My Name Is #Koel. I Am Female !!

Hi again

The best part of the day is in the morning. I always feel good. I don't mind anybody not wishing me a good morning though...

After a good night sleep you will be all charged up fresh and ready to go...oh really?

Mmmmm... I would go out and take a leisurely walk about the front yard of my house.

Enjoy the cool air and the light breeze .

Listen to the birds sound but be quick enough to hit the mosquito if they try to dive onto your skin.

Do some stretching.....

And a little bit of tai chi..for warming up

Usually I will continue my exercise with some dance routine if I don't feel like going for a swim. I would plug in some rumba cha cha or mambo music into my ears and ho there I go. I can go on and on and....its good exercise...but sometimes there is distraction....


Ho ho what are you...

Look like a reptile

Spots and Stripes

Red eye

I like mulberries

My place and no one else's

Mine my place

                              

I am female

My name is koel

Bye..

#Oriole the Yellow Bird Came Knocking

Hello

Cooking curry is my forte. I was born into a family where curry makes almost the everyday main dish. but lately I myself think the taste is not par excellence. Why was that.

Perhaps its the curry powder. May be not. Or may be my method because lately I try to do a shortcut. You know something like dumping and mixing everything inside the pot and cook without controlling the flame properly.

So do it the proper way

1. Heat the pot.
2. Put oil
3. heat oil (must)
4. Add in onions shallots garlic curry leaves halba campur and cumin fry to bring out the aroma.
5. Put in curry paste -- LOWER the flame. Cook until the oil comes out. This takes time. be patient, This is the step I think that can make or break the curry taste.(By this time the whole house should be smelling of curry)
6. Put in the tamarind juice-coconut milk mixture making sure ratio of tamarind juice is higher.
7. Put salt
8. Put fish lady fingers tomatoes and green chilies. Boil on moderate flame until just cook.
9. Sprinkle a little sugar..yes yes ..

Walla...

One day while I was cooking can't really remember whether it was curry or some other dish I noticed this outside my window



Usually I can hear its call but difficult to see because its hiding among the thick foliage of the gigantic rambutan tree on my neighbour's land.

It came onto a dukong branch just outside

Don't tell me it was the curry smell....

This is at the back window

hO  hOO

These photos were taken earlier on....                                                                     

                                                         

Such a beauty with pink lips beak black brow yellow plumage almost glowing

But always on the lookout ready to take a flight

Now gone so far away

That's all for now.


Bye..

Birding My Way

Hi

Bird watching is a great hobby but then it can be expensive if you are really serious about it. You need to have all the relevant equipment . Also you need to go places. How can you get to sight and photograph all those rare and exotic birds if you are just doing it only in your backyard.

Recreational activity is supposed to take away the stress but if it takes so much of your time and effort then you could become more stressed. It will be self-defeating.

As for me well I am doing it around my compound and sometimes in places I would normally go to anyway. If I happen to meet up with the birds I consider myself lucky. And if I can capture a good picture of the bird I would be more than happy. That's what birding is for me.

Nearby places I frequent…  

From this end to the other to and fro you can jog or just walk

Stop when you see a bird.

This place is where I captured the heron with the fanned out wings featured in my previous post

Peek through to see if there's any water birds...none..

Birds do not always appear

Mean while enjoy the sand..

Sometimes when they suddenly appear you are not prepared

sigh...














Occasionally we balik kampung..

Only doves come out ..others must be in the forest behind...














And now around my garden...

Once I saw a green snake here

This is what I mean, see my garden is so unkept
In the process of tidying it up




                                                                                                         
                                                                 

I hang the cage with some water inside... no bird go in for the water even on a hot dry day...
I don't mean to catch it but just to extend some kindness to them..

Once I had this tall cempaka tree with flowers and fruits that can attract birds

Chopped off ...against my wish

Being taken away...

Missed the sweet smelling flowers..

Missed the fruits..

Leaving me sad and angry..


Will be back ....with a happier story..

Personal Hygiene

At times I sit passively outside my kitchen to take a break from house work. The kitchen faces the side compound where my garden is.  It is so very unkept but birds like to come here anyway.

Though they are just common birds they are worth watching .

Quite often I notice the birds  cleaning  themselves. Usually after I water my garden they will come to do their cleaning.

First they show their happiness chirp chirping darting here and there.

On the gaharu tree 

Now landed on a hibiscus plant

Now starts the routine

Okeyh . . .

See you soon.....

#Kingfisher On My New Year Eve....

Since we are just a week into the new year I think it is not too late for today’s entry to feature my notes about my new year eve.

I wrote..

This is that time of the year. Today is the last day of this year. The eve of a new year. Whatever the day my life would mostly always is the same.

I am not affected by increasing age. I am not negative. My very pessimistic neighbour used to ask …. you still doing this..doing that…my answer… I am still in the swim of things….

I had an early breakfast the usual cup of Nescafe and a slice of buttered white bread. What else…

Today’s routine –morning, swim.

Checked all the swimming essentials..yes.

Not to forget, the camera.

It’s a 5- minute drive. The club pool is not that big. It has only 5 lanes so if 3 swimmers are already inside I would prefer to wait. Some swimmers like to slap hard on the water, their legs kick so strongly to propel themselves like motor boats. They create ripples, waves . I don’t like that. Let them finish then I will go in to do my 15 laps. Today only two swimmers were in there and one, the man whom I nicknamed the Olympic man was already floating on his back relaxing and cooling off, he had finished his laps.

What a nice feeling to be in the water. I achieved  my 15 laps..mix.. front crawl and breast stroke also the back stroke. I can do the butterfly but being at this age I think it would not do justice to my back. 

Felt so good and fresh after the swim.

The morning sun, the light breeze and falling leaves and out there the rippling sea - a beautiful picture, a happy ambience.

At the car park I could hear and see the birds,

Took some photos ...

Here we meet again 

The pictures are blurred because they were taken through the windscreen. ….

I came out from the car to get a clearer view. But they were gone.

Oh there ....

The partner was on a different  branch, they were playing chasing each other

How very nice if I could be there longer and be free to see and stare and feel what’s around and not be bothered by other things that can clutter my thoughts.

As usual….

At 5 went to the tennis court, expecting some hard core tennis friends would also be there early (at 5 pm we consider early because most are scared of the sun) . I waited but  no one came. No one around except one club worker doing some chores . O o o… the club will close at six.  There would be a party tonight. New year party. It happens every year and i still don't know?

The quietness of the court ground  evoked some kind of nostalgic feeling ...and I have always been thinking that I am not affected by the coming of the new year ....its just another day ...but I am not. Hmmm  are my tennis friends going for the party tonight ? Good for them to be able to be merry and to enjoy despite their age. Mingling among  friends amidst  a  little  music  singing and dancing while waiting for the countdown.

Me? No no no .

Born into a culture of too many don’ts I got to accept this mundane life. 

Would you?