Memories that included my maternal grandmother!

 Here are two photos of memories from the past in 1996. My maternal grandmother was still alive! These two photos were passed around the family table at one family gathering by Cousin Christopher Tang.

New paint brushes!

Today I bought new paint brushes with various shaped bristles from an art and craft store. I tested the brushes with acrylic paints to see what effects each brush could make. By fluke, the experimentation turned out to be barrier reef themed. As a result, I called it 'Turquoise Barrier Reef'.

The 'Turquoise Barrier Reef' scene consists of corals, sponges, and anemones. Within the bottom right corner of the page jellyfishes enter the scene.

Turquoise Barrier Reef

An array of new paint brushes except for the third brush from left

Ten ripe Minibel tomatoes

Today I picked two handful of ten ripe Minibel tomatoes from my backyard. The tomatoes were in various sizes and shapes.

Ripe minibel tomatoes

Minibel tomatoes growing in the backyard

An array of my home grown Minibel tomatoes grows from a large planter pot within the backyard.

Tomatoes within a large planter pot

Three red Minibel tomatoes picked from my home grown tomato crop. I am going to have these for my lunch today!

Home grown tomatoes

Vegetables sowed from seeds

These are baby leaves of Bok Choy (Chinese Cabbage) growing in the backyard. They were germinated from seeds as well. Once these leaves have matured, I will be harvesting them to be cooked in stir fry dishes or noodle soups!

Bok Choy growing in soil

Since I eat spinach leaves almost everyday, I decided to grow it in the backyard. Here is a cluster of baby spinach leaf sprouts that had germinated from seeds. They are almost ready to be picked for making salads!

Spinach growing in soil

Chocolate mint herbs in mugs

Here are some chocolate mint herbs that I potted into plastic cups with some ventilation holes punctured to the bottom of the cup. I placed potted plastic cups into the coffee mugs that were bought from the op shop. I selected mint green and black coloured themed mugs to style. Potted chocolate mint herbs in mugs will make nice gifts for relatives and friends.

Mint herbs within mugs

More mint herbs in mugs

Pre-annual basil plants grown from stem cuttings

These are delicious perennial basil plants out of many that I grew from tiny stem cuttings of about 1cm in height when planted in soil. After a few weeks, these plants grew tall and voluminous to about 25cm to 30cm in height. I placed these plants into larger pots with a stake to support the middle branch of each plant to make plant look ornamental and decorative.

I am going to wait for these plants to grow even taller and more voluminous before giving them away as presents to relatives and friends.

Basil leaves are great for tossing into salad, making bolognese sauce, focaccia and pizza.

Perennial basil plants

Decorative presentation of chocolate mint herb plant

This pot of chocolate mint herbs were grown by stem cuttings. Plant became voluminous as leaves grew larger and lushes. The stems grew longer. I placed a wire frame at the back of the pot to clip stems of plant onto the stake. This made the plant look decorative.

A pot of mints on a glass table

Pot of mints

A Japanese mug, cherry blossoms, and sweetly scented aroma

Styled artificial red plum blossoms radiate from a mug by a window seal. The mug features cute Japanese dolls. By the side of the mug, an oil burners filled the room with a sweetly scented aroma. The mug was a lovely gift from Sharon, the wife of my cousin Christopher Tang.

Red plum blossoms within a mug