Chimney is a symbol of industrial era like church for religiosity, tower for secularity and all kinds of stars of spirituality.
Yet I found different interpretation of mine on chimney through Japanese books reading (very very elementary, all hiragana and katakana, I can only remember 15 kanji so far, hell yeah!). Chimney can be a symbol of fairy tales, dreams, ideas and creativity emerging from the dark, beautiful stories. What else? Ya, just use imagination to find what clicks in mind until the word βchimneyβ meets its lighter connotation against the one in paragraph 1.
Reading the books, I canβt deny some people really get blessed with extraordinary imaginary world and ability to materialise whatβs in it by intertwining the intangible blessings with the tangible ones. Like the writer whose books Iβve read.
God bless you, Akihiro Nishino (should be with ~san). Thanks for the books youβve written.
Read. Read. Read.
Read the letters. Read the lessons. Read between the lines.
π
find the Chimney Town in you πdark but glowing – isnβt that paradoxically beautiful?
First Vietnamese food from own kitchen. Next one should include bone to make perfect beef flavour. And the chili please, the crown of perfection should be a kick not only a tickle!
Still this weekend is delicious with a big bowl of pho bo!
If I may say Vietnamese pho is the only noodle soup that can beat my dear Indomie! Respect to the soul who concocted this recipe hundreds of years ago.
May all beings be happy.
pho bo a la Indonesia πmung bean sprout, ngo ghai leaves, Thai basil and lime – why Thai basil? sometimes I am wondering why some fruit and vegetables are called βThai~β while the plants are naturally originally South East Asian! ones can find them in Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia not sure in Singapore (at least in Cold Storage imported from Vietnam or Malaysia or Thailand or Indonesia) πoh my, it is such a betrayal to cook Vietnamese pho using Thai pad thai rice noodleβ¦. sorry, Vietnamese pho; couldnβt find you yesterdayand my betrayal is complete with the Thai fish sauceβ¦. Vietnamese fish sauce, where are you? my friends in Vietnam said their fish sauce is stronger than the Thai. Fish sauce is the secret of pho bo taste!after all herbs and spices flavours are blended into boil, filter it to find the clear broth – friends in Vietnam said it takes overnight boiling to reach certain consistency and taste. sorry, didnβt have the luxury, 1.5 hours is good enough!herbs and spices – love it! π
How beautiful is the sunset in the west? The color, the shape, the impression plus the drama that it can create. Thatβs how poetic a natural phenomenon can be in the hand of a literary person.
How high is sunβs temperature? Burning, suffocating without oxygen, lack of blue and green all red. Thatβs how emotionless a sunset can be through scientific point of view.
Almost given up:
Milestones to reach the final.
Language of dreams
β
Japanese is almost as difficult as Arabic but I didnβt find hard time learning Arabic as the brain was much fresher with more time to focus on lessons by then. I almost gave up this Japanese lesson as I felt too slow. Until today mixing up between γ· and γ still happens again and again. Different forms of adjective and noun when tenses change still confuse me. The crazy kanji has also tortured me. Why did I even learn this language? π€ͺ Drama! π₯°
But hey! I wonβt stop until I can read and compose beautiful poems in Japanese. Too much a dream? Ok, I wonβt stop until I can present the companyβs Code of Conduct in Japanese! Making more sense! π
If the teacher isnβt this good, I might have given up earlier. The Sensei is such an expert of Japanese language and culture that she can make me understand why those Japanese Iβve met have behaved so strangely not as I expected Japanese I thought would be. π
Some people are just so βlike thatβ regardless they are Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Singaporean or any other….. Life is so interesting, take it easy!
God bless all….
One of the easy thing I was frustrated of….! What a stupid me! Look at the ugly frustrated hand writing! π₯Ά
Flow, Beloved. Flow.
Be a river whose stream knows
Its gravity. Yours
Is me? Making it flow back
To where a home is. Withinβ
β
A river is a river only when the stream is moving to a point of a pulling force. Donβt Β get stuck or blocked because that is when you lose your being as a river.
Good Swisss fondue is
Not about cheese, bread or wine.
Itβs all chat and friends.
I missed one of my friends, Mrs Fondue whose face suddenly βflew aroundβ for the past 2 months. Her number wasnβt active anymore. Called Mrs Fondue because she was the one introducing me to cheese fondue. Trying to contact people who worked around her with no result, I finally planned making cheese fondue and praying for her good.
