24 Jun 2009 – A Picture & 12 Lines to make you smile

1. Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them. 
2. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke. 
3. Don’t take life too seriously; no one gets out alive. 
4. You’re just jealous because the voices only talk to me 
5. I’m not a complete idiot – some parts are just missing. 
6. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps. 
7. Ever stop to think and forget to start again? 
8. Being ‘over the hill’ is much better than being under it! 
9. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere! 
10. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
11. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD. 
12. I smile because I don’t know what the hell is going on.

Needed those lines as the energy level (physical & mental) is at one of it’s lowest point…

21 Jun 2009  – Happy Father’s Day

Nancy and I found some used scraps of tissue paper to wrap Jeff’s gifts for Linn and the children. She just returned home, still in pain and needs to save her energy to nurse Sophie.

To my father LAM Tin Yue

You never said I’m leaving
You never said goodbye
You were gone before I knew it, 
And only God knew why
A million times I needed you, 
A million times I cried
If Love alone could have saved you, 
You never would have died
In Life I loved you dearly
In death I love you still
In my heart you hold a place, 
That no one could ever fill
It broke my heart to lose you, 
But you didn’t go alone
For part of me went with you, 
The day God took you home – Author Unknown

20 Jun 2009 – Money

Linn is still in the hospital and is on Heprin shots (blood thinner) and antibiotics. The doctors suspect that she may have a blood clot on her pelvis, SPT. Hope that she can be better and can be home by Father’s Day. It has been a week with much worries and anxieties but baby Sophie is adorable and perfect.

You can buy a House but not a Home
You can buy a Clock but not Time
You can buy a Bed but not Sleep
You can buy a Book but not Knowledge
You can buy a Doctor but not Good Health
You can buy a Position but not Respect
You can buy Blood but not Life
You can buy Sex but not Love –  Chinese proverb 

16 Jun 2009  –  Seniors at Walmart

Linn is back in the hospital due to pains. CAT scan did not show anything serious, just bloated with air which has caused her much discomfort. Probably has an infection but they are not sure where; received antibiotics last night and staying another night in the hospital.

John, youngest driver with Ms Nancy, a senior instructor with an injured foot! Was carded for buying beer at Walmart… compliment but more likely cashier with poor eye sight 🙂

Amy & Nancy, two senior divorcee, are talking.  

Nancy: That nice John Johnson asked me out for a date.  I know you went out with him last week, and I wanted to talk with you about him before I give him my answer. 

Amy: Well, I’ll tell you. He shows up at my apartment  punctually at 1900hrs, dressed like such a gentleman in a fine  suit and he brings me such beautiful flowers! Then he takes me downstairs and what’s there but a luxury car… a  limousine, uniformed chauffeur and all. Then he takes me out  for dinner… a marvelous dinner… lobster, champagne,  dessert and after-dinner drinks. Then we go see a show. Let me tell you, Nancy, I enjoyed it so much!  

So then we are coming back to my apartment and he turns into an ANIMAL. Completely crazy, he tears off my expensive new dress and has his way with me two times!  

Nancy: Goodness gracious! So you are telling me I  shouldn’t go out with him? 

Amy: No, no, no…I’m just saying, do not wear an expensive new dress!

My father would have turned 98 yesterday. Some humour helps when one has responsibilities to 4 kids, 1 concerned son-in-law, a senior with an injured foot, 1 senior dog, cooking & cleaning up etc… 

13 Jun 2009 – Quiet Moments

What a hectic week! Certainly feeling that the energy level is not as it was. Driving and picking Katy & Ellie from Vacation Bible School from 0900- 1200hrs Mon thru’ Fri; John is too young for VBS. For his age of 2 and a half, my favourite grandson speaks in full sentences and is very intelligent… observations from the an objective grandmother 🙂

Last night Linn & Jeff attended the Residents’ Graduation dinner and Sophie (3 days young) was the youngest guest who slept thru’ the whole ceremony. Katy Ellie & John stayed home with Nancy & I to watch a movie and had pizza with crazy bread & ice cream with brownies. Katie & Ellie claimed that the crazy bread made them crazy… and they do not need that bread to be so! John and I have similar food taste. He also likes his ice-cream on the side and not together with the brownie and has good taste in food… likes my cooking 🙂

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child? – Lin Yutang

10 Jun 2009 – 4th Grandchild

Appreciation to Nancy Bowman who flew from Florida to help me.  

