Spring Is Here!

The day finally arrived when we have our home back to its clean and comfy condition.

After tolerating with the mess, the dust and disarray since last Tuesday, and after toiling with Wifey and Sonny for the rest of the week, we can finally rest and call it our home, sweet home again.

We had our home floor renovated.

It sounds simple but renovating an already lived-in home is a total nightmare. We did the flooring of the entire house except the ceramic tiled kitchen and our two bathrooms. The entire laminate flooring we had installed since the first day we moved in about sixteen years ago had seen its days way and was ready to be replaced.

We replaced it with the same type of flooring, not ceramic tiles or marble slabs but with a Belgium made laminate flooring called Balterio. This new type of laminate technology may be known in Europe but is very new in this part of the world. The contractor told us that we are the first home to install it in Singapore! We feel special nonetheless, however true that claim may be.


The whole house was "ransacked." Contents from furniture and our wardrobes had to be taken out for the contractors to shift them around. They pried open one end of the room and laid new flooring and then moved the furniture to the other end of the completed area to start prying open the old flooring to lay new ones.

It was repeated from one room to another, starting with our living room, then the bedrooms where they spent a longer time "maneuvering" around the built-in wardrobes. But the worst was the store room.

We knew we had lots of stuff in there but never thought it could fill up two rooms' floorspace!

We are Malays but felt we were so much more busier than the Chinese folks who are currently spring cleaning their homes for the coming Lunar New Year of the rabbit. The whole house churned out more "dust bunnies" than we could ever imagined!

We ended up spring cleaning even harder and throwing out more junk than we even remembered we had. Important stuff way back then but mostly for charity and the dumpster today.

We have been more than happy with our old laminate flooring. It was easy to maintain, not slippery, not cold to the touch as we can lay on it comfortably unlike laying on ceramic tiles where you can feel the coldness all the way in your bones.

Scratch, stain and high impact resistant. It was water resistant too but we pushed our luck too many times and had to deal with the consequence when we accidentally left our living room windows wide open at night before we went to sleep.

The rain at night blew into our living room and made puddles of water on the floor to slowly absorb in between the planks and damaged it. Rough ridges popped along the edges of the high compressed planks. The first incident was forgiving but by the third time, we learnt our lesson and had to pay for it... literally.

We love the feel of this type of flooring, so people may say we have not learnt our lesson still because we chose to install the same type of flooring again... yet, we have no regrets at all. We are ecstatically happy instead. We brought the resort living into our home now.

After almost a week of dust, a couple of days of putting back where everything was, throwing out the stuff we do not need anymore and six thousand dollars later, we have our home again. Phew!

We made it. The long weekend is coming... we will get to enjoy the two days public holiday and the weekend back to back!

My Little Oasis

Fresh from our techno gadget shopping at Singapore Expo, it was time for my second favourite thing to shop for... plants!

A walking distance away from where we alighted at Tanah Merah MRT station, are two nurseries we normally frequent for our gardening needs.


The Katong Flower Shop did not have what I wanted after browsing its many beautiful array of plants.

We headed next to its neighbour, Chye Heng Orchid Garden along Simpang Bedok Road.


There, even before we entered its compounds, were rows and rows of Jasmine plants… the exact ones I was looking for!

We could smell its sweet fragrance from the blooming white flowers as we walked closer to look. The exact experience I wish to have in our garden!

All excited, Wifey and I still browsed the entire nursery, simply because we both love looking at the different kinds of blooms there, all healthy, under the expert care.

With the assistance of the helper there, he tagged along as we browsed and asked for his opinions on the best bet of plants that are hardy enough to survive under our amateurish care.


Knowledgeable as he was, it made it easier for us to finally narrow down to several types of plants that did not require much sunlight to survive.

The hot contenders were the Iron Tree, Yuka Tree and a few others, of which the long and complicated botanical names had escaped my mind as soon as I stepped out of the nursery, we settled for my favourite Murraya Jasmine and Fichus Tree.


We bought 6 pots of the flowering Jasmines and 1 pot of the decorative Fichus Tree.

The Jasmines replaced by the ailing Durantas, I repotted three each into the two, four by one feet planters. Those were placed right near the metal railing parapet where they receive the full two or three hours of morning sunlight each day.

