gather moments while you may
Collect the dreams you dream today
Remember, will you remember
The times of your life

Gather moments while you may
Collect the dreams you dream today
Remember, will you remember
The times of your life
Of your life
Of your life

Do you remember, baby
Do you remember the times of your life
Do you remember, baby

An Encouragement

2009-05-03T18:00:00.001+08:00

An Encouragement for Myself

One
The Warrior of Light can afford to live each day different from the next.
He is not afraid of crying over old regrets or feeling happy at new discoveries.

Two
When he feels that the hour has come, he casts everything aside
and departs for the adventure he has dreamed so long about.

Three
When he understands that he is at the limit of his endurance, he leaves the fight, without feeling apologetic for having done one or two crazy and quite unexpected things.

The Warrior of Light of Paulo Cuelho

Have a cheerful week ahead!
Kisses

Visit more encouraging flowers here:

My May Day

2009-05-02T11:01:00.006+08:00

Darlings,

Have you ever made the most bitter difficult decision in your life and as the result you feel like you fall deep way down under zero level?

That's what I did yesterday. Oh.. may day may day...!!

Anyway, I feel better today after having a hot chocolate in the morning. Then I checked my mail and found something very nice from Reader Will. She is always a supportive person. When I had my first problem in blogging, that was when somebody stole my pictures, what touched me most from her was that at the end of her email she wrote 'Hugs". Oh my, her hugs felt like gifts from heaven, like the whole world is hugging you warmly tight, nice right?.

Ok, so here I share you some of the inspiring words that she sent and which are my today's medication:

Take an occasional risk
Remain calm, even when it seems hopeless
It will get better
Believe in yourself

And thanks to some friends who keep encouraging me, among are Rosidah of Music of My Life and Pacey of Today's Blah and of Soul Pacifier. Check out their musical and inspiring blogs!

And...yes I still have another treasure today, it is Bahiyah Shabazz of Dare to Inspire. She is truly an inspiring motivator. I quote her here:

"You have the power to change any negative situation that goes on in your life.
Yes, you do!!! Each scenario has it's positive moments"

So my lovelies,
I leave you today with this shot I took from Mama's garden a while ago. The flower reminds me to keep soaring to the sky facing the light no matter what.

And.. the blue sky reminds me of the swimming pool..yes that's where I am going this afternoon, swimming, with my lovely long time girl friend and her two cute children.

Have a lovely Saturday you all! Kisses

Again

2009-05-01T12:46:00.004+08:00

Dear my lovelies,
I am mourning again today.

My beloved teacher, an inspiring figure, and one of special characters in the story of my study, has passed away last night. He was hospitalized due to appendicitis, got operated, and was in coma last Saturday, and finally awoke on Tuesday to Wednesday to give his last smile.

He was a brilliant one with a very good sense of humor. My special connection with him started as I learnt that, serendipitously, we ever shared the same city though each of us lived in different years in Boston. Boston Avenue was the first came up when we started the talk about Boston.

Then international political economy was a special subject of discussion that uniquely binding me and Gabriel and him as my lecturer. He was the supervisor for my most important thesis in my lifetime, and funnily he explained me about the integration in Germany by describing the German national football of Bundesliga. On my thesis presentation, I was really 'cooked till burnt' by him that it was the day I saw myself and my life more clearly. I will never be able to thank him enough for that precious moment of life.

His passing away last night amazingly opened my eyes more, well the passing away of my father last March has already started to open my eyes, forcing me to reflect more on my life, on what I really want to do in my life, on where I am going to walk, on what I desire most in life. His passing away made me more awake that "I am still alive and come on dear what are you going to do with your past life now in order to move forward to the future..?!"

After being unable to sleep all night long, so this morning I finally could say an important statement of my life to Gabriel:

"The new day breaks,
people who pass away continue their 'new' lives
and we continue ours here.
I think I understand a bit more
as I need to continue mine."

To my dear Guru I would like to say:

"Go walk peacefully,
the Heaven is waiting to embrace you,
can't you already smell the fragrance..?"

p.s.
My 'cheerful' sky watch post as you can find below this post was scheduled since yesterday.
I am so sorry I'm still unable to pay you a visit today.
Please stay with me as I need you to hold my hands.

