Of Open Houses .....

Its not too late to talk about Open Houses, is it ? The Syawal month is almost over ...and now Deepavali is here .....celebrated for 3 days for some Hindus and others for about a week ....another friend said " for a month ."

Whatever ....I'm not suprised if I am to receive invitations to other open houses ....a fantastic and unique experience for us in Malaysia . That's hubby and son Amir at a neighbor's house , Cikgu Muru on the first night of Diwali ...




All those spread of food served during Hari Raya ( and now Diwali ) had not done justice at all ....to me . Every few days I would weigh myself ...and getting down from the scale I would give myself a sigh ...........!!



Its not getting any better .......If the scale had a life of its own ....it would be doing this ..........!!



I thought that there would be less open houses this year ..what with the increase in cost of food and everything .Well , what do you know ...open houses functions were numerous .


As usual , there were the usual crowds of various races visiting each other ....good to see that the Muhibbah spirit is alive and kicking . It certainly cultivates and strengthens friendships ....open your hearts too ...if I may say so . You get to make new friends ....

My Sg. Petani friend ..

That's what attending open houses do ....plus you get to bump into old friends ....like this friend .....Jeriah Abang .



I must have looked the same after all these 30 odd years as she could recognised and remembered my name as well . I'm bad with names ......and so as not to " drop my water face " , , I decided to ask for her cell phone number ...and said like this ..." and which glamourous name do I put in this phone of mine ? " This certainly works ...and at least it " saved my water face " if you know what I mean as by then her name rang a bell...ringgggggggggg!!! So far this never fails to work .

At my second cousins house ....
happy faces plus full tummies !!

Now , at open houses ...you are supposed to eat ....if you don't ...don't go ....because if you don't eat ..the host gets " kecik hati " . So don't spoil the day and fun of everyone there . As for the host ...food must be enough for everybody for the simple reason ...you had invited these people and these people do expect food ...food plus expectation to eat when they came over to your house .


Of course at my second cousin's house during raya ...food served were delicious ....briyani rice ...lemang plus ketupat ...plus rendang ....plus cakes . Too bad I did not take pictures of the food .Hmmmmmmmmnnnn...yummy .



Yunno I once went to a friend's open house ...she had this tent sat up in the compound of her house and as usual the crowds of people were already there ....her neighbors ...her friends and her husband's colleagues . This friend welcomed me with open arms ...full of warmth ...inviting me and my family to eat . Alas !! When I approached the trays of food on the table ...there were hardly any food to eat !! For a while I didn't know what to do ...then I just scrapped whatever there was to put in my plate . Honestly ...I just don't know what to say ...only that it taught me a lesson ...always have enough food ...don't " alang alang . " I will never know if this friend was aware or not about the situation at the " table ".




Now , there was Diwali Open house to attend.....a different array of food served .... rich spicy food ...of tosei , mutton curry , chicken or" ayam kampong " curry , spicy crabs and lots lots more . Of course , being the odd one out on the block ..we were given a plate of indian sweet goodies ...like marukku , kuih rose etc. etc . Do try to identify these out .



This was given to me on early Diwali morning ...by this liitle girl ...my neighbor. I was drying my laundry when I heard a chirpy voice saying " Hi , Auntie !! " . I turnt and saw her ....looking cute in her traditional clothes .



She was waiting for her parents to go to the temple for prayers ... it was Diwali morning ...a reason to look your best in your new dress.



Plus the bling bling on the hair too !! Don't you think she looked adorable ?


Then , I was given another tray of Indian sweets by another neighbor . How nice ....!!



Now ...I need to return my neighbor's plates . Its a no no to return an empty plate ....very very not Malaysia . I just have to bake something ........

Deepavali......

Today is Deepavali ....or Diwali.....It means " Festival of Lights " . Celebrated by the Hindus plus the Singhs too . Every child , parents and grandparents look forward to this day of joy . There would be the visits from families and friends . Indeed a very significant and favourite event for them .