The Fichus Tree took over the large terracotta pot we got from Ikea years back, from the overgrown Traveler’s Palm. We placed it at the inner part of the corridor where only the brightness of the sunlight is received.

The strategic location is to keep some privacy against prying eyes where our open door is visible from the lift landing. I like to keep the front door open on weekends to have the garden in plain view and fresh air circulating.

We were assured that the Fichus Tree needed just bright area without direct sunlight, along with the advice to water it once in a few days and fertilize it once every two weeks.


Unlike the Fichus Tree, the Jasmines need to be watered daily and fertilized once a week. The pink coloured liquid fertilizer works very well to encourage our Durantas to flowers, so Wifey wanted the same one for our new Jasmines.

I worked through the afternoon right after reaching home and into the early evening; intermittently getting help from Sonny and Wifey.


When I finally completed my garden makeover project, I was totally happy and satisfied by the way it all turned out. Mission accomplished!

Our family now has a brand new garden we could enjoy again. It will be even wonderful when the flowers actually bloom. It will be a spectacular view to enjoy and with it, the sweet fragrance that the flowers will give off that will be blown into our home!


I am hoping that that time will come soon enough and will be a repeatable occasion in our garden for us to enjoy. I know our next-door neighbours will enjoy too.

So, for now, with mine and Wifey's tender loving and care, we really are hoping that the plants will grow well and hardy against the mealy bugs infestation like what had happened to Durantas.

We are hoping that the sunbirds will once again come by to get their fill of the red berries the Jasmines will provide after every bloom and sing their gratefulness song to their hosts who truly enjoy their melodies.

All Fired Up!

I wish I was talking about my zest for what my job entails... or the long, overdue family vacation in a faraway beach resort somewhere...

Alas, it is not... not for a foreseeable period of time.

The newspaper only told what has been felt by all here that the month of February was the hottest and most driest month in Singapore in all 140 years!

The has not been rain in Tampines for the whole month. There were rainfall in other parts of the island, but amounted only to a drizzle. The weather is not about to let up anytime so soon either. We are looking or rather, going to feel this scotching heat for a couple of months to come.


Already into early March, Tampines has been all "fired-up!" Bush fire along Avenue 9 has been in the newspapers every year, but never this often.

Apart from the searing heat, intermittently since last month, we had to endure burning smells and traces of soot flying into our home and dirtying our white day curtains from the bush fires that had been raging a few blocks away in the wooded area along Tampines Avenue 9.

That has been the place where I like to go mountain biking on weekends to escape the city life and reconnect myself with nature. Nothing much to see there; no spectacular view that is worth a picture to be taken but the quietness except for the rustling of the leaves when the wind blows accompanied by the songs of the different kinds of birds make the place my oasis away from home.

Now, as I am typing this post, this oasis of mine is still burning. I know this because I can see the hazy cast I see outside my window. The smell of burnt grass is strong too.


I surprised that the fire was raging as I got off the bus along Tampines Avenue 9 after work today. Stopped a while and took some pictures and some video shots with my iPhone.

I was quite immersed in snapping pictures and shooting videos that when I turned around, I could see a cluster of after-work people like me, doing the same thing... with their iPhones! It will not be a surprise to stumble upon the same bush fire take in their blogs or Facebook.


Poor Wifey has had her first rash on parts of her body simply because the weather is just too hot and humid that her own perspiration irritated her skin... and Wifey is not the kind of person who perspire so easily.

That is not all that has taken its toll on Wifey. The air quality, though not as bad, has triggered her with mild asthma attacks. Fortunately, the recent trip to the doctor's at Changi General Hospital has kept her prepared for this and make it bearable for her.

I on the other hand, has been perspiring like a pig. The fan is and aimed at me wherever I am in my home... either at the living room watching TV or at my den, surfing the net or blogging.

We cannot really turn on the air-conditioner often because Wifey hates it and I do not like it because it is costly energy guzzler and not environmentally friendly. We tried turning it all night while we slept when the air was bad and the fan was effectively blowing warm air. I slept soundly and did not break a sweat but Wifey was not as comfortable.


She told me the next morning that she had to take a puff of her inhaler in the middle of the night before she could get to sleep again.

So, as hot as 35 degrees Celsius it gets, this household will have fans blasting its occupants until the weather is said to come down to its normal average temperature of 30 degrees Celsius during the day and 26 to 28 at night.

