Milestone of Note

I finished my guitar lessons this week.
It was great fun learning over the last 5 months, and I'm thrilled to be able to strum to myself now.
"Can make out a tune now", said my mum.

Day Out with K & G

Days like these don't come by very often (literally years).
And when they do, you savour them, enjoy them with relish, and take lots of photographs.

p.s. I adore rambling about in the civic district...

xx

Rooftop, Bras Brasah Complex (here)

Font: Lazy Day (appropriately enough). I will remember the cool breeze + overcast sky + phototaking with glee & wild abandon for years to come.

I have a thing for photos of HDB blocks.

Paperbacks, with the elegant Raffles Hotel in the background.

Oh! My heart skipped a beat with this beautiful shot.

Banyan Tree Bintan

Snapshots from a weekend getaway with my church friends, with lots of laughter and chilling out.

Hello Operator? Buggy, please. (Lazy holiday indeed!)

Private pool from which to gaze at the sky meeting the sea. Changing shades of blue and white, light and darkness. Lovely.

Champagne at breakfast - sheer decadence.

Life's Sweet

I thank God for my family. I feel incredibly blessed to have all this love around me...
Anyway, here's my dad barely 3 weeks after his operation, AND he just started his first round of chemo (which the doc promised wouldn't cause hair loss - at least for the current cocktail of drugs). Dad has been more tired of late but keeping in good spirits and overall doing well.

Cousin G is back in town this season and that was reason enough for a whole lot of family activity - let the luan-see-ness begin. Good timing, really, dad quite enjoyed having people around.


Photo: Dad enjoying a sunny day by the beach.

p/s

Sweet Paul magazine Fall 2011 - Gorgeous!

Ooh, Morocco.

Tiny Miracles...

... is probably an oxymoron. Is a miracle ever tiny?

Still, here at this point of my life, I find myself thankful for the many blessings that God has given me, in all shapes and sizes, form and colour. Most of all, I thank Him for calling me to be His child. He is always with me, always comforting, guiding, shaping.

So this past week has been spent in hospital with my dad. He was diagnosed with cancer and had a tumour removed. He's such a tough ol' bird, I never knew that about my dad. He has shown me how to face a major trial with fortitude.

Being a caregiver is tough (though not as tough as being the patient), so we appreciate our whole village of relatives and friends who have surrounded us with their love and prayers.

As the doctors said, we have to pace ourselves. So today I am resting in for awhile before I go for a guitar class (the start of my third module!) in the afternoon before checking in on my dad. He is in good spirits and has been getting better by the hour.

Photo: Shortly after you move off from the kangaroo enclosure at the world-famous Singapore Zoo, you might spot these tiny feathery insects resembling delicate bits of tissue paper. Marvelous, God's creation. 

Terminal 3

Location: Changi Airport, Terminal 3
Font: Monaco

There was something so striking about the bright blue sky and the neat row of trolleys that I just had to take this shot. Have a clear-blue-sky week ahead.

Cavenagh Bridge & Other Sights

Playing tourist on a grey-ish morning.
Lovely details.
And an iconic shot of ye olde founder of our sunny shores.

Early Morning Photo Shoot (At the MBS pool)

Elmo Movie

Sometimes I see trailers that make me go, ah-ha, a movie to watch with my mum and aunt and cousins!

How the apple crumbles

I love Saturdays, especially in the aftermath of a severely trying time at work.

Totally enjoying my morning.

My brother bought these ramekins! It doesn't take too much to make me happy :)

So Mum & I made apple crumble this morning. Too lazy to post the recipe... but it's a lovely mishmash of red/green apples, cinnamon, raisins, brown sugar, plain flour, butter and digestive biscuits.

xx

Chrysanthemum tea

ChrysantheMUM tea. Ok this punning thing is one of my nerdy skills.

But seriously folks, home-made c.tea rocks.  Just boil a put of water, add the dried chrysanthemum, add sugar...and drink.

Love the old-school packaging, and love the look & feel of a bundle of dried flowers. I can almost imagine all their summery goodness condensed into a palm's worth of leaves.

Chilli plant updates

The pet plants have upgraded their digs! New pots and more soil, courtesy of my mum.

Proverbs, Recycled paper and Washi Tape

Monday

Cupcake: Of the red velvet and cream cheese glaze variety, baked by my cousin K. Of course I had to take a photo of the ridiculously cute heart on top.

Font: Never Let Me Go. Good reminder, that.

This Season: is about learning to be calm and carry on. Peace out y'all.  (inside joke)

xx
Manda

At the Marina Bay Sands, from End to End

Friends, food and a fabulous time.

This reminds me of my chee cheong fun shot. At Sky on 57.

Ku De Ta's signature red. I miss Bali already.

Fireworks on the Bay

xx
Manda

My cousin JD

Picture this.
August 2011.
I'm at a family birthday gathering, talking with my mother and my aunt.
My 12-year old boy cousin comes over to hug my aunt and says, "You're the best mother in the world!"
A pause - then he turns to me, "And one day you'll be the best mother in the world too!"

I think it's the sweetest thing he's ever said to me.

Just for posterity!

On the most sensational inspirational celebrational Muppetational...

