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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

coffee for your plants






I went to a restaurant, Triniti of Silver at Mt Albert and asked for some coffee grounds. The woman said I was lucky, and she gave me 2 bags.

I bit off more than I can chew, they were so heavy when I lugged them to the car. They must weighing 10 kilos. I went there for Xmas lunch. That's how I know there are coffee grounds. I mix them straight into the soil.

My local gas station's cafe also leaves out coffee grounds for people to take home. Sometimes I ask my church MABC s coffee  makers to give me the ground.

The texture of the coffee grounds is like soil, dark and rich. They increase the bulk in you veg garden. They supply nitrogen retained from the bean. This is a must-have plant nutrient for leafy greens and vegetables. 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Big Road making machines.



I love big machines. This is because I grew up in Borneo, where there was no much machination. I remember once there was a community work to extend the road. People came and brought their hoes and baskets.

http://mondaymellowyellows.blogspot.com.au/


  
Stay mellow with yellow!



A bootie never worn.


A cute little doggie bootie,
A  bootie never worn.

Today I had an idea,
I will use it for my camera pouch.

Twenty five years ago, at 7am,
My little boy Andrew was born.

Twenty five years ago, at 8 pm
We were told he was dying.

Happy 25th birthday in Heaven.
You are forever in my heart.





“160 Foochow Proverbs And Idioms” by Angela Yong.

May be I grew up in Sibu, Sarawak,
May be I became a writer,
May be my dad and mum might have known her,
May be she was colleagues of my Uncle Mark. 

I am awed by her,
I admire her,
Angela Yong from my town of birth.
Angela Yong had written 8 book,

“160 Foochow Proverbs And Idioms” by Angela Yong. Yong was born in China in 1926, the year her parents migrated to Sarawak. She grew up in Sibu. During World War II, she married James Hii Mee Chiong. They raised eight daughters and five sons. James died in 1986. Yong was a former teacher at St Francis Xavier Primary School in Kanowit.

If you want more Foochow proverbs and idioms, go buy the book. I bought it for RM6.90 at Belle’s Bookshop in Miri. By the way, Angela Yong is almost 90 and has written 8 books.

Angela Yong (Photo credit The Star)
 Thanks to Lim Chin Yong for photo and resources.
http://www.cy8cy.com/foochow-proverbs-and-idioms/

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Grow roots where you land


New Zealand Chinese created an event.
New Zealand Chinese's photo.
Sunday, October 12 at 11:00am
This phrase LIO DE SAN GEN is a very popular phrase and is very appropriate with so many Chinese who had left Motherland China to all over the world.
My great grand parents left China to Borneo. Most of their descendants had  grown roots  in China and remained til the died. Their children too remained until they died.

The next generation and the next (mine and my aunties and uncles, our children) uprooted and went beyond. We are in England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA and back to China.

How wise, the ancient scholars who termed this phrase, LIO DE SAN GEN
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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Tracy Mulgrew singing from her heart




Tracy Mulgrew  have a lot in common. We live in New Zealand. The main thing is something I wish I knew her from different circumstances.

We both are bereaved mothers. Tracy lost her daughter to cancer at 10 years. Honestly her grief is deeper than mine as Andrew was just 55 days. 

Bereavement brings out some latent talent in us. Tracy shares her grief in song and poems. They are beautiful and they are sang from the bottom of her heart. Just like I express mine in writing.

I've written nine songs now, all of them unique. The local radio station has been playing some of them but home recordings and said I should go and get them recorded professionally, have been in contact with polytechnic in invercargill as they have an audio/sound production course, the guy is putting it to his students to see if it's one they want to take on. Curtis and I reworked this first song I ever wrote, it's adapted from a poem I wrote not long after Jessica's death. I was thinking if I did get a CD made I could give it away but ask for donations for Child Cancer instead.

Tracy has also helped other bereaved parents by forming the Bereaved Parents of NZ on facebook
Bereaved Parents of NZ.

Thanks Tracy. Paki Paki and Kia Keha.

 https://soundcloud.com/tracy-mulgrew/how-could-i-lose-her

PhotoHunt is 'Morning'


 Two different types of morning tea. Scones are very English, and Har Gaws are Cantonese.

When I go for the Cantonese Yum Cha, I always have Har Gaw, the prawn dumpling. I have it not because they are delicious, but to remember Mum who learned to make if after her tour to Singapore and West Malaysia.

PhotoHunt is 'Morning'

http://whistlestopphotohunt.blogspot.co.nz/

Gone Girl

Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements.

Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, .

Once I had a discussion with my daughter Deborah about the distinction between a thriller and suspense. I came to my own conclusion that a thriller tells you what happens as you read, and a suspense tells you the answer at the end of the book.  Rightly or wrongly, I prefer suspense.

I was just finishing reading this Go Girl, taunted as Observer's Thriller of the year. I did not particularly enjoy the book, but as usual, I soldier on in reading a book unless it is really really bad. 

