Taking a Break?

“Go out! Enjoy yourself,” Rita said although she—and I guess all my siblings—are aware that I’m housebound. Go out while Mr. Hubby looks after the Princess at home? I can’t. I’d imagine all kinds of calamities happening at home. I’ve tried taking the baby out with me but ended up tearing my hair and vowing to never go out again.

So I stay at home and to keep my sanity—this toddler can drive one up the wall with “Baby want play-doh.Baby want play-doh. Baby want play-doh. Baby want…” or “Some more bread-some more bread-some more bread some more…”  to keep my sanity I do simple craft projects and I take photographs.

Now that the baby can walk—leaving me with both my hands free—I’m happy to be able to pick up the camera again. Even with two hands holding the camera, taking good bird pictures can be quite challenging. I get so excited especially if a rarely seen bird comes to visit and I’m all thumbs as I fumble with the camera while trying not to lose sight of the bird and at the same time shouting instructions to the Princess: don’t stand up on that chair; sit down; don’t put the play-doh into your mouth!

The birds seldom sit still in one place unless they’re grooming. I often get unsatisfactory shots because I take the pictures quickly and leave everything to luck—resulting in out-of-focus-birds or they’re so tiny you’d need a magnifying glass to see them. Quite often the birds act as though they’re camera shy and hide their heads behind leaves or they suddenly turn and show me their backsides. And sometimes I get shots of only the plant because the birds have flown away when I was still fiddling with the camera.

However, luck has been on my side several times too. These occasions had everything right: the sun wasn’t too bright; the birds didn’t move too much and weren’t hiding behind leaves or branches; the background wasn’t distracting; and my camera was within reach. (Countless times after spotting an interesting bird I had to run up the stairs for the camera and by the time I was downstairs, huffing and puffing, the bird has disappeared.)

I find that the best time to take bird photos is in the morning when the sun is up and the birds are visiting the just-bloomed flowers in search of nectar. Unfortunately, this also happens to be the busiest part of the day for me so I steal moments and grab my camera when I hear the familiar sounds of the Sunbirds, the Flower Peckers or the Tailor Birds. The Bul-Buls and the pigeons are always around so I don’t bother about them as much. On a few occasions I was lucky to notice a male pink-necked green pigeon browsing on a berry-producing tree outside my bedroom window. It is always a joy to see these beautiful feathered creatures.

Taking pictures of birds helps me from going crazy. It provides respite from the common and ugly which is what the house is turning into, thanks to the once-a-week maid who is now my ‘interior decorator’.  I guess it is something not everyone could understand—the need to escape from drudgery, even for a short while, and see beauty and appreciate it—and get away feeling refreshed.

Some people run or go for long, lazy walks or they go to parties or the movies or they shop or lose themselves in books. I take pictures of birds. What do you do if you need to take a break from reality? 

One Man’s Meat…

… could make another man gag.

When I’m passionate about something, I often get carried away and forget that other people might not share my enthusiasm, or that perhaps they are not interested in the things I find fascinating. So it was with a sudden jolt I came down to earth recently when I showed Mr. Hubby the cucumber I had just plucked from the backyard garden. His response had been short but not sweet: ‘Not interested’.

The sole cucumber from the vine

 It felt like a slap in the face and for a moment I was stunned.

How do you react to this type of response? You could say something to elicit a better or a positive response—but I think that would make you look as though you’re begging for crumbs. Or you could shrug your shoulders, pretend you didn’t hear the unsavoury remark and (like I did) decide to finish that huge chocolate bar all by yourself.

Cucumber flower

My dear reader, I had nurtured the cucumber vine, the only one of three seedlings which had survived to maturity. I had fed the plant, watered it daily and I was really pleased when it finally bore dainty, yellow flowers. I didn’t leave the task of pollinating the flowers entirely to the ants and bees—just in case they were busy elsewhere—so I pollinated the flowers manually. Only one flower was successfully fertilized, however, and I watched the cucumber grow bigger every day and noted its colour changing from green to light brown. It was a joy to get that one cucumber squash. One cucumber is better than nothing, after all. It gave me a reason to smile and be happy and I had wanted to share that ‘happiness’. Too bad Mr. Hubby didn’t deem it ‘happy-worthy’.

The incident brought back memories of another time, another person. I had wanted to ‘share’ my book. It was of course entirely my fault for assuming that this lovely lady would be interested to read the book. You see, I have yet to meet a reader who said he hated the book—with the exception of one virtual reader but more about her later… So I thought I was being ‘helpful’ when I brought up the subject as we sat twiddling our thumbs while waiting for some health talk to begin at this senior citizens’ club.

 Me: Have you read my book?

Lovely Lady: No.

Me: Would you like to buy a copy?

Lovely Lady: I don’t read.

Now, that was as abrupt and blunt as Mr. Hubby’s “Not interested’. As I picked my jaw off the floor, I thought to myself: If I don’t read, that’s a secret known only to me and nobody else! Anyway, I didn’t know Lovely Lady well enough to feel hurt or rejected by her response or lack of interest. She just doesn’t read. End of story.

Footprints, one of the books nominated for Readers' Choice Award.s

However, it was a different story with a reader who gave my book one star out of five on a website. One star? I was taken aback. Several questions popped into my head. Would she have accorded the book zero star if there was a zero in the options? What had she expected to read? Why did my ‘stories’ fail to arouse her interest? Maybe she had wanted to know about paddy cultivation and the book didn’t meet her needs? Whatever her reason, she had every right to give her one star. I only wish I knew why so I could do better if I wrote another book.

 It is interesting to note that all the other readers gave positive comments and a few even thought the book deserved four stars. Bless their kind hearts!

I also happened to come across another site which put 'Footprints' in the list: “ten of the best books on Borneo”. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the other nine books on the list.

So, one man’s meat could really be another man’s poison. Whatever we do we won't be able please everybody all the time. So we might as well stick to doing what make us happy. 

When the sun is up I’m going to plant more cucumbers.  Cheers!

A Letter to the Princess

My darling Princess,

Today you turn two! 

How fast the two years have flown by. It seems like we brought you home from the hospital just a couple of months ago. You looked so fragile and small and scrawny and all you did was sleep.

One year old... a jab right after the birthday!

These days sleep is the last thing on your mind and you’d avoid napping if you could because there’re so many wonderful things to do: walk up and down the stairs; make stuff with play-doh; watch your favorite kiddie shows; ride your cart round and round the porch; kick ball; count the kicak playing on the ceiling… and do a hundred other things.  

Two years old... and a mouthful of teeth

Last year has been an amazing year. You learnt to walk. You conquered the stairs and discovered hopping. You’ve learnt to feed yourself, say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye… see you’ and ‘thank you’; wave and give high-5s. You also grew several inches and when you smile you show a mouthful of tiny baby teeth.

You’ve graduated from talking gibberish to producing a string of words which are often followed by that infectious laugh—the hahaha which I’m sure could wake up the neighbours if they happen to be napping.

Second birthday... fun with bubbles at the beach

The year saw you taking your first trip to the kampong, your first visit to the beach and you had the common cold for the first time too.

This year you’re going to discover and learn more and I can only guess what you’ll be able to do before the year is up. Just remember to take your time. There is no rush to do this, that and those.

You’re just a wee toddler and we want you to be a happy, carefree child as long as possible. 

A lovely cake to end the day.

Thank you for coming into our lives. Thank you for the smiles and laughter and for giving me the reason to sing again—never mind if the songs are only nursery rhymes and kiddie songs.

You are loved and you are very precious. Happy birthday, Princess!