In Memory of H

Yesterday there was a sad news from the north. A friend, H has passed.

H . . .she passed . . . she had TB and it led to septicemia was the message  So brief. Quite a shock.

How she could get exposed. Was she not treated before it became so bad. In modern times like this. A disease that is treatable. Was she not aware. Why had it gone into complication. Oh so many questions whirling in my head.

And she was a medical staff all her working life before retirement.

Probably she was exposed to the bacteria earlier and was ok then since she was young and strong and her immune system could contain the disease. And when she grew old and weak the thing overwhelmed her system. I don't know. I really feel sorry for her.

I remember those days. She was quite close to me not only we studied together we also stayed together. We were house mates during the earlier part of our training. We shared things and stories and we gave moral support to each other for times were hard what with the meagre allowances we were paid. We were then young and inexperienced and just out from the our kampungs.

There was one time when we were on the verge of hunger. Not just ordinary hunger if I say famine that might be extreme. There was a flood. For a few days we could not get food and if there ever was they were so expensive. No bread no biscuit nothing. The rice container was empty except for some grains lining the bottom.

H  scrapped the bottom and cooked what little rice we had. And without me knowing  she had been keeping things for emergency! When she opened the package I was so relieved. At least there was something for us to eat. It was dried mushroom. Oh not the type you get in the supermarket nowadays. The mushroom was from the kampung small flat thin ones and still had rotten wood/bark stuck to them.

And we were to eat that mushrooms with the rice. Wait. She got it cleaned? I don't really remember . How she got it fried? Ah yes we scraped from the bottom of the margarine can.

Lucky our stove still had karosene. Yes we used karosene stove at that time. The landlady provided only that kind of stove. Circa 1971. A long time ago.

We ate hungrily. The meal we had that day was the best. The one to be remembered. Whenever I see the cendawan kukur in the market I remember my friend H.

And now she is no more here.

May Allah bless her soul.

Take care . . .

Bye . . .

Singing n Dancing n Exercising

Hello again

I like music and songs and enjoy singing and humming along whenever I hear songs that are familiar. When young I always thought I could sing. But the shyness got me to nowhere. Only in the school choir heheh. And now I am too old for anything hmm.

My radio is seldom on now because nowadays some people have issues with  music thus listening to it is supposed not to be encouraged. So to appease them I would just sing in my heart and sometimes insert the earphones to my ears and have my own little concert.

I  joined friends for karaoke sessions a few times before. Oh my, how we belted out the numbers with all our hearts. Some perhaps wanted to give vent to their frustrations. Don't care how our old voices sound. Put the blame on the microphones ha haa. I like those moments when we ladies can forget home and housework for a while and have some fun together. Is that wrong?

Music and songs can do wonders. Try exercise without music. You will stop in a short while and don't feel like continuing.

Thats why I took up line dancing.

I started by joining the classes but found it difficult to follow may be I was a little dumb . Later I stop going to the class and learn on my own through the videos. Studied all the basics and the theory and soon I was able to read the step sheets and able to translate it into action. I don't say the whole thing was easy. After nearly half a year I was confident enough to invite friends to join me and we danced and exercised together for a few years.

Now we have separated due to everybody having their own commitments. As for me I am torn between the loves for the different hobbies. Instructing the line dance group three times a week took a lot of my time and I had to put a lot of efforts learning new steps and practising before I could present perfectly to the class. Leading and counting and correcting the moves seeped out a lot of energy. However I enjoyed those four years.

Of course I do not quit line dance completely. It is a very good form of exercise . Doing it alone is always good you can choose the type of music you like. Dance and sweat while singing along and enjoying yourself.

I like such music and songs, lite n easy . . .


We also get music from the birds . . .

That's it my entry for this time hope you have enjoyed reading.

Cheers . . .

Bye . . .

Not At Home

Hello everyone

My stay away from home just ended and now I am back in my "rural"  home. Well it is nice to be back where my heart really is. Not saying that my stay in the other home was not nice. It was nice. I was quite happy there if not for me being under the weather.

When you are sick you got to sit around in the house. It would be so boring if not for this

Keep on watching even if you don't know how the game is played ha haa

Score?

My plan to go do a little exploration did not happen due to the flu. When I got better unfortunately the botanical garden was closed. I guess it was their maintenance day. So next time. Ahh . . .  there's so many next time already. The first time I went there it was many years ago before we bought the house in the neighbouring prescint. Now it is so near yet . . .

