JEWELLE TAN

Looking at the clear blue sky, a sure sign that it will be another hot blazing day, I am thankful that it is a long weekend.

Even without any exciting plans, it’s great to be able to just stay home and let the kids enjoy whatever they want to do without rushing them. Best of all - not having to go out in the sun and avoid the need to use anti wrinkle face creams a wee bit longer.

So while the kids wreck havoc in their room, having adventures that I will soon know about (and hopefully something that will not need much cleaning after) I’ll just indulge myself in a bit of tube time - before I need to resume the job that does not stops even on a public holiday.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Plants with no flowers are a waste of yard space in my opinion.

However, I will take any plants over having no plants at all because not many things soothes tired eyes like the lush green leaves. Plus a sprinkling of multi-colour flowers and you will then understand why there are some who are content to stay and work on the garden at any time of the day.

My daughter once asked me why I always need to check on my plants whenever we are back from outings. I once wondered the same about my mother and her garden too.

Now I know why and seeing blooms in your favorite colour is very therapeutic and is probably as effective as the best anti wrinkle cream to relax tense facial expressions and beat pre-mature wrinkles.

If only I know the secret to make my plants grow faster and bloom longer.

Popularity: 3% [?]

One of our family tradition every Chinese New Year was to visit the homestead of my mother in law. All of her siblings and their children who are in the country would gather there on the first morning to give out or receive “ang pows” and catch up on gossips.

Before I was married, one reason for my visit to Brunei was to celebrate Chinese New Year and thus, I have been joining my husband and his family for this particular tradition for 15 years.

It’s comforting in a way that even after all that years, the street where the house is located did not change much, except for a few renovated houses. The whole kampung was still the way it was since the first time I set foot on it as a mere family friend. The kind of place where nobody needs any gps system to find their way around.

But while things did not change much, we were delighted to discover that a close friend was a next door neighbour.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Just as if I have a lot of time to read, I went on and got myself another not Amazon books but one from a local store. Never mind the fact that I have more than a couple of titles lying around the house (and car) that I have only read half-way.

I console myself that I could read the many short and unrelated chapters in “Growing up in Terengganu” over as long a period as I wish without feeling lost. It’s books like the “Tipping point” that is a problem because it has to be read continuously to understand the whole concept (especially so for someone with short memory like myself) and I purposely left “Blink” somewhere I can see it everyday as a reminder to finish the other book before I should start on it. But I don’t miss not continuing with “Churchill’s triumph” and “Evening is the whole evening” because they are very easy to strike off from my list of priorities.

Still I am optimistic that I will find the motivation to start and complete my latest book, Girls of Riyadh, which one reviewer wrote : “..will tell you more about one of the world’s oddest and most closed societies than a library of books and articles by supposed western experts“.

Popularity: 4% [?]

There was a reader’s letter in a magazine from a mother who lamented the fact that her child is more attached to his grandmother, who cares for him on weekdays (his parents brought him home only on weekends).

This reminded me of a boy who is raised by an aunt because his parents are working in another state since he was a baby. Now that he is articulate, he is able to express that although he receives great caring and love from his aunt, he wishes that his parents are with him, not elsewhere working on cad drawing or other more “important” jobs.

It is very tempting to judge these parents harshly. But surely they have good reasons.

Instead, I’ll just remind myself to be grateful everyday that my family live as one. That it is me that my kids can find first thing in the morning and kiss goodnight to at every bedtime. I give thanks that I can walk across the landing to check on them in the middle of the night, every night. I am at ease knowing that they are safe under my roof.

And no prospect of earning for a more secured life will make me consider leaving my children, at these age when they are still very dependent, even for one day.

Popularity: 4% [?]