I watched this with a big cheesy grin.
Growing up, my brother and I watched hours of muppet re-runs (which had a strong effect on the development of my sense of humour).
Needless to say, I love, love, love the muppets!

A die-hard fan's guide to watching:

1. Click play
2. Pause while video loads
3. Pull the blinds down
4. Turn up the volume
5. Enjoy!

Dancing in the park (these beautiful evenings)

How cute, a set of dance steps in the park, complete with steps and foot outlines on the floor.
My mum and aunt tried them out, with some hilarious results.
Good times.

My pet plant

As you know, I have a fondness for walks in parks and photos of nature.

And I had been itching for awhile to grow something of my own. A kind of desire to go all Laura-Ingalls-Wilder-ish, planting and harvesting, living off the land, that sort of thing. I went so far as to peruse the nparks community gardens webpage, which incidentally has a generous store of resources and tips. Did you know there was a National Gardening Movement?!

So I got to talking with a sweet ol' lady one morning on the way to church. She is one of my mother's Sunday lunch kakis, who - as it turns out - does gardening in her HDB balcony. She offered to start me off with a few seedlings and hey presto, 2 Sundays later, I was the owner of these chilli plants:

Confession. Right away, the care of the plant was handed off to my parents. My dad bought a spray to keep the plants misted and hydrated. My parents currently have some sort of running rivalry on which side of the plants should be facing the sunlight...and I am just waiting for the first sign of chilli so that I can take photos of them. I'd like to think it gives them some excitement in life, in lieu of grandchildren (at least for now). Heh.

Stay tuned for future chilli padi developments!

Random Photo Day!

The scene: A multi-coloured row of balloons waiting to be inflated and shaped into a sword, a dog, a flower...who knows :)
On a side note: Argh, back to work after a slightly long weekend... it's tough cranking up the engine once again! Hence the need for cheer!
Font: Caitlyn

Changi Airport, probably the best airport in the world

Still on the August theme of patriotism.
I love Changi airport.
Home Truly is a country where things work.

Font: Payday

Happy Belated Birthday Singapore

What could be more national day-y than a visit to the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery at the iconic red-and-white Central Fire Station at Hill Street?

You-know-you're-Singaporean points of interest: Entry is free! Seeing as fires and civil emergencies are pretty rare in these parts, it's one of the rare times the kids get to see - and climb on - a real fire engine! Thirdly, although fires and civil emergencies are rare, it is still good to remind the kids not to take all this for granted i.e. DO NOT play with fire!

Opening Time. Bonus trivia: the badges on the wall by the door are gifts from overseas fire brigades, which is apparently one of those things that firemen do when they are overseas.

Love the arches, and the red doors.

Releasing well wishes and prayers on balloons for Singapore. Happy 46th, and thank God for the peace in this land.

Birds of a feather

A bird made its nest atop a light fixture in my friend's home.
Apparently, birds feed their young about 400 times a day...
We sat by the side door eating fruit, while the bird did the same (probably not fruit)
It was just like a live National Geographic channel streaming in.
Have a surprising-in-a-good-way week!

The hardworking mama bird (standing on guard? having some "me" time?)

Boys will be boys

The young scamps in my Sunday School class are a handful, which makes for an exhilarating ride trying to keep ahead of them. They are rather adorable and infuriating all at the same time, well, just kids.

I like to throw in activities for them to do, to have them work on a little project or make something. And surprise surprise, that means art & craft some times. So the other day I threw together some materials into my special box for them to make cards. Oh yes, I have a special box, flown all the way back from Sweden. One day it holds toys, another day it holds paper and markers and vintage stickers. 'Vintage' by virtue of my being a super good hoarder, back from the days of going woolly over little sheep stickers at Tecman's.

So one recent Sunday, I got my class to make cards for other people - y'know, to demonstrate showing the love of Christ to each other.  The girls made pretty cards with pastel colours and sweet stickers and neatly written words. Girls just get the concept of craft, know what I mean?

The boys, now - made this card. I never would have thought to remind someone to 'take care... of your money' with my pretty stickers! They crack me up. Anyway, I figured it takes them to speak in their own language to their own kind :)

DIY Art

The Oh Happy Day blog had a post on how to make your own abstract art. How fun. I might just do something like that some day. Ooh and here's another - potato art!! Love, love.

I've actually tried something like it on a much smaller scale, though it was a really amateurish effort! I had a lovely time doing it though, a good break from the day-to-day hum of life.

Random Photo Day!

Travel boggle! So cute.
Boggle is one of my all-time favourite games and a staple at church camps :)
I have a bunch of friends who are utterly competitive about it (as am I), it makes for hilarious moments. Ah, good times.

Random Photo Day!

Old Building, dark and grey.
I wonder what you have seen in your time.

The thrill of simple things

Will I ever get tired of walks in the park, photo taking, enjoying the simple things in life? I hope not.

Dreamy, magical days... while I can, I am going to enjoy them.

What have you got planned this weekend? :)

Leaf, de-constructed

A forked path

Papaya tree leaves. A bird took a little bath on it.

Baby Brinjal

I have always thought mushrooms were magical, with a slight edge to them. Must be all that Enid Blyton.