Red on Blue Sky

2009-05-01T05:45:00.003+08:00

Warning!

What you are going to see here
is
the extreme combination of daring red foliage
with
daring clear blue sky
and
a little touch
of daring dying branch.

Blinded by the LIGHT

Enjoy your Friday's Sky wherever you are!

Visit more sky photos here:

A Superstition

2009-04-30T18:00:00.001+08:00

My Lovelies,

I'm just so happy that May is coming tomorrow. I can smell it in the air the lovely fragrance of the month of May and personally I believe May brings more light to my life, like usually. Do you also have a strong sense or vision on something about your life that you think you can almost smell it or taste it or see it in your dream..?? I remember one day I smelled in the air that soon I would travel far, and it came true. I don't think it was only my imagination.

Anyway, I found a very interesting superstition about the month of May. Do you believe in superstition..?? well.. sometimes I do.. =)

So here is the superstition. It is said that the first thing in the morning of May 1st, young girls used to rush out into the garden to wash their faces in the May dew.

Old tale says that May dew has magic properties and that anyone who has washed their face in it will have a beautiful complexion all through the year. This dew was supposed to be able to remove freckles and also spots and pimples.

So girls.. here I mean all of you no matter how old you are but you still keep yourself as a lovely girl deep inside your heart... =) ... I think you will not rush to your garden to do so. You, just like what I think I will do tomorrow, will rush to the garden and enjoy its beauty, to feel the fresh morning breeze kissing you, and let the sun light greets you warmly.

I wish you a lovely month of May!

Just a little update

2009-04-30T08:06:00.007+08:00

Dear lovelies,

Yesterday afternoon I received a bag of gifts from the British Council Indonesia. As I wrote you last Sunday, I visited the Green Earth Exhibition in which the British Council participated. Luckily I joined the blog competition with the theme "Save Our Environment", and I won. One of my favorite gifts I received is this notebook with 50 Tips to Save our Earth. Surely I would be very happy to share you all the tips. I think I will share one or two tips a day, how about that..?

So today I give you two tips:

"Go buy daily needs in shops near where we live"
and "Buy local products"

The idea is that the local products are cheap and save energy while the imported ones cost more and certainly produce more carbon emission in the process of transportation. And, by going shopping near where we live, we can go just by walking, save the cost of transportation, and certainly help to reduce the consumption on fuels. I believe many of you have done this already, right??

And that's what Mama does everyday. She doesn't like to go to the supermarket, she prefers to go to our traditional market. She says that the traditional market is more 'alive' and she really enjoys the walk to the market. When I am writing you this, Mama is on the way to the market. She told me when we had breakfast this morning that she missed to sell her flowers there. Once in while on Thursday or Friday Mama sells her jasmine and roses. The ladies in the market love to buy Mama's flowers because they are fresh and Mama offers cheap price. For Mama selling flowers is just for fun and like sharing as she loves the interaction with people. Why on these days you ask..?? oh, on Thursday and Friday the ladies here usually have praying gatherings in the afternoon, and jasmine and roses are favorite flowers in such ritual gatherings here in our cultures.

Anyway, I told Mama I would like to join her to the market, and she said "No!"... ha..??.... "You are always fussy, and I can't walk in pleasure!" "Just stay at home, do your things, and I'll be back with your favorite fish for the lunch". Oooohh... well well... so I am fussy she said. But she's right, I've got a lot of things to do today, gotta finish filling in my master degree scholarship application form, prepare the tests for my students tomorrow, my laundry, and..oh.. my translation job and some writings, oh la la.. I almost forgot them!

Oh ya, I thank you all for such a lovely comments on my post about the flood in the garden. A little update, my garden is doing great and well maintained by Mama. And I also thank you so so much for your comments on my 10,000th shot. I have to look for the shot #1 which was taken somewhere in December 2007 or around the New Year's Eve 2008. And no..no.. don't call me a photographer because I am not. I just do the shot with my simple pocket camera Canon Digi Ixus 75, not the SLR one ...I wish I had one, make it my b'day wish list... and I have no basic of photography at all. Taking photos is just my new musing since Gabriel gave me the camera as my Christmas gift in 2007.

And... please forgive me if today I'm not able to visit you all, soon I will as I love to read your beautiful posts! Happy Thursday everyone, I leave you with this quote as I lately feel that my life, actually, is in my hand. How about you? Tell me!