The first time I heard the word " Deepavali " was when I was about 10 or 11 years old . The Indian culture was never exposed nor experienced by us in our environment . Words like " kolam " just don't exist in my dictionary .



Reason being Hindus were very , very , very few and far in between in our town .

As a child , my first encounter with an Indian was a Singh man . He sold ' kacang '....or nuts . He had this simple wooden box up on his bicycle . This box had several compartments ,,,for him to put in the various types of nuts . He was known as the ' kacang potet " man . To buy , he had this ready made cone shaped paper ...in it he would put in the nuts ...worth any amount you had told him . At that time a 10 cents worth of nuts can be quite filling . Thinking back , he did not use any spoon to handle the nuts ...just his bare hands . My father used to remind us to be extra careful where cleanliness is concerned . ' You never know yunno ...he could have used his fingers to pick his nose ...what if he didn't wash his hands ? ' Father's words fell on deaf ears ..............

My next encounter with the Indians was when I was at secondary school . I remembered few names like Satwant Singh , George Kuruvilla , PJ Joseph and Ava Bhattacharya . George and PJ Joseph were Christians . Am wondering where they are now ...these few Indians who were indeed a rare breed in my town .

As I grew older , I crossed paths and made friends with more Indians ...with names like ...Mrs. Somar , Mala and Mr. Narayanasamy . I never had the chance to observe them in celebrating this festival . Strange how events turnt out , I am now staying in the midst of an Indian neighborhood . And that make me and my family the odd ones out ....perhaps to them we are the rare species from Borneo island . They were eager to know us and we were glad to have known them too . We spoke the typical Malaysian lingo ...Bahasa Malaysia plus English all thrown in . We understood each other and that matters .


Now my neighbours are in a festive mood . There were the buying of new cloths before Deepavali as well as the preparation of food and sweets .The nightly playing of fire crackers and sparklers are there too ....occasionally set off .


Its a beautiful sight now ; their houses are adorned with beautiful lights .....




lots ..and lots of lights....



hung at their door entrance....




and their patios.....




and some in the streets . I can't resist but walked through these canopy of lights .



As my son and I walked through we were greeted by these nice young men who welcomed us to their neighborhood . I bet they were surprised by our presence there ...which is rather rare . Local folks don't do that as they are accustomed to such sights .



Busy , busy and busy ...last minute preparations ....making kolams seems to be a must for each household .


The women are an artistic lot as they created beautiful kolams during Deepavali eve .




Like any other festivals , there is good business when such occasions comes round . Bizz - vali ...( Business valli ) .

Today the praying bells ranged louder ...and incense are burnt far longer in the day .

Happy Deepavali to all my Hindu friends and neighbours . May there always be peace , prosperity and good health in this neighborhood .

Another Day........

Monday morning ....another day passing by . So.... a good morning to everybody especially to the kind souls who bothered to stop and read this blog . Good to have you around , my friend .

Hubby is at work , his first morning shift after 12 days of taking a break from work . It was good to have him around . We function more as a family ...we spend more time together ...made a couple of trips outside town together ....went to the shopping malls together and as usual we spent more , too.

The other two children are at school now.

Eldest son is in bed , snoring away . He and his father slept late last night ...watching a football game at 11pm .I had to make way for them and I will never know the ending of the show ' Premonition '...starring Sandra Bullock . Who wouldn't give up when your eldest son is begging away to let him watch the match . Only a mother knows when to give up and give in . Frankly I was tired too ...and my bed was beckoning for me .

Well , eldest son made a lot of noise last night ...could hear him laughing away and the cheers ..and whatever that excites him during the match . The house vibrates ....whatever will my neighbors think ?


Me ? Its been two years since I am a stay at home mum . I seem to have so much time in my hand . But I never seem to finish my housework . I cannot say I missed my working life ...everything happened for a reason . However I do missed my friends ...large crowds of them .


