2018 was blessed with 6months of travelling to be with family&friends in Borneo, HongKong, UK, USA, Canada, Norway&Italy. As age catches up, the energy for such extended long-distance travels goes down! Not sure if I will be able to do what I did in 2018, but will try my best to visit as many as possible in 2019.

Jan: Kuching, Sarawak/E Malaysia with Lawrence&Mabel, Chuan&family+HS visiting from SIN. A new pedestrian bridge, DarulHanaBridge on the waterfront.

Mar: HongKong with Les&Ivy+David.

Apr: London/UK with Yat-Soon&family+Yasmine.

May&Jun: SC/USA with Linn&family; AT-hiking buddies in VA/USA.

July: SC/USA with the FaBuLous5; AT-hiking buddies and the last time with Bear in ME/USA.

Aug: Toronto/Canada with YunLAM, Jessica; 10thUncle TSANG YanChuen (1st meeting with him), KarLIng&Henry, Winnie&hubby+AnnaTSANG (maternal side), and Lock&May LAM.

Sep: Norway/Tromsø with Ellen (Linn&May’s paternal grandmother age94); Trondheim with Anne&family; Oslo with Olai#6 and his parents.

Oct: Puglia&Rome/Italy with early 1950s childhood friends PP&Ian+KK.

Nov-Dec: SIN with John+family and cousins visiting from Australia/CL, China/CE, NZ/CS&JW, USA/Wilki. One more pix to be inserted here will be with some of my sibling flock+their families during our annual Christmas lunch.

Life is such that beginnings and endings are neither. For in fact, they perpetually lay the groundwork for the other ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Red-Generation: grandparents, the generation where all have passed on
Blue-Generation: parents
Green-Generation: me
Orange-Generation: children
Purple-Generation: grand kids
Brown-Generation: future great-grand kids

9 Dec 2018 – Movies@Shaw Cinemas

Wed: movie time and 1st time checking out Nex, a regional shopping mall in Serangoon, within the NE-Region. Nice stomping grounds with a public library on the roof-top 7floor and bus interchange+MRT in the basements.

Cinemas, all kinds of shops, eateries+food-courts, 24hrs gym facilities, banks, etc conveniently under one roof – what else more could I ask for. In additional, the Shaw cinemas are the only ones offering S$4 for senior tickets, all the others charge more than S$4.

https://www.yelp.com.sg/biz/nex-singapore

Thu: tkx Gel for dropping by with lunch, great catching up.

Fri: appreciations to Seb for his high-tech assistance and good to catch up over dinner. Strangely enough the last 4movies watched all started with the alphabet L – Love Actually (old flick I like to watch in Dec!) Last Letter (unhurried style ie on the slow side), London Fields (reminder of a femme fatal),  Life Itself (as literally as the title and if I were to give it a tagline, Such is Life!).

Sat: appreciations to Audrey for explaining about the rituals in the temple for those who have passed on, today paying respect to Betty. The ashes can be in another location where you can pay your respect, usually  on ChingMing festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day. Now I understand why cousin CC has his tablet in SIN.

Chinese pay their respects to the dead throughout the year, so they also keep tablets with the names and sometimes the pix of the deceased at temples where the maintenance and the chanting of the monks are part of a package. Am amazed with the Coke cans creativity – reminded me of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980). No disrespect or offence here, but if I remember correctly this was a cute comedy flick.

Thank you to chefs Jamie&Giovanni for the yummy food@The Terminal Cafe – a combination for a memorial to Betty and a Christmas lunch. Chose this location as this is where we had our last lunch together. This lovely bird (Balearica regulorum) gray crowned crane, quite a tongue twister!) crossed our path in the car-park but nobody knows where it popped up from. Someone suggested that it might be a runaway from the bird-park, but then the bird-park is nowhere near here. Why did the bird cross the road?? Bird pix credits to April.

Collage set-up credits to May – food pix credits to Audrey. We have both April&May for company 🙂 Menu: omakase, ask the chef if you want the name of the dishes!

Sun: 2nd Sunday of Advent, and how I do hope&pray deep down in my heart that ppl can live with love in their actions, mind, speech&thoughts. Need to get all the Season’s Greetings completed and out in the mail by the beginning of the week. Sent a Halloween card in Oct and it took 3weeks getting to the US even-though Surface-Mail no longer exist – Snail-Mail has truly earned its reputation. Card&letter writing seem outdated but there are still a handful who like to receive a hard-copy.

