Showers Of Bloom

Looking at the sky as I alighted from bus Service 7, it seemed not an inviting day for an outing.

I decided for some alone time doing two of my many favourite things... being close to nature and amateur photography.

The ideal place for such an activity was definitely the Singapore Botanic Gardens at Napier Road, I thought. This is the second post of that outing. The first I posted was called "Kaleidoscope in Cactus" during the park's celebration of 150 years back in April 2009.


The weather was not as cooperative as I had hoped. It was cloudy and dark clouds were approaching from afar. Not much light for good photography I figured and as predicted, it rained heavily in the late afternoon.

Nonetheless, the water drops on the subjects added drama to the photos.

I took hundreds of photos that day but showed only the few in that one and only post. The rest are still stored in my iMac waiting for me to do something about it.


I have not forgotten about the photos, but have just not enough time to sort through them and choose the ones for my posts. The last time was cactus, so this time is about flowers. Macro shots of them, my favourite style in photography.

Nowadays, the digital camera can do wonders to make the photos look stunning. My Canon EOS 450D dSLR did most of the technical job while I provided the hands and legs, while my eyes kept a lookout for the colorful beauties that were bursting out in all its glory from the greenery.


I can remember my quiet time there, exploring the park, witnessing the beauty and tranquility nature has to offer.

Next to cactus, flowers are the most easiest to photograph. Other than that occasional gust of wind swaying my subjects back and forth, with a little patience the photo can turn out quite nice.

I cannot say the same for the fauna yet though. The many fast-moving and elusive animals at the park were just to quick for me to steal a picture from. The ones that I did get were blurry and uninspiring... the good ones are too few and far in between.


Moving subjects are hard to target and missed moments are just too many. I am so far away from being skilled to take pictures of animals or insects in the wild. So the paid entry to the zoo for photos of the animals there was my restitution.

There are so many flowers to choose from. These are some of them, but only wish I had taken down the names of these beauties...

Our Prized Cat-ch

I thought it only happens to us... a one instance, a random and very isolated case, but as it turns out, a few of my family members are experiencing the same thing as we are.

It probably is a cosmic "trend" of sorts, but I would call it a "phenomenon."

Nothing serious or mind-blowing, just being a little dramatic here. It is about a cat. Yes, the common cat... stray cats to be exact.

For the past few months, we have been visited by this jack-black cat.

We would see it taking catnaps in between our flower pots, under the cool shades of the bushy plants. A nice and quite place. I would pick that spot too if I were a cat!

Since the cat did not use our flower pots as its pubic toilet, nor did it marked the pots as its territory, we let it keep the spot for its day time naps... away from other cats and busy human traffic downstairs.

One fine day, Sonny came back from school late in the afternoon. The cat followed him home.

It took the elevator with him and was stood beside him at the front our door when Wifey opened the door... looking at Wifey as if to say "Please don't shoo me away."

Looking at us with its big green eyes, hesitating a little, Wifey could not resist but to let it in our home trailing after Sonny.

We gave it the leftover cat food we had for Wednesday... our former adopted cat that left the house and has never returned since, this black cat eat it as quickly as it could.

It allowed us to stroke it as it was eating. Wifey admired it but kept herself at a distance. She had a phobia of black cats because the last one she held when she was a teenager scratched her badly.

I had an interesting surprise coming back from work several days after that day.

The black cat was already sitting and facing the front door. It did not scamper when I approached the door, instead it purred at my feet, expecting the door to open after I rang the doorbell.

Wifey opened the door and was stunned to see the black cat at my feet. She in turn stunned me by calling the cat "Lola" with such delight. Wifey and Sonny had already given it a name.

Apparently, Lola had visited our home for several days already. She already prepared the cat food in an air-tight plastic container, placed near the front door for easy reach. She was expecting Lola to come by to feed.

Yes, Lola is a female, the reason no territorial stink marks on the flower pots. Thank goodness.

