threelittlepiks

Blogging on India

2011-11-23T13:49:00.001+08:00

The one-off blog, threelittlepiksinindia is ready!

And the animals came two by two

2011-10-31T23:59:00.004+08:00

A tribal village at Nagarahole National Park, also known as the Rajiv Gandhi National Park, in India. My dream of meeting a tiger in the wild was dashed, although I'm pretty sure at least one tiger would have seen me! Others saw one leopard and two tigers. When the Spotted Deer stop grazing, bark and stick up their tails, the predator is nearby. This happened three times, yet it wasn't our luck to see the big cat.

A giant wakes up

2011-10-16T15:11:00.003+08:00

A baby tamarind tree is looking poised for life and living. I love how seeds are programmed to grow! Good to be mindful of the seeds that we water, I suppose… content, discontent, gratitude, lack, anger, peace…

A day in the life of a farmer wannabe

2011-10-04T12:40:00.000+08:00

The bush slicer cucumber looks ready to be plucked! A friend said the other day, that urban hobbyist farmers should form a support group to help one another cope with the guilt of consuming something that grew under their care. Perhaps.

It sure has been fun to have you here, cucumber! You are looking more and more like kyuri now. Maybe kyuri and bush slicer are one and the same.

Remembering a moment of sheer happiness in Japan when I gladly removed my gloves on a freezing winter day to harvest radish in an organic farm during a learning tour. I might have been a farmer a few lifetimes ago, you reckon?

I'm a pizza convert

2011-10-01T20:27:00.000+08:00

I got to know pizza really well at my first job in O&M, where the boys and girls in the studio were fed 755-2525 orders when they had to work through dinner time. That's how the word "pizza" became a bad word. Or rather, a sad word. Because we (the slaves) had to work hard, and the powers that be (the client-servicing fellows) made up for it by buying us fast food.

Even now, someone else would order the pizza at an Italian joint, not me. When it comes, I go, Wow, this pizza actually tastes very good! Soon I would forget how wow it was, and that's when 'pizza' becomes a sad word again.

I just made my first pizza at home, and there has been a shift, a really nice shift! The process was super-duper fun… just lay a few pita bread on the counter top, pile in the cheese, spinach, capsicum, then more cheese. Ten minutes later, out it comes from the oven, yummy and hot… as instant and therapeutic as kitchen adventures get!

Farm news

2011-09-30T18:20:00.001+08:00

"Precious…," Gollum would say. The next time I take the tip off the bottom end of a cucumber, I shall be aware that its flower had been there before.

I like what my niece learns in international school. Listening to her stories makes me want to be in school, too! The syllabus is wide open, and the kids get to take part in exercises that make them think about where things come from.

As Thich Nhat Hanh puts it -- in a single grain of rice there is the cloud, the rain, the farmer, the sun, the truck that delivered it to the distributor, the box that carried the goods, the person who cooked it with a lot of love, the pandan leaves and coconut milk that flavoured it, the scoop that got it out of the pot, and so on.

Making allowance

2011-09-29T23:12:00.004+08:00

After a good night's sleep on my niece's bed, I noticed something nice on the wall. Forgiveness is also in the small things. Just as the girls do in Muallaf, with their daily dose of pre-bedtime forgiveness. Wouldn't it be nice, to let the chapter of each day come to a neutral close, so that we may sleep in peace and get up with no after-taste?

Super starter

2011-09-29T20:00:00.004+08:00

This pretty appetizer brought us back to Pu Tien -- iced bitter gourd with honey on the side. This outlet in Tampines Mall deserves an award for the clever use of mirrors, sure to get anyone fooled. We all thought that there were double the space and patrons until we realised that the pillars were not pillars and the rest of the restaurant were really an illusion!

And then came a soup, glamorous in its mini bamboo tub with two prawns on a high. As visually engaging as scenes from Hero!

Loving you

2011-08-26T15:16:00.003+08:00

Happy Merdeka, everyone! May we grow up happy and strong, never to give manipulation a chance.

A big question

2011-08-25T12:12:00.003+08:00

What will happen, when it all ends? It just dawned on me that eight years of designing materials for our collective wellbeing is nothing much at all, the score is in fact zero on the scale of how well I have used my life. I mean, yeah, it's great to have stepped out of hard core advertising; but so what, says this nagging feeling that tells me I haven't really lived. Hmm…

Never forever

2011-08-18T15:09:00.000+08:00

Live every year, as if it's the last.

