Paint your palette blue and grey.

 

"To wash and rinse our souls of their age-old sorrows,
We drained a hundred jugs of wine.
A splendid night it was . . . .
In the clear moonlight we were loath to go to bed,
But at last drunkenness overtook us;
And we laid ourselves down on the empty mountain,
The earth for pillow, and the great heaven for coverlet."

Lofoten, Norway.

 This short little psalm culminates to this lovely verse.

'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.' 46:10

"Be still" is recorded as a form of the verb "רפה" (raphah) in the original Hebrew text. It means to cause oneself to be weak or faint; to make yourself let go; to cease and to slacken.

However, the verse leaves us hanging not. It continues to entreat us to "know". We are to "be still", to cause ourselves to decrease in our eyes, and according to the grammar of hebrew, in order to "know".

A variant of the verb "ידע" (yadah) is used. It means to know, but to know in a great variety of manners; to know figuritively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially; to acknowledge; to comprehend not on blind trust, but to intelligently observe and discern.

Let this little psalm be a reminder of our everlasting God when we are dismayed or troubled. Let this verse be also proclaimed proudly and vehemently when you triumph, when you are joyous, when you praise our God. :)

I felt like I was thrown back to the medieval. 

  Vienna indeed took my breath away.
 

"I am going to say this in quick succession.
Not Antarctica, not square.
In a breath, he said,
ARCTIC CIRCLE!"

So greetings from the arctic. :)





All is well here mummy and daddy! Weather's crazy but that is part of the experience after all. -35deg, icebar, reindeers and skis.

Lovely people keep you warm.

"Piles of snow beneath my boots
chilly winds blowing everywhere
snow keeps mounting on the posts
on the windows and on the roads
shovels outside, 
soups inside
hot and rich, 
chicken and corn
coming back from all the work
this is what I look for
the warm chestnuts,
the cracking fire
this is my winter warmth"

 Shakespeare's Stratford.


All angular beauty
and ruffled lines
curious in approach
white breasted downy apparition

Closer to your beauty
than before; allowed approach
a temple of wonder
your unique glory

 Pictures from vietnam. had quality bonding time with the family. the emphasis of spending time with granny lovely when she's still strong and robust. weather's just right. food mediocre though. halong bay scenery was just awesome. Rustic charm. night-market cheap buys. :) :) 








Halong bay. the view from the hotel alone was fantastic. breath-taking. and i got my au-ya suit. haha but i dont think I'll ever get the chance to wear it.





On board the cruise. had a scrumptous 10-course (i think) seagood meal on board. getting a lil' sea-sick. apparently one of UNESCO's award-winning natural wonder of the world. But seriously, it was gorgeous. of lofty cliffs and clear blue waters. cliff formations in odd shapes. limestone caves which reminded me of  physical geography and all :)








The lengendary vietnamese water puppet show. nothing very interesting though. cos i've watched them perform at ho chi minh 2 years back. haha but the intriguing fact about the water puppet theatre is the extremely squashy-squeezy seats. audiences at the ends hav to leave before those at the centre could leave. thats the beauty of staying throughout i guess. :D


Cha ca la vong. grilled fish in a claypot thingy. abit disappointing. everyone's been raving about how good it was like Kev&Sue, online food reviews and all. but we thought it could be better if it was less oily.



to be continued. ntu's network is cranky.

 
of fairy dust, sweet suprises and pretty heels. :)

(the fantasy begins here)

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night. 

Because one day I will leave this place.
 

 

My dear roomie!

Some last min packing to do.  bed's calling denise. goodnight & godbless!
Blessed weekend ahead.

 I didn't know we had so many treasures in the house that daddy might want to discard or sell away. 
Tiffany*

Yes though not run by oil, but apparently its an antique victorian 'oil' lamp. someone painted a layer of white sometime back , making it lose its aesthetic appeal. less pretty :(

Flu Pandemic*


 A very unique bird-cage perfectly carved with oriental details. I'm not sure if its genuine ivory though. My late grandfather used to keep many many birds, but my mum will disapprove saying how unhygienic and stuff.This is one of the nicest bird-cages he left us. comes with two mini porcelain holders.

Samsui*


 These are mantou baskets. you know those samsui women , they would carry this rod with baskets. I think this is the one. I used to play with them when I was a kid. pretending to sell paus and snacks, sitting along the balcony. very old-school. rather dusty though..

Sakura*


 This oriental sakura flask will bring back some very fond memories for ahma.

Peacock fantasy*

  An oriental black porcelain vase. I've ran out of captions & I seriously have no idea where this came from, just thought it looks quite sweet. but a very neglected item at home.

Double Happiness*

Product 006: very blissful looking. good for oriental marriages deco. A red basket used to contain the liquors at home, but now that we've swept them all (thanks to mum and guests), its empty. dad was abt to throw it away but like a karang-kuni-girl, I thought it looks pretty, so I kept it.  A mata-puteh cage replica, loooks like an umbrella too.

Tell me if you want them.

Very humbly, she led herself gracefully
to the seat right next to me.
The buldge on the tummy was apparent,
a life that was meant to be, 
the life beating in her...
where only she could hear.

She began to question, questioning
a woman who was rightfully in her maternity,
" I can't wait for my baby to be due..."
" 2 more weeks...2 more weeks to it"
but the pain, the unbearable, 
a decision that we have to make.

yes, the pain. The pain inflicted..
noone loves pain, unless u are truly a masochist
So perhaps the jab into the dura mater,
is the best way to go.
maybe not, the anesthesia can be a pain in the ass
to last you a lifetime.

Its a matter of sooner or later,
pain - as a relative term,
noone knows it better
other than yourself.
The setbacks in lfe, life lessons all
well, take it like the epidural.

You bravely bear with it now, tide thru and overcome all odds,
or are you willing to battle the pain down the years,
and probably leave in misery?

                                                                    -
 

The best boy buddy!

   
   
Cafe Oliv.

GOD BLESS EVERYONE & HAVE A LOVELY WEEK AHEAD!

 

"He makes all things beautiful, in his time"