27 Dec 2011 – Chancery Grove

Mon: tkx to Kitty & family, Boxing Day was a day full of fun! Walking up the slope in Chancery Lane towards Chancery Grove (first row pix downloaded from various property sites) was reviving memories when the parents used to play mahjong@the Lim family in the 1950s. Remembering that there was a small house away from the main house where the mahjong sessions were held then!

At least there are some greens in spite of the built-up!

To be experiencing a completely different ambience with a fun group of Irish with their families in SIN is a nice change.

Appreciations to Ciera & Steve for hosting this lovely Boxing Day pool party where three generations and a thirsty dog had a blast. The grown ups enjoyed the yummy food and drinks. The mini cup cakes, brownies stars and bashing the Santa piñata were great success for the younger generation! Safe journeys and Happy New Year to Kitty & family who will be heading to Bali for the New Year!

This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can’t see how deep it is – Dennis Rodma

26 Dec 2011 – Happy Boxing Day and…

On the second day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

Two turtle doves…

Traditionally, Boxing Day is when the Christmas box (where gifts are placed) to share with the poor. Contemporary Boxing Day in many countries is now a shopping holiday associated with after-Christmas sales. Do NOT have any intentions to shop! The origins of this day is based on giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society.

On 26Dec 2004, the ground shook violently unleashing a series of killer waves that sped across the Indian Ocean at the speed of a jet airliner. More than 150,000 people were dead or missing and millions more were homeless in 11 countries, making it the most destructive tsunami in history.

Sat: tkx to AudreyW for including me in her bankers’ group for a yummy Christmas Eve dinner@her home in my neighbourhood.  A 3yrs old boy there taught me that blueberries are little grapes and persimmon are pushy-men 🙂

Sun: Christmas pot-luck dinner@4th aunt LAM Poh Kow with sis Jo, cousin David, Leah, Mica&Mun, friends from Myanmar, TinTin & MinMin.

A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm – Bill Vaughan

24 Dec 2011 – the stars are brightly shinning…

MERRY CHRISTMAS

GOD JUL

NOLLAIG SHONA

SELAMAT HARI KRISMAS

聖誕快樂

क्रिसमस की शुभकामनाएँ

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace…

The words of O Holy Night were written by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure in 1847. Cappeau was a wine seller by trade but wrote this hymn as a favour for a friend. He then realised that it should have music to accompany the words and he approached his friend Adolphe Charles Adams(1803-1856).

Pix are all taken in SIN and most are obvious as to where their locations are. The first row is 2011 overall winner. Anyone who can give the correct answers to the exact locations of all these pix will get a prize 🙂 

Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices…

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices…

O night divine, the night when Christ was born; O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

HAPPY & SAFE HOLIDAYS TO EACH AND EVERYONE.

23 Dec 2011 – from Punggol to Esplanade & Fullerton Bay Hotel!

Thu: started the day at 0800hrs, breakfast with AudreyW. Having a car does get one into unchartered territory and today was one of those days! Punggol Park Connector on the NE tip of SIN connected by bus #84 is still under construction but do look forward to when all the park connectors will be linked. Will then organize a Park Connectors Thru-Walk! The police post faces the water with Malaysia in good view!

Perfect weather for strolling and exploring after the morning drizzle. The worms are enjoying their peace before they early birds and before this little piece of paradise gets bombarded with crowds! A snapping turtle finds a resting place to stretch…

Not far from a temple and the new HDB development, is Hai Bin where one can catch fresh crabs, fish and prawns. A rustic concept with self-grilling facilities, bars and eateries. Appreciations to Aud for a lovely morning and for driving and introducing me to new areas.

Entertaining Crazy Christmas***performance with the local DimSum Dollies, Kumar, Broadway Beng and Vocaluptuous, A Cappella group. Got slightly lost in translation when the pink Santa was speaking only in the Hokkien dialect, otherwise a good laugh to start  the seasonal greetings. Thank you to nephew Clem for this Christmas present.