Asam Jawa

2011-07-29T22:30:00.002+08:00

I'm keeping a couple of seeds from the fresh tamarind I got at an R&R on the highway recently. Let's see if they are interested in becoming trees!

Run, when you smell the durian!

2011-07-29T22:15:00.001+08:00

A queen more considerate than her king. I'll be glad when the durian season passes. I'm told that tourists come all the way from Hong Kong for durian-eating sprees -- some doing nine different types in a few days. Well… as long as they stay clear of my breathing space!

Stories, stories on the wall

2011-07-23T11:31:00.006+08:00

At the signboard maker's.

Fearless Penang

2011-07-23T11:25:00.002+08:00

Penang was refreshing. It's in the way road names were not altered to fit a certain idea of social structure, and how they do not wear masks that portray instead an imagined kind of unity. Which gives the roads character and make them easy to remember -- Jalan Magazine, Lebuh King, Jalan Talipon, Lebuh Light… cute, no?

Typeface nostalgia

2011-07-23T10:41:00.001+08:00

Hand-painted goodness, in slow-and-steady Taiping.

P.T.O.

2011-07-14T12:04:00.000+08:00

Never judge a postcard by its 'cover'. This one, for instance, is way more charming behind than it is in front.

Now everyone can see

2011-07-14T12:00:00.000+08:00

Subtly, the eyes began to prefer text set in bigger point-sizes and books held further away. It is a sign of the times. And so a magnifying sheet came home with me.

Yellow rocks!

2011-07-14T11:50:00.008+08:00

Last Saturday, beauty took the streets in the city. Beasts were there, too. Are all wake up calls as dramatic? They did what they were told, and say that they didn't. We wonder what the point is when lies leave one mouth, find nowhere to go and no one to buy them, and then go home to where they had come from. Tidak laku…

They deserve a vipassana sitting for a taste of clear seeing, seeing things as they are. They could rest the crown of their heads on the ground, point their feet to the sky, and have Fear pour out like goo so that something more wholesome can go in.

Slumber

2011-06-30T19:35:00.003+08:00

An ex-weed who goes to sleep at sundown and wakes up in the morning, in a princess-like way. They get longer sleep hours than I do, these clever little things. Maybe I should take a leaf from there and give myself more dream time… so yeah, the weed, a teacher.

Friendship is as friendship does

2011-06-29T00:24:00.006+08:00

Seeds, glorious seeds… heirloom seeds! What are the odds of being in touch again with a pen pal from decades ago, finding that our current likes still match? Likes, that were either absent or dormant during letter-writing days.

Maybe… there was a seed even then, that we would each some day enjoy the company of birds, and share the thrill of having vegetables grow in the backyard.

I suppose time (or geography) doesn't always create distance.

Is there anything in The Five Regrets that resonates? Maybe I should, for a change, do something about that fourth item on the list.

Purple-leaved babies

2011-06-16T13:46:00.000+08:00

I had a bag of Zenxin's Okinawan Spinach that day, saved four sticks for the backyard, and they are growing!

It's the Gita!

2011-06-16T13:41:00.000+08:00

Bhagavad Gita, in comics!

Don't you love this?

2011-06-14T15:57:00.005+08:00

I recently had a backup system installed, and the box of the external hard disk had a brilliant tagline on it. Nice!

Closing the gap

2011-06-14T15:50:00.002+08:00

Lining the doors and windows with soundproofing rubber strips in time for August.

Cool weddings are made of these

2011-06-06T21:47:00.008+08:00

World Environment Day must have been really auspicious in the Indian calendar. A friend got married in a temple in a small town called Rasah Jaya, and along the way we saw many bridal cars. There was even one with real gerberas cello-taped here and there on the body of the car… apparently that's how it is done in India!

The ceremony I attended was a breath of fresh air from the big weddings that people have, no big cameras, no bright lights, just a bunch of glowing and relaxed well-wishers, and a delectable vegetarian buffet lunch. We threw yellow rice towards the newly-weds and walked barefoot on temple grounds; and learnt a lesson in fashion -- there is no need to sweat the shoes when it comes to weddings in Indian temples… they don't get to enter, anyway!

Love me tender, love me sweet

2011-05-30T12:03:00.003+08:00

Hey come meet the weeds! Word must have gotten out that they get their own real estate here, so more unidentified members of the plant kingdom have arrived, spicing up Weed County. Ahimsa is getting to be really fun!