Another good thing about it is that she had already been neutered, sighting from her clipped left ear. An indication done by SPCA on strays to prevent breeding while giving the cats their freedom and right to live amongst humans.

From that day onwards, Lola will come about two to three times a day for her meals. Like children during Halloween, Lola will meow at the door. We will open the door and greet her while putting food outside for her to feed.

I thought this was a unique incident until my Mom told me the same thing that happened to her and Dad. They have an adopted stray cat that came to their front door for food for the past weeks.

They have since called their cat Minah. A very common Malay lady's name. Their cat is one beautiful white feline with brownish-gray spots and green eyes. I witness what they told me one day when I visited them. I was fortunate to have my camera with me to take its pictures.

Not long after that, Second Sis told me she was visited by a female cat at her front door too. Meowing for food, Sis let it in and fed it. She has a cat of her own already but is now too old and frail.

The new comer is about a year old. It stayed for the night but fell sick with runny nose and often sneezing. Sis nursed it back to health in her home for the next four days.


The little cat recovered from her bout of flu and left her home after that. It keeps coming back only for food.

If I had known better, I would say it is the trend with cats nowadays. These cats prefer to be free to roam outside unlike "traditional" house cats I was used to when I had cats as pets while living in the village home then.

These cats come to feed, stay for a while for some human compassion and love, and then leave until their next meal. At least that is the trend with cats in Singapore, it seems.

Like Old Times

It would be ideal if I could post my entries as close after the event day itself as possible, but time keeps slipping away from me.

Between work, family and good sitcoms on TV, I barely have any time now to write about my day... much less surf to read other blogs. When I do find time, the only two places I go to often are my blog and Facebook sites. My iMac is so underutilized... why do I get so tired and out of time lately?

This entry is about Father's Day.

Yes, that special day came on Sunday, 21 Jun 2009 and had been long gone. I started writing about it on the actual day itself, but it just got stuck for so long. Yet that day has to be remembered in my blog because of two special reasons...


Thank You Dad

One, I felt I returned at least a tiny bit of happiness back to Dad with our outing at the Singapore Zoo on Saturday, a day ahead of Father's Day.

I know I should stay away from descriptive writing, knowing how "well" I command the English language, but these writings are my memories I wish to cherish should my memory become poorer than it is today.

I chose the zoo for our outing because I wanted Dad to relive the happy times we had here with the whole family during my childhood.


Dad's then employer, Singapore Telecoms, held their annual Family Day at this park as it was the popular choice among its employees when surveyed.

My own folks could never afford and would never fork out so much money for the costly entry tickets for a whole family of ten. Even then, I knew that amount of money would be better spent on our daily necessities as Dad was the sole breadwinner of the family.


I do know that the bus fares for the whole family must have cost Dad a tiny hole in his pocket for that month. It was after all, a long ride to and from our village home. Nevertheless, Dad gave us that chance to experience modern attractions the park had to offer.

The journey was as thrilling as the park itself. Coming out from the rural village near Paya Lebar to the clean and at-the-time modern cityscape, the long journey to Mandai Road kept me wide-eyed.

We would get free packed meals, goodie bags and play lots of fun games while gawking at many of the animals in their enclosures all day. It was one of the most happiest days of my childhood memories outside the village.

That particular Saturday has great significance to me.

Knowing Dad is getting much older and frailer every passing day, he now uses the cane to aid walking. He gets tired easily from walking, so it makes him scared to go out for grocery shopping now.

And Mom, well she is already getting around in a wheelchair whenever she is outside the house, so taking my old folks outings need some careful planning on the type of places and activities that they both enjoy while the getting around to and from the destination will only have one option... by cab.


Wifey did not come along that day. She already accepted a prior engagement with the mothers from Sonny's school. It was their first "girls day out" getting to know more about one another and sharing their experiences on coping with teenage children.

So it was just my parents, Sonny and me. That means we only needed one cab for transportation. Else, my parents will ride with me in one cab while Wifey and Sonny takes another. Quite an expensive affair on a weekend just for transport alone.

