30 Jun 2021 – King Of The Fruits

Sat&Sun: taking the weekend to sort out unpaid bills, not my favourite thing to do but has to be done! Early Sunday Bfast with Lionel@our local market for my favourite CheeChongFun.

https://amylamsg.com/2014/07/10/ode-to-durians/

Durians/Durio zibethinus, King of the Fruits season is in. It is said that the fruit has aphrodisiac properties but that is not the reason for me liking this fruit. Some of my oversea friends are not familiar with the tropical seasonal fruits and being a visual person, sharing pix is easier than trying to share the taste! https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/durian-fruit

Durian fruit is incredibly high in healthy nutrients, including B vitamins, vitamin C, minerals, plant compounds, healthy fats, and fiber. However, the smell and taste may not be for everyone.

Mon: Giant has extended their 3%SenSave, usually only Tue, but now every weekday until end Jul. Not in the mood for grocery shopping, just a short trip to make a list as what I need to stock in before being put out of action! IKEA seafood lunch was more the mood (view of Giant!) with thoughts of Jeff’s and JohnW/MoFo’s who are both celebrating their Bdays today.

Tue: the weathers seem to be playing havoc with a server heat wave in the West of America and torrential rains in Russia. On my way to breakfast with AudreyM, decided to head out earlier in the cool morning drizzles, walking thru’ LauPaSat.

TelokAyerSt where you will find a temple and a mosque on the same street just a few doors from each other.

AmoyStFoodCentre where I had a plate of CharKueyTeow with extra hum – has been a while ago the last time here! Good luck to Audrey who will be heading to work in Szuhou/China, tkx for yummy home-made chocolate-chip-cookies – will miss our get togethers.

Wed: ~1hr by boat on the lower Vansjø, parts of Mosseelva/Moss River in Norway and there it is, an idyllic little cabin on its own island of Ospeholmen where I was blessed to be 10yrs ago with fresh catch of the day. Missing them all, thus living vicariously from memories for now! With half of 2021 behind, what will the rest of 2021 bring?

https://amylamsg.com/2011/07/10/imagine-being-here-now/

Your memory is the glue that binds your life together; everything you are today is because of your amazing memory. You are a data collecting being, and your memory is where your life is lived – Kevin Horsley

30Jun2021: WorldOmeter of COVID-19 deaths are as follow:

From Garry28Jun: Trip around the block №21. Heading north from Wingjana NP to join the Gibb River Rd into Derby. WA’s most northerly town and arrived for the biggest day of the year – the Annual Mud Crab Races! A big fun and fund raiser for the local fishing club. Had two entries but they both failed to make the finals and ended up as part of BBQ and crab meal on offer.

25 Jun 2021 – Pies & Tarts

Mon: tkx to cousin Karen, this is as clear as it can get regarding the latest restrictions & regulations starting today – worn out with all these changes, better stay within my 4walls as I know that I will not need to have on a mask for sure, even if & when there are 5 others (max I can have) with me.

4.1. F&B establishments are only permitted to seat dining groups of up to 2 persons.

4.2. F&B establishments must ensure that a safe distance of at least one metre…. 

https://www.stb.gov.sg/content/stb/en/home-pages/advisory-for-food-and-beverage-establishments.html

Another seasonal tropical fruit: Ciku/ManilkaraZapota/SapodillaSapota 人心果(literally translated from Chinese=human heart fruit!) tasting sweet with a nutty texture seasonal tropical. We had a couple of these trees@5TemenggongRd/1950s and the bats/flying foxes going for the fruits. The guys would shoot them those bats with catapults or BB-guns! Used to keep it in the rice bin to wait for it to ripen

Tue: Happy Bdays Josh(grandnephew/SIN)&Devon(grandniece/USA). With 2ppl dining-in restrictions, Daisy&I celebrated with a late bkfast@132Traditional Teochew Noodle/MarineT, has been a while ago since I ate here and nice to know that I still like it.

