Honey4Boyz

While I was writing this post, my hubby stopped by and wanted to talk. I answered him briefly, so I could get on with my writing. Ticking my to-do list is more important than being with someone. Indeed 'being' is much harder than 'doing'. Even at home, there's a never ending list of things to do with no sense of completion. I walk around sometimes like there's something I forget to do.  Whether in schools or homeschooling, the rat race is there. We're encouraged to pack our life full of activities and maximise our learning experience. At work, we have to look productive and take on more responsibilities. We live as if there's nothing wrong with this system. We call it 'progression'. If there's nothing wrong, why are we so perplexed by the flood of bad news, why are so many people unhappy? Why are so many on medication to control stress, depression?  Slowing down is radical in this day. Learning to let go doing all things is just as r...

What a feast we had when a Mother bulbul built a nest on our neighbour's bamboo plant! We're reading about Birds from the Charlotte Mason's Parables from Nature - and what joy to find exactly two chicks and two adult Bulbuls in our backyard! Two beautiful cute chicks in the nest! Could not contain his curiousity anymore! Yellow-vented Bulbul looking for food nearby. Mother Bulbul feeding the chicks - it's very frequent feeding at first, like every 15-20 minutes, then the interval got longer as they grew. They're a busy and noisy lot. Hungry nestling birds waiting for Mama! Papa and Mama close by to make sure chicks were safe. They're very protective of the chicks. Once, a few robins and tailorbirds (yes, right in our backyard) came and there was a terrible fight. Soon the other birds got the message and left. See the little nestlings looked nothing like the adult Bulbul. A fledgling now, fell from its nest and ho...

Venus-Jupiter conjunction  Venus passing between the Earth and sun and Earth passing between Jupiter and sun  in June/July 2015 . They belong to very different worlds, and they're no where near each other in space. Yet both are the brightest in Earth's sky and so near each other from our skyline.  2-day workshop with Sam Gibbs on aerospace, water rocket, straw rocket, paper rocket, Bernoulli, what-not.... I couldn't remember much, yet this sparked our interest to know our 'space'. The interest escalated till the New Horizon flyby of Pluto in July 2015. Imagine a spacecraft launched more than 9 years ago, the same year as Brandon was born, calculated with such precision, went against all odds based on technology more than a decade ago - really a brilliant feat. Science in nature study. Early of the year, the animal/insect kingdom was so alive - perhaps it's the mating season in spring. We saw spiders in the backyard, in Bukit Tinggi, so many of the...

It's so easy to overlook Taipei cos it's not in the top must-see places. Hubby and I, minus the kids, went for a short trip to Taipei and we went without any expectation. We arrived very early and couldn't check into our hotel rooms yet, so we dropped by Chiang Kai Shek Memorial to get some fresh air. It's spring, and the air smelled like fragrant flowers. The park was very well-maintained, with info signs to educate us on different types of trees, flowers and birds. But the biggest surprise was to see the blooming cherry blossom trees!  Dozens of bird enthusiasts clicking away, but the pink cherry blossoms were not the Star, it's the white-eye bird! It was quite a sight to see all the expensive telephoto camera lens aiming at those small, active birds.  We enjoyed the walks very much - maybe it's the fresh spring air, the sakura season, the beautiful trees or the carefree holidays without kids... I loved it so much that I came ...