Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Hi again

If you are not aware there is a brouhaha in our media over who speaks well who do not speak eloquently and who belasah saja. Well this is about speaking English. So many join the foray.

I remember being the victim to ridicules when trying to put foward my point in English.

Looking back I think it served me right because I have the habit of adding English words in my sentence when arguing over some hot topics and when trying to emphasize. When you are hot less blood goes to the brain and you cannot think out the correct words. As they say words don't come easy . . .

You belasah saja ha haa as long as the message is through. The other person can understand that's what matters.

If the language is not our mother tongue surely there must be flaws in usage and pronounciation and our tone do not sound natural. Unless we start learning the language from a very young age and have been living among speakers of that language then it is a different story.

Or if you are from the high class society and studied in some elite schools then your English both oral and written should be awesome.

To learn and be proficient in foreign language at advanced age is quite difficult. Thats my experience. I have tried with Tamil and and Cantonese. Not successful. I easily forget.

Old people like me have tongues already stiff. It is hard to pronounce anything foreign like Arabics which is the language of the Quran.

Once I joined a reading group. But I could not stand the frequent reproach from the preacher at my pronounciation. She kept on asking me to repeat the way she wanted. I was perplexed at her insistence because I just couldn't. I was"made" in Malaysia ha haa.

I only can read the way of my mother. She taught me reading the Quran a long time ago. That has embeded in me permenantly.

I quit the class.

I think not everybody can easily be fluent in a non mother tongue language. It is just natural. The way we think and speak are influenced by our enviroment. But nevertheless we should strive to learn to be better understood.

When things go wrong don't quit 

That's all for now happy chitchatting . . .

Bye . . .

Spent So Much (Time) For The Dollarbird

Hello all

I am not really a serious hobbyist. 

Bird watching that I do is actually more to fulfill my interest in photography. I like to take pictures. May be it is the influence from my working life. My duty, in lay man's term, was to tangkap gambar. But I must state here that they were different kind of pictures altogether.

Everyday then it was a challenge for me to produce good images no matter how uncooperative the subject was. I cringed everytime when being chided.  

Birds are uncooperative too.

If I get badly blurred picture I just delete. No one to answer to but then I want to produce the best for my blog readers. 

Since I am not that serious then I should not be so bothered of any shortcomings but then you know I do. I am feeling that I have not made any progress. Frustrating. I am only getting pictures of the same species of birds. The pictures too are far from perfect.

Should I spend more and go places and get to see more.

Should I spend more for better birding equiptment?

$  $  $ 

Mmmm . . .

I think bird watching can make one learns to be more patient. You stay there hiding and keep looking up to the sky. You spot a bird flying and hope, and hope that it will land on some bare tree . . .ah . . . instead the bird disappeared behind the thick leaves. And you say to yourself there will be another bird coming.  

Yes there it comes perches on that trunk. As you prepare to shoot it flies off. And you wait and wait and hope for another one . . . .

At last you say to yourself what a waste of your time . . .There is a limit to everything . . .

You are disappointed. But as you are about to go away you caught a glimpse of blue on that very trunk you were focussing just now. 

You get excited all over again . . . 

Nah after spending so much time . . .gotcha!

Beautiful bird

The bird refused to turn . . .

Turned for lateral view

Dollarbird

The bird remain perched on the branch motionless ( so it is quite cooperative eh ) except for the head slightly turning right and left. I was hoping for it to turn and face the camera but after a while it just flew off. ( If I can give instructions in bird language it may obey ha haa)

 That accounts for the almost same position captured. I like that blue patch at the front of the neck.

Acording to one article I read it is not easy to meet up with this bird. Considered rare then?  

Well I hope you like these pictures. 

Happy birding ( to whom it may concerned) and happy reading. 

Bye . . .

Intermission . . . Throwback Thursday

Hi all

Feeling nostalgic today . . .

We'll meet in next entry . . .

Bye . . .

The Kingfisher and The Monitor Lizard

Hello everyone

Nice and cool to be sitting here in the house typing as the outside weather is not that hot. I hope the weather will remain like this for the rest of the day as I plan to have a game of tennis in the evening. Nowadays the sun is still strong at 5 pm.

I must make a point to go early hoping I could also play for a second game so as not to leave the other three without a fourth person. (Sad . . . I can't stay back till very late a ha). Now we are getting less players on weekdays I wonder why since most of us are retirees we should be free on most days.

