Cats on Tuesday

CATS ON TUESDAY

Hi Friends!

This is my first Cats on Tuesday! Isn't this a great idea or what?

I have cute little Red BiColor Persian 10 months old furball which I fondly call Honeybun. I also have two more male cats of father and son named Oreo and Minty. I will write about these two hunks later. For now, its Honeybun story!

On mornings when I do my gardening, I will be accompanied by my hairy friend. Honeybun just loves to spend time in my herbal garden. She will chase after bugs, smell the fragrant plants, or just rest under the shade of the pandan leaves. When its time to get inside, she would look at the garden longingly, wishing she could stay there longer. But there's always another day...!

I wrote a poem about what Honey does at the garden. I already posted it earlier, but just for the fun of it, I'll paste it again here.

Honey at the Herbal Garden

Honey loves the birds,
Honey loves the bees
Honey loves chasing the bugs
Among her favorite things

Under the basil tree
Besides the lemon grass
Honey doesn't leave any leaf unturned

Once she spots on vision
Honey gets in her position
Pouncing on her unsuspecting prey

Eyeing, positioning, pouncing her way
Alas, the prey is never a prey
Because they always gets away

....you say tomato, I say tomahto....

Whatever it is, its the same fruit, or vegetable, depending on how you like it to be. Its up to you. I won't argue about it. Because we can argue till the cows come home, fact is, its the same fruit. Read my lips....tomato!

Anyway, for those perfecionist out there, this is what the Wikipedia says....

Pronunciation
The pronunciation of tomato differs in different English-speaking countries; the two most common variants are /təˈmɑːtəʊ/ and /təˈmeɪɾoʊ/. Speakers from the British Isles, most of the Commonwealth, and older generations among speakers of Southern American English typically say /təˈmɑːtəʊ/, while most American and Canadian speakers usually say /təˈmeɪɾoʊ/. Many languages have a word that corresponds more to the former pronunciation, including the original Nahuatl word "tomato" from which they are all taken.
Source: Wikipedia

It started sometime in October 2008. When I finally feel that I am ready and green finger enough to grow vegetables. So I started by shopping for some seeds at the supermarket. Looking at the picture on the packaging, it looked like cherry tomatoes. Hmmm.....I love cherry tomatoes for my salad. I'll get the normal tomatoes later when I am succesful with this one.. So I grabbed a packet.

Then the 'gardener' began her mission. Because there were a few packets of seeds to be planted, I knew I had to label it religously.
But after a few days when it sprouted, I found it it was wrongly labelled. Now I am mixed up which is which. After a couple of weeks, I somehow discovered which was it without having to wait for its fruit. By googling online and visited some blogs about tomatoes. It was labelled as bittergourd.....hehehe

Then I learned that you need a vegetable bed for the tomatoes. My first futile attempt here. The 'bed' keep sliding down and show the roots.

Later on, I moved the whole batch, about 8 of them, to a new location at the corner, so I could at least control the 'bed'. I should have just used the bricks, as I later discovered. And soon after, I discovered that tomato plants need to have supports, because of the nature of the stems. Read the wikipedia link above to know what I mean.

While attempting to set the trainer for this plant, I accidently broke the largest branch of the healthiest plant.....oh no....! So I 'bandaged' it together with a leftover green tape from my flower arrangement project. Somehow it grew. In fact some little roots sprouts at the broken and bandaged stem.

And to my delight, my tomato grew big so fast, and started to bear fruits last month! And believe it or not, its from the broken plant on the exact branch! I am goooood!!!

And today, I victoriously plucked my first harvest of tomatoes. By the way its not even cherry tomatoes, but a full sized plump medium sized tomatoes you can find in the supermarkets. Its about 4" in diameters.

Now, posing at another angle with my 'continue life' leaves for salad.....LOL! See how bright the colour is.......and I am a show off! But can you blame me?

Survival Instincts

We were encountered with a suprise incident yesterday evening. A little bird fell off its nest! No, I am not kidding!

A little hairless, maybe less than a day old birdie fell into our garden compound and the juniors exclaimed excitedly..."Can we keep it, can we keep it!!!! Well, on top of the 3 cats, 2 hamsters, and a turtle, I'd say..."Why not??!" What's another cute little creature in you home.

Actually we have no choice but to keep it. The poor little thing just cannot take care of itself. Motherless, homeless, and so fragile. I'm just thankful that Minty or Honeybun were not around when the little birdie fell...

So we make a mock nest out of a recycled plastic container, and coincidently just mowed the lawn, so we have some grass hay handy. And tissue paper as blanket.

Never had birds as pet before, this is going to be a new experience. At least, until it is strong enough to fly on its own. It will chirp out loud when hungry, and once fed, it can just collapse its body and off to sleep. So funny.

Not knowing where to get worms to feed Birdie, (I knew we have lots in the garden compound, but we were not up to dig some for it), we figured that maybe rice or papaya would be a good substitute. Crush the rice using a finger with a little water, and fed to its big open beak, and birdie is easily satisfied and went back to sleep. The only small challenge is it will chirp hungrily every few minute...haha!

I really need to learn how to take a good close-ups!!

So hopefuuly, Birdie will survive this misadventure, and we all pray that it will be well and healthy soon. No one can tell for sure, just hope.

Just as we see this lovely and healthy 'indoor plant', it didn't survive past two weeks. Its a baby pandan plant, but didn't survive long enough to grow its root to last much longer. So we can never tell, can we?


