Eggs and Eggs

 Have fresh hens eggs been over commercialised?

Whether its grain fed, free range, cage laid, small or big size - it may be useful to hark back to basics. Some of us are still fortunate to get them from the chicken coop, while others only see them only im refrigerated displays.

What do we use the eggs for? We get them as omelettes or as runny add ons for burgers in cafes. We make Onsen eggs to accompany our Ramen or use them in making baked cakes. I love my soft boils to add to my savoury oats.

Eggs can be hard boiled and marinated to serve them inside steamed Baos or in South Indian curry puffs. Thai stir fries like Pad See Ew and Cantonese Wat Tan Hor Fun have yolk and whites lightly cooked over the noodles.

My photo shows 700 gram fresh eggs for a dozen costing AUD 3.33 per tray.

#imageke

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Pottering Around My Garden

 

As the warmer season arrives in the Southern Hemisphere, I love to do the garden tasks where possible just after the sun rises in spring and summer.

Watering, weed removal, culling shrubs, fertilising, clearing unwanted growth around the desired plants, lawn mowing, shaping plants.

Removing cobwebs outdoors from eaves of the roof and pergola.  Broom sweeping the courtyard.  Washing down the fence.  Making sure no drainage blockages in the manholes.

Then there is the barbeque.

The air can still be perfect, without the impending humidity.    The blooms may look half asleep or not fully themselves, but I can understand.    The flora need moisture, perhaps watering them after dawn makes more sense than when they are straining under the full blast of the sun at noon.

I feel the freedom to dispose of clutter, whether unwelcome growth in old pots, invaders surreptitiously embedding themselves under otherwise decent growth.   Freeing up the space also gives me a sense of releasing good Chi as opposed to negative vibes.  Cutting up dried roots, leaves and other unwanted growth is like freeing up the burden on each plant.

I also observe the progressive stages of how buds transform to flowers and fruits.
Minute beginnings of reproduction, they catch my eye and arouse my nostrils.   The care and detail the plant makes effort with impresses me.   Pollinators help the process, miniature petals are formed and then come the start of little stalks.  

#yongkevthoughts

The Life Force in Old Things

The Japanese and some south east Asians believe even non animate things have a spiritual presence.  I generally refer to it as a lifeforce.   Antiques and non antiques can absorb the influence of past human individual or groups who used such objects, especially when they use it on a regular basis, intimately or did develop a fondness with a specific tool, utlity, furniture or ornament.

Objects can remind the human heart or memory of various degrees of experience.  Such inanimate objects, still as they seem, are viewed by some as witness sentinels to happy events, arguments, upsetting differences or significant moments.

Whether such vibes are benign, positive or otherwise, overall we humans develop a respect for such crafted things, whether metal, wood, paper or fabric.

When we walk into a room laden with old things, it is more than aesthetic presence we feel.  The visual impression may strike us first in design and layout, but we also can be sensitive to the feel of their surfaces, the sounds of opening and closing drawers, the changing of colour at sunrise or at noon and the working of tools.

Some of us can sense the love of previous owners for the furniture or sculpture.  How certain objects have been polished, dusted, admired, moved or caressed can exude from its appearance.

Traders may
emphasis on the financial value of so called old things and collections,  rather than what is referred to above.  Values traded by collectors are saddled with history, fact, legends and hype. Rarity and upkeep loom large as to how prices are set and sold.

Reusing old things can be environmentally friendly. When an abode is to be demolished, there can be interesting salvages of door frames, carved windows, floor tiles, screens, floor boards and more.  Such items taken from soon to be destructed houses can then take a separate and secondary life of their own.

It is truly in what is in the eye of the beholder for so called things.  And may I add, the purpose for such items going forward in the future.

If they are decided to be of no future use or benefit, they can be dumped on the street side once the human owner passes away - they become fodder for landfill and forgotten burial.

I reckon each of us having or keeping such old things must take the responsibility to decide letting it go or preserve their use when we are still alive.   Once such items become the responsibility of third parties, the sentiment attached to such objects are mostly lost and forgetten.

Is there any difference in how we view objects landing in a polished glass display at a musuem or gallery - or gathering dust in a unkempt antiques shop?

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