Two days ago, we celebrated our wedding anniversary. When one is married for so long, like me, the tendency to lose track of time is prevalent. I have stopped counting how many years we have been married.
Typically, we would go to our favorite porky restaurant to enjoy a platter each and a bottle of wine. But this year, we opted for something different – going with Chinese food and no wine. No wine?! Yes, for a change. The spread was sumptuous, and the four of us had a delightful dinner as the restaurant was not packed nor noisy.
The sumptuous dinner menu
When the girls were away the past few years, we never considered dining at a Chinese restaurant, especially to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It would be hard to order for the two of us, being small eaters. But now that both girls are back, we can have more options for dinner celebration venues. Isn’t it wonderful?
Here’s wishing us a happy anniversary, good health, and happiness throughout the year!
It is exciting that I am traveling again by air! The last time I flew was in October 2019, going to Langkawi with all my high school girlfriends to celebrate our friendship. Three years have passed since that memorable trip. And as we all know, the pandemic struck in early 2020, and the whole world went into lockdown, my country included.
There were a lot of travel restrictions of varying degrees since then to manage the pandemic, and flying was the furthest thing from my mind. There was no need to fly anywhere, especially for the last two years. Also, it was a hassle with strict SOPs in place. But as the world is moving towards relaxing the travel restrictions, people are traveling again.
Two of my high school girlfriends and I spontaneously decided to go to Singapore for a short four-day getaway. We thought it would be great to catch up with friends and family whom we have not seen for so long due to the circumstances.
Besides visiting people, we will take this opportunity to enjoy the local food and play tourist in the city-island-nation. Exciting as it may be, we will be extra cautious for the four days in Singapore to avoid any unnecessary Covid-related situations. We fly off an hour past noon today! Whee.
I have been having this nagging shoulder pain for some time now. It probably came about from playing golf. Too much golf? Hmm. There are days when I am doing house chores, and the pain suddenly strikes when I use my arms too much. Ouch.
As a result of this nagging pain, my golf game has suffered. I find my ball striking distances have reduced. Sigh. Perhaps less golf to allow the muscle to heal? Then again, to do fewer house chores as well? Hmm. What a thought! Well, here’s wishing myself a speedy recovery.
We did not play golf over the weekend; instead, we went fishing! The last time we did this was probably almost three decades years ago. Gosh, it has been a long time.
The idea to go fishing came about when the family got together over dinner and talked about doing outdoor activities. And since fishing is an activity M1 and my niece never did, why not let them try? A check off the bucket list for them.
The drive took forever. “Are we there yet?” I asked. Hahaha. It was a catch and release fishing pond near the airport, KLIA. The operator guaranteed five strikes per rod for the hour or your money back! Wow, how good is that?
The catch and release fishing pond
So my sibling, niece, and the three of us spent the late Sunday afternoon fishing. And we had such an exuberating time!
Getting ready for some action
Within minutes, strike one occurred, followed by another, and another! We had two rods, and the girls were delightfully having a blast. We adults could not resist the adrenaline rush and joined in the fun in the end. Why not? The day’s fishing haul made the activity look so easy and appealing.
Look at their impressive haul!
I must say my fishing record was never impressive. My biggest catch was a grass carp which was nothing of these massive-sized groupers in comparison.
Our haul and the inside of a grouper’s mouth!
Within the allotted time, the five of us caught 17 groupers! And we had several that escaped because we did not reel in fast enough. It could have been more, but 17 bites were more than what we anticipated.
The unexpected adventure turned out to be an exhilarating experience for everyone. The day was cloudy, the place was peaceful, and everyone had a very satisfying but tiring workout fighting the catch. Will we do it again? We may, but with the other young adults in the family who have not had this checked off their bucket list.
My Facebook memory popped up this morning to remind me that my Dinky Dinosaur tattoo is five years old today! My goodness. Sometimes I even forget I have it. Hahaha. When it is out of sight, it will be out of mind.