Then I watch an ad on TV about the movie, and showed Ben Affleck, who I really like.   OK, I read the book, I like Ben Affleck. But  will I go to watch the movie? My ears will hurt when there is too much vulgar language. I wonder why Gillian Flynn had to used all those language.


http://mondaymellowyellows.blogspot.com.au/


  
Stay mellow with yellow!



 

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Benefits of a writer.


It is a good feeling when you go to a school reunion when students ask which class were you and you tell them you were their teacher. It is a good feeling when students say the students look older than the teacher.

What is the secret, they ask? It's Olay.  

It is a privilege being a validated writer. They send you products and services to review. Some is worth little money, some in the hundreds.

I am not paid to write the review. I am given a sample to try this product.

Dylon®Colour Run Remover for Whites



You had a busy week,
You knock over your spouse and spilled some red wine on his white Tee-Shirt.
You quickly run it in cold water,
Mistake! most of the wine is gone, but there is still a pinkish stain.
Spouse is in a bad mood, he had a bad week at work.

Fret no more,
There is the Dylon®Colour Run Remover for Whites.

One sachet is sufficient to treat up to 500gm of fabric. (about 2 shirts). It is suitable for all washable fabric including wool and silk. The non-chroline bleach formula will not damage or yellow fabrics and you can use on items with printed logos or images.

The good thing is you can use it in the washing machine or by hand.

Like magic, the stain is gone,
Spouse is happy,
You are happy.

Dylon®Colour Run Remover for Whites is available from supermarkets and Spotlight Stores nation wide in New Zealand.

https://www.facebook.com/dylonnz/info

I am writing this blog post after sampling  the product.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Clothes: traditional Chinese clothes.



Grandfather aka Ah Kung with Grace. He was around 80 years old.


Grandfather wore traditional Chinese Clothes and canvas slip on shoes. The clothes were the high collar, and buttoned down the front with clothed buttons. His pants were humongous fisherman pants with no elasticize top, but held up with his leather belt. His under pant were blue boxer pants with no elastic; instead he folds it smartly that it would not drop no matter how one would tug it. He had a special wallet attached to his belt and kept out of sight to the right of his front torso. When we were growing up, he was the last of the people in Sibu dressed in his attire. We asked why he did not change like our Maternal Grandfather. 
He said, “Nobody will rob an old poor China man.”
He was also very proud of Bruce Lee. Bruce was a Hong Kong actor and he wore the same Kung Fu clothing. Bruce to him was the epitome of a Chinese person. When he went to town,teenagers mistook him to be a kung fu master and pestered him to teach them. One day, he got tired of them, and pretended to take out his umbrella. The kids thought it was his martial arts step.
Katie is Grandpa's first great grand daughter. Her mum is Anglo saxon. On her wedding, Katie chose a Chinese wedding ceremony. Grandpa would have been very proud of her.








CLOTHES (Fancy, Plain, Worn, Colourful, Fashionable, Old,...) roseThursday Challenge is a place for photographic fun and learning. 

http://www.spunwithtears.com/thursday.html

Hundreds march for climate action in Auckland

Let's talk about Inequality for Blog Action Day 2014 on October 16

 

Proudly to be connected with Ngati Whatua Orake. I spent Waitangi Days with them and Ngarimu educating people to recycle. They were participants for the Climate Change March in Auckland.

 

Hundreds march for climate action in Auckland

By Nina Fowler


Hundreds took part in the People's Climate March in Auckland on Sunday. Photo / Gil Hanly
Hundreds took part in the People's Climate March in Auckland on Sunday. Photo / Gil Hanly
Hundreds of people marched down Queen Street to draw attention to climate change on Sunday, in the first of a series of mass demonstrations around the world.
Organisers have said as many as 600,000 people turned out to thousands of events in the US, Latin America, Europe, India and Australia, including up to 310,000 in New York and up to 30,000 in Melbourne.
The People's Climate March - co-ordinated by international campaign organisation Avaaz - was timed to coincide with the UN Climate Summit in New York.

Crea Land, a co-organiser of the march in Auckland, on Sunday. Photo / Jason Garman
Crea Land, a co-organiser of the march in Auckland, on Sunday. Photo / Jason Garman
The summit, hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday and expected to attract over 100 world leaders, is an attempt to build momentum before the next major round of climate change negotiations in Paris in December 2015.
In New Zealand, several hundred people gathered at about 1pm to march up Queen Street from Britomart to Aotea Square.
The march was followed by performances and talks from speakers including Jeanette Fitzsimons, Greenpeace New Zealand and two students - Isabella Lenihan-Ikin, 18, and Jasper Putt, 10.
Liz Rawlings, 53, from Auckland, took part in the march with a friend who had driven up for the event from Hamilton.
"Already we can see a lot of climate change problems, with storms and floods and droughts in parts of the world. A lot of people are losing their lives or at least their homes or livelihoods," she said.
"We just want to get out and show there's some support for climate action in Auckland."
Watch footage of the People's Climate March in Auckland on September 21
Crea Land, 61, one of the co-organisers of the march in Auckland, said she had heard about the global day of action through Avaaz, which reached out to tens of millions of members worldwide to put the event together.
"I answered and several others answered and we all got together then. They connected us up."
She said she was delighted by the turnout and hoped it would help put action to address climate change on the agenda of the new government in New Zealand.
"Climate change is every person's concern and, really, for me, it's very much about the future of this planet. Our children's future is really in our hands."