Oh, the one on the extreme left… it closes up at night!

Stray

2011-05-23T19:15:00.001+08:00

This is so Lomo that I'm actually posting the blurer pic of two taken today. Here's a member of the plant kingdom which came uninvited. Now it sits where I work. Still not quite sure how much sun it prefers.

We are what we eat?

2011-05-18T13:50:00.001+08:00

Since I was briefed two years ago to work on a bunch of awareness materials on biosafety, the word 'modified' jumps at me when I comb through the ingredient list on jars and cans in the supermart.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are surprisingly very much present in the local market. It is not just the corn, soy beans, a certain substance used in ice-cream production, and zucchini. I have found them on pickled beetroot and gerkhins (imported products that I was going to get to spice up my sandwiches), oysters sauce (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian), and just this morning, frozen pizza!

I put them back when I spot the M word. Not to be alarmist, but I feel generally insecure the way humans play with the genes of plants and animals -- taking this out, putting that in -- and putting those into the environment, into our lives. Once something enters the food chain, there's just no recalling it. Just like the genetically modified male Aedes mosquitos in Bentong.

Feasting out of the box

2011-05-15T13:46:00.003+08:00

A mini feast at Ben's General Food Store (a seriously cumbersome name!) where rather original combinations of ingredients happen… a cold salad of cod fish and pineapple, a cheesy rocket leaf and lemony pizza.

Meatless options are getting so seductive these days, I have no complaints about The Big Group's invasion of urban life!

Let's smell the roses

2011-05-10T22:05:00.002+08:00

An awesome Crème brûlée tea at T forty two, one fine afternoon. It felt like a scene from Alice in Wonderland!

Bundles of joy

2011-05-09T22:03:00.003+08:00

Watching capsicums grow has been sheer fun. These are now 3" long. I look at them before I go out, and I check on them again when I get home… growth is evident!

And here's the very first bloom on the butternut squash, big, bold and yellow! It was open for just one day, though; probably came and went without bearing fruit. We'll see how the rest goes!

Surya Namaskar

2011-04-30T23:18:00.002+08:00

I step out of the room first thing in the morning, to take in what the sun sees when these sun-loving darlings salute it with their whole beings. Then I put my hand on the big leaf, and delight in the way it's bigger than my hand!

Waste management in the kitchen

2011-04-16T20:09:00.009+08:00

Three glorious weeks ago, I open-sesamed the Bokashi bin. It's really easy -- gather discards in a covered colander throughout the day so that excess liquid is drained off, then put them all in the bin and sprinkle a layer of Bokashi powder.

Everything is air-tight, for the anaerobic process to work properly. Every few days I open the tap for Bokashi tea, which makes the plants and the drain happy. And where does the semi-ready compost go when the bin fills up? To a sister's or a friend's garden, so that their plants may grow happy and well.

Once there must have been just the right amount of calamansi and pomelo skin in the bin… the scent would have had the branded fragrances floored!

Check out the website of the good people who brought Bokashi to Malaysia -- www.mybokashi.com

Snow White and the Seven…?

2011-04-12T16:17:00.003+08:00

I fell in love with a petai tree!

2011-04-11T13:56:00.011+08:00

Two friends stumbled upon a lovely patch of wilderness with a wooden house built upon it and decided to call it home. Tucked away in a cool hilly area two hours from Kuala Lumpur, this place looks out to zero civilisation… we watched hornbills fly by, against a hilly (and sometimes misty) backdrop, and fruit-bearing trees of an awesome variety go through subtle colour changes throughout the day.

The petai tree at the balcony was a real delight… from the white-socked yellow bells that dangled like ornaments on a Christmas tree to the spritely Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker that it played host to.

Charmed, is life…

OMG, it's Bokashi tea!

2011-04-07T23:59:00.001+08:00

Now this, really made my day! About two weeks after I opened-sesame the Bokashi bin, nutrient-rich tea came out of the tap of the bin, ready to be diluted 1000 times as a health drink for the plants, or it could be poured neat down the drain. So far, Bokashi composting has been pretty effortless compared to the eco-enzyme process (which nearly took over my life). More on Bokashi, coming up!

Weed no more

2011-04-07T18:52:00.003+08:00

When this plant came uninvited, I decided to put the concept of non-discrimination into practice, and let it stay. Who is to say anyway, who is a weed and who isn't, right? And so it got its own tiny pot and received an upgrade in plot size when it expressed a desire to grow. The inflorescence is fun to observe… I suppose it could be persuaded by the wind sometimes, but it could well be an ever-searching soul poking this way and that, striking a new posture while it's at it.