1st plate of Char-Kway-Teow, literally=Fried-Flat-Noodles (delicious&oozing with cholesterol) since returning to SIN. Was passing by one of my favourite locations (Zion Riverside Food Centre) for this dish served with ‘hum’ (blood cockles)+crunchy pork lard, and there was not much of a line. Also to have dinner with Clem before he takes off to work in KL for the week.

Was pleasantly surprised by this pix of John&Linn posted by AT hiking buddy John/MoFo this morning. After a few query messages, discovered that they just ran the Kiawah-Island Half-Marathon, proud of my 1st-born who came in 2nd for the Female-Master. He heard her name when she got her award – small world, pix credits to Erin&John.

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time – Haile Gebrselassie

4 Dec 2018 – Less than A Month to 2018

Fri: TGIF and the last Fri for Nov2018. Getting the fruit-cocktail ready for tomorrow, usually taking much time cutting up fruits, but then they are at least fresh fruits of my choice 🙂

Sat: the day@MtE keeping Jo company thru’ her tests – she was admitted last night. Nieces Pat&family are away and Sue had to work. Thank goodness all tests showed no negative results. Like this fresh juice machine in the lobby and S$2 for a cup is reasonable&refreshing.

1st 2018 Christmas gift completed and the 1st 2018 Christmas gathering starts. It’s getting to look a lot like Christmas – let the party begin for this season! Cork-wreath pix credit to Calvin who has spruced it up with lights+van&trees! Packages of sweet goodness made by me and pix credits of that and Helen&I to Helen.

Cheers&appreciations to Calvin&staff+friends@CC for ringing in Dec. Fun night with the merry-makers – large group pix credits to Dennis.

Overdosed of proteins and alcohol – did not have the chance to take pix of the abundance of food behind by the kitchen counter. Supposedly to be a HAT theme, but only 1 or 2 on-takers besides myself.

Sun: welcome to cousins ChengEn/China, ChengLoon/Australia, ChengSong&JiaWen/NZ, Jason&Sara/SIN for lunch in my hood/EastCoast and to share and exchange info about the family heritage on this 1st SundayAdvent. Good to catch up with them and life is such that it takes a funeral to get the family together!

Missing the rest of the Green-Generation in the pix – 5siblings/SIN&KCH, cousins John/SIN, David&Wilki/USA, Lock, Yun&Chai/Canada; Annie/SIN. Yat-Soon/UK, Ken/SIN, David/USA, Yeng/Canada, Jing/?, Klaus, Susannah, Edith/Canada, Wilson/SIN, Fiona/Japan. TOTAL 34, including 5 (Lulu, Kiong, Robert, Desmond, ChengChawn) who have passed on but excluding spouses in this generation from our common grandfather LAM SongKee (Red-Generation).

Mon: back to MtE to check on Jo, everything is good and she should be home tomorrow. A good week ahead to all on this Mon. Getting into the mood of Christmas in the tropics is not always easy and here in TanglinMall, they at least try to create some winter feelings! Agreeing with DickLee here – maybe some ppl think Christmas is another fairy-tale!!!

http://www.asiaone.com/singapore/too-much-emphasis-disney-orchard-road-christmas-light-says-dick-lee?xtor=EREC-16-4[Emarsys_Newsletter]-20181203&extid=6934d0cfb7b252f1ae9f0dbddf5ff88ca8637e77&fbclid=IwAR0qKohoHC3jYqP2pnHueeublYtvvKQFS0zQCdpCsymoVxrxZdk4WhIkB_w

To Mark, AmyR, KatieM&DianaB and to all celebrating – Hag Hannukah Sameaj, Happy Hannukah –  may the glow of all the candles being lit for the next 8 days all around the world, bring the much needed light into our beautiful and complicated world.

Pix credits to Susana Garcia Behar.

Tue: finally the annual seasonal decorations are up within my 4-walls and welcome to this new angel into the rest of my angel family. Thought that there are enough to my collection, but this one speaks to be. The word angel derives from the Greek angelos meaning messenger. Go figure out what your messenger is trying to tell you!

