1 Apr – Goodbye Mar Hello Apr 

Mon: everything was unpacked and put to place before the end of the day. The love-hate feeling of packing, travelling and unpacking! Should have not unpack, but will be heading to different climate and places next week. Sometimes I do wonder it is only me who dread packing and unpacking??

Tue: @CC to check out gears. Dinner@Les&Ivy and many tkx for the tax-free goods. It will have to be a VERY special before I open this bottle of bubbles!!

Wed: shopping for Jo’s 80Bday gift and saw this cute Vesper with a side-car@Suntec. The sign hanging there states – Children Only. The Vespa is fragile. Please be gentle 🙂  I would have been more gentle with it than any child! Could not resist this vanilla souffle@Hoshino Coffee***but no coffee. Have to go back there for breakfast one day and then will have the coffee.

Pick up all my gears@CC tkx to Calvin.

Thu: after the sky opened up at noon, a lovely wet and cool afternoon. Shopped at the Daiso@City Square Mall as there is a better selection in that branch. More shopping at the airport and there one does not have to pay 7%GST. Easy to take the MRT with one change direct to the airport and no need to deal with the rains. Above 3 pix downloaded.

Fri: TGIF. Happy 80th Bday to sis Jo – proud grandmother with her grandchildren pix credits to David. Jo&her immediate family, Michael, Pat-Lynn&David, Lucas, Beth and Sue-Lynn.

Some of the siblings and their spouses. Left-right sitting: PohKit, Jo, Ivy; standing: Les, Joyce, Lawrence, Michael & me. Pix credits to David. The dinner party group – sitting from left-right: Lawrence, Michael, Jo, PohKit; standing: Joyce, Kiera, Pat, Pat-Lynn, Beth, Lucas, Sue, Clement, Alywin, me and David.

Thanks to Michael, Pat Lynn, David and Sue Lynn for a wonderful 80Bday celebration. A great time was had by all young and old@Imperial Treasure, Great World City****

Sat: time to pay respects to our parents@Mandai Crematorium and Columbarium Complex. 15th day after the Spring Equinox is the ChingMing Festival 清明节 Tomb-Sweeping Day making the place packed with ppl and smoke in the weekend.

Lunch&dinner@Les&Ivy. Appreciations for all the delicious foods from Jo, Les&Ivy. Good to have another family gathering before Lawrence flies off to KCH tomorrow.

Who needs April Fool’s, my entire life is a joke – hahaha 🙂 So today I can tell everyone that I am heading towards Mt Everest.

Irene Hoe: No lah, just say you have just made it to the summit. April 1 what!

Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever – Charles Lamb

27 Mar 2017 – Applecross With The Leungs

Fri: TGIF from the delightful neighbourhood of Applecross – Stenocarpus sinuatus, known as the Firewheel Tree and Cassia fistula, known as the GoldenRain Tree.

The pelicans here have marked their territory on the lamp-posts and have made their landmark as sculptures on the roof-top of the gas-station.

Enjoy grocery shopping, so much new to see. Good idea and looks attractive too with these shades for the roof-top car-parks. Nice place this Waterford Plaza, with all kinds of International foods…

even my fav SIN Old ChangKee currypuffs!

Seafood shopping@Booragoon, a suburb of Perth is the Aboriginal name for the lower reaches of the Canning River.

A good fresh variety for shell-fish lovers, including a ‘Run-away Abalone’ – lol 🙂

Tkx to Les of a seafood dinner@Joe’s Shack in Fremantle with family: bros Lawrence, Les, nephew Larry, extended family: bro-in-law Michael and his nephew Robert, Gertrude&Geoffrey and their son Tony.

Sat: heading out bright and early for the Farmers Market on Manning located on the campus grounds of Clontarf Aboriginal College. Most interesting flavourful native Australian limes.

One of the best breakfasts, Gozleme from The Turkish Saj with the unique sound of the didgeridoo in the background.

Perfect weather and ambiance. Could not resist buying honey, mushrooms, leather goods,

best grapes in this life-time so far (Les bought 6kg to take back to SIN), local flowers which I arranged for a center-piece. Peggy’s purchase covered all her kitchen counter as she will be preparing a retirement party for 20+ppl tonight.

Appreciate to meet up with YeeHong&MinFong, YeeSang&Frank (who had to take off before this pix), YeeChit&Angela – all of Peggy’s siblings+their spouses who were all coincidentally in town, and  that is not the usual case! Tkx for dim-sum lunch@Imperial Court****good food, but seemingly the owner has a different attitude where service is concerned!!

