BACKyard VISIT - San Diego

TOday, from the kitchen window, the Holy SPIRIT within caused me to look OUTwards to FINALLY see these orchids in full bloom...was i SO engrossed in my head-STUFF that i never noticed these beauties of GRACE til now?

Mom Rose's Chinese greens...

A-bloomin' -- in GOD's perfect season...
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

  

Wild-growing tomatoes, captured and replanted...
(like Romans 11:17, 24)

Pretty in pink...
Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a quiet and gentle spirit, which is so precious to GOD. (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Chili plants -- just planted...

Annual showing off of colors...

  

Convenient clothes line for free dryer...
(Thank you, LORD, for our San Diego weather!)

Tomatoes -- may our generous Heavenly Father grow MUCH increase as the gardeners do their part in this partnership of sowing and reaping!
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:18)

GOD is abundant with fruits of mercy...
Who is a GOD like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. (Micah 7:18)

Mom's very own bagoong...

Rose's kalamansi tree -- she gardens in style!

Backyard footwear...
Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace...may the Holy SPIRIT open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel of CHRIST JESUS.
(Ephesians 6:15 and 19, paraphrased)

TAVEUNI "Backyard" -- BUSH FARM

Cooking bananas -- Vudi  -- can be boiled or fried, or eaten raw when ripe.

i don't know the name of this flower, but it has a strong nut-like fragrance and very common in the bush around Taveuni.

One of the boys of Naselesele, going off to his nearby farm.

Sour-sop fruit...tart, yet sweet when very ripe -- touted as having anti-cancer properties.

We usually pass by this giant mango tree on the way to the farm, checking the ground for fallen ripe mangoes.  When i'm with Vili, he will expertly throw sticks to bring down the fruits that are higher up in the branches or even climb up the tree to pick the fruit(s) himself.

Hawaiian pink papayas...

These are truly sweet when ripe!

Bushy indeedY is our bush farm!

"Pechay" or Chinese cabbage, and "Uvi" (a root vegetable) climbing up that branch.

Passion fruits, strung like CHRISTmas lights...

Everywhere my eyes land, i see GOD's hand -- such abundant provision!

Green, green green...in all shades!  Only our Creator can mix and match such subtleties in color and variety of design.

These mangoes are directly next to our house in Naselesele. This year, our mango tree is a late bloomer...kind of like me!

View from toilet window...

Alexio, with that O-so-delicious mango!

Even the butterfly knew which one was sweet and ripe -- ready to eat!

Rain-catcher, for those seasonal draughts...

Karolo and Vili, doing their best to make headway in this very bushy bush-farm!

Mika's horse...a great help to us when he carries four big bags of firewood.

Very delicate bloom, lasting only a few hours.As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
(Psalm 103:15, NKJV)

BACKYARD BUSH FARM

From the bush farm -- papayas are everywhere...almost every neighbor's backyard farm has a papaya tree, abundant with fruit!

Our produce -- French beans...always good for a quick stir-fry.

Capsicum (bell peppers) -- one of the plants that aren't overwhelmed by those little orange critters!

These pretty French beans are now producing abundant fruit...but picking them in the hot tropical sun is a "do-it-as-fast-as-i -can" job -- and still, i end up sweating up a storm!

Little Kani, posing with "Maia's capsicum" -- seeds mailed all the way from San Diego, now bearing fruit in Naselesele!

Searing heat and too much rain made it a short growing season for the cucumbers...but the French beans and tomatoes are doing well.

"Maia's cucumbers" -- short and fat...and delicious!

Typical farm scenics in Taveuni...

My backyard, closer to home...a view of the mango tree, treehouse and Ana's laundry from the house window...

Cooking up a lovo -- underground oven -- for what occasion, i've forgotten...au sa qase!

San Diego BACKYARD - Summer Visit

The sayote was a welcome sight to come home to -- Mom's and Uncle's summer garden is like a bit of Taveuni... green, green, green!

Traditional CHRISTmas colors of red and green -- displayed in summertime. The two gardeners harvest something almost every day... which ends up in Mom's cooking pot, and i get to be the blessed recipient of tasty Filipino dishes! Paksiw with veges, diningding, tinolang upo, pinakbet...

Being surrounded by all this (ampalaya and sayote vegetables; impatience, stargazer, spider plants) is like being immersed in a green cave...

Kalamansi is still bearing fruit... year-round it seems!

Not-so-spicy chiles... just right for me, but too tame for my Fijian and Mexican friends.

i just munch on these right off the vine... can't get any fresher!

Summer squash -- or upo/tabugaw, in Filipino -- great any way you cook them!

Uncle Ric's handiwork -- my favorite area in the garden, where i sometimes bring my breakfast, coffee, or lunch -- just absorbing the chlorophyll (hah!)...

Mom's watery pets... they rush to her whenever she comes around!

Priceless sight...

The gardeners -- Rosita and Ricardo -- whom GOD blessed with green thumbs.

Then the LORD GOD planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there He placed the man He had made. (Genesis 2:8) GOD -- the first and ultimate Gardener... and Creator of man.