To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease;
For Summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells.
John Keats
background music: Sleepers, Wake by Bach
eversince i was taught Keat's Ode to Autumn during my undergrad years, i ve been fascinated by the glorious colourful objects such as flowers n wonderful smell of freshly baked bread. this is, to my belief, the way to enjoy life to the fullest. not to paint the town red or whatever colours u want (bcoz i think that kind of enjoyment is so superficial) but to enjoy things that connect u to ur soul, ur life, n to the Creator.i love going to the market, simply bcoz i love the abundance n the freshness of the produce. fat, plump tomatoes, n the reddest chillis, or the greenest kangkung, or encountering things u've never seen or tasted b4.the best of berangan bananas can be bought here, my mother doesnt like montels, n personally, i think they lack the robust flavour of berangan - in other words, montels r very bland.this is where u can choose ur own veggies n fruits, n to perfect the art of bargaining (which, i'm never good at. my mother is an expert in this). i buy my fruit supply at this particular stall, the man n his wife sell tiny but crispy african apples, fragrant plums (i LOVE the smell) n sweet seedless oranges.there r smells that make me appreciate life, n how blessed i am to be able to smell them. first of all, i love the smell of a local pink rose which emits the most wonderful fragrance, i just plucked one n put it on my bed.i dont know its name, i'm not sure whether it's Old Blush or something else. then there's the wonderful smell of butter n sugar when i'm making a cake. another wonderful n divine smell? the smell of chocolate cake as it is baking in the oven. and the smell of freshly baked bread, which fills the whole house. yes, this is the sweet smells of comfort. but there r also smells that whet ur appetite, a very robust taste that simply explodes in ur mouth - coriander leaves (daun ketumbar) which smells so wonderful n when u add some in tom yam or nasi beriyani, it gives a distinctive taste. limes n limau kesturi (i forgot its equivalent in english) that fresh smell n taste that'll perk u up, n chinese parsley (daun sup) which makes even the simples veggie soup or fried rice taste wonderful.my other favourite condiment which i can never live without is pepper. i prefer black pepper to white ones, bcoz black pepper is earthy n has more intense flavour than its white counterparts, n i prefer to grind my own to buying ground pepper.moral of the story? take time to enjoy life. life is to hectic, yes, and time is money, i know, (it is to me now, trying to save for the trip to aust/nz to attend lyana's convo in dec) but then... u'll be missing a lot if u dont stop to enjoy. remember the hare and the tortoise? i'll bet the tortoise learns a lot. he has time to think, to enjoy. in one of the entries for the virtual course i'm taking right now, the writer writes In reality, that is all that we have: the present moment.Live in the present moment . . . follow your spirit!
carpe diem!