Yet, the experience to enjoy each others' company is priceless and I will not trade it for anything else. Making beautiful memories is my thing!


Thank You Sonny

Settling on the transport was one thing, but exploring the zoo meant for lots of walking. The most unlikely place to bring my old folks.

Fortunately, with the school holiday promotion, a bundled ticket price was truly welcomed. For S$25.00 Adult and S$19.00 Seniors, we get to unlimited rides on the trams around the entire park and a riverboat ride, a first in the zoo across the Upper Seletar Reservoir.

We got to cover most of the enclosure with the tram rides and only walk little distances to take a closer look at the animals.


We ate tuna and lettuce sandwiches I prepared at home before we left for our breakfast at the picnic area right after the entrance. There were met with visiting birds there with loud sounds of chippings and monkeys as if we were deep in the jungle.

Lunch was a perfect time. We had packed Nasi Rendang for us, while Dad had Nasi Lemak. We ate at the elephant amphitheater and had a good rest. Dad dozed off for a bit before the elephant show started. We did not have to rush for eats at all.

I think both Mom and Dad enjoyed the riverboat ride very much.


Dad kept looking at the water for glimpses of fishes peeking out to the surface during the ride. In fact, Dad kept looking at the water in the moat and ditches at all enclosure that had them for fishes.

It was more interesting to him than the animals in them!

That reminded me that Dad likes fishing and used to go for overnight fishing trips with my older brothers and brother in laws when he was much younger.

He was thrilled to feed the Kois at The Bottle Tree Park I took him the weekend before. I have yet to post any photos of our outings there. Looks like our future outings will involve places with body of water and the opportunities to see lots of fishes.

Yet the most amazing thing about the whole outing was Sonny. He focused his attention to Mom the whole time. He took charge to wheel her around from the moment we stepped out from my parents' home. Had lots of conversations with her until we were safely back.

I was so proud of Sonny for his maturity. He took the responsibility to care for his grandmother throughout the outing. That made me so happy and able to concentrate on Dad.

At times, Dad was thrown out of balance, I was like his shadow discreetly ready to catch hold of him if needed. I really appreciate his and very proud of Sonny. It was my Father's Day gift from him while I was giving that to my Dad.

Happy belated Father's Day Dad. We all love you.

Australian Outback

Ethiopian Great Rift Valley

Siberian Tigers

Upper Seletar Reservoir Riverboat

Asian Jungle

Asian Elephants

West Africa

Sumatran Jungle

Happy Birthday, Love!

The months of June and July have always been the most interesting months in the calendar because the birthdays of all 3 of us fall in between them.

Like yesterday, the "commotion" at the front door for a birthday surprise was for me. Today the surprise was for Wifey.

I stopped by Prima Deli on my way back from work to buy her the birthday cake. I had to buy bags of groceries too at NTUC Supermarket to "hide" the surprise bag away from her attention because I know that she will open the front door for me.


Passed by Sonny room and gave a "secret" knock on his door as I entered my gym room. Sonny came out and followed me to set candles on the cake. He also already had the cigarette lighter with him.

Sonny bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers to surprise his mother too. In the bouquet were 3 red roses surrounded by white flowers and baby's breath. A wonderful gift, I think.


The last bouquet he gave her for Mother's Day is still looking fresh in the fridge.

While Wifey was preparing dinner for us, Sonny surprised her with his flowers. I think Wifey was expecting a cake but not another bouquet. Sonny made his mother so happy.

We led her to the living room where the lighted cake was waiting for her. As usual, I was armed with my camera to capture the special moment from this family as we sang her a birthday song.


Yesterday was a chocolate birthday cake for me. Today is a fresh fruit birthday cake for Wifey.

The coming weekend is already set to culminate all celebration of birthdays of my family. We intend to watch a movie - preferably Transformers if we can still get the tickets and then a scrumptious dinner to top it all of.

Camping is in the cards, but I think we will be too tired out after the celebrations. We will see.

This week has been great, we are going to make the weekend amazing too!