Idil Fitri 2014

 After a month of fasting Eid is finally here. In fact it's now more than 10 days that Ramadan has ended. The siege on Gaza is given a respite - there is a 10 day ceasefire. More bodies have been identified from the plane crash. And when I really sit and think and feel... I just feel so hopeless and helpless. I can only pray and enjoy the day. What was that Latin phrase - seize the day! Can't remember the Latin words anymore. But sometimes I feel sick of the whole world - killing and maiming children and animals. You can't really run away from images of these on the internet. FB is full of them that I no longer read them. And yet it is Eid. Eid Mubarak world! 

At home it is as usual very busy. Traditional foods must be prepared and served for guests. This year we have a very small celebration, in respect for the downed plane MH17. But my house was full of guests even then, specially in the morning of the first day. My sisters and brothers and their family all came over for the usual morning feast. This time however it was a quieter than usual affair - no noisy children running, no shouts from my brothers and no jones from my sisters. My bother in law Rahman, the husband of my beloved sister Laila, had passed away just a week before raya. It was sad but not unexpected because he had been ill for more than a year, and towards the end had had to be given morphine to stop the pain. He was a heavy smoker in his younger days and it had destroyed his lungs. I think after he retired instead of cutting down he smoked even more, mainly out of boredom. So in the end you can say that his lungs gave up on him - he developed COPD. 

The best thing about raya or Eid is that all my children came home. Rizal stayed longer than his usual 2 days and even Wan came home a day before Eid. So all 4 of them and their spouses were here in Malacca for the celebrations. We even took a family photo in the garden. 

Family photo 2014

As usual we held an open house on the first day, albeit a small one. Most of my friends and Repin's friends turned up and also the whole family - the Tahir family as well as the Ibrahim family. Then we visited my brother in law in Semabok. His open house was of course very grand. Lots of food - with the typical rendang and ketupat and lemang as well as nasi Bukhari or BukhariRice, which is a kind of pilau cooked with lamb.

Above photo - Rizal and daughter, Rania

Above photo - the guys in our family - from left to right  ( Neville, Rizal, Repin and Ridzuan) 

At our orchard

Durian fruits

Last June Repin and I bought a piece of land at Telok Gong. Telok in Malay means a bay and this piece of land is very close to the sea. Its not by the sea but we can see the sea from the house there. The house is actually rather old and in need of repair and enhancement but it's quite solid, with 3 bedrooms, although they are rather small  bedrooms.

Anyway the land is fairly large - an acre and a bit more with fruit trees already planted. The owner wanted to move away and wanted a ready buyer and we were quite thrilled to get it. There are at least 5 rambutan trees and a few durian trees. Yesterday we went over to clear the leaves under the trees and also from the house. The owners had left quite a lot of their household rubbish and it took Yatie and me 5 hours to clear it all, with Wan's help. But it was worth it. Just looking at the young rambutans hanging on the trees is enough. They should be ripe in June, insyaallah. We want to renovate the house and make it nicer, repaint it and add a few more bathrooms so that by the end of this year we can stay there or make it into a home stay to add to our income later on, insyaallah, or God willing.

A beautiful new dawn

I woke up today for once feeling fresh and alert. And it was only 5.40 am - the azan had not even been called yet and here I was feeling happier than I had been for days. Oh and the reason? Easy - my hubby came back for one night, just to make sure I was okay and he brought back the maid, who had gone over to KL to help clean up the apartment. Mind you, that is not to say that I had been feeling down in the dumps - no no- I was okay , but neither happy nor unhappy. You know that feeling? Like you are numb and a bit dull.

Yeah... okay anyway I looked out the window and saw the most gorgeous sunrise ever - it can't replace the view you get from Melawati of the Melawati Hills and cliffs and the sun showing up in slow degrees, becoming pink and slowly shimmering into a decidely golden yellow....but this one comes a close second. The view was  slightly obscured by the rooftops but it was still a good shot I thought.



Breaking dawn



After staying here for almost 3 months I'm slowly getting used to the life here in this sleepy hollow. Of course a lot of people will say it's no longer a sleepy hollow, but for me and my daughter it still is. Imagine trying to find good eating places and the only ones you know is the local mamak shop (Restaurant Taj), Old Town Kopitiam, the Arab restaurant opposite MMU and the fast food places at most of the malls and shopping complexes. Maybe I'm picky but I love my tandoori chicken which you can get anywhere in KL or Melawati, or satay or fried mee. Maybe I need to explore more and be a bit more adventurous but I dont want ikan bakar (you can't have it every day can you?) and even the famed chendol near the clock tower is getting a bit boring. You see having lived in KL for all of my working life (since I left university) I know most if not all the best eating places in and around there. And apart from eating, even clothes shopping is like shopping at a night market.

