Everything goes to Ruin

If we create a beautiful things, they can still go to ruin. Here, tiny Barry gives perspective to how small we can be in the face of this. Mystery tree culvert above, and bamboo below.

Singapore has amazing hiking, which allows you to contemplate the world, which we've been doing more often, of late.

I enjoy the fauna,

Such as this common gliding lizard (not that common: first time we saw one).

And flora,

(do these tree figs make my trunk look fat?)

What we've been into lately is the extensive and mysterious ancient ruins, which are consistently found in Singapore's forests, due rain/humidity/mould and urbanization of older villages.

Next to the plain of jars, there is are some portals to another dimension, which many need right now.

There are always obstacles that we need to overcome.

Back in the 1970s, there was a truck here. This is it now.

The seating gave us a clue.

We found remnants of an old drinking party: brandy, Benedictine, and 1970's dishes. (Date now confirmed). Good times!

The ruins, along with the recent rain, make for some fun fungal life too.

---

Boars and Saurs!

Have a roarsome new year! We went hiking to see wild boars. Here is the best picture we got:

We saw one in the rain right behind the sign telling us not to feed them! It was worth getting wet. Some people didn't believe that we had wild boars in Singapore, even though I'm very serious about things porcine, so click away.

We moved on to see the dinosaurs. I spotted them immediately.

Well, hello little guy!

Barry has watched a movie where he learnt not to go through this door.

These two guys clearly wanted theirs spikes scratched.

Having hung out with a few children, I know that dinosaurs have all renamed themselves since we learnt about them. So here's a Smoothesaurus.

Brainlumpasaurus.

Jurassic mile, according to its website, is "Singapore’s newest and largest permanent outdoor display of life-sized dinosaurs." While I'm not aware of smaller, or older permanent outdoor displays of any-sized dinosaurs, I'd say this was a great use of space between the airport and a golf course!

Just to check, we went to an older, indoor, permanent display of life-sized dinosaurs.

It was less colourful.

Actually, the Jurassic mile is missing a pterodactyl, which I think could be the scariest dinosaur.

The natural history museum also branches out into crabs and fish.

Hello, I'm happy to see you too!

---

Happy Holidays with Bears, Beards and Balloons!

Happy holidays from Shoes and Booze which now has a sign! We have been very festive.

Barry has finally embraced fashion masking, and I embraced the mini-side Santa hat.

This is because my parents mailed us Christmas cookies. This took 10 days. My packages to Canada took 1-3 months.

In fact, 2 decent pictures were taken of us this month, which is extraordinary.

Glitter crafts were made.

Barry turned 46, and got a special visit by the Shangri-la bear. (Yes, the bear is wearing a mask. Ours are removed for bar drinking as per the rules, which are currently easing somewhat in Singapore due to very few cases).

We tried to embarrass Barry, but I'm not sure it worked.

Singapore got all lit up for the holidays, with seasonally confusing snowflakes. Also, you can see that the staycation market is doing well.

We realized that the lights represent things. This one represents 2020 spiraling out of control.

These lights show how it can be raining even if it's bright, which is a message about mental health.

The lights sponsored by Haagen Das show what happens to my gut after consuming delicious ice cream.

---

Harvey for your Holidays?

Well, we accidentally fell in love with a cat again, and this time it's entirely Barry's fault, despite his allergy.

This is Harvey. He loves everyone, but asks for very little in return. 

When we were missing Moose, Barry had the ingenious idea to go visit the local community cats. Then we found Harvey in a sad state in a dirty box. He was very affectionate, but had a mouth infection.

Let's take him to the vet, Barry said. He'll get better once he's indoors, the vet said. And that's how another cat came to visit. We think he enjoyed the rest, soft surfaces and being dry and clean for the first time since kittenhood.

Luckily Mark and Alex were cat angels who are now fostering Harvey, and saving Barry's lungs. Harvey loves them extra lots of most!

So now we're trying to find a nice home for the Harvster. Please follow @Harvey_the_cat_sg on Instagram to help us to raise his profile. Feeling lonely and considering a cat who is quiet, calm, doesn't climb, is happy cuddling or just chilling? Reach out  (DM me here, or Harvey on IG)! Help us to find some more love for the holidays! His full profile is on ARKC here, which is like cat tinder.

Here are some wonderful and festive videos that Angel Alex made. I'm not sure how this will work in blogger, where the UI is always painful, so let's put them here:

---