Continuing with desserts@DonaManis/KatongShoppingCentre, not a banana fan, but this old school banana pie must be one of the best I have tasted here in SIN. The bakery has been around for 30yrs, and if you’re having difficulties finding the shop just walk around till you smell the sweet aroma and follow it. Everything they have is handmade from scratch by this elderly couple with their daughter helping them the recent past 6yrs.

https://www.facebook.com/dona.manis.cake.shop/

We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie ― David Mamet

Have been wanting to taste this ice-cream, but somehow HumbleScoop has been closed the few times I was here. Finally today, managed to taste their 2most popular&signature flavours – Orh-Bee-Good (PulutHitam), In-Kueh-Dible (SaltedCoconut&GulaMelaka), both yummy, creamy&rich. GamXia金秸(Mandarin Orange), refreshing tasty sorbet – I will return. Josh had the Cookies&Creme cone as we walked to carpark after his famous DeliciousBonelessChickenRice lunch. https://www.thehumblescoop.com/

Wed: early to line up@JuneBakery/The Plaza to try these tarts I having read about. Got the Cheese, Orh Nee Portuguese Egg Tarts+Peanut Mochi.

https://eatbook.sg/june-bakery/

Early Bday dinner for Clement – peranakan food by Lionel was good, tarts were too sweet for us (SL, Leonard&Audrey), but it was nice to hold a Bday party and a good time was had by all.

Be it tart or sweet, always savor the moment. You’ll not taste one just like it again – Erica Alex

Thu: fresh catch of the day,  yummy steamed-fish by Calvin@Campers’

Tkx to Helen for delicious starters+dessert – 4above pix credits to her.

Could not resist this little round-side-table to add to my Helinox-family, perfect size (3kg/6lb10ozs is the max weight it can take) for my use. 2more chairs in their bags in store-room to be taken out when needed.

Fri: TGIF and a good weekend to all. Happy Bdays dear nephews John(KL/Malaysia)&Clement(SIN) and a dear friend Huang(HI/USA). Changing bus for SGH apps this early morning with the sunrise.

Sunrise Sunset is about trying to get to a place where life is simple and not letting the stress and happenings in the world get in the way of your happiness – Benny Cassette

Pulmonary function (PFTs) noninvasive tests show how well my lungs are working – measuring lung volume, capacity, rates of flow&gas exchange. This information can help the healthcare provider diagnose and decide the treatment of certain lung disorders. Looks like my lungs are good&strong to do another long-distance hike after taking care of them and when things get better!

What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life – Emil Brunner

Bday lunch&dessert with Clement@Tamago-EN/ChinatownPoint – lots of eggs on their menu, 1st time here.

20 June 2021 – Happy Father’s Day 

Fri: 56cases of infections in the BukitMerahView cluster. This is the venue with good food where I would go when visiting Clement as he lives across the street from it – of course now closed for deep-cleaning.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/some-cases-in-bukit-merah-market-cluster-had-queued-at-popular-stores-for-30 

TGIF and a good weekend to all. Getting too restless to focus, especially when unable to travel to see family&friends. Guys in uniform from exactly a decade ago today/2011 in OSL/Norway changing of guards is quite an eye-candy for this lovely wet Friday, tkx to FB for cheerful memories.

Going back 2decades/2001 once upon a time ago when the hair was still black!! – found these with L&M+Paul visiting SIN. Have then been back in SIN since 1999 and was working@H&H.

Downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee It’s Beautiful – AyeShuan

And he thought with the above caption that ppl in SIN 16,000k/9,941m away will not notice? If attention is what he wants, he has got it. IngaBaekkelund can now get some PR for her hotel in PleasantView considering that she is less than 1,000k/600m away from Chattanooga, but still in the same state! Have not been back to TN since the AT-Thru’Hike/2005

https://mothership.sg/2021/06/mbs-united-states-facebook-post-tennessee/

Digitizing 1980s pix to share with family&friends and will do a special posting just on them when I get my act together.

Change is the voyage which needs to continually discover its own landscape, avoid potential pitfalls and enjoy unique scenes of digitalization ― Pearl Zhu

Sat: tkx to dear KCHcousin Karen for supporting the hawkers from Haig Road Market Food Centre (looked like quite a line) for their SarawakLaksa&Kolo Mee, both yummy but of course not as yummy as her home-made.

Sun: Happy Father’s Day to all fathers. BG1LAM TinYue(1911-1996), father’s 71st Bday in 1982 with all my siblings+their spouses(GG) and nearly all my nieces&nephews. (OG1LAM John,18HALL Linn & 19HALD May are missing here). Father was then the same age as I am now!! Those were the days when I could only afford 1round-trip air-fare ticket from&back to Norway.