Hmm does that make me sound like a spoiled diva? No... I like shopping for clothes in KL though I don't really do it all that often. I love M&S, Isetan, Robinsons etc and they really cannot compare to the shops we have here.Oh well... looks like we just have to find time to go up north then ... after all it's only 2 hours away. And I do need to see my tailor and my hair dresser ...

On the plus side, I love the beauty that is Malacca, tourist attractions and all. Even though I have taken the river cruise so many times and cannot really see what the fuss is all about, I still proudly introduce it to any friend who comes visiting and even take the boat ride with them. The night cruise is something else and really quite entertaining. I proudly show them the clock tower and the Stadthuys and Government HIll and even the replica of the Portuguese ship that once conquered Malacca. And if anyone dare say they don't like Malacca... well beware. Don't ever say it infront of me!



View of the Malacca river





The 200 year old Queen Victoria Fountain, built to commemorate her jubilee



Pictures of Malacca, my hometown



Malacca River



The Malacca Clock Tower, built during the Dutch era in the 17th century




Victoria Square near the Stadt House

 



The Victoria Fountain, built in the 19th century to commemorate Queen Victoria's rule





Replica of a Duthch Windmill




A  typical Malay village house in Malacca

 


The Art Gallery, which used to be the General Post Office

Malacca is one of the oldest cities in Malaysia being at least 500 years old. It has been ruled by  the Indo-Malays (13- 16th centuries), then later conquered by the Portuguese in the 16th century (1511) and  again later by the Dutch in the 17th century. Sometime in the 19th century the Dutch exchanged it for Benkoolen in Sumatra with the English. Today its a very popular tourist destination- last year alone more than 2 million people visited this tiny state.

 

Reflections on Hari Raya

Idil Fitri - the festival at the end of Ramadan is almost here. Another 5 days! We're home in Malacca preparing the house for the festivities. My garden needs clearing and weeding. I wish I have the time to clear up the bushes near the fence but the rain isn't really helping. Yatie, my Indonesian maid is busy cleaning the inside of the house - changing curtains, washing windows, polishing furniture and so on. By Wednesday we'll be preparing the food. My sons are both coming home and so is Shasha my daughter. All the cats are down in Malacca too. At one time we used to board Karupin and Momo as well as Blackie but Karupin especially got so stressed out because of  it, we decided not to board them anymore. But it's a bit difficult - we had to take all five of them in the Livina - each in the individual cages! Travelling with cats is such a pain sometimes but luckily this time around only Blackie whined the whole way. After a while Karupin and Momo quieted down and slept . Ginger and Chichi were used to travelling so they were okay. But once in Malacca, the moment they heard us opening the car doors there was a commotion in the various cages. Everyone wanted to be let out! Apin and Momo had to be caged again - they cannot get along with Ginger our orange tabby so off to the big cage with them until they all settle down.

The strays outside were waiting for us - I'm sure they hang around waiting for us to come home because we're the only people here who feed them. After quickly filling their bowls with cat food, I got Chi chi and Ginger upstairs, away from the other cats! Ginger is still very much afraid of both the black monsters and decided to stay inside the room the whole day. Poor Ginger.

Momo meanwhile has appropriated the staircase - he loves to sit at the top of the stairs and look down through the slats at the various goings-on in the living room. This means that even if Ginger is brave enough to go downstairs, she can't, because Momo is guarding the stairs. Meanwhile Blackie has discovered the strays outside the kitchen and is growling at them. "This is my house," she seems to say. "Get away!"

Very interesting, I thought. Blackie seems to have forgotten that she herself was a stray at one time.

