June 2014

Another action-filled month has passed by.

Helen has been very steady with her teaching commitments and we have a number of guests coming and going…both family and BnB guests. Her cooking and organization is top notch. We had a diversion to Singapore to celebrate 25 years of marriage. We debated a number of places to go to but decided Singapore was where we signed on the dotted line and spent most of the 25 years. We flew down on Sunday 15^th and had dinner with Nick and Sophia at Rochester Park…it was very nice too. On Monday, the actual anniversary, we went over to explore Gardens by the Bay….which was pretty amazing.  We had lunch near the Arts and Science Museum then went to the museum to look at the photo exhibition of Annie Liebowitz, which was very interesting. 

We had booked dinner at Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill on the 55^th floor of the Ion Building.  The idea is to get there just before sunset and see the transition from light to dark.  The staff knew it was our Anniversary and appropriately decorated Helen’s dessert and coffee. It was a very nice meal and an excellent celebration for 25 years and two daughters we are extremely proud of. The next morning Helen went to see her friends at Tanglin School and I had lunch with some of my ex-colleagues at IMCB. We flew back later that evening.

The images of Singapore need to be seen in a large size so I have them in a non-public file on my website; http://grguy.smugmug.com/Amazing-Singapore/n-J93fT/

Coco did not seem impressed to be taken from her comfortable existence for 3 nights at the local kennels…she was a bit traumatized for a day before settling back in. We will have to make some other arrangement in the future.

The BnB business has been steady we have had three lots of guests during June and the booking has currently been been blocked off for family visits. We already have a long booking for July and another for possibly 3 months

My brother David and Lyn arrived for 4 nights in the back half of the month. It was good to have a companion who understood why expletives were made during a rugby match. Fortunately the All Blacks played their best game against England and the game was all but over at half time. Even the dog did not have to go under the table with a hard hat in place at any time in the 80 minutes.

Nikki also arrived a day or so after David and Lyn. She had a traumatic trip when Malaysian Airlines, who can lose a plane without trace, had a world-wide computer crash and the staff were unable to check in passengers by hand. Two trips were made to the airport before she was safely home. She goes back to New Zealand on the 5^th July. She is currently in Hong Kong with her boyfriend who is doing a PhD in Okinawa. After 6 years of solid study Nikki wants to take a year off her medical studies next year and do some research at the Institute in Okinawa.

The busy half of the year for local nature photography draws to an end. The bee-eaters are in their final phase of feeding the chicks and will head north in July. I have been documenting a pair of Woodpeckers nesting at Air Hitam Dalam and written up the observations in an illustrated blog.: http://malaysianwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2014/06/common-flameback-woodpecker-nesting.html

The same location has a pair of friendly Blue-winged Pittas and I managed recently to get them in the same frame. A fish farm has been constructed on the periphery of this reserve in the last 2 years. There is a river nearby and I was amused to see half a dozen otters sneaking away from the fish farm in the post-dawn period recently.

With David and Lyn we have dined at several local restaurants and enjoyed the pub quiz at Healy Mac’s. We got a great start in the quiz winning the first round then fell in a hole for 3 rounds before winning the last round. We finished 3^rd but need to brush up on images of ancient and obscure pop groups and the intricacies of nursery rhymes. David and Lyn are holidaying in Koh Samui before heading home to Auckland.

We are in the grips of an El Nino weather pattern that will bring higher temperatures, dry conditions and smoke haze. Today (29^th) has been a bit of a maverick day in that it has rained all day……the garden appreciated it.