There were other 'weeds' with which I practised non-discrimation with. Some were less game. Soon after they were given their very own pots they lost it. Some weeds will be weeds.

Equanimity

2011-04-03T12:36:00.003+08:00

There is a trick that the laundry and the plants know. When Mr Loud chops pre-dawn stillness into pieces, blood everywhere, by shouting and scolding for 30 minutes on a Sunday, they remain unruffled. Now if some of that peace can rub off on me.

The importance of being happy

2011-03-29T22:08:00.001+08:00

What am I putting in the energy stew today? Walking around, am I covering the surface of the earth with anxiety-laced footprints, or those of joy, ease and lightness? Sanity can be a pretty fragile thing, but one worth preserving so that we don't burden others with our nonsense.

Communal living

2011-03-27T18:40:00.004+08:00

Butternut, before they were given more real estate each. I have no idea what's ahead of us. If and when they all fruit, I might knock on your door with a gift gourd or two!

This year I celebrated (observed?) Earth Hour three times which was rather nice. One night with friends and food, one night at the yoga studio sans music and lights, one night with the neighbours (and food again) at the poolside.

There is really a lot more to Earth Hour than just switching off for an hour once a year. But what makes it one of the most fantastic outreach campaigns of all times (year 2000 till now) is how it cut across demographics and gave many people the beautiful experience darkness.

Anyway, my electricity bill continues to be the envy of many friends here. Here's to a small shoe-size for those carbon footprints!

Boo!

2011-03-27T18:32:00.002+08:00

Just noticed something interesting (promising?) on the capsicum plant! Looking forward to the unfolding of Capsicum County!

Thinking out of the pot

2011-03-27T16:52:00.008+08:00

A charming stall that gave worms a friendly face at CETDEM's Hari Organik. The handsome Bokashi bin in the kitchen is just a week old, so I have no plans to get into vermicompost at the moment :) If you haven't heard, I was eco-enzyming so steadfastly at one point that I felt a dire need to reclaim my life!

A plant happy to be home, in an old kettle. Nearby, another plant grew out of an old boot. They just need a couple of holes drilled at the bottom, I suppose. An idea, just as I was about to run to the nursery for more pots!

Seeds galore… what I came here for! Gardeners would be spoilt for choice here. It was a simple process for me, though. I asked for vegetables that didn't mind just a couple of hours of sunlight a day, and got sawi and kangkung seeds. Might give cabbage a try, next!

I could have melted walking from canopy to canopy on an ultra-hot day like this, but noticed how uncomplaining most of the vendors were. They were in fact glowing a little, and smiling a lot. The effects of mindful eating or plain good business, maybe? Probably both!

The importance of being discerning

2011-03-26T08:04:00.002+08:00

The neighbourhood loudspeakers started this morning on why malapetaka (disasters) happen. Apparently god gives good to those who do good, bad to those who do bad.

Sometimes, yes. In a cosmic joke sort of way, when instant karma happens in day-to-day events. But I think when forces as big as tsunami befall whole communities, it is time to shut up and give. Why busy ourselves with attempts to explain things with our small minds?

I hope his audience is discerning.

We de-plastic-ed the new socks we bought for Japan, so that the Japanese may be spared the trouble of dealing with extra trash in the form of little black hooks! Off you go, ten socks from seven donors, go on and warm a few hearts!

Popeye the sailorman

2011-03-19T23:51:00.001+08:00

NZ spinach from the backyard… aren't they a beauty? I retired the tree after plucking these. Crop rotation is fun!

Extra protein, anyone?

2011-03-19T23:45:00.002+08:00

They wriggled a little when this floret came off a head of cauliflower on the chopping board. The cocoon served its purpose – I found them too gross to meddle with, so the bugs inside were left alone.

This universe, our house

2011-03-17T04:51:00.005+08:00

I heard someone say today that he doesn't mind nuclear power as long as the plant isn't near his house. In nuclear denomination, the entire universe is our house. When will we have the knowing to recognise what's bigger than us and what isn't?

Do we know our place?

The tsunami and the uncertainties at the nuclear plants must have come to illuminate governments, businesses and earthlings so that we may be more mindful with policy decisions and energy consumption.

May help find you, Japan -- food and clothing to keep the body and spirit warm, wisdom and intelligence to face the day. God bless you for doing the world a big service by being at the core of this wake up call.