One of the world’s largest musical instruments, The Bell Tower (1999) houses the Swan Bells in a 82.5 metre high tower located within Barrack Square.

On level six – the Observation Deck, 360º views of the Swan River, Kings Park, City of Perth…

The view of the city from the other side of the river – South Perth. Tkx to YeeSang for the city walk.

Sunset walk@Kings Park, tkx to YeeChit& Angela.

Yummy BBQ dinner (King-prawns, steaks, lamb-chops and fish) prepared by the Ongs@Aurora. What a blast to be able to have a house-warming with the fireworks – time to pop the champagne with the cigars for the owner! Family pix credits to YeeChit. Those who know me also knows my love-hate relationship with fireworks!

A dim-sum conveyor-belt (yes, sushi – here is my first with dim-sum which was so-so). Ian ironing my blouse ( I would also stay married if I had a hubby like him 🙂 ). Annya, a dog who does not know how to eat a bone (she sadly carried it in her mouth crying, and this is for-real). Joel must have the largest most unusual cacti collection. All my shopping, mostly gifts for ppl!!

Sun: safe&sound back in SIN after a wonderful week in Perth. Tkx to Peggy&Ian for putting me up and for putting up with me; appreciations to the Leungs, Puddeys, Ongs, Wence&Chris, my 2 bros Lawrence, Leslie and nephew Larry.

The Leungs and our family go way back a long way, and we are also related by marriage. Mother’s bro-in-law Henry LEUNG is Peggy’s paternal grandfathers brother, ie her grand-uncle. Thus that makes her my niece! Pix from SIN 1954-57 – 5 Temenggong Rd. VanKleef Aquarium with Les, YeeSang (on my mother’s lap) Peggy, YeeHong and auntie June (before YeeChit). The old Turf Club visiting father’s and uncle Vincent’s race-horses.

Front left-right: Peggy LEUNG, LEUNG YeeHong, me, uncle Henry LEUNG, uncle Vincent LEUNG; Second row: LOW YokeSau (2nd sis-in-law), auntie June, TSENG MayLan (mother); Third row: LAM KwokKiong (2nd bro, the first of the green generation to pass away), LAM TinYue (father), EU KengLun (a close family friend and the former Lee Wah Bank director and the Eu Yan Sang family).

24 Mar 2017 – Australia

Mon: after immigration@T3, a stroll to T1 in SIN. Quite glad to see new surroundings but was wondering why this SIA flight had to be done this way with no skytrain functioning. Hopefully those who are finding difficulty to walk this stretch will get some ride.

Tkx to Les for this trip. Has been a while since my last ride on SIA and have been told that there are 13kids on this flight! Was trying to be seated far far away from kids, but not possible today! Anyway the 5+hrs flight flew by quickly and was lucky to be placed by an empty seat by the window and had a nice chat with Sharon who was sitting on the aisle on the same row.

Descend into Perth with clear nice aerial views of the Avon River joining to make the Swan River. Thank you Peggy for meeting me at the airport.

Amazed at this beautiful 60yrs White or Ghost Grumtree/Widow-Maker outside the house. Just newly learnt that they are can be treacherous and destructive when that big. Branches can just fall and destroy roofs, life, etc. When the bark sheads, it can be a messy process and not to forget the fallen leafs! As Peggy says, we love and hate it…

Puddeys are wonderful cooks and here in WA, the fresh produce is absolutely fresh!

Tue &Wed: shopping@IKEA and other shopping. Waiting for deliveries and getting the kitchen set-up in the apt@Aurora Burswood for Les&Ivy. Appreciations to Peggy and Yee Sang for their help and for all their driving.

Thu: beautiful sunrise bush walk, tkx to Wence, Peggy&Ian. According to Wekipeida – Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea), blackboy, based on the purported similarity in appearance of the trunked species to an Aboriginal man holding an upright spear. The last name is now considered offensive to Aborigines, or at least belonging to the past.

Another explanation from Denise –  black boys because they need a bushfire to burn the stem part in order to germinate. So after a bushfire all you see is blackboys standing out of the landscape. That make sense. They only grow in Australia and NZ!

– if Paradise is this, then this is it. 2above pix credits to Ian.

