Somewhere.................. over the rainbows.......
I love Eva Cassidy's "Over the Rainbow" rendition, kinda classic, melodious, soulful....
So before I continue my little photoblog on double rainbows that I get to witness in the heart of Melbourne last year's September (on the 26th September 2007, Wednesday to be exact), one fine spring evening, I'd like to invite you to click on the youtube videoclip of Eva Cassidy live performance as the musical background.
I love Eva Cassidy's "Over the Rainbow" rendition, kinda classic, melodious, soulful....
So before I continue my little photoblog on double rainbows that I get to witness in the heart of Melbourne last year's September (on the 26th September 2007, Wednesday to be exact), one fine spring evening, I'd like to invite you to click on the youtube videoclip of Eva Cassidy live performance as the musical background.
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I just finished the Chemeca2007 conference at Sofitel Melbourne, packed all my stuff, and still had some few hours to kill before I got into the shuttlebus all the way to Tullamarine Airport. I called the concierge and the porter came and collected my luggage and kept them all tagged at the concierge counter as soon as I checked out.
The weather was fine, not too cold, not too warm, little bit sunny and dry. There I was, making my way downtown, walking fast, faces passed into St.Kilda Street heading towards Rod Laver Arena, the Australian Open tennis grand slam stadium. It is like my second favourite grand slam arena next to Wimbledon ( London SW19). The New York's Flushing Meadows falls third follows by Paris' Roland Garros in the fourth place. Anyways, as I was walking down the street, I saw rainbows....ok that is so Mariah Carey's looney talk (pre-emancipation of mimi album), but yeah there it was, two beautiful rainbows, one to the left and another one stretched out its arch to the right of my path. I was mesmerized by this awesome phenomena, something I have never seen in my life before. Two rainbows side by side! That must be like another quirky australian thingy i thought. It's like seeing a kid's drawing or some funny abstract canvass painting but it was real. Never would i ever thought that rainbows can exist in double at the same time (technically speaking would be: simultaneous visualization).
#1. Sofitel Melbourne, the brownish tower, interlinked with the Telstra tower right behind the Herald Sun greyish silver tower from Exhibition Street view
I stood there, marvelling God's natural phenomenon that took place right before my eyes. I so much wished that I had a better digicam or a more sophisticated digicamcorder model that would let me shoot those scenes for as long as i was standing there. But nope, i was still using (and still am) my old faithful fuji FinePix E550 , 6 Megapixel digicam.
#2. Left view . The bottom stadium is the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) not far from Rod Laver Arena
#3. left view
#4. Still on the left view
#5. Fading rainbow on the left view
#6. Double rainbow : one to the left view and another one goes to the right view
#7. I'm still trying to capture the other twin/mirror image rainbow on the right view but the direct sunlight coming from my right side was so glaring
The last 2 pictures were not that sharp enough but if you look carefully, you will see the end points of each rainbow. The right one had to "penetrate" through the blanket of woolly looking cloud before it appeared in a more defined shape. However, what you have seen in the #6 and #7 pictures were just a small portion of what i saw as the sun shone brightly from the right view. Consequently, my camera could not get a good shot of the right rainbow. I probably did exclaim " what a beauoooody" in Steve Irwin's style, but I was glad I didnt say it out loud (on the pretext of displaying some aussie accent mockery)....and followed by "Subhanallah" (All glory to Allah), praise the lord!
It was almost dusk, the twilight zone that was. And i was there on the bridge, watching as the rainbows slowly ebbed away, fading into the sky as the night fell.
And not very long after that, I quickened my path towards the Rod Laver Arena. During that time, the grand slam tour has faced the final curtain as the final of the tour legs ended in early September 2007 in Flushing Meadows. Roger Federer won three grand slams and lost one to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros (and so does Pete Sampras, who has never had the opportunity of lifting the Roland Garros cup throughout his professional career).
As I wrote this, the Australian Open 2008 is now in day 5 which saw big names and former champions Amelie Mauresmo, Marat Safin and Andy Roddick threw in the towels as their battle have come to an end.
(Someday, I wish that I will be able to get my chance to watch the games L.I.V.E at Rod Laver Arena and especially Wimbledon. Angan-angan yang akan menjadi kenyataan inshallah)
It was almost dusk, the twilight zone that was. And i was there on the bridge, watching as the rainbows slowly ebbed away, fading into the sky as the night fell.