It is impossible to see the angel unless you first have a notion of it – JamesHillman

13 Happy Bday Ingrid HUSTAD

16 Happy Bday Andy LAM

19 Happy Bday Rita Tann

21 Happy Bday Anna Tsang

23 Happy Bday Minos LAM

25 Merry Christmas

27 Happy Bday Lisa XIAO

28 Happy Bday Peggy LEUNG

29 Nov 2018 – Happy Bday John

Mon: the times to avoid the rush-hour-traffic on the CBD is after 1000hrs. Heading to catch up with Leng who lives near the CBD.

Welcome Leng &baby Aurora from Norway back to SIN. Fantastic views of the threatening rain clouds from her apt on the 24th floor, and fortunately those clouds did not linger and blew away clearing the sky with a zoomed-in view of a colourful elementary school.

Aurora, an alert cute baby-tourist enjoying the food here. Delighted to see the new Rail Corridor added in this amazing model of SIN@URA. Tkx to Clement&Hannah, it took me then 8hrs to do a thru’walk on this 25k trail 2+yrs ago on my 66th Bday.

https://amylamsg.com/2016/01/16/the-green-corridor/

Dessert in Chinatown and what a coincident to bump into niece Daisy&sis-in-law. Enjoying the sight of all the local childhood cookies – no did not buy any. Pix credit of me to Leng.

Korean movie Soul Mate/Wonderful Ghost 원더풀 고스트 @VivoCity: a patrol officer gets into an accident while investigating a case. His soul gets separated from his body where his wandering spirit tries to figure out and solve a case.

A reminder of the movie Ghost (1990) with PatrickSwayze & DemiMoore. These are the only kind of ghost movies for me! Have been entertained recently with similar movies on YouTube. Must be the Christmas mood.

Shopping for candies@Candylicious where I always feel like a kid and do not know what I really want from all the choices?? But how I felt and what I really am was reminded by the staff@Kopitiam who addressed me as Ah Ma – wow! for the first time, usually it is Auntie!!

Tue&Wed: a crazy rush to complete some of the gifts&preparations for the first Christmas gathering this weekend. Procrastination is my middle name – makes me more creative! Since I now have the reputation of a cork-collector from my wine-drinker male friends!! must make use of them. Last year, it was cork-boards and this year cork-wreaths.

Thu: Happy Happy 12Bday #3, JohnW Hall (2006). As camera shy as he is, happy to have these shots from the summer during my last visit. Hopefully all my children&grandchildren know that they are always deep in my heart even though we only meet annually.

Tkx to Les&Ivy for dinner tonight+a bottle of  wine.

Annoying FB. Tkx to Dee for this message – Hi….I actually got another friend request from you which I ignored so you may want to check your account. Decided to make one of these posting for if&when it happens again – probably will as it also happened last month and FB is facing some issues at present. Pix download and edited. 

Glad to see niece Dika’s write-ups on SIN&Memphis/TN,USA. Pix credits to Pixabay&PhillipVanZandt

https://www.frommers.com/slideshows/848298-frommer-s-best-places-to-go-in-2019?fbclid=IwAR19rHOTCWBe__PFnWApNPgNv-WKEOGaaFXjWquGdUEVP96lPQuLvJR9Tyo

You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic – Bill Watterson

25 Nov 2018 – 29Days To Christmas

Wed: CC’s wake, where you meet members of family one seldom sees. Not exactly a happy occasion, but sadness is also part of life. A precious collage of the 3cousins+family&friends from their growing years. Being a mother I feel for 17thAunt and having been a wife, I also feel for CC’s pregnant wife, another Amy who is expecting their first child, a son in Mar 2019.

Thu: Happy Thanksgiving and this must be one of the few Thanksgiving where a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau 2018 could not be located. After trying and running around 3different locations, was too tired  to do anything. Glad that the family in the US is able to get a bottle as it is our family tradition to have the turkey dinner with this wine. Pix credits to Linn.

Appreciations to Mr Naoto Orui, the founder of The MusicalBox Museum for a most interesting and sweetest Thanksgiving.

https://amylamsg.com/2015/08/21/musical-box-museum/

Today I learnt and tasted 19different honeys and that the bee’s lifespan is a month and in that month, it produces only 1teaspoon of honey! Group pix credits to Yoshie.