Hari Raya or Idil Fitri, the festival of charity, is a big deal here in Malaysia. Like Christmas, its an important religious festival, marking the end of a month of fasting and spirituality. Most people celebrate by wearing new clothes, giving charity to orphans, visiting friends and relatives. It's a month of goodwill and charity. Many people hold "open houses", a concept that is unique to Malaysia. An open house is a day when we open our house to friends and relatives. Those who can afford it normally get a catering team to manage the food, while some cook the food themselves. Tents are put up in the lawn, chairs brought out for the occasion and there is always plenty of food. This is the day when all your relatives - from near and far will come and visit. Some you may have not seen for months or even years. Come Idil Fitri, everyone comes forward to offer their "salam" or peace and past misdemeanors forgiven. Children will get tokens - normally in the form of money in packets called 'angpow" - a term borrowed from the Chinese. The money or "duit raya" is collected and spent on toys and other things, depending on the child. At these open houses you can see Malaysians of all races, sharing food and congeniality, talking of 'the old days', joking and generally having a good time. I often think that this is what has cemented our relationships with the other races here in Malaysia - our ability to enjoy each other's festivals in a spirit of goodwill.

The family (minus 1) at last year's Raya gathering

I look out the window and try to remember past festivals, especially those celebrated with my parents and I myself was much younger. I remember collecting the "duit raya" gleefully from uncles and older cousins who were working. These would be secreted away in money boxes, marked with a big X - do not disturb. At the end of the day my sisters and I would sit in our parents' room and count the money carefully. One one occasion I managed to collect about RM150 which in those days (the 60s) was a lot of money to a child. Excited, full of plans, my sister and I would put our heads together and decide what we would do with out money. Most of the time however our parents would insist that we save some of it in our post office savings book. The rest could be spent on favourites - icecream at Tan Chong Ice parlour, a film, some books by Enid Blyton that I had wanted very much to read. All in all it would have been a very satisfying time of spending.

MY own children went through the same traditions. But for them I normally make them earn their money from us by promising them RM1 for each day that they could fast the whole day! So if they could fast for the whole month they would get RM30.00 each. Even the youngest Sarah, would fast by the time she was in Year One of primary school, that is 7 years of age. They start by fasting half a day, in which case she still would get Rm1 because of her youth. Those older ones would have to fast the whole day. By the time they are 9 years of age they were all able to fast the whole month. Good training for them. I remember telling them the reasons for fasting- they need to understand that many other people from very poor countries starve for lack of food and by fasting we learn physically and spiritually of the conditions that deprived people live in and perhaps feel some compassion.

On the laid back track

Lately we've not had time to really stay in Malacca much. It was always a snatched affair - we'd go back late at night on Friday and return to KL early Sunday to avoid the late evening congestion on the North South Highway. However the past few weeks were even worse. We could only go back on Saturday morning. So last Saturday off we went home to Malacca, to spend roughly 24 hours there and back again to KL. This time around though, instead of taking the highway, Repin and I decided to take the coastal road - slower and more scenic.

We took the road to Masjid Tanah (which is fairly new and rather good), drove past sleepy looking villages, gardens bright and colourful with orange, red and purple bourgainevilla and orchards full of ripe rambutans.  For those who don't know, rambutans are a Malaysian fruit - growing in bunches with red, hairy looking skins. They look deliciously ripe and juicy and we passed many stalls selling the ripe fruits. If it were not the fasting month, I'm sure we would have stopped to buy some.

Ripe rambutans hanging in bunches

We passed a few small towns - for example Masjid Tanah (Clay Mosque) on our way to Kuala Sungai Baru.  To go to Kuala Sungai Baru we'd have to take a left turn just after the town of Masjid Tanah.  Here we passed a river full of fishing boats - it seems the fishermen had returned early in the morning - before 8am. We even stopped at a market to look at the fresh fish sold and I bought a few very fresh cencaru and some sea water prawns. Its not easy in these days of fish farming, to get sea water prawns. Most of the prawns you see in the market are actually farmed and reared in fresh water.

Along the way we stopped to look at 1Malaysia in action - a group of Chinese shopkeepers helping a Malay fireman clean or shoot a hose of water into a drain. After some conjecture, we realised that the drain was blocked -  because a python had got stuck inside it and the firemen were trying to flush it out.

Helpful citizens

Fishing boats  lining up along the river in Kuala Sungai Baru

Driving to Linggi we passed many a sleepy villlage with colourful mosques, cosy looking cottages of which a few are actually seaside resorts,  fishermen drying nets along the shore ,children riding bikes and women gossipping .  Life seems to be slow and very relaxed here in this part of Malacca. Soon we crossed the Linggi River which is the border between Negri Sembilan and Malacca. After driving through till Port Dickson, we found that we had not much time left and decided to take the PD HIghway back to KL. A short diversion but a worthwhile one, and very interesting.

