In the Name of Holy / Holey Charity

My desk-top computer collapsed completely a week ago. My brother had a tough time trying to retrieve the backup but a visit to Low Yat saved my skin or rather the computer's.

Going through what had been 'saved' brought me to this posting.

FIRSTLY THIS:


These beautiful children from the poorest parts of the globe are being put up for adoption. This includes the appropriation of their souls as well in the case of this Christian Compassion Charity.

For US$38 per child (tax-deductible), your adopted one will be connected with "a loving, church-based child sponsorship programme". Other than food, water, education and medical care - "Most important of all, your sponsored child will hear about Jesus Christ and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God".

I could suggest another country where these soul-snatchers could ply their trade.

Yahoo News UK revealed in October 2010 that in UK, nearly three in ten seven-year-olds are living in poverty. 20% of the children are "living in such poverty that their family's income is less than 50% of the average family's weekly income".

But such Compassion to these children will not be tolerated and there's not much cache in harvesting the souls of children from the West.

Remember the old saying? The road to hell is paved with good intentions. But the intentions of this Charity reek with the odour of self-serving righteousness.

ON THE OTHER HAND:
If religious-based do-gooders turn you off, you can always divert your good heart and wallet to adopting an Orangutan instead.

You can select what you please from


There's also Nita.
However she suffers a terrible malady. "Treated as a human while being with her 'owners', it will be difficult for her to adapt to life in the forest".

I discovered some fascinating aspects of 'bringing up' adopted orangutans.

1.Diaper them from day one. Why? To keep your floors clean.
2.Feed them a non-soy formula because some believe that soy causes aggression in adults. Bang goes Darwin's Theory of Evolution. As far as I know soy is marvellous for us human primates. And it's especially good for women to ward off menopausal problems.
Also sambal pedas tahu and tempeh is one of our top favourites. But maybe that's why I'm so bolshie and bloody-minded?
3.Give them biscuits as a snack or a treat. Hmmmh - The spouse also enjoys this for his elevenses.
4.Baby orangutans love stuffed animals. Which animals, I wonder?

Both Charities apply the same gambits for extracting the milk of human kindness. Christian Compassion offers this.

"Receive a free Compassion scrapbook when ....you make your first payment. This scrapbook will serve as a handy way to organize the photos and letters that you receive from your sponsored child.
When you sponsor a child, you are linked with one particular child who will know your name, write to you, and TREASURE the thought that you care. He or she will pray for you often and write to you.
......you'll receive your child's photo, personal story".

For £10 per month

What are we doing to our suffering children and animals?

FOR CHARITY WILL HARDLY WATER THE GROUND WHERE IT MUST FIRST FILL A POND. (Francis Bacon 1561-1626)

P.S. I have a habit of scribbling on bits and pieces of paper what I consider to be telling and fascinating ideas that I see on TV and hear on the Radio. This I wrote about 15 or so years ago in my kitchen note-book. So I must have heard this over the radio while I was cooking at Oxford Avenue, Leicester.

THE SWEETEST THING

This is for the family in Paekakariki with our heartfelt thanks for the hospitality - from the roast (halal) leg of lamb (and all the yummies) to the joyful times with Atom and Mika.

Remember our Brave Bride ( posting on 30th June 2010)? Well here's more - and a half.

I have removed this photograph because this is not Bride's and Graham's house.

Here's part of the garden - on the leeward side - bursting with lemons.

And speaking of lemons, here they are, all clustered in a family photograph on a lovely sunny Spring day.

And here's my favourite Kiwi nephew Josh with his favourite nephew Atom.


Just to spice up good old Josh, here's a blast from the past. Yes, it was you playing Ninja with Unc on Foxton beach when you were just knee-high to a grasshopper.

My bestest favourite is beautiful Mika giving her great-aunt a flower.

And now, the most dreadful part. Here are the FOFs (Four Old Fogies). Bride, don't you dare suggest another word for the second 'F'.


However I much prefer this picture when we were all so much more beautifuller and gormless.The lady in the orange top was the matriarch, the late Ruth (or Haggis to her children, don't ask me why) and sister Jane is to her left.

