11/10/2010 by amylamsg

Heaven is a Place on Earth!

11 Oct 2010 – Kaneohe & Manoa

Sun: Wilki & Pattie’s house is in Kaneohe with the guava trees and David‘s property is next to Wilki‘s house. Thank you for the lovely gathering for dinner and such a luxury to be surrounded by greenery.

David‘s house in Manoa has a secret garden filled with fruit trees. Avocados, calamansi, jackfruit, papayas, peppers and my breakfast is either a papaya or avocado freshly and organically picked from the garden… yummy!

With a lily pond, ginger-flowers, huge beautiful trees… this Bird of Paradise, like me certainly feels that heaven is a place on earth 🙂

When the night falls down…

And the world’s alive
With the sound of kids
On the street outside

In this world we’re just beginning
To understand the miracle of living…

Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth…

We’ll make heaven a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth –

Belinda Carlisle

10/10/2010 by amylamsg

10-10-10

10 Oct 2010 – FB comments

My laptop is in SIN time… it is now 0433hrs in HI. After 4 airports CAE, ORD, SEA, HNL, it certainly feels like zombie time for me! Strange to remember that I first got married on this day 41yrs ago!! Posting some comments from Richard YUNG to confirm that jet-lag has finally caught up with me in paradise on 10-10-10!!! Was good to see cousin’s face when I surprised him. Thanks to all non-party poopers, especially to Huang, Lisa and to Kim who could not make it but yesterday Huang drove us to catch up with her.

Richard Yung

Somehow deducing from your posts in the last few weeks… you went to Alohaland from Limeyland, which means you must have flown OVER and past Yankieland had you flown West! On the other hand, had you flown East from Limeyland, you would have passed over Singyland… and possibly Honkyland and Sukiyakiland before getting to Alohaland?!

So… which way did you go? East or West? In any case, you sure collected some serious frequent flyer points… Asia Miles? Am I confusing you? Good… haha
Amy Lam

With my jet-lag, everything seems clear… flown from SIN land to EU where I was lost for 3 months. Swam (in my mind) across to the BIG APPLE where the airports there are really in LOWland!! CAE is an airport for grandmother, with white rocking chairs! Then across YankieLand, now in the middle of some water on top of some volcano 🙂
Richard Yung

Dreams….come..true……. in Blue… Hawa…a…a…i

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost – JRR Tolkien

08/10/2010 by amylamsg

Aloha

8 Oct 2010 – Bye for now my adorable grandkids

Thank you Linn & Jeff for putting up with me the past week and thank you to the grandchildren for a delightful time. The art of being a decent grandparent, parent, friend, guest etc is to be positive, help around and NOT to overstay one’s welcome 🙂
A rolling stone gathers NO moss – Proverb

Wed: had lunch with Katy at Irmo Elementary School (Ellie also in the same school but they were having nap-time) and did some shopping. USA is certainly a consumers’ nation with all the choices, varieties and the not so out-of-range prices, especially brand-names at outlet stores. Even Gator got her Halloween outfit!

Thu: Linn chaperoned Ellie’s field trip to the zoo while I took care of JohnW & Sophie. It did not seem that long ago (1986) that May volunteered me to chaperoned a field-trip to Griffith Observatory in LA when she was in first grade in CA. Of course she does not remember that!

Cousin David WONG turned 70yrs 6 Oct, so I decided to surprise him by stopping in HNL/Honolulu. Thanks to Lisa XIAO for offering to pick me up at the airport and thanks to YY HUANG for arranging the pot-luck.

By the time this posting is circulated, will be en route to HNL via ORD/Chicago (4hrs lay-over), SEA/Seattle (3hrs layover) and over 12hrs of flying time. Lisa will pick me at HNL airport and drive me straight to surprise my cousin at the pot-luck party! Call me on my mobile in USA: +1 97861 54375 if you require more info but please do not be a party-pooper to squeal on me! David thinks I am somewhere in Croatia, so let’s hope that he has a strong heart 🙂

