the fine things

Beautiful colors

I often get carried away watching sceneries like these – quite addictive!  The following pictures were taken by jean-françois, hop over to his blog,  Orleans Passion to see more of his “autumn reflections” - some breathtaking sceneries ! 

the earth floor  becomes energized! with the wetness making the earth colors looking  vibrant and inviting

Thursday  Down with flu today, just had to stay away from work.  With running nose, sneezes and all, there really is no use being at work.  There wouldn’t be any concentration, in addition to simply spreading virus to others!   

It’s evening now and it sure is raining outside there.  August was more of …  hot.  I thought September was more rain than hot.  October? a  combination of rain, strong wind, and humidity!

Wednesday   Yesterday morning, I sent Ian to another location for his concert rehearsal.  The kids have been practising for quite sometime before Ian joined them earlier this month.  He brought back home his concert costume yesterday and excitedly showed us some of his  dance moves  - cute! 

This unrelated to the topic picture was taken back in 2008.  I think the tree is pretty …rather expressive in nature !   We’ve one planted in the playround –  infront of our house. 

News extracted from yahoo news

 AP Photo/Mohammed Seeneen

Maldivian Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Ibrahim Didi signs a document calling on all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions ahead of a major U.N. climate change conference in December in Copenhagen, in Girifushi, Maldives, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. Government ministers in scuba gear held an underwater meeting of the Maldives’ Cabinet to highlight the threat global warming poses to the lowest-lying nation on earth. Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed led Saturday’s meeting around a table on the sea floor, 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface, with ministers communicating using white boards and hand signals.

Wednesday  Came  across some old pictures of countryside sceneries that I really like.  Thought I’d post them here to share ( again!).  I had them stored in my one webshots.com e-albums which I have thought of closing but finding it rather odd … feels kind of like ending a friendship!  I have  afterall had this account for more than 3 years!  This prompted me to thinking about the various  ways that we could share our images these days.

There’s a selection of community based image hosting sites online - we have flickr, webshots, picasa etc.  These image hosting sites come with forums geared towards critiques – it is up to you to have as much or as little interaction with other users.  Then, there are also photoblogs…

Monday    Gosh. it’s Monday again!  

This picture reminds me of the need to get in touch with nature!

I’m glad that we’re able to leave the house much earlier these past 2 weeks infact ever since Ian started in his new school - saves me from having to clock in late (most days?)  for work!  I’d like for this pattern to continue.  Despite the effort, one thing however still persists  - the crazy traffic!  No matter how early we leave the house sometimes, I still arrive at my workplace late!   The construction of the highway, overhead bridge, railroad etc seem never-ending! 

Ian was excited that I picked him up slighly earlier than usual -  I bet he waited for 5pm.  Like I said kids remember well, we headed straight to the airport.  Need to be real careful about making promises to kids – note to self: never make promises unless you keep them! 

TGIF!   The end of  a rather stressful week!   No one likes inconsistencies. Period. 

Views like these could take loads off  of your mind!   

Picture: Kinabalu Heritage Resort & Spa, Kundasang

My mood today has somehow been affected by an  onset of flu/rhinitis. I havent had allergic rhinitis attack for months now.  This is really good as I used to have it like twice a week!  Im  somehow almost convinced that this decrease in attacks is related to herbalife shakes which I have been taking since March this year!     

Just before starting this post, I read this news on cnn.com about “2 dying after stay in Arizona ’sweatbox’ - I wondered if they had died  of heat or what? Or probably the ‘hot rocks and water’ were contaminated?  One of victims was not breathing while the other was burnt?  Were they trapped? Curious.

Well, you have a great weekend!  I need a quiet one.

Monday   For a minute, I thought our roof was going to be blown in splinters!  After having seen pictures and videos,  and read news about heavy rains that caused massive flooding in the affected countries, thinking about the worst was simply unavoidable!!  Just hours before, I was reading news about how “the 15 and 20 inches of rain over three days”  affected part of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee in the US  - how the heavy downpour “turned streams into rivers, swamping neighborhoods, washing out roads, and taking lives…“(boston.com).  I can’t even fathom the cost of damages this has brought and how rebuilding the town or lives will begin… 

Last night’s gush of strong wind followed by lightning and heavy downpour was sudden which resulted a total black out in our area. Must be the tail of the typhoon that battered the main island of Luzon in the neighboring Philippines.  My heart goes out to the victims;  it’s really devastating to hear or even see pictures of this tragedy.

Well, the black out in our area only lasted for about 30 minutes or so.  Ian’s initial excitement about having to use the torch light in the dark soon faded when he heard banging sounds – he  doesn’t like sounds like these too much. He adjusted himself cozily on the bed, closed his eyes and soon dozed off. 

That was last night.

This morning, the sky looked promising…no threathened rain or whatsoever. As I type this, the weather is still good!  But who knows right?  The weather is rather difficult to predict these days.  

Recommended reading:  The Day After Tomorrow: Could it Really Happen?   Remember this movie?

So, the long Raya holidays is finally over.  My work week officially started yesterday with early morning tutorial sessions. Loving holidays aside, I’m all ready into some busy-ness and productivities!  

As for the plan to go camping the weekend before Raya,  it just had to be put on hold – well lucki…ly… as it rained cats and dogs that day too. The following two days were spent on our usual never-to-miss raya visits. It was merely a 2-day off for Daniel and Ian as opposed to mine which was more than a week!   I decided to pamper myself with some trips to the malls – buying some long overdue stuffs like a new pair shoes, skirts, blouses etc.   Certainly felt good to be able to do things at my own pace, own time!