Walking Into the Vortex

On weekdays every morning our human enjoy going for morning walk...

...it feels like you are about to enter the vortex to peace and serenity.

Two Chonky Kitties

Our human remembered, looked and reached out to the paper bag stashed in the deep corner of the cupboard; without hesitation, took out what was inside and carelessly discarded the paper bag on the floor.

It felt good to see them again...two stuffed kitties.

Though part of its fur was pressed flat, it is interesting to note these two black chonkies have white noses, whiskers and claws. Bought while on vacation in either early or mid 1970s, they still look good and shiny.

OMG!!! Our human just realised that these two are old, half a century old!

These two kitties will be placed in the MeowRoom and our human will have to start clearing space for them after leaving that room as when the late Winnie was alive.

Face on Gossamer?

Our human loves to go for morning walks in the nearby forest reserve.

And since getting up a little earlier than the norm, our human decided to start the walk earlier to enjoy the cool fresh air.

Walking along the narrow path, our human saw a spider web among leaves sprinkled with morning dew, stopped and snapped it with the handphone.

Further down the path, there was another web among leaves but this one had a big dew drop near the centre of the web. Finding it interesting, our human snapped a picture.

On reaching home, the photos were viewed and saw that the second photo captured something interesting.

There was a face on that big dew drop at the centre of the web.

Our human would like to think that this is a by chance selfie reflection of the photographer. If not, then would it be something from the 'twilight zone'?

Yesterday When We Were Young!

Now fattened up, Winnie must have felt relaxed in her new home.

This photo was taken in 2006 few months after she joined the pack. She was still wearing her 'Winnie the Pooh' bell necklace from her previous owner.

Actually our human waited for a year (hoping her owner will come back for her and the rest of the abandoned kitties) before taking her in. Winnie was already an adult then, not a kitten.

Read how Winnie joined the pack in the link below.

https://thechairspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/07/whimsical-winnie.html

When A Snake Comes A Calling

Few months ago, something caught the attention of the cats. Captain Jack Sparow HAWK simply could not tear his one eye from this interesting object.

EJ decided to investigate, and rushed to grab the camera to quickly record the moment.

Ramphotyphlops braminus is a harmless blind snake species found mostly in Africa and Asia. Completely fossorial, they are often mistaken for earthworms, except that they are not segmented.

It is  known as Brahminy blind snake, flowerpot snake, common blind snake, island blind snake, and Hawaiian blind snake.

Adults are small and thin, averaging between 6.35-16.5 cm (2½ to 6½ inches) in length. The head and tail-tip look much the same, with no narrowing of the neck. The rudimentary eyes appear only as a pair of small dots under the head scales. The tip of the tail ends with a tiny pointed spur. The head scales are small and resemble those on the body. The colouration of the adults varies from shiny silver gray to charcoal gray or purple. [Source: Wikipedia]

This recent one was a second encounter the cats had with a snake and it reminded EJ of the first a few years ago.

The first encounter.

EJ was sleepy. It was almost midnight. As usual, EJ would make one last check on the cats before going to bed. 

The cats were crowding round of what EJ saw was a big fat worm. The meowyard light was not bright then.  EJ took the broom getting ready to sweep it out. That almost foot-long "worm" reared its head. 

Woooh! An adrenaline rush and EJ's eyes opened wide, completely woke up in an instant. 

You should have seen EJ's reaction, the kungfu stance holding the broomstick balancing on one leg with the other leg kicking and pushing seven cats away (there were seven then), and with one clean swipe (a swing that could beat Tiger Woods flat) with such accuracy (a hole in one?) that EJ did not even see the snake flying through the slit (tapering where the widest was less than half inch) under the back metal door and out to the drain.

The snakes encountered on both occasions were of different species.

Fat Cat in Narrow-Necked Jar

More than 40 years ago, EJ and siblings wondered whether their fat cat, whom to their eyes had a silhouette of a miniature elephant, could go inside mom's narrow-necked ceramic jar or get stuck trying to get in. The very thought of how hilarious it would look with its fat rump sticking up and legs kicking in the air gave them courage to try out. 