So what have changed so far ?

For starters , my kids are growing up . Getting smarter . Getting bigger ...well not all . Only daughter seemed not to grow . She's thirteen and I hope she is not stunted at this age . There do seemed to be a couple of " short ' genes in the family ...and I mean from both sides !!. But then ...Syukur alhamdullillah , she is all complete ...she has a nose there , two eyes and ears in place , two hands and legs ...in fact everything a human body requires to function . So , I shouldn't be complaining .

Let's hope by some miracle she will ' shoot ' up .

Second son is getting taller by the day . He is of the same height as his father . He is 14 years old ..and is still growing .....another two or three inches more , i must say so . He likes getting taller than his elder brother .

Eldest son is big ....not good . What can I say ? He said he is big boned ...like mommy . Hello , don't compare , okay ? he likes to ...eat ...eat ...and eat . And he sleep and sleep ..and gets up when his tummy rumbles for food . He cooks whstever fancies him and yes ...do expect the mess he left behind in the kitchen . And when I " keluar tanduk " upon seeing the mess , I told him to clean up . He would do it and said ...why do you like to bully me ?


My personal life ? Alhamdullillah . Its been a good life for both hubby and me . Bless him for tolerating me . When you are the home manager ,I do try to run it as efficiently as possible . but there are some tasks that kind of turn you off .....like ironing . Now this should be done daily ....do you hear ? But no ...this stay at home mum would rather do other things .


Really ...I am at the point of being " allergic " to this ironing chore . Hate it ! Yunno , I was 13 years old when I was pushed to accept this task of ironing school uniforms . Three sets each for me and my younger sister plus three other school going brothers .Multiply all those and what do I get ? A mountain of clothes by the end of the week . So sunday is ironing day . I would start at 11 am and finished four hours later in the afternoon .


Okay ...enough of my ramblings ! Now I gotta do my housework ....and that includes ...you know it !!!!

So have a nice day ...to me !

Old Fashioned ?

I just remembered I had to get a card , a birthday card for my bestest best friend . Since I was pressing for time , I decided to get whatever card was available in that store . I was glad I was able to get one that caught my fancy .

It would have been nice though to make one of my own for that would have been a fantastic gift . Very personalised from me ....to spread cheer to her and comfort , peace and well wishes .

Anyway , a store bought card will do . The time and thought that goes into the card hopefully means a lot to her who receive it . That makes me really happy to give it .

See the above pix ? These are the Hari Raya cards I received this year . I appreciated it very much ...receiving all these cards cheers me up . I love sending and I love receiving cards . These are from my friends . Its nice to know that I am in someone’s thoughts . I received about five cards from my non muslim friends too plus another five sent as sms text messages ....this gaining popularity as it enables one to send in a matter of seconds .

I guess sending cards is losing its popularity ... perhaps due to inefficiency of the post and perhaps due to some thinking its a waste and troublesome to stand in queue to buy the stamp at the post office . After all this card will end up in the waste paper basket . Tsk! Tsk ! Another tree cut down to make a card .

From my sister Lili....

Call me old fashioned , but I still like to hold an enveloped card that I received in my hand . I would eagerly tore open the envelope and hear the sound of paper being ripped ....very eager to know the sender . These cards I received and the ones I had sent helped me to communicate with people in the most personal way ....a gift and a sentiment in one .

( Note : Hubby used to say to the children “ Your mother is too sentimental ” . Can’t blame him ...I still keep some of my children’s baby clothes and their first shoes plus their baby books as well . A baby blanket that I made too !! And the birthday and well wishes cards !!)

All the way from USA ....i was careful with the envelope...beautifully decorated !

These cards ...I can pull it out again in a month , a year or 10 years time . Hold it in my hands and read and think of that person . Its a positive lasting impression . I wonder who would keep an e card or sms text that long ?

From my ex teacher ...Anita ...

TQ Nitot ...the pantun was cute !!

