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.

Chee Cheong Fun

I am pretty pleased with this photo and the simple but elegant styling!
And on a food-styling-related note, here's a pretty posting of a 4th of July-inspired photo shoot. Katy has many pretty ideas but this one was particularly nice.

Today's Reminder

It's good to leave little markers and reminders for oneself!
For me, it was a busy week, and it continues to be a challenging stretch of time at work.

One of the verses read out as I sat in the church service today was from psalm 121. And lo and behold, a scribbled date on it - a reminder that this verse encouraged me a year and a half ago as I looked ahead to a new year and a new job posting. That God - who made the heavens and the earth - is my help, and that He (still) cares for me through all the ups and downs. Have a good week ahead.

July, my favourite month

And, I'm back!

From my blogging hiatus, that is.

And to try to illustrate the chillness-of how I feel segueing back into blogging, here's a picture of my favourite highway. Heh. 

I heart the ECP

Anyway, I had SUCH a busy day.   I had a major meeting this morning, a big milestone after months of work... and I was pretty nervous about how it would go. I went to sleep last night thinking about it. I woke up thinking about it. I thought about it as I brushed my teeth...

I just wanted to share a verse that came to my mind this morning as I got ready for work. It gave me courage and hope that there will indeed be new and better things ahead. Though the going gets tough at times, my God is sovereign, and He is good (all the time).

18“Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

19See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert

and streams in the wasteland. 

Isaiah 43: 18-19

Random Photo Day!

Will be away from the blog for awhile.

Have a fun June!

Relaxing Sunday

Photo by a four-year old. Pretty decent huh.

Had a relaxing Sunday afternoon meeting friends.

And on a side note, I am looking forward to those pandas coming here next year!

Colour-Blocking

Here's a nod to this season's colour-blocking trend.
Finds from a house-cleaning exercise, in which items that fall under the 'Back in the day...' category were found in my cupboard of erm, vintage toys.

Random Photo Day!

A close up of the clouds, from my bedroom window.

We're getting closer to the weekend!