August 2016

 August here means that the birds are not migrating or breeding, the weather is usually indifferent and the generous neighbours usually share their smoke from their forest burning with us. In the past few years the photo-opportunities are so modest I have taken a break from nature photography. This August we are presently free of the smoke haze that has recently affected Singapore and KL but has not made it this far north.

This month saw a significant and not entirely welcome personal milestone when I hit the three score years plus ten. Helen and I had a modest celebration going to the local TGI Friday's restaurant for lunch and returning home with a bottle of champagne, which was very nice. Helen and I got together on my 40^th birthday after we went to TGI Fridays in Birmingham.

It was certainly pleasant to have birthday wishes from a number of friends and a nice video composite that Dani had organized.

 Helen has a fairly busy schedule with teaching. She had a bit of drama recently when one of the students took a bit of a turn and had to lie down with breathing problems and tightness in the chest. She likely late 40s but was able to drive herself home and later get a medical check-up. Helen has enjoyed some of the George Town festival events held during the month and we went together to see a musical performance......which reminded me somewhat of a school concert.

August was not short of entertainment with the Olympic Games from Rio and the start of the 4 Nations Rugby championship. I think Malaysia must be one of the best countries to watch the Olympics because there were 12 HD channels running all the time showing different live events. Malaysia won several silver medals but again failed to win a gold, which they have never achieved. Singapore won its first gold medal when Joseph Schooling won a Gold in the 100metres butterfly beating his schoolboy idol Michael Phelps in the process. There has been quite a lot written about Joseph’s success by Singapore press and bloggers. Essentially the system in Singapore was bypassed by his dedicated parents who sent him to Texas when 14 to get the best training. They paid out around 1.5 Million dollars of their own money and his mother had to fight the authorities to delay his compulsory military training……he did win despite the system in Singapore where I had already concluded their sports promotion funding and policies were terrible.

If Pokemon was an event in the Olympics Malaysia might have a chance given the participation numbers. I wonder what hope there is for the human race when such a thing consumes so much time and attention. They don’t seem to enjoy it either…….must go and take another selfie to add to the 50 I have already taken this morning.

My camera did make a guest appearance on a few occasions when a fruiting tree along the coast attracted some hungry birds…..albeit common ones. I was more interested in the waves breaking on the rocks below and the fishermen casting their nets offshore.

I have had some success in nature photographic competitions run by the Australian Photographic Society. One theme was ‘All about wine’….I only entered one image and got a highly commended of my relaxing otter. At least someone had a sense of humour.

I was more successful in beating 340 other images to again win the nature image of the year with my kingfisher capturing a frog image.

Coco had to visit the vet this month when it was discovered she had a lump on her head that was infected. It was caused by a grass seed that had latched onto her curly fur and embedded into her skin. The vet had to burrow in and remove the seed and applied a lampshade to her head for a week. She was subdued the first day and banged into furniture with the encumbrance. By the end of the week however it was like it wasn’t there because she did everything she normally does including being the best soccer goalie in Malaysia. She was however delighted to be without it and ran down the beach with joyous abandon. It is one of the nicest sights to see…..a young animal that just likes to run fast ….just because they can.

.....and of course I could not avoid an Olympic fusion with the Curly one beating Usain Bolt....even if it was the Jamaican trials and she crossed lanes..

It was about this time last year when I got into making bread and later Kefir. Both products still regularly come off the production line. Both of these products are not readily available in sufficient quality or with reliability locally. I have made varieties of bread including sourdough bread and cinnamon and cranberry buns.

Several months back I started making ginger beer. This was somewhat nostalgic as Mum used to make a fiery brew many years ago. It may also be a precursor skill to making home-brewed beer. The ginger beer, whole-meal bread and kefir are now optimum and routine. The crown tops and capper had to come from Singapore. The ginger beer has tones of cinnamon, cloves, lemon and honey.

