Happy Birthday Malaysia

this shot was taken by the hubby..

On Sunday, we celebrate our nation's 51st Independence Day. Yes, we are in fact that young.

The hype and the impending celebration this year feels a little subdued - we all know why. For our family, regardless of the current state of affairs, our hearts remain here, our birthplace. We are proud to be Malaysians nevertheless. Our only hope is that our nation remains strong to face any adversities that may come our way.

Since this is a long weekend holiday, like I mentioned, we'd probably take advantage of it by doing something fun together. God willing and if the weather permits; because we've had crappy weather all week. From the looks of it, I am really not thoroughly optimistic to say the least.

However, should all things go as planned, I'll have some nice photos for you next week. So, in the meantime, you take care now..Enjoy yourselves, be nice and most of all, be kind!

Watching

You can't see it from here but there was in fact a little yellow butterfly fluttering around outside our living-room window. It landed just on the window grill at where Ash was standing and the only thing that stood between the both of them was the glass door. I have not been opening the glass door for a while now due to the pesky mozzies.

The butterfly caught Ash's attention and all she did for a good 5 minutes was stand there, watching the light-winged creature. She saw it wriggle a little, seemingly unsettled as if the spot wasn't as comfortable as it thought. As soon as Ash tried to make a gesture, like poking the glass, the butterfly flew away into the leaves and soon, away from our premises.

From that moment, an idea hit me like a bolt of lightning - I probably will utilize this long weekend holiday to introduce Ash to more butterflies. Would be great, wouldn't it? :-)

Dream a little dream

Hey, I feel generous today : I’ll let you in on a little secret! Yes, I am well aware that once this cat is out of the bag, there is no turning back but I'm sure I’ll live.

You know what a verging-on-crazed tennis fan I am right? By the way, “No. 2” – does not bode well next to Fed’s name. Anyway, as I was saying, tennis...you see, the secret I am about to reveal here is my equally, if you’d like to call it that, “crazy” dream. The dream of turning Ash into a pro tennis super-star!

You laugh...wait till you see me on tv, sitting at the VVIPs, next to some hot hot celeb of the future and only then, we shall see who has the last laugh…LOL…Alright, jokes aside. I’ve been reading about these young athletes and learned that they began playing the game from a very young age. Some even started at 2 or 3! As enthusiastic about the prospect as I am but where am I going to find rackets small and light enough for my little Ash’s hands? Either that or these kids have gigantum hands!

So, one weekend, while shopping for groceries at Tesco, I went around to the kids’ section, hoping to find toy rackets for kids. I managed to find one that would fit Ash’s tiny hands. They came in a pack of 2 rackets, 2 round plastic balls that are no bigger than squash balls and a shuttlecock (I figured, if she can’t make it as a bona fide tennis player, she could switch to badminton instead).

That purchase was made roughly 2 months back and am pretty disappointed to report that she hasn’t shown much interest in the game. She has yet to master hitting the balls with the racket. As a matter of fact, she has mastered the art of hitting the racket at every other thing instead.

I was beginning to think that this ‘dream’ of mine is a lot harder for me to make it real than I originally thought! And, I’m seriously thinking of shoving it. I mean, who am I kidding? Evidently, I’ve been watching way too much tv!

Well, that was my position until she showed me, as explicitly as she possibly could, what she really thought of the shuttlecock or a possible career in badminton :




With that, and while I really don’t want to say too much in case I jinx the whole thing, I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed..*smile*

Happy faces

The clown and the little kid - I simply couldn't resist.

As it turned out, they were being photographed by some professional photographers about 10 feet away! LOL...Luckily for me, I still have my camera and the lady smiled as she walked passed. Nice lady she was!

May you have a splendid day with happy faces all around! *smile*