NATURE'S CURVES

Have you tried observing nature around you? Perhaps you are living in a rural area or even in an urban area, there's always going to be some little nature in the corner.

One thing that I realized as we went for a walk one afternoon and tried to photograph the small things around us, the simplest, common, non-extravagant surrounding is the presence of curves.

Nature indeed do not show anything linear. It goes to a curve here and there. The petals, blossom from a bud to a beauty, spreading its colored parts into splendor, its stamens displayed, and depending on if it is a female or a male one, this may grow and bear into a fruit due to a process called pollination.

The shrubs around us show nothing linear. From its root to the leaves and the fruit, perhaps not a fruit at all, maybe to other living creatures, it is their source of food. For us, it is a subject of photography, we may not know what's its purpose, its usage but the balance of nature knows pretty well what it can provide to the environment.

There plants which we do not like - their thorns hurt us, they may cause pain. Their spikes show small but it can greatly and severely bring unpleasant feelings.

I always tell that nature can teach us a lot of things and this one here sure has lessons to be learned. Some people in our lives can be like this one, it has spikes and thorns, these types of people may cause us pain, we must not focus on the negative thing that it may give, rather, we have to be extra careful with them. Live with extra caution, give them tender loving care, and soon, its thorns will fall off, giving a smooth branch, a useful shrub.

On the other hand, as we were on the way to the ricefields, a surprise came in our way. At first, it was just one dog, a white one. I always remember my niece whenever I see a dog, because she wants to take care of a puppy yet she can't have one because she is asthmatic.

Then my baby Matti just started saying "che, che", he always do that whenever he spots a dog nearby.

As we were drawing closer and closer, other white dogs popped on our way! There was just one, then it became two, then it became three! These dogs were somehow identical!

Oh, after a while, they became four! And they came very near us, smelling us, perhaps they know we bring no danger, just photographing them and I guess they felt they were safe and so they pose for a snap! Look at them, the front one did some pose but it was blurred out due to the aperture set on the camera, still, they look really stunning!

We came to the ricefield area, there's an irrigation, water flows here and goes into the rice paddies. The plants are now growing healthily, they are showing grains but not yet ready. The rainy season had given a way for them to grow well. This is a huge rice field area.

Our family knows the owners, they had set up some lines and some scarecrows around too, it is very important and necessary to do so, else, they might not be able to harvest the right amount of rice grains as birds may feast on them.

Still young and green, these plants will turn yellow, and the grains too! They are delightful to the eyes of the farmers for sure.

Now, nature had shown once more the curve that we see constantly in nature. The weight of the grains brings the stalk into a curve, it bends, when it ripens, it might break and during the harvesting process, they will be taken away using machines and it will be separated from its stalk.

But before the harvest, before everything else turns brown and yellow, the farmers would first pray for no storms to come. It is hard if the town is affected by a storm, the rice fields may be damaged, the stalks may bend and break, causing the grains to drown in the water, hopefully, this year, there's a good harvest.

Tropical trees benefit as well from the rainy season, they bear a lot of fruits and in this phase, they prepare for the upcoming summer which may happen in the next few months. But at this time, the trees look rather healthy too!

Look at these coconut trees, they are full of coconut fruits which are very healthy, they can be used in many ways. For some, they can pick up the young ones in which the flesh can be scraped out and made into desserts and salads.

The dried ones which are matured already can be used to get coconut milk from, some would harvest them and sundry the flesh, it can be made into copras, some would also make coconut virgin oils from them.

I can't enumerate them all but the coconut trees are considered the tree of life as it has benefits and uses from root to the tip of the leaves.

Here's a young one which dropped from the tree, Matti picked it up and then played with it until he attempted to bite it and we know it has a sour-like but unexplainable kind of taste so we decided to throw it away.

The view of the ricefields, the community beyond, and the hills of Guindulman. The hills showed their curves too.

It is time to go home, the sun is losing its power and the blue hour has come. We only need to walk a few steps, our house is just at the opposite side of the road.