So I just went for walks around the neighbourhood. This location is supposed to be urban but I see forest and trees all around just like how it is in the kampung. In the morning I could see birds in flight in twos and threes doing their air show . . .

Fringing the residential area are the yet to be developed land. Trees and bushes and lalangs occupy the vacant spaces. Seen some birds there. A walking bird, I think it was a waterhen, ran into hiding when I moved in. Missed the bird but there was something else .

See what I found . . . homes belonging to "somebody"

Two nests there

Dangling from the high branch

This is the one furthur in hung from a low branch

A closer look . . .unique

Peep in . . . hoi . . . no one inside?

These nests were woven by the burung tempua. Or known as the weaver bird if I am not mistaken. Small birds compared to the big nest. Hmm like most of us who like to have a big house. But the birds built their own unique home.

Hope those who come across these beautiful nests do not touch it. Some people may want to adorn their gardens with these nests.

kalau tidak berada ada 

masakan tempua bersarang rendah    - one famous old proverb.

Wish you enjoyed reading this post.

Till next entry. . .

Bye . . .

Seeking Relief

Hello everyone

Today I really don't feel like doing anything as I have yet to recover fully from this flu. Sit in front of the tv and watch whatever comes on the screen. Don't really can enjoy the programs because I keep going to the wash basin to clear the throat. This cough seems too slow to go off. What more the fruit season is in now. Not that I have indulged in the durian or the rambutans that much but cannot stop myself from tasting that one dukong fruit which triggered the cough. Don't know what can stop this persistent cough. I am losing patience.

I am away from home now resting in another place which also could be referred to as home. But of course I am away from the club where I use to go for swimming and tennis. I sure miss both. But then its better for me to get well first before going back for the sports. So here I sit and try to write. Ideas don't come easy . . . sigh . . . and the coughs do not spark ideas . . .

I think tomorrow I must make a point to move, move. I must go for a little walk don't care if I'll be coughing all the way. I hope the walking can get the stubborn cough away. The health article I read says some exercise is good to help clear the condition.

To take a walk along this path

Watch out for stinging insects

Its sting can trigger a problem

And tomorrow I also must wait outside the house with the camera. Previosly on many occasions I saw some big birds like heron flew pass over this area.  Hope it will fly this way again tomorrow for me to capture it. That will be interesting. And perhaps it can take away the mind from all the discomfort.

Mean time lets find some interesting picture in my album.

These pictures were taken from a distance . The small birds were moving non stop. The sun shining hard . What else? My camera and me have limitations  haa. . . any way . . .

May you have enjoyed reading this post.

Bye . . .

The Right To Be Happy

Hello again

I am just back from reading an article on the internet. About blogging. It says blogging is diminishing media as now people are flocking to facebook twitter instagram whatsApp etc. Blog is supposed to lag behind.

Mmm I just started blogging and quite like it . For a long time I have wanted to start a blog only the beginning of this year I manage  to push myself into doing it. And I am happy that I started. Better late than never. Now whenever I feel like writing I have a place and make efforts to do it a little proper than just scribbling on any paper and then it ended you know where.

Do I get readers for my blog. Yes of course but not many out of the number of page views I am getting. I am aware and understand the existence of spams and bots and crawlers and spiders that give false numbers.

So be it I will just write. Most of the time writing for myself. My writting is not that good enough to attract much readership. I am happy to write anyway.

Why I choose to write in English which is not my mother tongue the reason being not wanting to forget it. Seldom use it in speaking and very little in writing. Only in reading. When writing the more I write the more words I can't find to express myself and so I spend more time looking up for the right words. This way I hope to enrich my vocabulary. Do I sound like a school kid.

I learned English in my schooldays decades ago.  I use it very little in my everyday life ever since I left school.  Now I would only communicate in English with only a few people  ya my tennis friends. So if there are flaws in my grammer and choice of words it is understood. I don't mind being criticised even.

People say you must read other people's blog do blogwalking and leave trails. There is a chance people might pay a return visit. To tell the truth since I retire blog reading occupies most of my time when at home. Blogsites and websites. From politics to cookery. Until sometimes I thought I have visited all which is impossible because every new day I found blogs which I have not yet visited. Don't get me wrong I dont read rubbish. Of course as humble as I am I still have standard if not . . class haa.