First, they made sure mom went out. Then they took that narrow-necked ceramic jar and placed it in the middle of the hall. 

Yeow-Yeow, yes, that was the fatty's name, resisted when they tried to put his head in the jar opening. EJ and siblings laughed at the comic sight.

When put down on the floor briefly, fatty got fascinated and started peering in. They tried again and fatty went in after some leg kicking in the air.

Peering inside the jar, fatty could not be seen. It was dark inside. Colour of that jar (which was almost similar to the one below) did not help as it was deep brown almost black both outside and inside.

Fatty stayed in for so long and was so quiet that EJ and siblings panicked. They thought they had to rescue him by breaking Mom's jar. 

Luckily fatty got bored squatting in the dark and popped out. Can you imagine how relieved EJ and siblings were. That jar was quickly put back in its place before mom came home.

EJ thinks fatty is number 3 here. Cat on the floor was fatty's mother, Meowmy.

Under the Jasmine Tree

EJ loves the smell of fresh Jasmine flowers.

The late Cookie used to love to sleep here during every hot afternoons. 

On those really hot afternoons, EJ, siblings and mom were extremely envious just watching Cookie sleep.  It felt good and comforting just staring at him in deep slumber there unmoving. In fact, they felt the coolness Cookie was getting and secretly wished either they could make themselves small to crawl in together with Cookie or make that little hut and Jasmine plant big.

With those sweet scent and shade, who wouldn't want to be under the Jasmine Tree?

Below is the Jasmine flower (Jasminum  Sambac) plant EJ planted grown from a cutting of the Jasmine plant Cookie slept under at EJ's Mom's porch. That porch has been renovated and that Jasmine plant removed.

Currently EJ is trying to grow the Jasmine plant again after an invasion of snails destroyed it.

Unity Aspirations

It's Sunday!


They are united even in sleep.

When in elementary/primary school, EJ had a tiny diary. It had little sayings in it. One which EJ still remembers vividly is 'Unity is strength and so is onion'.

Pet Pride

Into the Twilight...

Last Christmas, EJ and elder brother went to the graveyard. It was cool and misty that early morning. EJ was surprised to see many people there cleaning graves of their loved ones and placing flowers.

After cleaning their father's grave, flowers were arranged in a plastic container.

Being at this graveyard brought back frightened memories of what happened more than 30 years ago. 

**************

Travel time boarding two buses from work to home takes at least two hours. EJ had to reach home as quickly as possible that day and decided to hail a taxi.

Just a few kilometres from reaching home, the taxi driver turned off the main road and went into a narrow road. Soon it led to many trees on both sides.

Taxi driver: 'I think I made a wrong turn.'

More than 30 years ago, EJ was youthful and attractive. There were many cases then of passengers being robbed, assaulted and even killed. 

EJ hid the nervousness by trying to appear cool and replied nonchalantly.

'Don't worry! I know this area very well and know where it leads to.'

As soon as EJ finished that sentence, graveyards were seen on both sides.

It was dusk and getting dark pretty quickly.

There were many rumours and stories about the young and good-looking usually females getting or asking for help and then at the most critical moment morphed into some horrible inhuman creatures.

Seated upright and tensed, the driver kept looking at the rear mirror fearing that EJ might morphed into something.

EJ too stared straight into the rear mirror without blinking and gave one word instructions.

'Right'

'Left'

'Left'

On seeing dad's grave, EJ felt reassured and became even more calm.

The driver never uttered a word.

As the taxi turned back to the main road, the driver gave a barely audible sigh. His body and shoulders relaxed visibly.

He must have prayed very hard while driving through 'twilight' and thankful that EJ did not morph in front of him.

Challenge from Cute Soldier and Winnie Hatted

Since EJ and brother live in different countries, communication is easiest through emails.

One day EJ's brother emailed a picture of a cute squirrel dressed in full combat gear. That sparked off an interesting email conversation which is funny as well.

We are sharing this so that you can laugh or grin with us.

The very cute soldier.