Yunno , each time I sit down to write in a card , it is written with that person in mind ..... It is personal . I put a piece of myself in that card . I love the special time in writing . I don’t only depend on the pre printed words . At times I am lost for words ....and can’t express my feelings . But I wrote of other things....maybe the times we had shared ...maybe the funny things we had done ....its good to have a sense of humour .

From my ex boss...En. Omar.

Received lots of the same kind of card from ex colleagues . TQ !

I’m sure the time and thoughts that goes into my cards means a lot to those who receive these cards . I can imagine the joy on their faces and I’m sure they enjoy reading what I had written ...I’m sure they smiled to know that they are remembered and I’m sure they felt special . That makes me happy to give them .

So I guess I am going to continue sending cards ...be it be a birthday card , thank you card , Chinese new year card , Xmas cards , Hari Raya cards , well wishes cards .....etc ...as sending out cards sounds good ....is good ....meant to be good ...and the intention is good .

Note : One must not forget the true meaning of giving cards is not to expect the reply . It should be one’s sincerity as we think of someone .

Howeverrrrrrr......I do like to venture and see whether .....I received replies from our Prime Minister .....and I did !

From our Prime Minister

Had always received a card from him for the past 4 years.....

From Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

The above is from our ex Prime Minister...Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad . He never failed to reply .....for the past years ..............

Next year ...I will send to our Yang Di Pertuan Agong and the Sultan of Brunei ? Why not ?

I will keep you posted !! cheers !!

When Old friends Met ........

See this beautiful bride ? If I had bumped into her anywhere in Miri town or in any place for that matter , I would never have known that she is the daughter of a childhood friend . That is if I had not been introduced to her by .....of course ...her mother .


And of all the place to meet , hug and be in physical proximity ......it was not in Miri Sweet Miri , but in this new town , Sg. Petani which is home to me for the past two years .





I have known the bride's mother since we were seven years old . We were in the same neighborhood , we went to the same school and in the same class , too......and that kind of make us as close friends . being close meant we made a kind of history between us ...what we used to do together ...and boy !! we were terribly naughty !!! If only my mother had known what I did especially on the way home from school ( note : I walked to and from school ) , I sure would have gotten myself a good hiding !

Anyway ...this childhood friend of mine ....Aminah Taha ...we drifted apart when we were 13 years old . We grew up , made new friends and these friends come in and out of my life . Many I had not seen anymore nor in contact with .

I can't really remember , perhaps Minah ( that's how I called her ; she in turn called me " Cy " ) and I did cross paths now and then over the years when we were in our teens . I'm sure we greeted each other ...picked up where we left off then went on our ways again . The relationship was there though life took us in different directions .

Years passed ......we finished schooling ...married and raised up our children ...both too absorbed in our family world ....that we just didn't have the time or is it energy to get in touch . However in my case there is lurking in the back of my mind ...flashes of old friends ...asking myself and wondering how they are doing .


Its hard to believe it but somehow ...thru the meeting of another friend with Aminah ......and this friend passed my cell phone number ...Aminah did not waste time to contact me . I in turn was surprised to receive her text message and called her immediately . Aminah laughed out loud when I told her I was in this place ...Farmer's River ...and she said ..." I am heading that way this weekend . Its my daughter's wedding !! You must come !! "


So that was how two old friends met after 34 years down the road . GOD surely is looking and watching us .....and GOD blessed our friendship ...that was why we were able to meet , ny friend . Alhamdullillah ......


Make new friends but keep the old ,
New are silver , Old are gold .


We may be two different people but we did not allow the past to bother us ; we picked up where we had left ...a kind of fresh air breathing into our friendship , in and out in a healthy way .

Some more Raya Pictures .

A picture speaks a thousand words . So here , I just want to share the few selected pictures that I hope will create memories for my children . These pixs means a lot to me ...what Hari Raya is about .



