Honey4Boyz

My grandmother planted a tiny orange seed, Not really knowing the wonders of it; A glossy Sunflower, fresh and new, With golden petals, dressed with dew. It grew and grew, from seed to life, Sprouting new leaves, the size of mice. Soon, very soon, the flower will bloom, Even when our life is in gloom. One month later, on a bright morning, When the shrill cry of birds interrupts the sleeping, And the morning sun starts to rise. I walked into the garden with a cry of surprise! So imagine life as Sunflower plants To grow up and become daughters and sons. We have ideas that can change our lives, To do so, we need faith to contrive.

Oh thy little green frogs,  Who rest on sleeping logs,  And eat the beastly slugs, Or the small little bugs. Please be kind to these useful creatures, As they gobble up the pestful garden litter, I'm sure frogs are superstars, Oh what wonderful creatures they are!                                                                       Brandon Hah☺ Common Tree Frog/Four-Lined Tree Frog in my backyard. Discovered after I wrote my poem. Maybe I'm all frogs so I noticed the well-camouflaged frog. 

After the tree sparrow episode, we thought that it's a once in a blue moon happenstance. Lo and behold, the boys found a baby robin a few days later. It's learning to fly, but for a baby, it looked rather huge and fat. The robin parents were around and they made very loud, harsh threat calls like hissing krshhh whenever we went near the little one.  "Let's be friends!!" Unlike the poodle, Cookie was very aggressive towards the little Robin-hood. We tried as much as possible not to intervene, except to keep Robin-hood away from Cookie and harms. Cos it remained on the ground, hopping around, it's in constant danger. Fence or no fence, it did't stop Robin-hood from crossing into Cookie's territory. Can you see it squeezing thru? And that spelled trouble!!!! It's very interesting to observe the difference between the little sparrows and Robin-hood. The little sparrows flew almost immediately after they're fledged. Little robin, ho...

Our study of the banana trees in our garden led us to many discoveries. As we observed the trees day after day, we noticed the growth, the living creatures that the trees had supported, the changing weather and environment and the butterflies and moths that they had attracted. Brandon has started a 'Banana Journal'.   The Lady Finger Banana or  Pisang Mas  has very thin skin and the flesh is very sweet. The lengthwise veins on the leaves make them weak, easily tear in the wind. A very interesting discovery about the banana skippers. These are leaf-rolling caterpillars. Watch out for tears on the leaves but these are not caused by the wind. Rather, these leaves are torn and rolled beautifully as shelter to the larvae of the banana skipper. Other than a shelter, the leaves also provide a food source for the larvae and they leave behind lotsa, lotsa 'poop', an obvious tip to the predator wasps! Look out, they also have a supernatural ability ...

"A home entertainment during the Sept/Oct forest-fire haze." The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the DESERT shall rejoice, and blossom as the ROSE (Isaiah 35:1). (esor tresed) A grass family - very useful as tea, soup, curries. Its oil can repel mossies and attract honeybees.  (ssargnomel) Find the name of the 'lookalike' Christmas Star that led the Magi to baby Jesus. (mehelhteb fo rats)  From time immemorial, many civilisations looked for silkworms. Where do you think they'll find them? (sevael yrreblum) "I belong to the Witch Hazel family'. "Lookout!" I have many little fuschia hanging baskets over me. Botanists call me loropetalum chinense var. rubrum. A dog sheds its hair. But this shedding falls right into our garden. In ancient time, they even used it as clothing. What's Cookie favourite pastime when it's bored? Look deeper, but make sure you...

We joined FRIM 's celebration of this year's International Day of Forests at the Kepong Botanic Garden. Entrance to the forest was waived on this day and FRIM had also organised many free activities. It's so good to be in the jungle on a day with clear blue sky. We've registered our family for the Botany Fun Hunt which is something like treasure hunt. I would prefer something straightforward like the tree planting activity - minus the mind-boggling exercise - but the guys overrode me. From FRIM, we took a free shuttle to the botanic garden, didn't expect to see such a big park in Kepong. There're already many joggers and people exercising at the park. A short briefing before we started the Hunt. Poring over the questions and 'clueless'! We have not the faintest idea about plants or botany. At least it's a great family team activity. There were 18 teams in the Hunt and surprisingly many youngsters took part - good idea to unplug them ...

We're trying to instil the love of bird-watching in our kids. Daddy is discovering the joy of watching birds in the evenings, and identifying them with the kids. Many times, the kids started out with Daddy to watch the birds, but always managed detouring to the park to play football. We're not 'pro' yet, but we've some wonderful surprises in our bird-watching walkabout in our neighbourhood. So, it's really easy, and we do not have to even venture far, our country is blessed with so many species, right at our doorstep. This is the easiest to spot - Oriental Magpie Robin and the most melodious bird in our neighbourhood. It sings in the early morning and in the evenings. That's why, they're also the target of unscrupulous people in the neighbourhood to catch and cage them. Black-naped Oriole - they usually fly in pairs (can you spot the other half?) We see a lot of the Yellow-vented Bulbul in our backyard these days, and the Robins as well. ...