For now, the fire fighters will be busy putting out sporadic bush fires around this island for two more months.

Just Inches Away!

I do not get it!

This is something that I cannot comprehend... the things that some people do without thinking a little bit more as to the consequence their deed is affecting others.

It is common practice by residents living in blocks of flat to bag their own rubbish, tie it securely and dump it into the rubbish chute that is available for common use on every floor.

It is quite understandable if big items like furniture are difficult to be thrown away, but it still is the responsibility of the owner to dispose off them properly. The means are given for each person to choose.

Either they bring it down to the designated bulky item disposal area or pay a mere S$5.00 fee by giving a call to the town council for the cleaners to collect it from their homes for disposal.

Recently, we have been plagued with garbage that is left at the rubbish chute area. Not thrown into the chute, but left by it almost every day! The elusive dumper is just inches away from pressing down the chute pedal to open and throwing his day's rubbish into the chute.

The mess it makes when the wind blows the rubbish off its opened bag, or topple it and spewing its contents across the lift landing! At times we can smell the stench of rotting food scraps when we open our door on weekends.

This simple routine of throwing rubbish into the chute seems just too complicated to figure out by a certain individual on our floor.

There are sometimes larger pieces of discarded items at the chute area, items that should be torn apart to smaller pieces that can then be placed into a garbage bag or just fit through the chute hole, but is left there irresponsibly, oblivious to keep the the common place clean and hygienic.

This kind of thing happens sometimes when a new neighbor comes to the block. They care less about disposing their rubbish responsibly. Sometimes, the owner of the house rents out to foreign students or workers, they may not know the proper way of disposing their rubbish.

And at times too, with the same ignorance to the culture here, newly employed foreign maids are the culprits. We know this because we saw and advised one some years back.

Most times, we just ignore the mess they make, hoping that in due time they will come to their senses and be civil about it... attuned to the way we do things here. But as times goes by, the situation does not seem to improve. We are beginning to can get agitated more each passing day with the mess this elusive dumper makes.

The last time this happened was by a new neighbor who had just moved in. The irony of it all was that the culprit worked as a nurse! There were receipts and hospital schedules baring her name we saw when the rubbish spewed all over the floor and blown onto the staircase.

Even the Bangladeshi cleaner was angry at the mess he had to clean up after almost every day. The cleaner asked Wifey one day while she waited for the lift whether she knew who did it.

I finally caught the elusive dumper red-handed one night when we came back from an outing and just so happen to see her dumping her rubbish.

The rubbish chute is near the lift landing, several metres away from our front door. So when the lady came and went off from the chute area without the sound of the self-retracting chute being opened and closed, I was most certain she was the one.

I quickly went over to the chute and discovered the same light yellow plastic bag she carried was left by the chute... by the chute! Not thrown into it when the bag can fit through it.

I took the rubbish bag and went straight to her home to confront her. She denied that the rubbish bag was hers but she knew we saw her with the bag while we were at our front door.

I told her I had witnessed her irresponsible act and would have to report her to the town council if this were to happen again. I left the rubbish bag at her front door asking her to throw it properly, responsibly. She did.

We had never spoken before, so after that incident we did not acknowledge each other whenever we passed one another at the corridor or even while in the lift together. The would be neighborly relationship turned sour before it even started.

Yet, I do not mind. The good thing is that the irresponsible act had stopped. I think good hygiene in our common areas is worth more than a passing "hello."

Now, it looks like I have to stake out again to catch the new elusive dumper...

Talk Is Cheap!

I called home this afternoon to find the ring tone sounding rather strange.

My first thought was that maybe either Wifey or Sonny might have not hang-up the receiver properly. On second thought, the ring tone was totally the first time I have heard.

Then it came to me, that my land-line phone was being switched over from the quarterly chargers from Singtel to the voice modem Starhub Broadband is offering to its customers for free.

Yes, free until December 2010. From today and until two years later, all incoming and outgoing calls within Singapore is free. Wifey's chats with her Mom across the causeway in KL, Malaysia has become insanely cheap. I believe her Mom will be happy to receive her calls more often from now on.

The VoIP modem and installation were given and done for free too. And as a bonus, the current number remains the same! We do not have to do anything at all but to enjoy the freedom of talking.

