Every Household Should Own One

This video was taken in New Zealand in April 2011, in the backyard of our friend Tony Willis' house.  Person singing (yours truly, then 53, and I'm not talking weight) is the one bouncing on the trampoline. Yes, some people can multi-task :)

Voices in the background are:

1.  my daughter Tammy, then 17,
     who couldn't believe we had had a
     trampoline in my school, back in the day:  "Mummy, you're gonna fall!"

2.  my husband Paul, then 54,
     and I'm not talking weight:                       "Flip Baby, flip!"

3.  our friend Tony, then on homeground:      "Don't flip!"

I seriously think every household should own one.  It's SO FUN!  And if you're afraid your kids (or Mummy) will topple off, they even have trampolines that are inground.  Here's a picture:

                                                 http://www.xtremetrampolines.com/blog/?p=76

You just have to dig a hole for it. 

Let's see...
if you start digging now, you might be in time to give yourself this gift in the New Year.

See how much useful information I provide?  Now you're wishing you had a trampoline, aren't you?

Beauty Around You

It all started with this picture someone posted on facebook.

Blue Sea Slug
See more pics here:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/blue-dragon?before=1347489592


I had never seen such a creature before!  It totally stunned me.  At first, I even wondered if it was a hoax, until I looked up more pictures on it.  So very unusual!

So, because my camera is in a pretty bad state and my own pictures for a blog post are on hold I started googling for more stunning pictures of creatures and creation.

Look at the colours, look!  Unbelievable!

Rainbow Lorikeet
http://www.jenava.net/blog/?tag=annalouise

Taiwan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea) 
from Worldwide Collection's photos (http://www.facebook.com/WorldwideCollection)

Mandarin Fish
http://www.petsfoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Mandarinfish1.jpg


Stunning details!

Yankee Wood Duck
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/02/16/yankee-duck-splash-lands-in-birmingham-65233-20487458/

Paua Shell

 http://containyourexcitement.blogspot.com/2008/04/paua.html

Glasswing Butterfly
http://rense.com/general76/glasswing.htm

"This is a cross section of a single blade of grass, stained for the microscope. The smiley faces are the channels that the water is drawn up through. It was taken at an EM lab."
 http://people.tribe.net/71246863-4184-4906-8732-d4b755d29f94/photos/7c2ae4a5-dda3-4a0b-93a1-e1f2f7c6fd97

The variety of patterns, shapes, textures....

Dragon's Blood Tree, Yemen

http://www.fantasticforwards.com/category/natural-wonder/page/4/

Fried Egg Jellyfish
credit:  zooborns.com

The sheer delight of some!

Hedgehog
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/cute-hedgehog-belly-rub_n_1929372.html


The comic in others..

Beetle
http://wahfunny.com/face-of-elvis-presley/
credit:  Winston Jansen

The magnitude and splendour!

Morning Glory Pool, Yellowstone National Park by David Fulmer

Don't you wonder what's in that hole?  Look at it again....

 *shivers*

 Chichen Itza, Mexico 

http://www.fantasticforwards.com/category/natural-wonder/page/9/

Marble Caves, Chile
http://www.fantasticforwards.com/marble-caves-chile-chico-chile/

http://www.strangecosmos.com/content/item/117442.html

Doesn't the purposefully-designed piece of each work make you wonder about the designer behind such beauty?  I have!

I remember as a young girl, I was lying flat on my back on the private road in front of our government bungalow. I was just staring and staring up at the expanse of the sky that morning, totally awestruck.  I'd wondered if clouds could be touched, how they would feel.  I'd wondered if I could fly straight up all the way beyond the clouds, what I would find there.  I'd wondered just how big the whole universe beyond it was....how much farther would it go? 

Have you ever wondered about those things, too?

God.

Only You.

Thank You for this Beauty around us.
 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands"  NIV, Psalm 19:1

Disclaimer:  all pictures were googled and the writer has tried very hard to find the original source of them, to give due credit.  However, she could not as many were re-posted from elsewhere.  If you can teach her how to, she would very much appreciate it.

Umbrella Showroom in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Just about two weeks ago, my husband Paul, my youngest daughter Tammy, my mother and I took a trip to the northern part of Thailand.   We stopped at this umbrella showroom in Chiang Mai as planned, as we felt my mother would enjoy visiting this place (we ourselves had already been there some time ago).  I wasn't thinking about blogging about this visit at all until I saw these pretty pictures.  Other pictures were put up on facebook (not that those were not pretty..).


Mom at the entrance of the showroom, in front of a trishaw display....

At the showroom, you can see the procedure for making these handmade umbrellas right from scratch.


Bamboo pieces are split...

 holes are drilled into some pieces...

pieces are strung together...

strings are attached....

 lots of gluing of the paper sheets to the umbrella frames...

They are then hand-painted.

Paper fans are also made in this showroom...

See the large decorative fans on either side of the huge umbrella? (actually, see the two fans in front of it? heh heh)

I loved the whole colourful experience!

Let me say that again...I loved the whole colourful experience!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The above umbrellas were only about 8inches in diameter.


