Thursday, January 04, 2007

A BLISSFUL EID

One of the frustrations of working in a hospital is the high probability of having to work on a festive holiday. As the recent Eidul Adha was immediately a day before the encroaching new year, no non-muslim doctors was keen to replace the muslim doctors to do the festive calls. With iKelah working around the clock, I had no choice but to celebrate it with my kids. However we were very fortunate to be able to hang around at KKL's parents home and both KKL and OK and KKL's parents were gracious hosts. They entertained us (read: cooked for us, brought us to see their new house and played UNO, hehe) and made us feel at home. Lamb was the menu of the day. OK made roasted lamb with browning sauce on the eve of raya. Next day it was Lamb stew and it was superb. OK has now set a mark which he has to keep as everyone will be demanding him to provide the same standard of delectable cooking next raya!

On the second day, we drove back to KL to see my beloved parents. My dad, being the very thoughtful person he is, suggested that we visit an old family friend from our Malacca days, Uncle Rahman and Auntie Nab. They have known me since I was a cute and charming toddler, thus it was naturally a nostalgic visit. Uncle Rahman who is already 81 is still strong and about, showing no signs of ageing impairments. He was enthusiastically relating to us on how he finds pleasure in doing sunnat prayers like tahajjud and dhuha. He showed us his small surau where there's a 'giant' quran with big prints for the imam to read from.

Interestingly, he also managed to relate an unforgetful incident that occured when he last performed his Hajj in 2000. Losing shoes at Masjidil Haram is nothing strange but to get it back in a miraculous manner, after losing it, is! After losing a pair of loafers in a stringed bag, he had lost hope of getting it back. He had all forgotten about it when he left Mecca for Medina. On reaching the hotel, he checked in first and as he reached the room, guess what he saw neatly placed in front of the door?? The pair of shoes he had lost in Mecca! Subhanallah! Since that day, Uncle Rahman claimed that he had made a personal resolution to never delay his prayers. So now, he would either prepare his ablution before the adzan or immediately he hears it. Alhamdulillah. Let's pray that we would be bestowed by similar anecdotes that can prick our conscience and prop up our iman, insyallah! Ameen.

Next, we visited my cousin's daughter, an eight year old sweet girl, afflicted with Leukaemia. As most young children who suffers from the white blood cancer, they usually present with easy bleeding or bruising. In her case, she developed bleeding into her knee joints (haemarthrosis) which resulted from a slight fall. It was truly disheartening to watch her frail body. But Alhamdulillah that it's ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia), which has the best prognosis and long remissions. I pray that she recovers well and able to live a full life.

Although ikelah had to work the first day of raya, we still managed to celebrate it joyously, filled with spending time with caring relatives and visiting old acquaintances and ailing kins. Alhamdulillah.

Sorry no pictures to share because sekarang musim macro : semut, lebah, labah etc...

p.s. btw, we also spent Eidul Adha with my former maid who misses my kids tremendously and we miss her too.....

pps. my biras, Khin's wife, is passionate about Pilates exercise and we spoke a bit on it. For that, I am getting a pilates ball soon! (50 hinggit je! Tak le semahal accessories camera!) And by the way, exercise is not ONLY about getting the desired shape. Most importantly, it's about being FIT and HEALTHY. Isn't it Mas?? :-))


This is the ball I'm getting


____________________________________________________________________

THE KINGFISHER AND I

I caught this bird sitting by the creek behind my house. Guess what bird it is.


This is a Kingfisher. Compare with the one I found. Similar ain't it?

One fine afternoon as I slid open the window at Sofi's room, my eyes caught this bluish bird-like figure perched by the banks of the creek behind my house. As I gazed at it, I noticed how vibrant its color was and how unperturbed it was with the surrounding, unmoving and looking serenely straight into the running water, perhaps waiting for a fish for its lunch. Suddenly I felt compelled to snap a picture of it and I ran to fetch iKelah's D50. When I returned, the blue bird was still there, maintaining the exact posture, looking intently at the flowing stream. I tried focusing but realized that the the camera was in a different setting. Not strange, I thought, because someone now is so into macro pictures. Woke ikelah from his post-call slumber. After snapping a few pictures of it, he decided to get a close-up shot later. That's if the kingfisher didn't decide to take off elsewhere.

Later after Asar, seeing that the bird was still there, he took off with Luqman in full gear. Taking the first route, they were disappointed as the bird was obscured by the undergrowth. Thus they decided to track down the path next to the creek itself. However, in a very shortwhile they came back looking annoyed! I was taken surprised as I had expected a longer photo spree. Anyway, they showed me a close-up shot of the beautiful kingfisher and I gave out a loud squeal!!!! Guess what??

22 comments:

Azer Mantessa said...

selamat menyambut tahun 2007 kepada dith sekeluarga.

Queen Of The House said...

Eh, that ball is THAT cheap? I've seen it around, ingat kan mahal.

Looks like kita senasib on Hari Raya Qurban .... KOTH too had to work. But while yours was a joyous day, mine was subdued ... tak gi jalan mana pun.