And for the grand finale, here are all four of the second generation - playing their usual loopy games.There are Josh and Sadie acting out their drunken yobs' roles. And Jane's Joe and Sam are making out to be two pommies in a Gentleman's Club.

They're not like that now, just much worse in different ways. Sighh!

Thank you all in Paekakariki for the memories and the love.
PS. The first three photographs are from Lely, and photos 4, 6 and 7 were taken by Sadie - partner to Jason and mum to Atom and Mika. Thank you girls.

A Carload of Crackers

New Zealand is a beautiful country with a population of just 4 million people and 40 million sheep (2006).

But I must confess, something else other than the landscape, caught my

Most of the time, it was very, very, because of the storms and fierce winds at this time of the Spring Equinox.

However we managed to put in a bit of walking especially at Rotorua. Fortunatelydid not suffer too much from the physical exertion.

It felt good to be breathing clean fresh air after Kuala Lumpur's urban oxygen.

We hired afor the duration of our holiday.

We are very stick-in-the-mud and averse to driving an automatic car.

But these two intrepid pensioners managed to make it up hills and mountains, along unsurfaced roads and cute little town roads without requiring the services of either the dent man or the

This was what the car and Lely looked like at the start.

By the time we got to Cape Palliser both of them became unrecognisable. As for the absence of Lely in the following picture, we had decided to lose her in the hills of Maungakotukutuku.

Most of the time, we did our own cooking and the spouse had to admit thatbecause, together with the help of our general factotum, he enjoyed great meals sans spices and other hot condiments. That was his reward for doing the driving.

We got back to KL safe and sound but after the episode with the NZ Security people I had to do a little on bees and their culpability in producing potential weapons for terrorists.


I used to see in Leicester quite a number of people willing to part with quite a bit of money for these special number plates. You know about fools and their money? Well they can also be found next door to down-under.

I shall bid good-night to all with a joyous

See you soon in a tick and/or a

Honey - I miss you

On September 30th at Auckland Airport, New Zealand security confiscated  two jars of Manuka Honey, each weighing  500 gm, from my hand luggage.  I was perplexed because I had not seen any notice at the Airport to inform me that honey is a restricted item, like knives, sharp instruments and all forms of liquid.

I had the gall to ask the officer why and I was brusquely told it's a gel.  A gel??   He then took the two jars and another 250gm jar  and   chucked them into the bin.  When the spouse inquired if they were to be given away to a  charity  he was curtly told that they would be thrown away.  It was sad I thought.  Three jars of nature's health food, made and packed in NZ were destined for the rubbish bin - this in a country that is religiously concerned with and practices a high standard of conserving and recycling.  I wonder what the bees'  Union has to say about this wastage!

When I got home I decided to check up on how honey could be linked to a potential  act of terrorism.  The key words were hydrogen peroxide  (H2O2).   Honey had the capacity to produce small amounts of this  'lethal stuff' which is commonly found in cleaning agents like bleach.  But it was precisely H2O2 which made honey ideal for treating infected wounds and other bacterial disorders.

But then, hydrogen peroxide was said to be one of the ingredients in the bombs that failed to explode in the July 21, 2005 London bombs and since then honey has been damned and banned.

http://www.popfi.com/2010/01/07/bottled-honey-is-a-dangerous-security-risk/

So I guess I should  grin and bear the seizure of my three jars of honey - for the safety of  air travellers. 
But  these  incidents only caused me greater confusion.

Firstly,  why was I told that  I  could make up my 'loss' by buying honey at the duty-free shop  at the departure lounge!   What is the difference between honey bought at the Airport's duty-free lounge and those  purchased at bona fide  Supermarkets like Pak N Save  and  Tourist shops  outside of the Airport?

Secondly,  when I started unpacking at home, guess what I found in my handbag which had gone through the same machine as the hand luggage?

The One That Got Away

Now this is the most unkind cut of all.

While the contents of my hand luggage were being rummaged,  next to us at the counter was Todd,  ( we caught his name from the tag of his hand luggage.) a New Zealander in his mid-thirties.  Todd's problem was rather different.  He had in his hand luggage a vicious-looking  work knife - steel, folding, and almost 6 inches long and a large bunch of wire.