06/10/2010 by amylamsg

American Dentistry

6 Oct 2010 – Recharging!

The past 3 months of traveling must have lowered some resistance from my system… a tooth infection on top of an awful cough and cold. Strangely enough, 4 months hiking on the AT and I was as fit as a fiddle, but that was 5yrs ago! Being in nature without the stress of cities, airport schedules and over-crowding is a healthier way to live. Glad to have a few calm days with Linn & family to enjoy the grandchildren, hoping that some of their energy will rub on to their grandmother 🙂

Mon: Dr Patrick Daley must be one of the best dentists and he is also the dentist for Linn & family. Having been to dentists in SE Asia, Europe and USA, I still believe that USA has the best dentistry. Had a tooth infection in Croatia… thanks to Peggy, a GP who provided me with antibiotic which was great a help. Linn got me a 0800hrs appointment to see Patrick at his new dental clinic which is equipped with the latest high-tech instruments. It was comfortable enough to get X-ray without having to bite into bite-wings which jabbed into your gums. Before getting a shot of anesthetic, the gum is numbed with some gel which helped to not feel too much of the shot. Also a TV screen with your choice of channel to distract you from the fear of any discomfort!

By 0900hrs, the infected tooth which was scaled, cleaned and padded with more antibiotic. Thank goodness, nothing too serious, but I will certainly return to do my teeth cleaning here yearly where they really put an effort to scale and clean the teeth. Thanks Patrick for being such a good dentist in every way.

Tue: Sophie went for her shots, poor baby and she did not even cry until her second shot! Clear blue sky… beautiful weather with cool nights. How blessed to be here with Linn & family. Wished May could be here too.

For there was never yet philosopher
That could endure the toothache patiently –
William Shakespeare from Much Ado About Nothing

04/10/2010 by amylamsg

Grandchildren R the Best

4 Oct 2010 – Delta Airlines with D- Service!

Condolences to the LEE Family for the passing of Madam KWA Geok Choo, the wife of Minister Mentor LEE Kuan Yew, SIN’s first Prime Minister and the builder of SIN.

Fri: had a nice lunch@10 Downing**** with Kat before the shuttle pick-up. The traffic was back to back on this grey Fri afternoon. To think that I even worked for Delta Airlines many years ago, today’s service is just appalling. Flight from NYC/Laguardia to CAE/Columbia, SC was first delayed and later cancelled. Unfortunately the airports in NYC are not designed for the comforts of passengers 🙁 Delta claimed that since the delays and cancelled flight was due to weather conditions, they were unable to provide me with a hotel room. As it was I was coming down with a bad cold & sore throat and no sleep for a night did not help.

Sat: Instead of arriving CAE Fri night, I arrived Sat late morning. So much for airlines in the USA. Usually I fly budget airlines and have yet to encounter much delays or such rude service! Had to fly via Atlanta and there are some amazing sculpture displays at the airport near the main terminal: Zimbadwe Sculpture/A Tradition in Stone.

Sun: Struggling to fight my cough and cold but thank goodness for the 4 lovely grandchildren who are giving me a good dose of encouragement. Katy (soon 9yrs) read to me, Ellie (5yrs) served me pancakes for breakfast, JohnW (4yrs next month) making funny faces & jokes, Sophie oh Sophie (18months), she is as cute as a button, Linn’s yummy stew and butternut squash soup – the perfect food for a sore throat. Jeff took the children to Sunday School and church so that Linn & I could catch up. Later he drove to Atlanta (app 4hrs drive) for a Tropical Medicine Conference and he will surely be missed for the next two days.

Cherish your human connections… your relationships with family and friends – Barbara Bush

01/10/2010 by amylamsg

Iceland

1 Oct 2010 – En route to Columbia, SC via Stormy NYC

Thu: The Bláa lónið/Blue Lagoon is located 20 minutes drive from Keflavík International Airport. Just to submerge here for half hour is worth the trip. Wished I had a few more days. This geothermal spa is really doing a world of good for me. If only I knew earlier that there will be a delay with the flight, would have stayed longer… and also remember to take my camera! Blue Lagoon pix are credits to wikipedia!

The steamy waters are part of a lava formation. The warm waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulphur. The lagoon is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant Svartsengi and is renewed every 2 days. Superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal hot water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon for recreational and medicinal users to bathe in.