Updated: 7th February 2009
Tweety, as we fondly call her, did not make it through yesterday. She had her last meal, and suddenly collapsed soon afterwards. May she rest in peace.

An unusual observation. While she was under our care, lots of birds are flying above the house at random directions, as if looking for her. We dare not place her outside due to unforeseen danger for such a fragile helpless creature. When she died, she was buried near a plant in the backyard, but not long after, her 'grave' were dug by the birds, and her remains taken away. How do we explain that???

Milk Tag

I was at the supermarket during the weekend for the weekly groceries. I've notice something before, but either I was too preoccupied with other matters, or it was insignificant enough for me to think about it. But this time, it bugged me. So I questioned, why is the powder milk packet is tagged, while most of the rest of the other things were not?

Of course, the answer is to prevent from theft, or rather, shop-lifting. Then I asked again, just the milk powder? Why? There are a lot of other more valuable things in the supermarket to shoplift. Not that I condone the act, but why milk powder? Its only between Rm10-Rm50 per packet or tin. Then it occured to me,..... oh no! Most milk powder is for infants! That means, these people steal for their child.....their hungry child! Oh my god.... suddenly I feel so teary, big lump in my throat! I still feel it as I write this post?

While we send millions to other needy world, which I fully applaud, little did I realised that there are so many other needy people right here in our country. Well, we do know that there are still some unfortunate homeless people around, but to think of their hungry children......!

By right, there shouldn't be anymore poverty in our beautiful and blessed country. But somehow, somewhere, these people are living without their basic needs, the first level of th 'Maslow Hierachy of Needs' are still not met. Where are they? Where are our funds for the needy channeled to? Where is the sincerity....?

Great Herbal Discovery (From an amateur gardener's experience)

I just have to share about this wonderful plant which I grow in my herbal garden. When it was planted, I knew it has great medicinal values, yet, I only knew it was good to treat diabetics and cholestrol level. Yes, another on of those home remedial source, one of my collection. But little did I know that I'm going to love this plant so much now, and so excited to have it in my herbal garden!

This plant was about one month old.

In english, this plant can be directly translated as 'Continue Life'...LOL! In Malay, its widely known as "Sambung Nyawa"! In wikipedia,it is classified as below;

Alam: Tumbuhan
Divisi: Magnoliophyta
Kelas: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Famili: Asteraceae
Genus: Gynura
Spesies: G. procumbens

Since its too scientific for me to explain, so I'll leave it at that, up to your discretion.

The leaves of this Sambung Nyawa is suprisingly and delightfully delicious, unlike other herbal medicinal plants. It has this tangy light smell and crunchy to every bites. I just love taking it raw with our local sambal belacan (shrimp paste chilies) with rice. I can just finish 5-6 leaves easily in a meal.

This plant, apparently is widely used in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. However, it is actually originated from Mynmar and China. It can be easily planted by cutting off its twigs. The leaves shaped like an oval with sharp edge and ridges at the sides.

This herbal plant chemiccally contains, flavonoid, glikosida kuersetin, fenoleat asid, triterpenoid, alkaloid, saponin and tannin. Thus, for what it is listed wth, it is said to be a great source for antineoplastik, treating high fever, skin diseases, lowering high blood pressure, sugar level in blood, antimicrobial, anticarsinogenic to cancer cells, hipertension, stroke, lungs, high cholestrol, diabetics, coughs and sinusitis, among others (jargons here..hahaha)

I replant these twigs so it can be given away to friends and relatives who is interested to either plant or consume it.

Basil, Coco, Almond, Honeybun....and Brownie

Last week I had some not-so-good news, but couldn't bring myself to update it, until today, when I feel that I have the strentgh to deal with it objectively. I spent good amount of time gazing at this beautiful plant and its flowers. Some are flourishing beautifully, at its peak of beauty, while some tends to look drying, almost becoming lifeless in the process. That somewhat reminds me that any living thing in this world would not last forever.
A few of weeks ago, when we feel that the two hamsters, Syaoran and Sakura, renamed as Almond and Brownie when we found out and confirmed that both are male hamsters, might get lonely without a she-hamster. So we add another member and called her Coco. The three of them seems to live happily ever after.
But one day, somebody accidentally left the cage not securely fastened, and Almond as well as Brownie escaped. Almond was found in the kitchen after one day, probably out to look for food, while Brownie, the night after in the guest bathroom.

A few days later, Brownie died. He was weak and rather tired the day before, and the next morning, he was gone. Well, for me I've gone through losses of pets several times now, so its nothing new, right? Wrong! The only difference is this time, you manage to stay cool and pretend its gonna be alright. Like when I stared at my basils just to calm down, you have to let go. People you love, pets, even friends...

However, on a more positive note, Coco looks as though she's pregnant!. Now, Ridzzy, if you're reading this, don't get any ideas, ok..! She looks like she's gained weight, and this morning she can't even climb up the trail to exercise...hahaha... Presenting the clipse

Haha...!Actually she managed to climb up after all, after much effort, determination and a strong will to exercise. Don't we all need to learn from that?

But whatever it is, this furball is still the apple of my eye! ;)

Primary 1 First Day at School?

Kids nowadays....

On the first day of school, for the first time. No more crying for mamas or papas. No more looking around for familiar faces. Teachers are just another human beings. Not bothered by new surroundings, new environments. Knew no fears, uncertainties, nor doubts. Whatever lays ahead will soon be conquered!

Looking forward to new things. Make friends easily. Practice taekwandos even before lessons begins....