Fondue was well served, not with the expected consistency but the taste is almost the same with my very first fondue in Cafe du Soleil.
Yet I could not enjoy this second fondue, even with air conditioner set to low temperature to bring autumn to this small living room. Still failed…. There was melancholic ambience striking me suddenly. No goosebump though π
The first fondue tasted greater than this. Maybe because I enjoyed it with Mrs Fondue who invited me to that βtraditionalβ fondue cafe whose air was filled with warm laughter and greetings to the visitors.
This Mrs Fondue was an amazing yet unpopular lady, had done so much to help refugees from dangerous situation. We were amazed with what she and team did. Such a brave lady yet motherly and sweet she was!
She was a wise yet fun lady. Sheβs probably 15 years older than me but we could still chat like we were of the same age. Lucky to have met people like her in my life!
Iβm praying for you, Mrs Fondue and family. If you are still here, I hope we still can see each other again. But if youβve crossed the bridge, hope youβre smiling receiving my beautiful messages. Enjoy your fondue!
At times you can share, Others you shouldnβt. It may hurt. Different point of viewβ
I havenβt shared food pics very often in Instagram since some good friends contacted and told me how hard itβs been for them to make ends meet in this pandemic.
One of them said he once had to lower down his pride by agreeing to receive a donation from Australia to feed his wife and children. Sad….
Another said to me βOh, how nice to have time and cook whatever you wanna eat. Hope we can have that privilege.β I was shocked when she said that as what I had known she had a very good tourism business, and now I knew that she got tremendously affected by this pandemic. Tourism has been hard hit in this period of time.
Not one or two but many came to me to borrow money to survive their business. Double sad! I had to apologise and politely refused to help. Just last year I started limiting lending cash to others. Not that not trusting people but yeah I have been cheated financially by those called friends. Ya, I was stupidly generous and irresponsibly stupid π It should come to an end.
So, with all those reducing showing food pictures in Instagram is the best I can do to help. It is to clear up the jealousy and also to look ordinary. People think you have much money when you eat well. They never know how hard you work for the food on the plate.
Lil knoz βbout a gal
Bikinβ crashinβ coβnut tree
Laughed and helped at once
Remembering what you did in childhood is like watching cartoon movies, entertaining and energizing. How painfully the bad time was brought to you, when recalled, it brings a good smile back to your face.
When I was a girl, I loved riding bike. Often time racing with no one just with my beloved red one, enjoying the wind as if I was the queen of the road. Old people knew I was one of the careless.
One day I took off hands from the handlebars to clap hands singing along. Stupidly… No… Excitedly! Thought I was good enough as a bike rider. So, the wind took control of the bike in high speed as we were sliding from a sloping edge. We crashed into a coconut tree in front of neighbourβs house. It was my first bloody accident in life and not the last for sure π I was lucky to live in a community who believed that children of the neighbourhood were the responsibility of all…
By then bike and I always met our rescuers. Now I wonβt, so I ride bike wisely…. π So far only one mudguard wheel was gone because of one silly accident βan irresponsible electric scooter didnβt want to slow down and forced me to get stuck to the side of the bike way pushed us to a tree. Hope no accident anymore ππ½
Nothing happens for no reason. Always be happy how much ever life sprinkles bitter to your plate. Hope all become good memories when we see it from later time.
By red betel vine
She paints a poem through canvas
Message in a frame.
Iβm romantically cheap as I can change all things into love message (to myself and the one that I care so much although secretly) to earn my own satisfaction and to calm inner storm. Gradation of emotions: heavy to light, colourful to dull, abrupt to flowing, all to serve equilibrium to what and who are dealing with me.
A betel vine in a small pot and my remembrance of red betel vines at my best friendβs backyard has drawn me to a flowing river of loving emotion that I realise existing constantly in heart.
All the leaves in my imagination turn to love that has lived generation to generation like leaves lining along the betel vine.
20% of the completion is here, already makes me overwhelmed with the deep love that I always have inside.
Self love or selfish?
A striking question to me
From me about me.
The answer hangs up the call
Coming from behind my head.
β
Singapore, October 26, 2020 - 9:45pm
You must be logged in to post a comment.