Ending the evening with a drink and snack on the roof top of The Fullerton Bay Hotel. The straps of the sandals broke (probably made in China :-)) and thank goodness for the shoe laces given@Esplanade for the AIDS Awareness by SIN Health Promotion Board just before the Crazy Christmas performance. Finally colours fit for the Christmas season 🙂 🙂

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/sexualhealth/article.aspx?id=11386

Don’t speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn’t walk in their shoes – Donald Rumsfeld

21 Dec 2011 – to my Jewish family & friends!

Hanukkah/חֲנֻכָּה‎, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE.

http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/hanukkah.htm

Will take the opportunity to post more light pix in this posting for Hanukkah and also as part 1 of the Christmas lights. As they are, the colours for me do not really fit into Christmas but more for Hanukkah! Somehow red, green, gold and white are Christmas lights in my eyes. Blue, pink and purple are more Mardi Gras, 2010 lights! Part 2/Christmas trees to be posted sometime before the weekend, hopefully 🙂

Let there always be lights in every ways to light up your life and appreciations to all who put a light on my path in this life’s journey.

Tkx to family & friends for a yummy pot-luck dinner@Pearl Bank last night!

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being – Carl Jung

20 Dec 2011 – My Hang-out…

Marine Parade Community Building/马林百列社区综合大厦; is a community building located at the corner of the junction of MP Road and Still Road South. This building currently houses a community club, performing arts group, public library and less than 5mins walk from the flat! Built on reclaimed land in the 1970s, the library is spread over four floors with a floor area of 3,500sqm/37,675sqf.

As one of the first neighbourhood libraries, this location has more than 150,000 books and 2,500 videos available for loan. There is a café on the ground floor, and the library is fitted with numerous couches and benches for the public’s use. Other facilities include multimedia stations, DIY service stations, and music posts equipped with headphones.

At present there is an exhibition on Five-Foot-Way Traders with B/W pix from the 1950s and 60s organised by the National Archives of SIN & National Heritage Board.

Safe journeys to Les & Ivy who are on their way to visit their immediate families in NYC. Welcome cousin David from HI who will be here to take care of his 97yrs mother (4th auntie LAM Poh Kow) while the help is back in Indonesia for the holiday season. Will try to have dinner with him most evenings during his short visit. Welcome back also to Leah, a student from the HI group. The last time we met was 7yrs ago!

If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important – Bertrand Russell

19 Dec 2012 – And the East Side…

The rains have been pelting down like there is no tomorrow the past few mornings, perfect snooze weather 🙂

Sun: another wedding but this is a Chinese one! An early popiah and mee siam breakfast@Glory with Ting & CH, Aya & KiWi.

Glad to discover that the new Katong I12/I one two! houses GV cinemas and this are the closest ones to me. Now will not have to leave the East Side where the best Tao Kwa Pau is located just across the road from I12, East Coast & Joo Chiat Rd a savory junction 🙂 🙂

The OperaViva Club is a family of music lovers, young and old, who already enjoy or wish to know more about opera also a new non-profit opera company with charity & IPC status, dedicated to the staging and promotion of Baroque and New Singaporean operas. Founded by LEOW Siak Fah, Chairman of city-state Management Group Holdings who is also the founder of Singapore Lyric Opera and Vocalist.

Appreciations to Juliana & Lucy for including me to their year-end function held at LSF’s private residence. More coincident, LSF’s niece Francesca is married to my nephew John LAM in KL.

And his house is located where Kenson’s childhood’s home was, a site with much fond memories from the 1950s! Thanks to Mr & Mrs LEOW for a delicious meesiam, receipt from his mother, the best home-made so far and for opening their beautiful home to the occasion. Tkx to other members for the pot-luck and to Eunice for giving me a ride to Pearl Bank.