Talk is cheap literally now... nope, it is free!

I sound like I am endorsing the company, I am not, but if it sounds like it, so be it! I'm saving lots of money each month and one less hassle for Wifey to run errands for payments.

It does pay to be loyal.

Thank you Starhub. You rock!

A Leaky Plan

I have to admit that I have not dived fully into planning our outing for Mother's Day yesterday.

Talked about it with friends for the possible nice restaurants to treat my two special ladies in my life, Wifey and Mom. Had some suggestions on the gifts I could give... but how many watches, or bracelets or necklaces could a woman wear...

A lady colleague suggested giving cash instead... they can do whatever they wish with it. Well, good idea, but a little too practical and impersonal, I thought. I would use it as a last resort if I could not figure something out.

I finally planned to treat them at Bali Thai at Causeway Point in Woodlands and then do some shopping with them at the mall getting something they actually chose and want.

All was well, Sunday was the day and it came...

"Ayah!" Wifey shouted and awoke me from my wake-up-late Sunday sleep. "The sink is flooding with water!"

It sure was. Fortunately the water had not flooded down the woodwork of our vanity sink.

It was not as bad a leak, but the tap had to be changed nonetheless as it trickled water slowly, but surely wetting the glass top.

I had to wrap a towel around the lever where the water was leaking from. There was nothing that could be done to the 5 year old tap, the time we renovated our toilets.

Guess it was high time to change, I thought.

And it sure was!

I noticed the kitchen tap was leaking water from its mid section where the spout can swivel, but only when the tap was turned on. Great! Sigh!

Yes, the kitchen tap was 5 years old too.

We renovated our kitchen and both the kitchen and the master bedroom toilets together. The taps had lasted that long and that was fortunate enough.

That was about that length of time before the taps break and start to leak, said the sales person when we asked him for its lifespan.

We had to get the same design to not complicate matters and avoid fitting problems if the newly bought ones could not fit the glass-top and clear off the floating glass bowl.

Thus the pictures I took to show the sales guy the exact design we wanted.

I called Mom to inform her of the crisis we were having and to postpone the outing. As beautiful as Moms are, she was nice to accept it.

In fact, I was a little too zealous with the celebration. The rest of my siblings were coming over to celebrate with her... not exactly a surprise. In fact all my siblings seemed to not inform each other, but visit our parents with pot luck food they cooked and bought for her. This happens every year, and I never learn.

Mom told me that some were already there, while some were on their way to her place. The house was noisy with children's voices playing in the background. It would have been fun there than being at the store picking out facets.

It struck me as being selfish to take away our parents from the rest of the siblings to celebrate. It turned out that I was the only sibling not there with her. I will make up for it another time. She knows that.


So, Mom was happy. Great! Phew!

I got to focus on Wifey alone to having a good time out with her after we settled with the taps we wanted from HomeOne Euro... on a Mother's Day. Sigh.

I had to spend S$400.00 on the two taps and the plumbing service to fix them.

I got to give Wifey a dinner treat... at Arnold's. And got to buy her two of her favourite CDs by the Indonesian Divas she so admires as a gift for being my son's favorite Mom of all times.

The day was saved and I learnt a lesson... amid a leaky grand scheme of things.

My Private Lightshow

Sunday nights are my most dreaded nights of the week.

Yes, you guessed it right. Fun is over, now getting ready to be the responsible adult again throughout the workweek starting the next morning.. and the next four mornings to come.

This weekend has been extremely hot. I am not complaining, I like sunny days that are breezy, but unfortunately the breeze was warm air... almost like in a sauna you cannot get out of.


I am surprised there are no reports of wild bush fires to date... maybe I am ahead of myself on this. It may take time to dry up the low-lying grasses and bushes before the heat can ignite it.

Last evening was totally hot and humid. A clear sign the rain was coming when the wind started to pick up... rattling the leaves as the trees outside bent with the wind. Blowing the curtains up high and sounds of neighbors windows blown shut.

I thought it would be a reprieve from the heat... get a good night's sleep with cool air to enjoy, accompanied by the rhythm of raindrops to lullaby my nightly retire.


Yet I ended up sitting up at the edge of my bed, elbows "perched" on my widow sill and watching the spectacle of light show in the night sky... dripping in sweat even with the fan turned on.

Thunderstorm showed a promised date to arrive with its colorful rake-like lighting strikes, but eventually the rain never did come... just passing by overhead. The thunderous roars slowly softened into the night as the dark clouds moved farther away.

This event will not be as interesting to imagine without snapshots of the light-show itself.

Worth the private window-seat anytime.

Wake-Up Call

View out of my window with dawn sky changing hue

"Alright, alright. I'm awake now."

I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the toilet.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp... and lots of other indescribable babble coming from our unofficial wake-up call service still heard behind the toilet door.

"Hey! It's Sunday!" I told myself while I perched on the toilet slowly gaining composure.

Our morning wake-up call provider - the prolific Mynah

Yes, we have this prolific talking Mynah that perches on our bedroom window sill or casement most mornings to wake both Wifey and I up.

It will come around 8:00AM and babbles loudly lecturing how lazy this couple is... telling us get up to start our day already.

Most days, I will wake-up to an interesting tapestry of beautiful dawn skies to start my day... stare to admire it for a while and then get ready for work.

Most weekends, I would stare at the day's spectacle of changing colored skies... feel good inside and then go back to sleep again... until the wake-up call.

It is not all that bad though, as some days, we will get to hear the many beautiful morning songs from the many different kinds of birds. This part is my most favorite as I get to lay in my bed listening to nature's lullaby while watching the skies change colors. Totally therapeutic.

Anyway, if we are able to ignore the wake-up call or maybe totally unperturbed by it, the next wake-up call after the snooze mode will be from a whole gang of 5 to 6 Mynahs chatting over the day's load of rubbish.

Literally, the city's rubbish truck will make its way every morning to collect trash from the central rubbish chute in our block.

I guess these are the same Mynahs that I have seen on several occasions while going to work. One particular bird will fly onto the moving rubbish truck that is making it way to our block.

One Mynah on top left & one perched looking at the buffet spread

Perched at the end of the truck, it gets a free ride until the truck stops and starts to back-up to connect its end to the central chute. This will be the gang's split-second time to forage for food off the truck buffet-style.

This morning, I just had to take some photos of our service call provider... the alarm-clock Mynah, since it is exceptionally chatty today.

"Make it go away..." Wifey told me, still laying down on the bed and making the shooing gesture with her hand "it will poop on our window."

Well, I would rather take its pictures...

Silently, I creped-up to the window and snapped some pictures behind the day curtains. I guess it sensed something was moving behind the curtains dark inside, as it stared in my direction for a few seconds before flying off with a continuous chirp.

I think we should be grateful, for not many residents here get a free wake-up call from a bird. When it does poop, our downstairs neighbor's window will get the brunt of it... so I am not all too concern about the after-effect of this service.

Only hope is that our upstairs neighbor does not employ the same service call... it will be a messy affair as far as window sills are concern.

We Got One!

Like a breakthrough in Ghost Busters movie, we found ours. The search is over!

The quest for the Great Room Divider, partition or folding screen... whichever name you want to call it has been won!

Sign, sealed, delivered... "by Wednesday, 5th August, between 10:00am to 1:00pm, Ma'am." Salimah, the sales lady said. Yes!

Finally we have settled for the first one we ever laid eyes before the big quest started, at Barang Barang in Singapore Post building... after tracking to Harvey Norman at Millenia Walk and several other furniture stores at Marina Square and Suntec City... and lastly at Parkway Parade.

The heavens have truly gave us a blessing when we returned back to Barang Barang; resigned to the Solomon Divider "with Lava Motif" as it was my first choice anyway, to find it selling at 50% off this time! No Way...! Way! Yes!!!

So instead of the actual price of $690.00, we got it for half. The uncertainties and delays turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us.


Done! Our home furnishing "project" is now complete as far as "sourcing" is concern.

After 6 years, we finally replaced our sofa set, which triggered everything else. The need for new drapes custom-made with dark-wood poles to match the deco.

That replacement triggered what Wifey has been nagging about for sometime, the need for a room divider for more privacy against the peering neighbors passing by our front door.

Which then led to complementing the room divider itself by filling the void with a modern-classic mango-wood vase.

That is not all.

The dark-wood furniture will not standout if the walls were not painted off-white, to create that Zen-Balinese, resort-like feel. So the painters will come to start painting the living hall with ICI Pearl-Glo Apple-White this Thursday for the last stack of my S$550.00!