Anonymous said...

the lambs were fabulous, malam raya X2; at our dad's place, KKL's parents, next day at KKL's parents with master chef OK with his lamb stew, roast and grill.... blah blah. malam tasyrik lamb BBQ, .... blah blah blah...

i'll like to tell about my Hajj, my perspective of Hajj but that will be later. As for today it will be enough for us to look upon ourself of the sacrifices that we had given to our Deen if there is any.

Selamat menyambut Hari Raya Korban, semoga pasukan ahzab serta sekulunya dilaknati Allah. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

Mama Sarah said...

Canary?

Doc, I bought that sort of ball two years ago for min. The one I bought was slightly smaller than the ones in your pics.

Anyway, they are quite cheap nowadays sold in Argos. TApi kena pump sendiri lah.

Anonymous said...

i cant wait to go back to malaysia, just for a taste of that delicious sounding lamb i keep hearing about whenever one mentions the names OK, KKL and ikelah.

what a pleasant sounding eid you had dith & family. alhamdulillah for me, i have almost always had eid of for the past couple of years and have rarely been oncall on other public holiday days as well. (even if we are, we get a reimbursement of the days off to take whenever we want).

it's heartening to hear the story about the little girl with ALL, hope she gets into remission soon.

good luck with Pilates, it's very popular nowadays, even over here.

Mama Sarah said...

here i am again! and there was an addition to the last photo! (both of you eh, suka tambah2 lepas publish :)

and what a laugh i had. keh keh keh at first, i thought it was the yellow thing on the right.

ok ok my 2nd guess, a toucan?

dith said...

Azer- so how was your UK trip?

QOTH- Yeah, I too thought it was expensive. Subdued raya? But you went to the theme park!

iKelah- Embek!!!

Nisak- When you wrote canary, i knew you were thinking of the yellow flower, hehe

Mynn- Are you a lamb fan as well?
Re; calls, it seems you are always lucky. Pilates exercise can be quite tricky and hard.

Nisak- I thought it was a king-fisher

Anonymous said...

..she woke me up from my nap just to snap that 'stupid', patience kingfisher fishing at the stream. forced me to get nearer since the with the 200mm it was still small. After 'Asar, maman and i had to pack our gear to get nearer to the bird so that dith can publish the bird she saw, her 'masterpiece' finding!.

kami masuklah ke kawasan rumah yang belum siap, ambil tangga untuk panjat tembok........

(nak tido pun tak leh)

Anonymous said...

dith
i am absolutely a lamb fan.

kesian ikelah dith, after his tiring oncalls, sanggup dith kacau ikelah tidur ... tsk tsk.

ikelah
time to get a 400mm lens :D:D:D (or a 2x extension)

ifos said...

burung tu dah mati... ke?? Hehehe.

Anonymous said...

Burung plastik ke? Kih kih kih... BTW the theme park trip was b4 raya le DItH 8) QOTH

dith said...

ikelah- hehe

Mynn- kesian ikelah, tsk tsk

ifos- nanti tunjuk gambar the real thing

QOTH- you online kat mana ni? Oh, ic...hehe

maklang said...

Salam....


So bila nak datang raya rumah maklang?

kami nak ke Kontan next week, insyaAllah

dith said...

WPB-

iKelah said this when I woke him up: "Thanks for waking me up from my slumber. I need to do my prayers"

I said this when I saw the reverse ring: "Alhamdulillah. Laki aku pandai jimat duit. Ambik gambo macro pakai reverse ring jek"

Maklang:

Turun hari apa? Hari jumaat pagi saya di Gebeng. Petang and malam di Balok. Kalau free nak jumpa singgah Gebeng boleh kita brunch kat kedai dekat klinik, :p

Count Byron said...

Hepi NeYer DITH. May you have great years ahead.. full of health and iman, you and the family.
Pilates.. for men too?

Anonymous said...

Tak sabar nak tahu but let me have another guess - gambar burung yang dihanyutkan oleh banjir the other day? Entahlah. Cepat bagi answer, DITH!! .... QOTH on Blackberry, hee hee.

Anonymous said...

waste paper basket

if its a 150 or 200 mm macro, then there is no need to change for another lens. ;)

maklang
jemput maklang n paklang ke rumah tetapi, dith bekerja. setakat ni i'll be free on that day. they have not decided on weather ada meeting tak on that day.

Anonymous said...

So pilates is just a ball? Kawe ingat some greek general ke menda. Well if exercise and good health is the objective and cheaper than lens is the rationale, then I have a better suggestion. You reach the same objective, probably even over achieve it it you do it on regular basis. Just wash my car 3X a week. You can lean on the bonnet, bend to reach the bumpers, your wrists also masyallah will benefit from the various sweeping movements and not to mention the increased blood flow and the vitamins from the sun. As you inspect the car for any hidden dirt, your eye balls get the required exercise not to mention blood flow to the brain also increased as you bend to reach the tyres or when vaccuming the inside. After all the benefits you get from the muscles to the bones from the blood right to the brains, you also will win RM5 from me as a token. Not payment but consider it as an additional benefit to the soul.
So how?

dith said...

Paul -

Pilates is a form of exercise that involves a wide range of movement and apparatus. The ball is only one of it.

Aiyyaa!! Mamat New Zealand ni sangat lah ignorant lahhh!

maklang said...

ikelah...

insyaAllah...kalau Sabtu would be better..nanti thursday nite baru boleh confirm....

Nak buat lambchop ke???

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