You've got a friend

2011-03-17T04:09:00.004+08:00

Someone in Wauwatosa read this book -- a story told through letters -- and decided to look for her pen pal from yesteryear. And of course, Facebook came in handy!

We must have exchanged letters for a good few years, although I no longer remember what we talked about. I remember the lovely postage stamps that arrived with the letters, a few photos maybe, and we might have made each other homemade birthday cards and all.

We just found out that we both love birdwatching! It can be really nice to be in touch again with people we forgot we knew.

Off with the lights!

2011-03-16T00:41:00.003+08:00

For one hour at 8:30pm, 26 March 2011, join the rest of the world by flicking off the light switches! I remember Earth Hour last year when a yoga class was run in the dark… fun! Here, Earth Hour happens daily. In fact, my neighbours find my electricity bills out of this world. Practise, by clicking here. It's fun!

Heroes in the sky

2011-03-14T22:33:00.004+08:00

Now that places like Siberia, Mongolia and Japan are no longer freezing cold and low in food supply, raptors make their way back to their breeding grounds. The Oriental Honey-buzzards that you see thermaling over the skies of Tanjung Tuan, Malacca in this picture (click on the picture to get a better look) would have taken off from an Indonesian island called Pulau Rupat across the Straits of Malacca, about an hour before. An awesome sight, every time.

On 13 March alone, a record-high of over 9,000 birds were observed on their migratory journey. One was seen plunging into the sea, exhausted. We hope that those who made it will reach their destination safely… see you next year!

Green moments

2011-03-07T22:01:00.004+08:00

One of the things I used to buy and buy is coloured pens… such joy! The most attractive ones with marker tips and fancy colours however tend to have a short life span. When they die the whole pen body (plastic) goes to the landfill, which means they will be there long after I'm gone.

Which is not the way to go.

So I stopped buying 'disposables' and got fountain pens instead. Did you know that you no longer squeeze the air out of the ink compartment to refill… because there is a screw mechanism that takes care of this. The refill ink bottle comes with a tissue dispenser, too. They all move with the times, eh?

Lancome ring, handmade

2011-03-07T15:37:00.008+08:00

I walked into Isetan recently and a sales person transferred a dozen little black roses from her hands to mind. Perfume samples in the shape of the Lancome logo. What a brilliant idea! Or maybe it's just me when I see 2D logos take a 3D form.

Such things remind me that there'll always be a part of me that loves advertising, promotion, marketing… even when I really really think that half of the world's problems would go in a poof once we disempower advertisements and heed less and less what they want us to hear, think and feel. To never allow our brains to be washed by it. And walk oh, so free…

Some sweat and lotsa blood

2011-03-05T22:03:00.006+08:00

Here's the cover of Suara Enggang that just got a fresh new look. The buckets of sweat, blood, compromised sleep and forgotten meals that went into it, I have just concluded, sums up to self-inflicted violence… not something that I should repeat. I hope I like what I see when the printed copy gets here!

If you live in Malaysia, you get a complimentary copy, courtesy of Schmidt Marketing Sdn Bhd and the Malaysian Nature Society Bird Conservation Council, while stocks last. Just write in to ask for one, by 31 March 2011.

I hope its subscription goes up, up and up! Click here for the subscription rates and the form.

SOME garlic

2011-03-02T10:21:00.002+08:00

… that I paid RM4.82 for!

I'm gonna tell mummy you stuck out your tongue…

2011-02-28T00:42:00.004+08:00

The flower of the Mata Lembu, adored by the nectar-loving Spiderhunter. Slurp!

Beauty in the city

2011-02-28T00:11:00.006+08:00

I've always taken the first 300m upon entering FRIM as a welcome back from the towering trees on both sides of the road. As the car windows wind down, bird songs, bird calls and the smell of the trees confirm this. And I think to myself: gotta come here more often.

No more than 30 minutes from where most city dwellers live, this place is living proof that it pays to plant trees. Just look at FRIM, it doesn't feel one bit like the mining land that it once was.

Good grief

2011-02-26T12:28:00.002+08:00

So much about mourning has to do with our own emotional issues with death, than the person who has taken leave. Why do we miss so genuinely and affectionately those who have moved on, when they might not be people we keep in touch with regularly, anyway? And why should it feel unnatural, wrong, and so so sad, just because they have gone to a different place?