Odds and ends

I haven't been home in Melaka for some time and I do miss being home - just lying down in bed or sitting in the little swing outside on the verandah and just look at my plants. I love getting my hands all dirty and earthy, doing the gardening, pruning trees, my few roses and my numerous green plants. We drove down today - Yatie and I, just for a night. I spent the afternoon adding fertiliser to my pot plants, repotting some of the greenies and all in all cleaning up the little bit of wilderness I call home. The tilapiah in the pond is bigger - soon some lucky neighbours will be getting fish for steaming or frying. I myself just cannot bear to cut them up but since they are getting too big for the pond we have to give them up. After this I think I will only rear the koi and the two kaloi. The Kaloi are actually very big now but I will never give them away - they are simply too beautiful to be eaten!

We are here for such a short time - tomorrow I'm driving back to Kuala Lumpur as we have three weddings to attend. LIfe is no longer simple these days - I thought after retirement I'd have the time to stay home here and relax but it looks like the opposite. No time to relax even! But I guess I'm used to being busy - even Repin. When he comes down here in Malacca he'll sleep the time away. Once he retires I wonder what he'll do. Somehow I can't see him retiring, though he may complain about having too much work, he still loves working.

The three felines that live outside our garden came by today - univited or not I still feed them. Actually I'd love to adopt them, which in a way we are since we feed them while we are here. I guess somebody feeds them when we are not around. There's one particular six month old which I like - a ginger male. He's cute and friendly unlike his sister the black one, which is very whiny. I don't particularly like the mum which doesn't really know how to look after her babies. Now she has another litter - 3 originally, but one died I think while we were away. They are cute but a bit wild I think since they've been out of touch of humans. The moment they see me they run and hide under one of the bushes or go next door to the neighbour's garden. I wish we can adopt them but there's no place in the apartment in KL, what with 5 cats already there! And also Karupin and Momo out two male Persians wouldn't like them I think. Once Karupin almost mauled Ginger, the one I adopted in Desa View. She was so tiny then, and so skinny and dirty. To look at her now you wouldn't believe she was that scrawny kitten we took in.  And she is also just as possessive with her territory - even Black cannot enter our room! She 's our room cat - as she stays inside at all times since her fight with Karupin. We dare not let her out unless Karupin is locked inside one of the rooms. But of all of them she is my favourite - she actually has a great personality and she talks back to you if you ask her a question! Believe it or not.

Malacca River cruise

Its been some time since I was back home in Malacca. Today Repin and I went for a photo shoot, or rather Repin went for a photo shoot and I followed him. He got some really good shots of the Malacca River cruise. The last timewe went on the cruise it was at night - there are some advantages to going on the day cruise - you can see the beautiful wall murals they have done on the backs of the buildings facing the river - history of Malacca at a glance! The artists came from a local college and it was done for the Malacca state government without charge  I heard. The murals are good - in fact some are better than good and they depict all the scenes of the different stages in the history of Malacca - from its discovery by Parameswara, the prince of Majapahit to the Portuguese and later the Dutch conquest and finally to independence from colonial rule.

There are some things that we could not see at night - for example the little grove of mangrove swamp or wetlands allowed to grow naturally just next to the town centre and also the little water mill that was used in the 50s. Its really very interesting and I'm glad we took the time to do this tour, even though we are Malaccans. Often, native dwellers of a historic place miss out what visitors see because we always say - "Oh its in my state, district... I can always see it later." But later we don't have the time and when others have seen the beauty or history of your own place, you yorself have not made time to do it. Just like the Mulu Caves in Sarawak which is one of the World Heritage sites. When I went to visit it some time ago, Gurnam, Peck Choo myself and Kuldeep were the only Malaysians there. The rest of the visitors came from all over the world - Americans, Germans, Dutch, Australians and British plus a couple of Singaporians.

