Walking and Waiting

October is finally here!

 In a bid to save my sanity and speed up the baby's arrival, I have been taking walks in the park. This last lap is really the hardest part of the entire pregnancy for me as I have to deal with full blown drive-me-crazy belly-itching as my stomach begs baby to stop stretching, untimely cramps and quite painful kicks to say the least. Time really seems to be crawling by.

But on the bright side, I have come to really like the park near our place. It's very tranquil and refreshing. I could waddle for a good mile and not feel it much. I also get to spend some quality time talking with my husband whilst enjoying the sunshine with the cold breeze.

Me, mid-waddle. Black hides alot. I am really big now.

Another lovely sight- squirrels scampering all over the place gathering their supplies for the impending winter I presume.

I really love Autumn colours. Coincidentally, last year I welcomed Autumn on this blog on the same day! Lovely poem in that entry to be reread and treasured. 

Autumn

Fall is here!

The crisp cold wind greets us with patches of wind and rain through the day. Burgundy leaves strewn on the pavements. The route we take to work always shows the changes of the seasons remarkably as it is down a hill. 

This morning, I looked up and admired the spire for the umpteenth time surrounded by the changing leaves.

 I want to share a wonderful poem with you that puts everything that I feel about Autumn perfectly into words:

The changing leaves of autumn colored brightly red and gold,
Also bring a warning of the coming winter cold.
As the wind is changing from the milder summer breeze,
You can feel the difference as it echoes through the trees.


As I shuffle down the path leading through the park,
As the days grow shorter now and soon it will be dark.
I realize that life is like the seasons we live through,
Life is like the changing seasons always changing too.


Basking in the warmth of life in the summer sun,
Never giving thought to when these summer days are done.
But before we realize the cold wind starts to blow,
And our basking summer sun turns colder with the snow.


Only then we realize that life has changed so fast,
Only then we realize that nothing ever lasts.
Life goes through the seasons as the years accumulate,
Many times we long for summer when it is too late.


Life is meant for living and enjoying each new day,
Life is meant for loving those you meet along the way.
Never spend your summer years just basking in the sun,
Unless each minute that you spend is with a special one.


People need each other to enjoy the trip through life,
A very special partner or a husband or a wife.
Alone you can enjoy the beauty that is everywhere,
But there is a special meaning when with someone you can share.


Life is like a changing tree with brightly colored leaves,
Your family and your friends and you can be compared to these.
In autumn when the leaves start changing colors, they will fall,
One by one until the branches have released them all.


If I be like a changing leaf among one of life's trees,
And all my friends and family were also such as these.
And autumn was not just for me as counted from my birth,
But autumn season spoken here was for the entire earth.


Then are we in the autumn season foretold from the past?
Could the colored leaves now falling be the very last?
Are the signs and wonders now upon us really true?
Or will there be another spring when all things will be new?


I as a single leaf will someday have my time to leave,
As those who went before me leaving me to sometime grieve.
But someday in that final autumn at the final call,
Should I still be clinging there when all the leaves will fall.


I only want to realize that in this autumn season,
I had a purpose in this would and my life had a reason.
To live and love and enjoy life for all that it is worth,
But only if the lives I've touched had meaning and a purpose.


No one knows whose life they touch or who they will embrace,
Just by actions that they do or being face to face.
But your life will be noticed as the brightly colored trees,
As either brilliant beauty or a pile of dried up leaves.

Changing Leaves

~ James A. Kisner ~

A Year Older

Sweet hub made my birthday really special. It was a tiring week and I did not fancy going out. It was the perfect celebration. We left together to go to work the day before. Little did I know, he actually came home and carried out his plans. :) He came out again to meet me at the station then travelled home with me as if he was at work all day. He surprised me with my favourite cupcakes in all the world.

He made slow-cooked braised beef! 6 hours! So lovely.

Balloons were everywhere. 

He made a lovely breakfast the next morning.

Then the games began! I've always been gushing about treasure hunts and clues. His younger brother once threw him one on his birthday. So he decided to give me one for mine! I was the happiest girl that day. I woke up a little bleary-eyed and slumped lethargically on the sofa. Once he gave me this envelope, everything changed! (I'm beginning to realise that Good Things come in Envelopes). He did well appealing to my love for letters, snail mail and mysteries.

My heart was pounding and I was as thrilled as a boy in a GIGANTIC candyshop. In case you're too lazy to read the letter above, there were 24 clues. I shall pick a few of my favourite as there are too many to post.

My work sheet for the above. :D The answer is: Engagement Shot! 

 

Also, I get three lifelines. :D A phone-call, a demand for an answer and a kiss for encouragement!

The answer was my boots! Which side? The right side because 'Oh! I know I've got nothing in me LEFT'. THIS BOY IS A GENIUS. LOVE IT!

He made me sing it out loud. Haha. ❤ 

I stuck my conquests on the wall panel. This was not even half. 

Finally, I made it to clue 12 and I got a beautiful gift as a half-time reward. Clue 13 was my favourite!

My worksheet for the above.

The answer: Find L-O-V-E in the alphabet sequence and do the math. You get SOFA! Look behind! Yippee! 

The half-time meal. Lunch time! He made my favourite. Tacos!!!

I finally won the game. Haha. After 3 whole hours! As you can see in the clues, after finding all 24, the pen markings at the corners of the clues come together to form the final clue. His layers of thought, creativity and detail astound me. Each colour set forms a clue. 

My worksheet: 4 colour sets. Formed: room bottom right store box =) YAY!!!!

I found my beautiful gift which I will be enjoying for many nights to come.

Then, for dinner, we had a friend over. My husband made lovely vegetarian food. Very tasty gnocchi.

Heavenly mushroom risotto.

Wonderful fruit salad and creme fraiche. (Jessie's lovely recipe)

And THE CAKE! My favourite cheesecake!

The next day, some beautiful flowers. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and might I say, best birthday yet again.

Too many cooks spoils the egg-sale?

A pasar malam (night market) hawker selling eggs put up a sign board “Fresh Eggs Sold Here”. A friend comments that the eggs are definitely fresh, so the word ‘fresh’ can be dropped. Another friend tells him not to mention the word ‘here’ because it is understood. If not here, then where? Yet another friend asks him whether he is giving away or selling the eggs. He realizes the word ‘sold’ is also redundant. He is selling only eggs and every passers-by can see them. Finally his sign board is blank.

The moral of the story is too much conflicting advice will lead you nowhere.

Something to live by- The Farmer

THE FARMER

Without delay he's up each day

before the crack of dawn.

After breakfast, a kiss from his wife,

he yawns and pulls his work boots on.

Out the door he stands with pause

to smile at the gold-blue sky.

The rooster crows and the man steps off

with purpose in his stride.

There's livestock to feed and fences to mend,

till the soil and plant some seed.

His list of chores has no end

for there's a hungry world to feed.

This is what he's called to do

as steward of God's good Earth.

Like his father and the fathers before,

'twas passed to him by birth.

The sun has set and he's earned the right

to relax on his old back porch.

He shuts his eyes and breathes in the night

praying tomorrow he'll rise once more.