A Happy Encounter

It is not always possible to sight many of our avian friends if we remain static and don't travel a great deal to find their sanctuary. And that is me, only hoping for a chance encounter in the vicinity of home. 

Judging from the sound you hear, that is if you recognize them, you know they are around, but the creatures are nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps when they make a show you are too busy with your many other chores and so you miss them. It is usually the case.

Or it may be that they come out at the hours when your vision and the visibility are not at their best, eg at dusk.

Or maybe we are just walking like the zombies, straight ahead and blurred whereas the birds are perched high up at the top of trees. How could we see them?

The other day I caught a glimpse of the elusive one. I really thought so. I was not sure. I was under the tree,  the foliage over my head was quite dense.

Surprised and unexpected. On the next day as I opened the kitchen door, I saw someone was tapping on the cempaka trunk. It was just there. So near.

So my mind was not playing tricks on me the other day. It was really the woodpecker. Maybe there is a nest somewhere.

Maybe she? he? had separated from friends and got lost. And coincidently found a way into my humble blog.

Woodpeckers from afar (Pic taken last year)

Cheers and happy birding.

What Makes Me Happy

Hi friends

Life as a retiree can be monotonous, quiet and unchallenging. Worst is when you feel unuseful and people regard you as a spent force. You won't be happy. You sulk.

You could uplift your spirit by joining the pensioners club or the local women's club where you can meet people and make friends, mix around and can do things together. I did that when I first retired but later found it to be quite demanding and furthermore, there is the family duty. You somewhat do not have control over your own time which I think defeats the very purpose of retiring. How could you be happy?

Happiness is when your life is not being dictated by whatever. Happiness is doing things on your own accord. Your choice. Your wants, your likes, be it something serious or light and frivolous like hobbies and pastimes. Every little moment of happiness you experience will add up and extend to lifetime happiness.

Besides if you are happy you make others around you happy too.

What I do to keep me happy . . . let's share a thing or two.

Play tennis

What happiness can playing tennis bring to you except the heartache of losing? Hey, I am not a professional player okay. Just a recreational player playing in the evening. Winning or losing is not the matter though winning can make you feel swell haha. 

What is there to be happy about hitting and slapping the ball with the racket? Of course, there is. You can vent your restlessness and boredom and discharge all your bad mood from your system. What matters at the moment is tha-a-a-t ball. Concentrate. Stay focussed. If you hit a winner after a grueling rally you will be hysterically happy. That's the joy of tennis.

You are also happy to be among friends who are ever so polite to you. Whenever you say oh sorry, my silly shot; its okay, comes the reply. . . what they muttered under their breath, you don't hear, alright.

After a satisfying game, the feel-good factor lingers and carries over to your home. 

Play tennis and stay happy (picture by G)

Swimming

Swimming always makes me hungry but not making me feel guilty to gobble up foods I like and therefore swimming makes me happy :))

I don't get distracted by a younger swimmer in the next lane. I pretend not to get disheartened if a kaypoh asks the obvious, why I swim so slow :/ You are not competing, right?  You are just relaxing and enjoying the water.  Be calm and stay floating.

A good swim can put me in a good mood. Good mood is contagious. 

That's me "sleeping" on water 

Gardening

When out of favor in the workplace, people are forced to go on garden leave. There you go, only fit to work in the garden. How sad is that?

Hey, I am not in that situation, you know, it's my choice, I like to garden. I like to tinker around in my small yard garden. I like the challenge of reviving a half dead plant. How can you not be happy to see a miserably small aglaonema grows into a beauty after a few months under your care?

Baking and cake decorating

If you think this is hard work despite just being a hobby, yes, I agree. 

The baking is not so time-consuming but the decorating is. But this is the most enjoyable part. Get creative with the fondant and frostings, feel like a child playing with plasticine or squishy :)) You can do what you like. If there are no roses in your garden have them on the cake :)

My decorating the cakes can take hours and brings confusion to the whole kitchen. It may cause stress but if I can successfully fulfill a promise to friends on time I would be overly happy to hear their ooh and aah . . . despite the imperfections, I know they pretend not to see :)

Blogging

Blogging is like a chat time with friends, talking and storytelling and sometimes a little bragging and sometimes trying to be a little poetic and philosophical haha.

Whether what I write readers appreciate or not I am not sure but I hope you dear readers, feel entertained and don't feel wasting time reading them.

So far I have happily posted two hundred over entries since I started and wanting to write more. Usually, it is the photographs that spark ideas in me. I like shooting photography and I have quite a big collection of images in my picture file.

Of course, I know what kind of pictures I produce, quality wise. Frankly, I do not know much about photography. If there is no digital thingy and we still using Kodak films like in the old days I would be wasting a lot of films. And I have stopped trying to use my old DSLR camera, rarely used anyway. Susah-lah. Thanks to my Superzoom Nikon Coolpix 900, a souvenir from Japan I received more than two years ago from daughter. I can take pictures of a subject from a distance without much fumbling.

Ha ha hah do you dare to get closer?

As for the writing, I try my best to use correct words to express my thoughts but; oh my English! I hope you understand :)  and that would make me happy.

   Ok friends will stop here. happy blogging, we meet again in the next entry.

"Whoever is happy will make others happy too"

- Anne Frank

Up To One's Own Interpretation

Hi friends

A picture for you.

Cheers.

See you next post.