the quiet that is Malacca

As I sit at the computer I listen to the music of the wind chimes on my verandah, feel the soft breeze on my cheeks and hair and hear the singing of the birds in my garden. Yes, you know it - I'm back where my heart is - Malacca. The exhaust fumes of Kuala Lumpur, the screeching tyres and horns of cars is a distant memory (though not so distant since I have to go back tomorrow). Here the only sounds are the sweet chirping of the birds, the soft sigh of the wind as it blows through the bamboo in the yard and the musical chimes of the angklung wind chime. (An angklung is a wind chime made of bamboo pipes and they create music as the wind brushes through the pipes). My house in Batu Berendam may not be out in the hills but the peace and tranquillity that we get there is the same. There are so are many species of birds as there are lots of fruit trees - mangoes, sweet guava and also papaya and these fruits welcome birds as they are soft skinned and sweet. Just listen to the quiet and in it one can hear the many sounds of the different bird species - jays, magpies, doves, mynahs and sparrows.  Once sitting quietly at the verandah I saw a kingfisher drinking in my fish pond. And Norlee my neighbour said it even caught one of the fishes in its beak and flew off, dinner or lunch in hand (or beak maybe).
In fact the garden at Batu Berendam (it means submerged stone) is a veritable bird watcher's paradise! I'm no bird watcher, hence dont know the names of many of these birds, but there are yellow feathered birds flitting through the bamboo, fat brown sparrows, elegant looking doves walking in pairs and the blue jays. Sometimes one can even see far in the skies a lonely raptor or hawk winging it.

I look down at the garden and smile at the hibiscus, 'fluttering and dancing in the breeze' to borrow a quote from Wordsworth. From the back garden I can hear the soft muted sound of rushing water as the water from my small waterfall flows over the mossy rocks. Two spirited sparrows squabble over a piece of bread, chirping madly at each other. Far away, over in the neighbour's yard I can hear the soft laughter of some children as they play in their family pool. It's all so lyrical it makes me want to break into song! How lovely to be home and get refreshed - how lovely to come back once in a while and forget all that noise and heat, away from the hustle and bustle and away from the madding crowd.

Home

Back to Malacca for a short weekend. Since I'm not teaching on Friday, I decided to beat the jam and left early on Friday morning, after sending Shasha to work. By 11.30am I'm already back in Batu Berendam and after parking the car, its straight away to my garden. A quick survey tells me the roses are still alive as are the orchids, but the ferns are not doing too well. A few pots have actually dried, and even my impatiens are wilting. Its been a really hot month for us humans, so it must really be extremely hot for the greenies. I quickly watered everyone - even the big, nuisance of a clump of bamboo, though they dont really need the moisture. Bamboos are quite hardy plants and can live a long time during a dry spell, unlike my precious ferns who need to be watered at least twice a day!

And wonder of wonders - my guava has budded! Lots of tiny round greenish white buds sprouting in between the leaves. We've had the guava only about a year - shorter than the longan and yet its already budding! I feel all my efforts are not in vain.

home sweet home

At last, after two weeks absence, I'm back home for a few days. Nothing beats coming home to your own roost! I know... KL is also home but I'm there almost every day of the week and to be able to come back to Malacca is just bliss. We arrived to day at about 1.46pm, quite early because there wasn't that much traffic on the highway. I think the weather here has been just hot and windy - my ferns all look wilted and some are very dry. My mother-in-law suggested putting them under the waterfall which is a good idea - maybe I'll try that.But won't too much water also kill the plants? I'm not sure but ferns do love water, that much I know. At least none of my roses have died - and one is even blooming well. I gave them all some much needed plant food, cleared out the weeds and cut off some of the bamboo branches, as well as the heloconia. I notice that the impatiens too are wilting - maybe its time to re plant them. Looks like this week end I'll be quite busy repairing and feeding the plants. Weather not helping - too hot and windy this whole week. A bit of rain might be a blessing. The roses I transplanted two weeks ago are doing fairly well, in fact one of them is already budding now. I think roses do better on the ground than in pots and the soil was already infected with the white worms in my pots so after taking them out of the pots they are doing so much better.

A tourist in her own hometown

Muara Sungai Duyong - where the grilled fish is simply marvellous

We're in Malacca today but not to stay at home. Repin had work at the OUM campus here - a preview and Tan Sri and Puan Sri are also down for the weekend. I took some time to spend with her and we went shopping at the Fabric shop, Gulatti's at Dataran Pahlawan. I was pleasantly surprised by the numerous shops here, and a fair variety too. Then in the evening Repin and I took them as well as some OUM people for dinner at the seafood place in Muara Duyong where we had delicious grilled fish - freshly caught - and prawns as well as calamari dipped in batter and fried. Truly delicious! To top off the night we had a river cruise on the Malacca river - at 10pm.