From Garry19Jun: Trip around the block #20. Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge National Park – between Fitzroy Crossing and the Gibb River Road WA. A pretty ordinary corrugated road that will loosen the fillings in your back teeth but the caves and the park are worth it! 500m of dark, water-filled tunnel beneath the limestone ridge, magnificent gorge landforms and changing colours, hundreds of saltwater crocs, and some amazing history about Jandamara – a snake-hipped Aboriginal lothario who led a guerilla war against pastoralist taking hunting grounds, and the police.

Windjana nearing sunset, Morning sunbake

Had to wade through much of Tunnel Creek. I had water up to my chin in some places while other less height-enhanced mortals had to swim while holding their torch, and often their camera, above the water.

Some shafts of light but much of it pitch black

17 Jun 2021- Provoking Sentimental Feelings&Taste

Mon: Happy Dragon-Boat-Festival and a good week ahead to all – pix downloaded. Tkx to Alvin for his interesting video, check out the long line for BakChang/Zongzi 粽子@JooChiat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOpakQPRlbA

Up to 5ppl for social gatherings from today; dining-in resumes 21Jun, ie if situation remains under control. Rambutans (Nephelium lappaceum) 紅毛丹from local fruit-stall, unlike childhood days where I can pick my favourite tree to climb for them and when the teeth can open them, now using a knife is more sensible Not that I am unable to take the rambutan hat off with my teeth, but at this stage, do not want to take that risk – not like the taste of the skin and not knowing where they came from, unlike childhood days when they were from my own orchard!

Kedondong (Spondias dulcis) 沙梨 another tropical seasonal fruit that is not easy to find overseas, also known as ambarella or Spanish plum. Can be eaten raw, cooked or preserved – personally I like to juice them, tasting vaguely sweet, but with a hint of tart. Shared some with cousin from KCH who also appreciates this fruit.

Tue: nice to hear from AT-hiking-buddy LOON who is now somewhere in his serene Brimson/MN, USA cabin and tkx for informing me that,

today is my favourite Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s (1843-1907) Bday – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIz3klPET3o

In memory of 2gentlemen, my father LAM TinYue (1911-1996) B/Wpix SICC/SIN1950s, and to L&M paternal grandfather JohnK HALD/3 (1923-2008) pix Tromsø/Norway1976, who also have Bdays today and are both no longer in this world but fond memories of them will never fade. A lady is not synonymous to a female or woman and a gentleman is not the same as a man or male. Sadly&unfortunately there are very few ladies&gentlemen in today’s world!

Wed&Thu: going thru’ old pix – found pix of father from when I returned to SIN for a short visit after his stroke (1979), and of JohnHALD/3 doing dishes OSL/Norway (1980). Getting too nostalgic&sentimental to concentrate – need to focus on something else, like Garry’s OutBack road trip.

Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way – Somerset Maugham

From Garry15Jun: Trip around the block #17.. Durack country, and the Ord River Scheme. Kununurra is the town built for the Ord River Scheme. The magnificent financial irrigation folly that was to turn this corner of Australia into our own food bowl! 50 years and millions of $$ later, as well as many classic agricultural failures, esp rice and cotton, it produces a few fruits and pumpkins, but 60-70% of the irrigated land produces fairly low value sandalwood which is processed elsewhere into incense sticks and manage oils! However, the good news is that the two dams built for the project created Argyle Dam (81 times size of Sydney Harbour, or something!) And Lake Kununurra. Boat trips through each on successive days revealed outstandingly beautiful landforms, waterways and wildlife…..and sunset The attached pics give some idea.

Lake Argyle – it goes on forever, at times it seems you are out to sea. Dam wall

Crossing the Ord River and Sunset on the Ord River.

Walking into Emma Gorge El Questro, Emma Gorge pool.

Trip around the block #18. Headed south from Kununurra through Warmon (Turkey Creek) and into Purnululu National Park in the Bungle Bungle Ranges.

Spectacular! Say no more. Have a look!

China Wall near Halls Creek.

Trip around the block #19. Leaving the Bungle Bungles behind it was off to Mimbi Caves and camp-site, part way between Halls Creek and Fitzory Crossing. Excellent camp-site- modern, beautifully landscaped, spotless and well equipped. A tour of caves and talks on native plants and edibles as well as some sad local history with Indigenous guide Rosie, and her grandchildren-helpers was great.

