…and a new amateurish gardener is born!
I bought my daughter two pots of flower plants.
There is an evil bird nipping of the flower buds!!! 😠😡😡
The next day she messaged, “I realized that the buds dropped off shortly after I watered the plants by squeezing a plastic drinking bottle!”😟😬🙄
Mum, look how it is blooming now!
It’s blooming, it’s blooming! 🌼💐💐🌸🌸
——
…and so, an amateurish new gardener is born!
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It takes skill to K.I.S.S.
In Apathy, unfeelingly , I like what a fellow blogger, K.K. commented. “Short and crisp!” Not that it’s like crunchy potato chips, but it reminds one that it takes skill to K.I.S.S. (keep it short and sweet)!
I used to summarize CVs ( 1-4 pages long) and lengthy abstracts to fit them into conferences’ program brochures. They were good exercises for me.
And if one can carry forth a point in 50 words instead of 500 words, I would prefer the shorter one.
Practise K.i.s.s.-ing!
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Quote:-
A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist. – Vladimir Nabokov
Dual perspectives: Religion versus spirituality?
Religion or spirituality?
Both teaches one to be good and do good.
*****
Quote:
I am still learning how to cook
I saw an interesting recipe today.
I have never tried using sour cream in my cooking all my life. Tomorrow I will go buy a pack of sour cream to try this recipe.
You see, I am still learning … !
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Sunset-Is the town on fire? ( Poem- a haiku)
The sun is setting,
burning in the horizon.
before it exits.
My nephew took this picture in Ireland. It looks like a fire in the horizon!
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COVID-19, new social and environmental phobias.
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Try not to use the lift; confined space, poor ventilation! Let walk up, it's healthier!😐 Try to avoid crowded area; social distancing, let not go at peak hours! ******* Sigh, these people on the next table are talking so loud and non- stop! (They took off their masks because they are supposed to be EATING!) Let move to another table further away! Avoid close contacts! *****
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The daily COVID-19 number is not receding yet.
Subconsciously, I find that I am developing new phobias.
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Gift of life: Have you donated blood before?
That year, I took a group of nursing students to a blood bank as part of haematology clinical experience. Most of them decided to donate blood that morning. I did, too, upon their persuasion.
I was ashamed to admit that it was my first time. But it was a satisfying experience to have contributed to a gift of life!
Have you donated blood before? Do you even know what blood group you belong to, in case of an emergency?
Quote:-
Donating one unit of blood may save the lives of up to three people. – the American Red Cross.
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Merging cultures, the beauty in diversity
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“I want four packets ‘nasi lemak’.
More ‘chilli and sambal please’!”
“It’s very, very ‘hot’, boy! Lu boleh tahan chilli? (you can stand the chilli?)”
“Bolih, Mak Cik, no problem!”
***
Some pick with chopsticks
some with fork and spoon
or better still, with fingers
Oh, a versatile tool at hand,
only that, the food would slip
through my fingers
before they reach my mouth!
*****
Some are good in arts,
some in workman skills,
some have head for figures
some for business and economy.
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Over time, with adaptation
and enculturation
leading to a new cultural synthesis
in languages, pronounciations,
fashions, lifestyles, and food.
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Such is a beautiful melting pot
of differing elements
each has its own beauty and strengths
that one should respect and be respected.
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Quotes:
1. Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. ~Mahatma Gandhi
2. When everyone is included, everyone wins. ~Jesse Jackson
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I had a dream (Poem)
Last night I had a dream. I went bowling. I had many strikes and spares! Then the first thing I read this morning was ‘no dream‘! Here is my poem that echoes the song by Westlife : “I have a dream “!
I had a dream, a series of ‘things’,
to carry on in blishful blinks.
If you see the wonders, of a fairy tale,
if you see the devils, in the darkness spell.
I believe in angels, that protect us in the realm of a dream,
‘cos in a dream, a dream’s a dream…
-Serena Chen@TPTan, 23 June 2021
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Students and their emotional baggage.
I have taught diploma nursing students as well as degree and working nurses. The former group seems to have more unresolved issues than the latter. I got them to write an essay about their family and discovered the amount of emotional baggage some of them carried!
“I hate my lecturer parents! They are so strict! I have to go back home before 10.00 pm, and I can’t stay overnight at my friends’ house!” Some of the classmates agreed. But some explained that her parents were strict because they loved her! Now she is a successful entrepreneur and has teenaged children herself!
“My father used to beat us at home. He died of cancer when we were young. If God can give me my father back, I don’t mind being beaten a thousand times every day!” This girl got the whole class crying, including me! Now she is a nurse manager. She has two young boys.
Quote:
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Chen Song Ping 