Reminisce

Hi everybody

Happy Chinese New Year and happy celebrations and happy holidays.

I am sure many are busy entertaining and many are happily being entertained.

I am doing none of that. Am staying at home taking a role of care giver, it is more like a care taker. A little sacrifice I am doing to relief someone who has been undertaking the responsibility all this while.

 I have all the time to pursue my interest,  yaa like reading and writing after I am done with all the chores. If I could manage juggling work and home in my younger years this is just nothing in comparison though in the beginning I argued with myself and have thoughts that the people are not being fair to me. I was in the selfish mode. Now that I have come to terms with myself I feel the  peace.

I click on my last blog entry. I read it again. The two pictures in there of the children romping the ground had me reminiscing the old days . . .


Reminisce

I am here on the hill slope
Having a panoramic scope
My eyes scan the seascape like a telescope

People dot the beach
They have come from many places
They come to search
For fun and possibly peace

I see people having fun swimming
Their heads pop popping
With the tide merrily coming
And against the waves heavily beating
Caused by the unscrupulous boating
Against all warnings
Am so afraid that danger is lurking

Come afternoon the tide begins to ebb
The children hungry and tired
Those sitting demurely on the mat
Had all the provisions prepared

Now the water is low
The seabed begins to show
Lots of shells and crab holes
A fascination for children, they're in awe
Perhaps the adults are not interested
Keep calling the children back
And to pack

Inquisitive minds
And probing little hands in the sand
Father mother sometimes don't understand
The young ones dragged onland
Thus the picnic an unhappy end

As the night fast approaching
The crimson light in the horizon is fading
The sun is swallowed and gone
Leaving the seascape forlorn . . .

Be happy . . .

Bye . . .

Moving

Hi again

Somebody is moving.

Moving house is no small matter. Everyone is busy. Or offer to be busy.

It can involve moving the house. Like this -  once upon a time.

Moving the house in the fifty's -  a picture as painted in my mind

It is about shifting. You are going to relocate. A stressful time certainly. Agree?

You have to cope with all kinds of feelings. Your emotion goes up and down. Anxiety regrets fear sadness. You are sentimental about things.

You are leaving. The building, the trees, the birds. And the neighbours though some you are quite happy to leave them behind."Love thy neighbours" cannot work with some. It is either you or they who is the problem. Hmm.

When you are moving to a new place a lot of things are to be discarded. Some so endear to you. You feel heart broken when giving them away or taken away by the vagabond.

Some of the things you can't take it along to the new place. They just do not fit.

Sometimes you take your old things to the new place but they won't look the same in the new surrounding . You would prefer them to be where they are now but you have to move on. Its kind of sad. You keep thinking about how it was just right on your old coffee table where once happy conversations took place.

Of course some  are really garbage. A long time ago should be discarded.

Some of the things may not be yours well if you have been living say in the house provided by your generous management. You don't own it. Its not yours and you realised joyous moments are just temporary.

You move. Life has to move on.

Knowing someone is moving made me look back on my life. What a long journey. Stopped at so many stations. At some places I should have stayed longer. For good or bad it is destined to you. You don't fix things. The One up there is doing the planning.

On the real I have moved house more than seven times. Seven is the cut off point. It is often said you move house seven times ( and more) you become a pauper. I hope not.

I lived first in our own kampung house then in rented rooms, rented houses, here, there, quarters and thankfully in own house again. If I move house again then it is moving to . . .

I have experienced sharimg room with friends then sharing a house. Have experienced moving into brand new house and still encountered with many headaches. Have gone to live in a house home to a previous tenant you got more headaches.

The most memorable was living  in an old living quarters which was built in the colonial time - 1932 as engraved there at the entrance. It was spacious for our small family. But the quietness was almost haunting. It hadn't been lived for many years I was told. There was a kind of a strange feeling when I first entered. Not something nagative though. I kept wondering how was it in its hay day. How many and who were the people who had lived in there throughout the years and how many happy children had romped the compound. Who were they, where are they now . . .

The house was situated on a slope and over looking the sea. It was kind of romantic. Surrounding it were huge and tall old trees which swayed threatheningly when the wind was strong. At night the sound of the waves and the wind wailing could be heard plus the sound of the loose hanging door drumming against the door frame. Eerie. Especially when alone at home.

In the morning you would find that the crochet table cloth was being pulled. Yes it was yanked away from the original place. I was puzzled in the beginning. But when the links in thread were broken and frayed my guess was right. No hantu.

