You brighten up my day

Murraya

Rose

Hibiscus

Gardenia

Bengal Clockvine

Bengal Clockvine

Mother's day

给自己人生画上一个完美

I like this:

生是一次偶然 死是一次必然~！活着的过程 这就是人生~！不要求自己走出的每一步都是对的 只要求自己走出的每一步都是无悔的 人生足已~！在活着的时候要找到自己存在的价值~！让自己过的充实一点~！.既然来到这个世界走一回，就好好的活上他一回~！活着一定要属于自己的“目标”和“梦想”给自己的人生画上几道色彩~！要是找不到自己存在的价值 就想想 自己 给自己一个交代 给父母 朋友 心里最爱的那个他/她一个交代~！然后在好好享受夕阳美 傻笑一下 给自己人生画上一个完美~..！ 活着的意义就是为了寻找活着的意义

You light up my heart

You light up my heart the moment you were born
You are the reason I never gave up

In a blink of the eye the big one turned 42 on 23 April and the second turned 39 on 20 April

Birthday dinner for my 2 sons

250 million children are working in the world.

Do you Know?

Today, close to 250 million children are working in the world. More than 150 million of these children are working in dangerous conditions. Additionally, each year more than 1 million of these children will be victims of human trafficking.

Source: https://www.humanium.org/en/child-labour

Source: http://www.abc.net.au

I simply love flowers

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature. 
De Nerval

Flowers currently blooming in my little garden

Believe it or not (2)

As a child I often had to look after my younger brothers while my Mother was busy with her household chores.  One particular activity I remember very clearly was rocking one of  my younger brothers in a cloth hammock.  I have 3 younger brothers.  I still remember clearly the daily scene.  I was probably about 6 years old. My brother who is 1 year+ younger than me would be playing around, another younger brother would be carried by  my Mother on her back in a baby carrier made of cloth (while she went about doing her chores) and I would be tasked with rocking one of the brothers (either the second youngest or youngest) in a cloth hammock.

cloth hammock

Our house was a wooden house on stilts.  The kitchen was downstairs.   To reach the kitchen we had to go down a long flight of stairs at the back and pass a long corridor.   Whenever my Mother had to go downstairs to wash the clothes or cook she would not leave us upstairs but instead bring all the 4 of us downstairs.   

It was again one of those typical days.  My mother set up the hammock outside the kitchen door.  I was tasked to look out for my toddler brother and to rock the hammock.  She carried another brother on her back and did her cooking. The only difference that day was the presence of a construction worker who was on the roof repairing the leaking roof. 

While I was rocking my brother I noticed a man looking and smiling at us from the window upstairs, next to the long staircase.  However what was strange about the man was the size of his face.  His face was huge and actually filled the whole window.  When my Mother came out to check on us I told him about the man with the big face.  She look terrified because she actually did not see any face.  She then called out loudly to the worker who was repairing the roof and asked him whether anyone was with him. She told the worker what I saw.  The worker responded " Oh, your daughter can see him?  Then I'll ask him to go home first".  The big face then disappeared.

Believe it or not (1)

Dimsum with Nor and SL in UNIQUE Seafood PJ

What has dimsum got to do with ghost stories?  Nothing right?  Absolutely nothing.  Several days ago while having dimsum and chatting with my 2 childhood friends for 4 hours, somehow  our childhood experiences dominated our chats.  My childhood stories focused on my ability to see apparitions when I was young.  My friends proposed I record my experiences lest the past gets lost from our memories with advancing age.   

One of my earliest memories was playing on the cherry tree with many small friends.  What I remembered was my Mother calling out to me to ask me to go back into the house for lunch.  I ignored her ...so she came to me urging me to get down from the cherry tree.  I told her I would have lunch later because I wanted  to play with my friends on the tree.  Then she suddenly frantically climbed up the cherry tree herself and pulled me away.  In the evening I overheard her telling my Father that there was nobody on  the tree.  Probably I was about 5 years old.

   

With mixed feelings today I said good bye

A small discussion area at the entrance of  the office

Today I have mixed feelings about stopping my engagement with this organization which I’ve been involved with for 17 years as an independent researcher.  I really like what I do for the organization. I like being engaged in something, I like doing research and I enjoy sharing my knowledge.  On the other hand after 17 years a kind of fatigue has set in. Maybe I should start something fresh or maybe I should just leave the working world behind, not do anything at all and just disappear quietly into my old age?   

As usual I have a bite at the canteen on the 5th
floor before proceeding upstairs to conduct
my briefng

The 5th floor canteen

Waiting for the feeder bus to take the MRT to the city

The 48 floor building that houses the office
which is on the 29th floor

I have grown attached even to this efficient
machine at the office which printed all my papers

A flower's appeal

A flower’s appeal is in its contradictions – so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect.  ~Adabella Radici

Very excited with my new plants

Zinnias

Mandevilla rocktrumpet)

Mandevilla rocktrumpet)

Marigold

Zinnias

Pink lantern plant / Medinilla scortechinii

Thunbergia grandiflora /Bengal Trumpet/Bengal clockvine/ Blue skyflower

Thunbergia grandiflora /Bengal Trumpet/Bengal clockvine/ Blue skyflower

To friendship

When we left Parit Buntar for Petaling Jaya in 1962 my father's friend came all the way from Parit Buntar by train to give us this clock as a house warming present. When father passed away 4 years ago I took it over as a memory of him, of Parit Buntar and his close friend who not only gave us this clock but ,according to mother, also helped our family whenever he thought we needed help.

Good memories also bring tears to our eyes.

CNY reunion dinner

Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.

-Lisa Weedn

CNY family reunion dinner at Amber Restaurant, Bangsar South