Kisses

p.s. Thank you Rosidah of Music of My Life for suggesting me these two links of great meme that I can join today! Love you darling!

Nature Notes of Rambling Woods:

Think Green Thursday by Pagan Sphinx:

Thursday Quote

2009-04-30T06:00:00.000+08:00

BIG O

2009-04-29T05:00:00.004+08:00

O..OO..OOO...
I have a big O
I have shot 10,000 photos
and
here is
my 10,000th shot

O..OO..OOO...

The shot was taken on Monday evening.
The electricity was off in my city.... as usual.
I was waiting for the light on,
didn't know what to do and reluctant to go to sleep,
I played with my camera.

As I checked today after saving the photos on my computer,
I found out that the file name gets back to 'IMG 0001' after the last file named 'IMG 9999'.
So this means this photo is the 10000th!
You know what??
I even checked it with my calculator to make sure that 9999 + 1 = 10,000

OOOOhh.....

It means I have taken 10,000 photos!!!

O..OO..OOO

Visit more O here:

Flood in the Garden

2009-04-28T14:09:00.015+08:00

If only our garden could say it loud:

"This was My World yesterday, flood!"
....sigh...

We've been having flood several times already since last November. It comes every two weeks when it is high tide due to full moon or new moon.

We don't live by the river though, but the drainage system of the city is real bad unable to channel the water properly. As a result, flood is almost everywhere in our city during the high tide plus heavy raining that come more often recently.

Additionally, the building of real estates which is not in accordance with the city planning as well as the bad management of coal minings around the city worsen the flood.

Anyway, there was a break during March.
But yesterday, the flood came again to visit our garden. Ay..yay...

Here's our main gate facing the main street,
can't you see the street is also covered by water??
It was worse you know!

This is another side of our garden.

The good thing was that the flood was not really high, just a bit covering the grass.

Oh.. our little flowers, they are bold and strong! not so much affected by the flood.

Visit more photos here:

and here:

Save Your Soul

2009-04-27T06:00:00.004+08:00

My lovelies,
I share you here the song from Jewel, "Who will save your soul".
But, in the following video it is her duet with Jessica Simpson.
Oh well... don't mind with Jessica, here she is so polite and cute.
And their duet is simply gorgeous!

"Who Will Save Your Soul"

People living their lives for you on TV
They say they're better than you and you agree
He says "Hold my calls from behind those cold brick walls"
Says "Come here boys, there ain't nothing for free"

Another burger, another hot dogs, some fries
A wish in the well, hope your health don't go to hell, well
Another doctor's bill, a lawyer's bill
Another cute cheap thrill
You know you love him if you put in your will.

Who will save your soul when it comes to the flower
Who will save your soul after all the lies that you told, boy
Who will save your soul if you won't save your own?

We try to hustle them, try to bustle them, try to cuss them
The cops want someone to bust down on Orleans Avenue

Another day, another dollar, another war, another tower
Went up where the homeless had their homes

So we pray to as many different God's as there are flowers
But we call religion our friend

We're so worried about saving our souls
Afraid that God will take His toll
That we forget to begin

Who will save your soul when it comes to the flower
Who will save your soul after all the lies that you told, boy
Who will save your soul if you won't save your own?

Some are walking, some are talking, some are stalking their kill
You got social security, but that don't pay your bills
There are addictions to feed and there are mouths to pay
So you bargain with the Devil, say you're OK for today,

You say that you love them, take their money and run
Say it's been swell, sweetheart, but it was just one of those things
Those flings, those strings you've got to cut,
So get out on the streets, girls, and bust you butts.

Who will save you soul when it comes to the flower
Who will save you soul after all the lies that you told, boy
Who will save your soul if you won't save you own?

Enjoy!

More Music here:

Live from British Council Indonesia

2009-04-26T11:44:00.004+08:00

Dear all my lovelies,

I'm writing you all here right from the British Council Indonesia Earth Day Celebration exhibition in East Borneo. So proud to be here and be invited to join the event on the celebration.

Something special I just want to share here is that, as you see my blog with all this blooming things right from Mama's garden, this is my space to show what we have in the garden. It is actually just a little spot, a little corner of our world.