The quietness of the place somehow made me very sad to leave. Never mind the broken windows the cracked wall and the mouldy paint. And there were rat holes. Ants. Lots of fierce ants. And a lot more other pests and insects. But I liked living there.

Well sometimes it is not really the house that matters but the surrounding. The neighbourhood peaceful the landscape inspirational. But sometimes you don't really know what to expect though roughly you have it on your mind. Moving house certainly is not small matter.

For most of us we moved on to something better but for those who like to cling on to the present but forced to part with whatever that you love is kind of sad.

Most birds captured by my camera are from here

The favourite perch has just collapsed

There is always another place for them  

Though its not the same

Life has got to move on

The oriole

Move on.

Cheers.

Punai Comes To Color Your World

 Hi everyone

We do not want our life to be like a pendulum which keeps on swinging back and forth and can be boring.

We are most time in a quest for something we ourselves are not sure of.

Think about it. When to you life is being kind you have everything that would make others envy you are still not satisfied yet. What is it that we want when we have water more than we can drink. When you have food but you are not hungry.

You said you are not looking for greener pastures because you are quite ok with the nurtured green under your feet.

Then what?

Or may be you are looking for the second the rainbow. You would like to have more colours.

You want ROYGBIV . . VIBGYOR . . .

You are asking for too much.

The colours would soon fade. They are just illusions.

They will disappear when the rain is over and the sun is high and harsh.

Why are we always struggling for and wanting the elusive . . .

Come back to reality!

Wonder why am I in a brooding mood and being pensive.

Perhaps yesterday's three sets of very long and dragging games left me weary.

Yesterday was a temporary goodbye .

Two of the kakis, the husband and wife are going off for a holiday cruise around the island in the Indian ocean perhaps to be there in the vast span of blue water in their seeking for connection with the universe.

The others will be busy. CNY is around the corner. A time for them to renew connection with family members from far and near. Outsiders are not a concern.

Quiet.

You will be left alone. Hmm.

No.

Family brings more meaning to your life . . .

#Punai the pigeon

Life has no meaning if we ourselves don't give meaning to life itself.

Cheers.

The Weather The Man And The Birds

Hello everyone nice to meet again

Lets start our conversation, talk about the weather.

Yes the weather, it is changing now, so?

Its back to hot.

The rain is less frequent except for a brief shower early this morning. The ground was still wet. The floor too slippery for me to exercise .  But then washing and scrubing is good exercise too.

I decided to wash the floor under the porch and the surrounding, it was still wet anyway. This floor get washed and swept only when it rains. I did not have to mop. Sat back and relaxed now that the sun was becoming stronger. It would dry the floor in no time.

By afternoon the heat was intense. Not a breath of wind and it was quiet. Not even a bird sound. Everybody including the birds must have gone indoor.  All could not stand the heat . . .(?)

You don't feel like doing anything. When you move you will be sweating profusely like in a suana. Not viable to do anything when your body is steaming.

So keep still cool yourself.

You would prefer to sit quietly under the fan which was spinning madly. It would do its job alright . . lull me, soothe me.

On a hot and humid afternoon like this what is best to do.

A siesta ! In an air conditioned room.

I wonder how in the past we, me and my teammates could be hitting tennis balls in the court under the blazing sun like this. You could feel the heat from up. And from below it was coming up in waves as the surface got heated and as you run and jump and slapping the balls. The perspiration got you soaked. Sweat would flow down your spine to your ah . .a. . a. . . how else can I say, the heat was terrible.

Were we mad? No. May be a little . . .

It was a training for the ministry tournament. Something big and important. So we trained for a number of days. We could have chosen the earlier hours but the men were not concerned. The men liked to linger. On the way to the training venue we had to stop for them to have breakfast. After breakfast they had cigarretes which took some more time to burn.

Yet they said take five . . .

The delay caused us to start late. In hot weather by about nine o'clock our sun would be mercilessly grinning already.

Usually the women have little say. The man always hold the key.

Now looking back I think we lack discipline.

That was why we lost more than we won. Hmm.

Playing tennis under the blazing sun is comparable to working in the padi field during harvest. I have experience in both so I qualify to say.

One is you do out of passion. To some people it is tak ada kerja cari kerja. Foolish they say.

The other is people do it because of survival.

Ah . . . whatever . . .

What did I get for that much effort under the scorching sun?

Money glory promotion ? None. I didn't mind. May be pride. Just a little, a boost to my self esteem when I won my game or when I did not lose badly . . .heheh.

The sunburn ? My brown face became more brown for sure. It took quite a long time to fade. Some part of the face became hyper pigmented before its time.Of course I was self conscious since friends keep commenting on my blemished skin.

