Thursday, August 20, 2020

Happy Singapore National Day!

Happy National Day as, Singapore turned 55 on August 9. Sky parades are safer for social distancing.
I thought we could celebrate with the new smoked salmon from the salmon ATM, but Barry wasn't keen.
So I invented a drink for our friend Scott's birthday. It was 50% liked by all.
And we celebrated with my single wildly successful garden tomato. If you zoom in, it looks bigger, right?
The local hotels have opened for Staycations, so we tried that. The hotel made us a birthday cake! It was nor our birthday. We ate it anyway.
Technically we went to another island, although still in Singapore. The wildlife was different!
Does this beak make my ankles look swollen?
Does this loud squawker's hair remind you of anyone?
I also went to the National Gallery. The price was good.
This is by far my favourite painting. I can tell you the meaning sometime.
The focus was on Southeast Asian art. Well I love Southeast Asia.
But most of the art has about as much meaning to me as these inexplicably suspended snake skins.
This one, however, is me at work, for sure.
This one is about hip surgery.
This is how my stomach feels when digesting too much dairy.

Friday, August 7, 2020

Singapoliday! Good and Bad times from the Museums

Singapore has launched a marketing campaign for the "Singapoliday", since they didn't like my suggestion of fakation. So, prepare for a series on our domestic tourism!
We have started by studying about some good and bad times in Singapore's past from the museums. Good times: buying jelly shooters from this guy! Super bad times: opium:
Good times, being the most fashionable coolie!
Super bad times, being a POW in WW2.
Good times, being carried off the boat in all of your pinafores in the heat?
Bad times - being at a polo match and finding the ghost of death there!
Good times, Lee Kuan Yew coming to build us a nation!
Then there was a brief marriage with Malaysia.
People were moved from their kampong houses.
Into modern apartments with plumbing and more. They often brought their chickens with them, of course.
There were some interesting social problems. Teenagers are messy.
At the time, the government was aiming for fewer births. Now, there are policies to encourage more!
In the giftshop, we learnt more about some modern bad times that can befall us!

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Flat out? Try kittens!

In Australia, they say "flat out like a lizard drinking" to mean working hard, which we saw for the first time with this giant monitor lizard. But it didn't seem that hard. Aussie slang remains confusing.
We didn't get to close to this 2m long beast.
Everyone's been looking for new things to do lately. How about urban gutter fishing?
We went and gazed upon another country. This cost me $22 in roaming fees, but if you super-zoom in, you can see a crocodile's eyes and nose.
Of course, we can't go there. There are several obstacles in the way of travel these days.
So we admired the local nature. This is a plant that grew in a tree, fell to the ground, then grew on a rock. Badass.
This week, I've been working on my red pepper mezcalita...
But Barry wouldn't let me garnish it with the perfect wildiflowerstick.
Just when we were running out of ideas, we got invited to the best place ever!
Our friends Keri and Jeroen are lucky ducky kitten fosterers!
Worries, what worries?
I can keep 3 in my lap at once. I think they all love me as much as I love them.
They are still hand-sized.