To the benefits for my overseas readers, the following are food from SIN and can mainly be found in SIN & Malaysia:

Popiah:  a popiah skin/薄餅皮 is a soft, thin paper-like crepe or pancake made from wheat flour. Favoured and filled with a sweet sauce and optionally with hot chilli sauce before it is filled. The filling is mainly finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip known locally as bangkuang, which has been cooked with a combination of other ingredients. Other common variations of popiah include pork (lightly seasoned and stir-fried), shrimp or crab meat. As a fresh spring roll, the popiah skin itself is not fried.

Mee siam: which means ‘Siamese noodle’, is a dish of thin rice noodles in spicy, sweet and sour light gravy served with dried bean curd, boiled egg, and tamarind garnished with spring onions and chives. It is one of the popular one-dish meals in SIN.

Tao Kwa Pau: fried beancurd stuffed with minced meat, egg, fried yam, cucumber and coriander. Yummy…

If music be the food of love and the love of food the most sincere love, then music and food are the perfect loves 🙂 🙂 🙂

18 Dec 2011 – And Public Transport Chaos…

Liking to walk is a plus with all the recent MRT breakdowns, bus driver getting lost and the hike of taxi fares. SMRT’s third disruption in four days on Saturday affected more trains and lasted longer than Thursday’s shutdown on the North-South Line, crimping the start of many people’s weekend…

http://www.straitstimes.com/The-Big-Story/The-Big-Story-3/Story/STIStory_746305.html

http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20111213-316006.html

Sat: great to catch up with AudreyW for breakfast@the local wet market. There was a Malaya wedding on the void deck and the drums are my favourtie part to these weddings!

From Handy Rd there are 136 steps up to The Old School@Mt Sophia. The first time in this area was in the 1950s to visit with the Eu family@Eu Villa, today a Montessori Pre-school. The Old School, previously Methodist Girls School/MGS now a magnet for artsy types and a platform for SIN independent arts scene including Sinema (first time and last time today). This is on top of a hill in one of the most expensive location and the artsy concept unfortunately will have to move as the old building will be demolished Jun 2012 🙁

This place has been like a ghost town the few times visited, today included! Appreciations to AudreyM for getting the tickets and for her company to this interesting movie: Red Light Revolution***a Chinese comedy about a cab driver who loses his job and opens an adult shop.

16 Dec 2011 –  Australians have a great sense of humour 🙂

15 Dec 2011 – And HDB Hub…

Wed: three students of Year 4 Communication Studies from Nanyang Technological University/NTU, working on the topic of Active Ageing for their Final Year Project were at the flat to have a chat! The final product will be a multi-part Chinese news feature published on their independent news website.

With SIN ageing population, there is a need to explore how seniors can be effectively engaged to remain active contributors to our society, and to promote the notion that seniors can and ought to live in a meaningful and purposeful manner. Through our Chinese news feature, we hope to address ageing issues and debunk stereotypes of the aged by profiling active seniors who will inspire fellow seniors and younger Singaporeans too.

Let’s hope that what has been communicated here for nearly 6hrs yesterday will be of help, especially for the younger generation to learn enjoying & living life to the fullest. Good luck and appreciations to the 3 charming young ladies, SieYen, KiaHui & ShiYan for their patience with this senior citizen! LOL 🙂

Tkx to nephew Clem for dinner. The new Bedok Bus Interchange is undergoing constructions but the varieties of the food stalls are still worth a visit in spite of the mess! The three above pix are uploaded from various sites.

Today: met with Pat@HDB Hub in Toa Payoh to make some enquiries. Nice lobby with JuMing’s ‘Tai Chin Boxing’ and a mural ‘HDB Storeys’ contributed by 4,800 staff. Two new interesting projects SkyVille@Dawson & Tiong Babru View might be worth to look at.

Living & enjoying a full life for me being with family & friends, tasting all kinds of food & beverages, exploring and discovering what is new either by visiting or surfing online, hiking, swimming, movies, music, reading, etc is what active aging is about! Of course at this stage, will be at a slightly! slower pace 🙂 🙂