"Daily Cut Flowers" revived

For visitors and fans of my blog Daily Cut Flowers, here's good news. I have decided to revive uploading new compositions. However, the arrangements will be uploaded in a new blog called "MOOD's Creative Curves".
Since I started the daily cut flowers compositions last year, I have created 150 arrangements. This is testament to my concept of the Malaysian Garden called " Laman Kambatik" . Obviously it's not difficult to gather planting materials such as flowers, colourful foliage, bracts, ferns etc from the garden outside provided you create it the " Kambatik" way. Thus making simple compositions are a breeze and absolutely free .


I hope that this year you will be inspired by the beauty of flowers as I do.

Title: Happy to be revived!!

Images of Kuching Today

Newly renovated multi-storey car park in Kuching City centre called " Medan Pelita" with 6 floors of carparking, a floor for cineplex and 3 floors for shopping and restaurant.

A Chinese temple at a traffic junction nearby Kuching Waterfront area.

Exquisite blooms of the Hibiscus at Museum Garden.

An attractive scarlet Hibiscus variety at the Museum Garden.

Chill out @ Asajaya

Country road at Asajaya.

Today is special. After about a full week of research work I felt stressed and decided to take a break. So we are on the road and this time it's Asajaya, a one hour drive from Kuching. Asajaya is known for its ruralness. There are paddy fields, acres of pineapple plantations, , coconut plantations and slowly creeping in are the oil palm plantations too. I guess after having sat infront of the computer for an average of 12 hours a day during the past week, the pain in my eyes are now cured by the greeness and expanse of the countryside. ( Note: The brightly coloured building on the left is a public toilet. To enter one is charged 20 cents. The cleanliness and gushing clean tap water inside was worth the charge.)

To reach Asajaya one has to take a ferry ride and the charge is a token RM1.00 only. We saw two ferries operating concurrently and the service apparently depended on the tide. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long upon our arrival at the ferry point. Today the tide was in around 11.30 am and we were told to be back at the ferry point before 5.00 pm by which time the tide will ebb. On the way back to the ferry we had to queue up for an hour before we could board the ferry. Such a waste of time I thought. But then again today is supposed to be a chill out. I did not mind for once.

On all roads that link the various villages in rural Asajaya, a common sight would be the ubiquitous paddy fields. Yet despite its vast arable land resources and a tiny population of about 3 million people , Sarawak fails desperately to produce enough for its own population. For umpteen years now Sarawak has to import 70% rice from Thailand, China, Vietnam and even India for its own rice consumption. I am always perturbed on all my travels these three years on the total absence of any mechanical devices used by the paddy farmers on their farms throughout the length and breath of the Sarawak's Borneo Highway from Kuching to Miri. I think the moment I see any mechanical device on the Borneo Highway the next time, I'm gonna take a rest by the roadside and pray. Pray and thanks the Almighty for showing the light to our State leaders.

CU of a paddy stalk.

A romantic scenery I would love to paint.

Building conversations #1

Mama Daisy squats on compacted ground.

( Mama be sure to take your bath later, ok!)

Yesterday I celebrated my 2nd birthday. Today we're on a new challenge. I'm a grown up girl now :)) and need to learn something. This challenge will be blogged! that's for sure. Me and Mama Daisy ( see inset)will be wandering around our house and the neighbourhood to check and talk about a housing project. In fact there are two housing developers that have recently started to undertake building construction around our home. Whatever stories we gonna tell comes right out of the trenches. Believe me. This building conversation series will allow us to explore building construction A-Z. For friends and fans out there, you can build your house the DIY way - just follow our story.

Formwork is erected to receive concrete for floor beams.

( Mama is careful. She stands in between the carpenter strings)


An excavator or back hoe does all the major earth compacting, shuffling, clearing works etc. A very important heavy equipment at any construction site these days.
This is the view towards the east, where the hills are.

Looking East. That's after the site has been filled-up, compacted and piled.

See the extra concrete piles that jut off the ground. These piles will hold the house columns or pillars and some floor beams. Note# in the old days timber materials were commonly used as piles. Today many prefer to inject concrete piles into the ground using mechanical or hydraulic means.

( Mama is tired and says it's time to go home and get some cold drinks, Bye for now!)

Inul is Two Years Old Today

Inul at Two Years Old

Today I feel on top of the world. It's my second birthday. Fospa has been contemplating to show a video of my birth for the world to see sometime ago. So here it is for the first time. In the video Mama daisy first gave birth to big brother "Einstein" . I came out second at about 8.50 pm on the 25th of January,2008 and safely delivered to the world by Mama.

For more stories abot me and Mama please visit our blog here ~ Hav Paws Will Travell.

For current stories about our record breaking adventure please scroll on the side bar under label and click Hav Paws Will Travell.

The Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXCz39ce4g0

Images of Kuching Today

New State Legislative Assembly Building by the Sarawak River. A 'sampan' boat glides over the calm waters.

Red lanterns at the 'Spring' car park add to the festive mood for the coming Chinese new lunar year( February)

A red Hibiscus variety - hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia.

Eating out for 'Nyonya' food. Nyonya food originate from the states of Melaka and Pulau Pinang.

Deep pink colours of the Ixora macrathyrsa ~ "Pink Deluxe".

Red curtains to depict Chinese New Year festivity.

Between Fiction and Non-Fiction

Her collection of 'Commando' comic books.