BRO: I hope my backyard squirrels do not dress up in combat fatigues to declare war on me....

EJ: Well, in a way I hope all the area squirrels do dress up in that very cute combat fatigues, hold hands round the trunks of all your fruit trees staring hard at you. And you throwing your hands up in the air in exasperation. Would certainly be a hilarious sight!  Hahaha!

BRO: Squirrels here are pretty aggresive.  If you chase them, they will run but after a safe distance, they will turn around and stare at you, with tails lashing and making noises as if to challenge you to further chase them if you dare....  Quite cute but at times annoying.

Once, I threw an apple at one of them at ground level for doing it and it grazed its side.  It rolled over a few times in pain and slowly got up to a tree and disappeared. I felt sorry for the poor thing and never did it again.  

I am sure if they have the technology, I will never be able to go to my backyard again...or worse, they will evict me from my house or area...and send me packing back to Malaysia in a stretcher.... 

EJ: Next time don't throw the apple, you should roll the apple, the lawn bowl way. Better still If you could put a side spin to the apple and watch the squirrels' reaction looking at the apple spinning round it.

Who knows if you do it often enough, they may line up and beg from you.

*************

Winnie is a timid cat and not exactly very pretty. 

Thanks to blogger cat friends Sammy and Andy and their human mama Judy with her artistic skills and talent  made Winnie look so attractive with that lovely summer hat so fitting for the hot tropical heat! 

You can visit Sammy and Andy here.

A Gift for Just Because!

EJ has many mugs. Most of them were gifts. One of the favourite is this cup and saucer, Arthur Wood, made in England.

Almost 14 years ago one afternoon in the office, EJ was pleasantly surprised when three young colleagues presented a gift. It was neither EJ's birthday nor Christmas. They explained that they went shopping and the moment they laid eyes on this cup, they immediately thought of EJ. They simply just had to buy it.

This is precious to EJ and do not use it daily. It is only used whenever EJ thought about the old work place and colleagues.

Here it is filled with cappuccino ready for sipping while reminiscing the various expressions, appreciation, laughter, differences and love shared with colleagues.

Thank you PohLing (Malaysian Business), Nazatul (Malaysia Business) and Anis (Her World) for this lovely set and memories.

Wonky Tanya

When still working, EJ read and reviewed this book.

Tanya had other ideas. EJ caught her walking all over this book and managed to capture only this one evidence.

Peck or Pound?

New colleagues steal side glances at EJ working on the keyboard. They thought EJ was angry venting all the anger hitting the keyboard hard instead of confronting the cause.

Old colleagues did not give a hoot and continued what they were doing.

When EJ started work in a media company, internet and laptops were not available.

There was this majestic-looking metal machine Underwood typewriter. It was for the secretary to type letters and memos. EJ has typed on this before and loved how the keys 'kick back' when you hit the keys hard enough.

Writers use smaller 'portable' Olympia typewriters. It was considered 'portable' those days and being all metal, it was not exactly light to carry around.

This, too, has almost the same 'kick back' when you hit the keys. Since all were manual, writers have to use carbon papers to make copies. With one copy for the editor, another for the sub and one for your own file plus carbon paper between them totalling up to five sheets, you have to hit the keys really hard for the last copy, yours, to be legible.

To let you know you have reached the right margin end of the page, a sharp bell 'ding' sound will be heard. To go to the next line, you pull the carriage return lever situated on the left of the typewriter to the right which will turn the carriage that consists of a cylindrical platen (the large spool the paper goes around) a notch and move to the left margin. This was not silent. It produced sounds somewhat like 'ding', 'kerek'. Combined with pounding of the keys on five sheets, it would go kachung, kachung, kachung, ding, kerek...kachung, kachung, kachung, ding, kerek...

Imagine this at deadline with 30 or more writers pounding away, not-so-sleek telephones ringing their hooks off and people shouting across the room, it was just as noisy as in the fish market. Or worse. Despite of all the noise, brilliant stories were written and filed on time.

EJ feels this kind of situation is conducive to learn and acquire total concentration.