That is it! No more money will be spent on home deco for the next 5 years! Please!

We do feel that we went a "tat" overboard with the revamp of our home... typical of many Malays who are very house-proud. It becomes more intense usually when Hari Raya is nearing.

Coincidentally, we will be celebrating it this 13th October 2007. Or is it?

The Great Divide-r

The quest for home deco continues on...

The search for that elusive room divider with that Zen-like dark wood finishing led us to the most unlikely of places.

Picket & Rails came to Wifey's mind and surfing online for their branches on this island has led us to their biggest showroom of 30,000 feet at Mandai Estate, off Woodlands Road. That was near the Singapore Zoological Garden... which I would rather go.

Then again, the long journey on a bus service 960 from Tampines Interchange to Woodlands Road would a long but pleasant ride... if we had left earlier. Instead, we took the expensive route in a cab that cost S$14.00 to my surprise.

A run-down 1960's dilapidated building with a saving grace of a Picket & Rail banner on it. What! Are we at the right address?

The place was so quiet almost mistook it as a deserted warehouse even though it was near the busy Woodlands main road. I felt as if I was in a movie scene trafficking guns or drugs, or something.

Wifey was equally shocked. "Scary" was her sole word upon reaching the parking lot.

I thought somebody might have forgotten to update their website, until I saw a small flickering light coming off a zen-like water feature in front of its showroom entrance at the staircase. With it, was some yellowish, weather-beaten promo pamphlets that greeted us as we alighted the cab.


Most of the furnitures were as dated like the building itself. It irked me for making such a long and expensive trip, to find a room divider that could be mistaken for a 1950's coffee shop partition.

Maybe just because the style was not to our taste.

The out of the way was not surprising when we were the only customers there. The only nice thing about the place was the sales people. Warm, friendly, informative and very helpful.

We left the place in less than 10 minutes and got a cab as we reached the main road. Harvey Norman at Millenia Walk was our next attempt.

Fortunately, casual talks with the cab driver about furniture hunting led him to introduced us back to the area early into the journey to Sungei Kadut Drive. There, 8 to 9 large warehouse furnishing stores were within walking distance between each other.

We went to all except 2 that had closed for the day. Visited Zen Tradition and found the room divider made of birch wood that suited our deco... but it was just too darn expensive.

Still not satisfied, we had to visit and exhaust all the other furnishing stores in the island before we settle for that one which cost S$720.00 before a 5% discount at best.

I would have closed the deal for the Solomon Divider with lava motif at Barang Barang when we visited it last weekend. Though it S$620.00, I find it simple and clean-cut, but Wifey thinks it is too plain and bulky.

We came back tired and empty-handed yet again. The search continues tomorrow....

Tomorrow?! Comex PC Show will end tomorrow! It is the Mecca for Techno-Men, a quarterly pilgrim that must be fulfilled with a journey to visit... and splurge and be in Techno-heaven for weeks with the new toy! Did I say toy?

Oh, alright... I just read Barbara's comment from Trying To Catch Up and I think she makes lots of sense in this Techie-home connect versus Zen-home deco household here.

Well, there will always be another PC show 3 months from now anyway. So, get the compass out, let us track that elusive room divider... Sigh.

Sweet-Sunday Visitor

"Ayah! Quick, come over to the garden...' Wifey said when she suddenly dashed into the study room.

"See? A hummingbird over there!" As she pointed excitedly at our morning visitor, busy hopping from one flower cluster to another.

I rushed over; not before I armed myself with my trusted Lumix Fz10 camera as I made my way outside to our Corridor Garden.

I saw nothing at first, but I aimed my camera at the direction Wifey was pointing to and started snapping away hoping to get a glimpse of the hummingbird that she saw.

At this point on, Wifey, our Son and myself were totally quiet except for the facial and frantic hand-gestures, pointing here and there as our little visitor hopped from one brunch to another.


After several blind shots, our morning visitor finally revealed itself to me.

Beautiful!

Was my first reaction to it... though I am still as blind without my glasses, the pronounced yellow bird purged at the edge of swaying brunch giving a clear view for me.

It was stunning under the morning sunlight. A beautiful sight indeed!