Will definitely think more about adding that extra teasp of honey in the future. Many tkx Yoshie for the invite and to Mr Orui for a delicious home-made lunch by him. He mentioned that those who like his cooking will fall in love with him, but I must say that I have fallen for his cooking 🙂

A Taste of Honey, tasting much sweeter than wine – Beatles

Fri: not TGIF for me today – the last time I followed directly with my hands on the casket vehicle (for immediate family) was in 1965 when mother died, and we went barefoot then. Pix credits of cousin Sara&I to CE. Today no one had to go barefoot and a private bus took us to Johor/Malaysia for CC’s funeral. Anyone who has been that route will know the long lines at the immigration at both ends…

Not sure if it is coincidental or planned where this is concerned – CC lived on Jalan RumanTinggi/SIN and now he is buried in Nirvanna MemorialPark on Jalan KotaTinggi/Kulai, Malaysia – Jalan=walk or road, Ruman=home, Kota=fort in Malay

Do not mean to be blasphemous, disrespectful, out-of-line or rude in any ways, but this must be one of the most colourful light-show burial ceremonies attended!

Sitting at the back row and hoping that taking pix discreetly without flash is OK – 1pix tells 1,000words. The circular center opened and in a dark room and from the forehead of the deity KwanYin various colour lights beamed across the room to the back wall. The white lights were the finale, assuming that the soul/spirit is being beamed up to paradise. My personal thought – in this high-tech world, it would be quite something if CC’s image could have been incorporated into those white lights – no offence there, CC.

The burial grounds are tranquil and extensive.

Last stop – Chinatown Buddha Tooth Relic Temple back in SIN. Not sure about why here, but will edit when I find out.

Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them – Cousin Lam ChengChwab, you will never be forgotten – RIP. Anyone who has seen Coco (2017), an animated film that celebrates the Mexican tradition known as Día de Muertos will be able to relate to the quote.

Sat&Sun: needed this weekend to chill and to start with the Christmas gifts now that Thanksgiving is over. A Christmas shopper’s complaint is one of long-standing but the nice thing about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.

Sun: tkx to Martin for lunch. Introducing him to my favourtie Popiah joint@Glory. Per his request for the foods (left-right) – Achar (Nonya Spicy Pickled Veg), Otak (Fish Paste in Banana-Leaf), Popiah (Springroll SIN-style), Chicken Rendang (Nonya-style) and Laksa (Peranakan style Spicy-Noodle Soup). This young German friend is a real sport and a pleasure to see him try everything with gusto.

20 Nov 2018 – Christmas Bazaar

Fri: TGIF – a good&safe weekend to all. This is as far as I can get where aging, politics and religion are concerned. And this is another good one for seniors like me and many of my friends (whether you want to admit it or not ) – LAUGH, with or without teeth 🙂 when you still can.

https://amylamsg.com/2011/02/18/to-seniors/

Sat: annual visit to the Norwegian Seamen’s Church where I can get kransekaker and good baked-goods. They have offered to stored them for me as I only have a small freezer. Will be there again sometime mid Dec to pick them up.

The cranes in the background@PasirPanjang Terminal will be history when the Tuas Port is ready! This year the hill up here seems steeper, ie short of breath to walk up!

Besides the baked-goods, some accessories+a new angel to add to my collection.

Nice to make a new friend, Idah and to catch up with such an international group with Iren/Norway, Lulu/China, Carmel/Ireland& SIN. Good open-faced sandwiches and tkx to Iren for sharing her fresh baked goods.

Delightful German Brass Band, Posaunenchor Singapur and the sight of a young new eye-candy pastor –  blame it on Carmel who commented that the churches in Ireland would be packed with young ladies if he was preaching there! Not blind yet, so do enjoy your sight fully while you still have it 🙂

Thank you to PatLynn&David for yummy dinner, and to Lucas&Beth for dessert in their lovely new home. Congratulations to grandniece Beth who will be starting in Pri1@KatongCHIJ for the next school year. Kids pix credits to PatLynn.

So very sad sad news from cousin ChengEn – ChengChwab, the 2nd son to 17thUncle, LAM TinYie (3sons with 2nd wife, youngest ChengLong lives with his family in Australia with his family and 1daughter, JiaWen and 1son, ChengSong with 3rd wife in NZ).

CC had a brain hemorrhage on his last day in BKK and died there tonight. He leaves behind a wife and an unborn child. CE will be heading to BKK from China to bring the body back to SIN. Condolences, thoughts and prayers are with him and the family.