What is it that saddens us so deeply? I think I have for a long time intellectually accepted death and dying as part of the process -- birth and death are so logical - until the real thing strikes and I find that the words "Let's celebrate his life instead" don't compute in my head.

It's time to recondition my responses.

How much is that doggie at the window?

2011-02-24T10:36:00.006+08:00

Dirt at the window, courtesy of a neighbour upstairs who decided to pour down their spring-cleaning washing water. It wasn't funny at all, until I went back to my window and saw, among the black debris on the plants, walls and window, two tiny but beautifully formed silhouettes stuck on the glass -- a dragon and a Schnauzer, to keep the bunny company, haha.

Programmed to grow

2011-02-23T14:37:00.008+08:00

Seeds are such wondrous things, they are what they are until fate says OK, here's some soil, water, sunshine and love and they grow. Until that happens, they don't get, uhm, restless.

See the little black seeds peeping out of the brown flower petals? Soon, with some luck, generation two of Cinnamon Basil! I think I'll grow two patches of these: a bushy one for kitchen use, and a flowering one for the Olive-backed Sunbirds.

A speaker for a speaker…

2011-02-22T23:17:00.010+08:00

… an eye for an eye? When The Speaker at the window misbehaves, I turn up the volume of the speakers inside… thank goodness for these! Such bliss.

If I ever run a country I'll copy Bhutan (click on the URL and read paragraph #3) and measure Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And I'll handpick the people responsible for broadcasting sound waves in places where people call home so that they may see everyone as fellow human beings, not we and they. Noise will be treated as generic noise, and no issue will be sensitive enough to summon the burning of mock bandaged bodies.

Vincent moves on

2011-02-22T22:43:00.011+08:00

Is the ego is playing me out, or am I being materialistic? A soul moves on, and I cry like I have been robbed of a teacher/ friend, as if I owned the person.

Which got me thinking, logically -- the more friends I have, the more potential pain there is when one of us goes first. Such is life. Let's love, anyway… and live, before we go.

So, 20 hours after I learned that the birthday boy had in fact passed on, I attended the memorial service in Maha Vihara -- by the way, there is now a drive-on-the-right-lane system in one of the small but busy roads in Brickfields! -- after which we were guided on offering food to the monks. Seeing that we knew nothing of the process, the Indian lady who attended to us said, "First time, ah?"

Yes, ma'am. Never had a friend go.

You sun, I moon

2011-02-20T23:13:00.002+08:00

Watching over the city as it goes to sleep.

Waiting for the rain to stop

2011-02-20T23:10:00.002+08:00

The clothes pegs had a Kit Kat moment when rain came. So did I.

Capsicum bed

2011-02-14T10:37:00.006+08:00

Somehow the day feels more magnetised than other Valentine's. Here's wishing you good loving, may all beings heal from past blasts, may we love clearly and deeply, may we have a place in our hearts for new seeds. Happy growing!

Some enchanted ang pao packet

2011-02-11T22:04:00.009+08:00

The Village Hare Shares, says the ang pao packet. On the back of the envelope is a sweetie pie of a rabbit offering his friend Mr Tortoise some carrot. Two thumbs up for the creative team and the client!

Yee sang in a wok

2011-02-07T22:50:00.005+08:00

Ever did that yee sang thing in a wok? This was a first for us… there was no plate as big, and I didn't want to bring home a styrofoam box. Fun!

Contemplating prosperity

2011-02-07T22:11:00.012+08:00

I've been wondering how deeply I mean it when I wish my friends gong xi fa cai… perhaps it's time we moved beyond monetary blessings and include richness in time, as well. Lots of money to keep us okay, plus some time in our hands to be with dear ones, to sit with and smile to the leaves and flowers in the backyard, to ease into that less convenient option when it comes to washing up dishes vs. using disposables or minding the rubbish so that it's gentle on the landfills. Some time in our hands, to listen to the heart of hearts.

The bunny hops in

2011-02-04T23:57:00.005+08:00

The Sony H5 quit and went to camera heaven; a darling of an Olympus XZ-1 arrived. During the former's 'illness', I was looking forward to a change in my ph0to-taking life… a camera that helps me take nice-ish, random and unplanned images, perhaps. Then this tiny little thing came along. Loving it very much so far, in spite of the missing zoom power. Gongxi Gongxi!

Edible garden

2010-12-23T16:25:00.005+08:00

The greens at the backyard… they are growing! This one grew out of plucked out stalks of vegetables (which I ate) from Zenxin Organics. I put four 6-inch sticks into the soil, with one casualty. I didn't know it was the creeping sort until it started to kiss the floor. Let's see if it climbs up the grille.