Now I know how exciting and wonderful a feeling Barbara from Trying To Catch Up must have felt with every visit by the multi-colored and beautiful birds she had the pleasure of hosting at her bird feeder.

"We should put up a bird feeder in our garden, Ayah." Our Son softly commented while he watched the bird quietly alongside Wifey.

"What's up?" Our neighbor asked as he waited for the lift... looking at the direction the three of us was busy focusing at.

"Oh, nothing... its a Sunbird foraging in the our garden." I whispered to him.


Oh yes, a Sunbird! Hummingbirds hover, this one clings to the branches as it drank nectar from our Durantas... my mind was pondering.

A few snaps later and I got some good shots of our little guest. Though not as stunning a close-up photos as Barbara's but nonetheless thrilling.

Our little Sunday morning visitor turned out to be a female Olive-backed Sunbird or Nectarina Jugularis. A common Sunbird out of 13 species that are found mostly in the wetlands around our island.

We watched her hopping from flower to flower while we got closer. Though weary-looking, she did not fly away, instead she continued with her nectar feeding uninterrupted which was interesting to watch.


As described in Naturia website Yahoo! returned after a query on "Singapore Sunbirds," these species of bird is highly adaptable due to their lack of shyness to humans, often recorded living very close to urban areas... in balconies, gardens and parks.

Good morning, little fellow!

We will tend to our garden for more blooms so to entice you to come again soon... hopefully with your partner and little ones too...

Widgets Do Wonders

Thanks to iMac widgets, I finally get answers to a long time question... 11 years long that is.

Every night, I look out my bedroom window to the night sky. The moon, the few stars and planets that are visible under the bright island city... even lesser without my glasses.

All this time, I thought the single largest bright dot in the night sky was the International Space Station. So thought because it is always the largest, non flickering dot in the sky that may be the only one out on any night.


I even wrote it several times in my old blog about it. I was totally wrong. Thanks to the wizard... I mean, the widget from Starry Night for iMac that confirms so.

I just had to pin-point my location on earth, which is not as difficult as it sounds. I just had to located Singapore in the world map and then tweaked both the latitude and longitude a little to get the nearest to my home.

It located my place as near Bedok... close enough.


With that, I direct it to look to the East, where my bedroom window is facing... and viola! The exact whereabouts of whatever little dots, bright and faint matches the actual view out my window at the same time!

How wonderful it that. How wonderful it is to tell me that that bright dot is Jupiter. Ahh... make sense, since it is the largest most, visible object in our night sky after the moon.

Yesterday was the second full moon in a month, a once in a blue moon... which puts one of my many trivial life's questions to rest at this age. Kind of a little too old to be learning such facts, I know... but I am a very slow learner. Nonetheless I get it eventually.

Now, where is Mars? A Job for Starry Night...

Koel-ing Out Loud!

Found it! I have found what my Mystery Guest Couple is now.

From my previous post Squawking A Mystery! these are Asian Koels or Eudynamys scolopacea from a website I googled called Answers.com.

As suspected, the incandescent blue-back plumage is a male, while the chestnut brown with distinctive white and light brown stripes is a female. Both have blood-red eyes and a not-so-nice way of procreation method, termed as a brood parasite.

True to the cries of the crows, the males would call onto its female companion to lay a single egg in empty nests. They prefer crows nests, while the crows are not home.

These will trick the crows into rearing their young alongside the crows own chicks, since the size between these Asian Koels and Crows are about the same. The hatchling is not known to compete with its adopted siblings to survive and will sound just like a crow for a while until its instinctive personality kicks in.

This bird species is not in any immediate danger of extinction. This is a good thing, considering the parents' lack of responsibility on their young.

To view more stunning photos, I came across an impressive photo gallery from a local pro photographer and an avid bird watcher called NatureStops owned by Paul Huang.

Another interesting local site with personal narrative is called Easy Bird-Watching Guide by John Lynn.

This combination of talent and a love for nature has resulted in a website that makes me happy that Singapore is still alive with beautiful and colourful birds surviving free in the wild, amid the small land mass shrouded with concrete jungle.

Yes. I am at peace now that this mystery is solved... until something else comes along, flying by or whatever, I am enjoying myself as much either cuddled on the sofa watching our movies or listening to the rain drops as I blog. All made possible by the monsoon season.

Happy Holidays Everyone!