Archive | Nature & Health RSS feed for this section

Should I Be Worried?

24 Jul

I came home from my museum exploration to a barrage of messages from M2 on the iPad Mini. As today I was on the move a lot, there was hardly time to get connected at free wifi spots.

She messaged to tell me she is more sick than last week and requested permission to be excused from her tuition class this evening and would like to skip school tomorrow too. Hmm.

Should I be worried?

However, by the time I replied, she’d gone to bed already, with the 6 hours time difference. I suppose it’s serious and she’s frantic as her messages were typed in all caps and my name in caps three times. Even M1 texted me via Viber!

I better try to catch them when they are getting ready for school the next day to assess the situation. Maybe an SOS call is needed to Grandma… We shall see.

Let’s Climb a Tree

19 Jul

We have a lovely but skinny Frangipani tree at our back garden. One day the girls declared, “We wanna climb a tree!” And so the hubby indulged them as I watch their monkey acts from inside the living room.

Climb a tree? Hah! How sad my girls don’t know what climbing a real tree is all about as their antics brought back memories of me and my tree.

I grew up in a big house with an equally big garden. And there were trees, lots of trees. Thirty six of them. Sometimes, somethings in life you remember forever and this is one of them.

I remember going through a phase and would be counting every single tree in the compound, playing authority with a clipboard and going around the compound doing a census on trees. I don’t know why I did that but I was obsessed with it, doing it every evening. And of course, the result showed 36 matured trees. My mother loved her garden, full of flowers, plants and trees.

And I loved my tree. My tree was special; it was a matured mango tree and had sturdy branches snaking out as if it was creating a nest with spread out fingers. I would climb my tree every afternoon and sit there to daydream. The branches were so thick that I could lie down anywhere I fancy and stare at the leaves or beyond. One day while staring, I discovered caterpillars! Here, there, everywhere. Eeuuww. I stopped hanging out on my tree after that.

But the fact remains, today’s children hardly has the opportunity to experience what we experienced. Climbing trees and catching little fishes from the drain (as what the hubbby used to do) are deemed activities of the dinosaur era, for people like myself and the hubby. We may have one tree for the girls to attempt now but sadly our drains are all covered up. Development and time plus technology has rendered many classics to be obsolete today.

Image

Bury the Bee, Part 2

8 Jul

It is now evident that the colony of bees have been disturbed. More came our way last week after the first incident, invading the kitchen and the girls’ bedroom.

I had an SOS call from M2 reporting this and more. “Mummy! They are everywhere! Rooney’s in his cage and fine but… OMG! One’s on my bed, like a zombie, writhing away!”

“Zombie? Or more like zombie bee?” I couldn’t help myself.

“Zombie, zom-bee, zombie-nee, whatever! Hurry home please,” she urged in between muffled laughter.

So we came home from work to stories of the bees’ invasion and both having to shower in my bathroom instead. We were to have a mass burial last Wednesday night, for the scattered little bodies here and there (in their attempt to fly out to freedom) but homework got in the way.

And for the past few nights, circumstances were not favorable, burial plans were dashed yet again. And last I checked, the maid just simply got rid of all of them. So the pet cemetery is left intact without a crowd arising from this latest little unfortunate aftermath.

Image

Bury the Bee, Part 1

5 Jul

After the haze cleared last week, we had some lost honey bees in the house! The poor insects must have had their homing device hampered for we had about four to five of them roaming in the girls’ bathroom, study and TV room.

Last Saturday, M2 solemnly announced, “Mummy. You must attend a memorial service.”

Shocked, I asked, “Eeeks! Who died?”

“The bee,” both chorused and pointed to an unmoving bug by their bookshelf.

So we had a quick memorial service for the little fella, and buried it at the designated pet cemetery in the garden, where all the other gone-to-heaven pets are laid to rest.

RIP little fella.

Image

Really?? Real-lee!!!

25 Jun

The hubby likes to poke fun at my last name every now and then. He would say the silliest things out of the blue in his attempt to coin up words that describes an action, situation or thing and join it with my last name, Lee.

Towards the end of last week, for instance, I told him that the current haze situation is making me very nasal. And he’d go, “You mean ‘Nasal-lee’?” Hardy-har-har…

Image

It’s So Hazy, I Cannot Hear!

25 Jun

I just had to write about this topic and make light of the suffocating situation.

The last time we had the haze so bad was 1997 (as officially reported) but I don’t recall, probably I had my hands full with the arrival of M1 that year. Subsequently, the haze occurred every now and then, typically during the hot months from April to August, but I think it wasn’t this bad.

This year’s haze is one mighty superstrong particle-ladened one that a friend suspects it’s the culprit triggering her home smoke alarm two nights’ ago. It’s causing a lot of discomfort, reducing visibility and hearing capability, as least for me. I am all congested with my nose and ears blocked and breathing becomes very energy sapping. I cannot hear in this clogged state of mind. Both M1 and M2 are very amused by the blocked ears.

They’d start mumbling or stringing a sentence very quickly; then say something out loud, as if testing my hearing ability. Sadly, each time I fail. The conclusion: I can only hear sentences made up with three words, no more than that. Darn this bloody haze.

 

Image

It’s So Peaceful

23 Jun

Every year, for the last several years, I would come down with a bad case of laryngitis. And the weird thing is, it is always around April. What’s even more scary is the date on when it happened, on the same date for two consecutive years! Last year, even my doctor was amazed that I saw her on the same date for consultation!

Coincidental or not, the kids love it! Because mummy is rendered speechless, literally. There are no naggings to finish up the homework or to pick up clothes strewn on the floor. And the best part, I would be in bed before their bedtime and they get to stay up to catch another Cartoon Network show before winding down.

This year, although I was not rendered totally speechless, it was enough to be irritating. I am constantly reminded not to talk too much to save my strength. The annual peace in the house prevails.