Red dirt. Love it….to look at! Leading in to Mimbi Caves

Fitzory River at Fitzroy Crossing, Geikie Gorge near Fitzory Crossing, Geikie Gorge eroded limestone

Cave painting

13 Jun 2021 – Kind & Thoughtful Gestures

Wed9Jun2021: Happy 12Bday to #4 – where did the 12yrs go? Feels like yesterday when I was up for her 2am feeds!

Now enjoying her last pre-teen Bday, rain or shine. Does not get easier to not see some of my flock since 2019. Hope to be able to be there when she turns to be a teenager! Pix credits to Linn.

Tkx to May for this – arr today, mailed 28May2021 from OSL/Norway, 10days for snailmail is quite fast! Looking forward to setting this Apple iPhone7 (2016) BCG-E3091A up for use. The old one, iPhone4 (2010) BCG-E2643A was not so reliable and often got cut-off in video&voice calls, but  considering I have had it since I do not even even when? from Clement. The younger generation like their latest high-tech while I am grateful with inheriting their old ones.

8 June 2021 – Year’s School-Ending Concert

Sat&Sun: – plx be vigilant, be safe and stay home if you do not have to be anywhere, eventhough we are not under total lockdown. To family&friends in Malaysia, our neighbouring country – take good care, be safe&healthy under their Movement Control Order/MCO (MCO in Malaysia while in SIN, it is known as CircuitBreaker=total lockdown) which started on the 1st. Here’s special thoughts to bro Lawrence who is now under medical care in KL/Malaysia.

We make every effort to see that our actions live up to our words and be vigilant with regards to our behavior – Thomas Sankara

A peaceful&quiet weekend with late morning’s heavy downpours to catch up with cheesy flicks+Lucifer S5 E1-16, another eye-candy! The translators of this version took the word from the Latin Vulgate, which translated הֵילֵל by the Latin word lucifer=the morning star, the planet Venus, or, as an adjective, light-bringing. Another piece of useless trivial info for Lucifer MorningStar fans like me!

Sinners think they are saints, but saints know they are sinners – PeterKreeft

Mon: #1 on summer break from the U, and #5&6 enjoying their last few months with just one single digit to count their age!

Sooo missing yet another year’s school-ending sound of music from my flock in USA&Norway – #2/harp, #3/cello, #4/double-bass. Just discovered that #2 plays the harp, appreciations to their paternal grandmom, Cindy for sharing these pix! Memories of Sun-Brunch on the QueenMary in LongBeach,CA/USA where there was someone playing the harp in between the ice-sculptures!

Not seeing my overseas family&friends is not getting easier! Somedays are more difficult than others and this is one of them, probably due to the lack of sleep having pulled a neck muscle. Hoping&praying that this pandemic will soon be over and can look forward to catching up again.

Appreciations to Gel for visit and for the yummy BakChang/Zongzi 粽子 steamed glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves + SoonKueh筍粿 steamed dumplings stuffed with chives or bamboo shoots or dried shrimp wrapped in a skin made of rice&tapioca flour.

Tue: Happy World Oceans Day. App@NHC/SGH, first time here – a cuppa+a bite hit the spot after a long wait for a check-up.

Did not realize about the Kopitiam here, so did not bring my card to get any discount! Nice to be able to sit outside – must be the only location to be able to sit and eat since no dining in and only take-aways restrictions started!!

The below link was posted by ATC and my comment&total recommendation – take it from someone who did not know better when hiking the AT-Thru-Hike then, fording the Kennebec River, ME/USA 24Aug2005. It was a very dangerous, nerve wrecking and a stupid thing to do, so plx DO make use of the ferry service provided.

KennebecRiverFerr 2021: 28May–30Jun 30:  9 to11hrs daily. 1Jul–30Sep 9 to14hrs daily.

https://appalachiantrail.org/explore/plan-and-prepare/hiking-basics/safety/river-and-stream-crossings/

From Garry7Jun: around the block # 14. Out of Darwin and first camp was at the delightful Pussycat Flats Racecourse – a few kms from Pine Creek! Well 12yrs ago it had been a racetrack, rodeo ground and a golf course- now its a campground with lots of green grass and a bar from 6-8! Then off to Victoria River Roadhouse but stopping in Katherine for coffee with Ian Falk and also at Willeroo Station to buy some much needed fuel. The red moon eclipse was practically clouded out! Bummer.