Going home to Miri for Hari Raya means the meeting up of Yasmin and her bestest cousin , Nadine Yan . She and her family came down all the way from Bintulu just to meet ....up close . Sure they are in constant contact but via the cyber world . Now that they had met ...there were so many things to talk about .


As for Amir he finally get to spend raya with Mira , my brother's daughter . They last met when they were nine years old . Its like " Ahhhh....there you are !! " Its amazing to see how they could " connect " to each other .



Meeting first cousins are a blessing ....especially from their father's side ....That's Yvonne Yan ...Nadine Yan and daughter Yasmin . Extreme right is my grand niece Fadillah .



For the boys its visiting and spending time at my aunt's house in Kuala Baram . This is the first time in 7 years that another picture of my sons and their first cousins was taken. .How all of them have grown .

My boys on the left ....and my nephews ....Sopian in red baju melayu and Mamat ( using the songkok ).



Family relationship means a lot to me . while visiting my Aunt's house at Kuala Baram , I met my cousin . Being me I just have to introduce Yasmin to her second cousin , Fizah , less Yasmin forgets . They rarely meet as this second cousin resides in Kuala Belait . So such meetings with each other is deeply cherished . They exchanged email addresses and I do hope both will stay in touch .



As for me , I visited and finally met my late best friend's mother ...........after a lapse of 18 years . Though we stayed in the same kampong , I never was able to make it to her mom's house . So a call from her sister , Halimah ( below ) prompted me to go and she didn't mind that it was 10 o'clock in the night .


It touched me that they were so welcoming as ever . So genuine in their smiles and it enriched me ...the one who received it; thus strenghtening our friendship further . A friend once said , among the best ships is ...Friendship .........yes I do agree with that . May it always be so .

More pictures of Amir and his second cousins ...Sheetel and Rahul .



This raya was so blessed . It was not that often my sons crossed paths with their third cousins . So there I was explaining to them how so and so are related to them . My brother termed it as " Kissing Cousins "...hehe..whatever it means .

So , How Was Your Raya ?

When I'm home at the kampong , blogging is the least on my mind . A good excuse is I have no work station . There is the dining table but its quite a hassle having to pack and unpack as the table is needed for " berbuka puasa " time . Its not that I am hibernating ; I'm there to savor kampong life , of its simple life ...where neighbors took the time to smile and greet you and we catch up on each others news . At that time , kampong life does not stimulate my mind to write in my blog .


Now life is back to normal . For a start , I'll share some photos of my family taken during Raya with the family .



Family photo with my brothers and sisters who were able to make it home . A time for forgiveness , of excitement , joy and of shedding tears . A time for bringing the family closer .



A time for my father to hug and get close to his youngest grandson .


We were one of those thousands of Malaysian people who made a bee line for home . An " anak perantau " , mind you . No matter where you are , home sweet home beckons you .



That includes these two twins . Making their way home to Indonesia . Most took advantage of the long holiday to meet old and make new friends , of visiting friends .....



and meeting the family .....a picture must be taken of first cousins together ( above )....for those who are able to make it home this year .....




...........of asking for forgiveness..................which a must activity on early raya morning . That's my sis Bibi and my father .


........of bonding with the family again ......like this picture of my son Amir and my elder brother , Elwi . They look alike ...an uncle and nephew reunion .



..........again a reunion with the girls first cousins only .



Nor forgetting a pix of my growing up children .............



plus a pix of Yasmin hugging my father .To my father, Yasmin is known as " Amoi " , he never could call her by her name .



of showing off new baju kurung and new sandals .........



which belongs to this little girl ....my father's great grand daughter ...who was in a foul mood that morning . I dont blame her ...she was just irritated by the constant kissing of her chubby face .......touching her hair etc. etc ...she was just so cute ............!!



Then there's another of father's great grandchild who just loves having her photo taken .

Then there were four days of full swing activities , of stuffing yourself with food ....goodilicious food .....cakes and biscuits ...before leaving for home at " Farmer's River "