The novelty of this place is that you can even have your genes, tee-shirt, mobile phone, camera pouch and what-have-you, handpainted on the spot with a design you choose from their sample board.  I had my mobile phone painted with a butterfly design.  It had a little glitter added on as well.  Does it last?  Well, in the two weeks we've been back, it hasn't chipped off at all (and I don't exactly treat my phone very gently)...This design cost me 50baht, or 5 ringgit, or about US$1.50.

First some base paint of some kind was painted on...(that would be like primer for furniture, and foundation for make-up I guess)...

Seriously guys, if you ever go to such places, do tell us about them.  It's just a matter of taking some photos (all these photos were taken by my husband or daughter so, really, it doesn't take a professional camera man to take decent photos!), and telling us about it is really like writing an essay.  You don't have to use bombastic words.. oh wait.. bombastic is a bombastic word...you don't have to use fancy words to tell us about your experience. And there aren't any teachers to mark your essay (Tony Willis and Sarah Benedict - if you're reading this, yes, I deliberately spelt 'jeans' as 'genes' up there, so you can point it out to me...lalaaala laaa)

By writing about your experiences, we get to share in them, as we don't all get a chance to go to those places...(yes, I'm talking to you Warren Phipps and Matthias van Middendorp :)

If you ever do go to Chiang Mai (not to be confused with Chiang Rai which is a different town), ask for the Umbrella Making Centre in "Bor Sung".  Lots of shopping along those streets, too (seriously, why didn't I ever think of becoming a tour guide?

If you want to read about a hotspring, waterfall, bird park, and I-city trip, and our visit to New Zealand and Botswana, do look up the 'travels' section in this blog (you can see the categories on the right side of the page).  If you have found this blog post interesting, do leave a comment or question at the bottom of this post. I usually try to reply all comments within a day or two.

Each time this blog is updated, you will be notified if you sign up as a follower (that's on the right, too). 

Waterfall Trip - Let's go!

This happened last year but I am recording it down for memories....I so wanna go again, though!

What can be more relaxing? I don't know about you, I always long to be near nature...my idea of a holiday short or long. And we have some pretty awesome spots right here in Malaysia.




When: Saturday 12th March, 2011

Where: Sungei Gabai Waterfalls, off Ulu Langat in Selangor, Malaysia



Surrounded by greenery...

and water.


The air smelt so earthy.

Who: Me, my husband Paul, my daughter Tammy, and friends Kevin Tan, Amanda Ee,
Shaun and Joanna Voon, Mahesh, and an old friend, Eng Hoe
(2 people missing in this photo?)


Oh, there they are.

Hmmm.....eating. Figures. (Neh, just kidding. They just happened to be missing when we took that photo)

This was an odd group indeed, some of them we hardly knew at the time (like Shaun and Joanna from Australia) and others are really old friends like Eng Hoe, who goes waaaay back with us like maybe from the Jurassic Era.

Why: I am blogging about this event so you get to see how great this place is. The last posts I did about the Bird Parks in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore (here and here), it inspired a number of you to actually want to go there. Well, how about that....maybe I should write a blog for travellers.

Something about the sound of water that makes you feel refreshed...gushing..



or splashing...


or rippling....

This waterfall is just about a 1 and a half hour's drive away from Kuala Lumpur.

IF you don't get lost.

Which we did.

And we are not gonna name names of person/s responsible.

There is a parking area. You pay one ringgit per person to enter the area. That's all! There are toilet and bathing facilities (warning - no frills..this is not some kind of tourist resort)

There are different levels of the waterfall which you can choose to stop at. We climbed the steep stairs and decided on the level where..
there...
was...
a...
natural water slide!

Head massage



Shoulder massage



B_tt massage



So we took our turn/s on the water slide.

This video was put together by Tammy.

But things didn't go quite like I expected when it came to my turn. It shows how I (in red bandanna, from 0.51) got stuck not once, but twice. Huh? What was I doing wrong? (don't answer that) Yes, that was my daughter laughing like a sadistic hyena in the background. She has a dark side to her I'm a-tellin' ya.

Maybe cellulite has suction cup properties or somethin'. Sheesh.

It reminded me of my bowling attempts where the ball gliiiiiiiiiiides to the side and into the drain. Not good. No one else had this pause button problem.

We also attempted to form a human caterpillar (from 1.16)...

Some of us felt mighty pleased with our accomplishments. We (ok, not me, some in the group) could actually slide down in a standing position. Whoa! yes, clap clap we did.

And then.

they.

arrived.

A few Orang Asli (native) boys who had lived near the falls all their lives.

And they did their ke-ray-zee stunts (from 1.36)!



What the jimminy haystacks!! Have you ever?!




Don't forget to read the posts on the Bird Parks! It has valuable advice! Post 1 and Post 2

P/S I love comments...every now and then I read back old blog posts and the comments really make my day! I do reply all comments right here on the blog itself. Also, if you haven't already, sign up as a follower of this blog. That's on the top right hand side. It will notify you of any updates.