Gateway to the Darlington Bush Land, Flowers of the Marri Trees (Corymbia calophylla), The Laughing Kookaburra and Mountain Quarry.

Many tkx to Wence&Chris for breakfast at their lovely home with a spectacular view of the city from Swan View. 

Welcome bros Lawrence, Leslie and nephew Larry to Aurora@Burshwood. More shopping for the apt and now the balcony will be furnished with a table, 6chairs (exactly what L&J had before their house burnt down) and a BBQ.

Tkx to Gertrude&Geoffrey for a yummy dinner at their home@City Beach. Never knew that grapes can be that good. Best grapes I have eaten in this lifetime, they were crunchy, sweet and seedless.

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be!

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gumdrops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, Stop, Kookaburra
Leave some there for me.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, Stop, Kookaburra,
That’s no monkey, that’s me – Marion Sinclair

19 Mar 2017 – Packing For Perth, Australia

Fri – TGIF and Happy St Paddy’s Day to all celebrating. Appreciations for a great reception from the Embassy of Ireland last night. Parade pix from 2008-9-10. 2009 was the year when it was pouring buckets…

1974 – 43yrs ago in Dublin, Ireland praying that my water will not break as getting to the Rotunda Hospital via O’Connor St would be impossible then! Happy Bdays to niece Pat-Lynn and to grand-niece Beth – what are the chances that mother and daughter born on St Pat’s day!

Some real good deals at the best outfitters’ store in town@Campers’ Corner in Novena Sq. Novena Atrium Sale (in front of Burger King). Save the earth and bring your own bag!

Sat: Happy 43Bday to my beautiful first-born. Morning at Hort Pk@Peggy’s orchid talk.

This park has changed since my last visit!

All these areas used to be just green lawns. Like all NParks locations, this one adds to another immaculately well-maintained with good signage park to our Garden City.

Something I would really like to promote and help. Will figure out something when time permits. What a fabulous recycle idea, especially when knowing that different kinds of plastic can degrade at different times, but the average time for a plastic bottle to completely degrade is at least 450 years. It can even take some bottles 1000 years to biodegrade!

Tkx to Peggy for lunch@Kallang Wave.

Even MPGRC ppl ESM Goh ChokTong and Yusof Lateef are flying the Irish flag colours 🙂 for the Block Party. Tkx to the MCGardens Residents Committee for this party including an outdoor movie screening.

Tkx for yummy dinner to Clem@KengEngKee****琼荣记海鲜at Bukit Merah, one of the better ziChar in town – located at the foothills of The Interlace, one of the largest and most ambitious residential developments in SIN.

Choy Hiang Beancurd & CoffeeRibs

Roast Chicken, Moonlight Rice Noodles, signature dish – Mingzhu Roll – salted egg-yolk, ham, prawn, mushrooms and parsley wrapped  and deep fried in a dried beancurd-skin. The only seafood dish we had was the sliced-fish which was good and so were the other dishes. The grand-nephews were too hungry to wait for me to take pix 🙂 Pix off the menu for Alonzo’s who is learning to use wooden sticks so that he can join us 🙂 🙂

Sun: good to catch up with Zarina and to meet her sis Louisa who is visiting from HKG.  A quick breakfast@Blk 34 Cassia Crescent, Specialise Homemade Pau Dian 专业手工包点 my fav pau place. Wish I had more time to attend her talk@ the CC.

St Patrick’s Day 2017 celebrations ended with its 12th annual parade – appreciations to Colin who has been the organizer since the start. So much more pleasant this year to line-up under these big trees@Empress Place Field as compared to other years in the scorching heat or pouring rains! by the river and ACM. IGAS group seems to be shrinking 🙁 Some of us, the older generation do have health issues, but where are the younger grads???

Pop-corn, candyfloss, family-art and crafts-stations, balloons, face-painters and goodie bags at the Street Festival, and not forgetting music and dancing.

Condolences to Catherine Carrick & family for the passing of her son Shihan Denis Brosnan  May he RIP. Prayers and thoughts are with her and her family.

May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

16 Mar 2017 – Not To Be Confused With Sago Lane

Mon: @IKEA to check out kitchen-ware where the prices are affordable and the simple designs and colours are suitable for my eyes. A plate of Gravlaks S$6.50 is reasonable and a healthy lunch.

Passing by Sago Street硕莪街 in Chinatown are where these wall-murals are located. Guess which is the wall-mural – the staircase or the open-door??