Housing chicks

2010-12-06T14:05:00.004+08:00

A bird's eye view of a nest in the making, on the bougainvillea branch that dangles from the neighbour's patio below. See that extra white and fluffy cushioning? Guess where it comes from… the mop that hangs at my backyard is balding as the days go by! The Olive-backed Sunbird chicks are lucky to have a momma with fine tastes.

Breakfast for birds

2010-12-02T15:29:00.005+08:00

The morning after a ferocious storm, a cluster of berry-like blobs turned into a flower! Consider the breakfast warung for birds officially open… hope the Olive-backed Sunbirds discover it soon!

Jewels on the chopping board

2010-11-29T17:11:00.002+08:00

The resplendent bunga kantan… one of the best-smelling things on earth. If there were a perfume made of these, I'd be wearing it.

Bodacious Basil

2010-11-26T14:26:00.009+08:00

I love the backyard because Bodacious Basil lives there with the spinach, pandan and mint. Bodacious because this plant has been growing truly, madly, deeply. Then there was a pause, and then there were flowers!

Gardening is an indulgence… especially when I'm supposed to be at the work desk. Won't be entirely surprised if I had been a farmer a few lifetimes ago ;)

Sardines

2010-11-26T14:16:00.007+08:00

This 4-month-old gardener is humbled by the amazing life force energy of plants. Also their patience for carers who are slow to repot them!

"Don't waste your time."

2010-11-16T17:35:00.006+08:00

So I slowed down and recognised how I was in fact, alive.

Pinky Banana

2010-11-05T22:37:00.016+08:00

We compare. All the time. Which brings us to the inferiority, superiority and equality complex; as we get carried away measuring, measuring, measuring. Overheard:

"Hey how are the twins doing?"
"They are in school already… Standard 3 in fact!"
"Who's taller now?"
"The younger one! She caught up and overtook the sister…"
"Oh really? But wasn't she *much* smaller when they were babies…?"

The world has to learn to leave twins alone. And maybe siblings and clans too. We are different, and that is all. Comparing is unnecessary, and is often accountable for warped efforts on compensating.

Watch a cool animation here.

No holding back

2010-11-02T21:21:00.013+08:00

Domestic bliss has arrived. I can squat at the backyard beheading anchovies, and feel deeply contented for having the time and space to be with the basil and mint that are growing almost infinitely.… such vigour! It is quite nice to be aware again of beautiful, simple things like the beating heart, the breathing lungs, the sole of the feet that touches the ground, and I suppose, the head that stands! Come come, live to your heart's content!

Eat drink sunshine

2010-10-18T16:13:00.011+08:00

As baby leaves unfold I say to them, *welcome to the world, darlings* and I am happy. And then a thought bubble floats in and whisks me off to Endau Rompin, where a more hairy and bigger version of a similar baby fern leaf resides.

They call me Soapnut

2010-10-18T16:01:00.002+08:00

The first load of soapnut wash came out of a 40˚C cycle today, and I am pleased! It's easy peasy -- I dropped some tea tree oil on a tiny cotton bag and put a few nuts inside, and put it in the drum. The clothes came out smelling *nice*! If this works out, I might get in touch with the distributor for more.

We say sorry

2010-10-18T15:35:00.011+08:00

I got home from the Eco Film Fest, and sat down to watch Green the Film on YouTube. A gem of a film that was. If you are going to watch it, pay close attention to the list of 'credits' at the very end. I have one of those in the fridge.

Which makes me not quite as innocent as I would rather be -- that lorry loaded with logs spilling out of its sides, the person who brings down the trees, a whole tribe of baby oil palm trees that sit where thousands of other species used to dwell -- I cannot say that they have nothing to do with me.

This made me think of what Thich Nhat Hanh said -- we ought to look our children in the eye and say, "I am sorry, darling, for this mess we leave you." So come on people, let's be very, very gentle on the Earth and live with care.

Hersheys sand dunes

2010-09-04T18:29:00.004+08:00

Hot chocolate for the Saturday soul. I am glad to be listening to singing Oriental Magpie Robins, not girls hanging from their high-floor balconies screaming for help. That was what happened a few Saturdays ago. As I scrolled for emergency numbers to call, she had fallen to the ground. Whatever happened, may all souls rest in peace.