Sophie Victoria Hall was born Tue 9 Jun 0336hrs in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. Another blond daughter to Linn & Jeff, the proud parents and a sister to Katy, Ellie & John.

Condolences to cousins LAM Kwok Lock & family, LAM Kah Yun and LAM Kwok Chai for the lost of their mother, 5th aunt who died in Toronto, Canada Tue 9 Jun 2215hrs.

Like all of us in this storm between birth and death, I can wreak no great changes on the world, only small changes for the better, I hope, in the lives of those I love – Dean Koontz

8 Jun 2009 – Garage Sale

Fri was Katy‘s last day in school as a 1st grader. Had lunch with her class. Next school year she will move to another school into a gifted program in 2nd Grade. Good luck with the new school and location.

Was at Linn & Jeff‘s ex neighbourhood for a garage sale.  Amy, Mike and their only daughter Rachel (Katy‘s best friend) will be moving to Belgium and just sold their house (the same model as Linn & Jeff‘s old house). The lemonade/cookie stand was a success for the kids. Jeff bought some books, Christmas tree stand, toaster oven, set of drawers for Sophie‘s room, a wooden lamp & rocking chair and I bought a brand new Reader’s Digest Beading Set for $2… incase I get bored 🙂

Q: Do you know why grandchildren are always so full of energy?  A: They suck it out of their grandparents! Watching Linn & Jeff with their children makes me feel proud being her mother, they are doing such a good job. Playing and cuddling with them is the best I can do. Considering that my mother had 7 and grandmother had 15 children, 4 will be no sweat for Linn! 

My grandkids believe I’m the oldest thing in the world. And after two or three hours with them, I believe it too. – Gene Perret

6 Jun 2009 – Happy Bday Dika LAM

No words are needed for moments like these…

Opportunities are like Kodak Moments. They are only captured when one is prepared to take the shot  – Lonnie Barker jr

3 Jun 2009  – Air France Flight 447

According to Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the Airbus A330-200 encountered heavy turbulence about 02.15hrs local time Monday (22.15hrs ET Sunday), three hours after the jet carrying 228 people left Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Paris, France. Jean-Louis Borloo, the French minister for transport, said chances of finding anyone alive were very slim or nonexistent.

Arrived in Columbia, SC on Sat and read about the disappearance of flight 447 on Mon. Debris were located early Tue in the Atlantic Ocean off the NE coast of Brazil. But do they belong to flight 447? A picture taken at this angle somehow reflects the mystery of the vanished flight. Sympathy to all the families and friends of the 228 passengers.

Was asked if I am ever afraid since I fly around so frequently? Living in fear of what might happen is not my kind of life. There might not be a tomorrow! One step at a time and one day at a time. 

Oh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains – Kahlil Gibran

2 Jun 2009  – Kenson Kwok’s 60th

Was it that long ago when we were running around playing hide and go seek in the 1950s? In the 1960s we both left SIN in different directions, Australia and Ireland for boarding schools and to catch up again in 1970s when he was doing his PhD in London and when he accepted to be godfather to May, my second daughter.  Thank you for keeping in contact even when his schedules as the director of the Asian Civilisations Museum were overloaded. Happy 60th!

1 Jun 2009 – Morten Hald’s 55th

Happy Bday to Morten Hald, Linn & May‘s uncle in Norway whom I first met in 1968 when he was 14 and I was 18. What a charming person who always made and still makes me feel welcome to his family and to Norway. Thank you to the Tromsø Geology Professor at the world’s most northern University for his kindness and compassion.

No wise man ever wished to be younger – Jonathan Swift