This street was once home to brothels, now houses food outlets, bars, retail shops and on the other side, there is a row of pushcarts selling a range of items by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. The funeral parlours are located on nearby Sago Lane and NOT Sago Street. However, Sago Street is always referred as sei yang gai=street of the dead in Cantonese. 1950B/W and a more recent colour pix downloaded.

There are 2 pianos located outside of URA Building and was surprised by these 2 players who were practising a Bach’s 4-hands and deccent at it too. What a lovely evening (except for the mozzies!) just relaxing to their performance while waiting for dinner across the road.

Yummy Cantonese food@MoiLum****Have not been here since M&B were visiting SIN 6yrs ago! Dessert@Oasia Hotel Marmalade Pantry.

Tue: Happy 12Bday Ellie, 2nd of the MagniFicent 6 grandchildren. Using her birth year to remember that it was 12yrs ago for the AT Thru’ Hike!

A day running errands, shopping@Mustafa and Little India for accessories, etc. Ending at Les&Ivy to pick up stuff to pack for Perth. Had yummy clams (bought@The Food Republic@CityMall a bit on the spicy side), but the durain (king of fruits), for dessert hit the spot! Tkx Les&Ivy.

Wed: got my suitcase-belt fixed@CC, tkx to Chris. This belt has done a good job by keeping the suitcase belted up for many years – the belt worked so hard to keep the suitcase in tact that it got broken! Let’s hope the stitches will hold for a few more years! Dessert from Asanoya Bakery***

Edited and updated:

Thu: St Patrick’s Day Reception@Conrad Centennial hosted by the Embassy of Ireland, Ambassador of Ireland His Excellency Geoffrey Keating (#5) & Mrs Keating with Guest of Honour Michael Noonan, the Minister of Finance. Appreciations to them all and tkx to Carmel for the ride both ways!

A delicious variety of Irish spread, including Irish oyster, duck, cheese, etc and a new whisky Teeling.

A great evening with the best of Irish foods, drinks, dance, music and speeches was enjoyed by all. Glad to catch up with SIN 1st Irish Ambassador (2000) Brendan Lyons. Ambassador Geoffery Keating is SIN 5th Irish Ambassador (2014).

https://amylamsg.com/2014/05/11/irish-ambassadors-in-sin/

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming – Buddha

13 Mar 2017 – Art & Culture

Sat: appreciations to Colin, The Ireland Funds and LaSalle College of the Arts (in fond memory of Bro Joe) for a delightful entertaining evening bringing back cheerful memories of student-days in Ireland. An excellent RedDot GreenDot program with Colin giving an unforgettable read on Joseph O’Connor’s Sperm-Bank 🙂

The Irish are the only ppl with their gift of the gab even without kissing the Blarney Stone. Perhaps there is a need to refresh and renew with another kiss on my next Ireland trip 🙂 🙂 Tkx for the company, Magnus and great to catch up with Mariam&family. Let the Paddy’s Day celebrations begin…

Sun: Design Trails starting from National Design Centre to

Oasia Hotel Downtown – designed by WOHA Architects, the minds behind Parkroyal on Pickering, the building features a mix of modern, urban and eco-friendly designs elements.  Above 2pix downloaded.

What is so unique here are the various creepers and greens growing on the different shades of red mesh which stands out from the other hard concrete buildings.

Ground-level – The Marmalade Pantry and lobby to the elevators in mesh lighting’s effects to compliment with the exterior of the building. Edited – tried the Chocolate Fudge Cake the next evening, Mon evening and it was sinfully rich and tasty! Perfect with a cup of camomile tea.

Level 12 is where the check-in and the common areas are located. Surrounded with nice gardens in open fresh air without AC giving a feeling of space.

Like the idea of Hush, SIN first silent T-bar. Silence is golden but my eyes still see and my heart still feels the Sound of Silence by this giant knitting display!

So far both these 2buildings – Parkroyal on Pickering & Oasia Hotel Downtown top my fav list. Edited: link below is an interesting read where SIN as a green urban utopia is concerned.

http://www.eco-business.com/opinion/planet-earth-ii-ignores-threats-to-singapores-last-forests/

Telok Ayer Park – the sun was getting too hot for me but good to see some ppl there taking interest in the talk.

Edited: stumbled upon this by mistake while searching for Airbnb SIN Office on the Design Trail. Documenting it before the memory fades even further! Forest City, Johor/Malaysia  碧桂园森林城市 by Country Garden Pacific View – SE Asia’s first and largest mixed-use green development in terms of the number of units to be built with a vertical greenery in this humongous development.