So 'the' convincing

2010-09-04T14:42:00.004+08:00

Another scene from the kitchen -- this one makes a rather convincing organic vegetable, don't you think? By the way, there's something about the kitchen that makes me want to be there, master chef or not. *But* the meals… they are getting easier to prepare and more edible too, thanks to the teachers!

Here's a bit of trivia from a brief visit to the management office today. I was told that one of the apartment owners was so drunk that he drove into the barrier bar at the entrance, damaging two CCTVs, the bar itself, plus the two cars parked nearby; haha. Drinks!

When man plays god

2010-08-27T13:42:00.004+08:00

How do you feel about the release of genetically modified male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into the environment? The intent is not a bad one, after all the science people wants to "curb dengue in Malaysia". So, they've come up with a frankenmossie that mates with the female Aedes aegypti in the wild. What the parents mossies don't know is that their baby mossies will never make it. Thanks to the fiddling with the genetic codes in papamossie, its larvae will die (subject to a few conditions).

I don't really care what the details and arguments are. The point, for me, is that once a frankenbeing -- flora or fauna -- is released into the great outdoors and enters the food chain, there is no undo button to hit should the day come when we realise we cannot outsmart nature.

Brew

2010-08-14T18:39:00.003+08:00

Two week's worth of vegetable and fruit scraps went into a 9-litre Lock-and-Lock container today, along with brown sugar and water. Wish us luck with the very first batch of eco-enzyme here! Not much goes into the bin and the landfill these days… for which I am happy!

Home

2010-08-14T18:34:00.003+08:00

Life, on the balcony.

Breakfast buddy

2010-08-11T20:21:00.003+08:00

A bubbly, yellow-nosed smile that could have come from Mr. Snow Man himself.

Beetles

2010-08-02T00:44:00.003+08:00

Some teas come with rather entertaining product information. This one's from a jar of apple flower tea, the first tea brewed in the cheeky Bodum Assam Teapot here. No sign of any beetle, yet.

Here comes the bride

2010-07-25T19:01:00.004+08:00

A very delicious wedding at Rama V. I'm inspired to learn to make mieng kam, and perhaps plant a sireh shrub too. Weddings like these make me happy, catching up with a good friend or two, watching the bride glow and the groom, contented.

Door

2010-07-11T21:17:00.003+08:00

The cross section of a fire door. Now that the masculine part of nest-building is nearly done, I am going to stop looking at tiles, paints, bulbs and locks; and explore instead the housewifey side of things, like getting the kitchen equipped and making sure the space smells pleasant or at least, neutral. The learning continues. Prayers for a beautiful close please, if you've got some to spare.

Rose, Rose, I love you

2010-07-11T21:15:00.002+08:00

An inversed image of the box that the light sockets came in.

That's a wrap

2010-07-09T23:40:00.003+08:00

Gone are the faces and things that became part of the landscape. It felt movie-like to watch the truck load of stuff drive off for the very last time. The space is ready, and it's time to move in and move on.

Bare bulb county

2010-07-09T23:34:00.005+08:00

The lights! They wear nothing, just good old-fashioned ceiling rose and socket. I'll dress them up as we go along, if I'm inspired to!

All white now

2010-07-04T21:55:00.000+08:00

Tabula rasa!

One-hour apprentice

2010-06-27T16:09:00.003+08:00

At Royal Selangor's Artisan Workshop recently, I made a little pewter dish and gave it some colour -- a bull and a hen on golden sands watching the clouds go by, a retirement present for two sweet souls who gave me the space to be, for four fun years of volunteerhood. Thank you.

After 5

2010-06-16T13:54:00.004+08:00

Coming home to still life everywhere, as the workers left it. A long time ago I painted these objects in watercolour every weekend. Perhaps that's how I have come to like weathered things full of evidence that they've been touched and used, giving them character. Oh, have you ever watched Life As A House?

Let's get countin'

2010-06-04T21:44:00.003+08:00

It's here, it's here! The first ever bird survey of its kind in Malaysia, this weekend!

Progress (III)

2010-06-01T22:04:00.002+08:00

Wall art, by termites.

Progress (II)

2010-06-01T21:37:00.004+08:00

Letting in the light.

Progress (I)

2010-06-01T21:33:00.006+08:00

Walls, undressed.

5-star view

2010-05-29T19:53:00.002+08:00

At a quaint coffee shop at the end of Jalan Penchala lives a window-loving tree. Or maybe a tree-loving window. Both handsome.