Beautiful Sunday

Sunday morning, up with the lark

I think I'll take a walk in the park

Hey, hey, hey,

it's a beautiful day

...Daniel Boone

Food, Glorious Food!

"But, but, officer! I only had three bowls of the herbal soupbase with 5 chinese wines during the steamboat dinner tonight! I didn't know it'd be this lethal!" *hick* Dinner had to be cut short because halfway through dinner, P swore the chair was moving from under her butt...Nomin Seafood in Upper Serangoon and Upper Paya Lebar Roads junction. *slurp*
4th Aunt was in town this weekend to cook up a storm. Here, she's teaching us noobs how to shop for fresh food...
Well folks, I promised you pics to show you what you missed last night! I still have some frozen leftovers in my freezer! :D

Medicine

Medicating, old-style.

Can even fix toothaches leh! :O

On a completely different note, this is the new centrepiece of my dining table for 2008! Thanks, JT! A great house-warming present for me! :D

Hey there, cupcake!

Some pics taken of someone's handiwork this afternoon. It was tasty too!

Thaipusam

...is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). Pusam refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman.

On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common. The most spectacular practice is the vel kavadi, essentially a portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock feathers and attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back.

- information extracted from Wikipedia

Random

It's been a hectic week, what with board meetings starting for the year, and the boss not being in the best mood...flak jackets on, and keeping our heads low, has been the order of the day...Way too tired to even be contemplating life... Posting a few random pics from the week past.
A lovely view from my bedroom window one night - the new moon hanging low in the sky. Makes me happy. :)
Did you remember to look up in the sky this weekend? Fluffy clouds chasing each other across the clear blue skies. Makes me happy too! :D
Big traffic jams everywhere on a Monday morning. Drove by this scene on the way to work. Sure hope the rider's alright...one wonders how this happened...

Worth

"Because I'm worth it!"

*Burp*
Now don't go having any lewd ideas... :)) Part of living better is to eat better. Spicy Italian sausages, baked over cherry tomatoes on vine, drizzled with olive oil and worcestershire sauce, with a generous sprinkling of parsley.

It must be the advancing years, and the feeling that life is unpredictable. Time is not to be taken for granted and frittered away unnecessarily, as one is wont to do in one's youth. In recent years, I have been converted from night owl to morning bird. It is now important to me to rise early on the weekends, eschewing much needed sleep, for the excitement of packing in the day full with weekend adventures. Today was one such day.

The morning air was slightly moist, as the sun's rays had yet to warm it up. There was a cool breeze ruffling our hair as we made our way along the winding boardwalk. With a spring in our step, and vigour in our bitching (haha), we completed our walk quickly without even breaking a sweat. It was a perfect start to the day, but I seriously doubt M would indulge us in rolling out of bed early on future Sundays. Haha. It'll be back to hot and sweaty late afternoon walks from next week on. Sigh.

Treasure Trove

In clearing out the stuff at TS, we stumbled upon loads of old photos. Many had us posing in front of landmark buildings around the island. It was a blast, comparing what used to be, and what we know stands in the current spot now. Time, indeed, flies...

 

A beach holiday. I was four...

 

Three Musketeers! One for all, and all for one...

 

Grandpa and Grandma, taking in the sights at Chinese garden

 

With 5th Uncle, posing in front of the de rigeur giant wall mural at home

Fog

All around you appears hazy. Sunlight has been blocked out. The air is pregnant, claustrophobic. You have no sense of where you are, and you have lost your sense of direction. You hesitate taking a step forward in case it's the wrong direction, in case you step into a hole right in front of you that you cannot see.

Somewhere out there, you know the sun is shining. Muffled voices are carried to you from a distance. You pause and listen hard to hear what is being said. It is a leap of faith, and a monumental task, to keep on putting one foot in front of the other. It is tempting to just give up, sit down, and give in to despair. But you soldier on. Head down. Doggedly. Just keep on walking.

And in this manner, your days pass.

One morning, you notice something is different. Peering around you, you realise, you're casting a shadow on the ground. Lifting your head up, you find the rays of the morning sun warming your face. As you stand at the edge of the curtain of fog, you turn back and stare at the surreal landscape you have left behind.

You're out. At last.

Discovery Channel

Exploring part of the Tampines Park Connector. Seems I wasn't the only cyclist out trying not to get killed by cars or trying not to mow down a couple of pedestrians along the way on this sunny Saturday morning. The ride was pleasant, the wind warm, and the connector slightly confusing at road intersections. One had to crane one's neck to peer across the intersection to locate the "PCN" initials on the ground, indicating the path of the connector. Somebody at NParks should look into better signage...or maybe this is all part of the grand scheme where you're supposed to find yourself (pleasantly) lost somewhere in the northern woods when you're actually headed out west...All in, it's a fun way to explore the nearby neighbourhood.

This section of the connector runs just under the "low hanging" MRT tracks. Kind of reminds me of Tokyo, when we ate at this little ramen shop right next to the train tracks. The accompanying noise of the passing train to our slurping up the ramen was surreal! Made it to Tampines Mall before I ran out of time, had to execute a U-turn, and head back home for a quick shower and change. Lunch with old friends calls!

To be continued...