The young man who I talked to on Sun was most informative and helpful. He has bought a unit there and hope that things will work out to the best for him.

http://forestcityjohor.com/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-11-21/-100-billion-chinese-made-city-near-singapore-scares-the-hell-out-of-everybody

Airbnb SIN Office – déjà vu! Somehow had this strange feeling that I have been in this building, in spite of entering by the backdoor on Stanley St. None of the young ppl here could tell me what the name of this building was in the early 2000s. Left by the front entrance and was quite sure that this was once the Dapenso Building. Confirmed with Aisha that this was it, where H&H was on the 8floor when I was working there then!!

Got off the Design Trail and being in the neighbourhood decided to check if YC Yip was working on his mural@Amoy St – and there he was on this hot afternoon. Too tired to linger, got him a drink and headed to the bus.

Every little job becomes a dream, and you don’t recall it anymore, and maybe you might have a deja vu moment, but it’s like something you dreamed earlier – Terrence Howard

10 Mar 2017 – There Is No Carrot In Carrot Cake

Mon: a day of boring paper-work, but had to be done!

Tue: one of my favourite local snacks from OldChangKee. Movie A Silent Voice***聲の形 Koe no Katachi translated as The Shape of Voice – Japanese anime school drama film which is my 1st. The story revolves around Shoya Ishida, a former delinquent who bullied Shoko Nishimiya, his deaf classmate, alongside his friends back when he was in elementary school… and the consequences are for you to watch!

Wed: Does anyone remember Fear of Flying 1973 novel by Erica Jong? If you do, hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I did then 🙂 Happy International Women’s Day 2017.

Tkx to Aileen for lunch and a walk to SIN Art Museum/SAM, focuses on contemporary art in SIN. Once upon a time, this was St Joseph Institution/SJI, Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus/CHIJ’s brother-school and literally my brother’s Les school too!

The staircase still echos my bro’s footsteps running down those stairs 🙂 The title of this flip-flop display – Not Much To See – HI family&friends would have a kick out of this!

There is an Epigram Books store next to the SAM Museum Shop and There’s No Carrot in Carrot Cake is selling at an amazing sale price S$2per copy. Bought a few copies as gifts for my overseas friends. These NotBooks are also cute gifts to match yours–or your friend’s personality 🙂

I am not forgetful; I am having senior moments 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thu: tkx Clem for a bite and the free concert@Esplanade Concourse with Lily Anna Nuris.

iLight Marina Bay starting by Esplanade-Outdoor-Theatre. Dande-lier, Prof Yuen Research Team/SIN. Passage of Inner Reflection, Raffles College/SIN.

Art-Zoo, an interactive inflatable art park with larger-than-life animals and plants where the kids will have a blast.

Secret Galaxies projected on the Art Science Museum.

Young ppl giving a delightful musical show with their glow-lights and a couple taking their wedding pix by LV. The last wedding couple taken was with the octopus! from 2012 iLight.

Horizontal Interference/Poland. The Urchin, Choi+Shine Architects/SIN. Home, Anna Galas/Poland.

Northern Lights, Aleksandra Stratimirovic/Sweden. Ocean Pavilion, Luke Jerram/UK. 20,000 recycled plastic bottles were distributed to schools and community institutions to attach onto structural sheets assembled to form dome-shaped structures. Ultra Light Network.

MoonFlower, Lee YunQin/SIN. The Fantastical World of eco.me at The Promontory where you will find environmentally friendly, handmade goods and gardens.

You lookin’at Me?/The Netherlands. Sailing boats by The Custom House with MBFC in the background and finally The Colourful Garden of Lights@Clifford Pier (only pix downloaded here) before crossing the underpass via Fullerton Hotel for the bus after a 3hrs lovely stroll on a breezy evening.

Fri: TGIF and appreciations to Yulis for this spontaneous arrangement to show Level 30@CapitaGreen. Nice idea in the conference room! Reminds me of Svolværgeita=Svolvær Goat, Lofoten/Norway (pix downloaded).

Artemis is a contemporary Mediterranean-inspired rooftop restaurant and bar, fully-booked, so did not get the chance to try. Interesting roof-top view to the formal Asia Insurance Building, now Ascott Raffles Place.

