Caught a bird of many colors inside a jar!

A rainbow colored bird that seems almost unbelievable!

Our maid presented us with a surprising thing this evening (24-3-2011) when we came home from work. She caught a beautiful little bird with many colors and placed it into a plastic jar! The story goes that she discovered two similar specie birds in Jia Yin's room during the afternoon and managed to caught one. She then placed the unlucky bird inside a plastic jar which she poked with many small holes for ventilation. She also placed a piece of round hard biscuit for the bird to eat! We were amazed at the dazzling bird but decided that it would be best for the bird to be release to ensure its survival and also that we feel that it deserve to be free even though I still have a bird cage left behind by my beloved uncle-Kwan Kim Thai who loved animals and birds; unfortunately, he died at the young age of 25 due to horrendous politics. I think it might be a kingfisher although its seem a rather odd one and later I think it might just be a humming bird due to its beak but it seemed too large for a humming bird. I had actually seen humming birds near my house several years ago and was amazed at the wondrous sight then.

Faced with this situation. I was reminded of William Blake's remonstration that "A Robin Redbreast in a Cage Puts all Heaven in a Rage." I also thought of Leonardo Da Vinci's gallant act of purchasing caged birds in the market and then set them free. So I explained to the maid that we would not be able to take care of this bird in captivity in a proper fashion and that it would be best if we allow it to live free and that it would be a good thing for her to let it go; so she was given the honor of setting the bird free out in the yard. Finally it also bring to mind the lyric from The Circle Game in which the child "caught a dragonfly inside a jar." I had never ever catch a dragonfly inside a jar but to see the bird inside the jar is almost startling as the bird seemed so surreal; it looked almost like a toy. Here then is the wondrous Joni Mitchell's evergreen song-The Circle Game:

The House of the Rising Sun

I had just send Jia Yin to school one morning when I saw a dazzling blood red sun above the horizon. I decided to take some photos of the beautiful sun after I parked my car but then the sun had transformed into a golden disc. This shot reminded me strongly of that classic song-House of the Rising Sun. If my memory served me correctly, my sister took me to the Federal Hotel's restaurant one evening over two decades ago just before I took a big step into the future; the revolving tower would turned slowly so as to allow patrons to view the different areas of Kuala Lumpur. It was there when I made a request for that song from the live singer. Its a haunting song which told a very sad story. Here then is the music video with lyric from the original singers-The Animals (1964).

Fantastic SPM results!

The 2010 SPM exam results was out yesterday (23-3-2011). I am more than pleased to report that Tan Hung Luc had achieved the remarkable SPM results consisting of 10As and 1 B. This bountiful academic harvests were mainly due to Hung Luc's application of Edison's formula for success in which he observed that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration!
Aunt Evelyn, uncle Ee Swee and Ee Wah were simply floored by this academic achievement!

More $$$ rolling in for outstanding scholars!

The state government presented monetary rewards to many outstanding scholars who excelled in the 2010 government exams. The rewards were distributed at the district levels.

 Our "in-house" scholars, Jing Hung and Jia Yin were among the recipient of this state government largess.

 The envelope reads: Reward (for) Outstanding student which comprise of $150 in cash.

Evening dinner during the 2nd day of CNY

Had a dinner with relatives on my in-laws side at a recreational fishing pond.

Nice looking large size carps in one of the cement pool.

 A working replica of an "antique" bike imported from England.

  The dinner in progess; it comprised of fine dining, Chinese style.

Relatives come a calling to pay father a visit on 2nd day of CNY

4th Auntie & Uncle came with Sis & family to pay father a Chinese New Year visit around noon time.

An auspicious angpow for father.

Having a chat with father around the dining table.

 4th auntie was the "chaperon" during father's courtship with mother when they went on a date to see a movie during the 1950s at Klang; 4th auntie remembered the Chinese movie was entitled: The Money Tree

Having our lunch.

 4th Uncle posing in front of a Putian longan tree in the garden compound.

Chinese New Year 2011 Year of the Rabbit

This is the year of the Rabbit according to Chinese horoscope. This advertisement by Bank Rakyat is one of the most creative ad that I had came across.

To make use of numerals of this year so cleverly as to depict a rabbit at the same time; this called for a highly imaginative mind.... truly outstanding; bet this ad will win the top prize for the rabbit theme year contest.

I had a stroke of inspiration this year when I decided to use styrofoam to make rabbit theme decoration for this Chinese New Year. Many find this cartoon rabbit carrying an angpow and carrots cute. It was modelled via the March rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Its eye is a blue and white marble for a more lively look.

Notice this rabbit is in the act of ascending a stair which signify upward mobility or improvement.

I also made more stylized versions of rabbits both big and small.

Two of them are more elaborate version that I hang out under the balcony.

This two rabbits are rather playful as they would swing and sway when the wind blows, their carrots dangling.

During the day, Eswee called to wish father happy new year and had a chat with him.

Soon the dinner table was set with the CNY eve reunion dinner...

Then we sat down to have our dinner...

An old Chinese saying goes that to eat is as important as the heaven...

Father had a call from his nephew-Tze Chow to wish him happy new year.

Later in the night, we light up a sky lantern also known as Kongming den...

But the wind was rather powerful and we had second thoughts about launching the inflated lantern...

So caution won the day and we decided to fly it another night at a more conducive area.

The next day was Chinese New Year proper and we had a more or less traditional lunch consisting of Soh Mien or otherwise known as longevity noddle, a speciality of Henghua clan of China.

This is my plate of Soh Mie; notice how it was serve with fork, spoon and plate as against the traditional chopsticks and bowl. This was a case of fusion in which East meet West...

The day ends with a call from another nephew of father-Guo Thor who called from Japan. Father had gone to bed and took the call from his bed via a cordless phone. Goodnight!