Our honey was summarily disposed of with no questions asked.  Todd's bag of tricks, however, seemed open to lengthy negotiation.  When we left the counter, bereft of three honey jars, the Security officer was still opening and closing the knife, trying to decide what to do with it ( and the equally potent bunch of wire) and patiently listening to Todd pleading to be allowed to keep his toys.

Well, honey chile ............"If you can pour it, pump it, squeeze it, spread it, smear it, spray it or spill it, then it is a liquid, gel, or aerosol" according to the (USA)  Transportation Security Administration.



P.S.  I'm having a wee bit of trouble with this new post editor.  If you can't get the video please click  "Read more" at the bottom.  Hope it works. HELP!

Kampung to Kampung

Paekakariki ( a Maori word meaning perching place of the kakariki or green parrot) is a village
located 45km northeast of Wellington with a population of 1731 according to the 2001 Census. Paikok - as the inhabitants fondly call their village - has been spared the onslaught of expansion because of her tight location

between the sea and the hills and thus successfully maintained her rustic , dignified simplicity.

Right now the village is facing the tumult of the election for Mayor.If I were a resident I would certainly elect Peaches but I would not put my money on it because two-legs will always win over four-legs.

However, with residents like my wacky and independent-minded sister-in-law Bride and her husband Graham you never can tell. If they believe in giving shelter to all manner of feathered birds like the peahen that transmogrified itself into a peacock, chickens (but now reduced to just one), several generations of cats, and penguins under their house - Peaches might just be the next Mayor. She'll be cheap to upkeep - just tins of dogfood and crunchy dog biscuits.

Paekakariki was and still is the spouse's hearth and kampung. He grew up here from the age of 11 to 22 and all his family members are ensconced in this village. The old family home at 52 Tilley Road is still there.

I also lived in a kampung at Pasir Panjang (Singapore, not Negri Sembilan) from the age of 5 to 22. But unlike Paekakariki, it has been wiped off the face of the earth, taken over by middle-class terraced housing. Pasir Panjang was also placed between the hills and the sea but her fate was very different from Paekakariki's.

This was the house No. 691 Pasir Panjang Road which my father built at Kampung Abu Kassim, Pasir Panjang in 1950.

52 Tilley Road is still standing proud but not 691 Pasir Panjang Road.

So tomorrow we shall make another hijrah from City to City or kampung to kampung?
The not-so-dynamic duo will soon be observed at the tosay stall in Taman Tasik Titiwangsa on Sundays, Insyallah.

The Lemon of Paekakariki

Seventeen yesterdays have gone by since I wrote my last posting. And today I will break that lull with this photo-posting of yesterday, Sunday September 26.

Sunday had been a grey day with drizzle and rain all day. And all day and night the wind was having a hey day. The waves were still raging mad just like the last week or so. This was what I could see from the so-called sun room.

However, it hadn't been too cold to stop me from wandering about 3, Sand Track to take more pictures before we leave for Kuala Lumpur on the 30th.

This is the view from the back of the house.

And this is on the other side of the gate.

Two or more blackbirds had been playing hide and seek in the garden but I just could not catch them on camera. I had to be contented with this series of photographs before my fingers got too cold.

The back garden from the top.

The side view of 3, Sand Track.

From the verandah looking out to the sea.

But this is my favourite. It's the lemon tree...

......and the lemon on the keyboard. That's me!

Good - night all. AsH is back in town.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

To all dear friends, young and old, near and far, Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin from maznoor and iain.

And to my adored sister Maznah and much-loved brother Mustapha and their families




The New Zealand Family

Come earthquake or hail or storm we will be with the other half of the family until 30th September with Lely aka pickled herring as chaperone Insyallah.

I have not seen my sisters-in-law and their families for nearly five years. Bride and Jane many, many, many, moons ago.

This is as good a time as any. G'day Kiwi rellies!

Ah, Sun - Flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime,
Where the traveller's journey is done:
William Blake (1757 - 1827)