And tkx to Karen (who I stumble on while waiting for Yulis) for showing the gardens on 14floor.

Lunched@Fat Boy Saigon***good soft-shell crab burrito and decent beef pho – soup on the salty side but tasty. Tkx Yulis. A good weekend to all. Next week is going to be another crazy one with all the St Patrick’s Day celebrations ahead – Sláinte!

What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time – John Berger

5  Mar 2017 – Tale As Old As Time

Fri: TGIF, enjoying Fri by starting the day at 0530hrs@MT-WetMarket with shopping for fresh produce for the week (S$10). Done organizing by 0800hrs and there will be purple sweet potatoes, pumpkin-soup, lemon-grass&rosella-tea, etc.

An egg a day I can handle, but the local-brewed coffee, as good as it is will keep me hyper for the rest of the weekend, thus only Fri 🙂

Sat: Beauty and the Beast****Disney’s animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted – IMDb

Tkx Daisy for the premier of this movie. Family fun times with niece Judy and grand-nephews Stanley&Andrew.

The best quote from the voice of Emma Thompson/2017, Angela Lansbury/1991. The animated 1991 Beauty and the Beast, became the very first full-length animated feature film in cinema history to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the song won Oscar for the Best Music, Original Song then.

Another of my favourite F-words – fairy-tales 🙂 But the reality was just a simple dinner using my 10% discount card@KopitiamPlazaSIN 🙂 🙂 🙂

Sun: Happy Bday Gel and tkx for being such a sport for wanting to do this early morning 10K walk with me. 0545hrs walked to the Octopus by ParkwayParade to meet Gel connecting via the underpass to Parkway/EC Pk. Beautiful faun&flora on the way.

to Gardens by the Bay East, also known as Bay East Garden. Dragon Boats practicing on the Kallang River are  a common sight on Sundays. There are quite abit of mushrooms due to the daily rains.

up the stairs (looks like they will start sealing that off soon, probably the last time on it 🙁 ) to Benjamin Sheares Bridge

SIN Flyer to discover that only 2stalls were opened@SIN Food Treats, but there is a lovely stone bench there that I would very much like to have! Bought back childhood memories of our garden where we used to have 3-4 of these including a stone-round-table with 4stone-stools@5TemenggongRd. Decided not to wait for these stalls to open but to walk on to

Toast-box@Esplanade for breakfast. Glad about it – saw one of these light installations for the iLight Marina Bay in daylight and would not have thought it was made-up of umbrellas only!

A walk down memory lane up YanKitRd. Last time here was in 2008 for the opening of the Yoga Shala School. The swimming pools were without water and the diving board were still in tact then!

https://amylamsg.com/2008/03/04/the-yoga-shala-school/

Today the pools&diving-boards are non-existence but the entrance building has been renovated, and thank goodness keeping to the original design.

Appreciation to niece Daisy for the invite to an informative Mindfulness afternoon with Joanne Chua.

For many in our SIN lifestyle, it would be beneficial to have some awareness and knowledge about Meditation&Mindfulness to cope with this stressful lifestyle here!

The Yoga Shala – theyogashala@gmail.com

2 Mar 2017 – Hello March

Tue: welcome back to SIN and tkx to Leng for taking time from her busy schedule to meet up. Did not have the energy to catch up during my previous Norway trip. Nice that she is here with her Norwegian family to celebrate her 40 with her SIN family. Fam pix credit to Tore Lundemo. Pix of Leng&I from 2013 OSL visit.

Met Leng for the Ft Canning Pk in the early 2000s. The existing map, now edited was originally designed by Chan&I@H&H. Still know that location inside out! We also designed this brochure with map and info (no more in use) over a decade ago. It was my favourite project@H&H. Lost contact with Leng for a decade and coincidentally stumbled into her 2012@Operahuset/OSL. Have been keeping in contact since.

Wed: Ash Wed and Hazel is giving FB for Lent – will miss her beautiful Tromsø pix. Days like this do not mean much to non-believers, but having been in a Catholic school for 8yrs do bring back memories of the nuns with what I once thought was dirty foreheads!!

A while ago since last watching a movie on a big-screen: Cooking Up A Storm决战食神***A culinary competition becomes a battleground for a Cantonese street cook and his chief rival, a French-trained Michelin-starred chef.