Nowadays laptop users type silently, softly pecking at the keys.

Habits die hard. Somehow with EJ's habitual pounding on modern flimsy laptop, fragile plastic key cover tops has never flown off.

EJ still loves that majestic antique Underwood typewriter!

Turtle Eggs Anyone?

On one holiday trip to Singapore visiting a favourite aunt in the 1970s, EJ spotted a cute wind-up plastic baby turtle displayed in a shop and promptly bought it. And have kept it ever since.

EJ was born at home by the beach. The beaches were clean, the waters crystal clear and the air was fresh. EJ's driver was a trishaw man.

As a child, EJ grew up on turtle eggs because EJ loved eating it. There were lots of turtles then, including eggs.

Afraid to be chided by the grownups for eating too many eggs, EJ would carefully pinch off the soft shell making as tiny a hole as possible, slowly suck the contents out and then gently blow air into it to puff the soft shell up before placing it back in the pot.

The last time EJ ate turtle eggs was when EJ was twenty plus visiting the aunt who moved to Singapore. Being the aunt who brought EJ up, she knew how much EJ loved turtle eggs. She brought EJ to the wet market and insisted on buying. EJ could not turn her down out of respect but EJ asked one question as to where the eggs came from. The seller, an Indonesian, replied that it was from Indonesia. Secretly, EJ was relieved.

Then EJ's aunt proceeded to cook, presented the eggs and sat down to watch EJ eat.

EJ had a tough time!

Those eggs somehow looked rather small and unappetising unlike the ones from the hometown. It was extremely difficult to swallow as EJ felt as though baby turtles were trying its best to crawl up the throat. Could it be imagination or guilt? EJ had to act like enjoying eating those eggs when in actual fact EJ was suffering. And EJ kept self-consoling silently that the eggs were not from the hometown and these would be the absolute last in life.

And it was!

A little over 10 years later, EJ went back. This time to the islands and there EJ was absolutely happy.

On one of the many trips there, EJ had the opportunity to play with hundreds, not one or two or three but hundreds and hundreds of newborn turtles in a turtle sanctuary.

It was pure bliss.

By then EJ was already a vegetarian -- absolutely guilt free!

My Favourite Classroom

Illiteracy still exists in this modern age. Though education is mandatory for many countries, there are still countries where even the journey to school is an adventure.

Fortunate are those who had education and even more so many decades ago.

Students study in comfort these days with at least fans if not air-conditioners in warm countries. It was unheard of in the earlier days.

EJ had a favourite classroom.

Situated off the centre of the school field, this classroom had no walls. In its place instead was chicken coup wires with an attap thatched roof. Art classes were mainly held here and it was perfect as students had an all-round view of what they wish to draw.

From here, the students could see the blooms of beautiful white lilies with geese waddling near, goods being delivered to the school canteen on a bicycle, cows grazing in the corner of the field, the principal's well-fed dogs mooching around, and smell the sweet scent of the frangipani trees nearby.

It was nice and comfortable during good weather with gentle breeze blowing but with stronger winds, papers had to be held down. And when it rained coupled with strong winds, students moved towards the centre of this classroom away from the droplet sprays.

This photo below was taken in the fifties. EJ recognises classmates in the primary/elementary days. They were the tiny ones in the front, some on those tiny chairs.

EJ believes this was taken on the school sports day. The students were to stay in and around this classroom and not wander for their safety. Those days children were obedient and follow rules with only a handful of mischevious ones.

Many thanks to Rema who preserved and gave this wonderful photograph which brought back lovely carefree memories.

Mom made Music on Erhu

A woeful screechy wail pierced through the quiet night.

EJ and brothers stared at each other. Without a spoken word, they immediately left the dining hall, went into their bedroom and closed the door.

Mom was practising on her erhu.

The erhu consists of a long vertical stick-like neck, at the top of which are two large tuning pegs, and at the bottom is a small resonator body (sound box) which is covered with python skin on the front (playing) end. Two strings are attached from the pegs to the base, and a small loop of string (qian jin) placed around the neck and strings acting as a nut pulls the strings towards the skin, holding a small wooden bridge in place.

