C h r o n i c l e s ...

Peter Paul Rubens

Wikipedia Link
Peter Paul Rubens

posted by Victor Lai @ 12:40 PM 0 comments

Baby Hipo - A Real Event

NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP.

"After it was swept and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures of God, Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together.

posted by Victor Lai @ 1:29 PM 0 comments

"I really don't know clouds at all...."

“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high over vales and hills…”


The opening line to one of Wordsworth’s poems has been so strongly etched in my mind that decades after dissecting it in Sec.4, it leaps into my mind whenever I see clouds either in sky or on print. However, it is remembered but for the wrong reason.

It was a particularly difficult year for us offering English Literature as a subject at ‘O’ level and some students quickly jumped ship when the syllabus proved too daunting. Imagine having to “study” works of Thomas Hardy, Shakespeare, John Keats and William Wordsworth at the beginning of the fourth year of secondary school when you don't really have a firm grasp of the English language yet.

Coming back to remembering it for the wrong reason…. - if you are anything like me, you'll vaguely recall phrases like 'over vales and hills', what remains of the poem after it has long left your memory is the image of a lonely soul wandering aimlessly over a desolate landscape. But wait a minute. This memory fragment is flawed. Read in context, the author of the poem has an entirely different and happier message for the reader.

Wordsworth drew inspiration for “The Daffodils” when he and his sister chanced upon an open field of the flower. He compares their beauty and abundance to that of the heavenly stars. The beauty of a lake nearby, despite it sparkling waves, is no match for the brilliance of yellow “dancing in the breeze”. So choose to remember the daffodils! Doris Day did, ‘cos even the daffodils could hear her singing Secret Love in Calamity Jane.

The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Somehow, this particular segment from a Joni Mitchell' song lyrics also remains etched in my memory. Hence this article ends as it begins - 'I really don't know clouds at all.'

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall.
I really don't know clouds at all.

Hear song by Judy Collins,

posted by Victor Lai @ 11:26 PM 0 comments

Vincent van Gogh

Photo and text credit: Wikepedia


Irises is a painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It was one of the first he did while he was at the asylum at Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, n the last year before his death in 1890..

It was painted before his first attack at the asylum. There is a lack of the high tension which is seen in his later works. He called the painting "the lightning conductor for my illness", because he felt that he could keep himself from going insane by continuing to paint.

The painting was influenced by Japanese ukiy-e woodblock prints, like many of his works and those by other artists of the time. The similarities occur with strong outlines, unusual angles, including close-up views and also flattish local colour (not modelled according to the fall of light).

He considered this painting a study, which is probably why there are no known drawings for it, although Theo, Van Gogh's brother, thought better of it and quickly submitted it to the annual exhibition of the Societe des Artietes Independants in September 1889, together with Starry Night over the Rhone. He wrote to Vincent of the exhibition: "[It] strikes the eye from afar. The Irises are a beautiful study full of air and life."

Ownership history:

Its first owner was the French art critic and anarchist Octave Mirbeau, who was also one of Van Gogh's first supporters : he paid 300 francs for it...

In 1987, it became the most expensive painting ever sold, setting a record which stood for two and a half years, when it was sold for AUS$54,000,000 to Alan Bond, but he did not have enough money to pay for it and it had to be re-sold. Irises is currently (as of 2006) sixth on the inflation-adjusted list of most expensive paintings ever sold, and in tenth place if the effects of inflation are ignored.

I see Irises as a reflection of the psychological state of the artist’s mind. The composition shows greens and purples highly sumptuous against the rich ochre of the ground. The suffocating intensity of the flowers closes in on a lone bloom. Stifled, it reaches in vain for the sky which the canvas has excluded and the white petals wither. For such is the parallelism in the artist's life.

It was at the asylum that the tortured and impassioned genius killed himself, at age 37, from a single gunshot wound on a torrid July afternoon. Fame and fortune came to him 100 years late. He said:

If I shall be any good later on,
than I am some good now,
for corn is corn,
even if some people from the city take it for grass at first.

The astonishing sale of Irises propels van Gogh into one of the most sought-after modern artists who signed himself simply: Vincent.

Kirk Douglas played the role of Vincent in “Lust For Life”.

click pic to enlarge:

“All I see when I look at your paintings is just that you paint too fast”.

The sunflower-painter snapped “You look too fast and you talk too fast!”

"Starry starry night" or "Vincent" is a tribute to the artist by Don McLean.

posted by Victor Lai @ 10:58 PM 0 comments

"Two Choices"

I thought it was ironic that I should be reading within the same day the subject of physical disability, firstly as an incident reported in the Sunday Times, and secondly, through an email received. However, they are not referring to the same incident.

At VivoCity, a confectionary store’s policy disallowing the use of wheelchairs within their outlet upset shoppers. It was discrimination against the physically handicapped, said those interviewed.

As for the email account, I am reminded of Albert Schweitzer's altruism encompassed in his words – “Reverence for Life”.

Two Choices:

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward
May your day be a Shay Day.

"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people." - Abraham Joshua Heschel

posted by Victor Lai @ 4:44 PM 0 comments