Trip around the block #15. After Timber Creek crossed into WA where the border controls for both fruit and veggies were as strict as the controls for dangerous Victorian refugees urgently fleeing their virus riddled state! Onward to Wyndham – a town done with both dying and death and now firmly in decay! Has four claims to fame. 1. Australia’s northern most town.

2 the world’s largest cement crocodile – tons of cement and miles of chicken wire, and….. designed by computer! 3. A great towering lookout over the crocodile infested delta into which 5 rivers flow. 4. ‘Kaiser’ – the oldest surviving internal combustion engine in Australia!

What town could outdo that list? But, the big meatworks is gone and there is a small iron ore loader operating. Everything else seemed closed – including the crocodile breeding centre! Hardly needed! Great bosb trees at Perrys Farm Wilderness. Boab fruit ź like big kiwi fruit with white marble-like interior.

Trip around the block #16. Camped at Parry Farms, a wilderness spot where the mozzie were more scary than Michaela Cash and big enough to put a saddle on! Then off across the mud delta and down a long dirt road to the infamous

Prison Boab Tree. This huge hollow boab, still alive, was used to imprison Aboriginal men being brought from Derby to Wyndham to face court. 20 men could be crammed inside the tree for the night and any more were chained by neck and leg to the outside of the tree. Also stopped at the Gorotto. Impressive gorge and swimming pool. Onward to Kununurra

4 Jun 2021 – Feeling Nostalgic

Memory believes before knowing remembers ― William Faulkner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv4hC6Ok1Vc

Tue: Happy Bday Morten, a charming&gracious x-bro-in-law who I have known since he was 14 and I, 18, and we share many fond memories from then! Today he is 67, a father of 3, grandfather of 4? a Chair@UNIS and a reputable Professor@UiT Department of Geosciences. Caught up with him in Aug/Sep2019 Tromsø/Norway and also the last I saw of Ellen, may she RIP.

Grocery shopping@Giant/Tampines~S$120 with~S$4SenSave. Trying out these new products and pleased with them, SugarlessChocolateS$7.55 and Käji-IndividuallyWrappedS$5.90.

At one of the fruit-shops near the PosB/BedokCentralBranch, delighted to find fresh ChineseBayberry/MyricaRubra,Yangmei杨梅S$6/400g always thought them to be berries, but just found out that they are fruits grown on trees. Have not had them since the 2009 HKG-trip!! Appreciations to AnnaM for this info – Corbezzolo in Italian and Sardinia is the main Italian county where they produce such honey for they have plenty of trees… They use honey on the traditional seadas, dessert, stuffed pastry like raviolo with cheese and dip fried served with honey on steaming hot pastry so that it trickles down.

Wed: Happy 72Bday KK, one of my oldest friends, somehow it is difficult to image knowing someone who is not a relative for nearly 7decades and still friends! Took out my last piece of Gravlaks from the freezer to celebrate a Bday-lunch, tkx for his yummy NasiUlam and salad. Water still dripping outside eventhough the rains have stopped hours ago, checked all the floors above me (8-12) and saw that the water was coming from the roof. Called & forwarded pix to MP-TownC and hope that they can resolved this problem.

What do we call this moment? A serendipity mixed into a nostalgia mixed into a deja vu mixed into an epiphany ― Avijeet Das

Thu&Fri: there are 45 new cases of COVID-19 in SIN today, not a TGIF! A good weekend to all – plx be vigilant, be safe and stay home if you do not have to be anywhere else. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-new-cases-mindsville-june-3-hougang-ave-8-cluster-14937558

Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day – Dalai Lama

Discovered this fantastic link that get me around the world with~8,000stations+any the news station as well as my favourite symphony-92-4. Happy listening – Music evokes so many feelings in us, memories, nostalgia, things that are connected to our past – 

http://radio.garden/listen/symphony-92-4/P7TysNHJ

June’s Bdays:

1 Jun – Happy Bdays Morten
2 Jun – Happy Bdays KK & RichardLee
6 Jun – Happy Bday Dika & Harry
9 Jun – Happy Bday Sophie
15Jun – my father would have been 110. L&M’s paternal grandfather would have been 98
15Jun – Happy Bday AmyJ
20Jun – Happy Father’s Day
25Jun – Happy Bdays Chon/John, Clement & Huang/HI,USA.
28Jun – Happy Bdays Jeff & JohnWilson
30Jun – Happy Bdays JenMun & Annie