After 66 years away

The restored family home at lin chuo

Ahem, decided to revive my blog. Almost 2 years ago, I wrote this post, forgotten about it and my password to the blog. Long story. Anyway, blog's revived and  brother-in-law is back from Taiwan after working there for some years. Moreover, tomorrow is Chinese new year, everything starts afresh! : )

Here's the post written a long time ago.

We went to visit my bro-in-law in Taipei and at the same time visited my Father-in-law's birth place in Jinmen 金門. No idea, where is Jinmen? No worries, I had no idea too. Jinmen is an island off the coast of China near xiamen. The taiwanese island was heavily fought over when the Chinese and the Taiwanese went to war. Heavily shelled, and if I didn't remember wrongly, a record of 40,000 shells fell onto the island in two hours. That was a hell of lot of bombs to me. Not going to talk about the famous war between the Chinese and taiwanese, that is really only interesting matters for the chinese history buffs.

Though interesting when I went on a history museum tour but seriously I couldn't listen to anyone talk about any war for 1 hour. 20 mins into the talk, the museum guide seriously sounded like the History Channel on cable and also she was rather nationalistic (over zealous in my opinion). I zoned out, it was much more interesting listening to R's relatives and FIL's account.

The most interesting part of the trip to Jinmen was my father-in-law visit to his old family home in Jinmen 金門, Taiwan after 66 years away. I have never seen my FIL so happy before. The memories which he shared with us, his raw emotions when he finally set foot into his old home and meeting his childhood playmates after being away for such a long time. 66 years! That's more that half a century ago.

It was 1945 when his family left Jinmen, set sail across the South China Sea to meet his father in Singapore right after the Japanese occupation. Leaving his old home as a boisterous 10-year old boy, that day, he returned much older at 76 years old. Age did not seem to matter to him as he wandered nimbly through his old home, reminiscing his childhood memories to us.

Normally, he speaks to us in mandarin but in his birth country, he spoke in Hokkien most of the time.

"This is the room where I stayed."

"I climbed up to the roof deck with my relatives and look at the stars at night."

"This was not kitchen then, so and so stayed here instead."

"We have a shared outdoor kitchen amongst the Lees from the village."

He doesn't seems confused about his identity. Born Chinese as Jinmen was under China till the Chinese Communist Party lost the war against Taiwanese. Now, he is Singaporean but at the same time he proudly proclaims 我是金門人！in Hokkein, his native language.

 

The original tiles are still intact. Almost peranakan colours too.

I let the pictures speak for itself or save the yarns for another post.

Continue to Struggle

I think yoga teachers give good one liners.

Best one from last week, 'Continue to struggle, don't stop.' Master S uttered while sitting serenely and watching our awkward attempts at the impossible  and uncomfortable yoga poses.

Wonder what he will say today...

Seriously, kids are different these days

First impressions. A confident, rather athletic child, definitely not one of those wimpy whiny kids. I guessed she would be around 8 years old. What was odd about her? She had double eyelid tapes on her eyes. I did a double take while she was talking to me at the traffic junction. I can't figured out whether it was her choice or her fashionably dressed mum's decision. Different world, different kids.

What did she and I talk about? She asked me politely whether I had pressed the traffic signal button. Next, she told me she liked what I was wearing. Small talk. Most kids squirm when they talk to strangers. Not this kiddo.

I am not alone

Came across this article in Yoga Journal about the author's journey into backbends.

Excerpt from Yoga Journal's article "Releasing into Backbends":

Backbends. It's the only groups of asanas in yoga that scares the bejeepers out of me before I even roll out my mat. The word scares me. They're hard, aren't they? After a week of concentrated effort (and almost two years of recurrent effort), I can power one hand to one raised and shaking heel in Camel...

I can totally relate to what the author was writing about. Yes, backbends. That fear-inducing nauseating group of asanas that I find especially hard to practise. If I had to to do backbends during a class, I will try my best but I really do hate it. My teacher likes us to hold camel for at least 15 counts, 8 counts is usually the max for me. That is almost a lifetime to me...Camel, standing backbends, scorpion (I can only do this against a wall) and many other backbends. I get nervous even thinking abt them.

At least, I know I am not alone, there are others who share this fear. Ha, ha. Someone actually wrote about them. I am relieved. I am usually the odd one out in most of the yoga classes. My fellow classmates are serious backbenders. While they are in their backbends, I am the one looking around. Can't blame them as my teachers at the studio are superb backbenders. Watch one of the teacher demonstrating advance backbends.

Relieved.  I really do need a lot more practice. It will be some time before I attend a Hot Backbend class ...

Read abt yoga journal backbend story here.
http://blogs.yogajournal.com/beginnersmind/2011/07/releasing-into-backbends.html

My previous backbending blog entry here.

Updates on my plants. The sadly departed. Green fingers? No?

I have a habit of labelling my plants. Part of the reason is whenever my little nephew comes over on the weekend, it's a lesson in pronouncing the names of the plants and letting him taste and smell the herbs. He no longer eats the herbs but his eyes always open in wonder whenever he smells the rosemary and the basil. He grew and smarten up. No longer duped into eating the herbs but I will always remember the conversations we have about the herbs.

"Ah Yi,  I can eat them?"
"Yes. Does it smell nice?"
Boy nods and chews quietly.
"Is it nice?"
"Not nice", and he promptly spits them out.

Back to my plants, I label them and at the same time, I keep a graveyard of my plant casualties. Some died of poor nutrition and neglect. Others, because of my holidays. Another factor was my gradual shift from a brightly sunlit balcony garden to a shadier one because of the two biggish murrayas that I have. The sun-loving flowering periwinkles and lantanas are gone and in their place are the basil and the rosemary. The hibiscus is still alive but is growing leaves most of the time.

Let's see. What happened?

More buds!

More buds forming. This cluster should bloom by this weekend. There's another flower bud forming on another branch. The branch that was flowering for the last two weeks is still happily blooming. The waiting game begins.

Tried & tested: Neem oil fertiliser seems to be the best

I have tried several fertilisers for my plants. You name it, those gaudy pink or blue pellets, organic chicken poo pellets. So far, this bottle of organic neem oil works the best. Dilute it with water and water the plants. Simple. New shoots will grow rapidly, flower and at the same time, they keep some of the pest away. Am happy. The basil and the murrayas love it.

What is Neem Oil?
Neem oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem (Azadirachta indica), an evergreen tree which is endemic to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics. It is perhaps the most important of the commercially available products of neem for organic farming and medicines.

Where can I buy neem oil?
I bought my bottle last year at the Singapore garden festival. Can't find the namecard for the company and if I am not mistaken, their shop is at Novena Square. If not, try little India or Far East Flora.

Click here