On top of Dinky, I sometimes forget that there is another one at the back! This one is definitely out of sight. Well, it looks like it’s time to get another one. Yes, I am seriously thinking about it. Stay tuned.
It looks like there won’t be any bunny sightings anymore. The neighbors and their dogs are back, and the incessant morning barks have started again. Sigh.
At least the neighbor behind us has completed their renovation, thus one less disturbance for us. We had to deal with constant noise and dust pollution when the renovation was moving at full scale the past few months. Thank goodness the situation is behind us now.
It’s a matter of reconditioning the mind and the expectations again to live harmoniously with neighbors, pets, critters, and all. Otherwise, we drive ourselves crazy, focusing too much on the external noises.
Our immediate neighbor with the Golden Retriever and German Shepard dogs was away for almost two weeks. And it was very peaceful without barking noises, especially from the unfriendly German Shepard. I could venture out to the garden without trepidation to get some fresh air.
I stopped going to the garden because the German Shepard would rush out whenever it sensed a presence and would bark up a ruckus. Unlike the friendlier Retriever, who would wait in anticipation for pets and love from me.
But recently, with the humans and dogs not around, their garden was subject to all sorts of critters making the place their playground. One morning, I spotted a bunny! My goodness, a bunny in dog territory? Did it cross the fence from the other neighboring house?
It zipped here and there on the barren ground with so much energy, being carefree and having the time of its life. I managed to snap a couple of close-ups when it ventured closer to our side. What a cutie pie!
The carrot in the background is a doggy chew toy, and not for the bunny!
I think there could be a hole somewhere between the two properties that allowed it to venture to this side. Hopefully, after its little adventure, it went home safely.
I’m sure once the dogs and their owners come home, it is the end of the little bunny’s adventure. As for us, it’s back to dealing with the barking of the unfriendly German Shepard all over again. Sigh.
The weather has changed again! It has been wonky and unpredictable. Whenever I check the Weather app on my iPhone XR so that I can plan my schedule if I am doing laundry or going out, it does not seem accurate at times, unfortunately.
On Tuesday, I had a morning golf game at a golf club some distance away. I checked ahead to ensure the weather would be nice for a pleasant outing. The app showed that it would rain only by noon, after which we would have completed our round of golf. But it rained when I left the house and continued to rain before we could tee off.
We ended up playing in the drizzle for the first nine holes. The course was beautiful and challenging, the greens fast, but the condition was most undesirable. We were wet, irritable, and did not enjoy the damp condition! But when we crossed over, the drizzle subsided and was cloudy, so everyone’s mood changed for the better.
With the change in the weather these days, planning is not easy. If you have something to do and the weather is hot and dry, do it. Don’t plan too much in anticipation of the oncoming rain, if any, because plans will go awry, and it can be time-wasting.
But for golf, if it rains before or after teeing off, we either wait it out or play in the rain. Worst case, we have to abandon the game. Luckily, we did not have to do this on Tuesday. I hope the weather will be kinder for my next golf game.
Lately, my putters have not been very good in their performances. Both the Scotty and Peanut Putter have been very frustrating when it comes to short distances. I was so peeved with the unnecessary additional strokes incurred. Ugh!
So, I have decided to change to a third putter! This latest third putter is not a new putter. It is from hubby’s collection of putters, and I am borrowing it for the time being.
My latest putter!
During my first game with it last week, it felt comfortable and converted several one-putts, much to my delight. It is giving my other two putters a run for its worth. Well, I will be using it again for the next few games.
Who would have thought that a simple and affordable repellent works? Our recent bat repellent, consisting of a stick-on hook to hang the mothball, has been effective!
Soon after we set up the repellent, hubby managed to clean off the stains on the floor. And I’ve been sweeping the area clean to monitor the situation. Immediately, we could see the results.
There were no further droppings of any kind, fruits or seeds, in the area. Wow, if we had known about this much earlier! Nonetheless, it is better to fix the pesky problem now than never.
Angieneering 
Remarks