No more to this blog ...

The garden in our former PJ house is no more.

Though we did try to salvage as many of the plants as possible by taking cuttings, etc or giving the pot plants to our friends and neighbours, there still remained all the old trees, palms, bushes and flowers in the ground that we have painstakingly nurtured for over 17 years!

The idiotic new owners poured concrete or paved over the whole garden and leave not a blade of grass! :-(

We are really sad!!

It's been a long time ....

.... since I update this blog!!

I have been busy - what with a new house, settling in and getting the garden into shape. Believe it or not, I was still unpacking books last weekend!!

My house in PJ had just been sold ... S&P is in progress and hopefully, I cna complete the sale by end June.

I felt very sad about giving it up and I do miss the garden there - though only God knows in what shape it is in now!! I had it out for rentals since I moved out of there - but I had to chase for the rental, follow up on maintenance, etc - headaches I can very well do without.

My present garden is just getting into shape and I hope to post some pictures soon.

In Kuching ......

Back in Kuching - and as I move around, I wonder why I ever leave this place!!

Finally, managed to get my computer room up and running properly with all my desktops and other paraphernalia. I was and am never comfortable working on a laptop!

Actually I have been back since the 25th of October and stayed overnight with my brother before moving into my new house the next day .... an empty house devoid of furniture and cooking utensils! Of course, we did managed to borrow some necessities (like mattresses, kettle, etc) from my brother and also bought some basic things needed to keep us going until the arrival of our two container loads of household effects from Petaling Jaya.

With a new large garden, I can now indulge in creating a new "A Little Space" of a garden for myself.

More later on the horrors of frustrations of waiting for the badly delayed arrival of my household effects!

Leaving for Sarawak

After some 20 years of living in this house in PJ, I am now packing to move and will be leaving this little space of my garden behind - feeling really sad but also very excited as I will be moving to my new house in Kuching that comes with a large space for my garden!

Sad to be leaving, not just for the friends and the garden I leave behind but also that most of the some 20-years old trees and plants I have been nurturing so lovingly may be cut down and destroyed by the new owners to make way for parking space, etc.

The new house in Kuching is almost ready. It is a single story building of some 5,500 square feet designed such that every room in the house faces the garden - some on one side, some on two sides while my main living room will be surrounded by gardens on three and a half sides!

I will be starting on a blank new garden - in fact, nearly 8,000 square feet of empty space to work with! There should not be any more groans of insufficient space!!

Packing will take me another three to four weeks - and I expect to ship everything over there by mid-October. Meanwhile, it is rounds and rounds of shopping - especially IKEA :-)

More about the new house and garden later!

Hollyoaks - The McDean Story continues....

Many of us were hooked on the British soap - Hollyoaks, in particular the McDean storyline .....

Since the dramatic breakup last September of John Paul and Craig, it left the fans with a storyline that did not quite end but full of unresolved issues.

The continuing storyline involving John Paul with a Catholic priest had been less than satisfactory and full of angst for the McDean fans. Fans launched various campaigns, petitions, etc, cajoled and kept the pressure on the Hollyoaks producers to get these two back for the SUNSET ENDING. For a storyline that supposed ended in September 2007, the fans kept the dream of a SE alive through various forums.

Last week, it was announced that Guy "Craig Dean" Burnet will return to Hollyoaks for some late night specials. All the fans pored through the announcement for some hint of a SE.

The in dramatic fashion, on Sunday, Digital Spy wrote ...

EXCLUSIVE: Craig Dean returns to 'Hollyoaks'

Monday, June 9 2008, 11:40 BST

By Kris Green, Soaps Editor

Hollyoaks actor Guy Burnet will make a dramatic return to the soap as Craig Dean later this year in the hope of a sunset ending with lover John Paul McQueen.

The 24-year-old, quit the show in August when his character left for Trinity College, Dublin, after his affair with John Paul was dramatically exposed at Craig and Sarah's (Loui Batley) engagement party.

With his heart set on rekindling his romance with John Paul (James Sutton), Craig makes a shocking return just as the dust settles in the wake of John Paul's relationship with Father Kieron Hobbs (Jake Hendriks) being exposed to the village.

Sarah's feelings for Craig are also pushed to the limit as she attempts to put the devastating revelation that her lover was involved in a gay love affair well and truly behind her.

Meanwhile, Craig's mother Frankie becomes so embroiled in her family deceit that it's not long before Craig uncovers some shocking skeletons hiding in the family closet.

Speaking of his decision to return, Guy said: "I've had so much support from the McDean fans since I left the show and so it’s great to have the opportunity to reprise the storyline and give viewers a resolution to the Craig and John Paul story."

Producer Bryan Kirkwood added: "The Craig and John Paul story is one of the biggest and most successful that Hollyoaks has told, winning many awards and legions of fans. I'm delighted that Guy has agreed to come back and excited to see how viewers will react to what we have in store."

Last week, it was announced that Guy would also be making an appearance in Hollyoaks' latest bank of late night spinoff episodes.

Guy returns to filming next month and will make his screen comeback in early September.

and on Channel 4 ....

Craig Dean Returns To HOLLYOAKS

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Sunset Ending

Last week we announce that Guy Burnett would be involved in the upcoming series, Late Night HOLLYOAKS and today we can announce that Guy will be returning to HOLLYOAKS in September this year as Craig Dean makes a comeback in a bid to secure his sunset ending.

Heartache

Craig Dean's return is set to be as eventful as his departure was as he returns with his heart set on mending his broken relationship with gay lover john Paul (James Sutton).

Craig's return comes just as the dust settles on John Paul and Father Kieron's (Jake Hendriks) relationship being exposed. As John Paul deals with the trauma of his current relationship being under the spotlight, he now also has to face the homecoming of his former lover and the troubled McQueen is forced to question where his heart really belongs.

McDean Delight

Guy Burnett is delighted to be back in the show and can't wait to get back on set. "I've had so much support from the McDean fans since I left the show and so it's great to have the opportunity to reprise the storyline and give viewers a resolution to the Craig and John Paul story."

Hollyoaks Producer Bryan Kirkwood is looking forward to seeing Craig Dean back on our screens. "The Craig and John Paul story is one of the biggest and most successful that Hollyoaks has told, winning many awards and legions of fans. I'm delighted that Guy has agreed to come back and excited to see how viewers will react to what we have in store."

John Paul isn't the only one affected by Craig's return however as ex-fiance Sarah is shaken by his return and vows to put her heartbreak behind her. Meanwhile, Craig is contented to be back with his family and following their recent troubles he's pleased that they're all coping so well. But as Frankie becomes entangled in her web of deceit is Craig about to discover some uncomfortable skeletons in his family's closet?

Fans all over the world went "mad" - some actually popped bottles of champagne! So we get ready boxes of tissues - for the tears that will be there! For the tears - not the torrid scences! :-)

Visitors to our garden ......

For a small garden, it is just amazing just how many visitors we have on a daily/nightly basis ..... :-)

Yes, we do have lots and lots of visitors to our little space, not just the two-legged variety but also huge number of the 4, 6, 8 and multiple-legged ones as well as the winged ones :-) Indeed our garden is THE resort for the many creatures, big and small, taking a respite in the cool, shady and food-laden oasis that is our garden in the sea of concrete surrounding us.

Most of the houses around us have more concrete than garden-space and mostly potted plants at that! It is really sad that most of them seems to think that gardens are a hassle and full of nasty creepy-crawlies and, to my chagrin, the primary source of mosquitoes!

At one residents' meeting many many years ago, we pointed out that within our garden, we do not have pools of still water for mosquitoes to breed whereas the other residents' unused containers and pot plants have pools of water in which the mosquitoes are breeding like crazy. The then-Chairman of the RC who maintained a large flower garden (all potted plants) at the other end of my street backed me up and said that he did not use any clay pot stands for his potted plants because of the mosquito problem. He also said that most of the residents used these pot stands and do not bother to empty the water in these stands on a daily basis - hence allowing the mosquitoes to breed in them. Since then our garden had not been an issue!

Back to our visitors ... we have a group of some dozen squirrels that nested nearby but make regular visits to our garden for food and water. We have seen generations of these squirrels come and go ... it really is good to see then bring their babies!

A couple of well-hidden bird nests in the tall bushes at the back of the garden have seen multiple generations of yellow-chested birds bringing up their families. There is nothing more amazing than to see the parent birds trying to distract us and lure us away from their nests as we approach their hidden nests!

The tiny moles (size of mice) are another group of visitors - though the numbers, sadly, have decreased tremendously over the years. I love to see them running around in the garden with their long bodies and short legs and used to see many of them every day. Now we see only the occasional ones scuttling around. The reduction in their number is obviously due to two neighbours who moved in some time back - one keeps far more cats that she should and other feed all the stray cats in the neighbourhood! :-O

There is also a family of civet cats that appeared regularly at night and one time I had the fright of my life when I looked up into the mango tree and saw a pair of bright eyes staring at me! Since then we studiously avoid crossing each other paths!

As we have mangoes and cikus in our garden, there are also the nightly winged visitors - bats, large and small. Then there are the occasional mice and rats and the frequent visitors like the domestic and stray cats ..... sigh :-(

Yes, we do have a lot of visitors indeed!

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