Some supporters travelled from other cities to take part in the march in Auckland. Photo / Liz Rawlings
Some supporters travelled from other cities to take part in the march in Auckland. Photo / Liz Rawlings
Speakers and participants included Lucy Lawless, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Greenpeace New Zealand and Ngati Whatua Orakei. Photo / Gil Hanly Speakers and participants included Lucy Lawless, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Greenpeace New Zealand and Ngati Whatua Orakei. Photo / Gil Hanly

http://launch.orbit.do/pages/peoples-climate-blog-blog-in
 

Monday, September 22, 2014

Yellow: Act of kindness



http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11329257&ref=NZH_FBpage


Act of kindness has Facebook abuzz

By Jessica Roden -





Rebecca Mclean, 18, was not expecting the public attention after her random act of kindness. Photo / John Stone
Rebecca Mclean, 18, was not expecting the public attention after her random act of kindness. Photo / John Stone
When Whangarei Pak'nSave checkout operator Rebecca Mclean, 18, helped an elderly customer pay for her groceries last week she did not intend to tell anyone.
Ms Mclean did not want to been seen to be bragging, or worse get in trouble with her boss.
However, Northern Advocate editor Craig Cooper witnessed Ms Mclean's generosity, which he wrote an editorial about for the following day's paper.
The article was widely shared on Facebook with plenty of comments praising Ms Mclean, though at that stage her identity was unknown.
Last Monday, during a busy lunchtime, an elderly woman came through Ms Mclean's checkout and struggled with her Eftpos card. "Her card declined the first time and she kind of got a bit of a fright," Ms Mclean said.
With originally around $50 worth of products, the elderly lady proceeded to take items out of her trolley, though her card declined again.
She was starting to get a bit flustered by the line forming behind her and got her pin number wrong, Ms Mclean said.
"She was getting quite upset about it so I just handed her my [Eftpos] card," she said.
Though the total was only $17.30, the elderly woman was obviously touched by the gesture. "And then she gave me a hug," Ms Mclean said.
"Afterwards I just felt really good," she said. "I just was really happy that I had put a smile on someone's face."
The elderly woman was very genuine and the items in her trolley were obviously essentials, Ms Mclean said.
"I remember thinking that it's things you would need."
Ms Mclean had no plans to tell her bosses about the gesture as she was worried she would get in trouble because technically she was serving herself. On the contrary, they were very happy and the editorial now hangs in the office.
"They just said 'good on you' and 'well done for helping out an elderly person'," Ms Mclean said.
She had no idea it was in the paper until a customer told her about it and friends tagged her in the post on Facebook. The story was shared 594 times on Facebook with lots of people praising Ms Mclean.
"It's wonderful to hear such a positive story and also realise that there are still some caring people out there," wrote Cherie Aplin.
"Well done young lady, what a beautiful heart you have," wrote Leigh Williams.
The public response was out of the blue, Ms Mclean said.
"I wasn't really expecting this at all."

I remember when I was a university student and flatting with 4 others, we took turns to shop every fortnight. We collected our food money  in cash as it was 1970s, and there was no ETPOS. There was often we bought too much, and the check out had to take back the whole lot of shopping and recheck out our shopping. I asked couldn't they deduct some items, and we were told no.

I can imagine how embarrassed and anxious the old woman was. Good job Rebecca.


http://mondaymellowyellows.blogspot.com.au/


  
Stay mellow with yellow!




My books for references for professionals



Published May 2014



Women face many kinds of oppression.

A counselor/therapist  read my book and said she would use it as a reference for her work. This is the best accolade one can get from a professional. Cry is my second book where it is used.

Diary of a bereaved mother is used in a university hospital in Canada as a reference for professionals in neonatal intensive care.


                    

My world/ABC Wed: Letter K

K for Kumara, a New Zealand Maori term for sweet potato. It is delicious when you BBQ it.


 Once in a while, I take up my knitting wool, and knit a baby blanket as my random act of kindness for the babies at ICU.


 New Zealand started this Random act of kindness. Last year the water engineer and I went to the Mt Albert YMCA and renovated their garden. I love the mud, and did more gardening at the Kids Forever Preschool.


http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/
 




http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

abc15 (1)

ABC Wed Letter H for Holy Communion


This photo of Christina Yamamura reminded me of my Sister Margaret's first Holy Communion. She was the first child to be educated in a Roman Catholic school, St Mary's. For her Holy Communion, she had a white dress and a white veil. She came home telling about the tea party she had after.

ABC Wed Letter J



 I often juice some fruit and vegetables.
Juniors following mum.
http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

abc15 (1)

Yellow: Food for the poorer students







Kidscan, our students being in the richer decile were 

encouraged to bring cans of food for children in the 

lower decile schools.




http://mondaymellowyellows.blogspot.com.au/


  
Stay mellow with yellow!


http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/