Kampong Morten looking very bright

And was I surprised by this - I was expecting a short trip down the dark river looking at old buildings. And what did I find but a fantastic cruise down the river with a very knowledgeable guide who regaled us with stories of each historic building we saw. And the buildings themselves were highlighted by colour  neon lights. Everything looked wonderfully romantic and beautiful. There were pictures on the walls of the buildings depicting different stages of Malacca's colourful history - right from the time the young Javanese prince called Parameswara landed in a small fishing village as he escaped from persecution from his own country, the growth of Malacca as a seaport,to the coming of the  Chinese armada under Admiral Cheng Ze , Portuguese, the Dutch and finally the British as they each colonised the state.

The Malcca river cruise

This river cruise is really a wonderful one. They even had a singer on board singing the dondang sayang, a traditional Malacca song. Repin joined in with great gusto. It was great being a tourist in your hometown! There's so much we didn't know about Malacca before.

Haji Tahir Family Day

(That's me trying my hand at gold putting!)

Its the time of year for the Family day again. This time we're joining in - Repin, myself, Wan and Shasha. Rizal flew to Brisbane yesterday with Pohling and Sophie. They're visiting with Chee Mun there so its a kind of family day for them too.

We had ours at Pengkalan Balak , approximately 22 km from Melaka Town - at a place called Padang Kamunting. Its quite lovely actually - the beach was nice and sandy - soft yellow sand and quite spacious too so we could have games on the beach itself. They started the day with Treasure Hunt.There were quite a number of teams and mine was called Golden Stars - Jasmine, Intan, Azura ,Nadia and me. Some of the clues were quite easy - How many arrows in Robin Hood's quiver, the name of our chalet and so on but we only got 5 answers correct and Lela's team won first prize.

The day was quite warm and balmy - plenty of sun in the morning though not too hot, so it was really fun, sitting there under the shade, talking and playing with my sisters and brothers. Zin however didnt turn up at all and Kamal came late. So did Leha but she was from Singapore so I guess that was excused. Anyway all in all it was a good day and everyone took part, even Mami Leha. It rained in the evening though and the Sandcastle competition had to be cancelled. They all played an indoor game however so things went well.

 It ended with the karaoke and Wan won second prize with his song. Iskandar won the first prize with his rendition of "Cant help falling for you" which was quite good. As in many karaoke competitions, there were a few really lousy singers but I guess they can't help it. Lots of fun and games though.However,in spite of having booked  two rooms for myself, Repin decided to go back to BB in the end so we went home around 11.30pm.

walking tour of Melaka

The Queen Victoria Fountain built during the Jubilee anniversary of Queen Victoria's reign. In the background is the Stadthuys.

A view of the Malacca river from the bridge at Jonker Street

Malacca

My prized catteleya orchids just bloomed!

I'm home today for a few hours - to check on the fish pond and the waterfall, my orchids and roses which seem okay in spite of the rain. There are more fish fry when I looked at the pond yesterday but by today most of them will be gone - eaten by the bigger fish. I didn't bother to separate them this time - there are just too many fish now. The previous batch are now at least 5in long and taking over the pond so Repin says let the law of nature play its role - survival of the fittest. At least that way we can control the population. But what I really want to do is give them away.My brothers did say they wanted some but nobody has come to collect the fish since.

Its been raining every day since November began. The skies are almost always covered by dark heavy cumulo-nimbus clouds. You can hardly see the sky actually - its all just a thick dark cloud cover. Kelantan and Terengganu as well as Kedah and Perlis have been flooded again. Year in and year out we hear the same stories - flood waters rising, people being evacuated, landslides at hill side developments. As for the monsoon, it will come and we should be prepared. But we never are. Our drains are still tiny, our rivers clogged (though they're not so bad nowadays) and most of the newer housing estates have poor drainage. I guess we'll never learn. What we need are monsoon drains to take away most of the water out to shore. At least that should contain some of the flooding.