When I read those many blogs I would sometimes comment usually under anonymous. You can say I am timid. Especially on our local political blogs. So heated. Sometimes I got bashed up. Most of the time actually I read personal blogs cookery blogs and medical websites and not to forget the " how to"s. There are so many things I don't know and how  I thought if I have had access to all the infos in my younger days I would have been a very knowledgable person now. And my life would have been different.  At this time I could be addressing high profiles personalities or conducting a board meeting instead of typing nothings on this computer ha . . .

Now since I have my own blog I sometimes leave my trails in blogs I found interesting. Who knows the blog owners might make return visits. But one thing I notice most local bloggers are young and I kind of feel funny to be blogging at this age. But I think by reading their blogs I can understand the young people better, the lives and aspiration of young people. I too have young people around me in real life. Reading the young people's blogs can put me in a lighter mood compared to too much reading of  political blogs the content of which sometimes are too much to stomach.

I have come across foreign blogs by older more matured bloggers. Their literary prowess make me feel so small. Postings with great contents. Great prose. Beautiful poetry. Breadth taking photos. They are all to be admired . . . from afar.

As you can see my blog is so simple in presentation and no fancy design. May be later I will tweak to make it better as for now I concentrate to try make good posts. I am working hard in trying to make the content interesting like choosing the right images to upload. I prefer to use my own photos even though they are not as good as those found on the internet. Those pictures are not so easily photographed. It takes time and efforts . . . and money as I wanted a better camera. Any way I am happy with what I do. If the happiness can catch up on to you then so much the better.

You may find that my blogposts a little immature or childish even.  That don't really portrays the person I am. Its just that my general attitude towards life now is not to take things too seriously, too religiously. At any age a person has the right to be his or her own self and to be happy in their own way without being harped on to be correct always. Or being influenced trying hard to keep up with the joneses. Especially for a person who through out her working life needed to be serious and matured and felt always being under pressure  now is the time to be children again . . .you agree?

I have said quite a lot but leading nowhere as usual. Never mind lets look at some pictures I took a few days back . . .

The feathers don't look good anymore

Do groom it back to perfection

What really happened?

Bee-eater

The bird in the pictures above looks kind of sad. The plumage is not as beautiful as it should be . Has it been battered by someone? Kesian.

Will end here for today. Happy reading.

Bye . . .

On The Top

Hello all

Its good you are happy with life everything falls in place and sometimes good things fall on your lap and makes you feel sitting on top of the world.

On many instances when your mind is at ease and thinking that nothing else is there to distrupt your tranquility there sure is something to surface and rob away that good feeling. Then you are feeling low again.

It could be your health.

You wonder from where you contracted this cold virus. Is it from some of the people you meet at those many raya open houses that you attended.

Nowadays people take to the trend of embracing and rubbing cheeks when expressing greetings at social meetings or gatherings. Some overdo and plant a kiss. Never mind sincere or not. Something new aquired by our people. Or may be I am just one old woman ignorant on social graces.

Mmmm greetings

Well for me embracing and pecking on the cheeks are only for daughter and cucus, and close relatives and long time friends I seldom meet to express love and happiness. For others a handshake or a salam is suffice to show cordiality.

But then when people approach you happily with arms open to embrace you and straight go peck your cheeks to express their pleasure in meeting you how can you withdraw. How can you kill all the excitement. And you get it from almost everybody not just the welcoming gesture of the hostess.

My conclusion is as good as yours on how the virus got transmitted. He heh.

Catching on cold and cough can really make you feel down. And down time too in all things you like doing. Feverish. With all the cogestion inside and the lungs trying to cough out thats what make you feel miserable what more with the hackings all night long disturbing your sleep.

Mmm let it be, let the cold runs its phase ten days at least usually for me. Feeling low on such a little reason  is not so much a distress. I should be thankful and gratified at the sustenance and safety endowed upon me in this beautiful life and of course of the occasional extras that can make one feels being on top of the world.

Well talking about the top  . . .

At the very top 

Need to struggle to be at the top

When at the top enjoy looking down

Enjoy all the perks

But its a precarious position

Sometimes top place need to be shared

If not its quite lonely

Would anyone envy

When you get sick you go to talking nonsense. Forgive me if I just did. Sometimes you see truth when you are feeling low.

Must wish myself to get well soon.

Health and happiness to all readers.

Bye . . .