That's what I got.

Blemished skin is one thing but all should be aware of the danger of the harmful ultra violet so say the doctor, avoid the sun.

Women, young and old are so concerned of wanting nice undamaged skin. So do my tennis gang ladies. We would go early to fight for the shaded court. Early means 5.30 pm - about. When they arrive late they would rather wait and forgo their turn to play to avoid playing in the other courts which are not shaded.

Just to tell you the shade is not a roof over the court. It is just an old big tree, ha ha.

The old big tree

In this kind of weather we wish for the rain. Just few weeks back we wished for sunshine.

We humans are so demanding.

Some are so uncaring. On this hot day some are burning and poluting the air.

Some are unconcerned cutting and clearing the trees and vegetation where birds can find protection from rain and heat.

Here the picture the of birds gathering. They were not singing. I believe they went  berserk over something.

Someone has started to clear the area

They come to gather

Perhaps to inspect and to assess the damage

They must be discussing what to do next(?)

"Have you any other suggestions . . ."

Watch them. We can be more understanding and insightful.

Stay cool . . .

Bye . . .
.

The Russian Tips

Hi all

Please don't get intimidated by the title. Its nothing. Its just the icing nozzle used in cake decorating and nothing more.

Why they call it Russian I have yet to find out.

So far I have not written about this hobby which I have neglected for some time. Yeah cake decorating which at one time I was so crazy about.

What rekindle my interest is this thing, the Russian icing tips.

Here they are.

Russian piping (icing) tips

Inserted into the piping bag

Its size is bigger than the usual icing tip.

The main difference is you can have an icing flower formed with just one squeeze to the icing bag.

Of course with the regular icing tip you also can make flower eg the rossette with just one squeeze but if you want to make flower like a real rose you got to pipe the petals one by one using the petal tip.

With the Russian tip, with one squeeze and stop and lift action you can get a whorl of petals. One complete flower.

The only thing is that the flower is quite small. But its still ok because when you put them in groups on the cake it will look very nice. If you mix the colours it will be more interesting and visually festive suitable for special occasion.

I got these tips just recently and have not tried using them yet. So now I am trying.

It was not as easy as I thought.

In the beginning it was like this ha ha. More like just blops of icing like in the picture below.

Sorry for the poor setting and exposure. It was late in the night and I was getting frustrated for not getting it right 😒

First trial - failed!

I had to adjust the consistency of the frosting.

On the next day I tried again using some left over merengue butter cream which was kept in the freezer. After thawing it and a quick whip below is what I got.

The rose is taking shape but of course it is not good enough

Below is the icing shape (the rossette) formed by the regular icing tip. See the difference?

Below is the 'real rose' piped petal by petal using ordinary icing nozzle

Piped petal by petal (old picture)

Another practice on the folowing day here is how it turned out.

Put one fondant bird there . . .

I think I am slowly getting it. Need more practice before my next baking project. This is really a messy job.

When I started out the color of the flower was supposed to be very light blue in the centre and dark blue on the peripheral. But half way all got mixed up. So now you see the flower is dull blue.

How will it look on a real cake? Will share with you in another entry.

Till next entry have a sweet day!

Bye . . .

New Year A Clean Start

Hi readers

It is now into the second week of the new year but I have not made any post yet before this. The fact is the article that I am working on that should be the opening post for this year hits a snag in its prep.

So it is better for me to up this short post rather than waiting for the intended one to be completed properly- all for your reading pleasure . . .

Reading pleasure?

Why would I say your reading my blog is good.

It is good because all what I write is simple and easy to digest .

I write in simple language so you don't need any dictionary.

I put forward my idea in such a straight thinking that you don't need to ponder much . . . no double talk . . . may be just a little . . .

If you say it is so shallow then it is good because you don't have to fathom deeper!

If you think what I tell I do is not appropriate you are not compelled to follow.

The subject I write about won't get you agitated like if you read the many political blogs on the net. You get annoyed for nothing.

You are also not getting bombarded by the ads on all those products that you may never need.

You may be some sixty year olds and may feel lonely among the young people and you feel too old for anything. Here my blog will  make you feel otherwise.

Or you may be someone young reading my blog tell your grandma to be up and about and not terperap in the house feeling that the end of the world is nigh . . .

So there I try to make you feel better after reading this blog.

Let us journey on into this new year with clear minds . . .

Shake off all the doubts . . . .learn from the bird . . .

Cleaning for the new year

My new year resolution is to resolve last year's.

Hope you have resolved yours :-)

Bye . . .