And not very long after that, I quickened my path towards the Rod Laver Arena. During that time, the grand slam tour has faced the final curtain as the final of the tour legs ended in early September 2007 in Flushing Meadows. Roger Federer won three grand slams and lost one to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros (and so does Pete Sampras, who has never had the opportunity of lifting the Roland Garros cup throughout his professional career).
As I wrote this, the Australian Open 2008 is now in day 5 which saw big names and former champions Amelie Mauresmo, Marat Safin and Andy Roddick threw in the towels as their battle have come to an end.
(Someday, I wish that I will be able to get my chance to watch the games L.I.V.E at Rod Laver Arena and especially Wimbledon. Angan-angan yang akan menjadi kenyataan inshallah)
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A little but totally ROTFLMAO videoclip: White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
8 comments:
Hi Manal, hello and greetings from London. Just saw your comment over at Zewt's and thought I'd check out your blog. You are in Aussie now? Cool. The rainbow shots are great, its just difficult to get good rainbow shots as the colours are so faint and ethereal!
Best regards, will pop by from time to time!
PS. Love Eva Cassidy too!
svllee,
Thanks for visiting by.
Naahh...i am very much in malaysia. That melbourne trip was last year to attend a conference there. But yeah, i've lived in london for quite some time and very much used to the city life there.
About Mawar, it was closed since early 2007 but i heard it planned to reopen somewhere end of last year. If it still didnt do that, then Nahar and Satay house will do. Malaysia hall canteen was closed for a few months mid of last year too, and i hope it shud be operating again by now.
On that rainbow shot, thanks for the compliment, and I shall be uploading another rainbow shot taken in sunway kayangan near shah alam later on. I have always loved rainbows even if they didnt stay there that long. It gives me that cheerful feelings.
Reminds me of my music class when I was young. I love rainbows. It is God's gift to us humans. I love putting my crystal earrings and when driving the refracted light creates little rainbows in the car.
Yes Manal I have found the blogging world:)) This is more interesting.
I still write occasionally to UKM's bulletin.
Madam Curi,
Whichever makes u happy and fine. Blogs pon ok ape....it feels closer and allows for more freedom of interactions between u and the readers like me.
Btw, I now ade some research proj with those "uncles" in FST under pusat sains kimia : Prof AY, Dr.JS and Prof.OH. They are cool geezers ,which reminds me of your other half :-)
Hello Manal, WOW! A double rainbow. I must say you are a good photographer.
Those are beautiful shots too. It portrays just the right warmth and of nature's or God's work of art.
Here in Toronto, we get to see rainbows often at Niagara Falls subject to the winds blowing the falling waters mists and water spray floating upwards...beautiful ones too. But don't remember seeing a double rainbow.
Here's hoping you have recovered from your hectic travels and meetings, Manal. You keep well, bila ada senang drop in for coffee and donuts, best regards, Lee.
Thanks Uncle Lee for your kind thoughts, and GONG XI FA CAI to u!
One day I'd like to go to niagara falls, the United States, Canada and more! never been to any of the Americas side.
Hi Manal, thanks for your interesting replies at my pondok. Have answered you. But check this out about your personality.
Don't you agree, in most of them. I think it does fit you, ha ha.
By the way, your profile pic is rather dark...maybe...you like to try out another picture of yourself, or ha ha, put a Dragon pic? For 2008? For change of luck or whatever? Lee.
Fire Dragons:
Fire reinforces many of the Dragon's traits, making this Dragon the most aggressive, demanding, outgoing, rightous, and competitive of the Dragons. The Fire Dragon is also rather impatient and has a quick temper. They can overgeneralize, jump to conclusions, be impossible to please, and be generally inconsiderate at times. Despite this, the Fire Dragon, bursting with energy, has a lot to offer. This dragon will make an excellent leader, provided they do not let their ego get in the way. Unfortunately, this dragon tends to use more force than is necessary to achieve their goals. But despite the Fire Dragon's faults, they are open and humane people with a deep concern for truth and justice. This Dragon can accomplish truly great things, and could be an inspiration to others if they manage to curb their more negative traits, and seek balance with their strengths.
hahaha....Uncle Lee....u evil (naughty stallion) orang lama...I know la u sudah makan garam longer than i had and so, I hereby accepting such a fire dragon description that are more or less befitting my own personality and traits.
I used to wear a silver dragon emblem pendant before, but if i were to be given another choice of wearing it again, i would rather it comes in diamond, platinum or maybe jade embossed/engraved on a gold pendant.
On that profile pic, naah...leave it as it is...coz if u wanna see more of me, u had to visit my blog. I cant be arsed on changing it for the timebeing, and usually only kak ruby perfected the art of profile picture mastery.
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