When we meet up we are not all the time talking about the game. Of course we talk and shout and sometimes scream and shriek during the game but outside the court we do have time to chit chat while we wait for a free court or waiting for a foursome.

Usually its all the ladies talk about life niceties but the other day a friend mentioned about iguana. She was late for the game because as she was about to leave her husband needed her to help him do away with the iguana. It has been a nuisance in their compound.

That big lizard?

If thats what she meant. It is nothing unusual in my area. One day I almost stepped on the creature. It was on a morning after the night rain. When the sun was out I went to the usual spot to see if I could take photos of birds of course because I feel birds were coming out to expose themselves to the sun after being wet.

Haa just right there ! I was startled. It was so near me. I could only manage to get this picture.

It was so close

What if it attacked me?

What if it was a snake? God forbid.

There was one day when I heard the shrill shriek of the kingfisher which broke the quietness of the afternoon. By the way now I can recognise their calls.  Went out to check I saw two birds flying here and there and hovering over the ground. Wondered what was the matter which alarmed them.

Ahh there . . . that big lizard again .

The bird made a swoop towards the monitor lizard. I was quite surprised to see that considering the size of the lizard was so many times larger than the bird. But then the bird has such a powerful looking beak.

If I were the kingfisher I would be disappointed . Couldn't even touch the lizard. It moved too fast and disappeared.

Can't get the bird in the photo properly at the moment of the swoop

Looks clumsy but can move very fast when threatened

Powerful beak and sharp eyes 

Well thats something to ponder the small wants to attack the big.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.

Bye . . .

Feel Free As The Birds

Hi

Today I don't really have much to do. I feel so free though the daily house hold chores are there waiting but  never mind that can be attended to later. So actually I am not really free but I am free to procrastinate as the time is mine. Free to be lazy. Nobody and nothing is asking me to buck up. I have no datelines to meet.

So just sit back and scribble and follow how the fingers would dance . . .

And the little girl in me remember some beautiful lyrics

" If  you wish upon a star
makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
If you wish upon a star 
Like dreamers do
. . . . . . . .."

Know only up to there . . .

I think most people know this Disney song.

I do not know how to appreciate the modern new songs . May be if I listen properly I might like it. I don't know. Whenever I feel like listening to some music or whenever I am looking for some line dance choreography I would choose one with some old music. And I think there are many even young people who still like old songs. Watch this You tube video. Its very relaxing to dance to such tune. Still it can make you sweat. More fun if you dance in a group.

When I was younger but already a mother I learnt to play the organ. I was already going into intermediate level but I neglected it . Given more time for tennis. The organ became a white elephant. Now it doesn't function anymore. It has become a display table for photo frames and other knick- knacks. Hmm . . .

And now lets see what I got in my camera . . .

And they sing and sing

Feel free and be happy . . .

Bye . . .

The Plane The Plane

Hi Everyone

Not much words but the pictures will say . . .

???????????????

Have a beautiful day . . .

Bye . . .

Moody Mynah

Hello again

A friend called yesterday asking whether I would be interested to join a breakfast outing today . I declined because I was not in the mood. There are loads work in the house which I kept procrastinating. And I determined to accomplish them on the next day.

After the morning personal routine

Load the washing machine

Take a small breakfast

Exercise - line dance- about thirty minutes

Sweep the compound -water the plants - watch bird-take photo

Washing completed - dry the clothes

Continue watch for birds

Anybody there?

Take bath

Second breakfast mid morning ha haa

Cook

Clean up kitchen

Rain - run outside- pull the cloth line into the shade

Vacuum and mop the two rooms upstairs

Had lunch wash up

Then

Flat

Had tea nescafe actually, to boost for next event

Play tennis - some excitement for the day

I don't know whether my partner and opponents were annoyed at me or not today. I used the underhand serve. The ball went slow and floating making them hesitate on the return of serve. They were tempted to smash down and oh it went into the net many many times. Sorry. Sorry.

It was not my strategy or anything planned.. My upper arm gets excruciating pain when I do the overhead serve. I am still having this problem on and off.

But then when you play you want to win. They soon started to lob the ball to me. Ah . . .

Whatever . . .real tennis or not we seemed to enjoy . . .

Night came

Dinner

Then blogging ah this post . . .

Lets see  the photos I got this morning

Just the ordinary. Always around but today I could see only one perched on the fence. It seemed like asking to be photographed. Quiet and kind of moody.

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you for reading.

Bye . . .