Our garden has existed since the 1960s as Mama and my grandmother moved to this place. It becomes more and more special as day by day land is decreasing for the buildings, and so our little space is one that we try to keep. Flowers in our garden are all special that they have become important part of our family.

These days, maintaining our garden becomes more difficult. Recently we have more floods that certainly disturbs the garden. But for me this is not so annoying. The most annoying thing comes from the business people. They come and persuade us to sell the house which also include our beautiful garden and would like to transform it to be business place. The building will cover the soil and certainly leaves no spot for green.

I hope this blog will help to keep our garden exists. I hope you all enjoy the photos of the green foliage and the flowers and all lovely animals that come to visit our little corner.

So, hopefully this all contributes something for the earth.

Happy Earth Day every one.

Love you all.

The Flame is Burning

2009-04-26T06:00:00.000+08:00

HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

A Poem by Elizabeth Barret Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

More beautiful flowers here:

Cloudy yet Romantic

2009-04-24T06:00:00.005+08:00

In the land where we have sun light all year long,
sometimes
the day can also be so gloomy.

You can't see the sun,
can't see the clear blue sky.
All you can see is this grey cloudy sky.

Never mind,
with a little touch of
imagination and creativity
the day
can be so romantic.

"There is my Love, hidden in the mist"

Find more romantic sky photos here:

Thursday Zen

2009-04-23T06:00:00.001+08:00

N for Narcissism

2009-04-22T06:00:00.006+08:00

nar·cis·sism
- noun -
1. self-admiration: excessive self-admiration and self-centeredness
2. personality disorder: in psychiatry, a personality disorder
characterized by the patient's overestimation of his or her own appearance
and abilities and an excessive need for admiration.
In psychoanalytic theory, emphasis is placed on the element of
self-directed sexual desire in the condition.

[Early 19th century. After Narcissus]

Nar·cis·sus
noun
Greek youth turned into flower: in Greek mythology, a youth who was
punished for repulsing Echo's love by being made to fall in love with
his own reflection in a pool.
He died gazing at his own image, and was turned into a flower.

nar·cis·sus [naar síssəss]
(plural nar·cis·si [naar sí s] or nar·cis·sus·es or nar·cis·sus)
- noun -
plant with yellow or white flowers: a spring-blooming plant with
narrow leaves that grows from a bulb. Flowers: yellow or white, with
a cup-shaped center.
Genus: Narcissus

The Story of Narcissus

The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in
the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages,
he found a story about Narcissus.
The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth
who daily knelt beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty.
He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell
into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower
was born, which was called the narcissus.

But this was not how the author of the book ended the story.

He said that when Narcissus died, the Goddesses of the
Forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh
water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.

"Why do you weep?" the Goddesses asked.

"I weep for Narcissus," the lake replied.

"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus," they
said, "for though we always pursued him in the forest, you
alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand."

"But..... was Narcissus beautiful?" the lake asked.

"Who better than you to know that?" the Goddesses said
in wonder, "After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each
day to contemplate himself!!"

The lake was silent for some time.

Finally it said:
"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus
was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my
banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty
reflected."

"What a lovely story," the alchemist thought.

Prologue from the Alchemist by Paulo Cuelho

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

and my lovelies...
Here is the 'narcissistic' side of me and my mama.
We are about the same age when we did the photos.

We both admire our beauties and for that we take good care of ourselves.

This photo was taken on the same day of the photos of Mama in the
garden. She specially invited a photographer to take some photos of her. She did several sessions! Mama..oh Mama... ckckck..
Oh.. sigh.. how lovely her flowery dress, and her hairstyle...

And the photo of mine, alas, I used my tripod and did my own photos.
Here as you see, I dressed 'so politely',
wearing the pink Kebaya - the Indonesian national dress -
which actually belongs to Mama.
Ya...ya... the Kebaya is older than me.

I promise to myself next time I will go get a photographer
to take the photo of mine, and surely
I will dress up with my mini dress to show off my legs too, just like Mama.

Ok, I leave you now before you get sick of the narcissistic side of me.
Enjoy the 'narcissistic' side of you!
'Smile on my face'

Here is the link for others N:

Ref: Encarta Dictionary

Old

2009-04-21T00:32:00.004+08:00

Simply
want to
get back
to the good
old day

A [favorite] recycled