Today I take a major rest from my routine browsing and downloading of articles from the Internet for my written assignments. Learning and gathering knowledge is so much fun these days and I'm grateful that I'm able to keep up with the rest in academia. Very early in the morning I took on a great mission to help my wife sort out her collection of novels, mainly paperbacks and arrange them neatly in the bookshelf we bought yesterday ( see inset). Both of us shared the love of reading and books. She reads largely fiction books (horror,thrillers,crimes ) while I read mostly non-fiction books ( management,history,nature,wildlife,landscaping,art,photography etc.)Since our marriage of 32 years, she has now collected about 400 fiction titles and I have accumulated a sizeable 700 titles. That's a lot of money we have invested in books and of course not to mention the time reading them. Books and reading have kept us together happily and we never complained about each other's spending on books, thus the pile up.
I have a peculiar habit of collecting books on my travels as a remembrance of the time away from home. Normally I would scribble the date of travel, purpose and other tiny details that would be of interest in my life later, like now when I tend to recollect about my life's journey. Therefore for this purpose I have created a blog that will document about the places I've been. I call it "Books and Places" and it is here ~ http://booksandplaces.blogspot.com/ . I just started to upload pictures of the book covers a few days ago and will not know for sure when I'll finish uploading all the 700 titles. Well,a start has been made. With this blog I hope to track part of my travels through books I brought home. It is my fervent hope that the books will remind me of the people I met and also the ideas that crossed me. I guess I'll be able to track back the journey of my personal transformation through books this way.

In between our love of fiction and non-fiction there is however an interesting genre that separate our reading interest. My wife loves to read comic books even before I met her. But to know she only read 'commando 'comics truly amazes me. Her prized collection is an original Commando comic (no.982) as shown above. She told me at that time she only bought the comic for 25 cents and as indicated on the cover too, it cost at that time in 1975 only 7 pence. Today one can buy a Commando comic in Kuching for about Ringgit Malaysia 8.60/piece.

As for me, a gem in my collection besides non-fiction is this song book bought in 1966 with the Beatles on the cover. I bought it when I was a junior secondary school student in Bintulu. That's when we boys started to play the guitar and do the twist and shouted "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah".
From learning to shout and sing to analysing management case studies, I feel my life has been one thrilling adventure.
.

Images of Kuching Today

Heavy downpour experienced all over Kuching due to the yearly monsoon rains. Rains expected to continue till February, ending of the monsoon season.

Traffic junction at Kota Sentosa ( Mile 7, Kuching- Serian Road)

Honolulu creeper or pink coral vine planted as hedge infront of Malay kampung house, Jalan Astana, Petrajaya, Kuching.

Canvas spread temporarily to protect shoppers and vendors from rain or shine at Sunday Market area, Jalan Satok, Kuching.

Great sample of heliconias featured at flower market, Satok sunday market.

Rainy Days, Sleepless Nights

Heavy downpour on the way back from the State Library

Since my arrival in Kuching City (inset) a week ago I've had sleepless nights which should not be the case normally when the weather here is invitingly cold and rainy throughout the past week. It is projected that the heavy rains will be met with high or king tide at various places throughout Sarawak and the public have been warned over the radio, TV and newspapers the likelihood of flooding to some low areas in the Sarawak from today to the end of this week. For many this type of news is a yearly repeat. It look like the monsoon season in Sarawak will be extended to February this year. But I just cannot wait for some nights to be over. At last I made it! Four major assignments were completed within one week of my stay in Kuching which were drafted but not finalised when I was busy working at my farm in Bintulu a fortnight ago. Once all the loose ends of the paper on Business Strategy and Policy were completed and the papers given the final touches, I was happily clearing my study room of papers, books, files, stationaries,etc. Thanks God it's sealed and done. But then a whole new set of papers will be seen scattered in the study for the coming days because from today till next week I have to complete two more papers with a total allowance of 10,000 words. Read again 10,000 words!! on two questions under the subject New Business Venture. I am not complaining. It's the life I've planned for. I've asked for it. Way down inside me I thoroughly enjoy it. It's fun all the way, despite the sleepless nights and constant travelling from Bintulu to Kuching and vice versa. All these because I have set my mind on a life -long learning trajectory. Thus every corner and milestone I meet is a dream come true - rainy days or sleepless nights considered.

Jalan Kulas or Kulas Road in heavy rain today 14/1/10

Animal Story

Last rays of the moon before day break at our farm.

Woke up early today. Saw the moon still above me. Followed fospa for a morning walk. But wait.....we saw something that explained it all. " No wonder !" said fospa. Now I am beginning to understand why my sleep was interrupted last night when fospa shook me and I sensed something was amiss. Some thudding noises were heard in close quarters to our chalet and for once we thought there were intruders somewhere in the dark. Who could they be? As fospa walked along the soggy farm road his eyes suddenly zeroed in to some prints on the ground. " No, Inul it wasn't people . It must be the sambhur deer that made the noises last night. Here's the proof". I could see the sign of relief on fospa's face as he had a closer examination of the sambhur deer's hooves prints freshly carved into the dirt. Judging by the pattern of steps, the deer must have had a leisurely walk around our farm last night. It's all excitement at the farm the whole day. Fospa's satisfaction and happiness beamed throughout the day as he recalled over and over the visit of the sambhur deer to our farm last night. Inul too. (see inset)

Fresh deer hooves print .

.
The farm road where the deer hooves print were seen.

Hi, there! I think you're driving me nervous. That's close enough.

Ok, take your best shot or I'll fly away . See ya,

said the grasshopper.

For more stories from us, please check it out on the right side bar label or go to our blog at

Hav Paws Will Travell

Remember me Inul?

Images of Bintulu Today

Mile 3, Traffic Junction, Bintulu- Miri Road.

Bintulu Waterfront, Kemena River, Bintulu.

Assyakiriin Mosque, Bintulu.

Minaret at Assyakiriin Mosque, Bintulu.


For more images of Bintulu, please visit :~ My Bintulu Clicks