Two

There are two gateways
To enter one gallery
Full of works of art.

β€”β€”

my left side of face is sadder, bitter and negative with which i’ve been made more and more accepting to unwelcoming sides of life πŸ’•

my right is happier, sweeter and optimistic that has persuaded me to be more and more letting go of what is not working after some good deed πŸ’•

whatever unpleasant and pleasant things others say about me, i feel complete with some gap that might not need to be bridged simply to show that imperfection is a perfect gift in life πŸ’•

Note: the picture at the bottom is batik scarf designed by Dudung Aliesyahbana, a batik maestro from Pekalongan, Central Java

Music Is Curing

Regulated noise
Tidies up moods and work pace.
Music is curing.

β€”β€”

no worry, beloved β€” what’s messy can be tidied up with the right tempo and pitch in music πŸ’•

loving this sweetheart! πŸ’•

Hatred Was Love

Hatred, Beloved
Never a choice; it is loveβ€”
Once got hurt then lost.

(haiku at lunch break)

β€”β€”

osho, the king in shogi (Japanese chess)

About shogi the Japanese chess

Dark Sky

Dark sky reveals stars
That gleam sending signs of life
That glows silently.

β€”β€”

rawon aka dark soup that has become the most delivious soup on earth

i left it in the fridge to fly back to Indonesia on Jul 30 and today arriving home my first after unpacking was heating it up for my lunch and dinner πŸ’•

amazingly yummy!

Rawon, the most delicious soup on earth

Land

A pair of strong wings
Bring me to a land of thoughts
Where hope shines the light.

β€”β€”

landed home after burying hope to grow with flowers and spreading love with billowing incense smoke

Mosquito

Mosquito’s buzzing,
Scarier than it’s biting
Ears though can’t complain.

β€”β€”

when i said to my friends that i wanted this, they chorused high toned answer β€œno, it is not Japan, with this type of water garden, you’ll be mosquitos’ daily party here!” 😁

View Finder

The light that is in,
The angle that frames, both play
To find the best view.

β€”β€”

About Tugu Yogyakarta

photo taken while my friend was driving fast to avoid some motorbikes; i’ve missed the opportunity of taking its picture many times, this time no although not from a nice point of view

Dripping

This heart is leaking.
Droplets of love are dripping,
Fertilising life.

β€”β€”

About wedang uwuh

wedang uwuh, a favourite beverage in breezy night of Jogja

inside wedang uwuh

Bloom

This heart blooms and blooms
Leaving quiet budding season,
Emerging from mud.

β€”β€”

One of my friends complained why all my poems are about love, like I am either falling in love or broken hearted day by day.

After some time of chat and juice against wine glasses that friend answered one’s own question.

β€œYa! Life is about loving: smoothly or broken-heartedly. Now I know what you mean. I thought all were about romance! Ahhh!”

I tried a sip of wine from that friend’s glass.

β€œYou’ll get drunk more at home and write more love poems!” Said that friend laughing.

β€œYes, I won’t give up this love whatever interpretation is thrown about me to me. I am thankful enough to have very few true friends who understand.”

Salaam.

true love is too tasteless for those weighing it with money; yet too complex for those weighing it with faith β€” for those not knowing the true secrets behind words, love is just a marriage between distrust and fear hidden in sparkling plastic πŸ™ƒ i know love is still beautiful whether it is well understood or misunderstood πŸ’•

Light Steps

There are steps prancing
On a line between two worlds
Within and without.
Lotus shows celebration,
Mud purification.

β€”β€”

Twitter is getting louder and louder before election in Indonesia. Instagram is getting more and more showy with the holidays and parties coming.

I am happier not too much engaged with those two; Twitter is for me to keep abreast with political issues that help me make decision whom to vote in 2024 (I quit abstention this time after for the rest of my life) and Instagram is to tag and be tagged by family and friends. I am now even happier to have stopped stalking unnecessary accounts that made me scrolling and searching to gain nothing but sighs and shivers.

Only WordPress can hug me consistently warmly. Only WordPress can make me realise I have words to travel light, imagination to travel far, values and wisdom to travel with caution and good will to keep moving.

I am safe here.

πŸ’•

how warm and jazzy that place was; see you again, Jazz Gunung Bromo next year! I am happy to be part of your warmth and jazz! πŸ™πŸΌ

Caution

Caution, Beloved
Walking down the hill with care.
Climbing hasn’t ended.

β€”β€”

going downstairs is oftentimes more risky than upstairs β€” my father’s last words to me before he died was β€œβ€¦. be cautious”

Colours in The Dark

I first saw his works in Amsterdam and Paris in 2017 β€” stunning and extraordinary! So when β€œVan Gogh: The Immersive Experience” came to Singapore, I didn’t think twice to go.

While there was so much to enjoy, the huge room where people can just relax within the expo before continuing their look-around or after doing it was my favourite.

This video was of my first entry to the room. After enjoying the Van Gogh VR experience, I went back there to enjoy the time before finally left the expo: children playing, adults chatting, some sleeping, even a lady dancing. There was serenity in this dark room full of Van Gogh’s colours virtually projected to the walls by technology.

I am blessed to be there.

Thank you!

Salam.

🐣

Home

Evening awaits
Trippers who miss home. Hurry.
Go home happily.

β€”β€”

good evening, commuters β€” go home happily πŸ’•

never bored with this angle; whatever weather, whatever colour β€” i love to be home πŸ’•

Now Is Calling Me

Written on a board
Dreams as deep as memoriesβ€”
Now is calling me.

