Swee Cheng's Fun Stay at Ballina Byron

20 June 06

7.15pm to 9.15pm: two hours of the most boringest flight. It was jetstar (El cheapo airline with el cheapo tickets), boring because of the "no food/drinks" unless you pay for it routine (I guess something has to give in these types of airlines). On the plus side – I had 3 seats to myself.

21 June 06

Woke up to a raining day. The first person I saw was - Adrian, my nephew, having his breakkie - and heard was Lauren, my niece crooning away.





I looked out for the kookaburras (4 or 5) of them but did not see any. I heard their maniacal laughter though. Glad they laugh only in the day – they would be scary at night. By the way, nights are dark – really dark in country towns.

Kookas are the kingfisher family birds – large beaks and have claws. They are the size of a juvenile duck and can be scary.

Let me share a story about my Mom and the kookas. According to my sis, the birds (all 4/5) like to perch on her pool safety fence, they like to forage for grub in her garden, every morning. My mom thinks they are going to claw and peck her darling cucu, when he is playing in the yard. So one day, she decided to do something. They were perched on the fence as usual – all 4 with 2 facing the pool and 2 facing house. Mom went to get her broom, slides open the fly screen and door, the birds (all 4) turn to face and stare at her – she beat a hasty retreat into the dining room.

According to my sis and mom, there is a burung hantu around but I didn't see or hear it. There is some wild animal out on the roof though – I hear it every night. Probably just an ole possum.
That is rural/sua ku life for you.

22 June 2006

After breakfast, in between showers, I took my nephew out for a wonder in the back yard – the neighbours' that is. There is this huge custard apple plantation behind.

My sis wanted to buy some of the custard apples, but they said not to worry. After picking, they sent a huge crate over – it was not in tip top condition eg size too small, not nice, cracked etc – for my sis and mom, and refused payment because they could not sell them in the market. I had some too. I liked the way the lorikeets were eating the fruits on the tree and ground!

Did you know that bananas are A$12 a kg?

Still raining today, but the sun came out mid morning. We went to the beach. This was just great. That was really fun. The water was cold though.

23 June 2006

It was a lot more mundane today. We went shopping but didn't buy much – just groceries. Not much variety but then it is country NSW - sometimes I forget how large Australia is. I actually brought indomie noodles for my sis - I didn't see any here, but the seafood is just so cheap – prawns ($12 a kg) and fish, crab and scallops are all fresh and good.

24 June 2006

Last day, how I will miss the little ones. We went to the beach again today because the sun came out. It drizzled a little later but not before we had our Domino pizza picnic accompanied by my nephew's favourite word when it comes to food - "more, more".

Adrian likes to play vacuum cleaners too – he will actually vacuum his biscuit crumbs off the floor after he finishes.

Another boring flight home. The flight left at 9.30pm and I arrived in Melbourne at 12.15am on Sunday.

sweecheng

27 Jun 2006 11:28 AM

Story of a Crackpot

Friends have recently sent me some jokes and sayings which I thought were blog worthy. Helps to make up for the lack of new entries on my life :) Also, I reckon, some of these I would like to re-read some day. Today when I got this, I was steeped in work mode. My immediate response was, "hey, here's an example of good resource management" :-P

The friend who sent me this was possibly feeling more mellow. Her comments:

this is a lovely one... to live by.

An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?"

"That's because I have always known about your flaw, I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us have our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

New Kids on the Blog

Peter on his Shanghai baby: "Nicola is getting naughty and likes to scratch everything within reach - it was my eye this morning. Behaving like a boy than a girl".
Fri, May 05, 2006

"... very different feeling to be a father, i find myself very protective over certain thing and relaxed on others. Her health is one. Her crying doesn't irritate me. when i know she is just crying for attention or food, i find it very funny. she doesn't cry that much. very funny to see her trying to lift her head ... and fail : )"
23 Sep, 2005 pic from dad

Next, meet the new man in Lee's life...
Godson Jonathan Lim, b 230605 in Wales.

Enduring love: Lee and Kinta are such a longtime couple, they strike a matching pose for the paparazzi :P
pics from Lee