And On the Eigth Day....

...departure day for three of seven Mullerfolk, the next BIG storm.
Will they get out? By the time of my next post of would say yes. Definitely yes.

WISHING A HEARTFELT HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

Christmas '10

Perfect bird, perfect gifts, curious cat.

Cameraman Checks.....

..his footage, judges discuss merits, awards are made ( everyone wins!) at the 2nd Annual Family Talent Show. see below!

JHs Got Talent? Family Talent Night

A first time pianist, a first time singer, a first time magician, improv and a rousing interactive "Double Dream Hands". indeedy Ooo! GOT TALENT. ( and aching sides from lotsa laughing.)

Singing To Singapore

I Chatting with babes in Singapore is no big deal for the 14 and under set. The rest of us were agog at this crazy Christmas miracle!

All is merry, all is bright.

After some big delays for L and H everyone did make it in last night.
T and A, above, set about right away working on their performance for Family Talent Night.

We are ready!

Admit to getting help but all is in readiness now for a great Christmas week.

Artists and Writer' December gathering

After the performances ( see below for sample ) we followed tradition and partook in a super pot luck lunch. As you can imagine, artists tend to be great cooks. A few members had to leave early before lunch so we managed to fit together on one table. This whole gathering is one I would never want to miss. While being diverse in many way - age, politics and religion being only three - there is a profound communion between us all. Our common interest, I might say passion, to create art- make things - in one form or another ties us together in a way that enables us to laugh, cry, applaud, encourage and especially at this meeting/party have FUN!

Once a Year...

the Little House on the Prairie ROCKS. Here is a segment from annual Artists and Writers Performance cum Party on Dec 15.
Now...um...I suppose I, myself, must claim responsibility for miserable video quality..the ceiling beams are cool but..well, it was a raucous time and as one performer put it: we do know how to have fun.

These performers by the way, both accomplished artists, are two of the Dancing Queens from last years Abbalike hit. This is Dancing Queens No 1 RIP. They told me they were lowering the bar this year. NO matter, we rocked.

Sweet memories ....

...that must last until the next trip to Singapore. It is most definitely not a natural thing, for someone who had four, to be separated by so many miles from her grand babies.

A Happy Observation

The Botanic Garden houses the most beautiful ( see top pic for entry ) and verifiably the happiest toilets anywhere.

Singapore Botanic Garden

As we close in on Christmas I will close up my wonderful and warm memories of Singapore with a most favorite place, The Botanic Garden - a place that gives real meaning to the word beautiful.

Here is some of the beauty I was privileged to see.

Meanwhile, back to winter.

...last night at home.

Jurong Bird Park, Singapore

It is a bit difficult to "sell" a bird park. I mean, it just doesnt sound all that exciting, does it? But perhaps if I tell you that the bird above looked to be between 4 and 5 feet high ( surely the model for Big Bird) you will consider that, in fact, this bird park was exciting and huge, a monorail runs through it, and beautiful.

I always feel just a little cheated when J's post does not include the family so am refraining from posting lots of birds here. Indeed, putting in family instead. But were I to succumb to bird pic temptation you would see just about every kind of bird from every equatorial country there is and then some.

Kept on trekking...

The sun was shining today, and although there is more good snow predicted, snow and wind were both still somewhere on the other side of the mountains - a good day to see how my trail to the levee and on up to the pond was holding up,
Just past the cabin I spotted a yearling moose, a little cow, over in the willows. She looked plump and very much at ease so I moved on past her and followed the suggestion of my trail hard made trail of a couple of days ago.
Once out on the levee the going was easier thanks to the animals who had used the trail, preferring it, no doubt to the deep snow. For some reason this preference gave out the last quarter mile. It looked like I had never, much less a matter of, say 72 hours earlier, trudged out a trail. So trudge it out again it was and worth the effort for many more trumpeters had arrived since I was there. My guess is that there are at least 23 oe 24 swans now on Ewing Pond.
The return was easy and quick until I again approached the cabin. Now the young moose had settled down nicely for a post willow nap...almost right on my trail. Everything seemed friendly enough, memories of this youngster hanging out in the yard, looking in the windows, clumping around in our pond were fresh enough - almost - to make me proceed. Still, Anne, says I to me, this is a wild animal and you would do well to remember this. Once again then breaking trail and cutting a wide swath around the resting moose.
Wild animal, yes, but still, it does feel like some link has been formed over the summer. The moose never seemed concern about my presence. I, on the other hand, am sad that in only months, a yearling is abandoned by it's mother and must fend on it's own for the winter. Worse, I suppose, is that next fall, this little girl will be pursued by various randy bulls. Just seems too soon. But " thus is the nature of things." ( said the dog to Jemima Puddle-Duck when all of her eggs were destroyed by the fox. This is one of the things grandmothers are privy to know!)

And..the biggest splash park I have ever seen..

..is in The Singapore Zoo. In addition to the many, many fountains, there is a HUGE bucket on a platform over the part that dumps and equally HUGE amount of water on the splashes. I could never get a picture of it because the pouring event was sporadic and sudden and over before I could catch it. Instead, I have some happily soaked results pictured here.

A Tangle of Giraffes, A Trio of Tortoise

More from Singapore Zoo...The Giant Aldbra Tortoise is the 2nd largest giant tortoise after the Galapogos Giant Tortoise. It can weigh up to 390 kg.

Lions and tigers and komodos, oh no!

All at the amazing Singapore Zoo. The tiger, you may notice, is the rare white tiger.

"Make one good thing happen everyday."

A great friend passed these words to me recently. For both of us this easily includes hours at the piano. Today,in addition to piano, I had a spectacular snowshoe hike, intent to do so mentioned below, that involved some significant trail breaking...well, to me it was significant. This was definitely a good thing.

For you who know the way, there was no trail to the levee and, once on the levee, no trail in either direction. Stomping my way up to Ewing's pond was, then, a savory effort but even better was the site of the first three trumpeter swans to arrive for the winter. I think they are the same three that I spotted last year at about this time. The rest will surely follow and, Lauren, they will be waiting there for you.

Singapore nights/ JH nights

Will continue with the warm memories...fabulous zoo et all but wanted to show you a glimpse of the snow we already have here in this much further north latitude. Going out now to try to snowshoe break a trail from the cabin to the levee which I will be equal to a whole lot of Stairmaster!

More very soon.

From There..

...to here is a bit of a shock.

Still, lots of WARM memories and a good amount of photos to share including Qi Gong in the Botanic Garden, the famous Singapore Zoo and equally outstanding Jurong Bird Park...and babies!