Various dense and heavy hardwoods are used in making the erhu. According to Chinese references the woods include zi tan (red sandalwood and other woods of the genus Pterocarpus such as padauk), lao hong mu (aged red wood), wu mu (black wood), and hong mu (red wood). Particularly fine erhus are often made from pieces of old furniture. A typical erhu measures 81 cm from top to bottom, the length of the bow also being 81 cm.

source from wikipedia.org

Mom played on two erhu-s. EJ's brother bought this beautiful erhu with dragon head and snakeskin soundbox from a friend. And when mom's erhu teacher commented that this erhu's tone was too high to match the rest of the erhu-s in her group, mom bought her own - a plain one.

This dragon head snakeskin erhu is now displayed in the owner's house in Toronto. The owner, EJ's brother, does not know how to play but who knows he may one day decide to learn.

Erhu makes versatile and beautiful music. Name of the music played on this video clip is The Horse Race.

Of course mom could not and did not play like this man but EJ is pretty sure that this next clip was one of the many songs mom learnt and played.

Many, many moons later, one night when EJ and brothers were at the dining hall, they heard soft, soothing music. All looked up and at each other, eyes wide opened with jaws slightly dropped in realising who made that music. Dropped jaws slowly turned into a knowing smiles and they continued doing what they were doing. No more scurrying off to their rooms to stay behind closed doors.

This was more than 25 years ago. Now mom, an octogenarian and approaching 90, does not play anymore. Her erhu is somewhere in her bedroom where no one touches it.

EJ would like to wish all mothers (human and animal) Happy Mother's Day and hope that these lovely music will bring back happy memories.

Scratch me, I am Priceless!

The following conversation actually took place recently between EJ and brother who resides in Canada and was back for a visit. Both found it hilarious as an afterthought.

EJ feels the conversation was too funny to pass up and decided to share.

(Psst, they were talking about me!) This was what transpired.


BRO: I do remember this chair/stool which mom bought from the wet market in Yulek (now known as Taman Cheras). It was among the first piece of furniture we owned when we moved house in October 1974.

We could not afford any furniture then for the living hall and did not have enough chairs in the dining area for all of us. That was the very reason why mom bought it. It was handmade from a piece of raw lumber and not stained nor painted in any way.

Over the years, we got better dining furniture and most of the better-looking chairs/stools found their way into bedrooms while this one stayed in the kitchen beside the door to the backyard.

We had about nine cats those days and somehow, one of the senior cat, Yao-Yao or Chien-Chien but definitely not Su-Su, started using it as their scratching post. Other junior cats followed suit. None of us mind as we knew then that cats have to scratch to keep their claws in shape. We constantly had to rotate the chair so that the scratched-out parts of the legs were consistent.

This chair/stool has a lot of good, bad, happy and sad stories to tell, especially when it is located in a prominent place, the kitchen, where every member of the family visited daily, numerous times a day and gathered around for family meals, where family battles had been fought and settled. It has seen three or probably four generations of the family living there and withstood the constant mauling from the generation of kitties, too.

EJ: Yes, mom did buy from Yulek market but not this particular and especially hardy one. This immensely popular chair/stool was bought in the even earlier days during the sixties when we were at Jalan Pasar.

BRO: Really? This chair/stool is older than I thought then... almost a semi-antique now. I have to approach the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) on how much they may want to pay for this piece of antique/art!

EJ: Good idea! And would certainly worth a lot more after one of the cats had the honour of getting the shock of the last scratch with the chair/stool standing on three legs! And worth even more if standing on two legs!

BRO: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
IT WOULD WORTH MILLIONS IF IT IS STANDING ON ITS OWN...ON ONE LEG. IT WOULD WORTH BILLIONS IF IT IS FLOATING ON IT'S OWN...WITHOUT LEGS.

GET THE KITTIES WORKING!

EJ: Agree absolutely. Certainly priceless if it stands on one leg but will be worshipped if it floats without legs with the kitties on top!

Believe me, the kitties are working on it...very hard!