SeaSands in the Sun

Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone, Kindness in another's trouble, Courage in your own. - Adam Lindsay Gordon p/s: Oreja was blowing Bubbles on Monday, and I think she took this shot. Me likey =)

Been hearing a lot of bad news lately. So I'm trying to keep my faith and spirits up. Saw this cutie in work today..gorgeous blue eyes . Helped me to forget some troubles. This is dedicated to all that's going through some hard times.. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

What is Chinese New Year without the tastilicious traditional must-haves? Having neighbours that celebrate the Chinese New Year, we receive lot of cookies and oranges from them..(yes i have great neighbours). man I am sure going to grow horizontally wider by next week! Here are some traditional treats that are always present during the New Year: Love Letters I love love letters! They're my fav! In Malay it is called Kuih Kapit. It's a thin crispy and crunchy cookie. It is made of flour,sugar, eggs and coconut milk. Steamed Glutinous Rice Cake Yikes the English name for it is a mouthful! We call it Kuih Bakul (Literally means Basket Savoury Cake- in my translation). I don't really know how to eat this, except when it's cut and fried together with yam and sweet potato.. it's really gooey and sticky and sickenningly sweet. Has Diabetes written all over it. Just the way I like it. hah! It's made out of steamed glutinous rice cake that is mixed with brown sugar and w

Every Chinese New Year, my neighbour will call the Lion Dance Troupe to perform at their home. It's a beautiful Chinese art that incorporates Kung Fu in their performance. Me being the nosy neighbour, I stole a few shots of them performing! The troupe preparing for the performance This is actually the Southern Lion Dance. One more, the Northern Lion Dance has a different looking lion - it's more shaggy. Personally I prefer the Southern one.. it looks cuter ;) Having a lion dance performance in houses/businesses is common during Chinese New Year. The dance is accompanied by loud symbals and drums. This is to signify the chasing away of evil spirits (Correct me if i'm wrong, please). The lions are also a symbol of happiness. The performance started when the firecrackers were lit off..Yes it was very loud. Scared my soul too. I'm sure the evil spirits sprinted off as far as they could! Remnants of the crackers So off they went into the house to ward off evil spirits and on

As we enter the year of the Ox, may you be blessed with good health,happiness and wealth! Gong Xi Fa Cai to all!

Oh no,traffic jam for sure I'll be late, Late for work that is; surely I'll be dead, I was hoping and praying that the jam would clear, I've never been this late, oh dear! Then something took my concentration away, Something so beautiful, something that made my day.. What I saw, oh what a wonder, Something more shocking than a roll of thunder, No, I did not see a cloud with silver lining, But I saw the glorious golden ball shinning. I would have never seen this sight, Oh this awesome ball of light, If I weren't terribly, wonderfully late, You should try this someday soon too, mate! ~Mariposa Was trying so hard to capture the beautiful sunrise, but all that I got was this blurred pic taken by camera phone. The ones I took with the camera were worse! But the sun was gorgeous for the past few days! So wonderful to see it after weeks of cloudy mornings =) May you have a sunshine to brighten up your day! P/s: the poem was a spontaneous one after putting this pic up here. I g

A tangerine someone at work gave me. The Chinese believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Mandarin oranges are given during the New Year to symbolize good wealth and prosperity. The orange actually symbolizes gold - given to the colour and all. With the economy slowing down and all, I still wish that you may have the best of health and happiness as you usher in the new year...and many oranges =)

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey