asakiyume | May Day in the marsh

asakiyume

This is a secret world

Where you can find marsh marigolds, tussock sedge, and skunk cabbage

I went for a brief walk here with Wakanomori. Birds came and talked to us at eye level, little frogs jumped into the water. It was lovely.

-------

In other news, I dreamed of a tree with a growth habit and leaves like a black locust, but a trunk and branches that were segmented like bamboo, and smooth green like bamboo, only the joints, instead of being flush with the surface and pale colored, were BLACK and stood out from the surface as if they were arm rings or bangles that the trunk and branches were wearing. In my dream I stroked the smooth surface of the trunk and branches and the smooth, raised black joints and thought, What a remarkable tree--I have to look up what it is.

But of course it was a dream. It doesn't exist :(

However, when I searched--just in case--"black jointed bamboo," I discovered a type of black bamboo (but with pale joints) called Bambusa lako... Timor black bamboo. TIMOR.

It's very beautiful.

Also, I finished translating my Timorese acquaintance's story, and we sent it to Strange Horizons. Hopefully they accept it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

osprey_archer

That black bamboo is magnificent.

I hope Strange Horizons accepts the translated story!

From:

asakiyume

Isn't it? But I still wish there was in real life a tree that had green smooth bark and circular, black, protruding rings at intervals along the length of its trunk and boughs.

And thanks! *fingers crossed*

From:

pjthompson

It is quite beautiful!

From:

asakiyume

Yes ^_^

I love it, and I didn't know it existed before today.

From:

maplemood

That dream tree sounds beautiful! Best of luck on the story. :)

From:

asakiyume

Maybe I'll try to draw the tree... I kind of wonder if there really is a tree like it out there somewhere, and my internet search terms just aren't good enough to find it.

(And thank you for the good wishes on the story!)

Edited Date: 2022-05-02 02:49 am (UTC)

From:

sovay

Maybe I'll try to draw the tree...

Please!

From:

asakiyume

I was going to do it for this post, but then time got away from me. I hope I can do it tomorrow...

From:

wayfaringwordhack

I feel energized just wandering through your Photo-Woods with you.

Please do draw the dream tree. Your description is so evocative. <3

I hope the story gets accepted and published; that would be such an awesome ending to this endeavor. But even if it doesn't, just think of where both you and the author are now, the things you have accomplished and learned. :D

From:

sartorias

Black bamboo is so dramatic!

I love the secret world.

Good luck with the story!

From:

asakiyume

Thank you--and I'm glad you like the secret world <3

From:

sovay

May Day in the marsh

It's beautiful. Thank you.

The bamboo is extraordinary. Good luck at Strange Horizons!

From:

asakiyume

You're very welcome!

It *is* extraordinary. I didn't see any when I was over there, so maybe it grows in other parts of the island.

And thank you for the good wishes. Fingers crossed.

From:

sovay

I didn't see any when I was over there, so maybe it grows in other parts of the island.

It looks as though there should be stories about it, so I hope there are.

From:

asakiyume

It does seem like there should be!

From:

ellenmillion

So beautiful!

From:

asakiyume

It was a good thing to do on the first of May (and yes, that black bamboo too--so beautiful!)

From:

wayfaringwordhack

Gorgeous bamboo.

I think I have mentioned this long, long ago, but there is this tiny stand of bamboo* just outside of Hell-Bourg** on Reunion Island that I long to go back and photograph because all of my photos were lost when our hard drive was stolen. Maybe someday... But knowing all the places there are to visit in this world, I don't know that we will ever make it back to that wondrous place.

________
* It was a large green type of bamboo, but the stems (about 4 inches in diameter) were so many different pastel colors.

**and while there I would try to recapture the beautiful, atmospheric photos I had taken of the cemetery.

Edited Date: 2022-05-02 05:06 am (UTC)

From:

asakiyume

No, you never have mentioned that bamboo to me! (Or if you did, my faulty brain has let it slip.) That sounds really lovely! In fact, I might have to google "multicolored bamboo" + Reunion to see if I can find a picture.

Once Wakanomori had a laptop stolen, and he lost so many photos that way... it was devastating, so I really empathize with your losing your hard drive.

From:

wayfaringwordhack

I wouldn't swear by it--my memory separated by a good 13 yrs or so from the actual sighting--but it resembled this, only with bigger stems: https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/221686/

From:

asakiyume

Ooooh, *very* pretty!

From:

anna_wing

If you are ever in Singapore, possibly en route to Dili, there is a little stand of it in the Singapore Botanic Garden.

Edited Date: 2022-05-02 07:15 am (UTC)

From:

asakiyume

I would really like to visit Singapore in its own right one day! I have an editing client who's based there (though she's just won a fellowship to come to the United States for a year--but she'll be back there after that).

From:

wayfaringwordhack

This is a lovely garden! Spent a lovely afternoon there.

*ETA* Obviously thought it a "lovely" experience since my vocabulary is so unapologetically unvaried on that point. ;)

Edited Date: 2022-05-02 01:00 pm (UTC)

From:

cmcmck

Reminds me of places not far from here! :o)

From:

asakiyume

I bet you know all the wonderful wetlands ^_^

From:

mallorys_camera

Pretty, pretty secret place.

Fingers crossed for the story! 😀

From:

asakiyume

Thank you for the fingers crossed! We'll see. I could understand their rejecting it as it's really more of a folktale? But there's just so little literature of any sort by Timorese people in English, and folktales are great progenitors for speculative fiction. Come on, Strange Horizons, say yes!

From:

amaebi

Wow, that bamboo is staggering!

And I hold my thumbs for the submission!

Have you looked at horsetails at all?

From:

asakiyume

Horsetails are just starting to show themselves! I noticed some on our walk.

Edited (wanted to change the icon ^_^) Date: 2022-05-02 03:41 pm (UTC)

From:

amaebi

Lovely! I miss horsetails! But I was wondering whether your dream-bamboo might be a sort of horsetail?

From:

asakiyume

The visual effect was very different, but maybe horsetails' biological architecture contributed. It really was more the effect of a sculpture, but alive. The rings were very smooth. I really will have to draw it...