Deepavalli

Its the Festival of lights today and we are going to Dr Selva's house. Of course today we are in Malacca - after a long absence the house needs to be given a proper airing and cleaning.
Our plants are generally ok unlike our neighbours . Bakar has been discharged but Norlee, EDy and Shima as well as Nazreen are still in hospital. We visited them yesterday and today - they seem to be better but Norlee still has low blood platelets.
I left Mum and Yati in Malacca while Repin and I went back to KL to visit Dr Selva.
His house is somewhere in SEction 12 - quite a nice place and very near to the university. I wish we could live here but most of the houses are old. What I like about this place is the land - most houses have lots of land - hmmm more gardening space. I've already run out of space in Malacca!

All kinds...

Momo after he was shaved! Poor thing could not balance himself and the other cats hissed at him. They couldn't recognise him without his heavy coat of hair! Even Apin hissed at him. He looked so disoriented and sad....

Relaxing in Melaka

Its wonderful being home in Malacca at last. It feels as if we hadn't been back in ages though we did come back last week - just one day. There's so much to do here - weeks of dust to vacuum and so on. Oh yes, Cindy came with the new curtains and they are really pretty. The living room curtains are in apple green stripes with small pink roses and a rose sheer for the dining area. Upstairs Shasha's room is very retro, with bright green polka dots and Sarah's room has pale lilac stripes with pink roses. My room is the only one wthout new curtains. Even the kitchen gets a new one - a sweet pink and green with pictures of cups and kettles with roses printed on them. Looks like the theme is green this year as opposed to the browns and greens of previous years. Outside the garden is bloomimg too. I've added some more roses to my collection and hope these will stand some neglect because I sure can't be here all the time for them.
Ramadan here in Malacca is a peaceful time. Just being in Malacca is enough to banish all our stress. Repin especially gets to relax completely here though his idea of a stress free weekend is to sleep the day away. However he did get up top accompany me to the garden centre where we got more soil and some plants to add to our burgeoning garden. My hibiscus and the canna lillies are really blooming. After cutting off the diseased plants, the new shoots are coming back nicely now.
The week before I visted Yah in Shah Alam and she took Sarah and I for a drive around her housing area. She wanted to show me a special garden - all roses! And it was a real treat. I was so fascinated by the ability of the house owner to plant her roses I rang the door bell. The lady was so generous and friendly. She even shared with us her tips on growing roses - she used fish meal as fertiliser. She said that she bought fresh fish from the market (normally slightly stale 2 day old fish are cheaper she said) and chop them up into small pieces before blending them to make a fish paste. These she would bury inside the soil and around the rose bushes. And the roses really came out looking great!

back in malacca

I've not been back home for weeks now. My tortoise seems to have disappeared - is it because of the dry spell we're having these days? The plants seem to be doing ok though two of my roses have died. The weather has been rather hot - in the high 30s lately and there's been no rain either. But something good has occurred - the tilapia gave birth! And I actually saw it. I noticed the tilapia staying still for a long time in the pond and wondered what happened. When I commented it to Yatie my maid, she said perhaps it was giving birth. I looked again and true enough, not long after I saw a cloud of tiny, silvery fry coming out. Birth is such a miracle - whether it is man or animal or as in this instance - fish! And the mother fish was so protective. Any errant fish who dared come near her fry was quickly chased away. And they were literally hundreds, if not almost a thousand fry. I wanted to protect them too, so put up a net across the pond to prevent the other big fish from eating up the fry. However nature has its way I guess - the fry just swam off through the holes in the net and could not be protected. By evening of the same day I noticed a much smaller cloud of silver and the mother fish was still trying to protect her wee ones.
So what Yatie and I did was to catch the ones still left and put them in the aquarium used to keep my guppies and other small fish. Hopefully they'll survive. Can't wait to go back now to see 'my little one ' grow. Ha ha..

Back in Malacca

Back in Malacca for a night. It's past midnight because we drove back after 10.30pm. In spite of the late hour I go through my garden, examining my roses. Hmm - lots of dead leaves. I know that it hasn't rained for some time and luckily for us, Bakar our kind neighbour waters my plants every day. But the orchids are blooming. There's a purple catalya which has just opened its buds and I look in awe and delight. This orchid has never bloomed before! It must really like this place to bloom now. Wow... wait till my mum in law sees it!It's a deep dark purple, almost reddish in colour.
The water in my fish pond is also definitely shallower than before - a testimony to the hot days. I wonder if there are any tilapia fry that has survived. Its too dark to see anyway so I switch off the waterfallto let it rest and after watering the plants (at 1.00 am!) decide to sleep. Tomorrow is fine enough to say hello to my fish and my tortoise - if he is still around.!