β€”β€”

i wish to write this in one ema for JLPT N5 πŸ˜‚ someday 🐣 yet i don’t want to lose my today, the best day i have every day πŸ’•

Day Out

It’s one fun day out
When colours race with the light
Depicting good moods.

β€”β€”

life is a gambling for those betting against it

β™₯️ weekend well spent

πŸ’• much to learn in silent colours

sunflowers β™₯️

what do you see?

Van Gogh’s bedroom in the asylum

i brought this home together with some souvenirs πŸ’

Trace of Power

Power that is left
Tells outer layers of truth
That might not be true.

β€”β€”

And it doesn’t matter as truth might have millions of layers depending on number of thoughts dissecting their stories.

Life is unlimited.

πŸ’•

Okayama Castle – front view

Okayama Castle – back view

super fragrant flower in Karokuen Garden

Power

The main cable’s cut,
Power surge’s down. Light’s off.
Ruin of pride sprawlingβ€”

β€”β€”

Mori Tadamasa β€” the owner of Tsuyama Castle

not taking high IQ to learn that many if not all the daimyos and above were human beings thirsty of power

human beings are both individual and social, original and political, psychological and cultural, good and evil; let life be fair at the right time and the right place to me β€” i just want to be humane and nothing else 😊 avoiding people with intrigues is paramount even if they are the ones that i love the most 😘

life of non aristocratic is more interesting to me where politic is just about how to stay in self control with some occasional sparks of witty explosions and to gracefully stabilise the society β™₯️

rebuilt part of Tsuyama Castle’s Bitchu Yagura (viewed from not so nice a point) β€” you don’t have to look pretty or grand all the time, dear Castle 😍

when i saw the high stone walls of this castle, i could imagine how it was strongly fortified

just with 6 ruins of hundreds of castles in Japan I visited (Asahi-san has visited 75 and counting) and it is already clear to me what kind of culture this nation was built upon and what type of aristocratic people started the build β€” all nations are blessed in different ways

this is how beautiful Tsuyama Castle scenery was in one sakura season (foto borrowed from tsuyama.kokosil.net) β€” i’m blessed enough to see it in Jun β™₯️

thank you, Tsuyama πŸ™πŸΌ

Note: Castle is open from 8:40am to 7pm Japan time

Green and Greener

It’s green grass back home,
Her grass looks greener, sweeter
Though. Is it the sun?

β€”β€”

There is a proverb in Indonesian β€œrumput tetangga selalu kelihatan lebih hijauβ€œ that literally means neighbours’ grass always looks greener. And yes, that’s always what I feel in many countries outside Indonesia and Singapore yet at the same time I miss to be home in either Indonesia or Singapore where sun is both indulging and heating.

I am truly β€œgreen-eyed” some time. And I so much miss home.

πŸ§‘β€πŸŽ€

dancing orange

orange in joy

yellow having a chat

it’s just sweet!

inspiration for the garden right in front of my bedroom; right size to copy β€” thank you!

Love Is Not Leaving

Love is not leaving.
Kernel then seedling then tree;
Stays yet multipliesβ€”

β€”β€”

After some journey and some work finally dinner was here now and it was an unforgettable one.

This long dragged day is nothing compared to today’s dinner. A dinner accompanied by a poem.

Yes my life is full of flower.

Thanks for the blessings!

Salaam.

β™₯️

sure it is about flowers β€” thanks much! i feel a tiny love bouncing and getting bigger and bigger in my heart when eating

they put it under my green tea; what a sweet creativity this restaurant demonstrates β€” will never forget this!

Nodding Orchids

Those nodding orchids
Complying with breeze flow hum,
Dance then fly away.

β€”β€”

life is just like that β™₯️

found the ID: Brassavola Great Egret

the other one finally bloomed yesterday, both dancing together since then

the slowest to bloom among the gang yet the most gracefully dancing

Today

Celebrate today
β€˜Coz there won’t be tomorrow
Everyday’s today.

β€”β€”

Weekend is packing and doing household chores while enjoying rhythm of the rain.

β™₯️

some for today with grapes before going out after my success with laundry and this lovely jadah

voila! i will bring some for my next week biz trip β™₯️ we call it JADAH or TETEL or ULI

steam for about 30 min, 45 min max if softer texture is preferred β€” while it is hot, pound it slowly until it becomes cake

add grated coconut

up to this consistency

boil it with coconut milk added, salt is optional based on taste preferred

glutinous rice soaked in water for at least 30 min

Blue on Green

Look! It’s blue on green
Burning spirit to trueness
Of living simple.

β€”β€”

I love the rice field sprawling along the train track in Japan. It brings feel of peace at the same time reminding me that there are still those who are willing to live as farmers even (according to my Japanese friends) with not so high income.

God bless farmers without whom we won’t live.

Salaam.

irrigation that travels like blood in body

the clouds that travel by the wind like dream in mind

Transit

Life’s a swift transit
Where tripper’s redirected
To where home resides.

β€”β€”

before going home i made myself a rush to visit this three-tier turret of Takada Castle

behind the pink

behind the white

behind the purple

and right in front of it

Life

The price of good life:
A cluster that can grow wild
On the grey tree bark?

β€”β€”

which is more precious? bark of the tree or the fungi growing happy? are they mutually enriching each other?