Sun: thank you to nieces Judy&Daisy, nephew Clement, grand-nephews Stanley&Darryl who made my day after such sad news from last night. Yummy Japanese lunch.

Premiere of the movie WiFi Ralph@GV-Suntec – cute flick where you can find all the Disney princesses, high-tech games in social media. Quite a crowd with the Disney’s staff and their families. Pix credit of me to Clem.

WiFi, or is it WiFie?

Tea@Just Dough – colourful steamed baos with different fillings, tasted a different bite from the young ppl. Very appropriate logo&name, too doughy for me but enjoyed by the others.

Dinner@Marché – had a taste from all the young ppl’s dishes, a raw NZ oyster, Bruschetta (missing the fresh basil) and CremeBrulee (none of them wanted to taste) for myself. Appreciations to my family for pulling me thru’ today@SuntecCity.

Mon: M1 tried to deliver this when I was out last week, do not even know why I am getting this FOC nor do I know how to use it, but thank you and will try to learn to use another new toy – nice screen-saver pix!

Given the blatant deceit regarding the biologically harmful effects of antenna towers, cell phones and WiFi radiation, one can only wonder what is going on with all of the other forms of radiation ― Steven Magee

Tue: welcome back to SIN Lesley, who is here to work for a few days. Nice to catch up with her again@FoodRepublic in CitySquare Mall – can it really be 7+yrs ago when we last met? She now lives in SanJose/USA with her 19cats+8foster cats, now she is what I would call a real CAT-Woman and she does not have time to hike the way she used to…

 https://amylamsg.com/2011/05/05/expunged/

15 Nov 2018 – Shopping Spree Mood

Mon: 33rdASEAN Summit here in SIN started, so avoid the Suntec area unless you want to be stuck with the road closures, traffic delays, etc etc. Chaired by SIN PM Lee HsienLoong for 10ASEAN countries, heads of 8 key partner nations of ASEAN, security has to be really tight!

https://www.asean2018.sg/About/ASEAN-2018

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. (If only the US President knew this quote, he might have dressed appropriately and have some decency!) Let the experienced staff Campers’Corner help your upcoming holidays to be a good one. Fantastic sale ending Sun18Nov on the 1st-floor@51WaterlooSt.

Could not resist these deals and I thought I have all the outdoor&sports gears I needed! 5thCharco sandals but 1stChaco bag!!

Many tkx for a beautiful and surprised gift from my bro, Les – a golden pearl which I never knew existed! Golden South Sea pearls typically come in sizes larger than most other types of saltwater pearls. They come from the largest pearl-producing oysters on the planet. Once the saltwater oysters are bead-nucleated, it can take up to 2-4 years for them to fully form, so they are quite rare. All of these factors make it possible for the hosts to produce very large pearls – 

https://www.thepearlsource.com/golden-south-sea-pearls.php

Bought tickets for SIN-KCH-SIN (S$68) on AirAsia for mid-Jan2019. Looking forward to catching up with family&friends and eating the local foods there.

Tue: appreciations to Faith for a productive shopping day@Giant&IKEA. Thrilled to be able to use my IKEApoints for Gravlaks&SiewMai brunch – 1,000pts+S$3.

Wed: had to get some materials, etc for sewing and Spotlight was offering 30%off for members tonight; 50%off@Watsons. PlazaSIN has 300+shops and services for your choices. Made time to watch my 1st Tagalog (must be the influence of the ASEAN on-goings) movie First Love – Nick gets attracted to a photographer with a congenital heart disease who is waiting to be selected for a heart transplant. Soon, the two become each other’s inspiration to live life to the fullest. Beautiful scenes from Vancouver/Canada.

Nice to see this SIN showcase of Instagram photography by the National Youth Council NYC.

Enjoyed watching a young artist in the making.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter – OscarWilde

Tkx Clement for dinner company. Looks like PlazaSIN is ready for the Christmas and I am far from ready! No excuse now that I have much of the shopping done – just need get out of the lazy mood and into the creative one!! Will try and pick a location on OrchardRd to share the Christmas lighting on FB starting this Sun2Dec, first Sun of Advent.

Thu: Happy 40Bday Chris who is a father to 3kids, still looks like a kid himself and easily mistaken to be a bro of his own kids…