But they discover that they have a lot in common as they prepare for a world-famous culinary competition…

Thu: dentist appointment early morning 0800hrs@NDC, now under subsidized-plan, do wonder when they will put me in this new Geriatric Special Care Dentistry Clinic?! 🙂 done by 0830hrs. Walked to Chinatown via the road-works@Pearl Bank – looks like it is going to be some mighty MRT St@Outram!

A plate of noodles for breakfast@Chiew-Kee Noodle House hit the spot. Continued walking to CBD to CapitaGreen 40-story office development in the CBD, officially opened in 2015. Patinated Bronze sculpture LaRencontre/The Meeting by Etienne (b1952, France) & Living World Series by JuMing (China).

One of the greenest office buildings in CBD, it is decked with greenery on every floor, crowned with unique wind funnels on the rooftop, channeling air into a void to help cool the ACMV system in the building. More than half of the building façade is covered with living green plants and some interesting sculptures –  Above Below Beneath Above by OlafurEliasson (Denmark).

The historic market LauPaSat 老巴刹 also known as TelokAyerMarket (1838) has a graceful colonial architecture and a longstanding heritage. Enjoy bringing visitors here to show the building and to the satay-street in the evening. Being surrounded by skyscrapers, it is one of the most challenging buildings to get a proper full building pix. Aerial pix downloaded.

The advantages of starting early – cooler, done before noon and have the afternoon to rest.

Katy’s first time running 4×800 m relay. Pix credits to Linn. Seldom see any FB postings of my family, so tkx to Linn for these.

Mar family and special days

5 Mar – Happy Bday Gel

6 Mar – Happy Bday Linda

9 Mar – Happy Bday Sue Lynn

11 Mar – Happy Bday Ken

14 Mar – Happy Bday Ellie

17 Mar – Happy Bday Pat Lynn and Beth, Happy St Patrick’s Day

18 Mar – Happy Bdays Linn, Yi Sheng & Al Sosa

19 Mar – Happy Bday Thomas Heggelund

21 Mar – Happy Anniversary to Ivy & Leslie

31 Mar – Happy 80Bday Josephine

27 Feb 2017 – To Wander and Wonder Is To Be Alive!

Fri: TGIF@Bugis Junction Food Junction to lunch with Simplicius & Pat. Sim who is visiting from Sydney also only wants local food. Popiah&Rojak were so-so; the ChowKueyTeow stall is no longer, in-spite of this stall claiming to be selling Local Singapore Delights, but nothing on their menu was SIN food! Nasi Padang – their AssamFish&MeeGoreng were nothing to write home about.

Chose this area to lunch as we were going to look for some music notes@Bras Basah Complex – not much business there! Thought that the Music Book Room was located on the 5floor but found them on the ground floor (2above pix downloaded). Selection very limited, but bought a Ukulee Chord Finder (S$12.60) which will hopefully be useful to me. Dropped by H&H to say hi.

Happy Birthday Bjørn & Calvin – appreciations to all who contributed to this celebrations@CC.  Even though it was not quite a surprise, the thoughts and good intentions are what eventually count! If life permits, same time&place for 2018 🙂

Sat: after such a crazy week, need some space and down time this weekend to read, rest, reflect (3other important Rs for me besides recreation!) and get some work done in my living quarters!

Sun: a late morning call from Clem with updates that Steven has been admitted into NUH. First time in that location for a short visit – he had another seizure attack and they found another bleed in his brains – his blood-pressure is on the high side but it is being controlled with meds.

Mon: thank you for a very delightful and interesting talk by Dr John van Wyhe in the Ngee Ann Auditorium@ACM.

Wanderlust: The amazing Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858), was the most remarkable female traveller who ever lived. She was the first woman to circle the globe alone, and then to do so twice. Tkx to CH for the shared info about this talk.

Edited.

http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/pfeiffer.html

The word ‘travel’ comes from the Old French word ‘travail or travailler’, which means to work, to labor; a suffering or painful effort, an arduous journey, a tormenting experience. Travel, thus, is a painful and laborious journey. Whereas ‘to wander’ comes from the West Germanic word ‘wandran’, which simply means to roam about. There is no labor or torment in wandering. There is only roaming. Wandering is the activity of the child, the passion of the genius; it is the discovery of the self, the discovery of the outside world, and the learning of how the self is both at one with and separate from the outside world. These discoveries are as fundamental to the soul as learning to survive is fundamental to the body. These discoveries are essential to realizing what it means to be human. To wander is to be alive ― Roman Payne, The Wanderess