The main targets this year were to be meat pies and sausages. Meat pies are available in the supermarkets but the best ones are expensive. Quality sausages are just not freely available and pork sausages even less so for obvious reasons. I am currently on the 5 batch of sausages and have gone through quite a learning process. I can get good pork from the local market…it is plentiful and cheap. I had to import casings from the UK form a friendly company after failing to get a supply locally and from Australian companies. The skill lies in treating the casings (pig intestines) correctly and getting the formulation just right…a good balance of meat, fat, herbs and spices and breadcrumbs. I have found the best way to prevent splitting after filling the casings is to blanch the nascent product in simmering water after allowing the flavor to intensify for 24 hours. I can get frozen lamb shoulder for lamb-based sausages but beef is a problem because most beef sold in the market is buffalo. Currently I make a breakfast sausage (sage and maple syrup), a Cumberland Sausage (bacon, paprika and thyme) and a Chorizo sausage with smoked Paprika and ground fennel seeds …… There is still a frozen lamb shoulder in the freezer awaiting formulation.

Progress on the offshore island has not been very fast in the last month…..they have been dropping rocks all through the night which has clearly annoyed some home-owners near the site. We can only just hear it from our backyard.

I was pleased to see the otters were not affected by the construction....one afternoon they passed close by to active rock dumping. I wonder if they see it as new homes for otters.

We have been a bit like Malaysian Olympians in the pub quiz in the last month with a record of 2nd, 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd. The prize for second is 5 bottles of beer....which is somewhat more useful than the bottle of vodka for first prize.....unless you are a Vladimir Putin.

July 2016

The main photographic season usually finishes in July as it gets wetter and errant smoke from Indonesian forest fires engulfs us. Currently we have had wet spells followed by dry spells and we have even had ultra blue skies.

The significant news this month seem a little on the low side. My main activity was running a workshop at Fraser’s Hill. It went pretty well and we had 3 days with no weather interference. I won’t repeat the images and activities in this blog as it can be found here.

Helen has also had a mixed month with her teaching as many of the students are on holiday. The George Town festival is on and she has enjoyed various activities with that. Together with friends we went to the Melbourne Comedy festival with 5 comedians doing their thing. We saw the equivalent show last year, which was a better performance. This year was not bad but also not good.

Penang had a famous butterfly exhibition, which closed around 2 years ago for refurbishment. The upgraded version opened around a month ago and entry fees were reduced for July. Helen and I took advantage of that and made our inspection. Both of us were disappointed. The place is now called Entropia and they cover all insects. We thought the butterfly enclosures were better in the old establishment and the exhibits although well conceived mostly are situated in strange environments….like doing an exam in a disco. Some of the ponds outdoors are already sad-looking and green. It is a pity when good ideas founder on the small details or over-ambition. There are many butterflies and bugs in Malaysia and it would be better to concentrate on them.

There is quite a lot of activity now with building the island offshore. Cranes on barges are dumping rocks for sea walls and other barges are continuously conveying sand into the water.

The Otters do no seemed to have been put off with all the activity. There is one group with 10 members, including some quite small babies. I had a close encounter with them in a pre-dawn hour and even this morning I came across a lone pair out of the water.  When there are babies in the group their high-pitched squeaking betrays their location.

It has been a good month for the pub quizzes…the last 5 results read 2^nd, 2^nd, 1^st, 1^st, 2^nd. The questions are somewhat Anglocentric and we have done better with the inclusion of Mike, an ex oil man with a good general knowledge and English Heritage, despite his French surname.

I have been entertained with the final chapters of the 2015/16 Super rugby competition. Alison and Craig are happy campers currently with the results.....but we have a final to go

The in-house food industry continues. Kefir, ginger beer and bread are regularly made and recently Steak and Guinness pies were recently prepared. The next target….with more pie expansion will be sausages. Stephen, from Fraser’s Hill makes his own sausages and they are to crawl across broken glass for...or journey 4-5 hours surrounded by maniac drivers.

The only unhappy camper currently is Coco. She caught a grass seed on her head and it embedded itself and the wound became infected. We were alerted by her ‘hairdresser’ and after a few days observation we decided it was a vet’s job. The scab was removed, the seed extracted but unfortunately a lampshade collar was applied. She was rather subdued and kept bumping into peripheral furniture on the first day. She needs to be encased for a week as the wound is treated. It currently looks clean. Coco’s confidence is growing but her elimination tubes still seem unsure.