Through my window I can see....

So we have only ONE set of 4-panel windows in my sitting room which extends to the dining room area. (Dining is spelt that way, and not dinning as often seen)

And that doesn't allow for much air to move around. I mean in our house, not on the misspelt word. Well, that too.



I wish I had windows this long:





















or windows this wide:













And since my windows are so small, I'd feel even more claustrophobic if I were to hang curtains on them. And I hate curtains anyway.

Besides, I like looking out from them, cuz,

"through my window, I can see"


> a tree shrew scampering on the wire fence (all together now, "awwwwwwwwwwwww")



(Of course I didn't take this shot... did you think I became a sharp camerawoman overnight?)


> Mydin staff walking to and from work to probably a rented staffhouse which houses 63 of them.
(just kidding....but really, after a while, they all look like robotic beings on a conveyor belt, backandforthbackandforthbackandforthbackandforthbackandforthbackandforthbackandforth)


> the back of my opposite neighbour painting his gate with his pants hanging down so low I can see his bum-crack


> my other other neighbour's little girl trying to get into the drain ohmummylookthepoorkittenislostit'scryingcomewetakehomeohmummysopoorthingmummmmm
mmmywhereyougoingmummythekittenishere!


> my cranky neighbour watering his plants..



..watering the side of my car..



..AND WATERING MY NEWLY PAINTED CUPBOARD WHICH I HAD
JUST SPENT THE WHOLE MORNING DOING AND LEFT IT OUT
THERE IN THE SUN TO DRY!




SHEEEEEEEEEESH!




My daughter grumbles that we need curtains for privacy. I really did try to look for curtains, I did! But nothing was like.. y'know, suitable? (I hate curtains and I hate looking-for-curtains even more)

So at one time, I put up some curly twigs, vertically, right across all the windows, just to cover them. kinda. my version of curtains. YES!

Then, our first Christmas in this house, came last month. I had seen and bought some snow-spray some weeks before and thought I'd be creative. The cans I bought were no good. The liquid just dripped down on my so-patiently-cut-out-of-cardboard-stencils. What to do? Out came our leftover white emulsion indoor wall paint which we, Sheila my niece, and I just painted onto the stencils with
brushes.
































Would you believe I JUST scraped it all off, today, January 18th, 2010? Like Christmas was so far back y'know?







Does it matter?





Life is too short* for me to bother about some unfatal imfatal disfatal fatal-less imaginary dateline on when Christmas decorations should come down.

Yah?

*this is the first of my life-is-too-short quotes which
I shall be compiling as I go along

Shooting Stars in India

January 2010

Shooting Stars in India
It was amazing to find out that Air Asia, my favourite airline (if only because she has made flights more affordable for me), was now flying to Trivandrum, in south India. This was where the nearest airport to Nagercoil was, about an hour and a half’s drive away, where we actually wanted to go. Five days of holidays. Husband, teen daughter and me. Hosts: our old (figuratively, of course) friends, Robert and Shaila.



Professor Robert is an orni ortho onco...Professor Robert is a bird specialist and his wife Shyala is an expert in flora and fauna study. We first met Robert in Kuching, Sarawak when he was commissioned to study our hornbills...many years ago.

Impression of Nagercoil: small town. small shops. big pot holes. narrow roads. MAD drivers (except for Robert, of course).

Why would Air Asia fly to Trivandrum which is not much bigger? I donno…. That visionary Tony Fernandes guy (the other reason why AAsia is my favourite airline – doesn’t he remind you of a cuddly teddy bear?) seems to always see things ordinary beings like me don’t see.



Anyway, as it was the Christmas season, what fascinated me was that many of the houses had paper stars hanging around light bulbs in their porches, or balconies, or from a garden tree. They were so pretty, averaging 20 inches in width, with cut-outs or printed patterns/scenery.



This is an idea of the size




Daytime shot






Night time shot

Daytime shot
Night time shot



And here they are.........









So our very obliging host Robert stopped the car every time I squealed at one that I wanted shot. And because I am quite a hopeless camerawoman, poor daughter and hubby took turns getting out of the car to get a good close-up, sometimes waiting patiently for the star to twirl around to get a frontal view.

Is this pretty or what!





That could never happen in Kuala Lumpur. A stranger peering over the fence-gate-wall-whatever with a camera would have a Rottweiler-Alsatian-Pitbull or grandma-with-a-broom come charging out of the house.

In Nagercoil however, if at all the occupant saw us, there would be some quick discussion (we could see, behind the windows), someone would come out and when a simple explanation was made that we were shooting their star, there would be proud, gleeful smiles all round.

How cool is that?