happiness is having a scratch for every itch

Hello everyone! How have you been? I trust all of you are keeping well and happy! While not actively aiming to, it does seem that I am posting about once a month now, and am finding that frequency the most comfortable at present.

Sourced from T.E.R.R.A.I.N

So -- I debated which picture should grace the top of this post, and decided that the dolly was significantly more pleasant to look at than this. For those of you who don't know, this thing -- this ****ing execrable, accursed thing -- is a sandfly. The reason I am giving it any attention at all -- which, trust me, it does not deserve -- is because my legs are covered in ****ing bites which itch like the ****ing.. Sylvanians.

Yesterday, in a fit of exuberance, the kids and I decided to go to the beach, where we displayed our joie de vivre in watching the ships, hunting for seashells, building sandcastles, and yes, feeding sandflies. It was idiotic of me to go despite not having repellent on, but the kids were so keen, and we hadn't had any trouble with the bugs for quite some time; I thought it would be alright.

Well, the upshot of it is that Ro and I pretty much fed the entire sandfly population there; the one comfort is that Jake came away completely unscatched, while Becky only got a bite or two. As anyone who's ever been bitten by sandflies knows, it's not till later than you really start clawing at yourself, which was where I was at about 4am, and where I still am now. Needless to say, I've tried everything I know how to quell this insane itching -- which far surpasses anything a mosquito can come up with -- and am now just trying to relieve myself by blogging.

For what it's worth, I thought I'd share with you what I did try, so you might know what works and what doesn't (honestly though, this is pretty much going to be a list of a whole bunch of things that don't work at all). Here we go anyway:

1. Apple cider vinegar. Despite the cure-all this stuff is purported to be, it didn't do **** for the bites. We only ended up smelling funky.
2. Zyrtec Allergy. I can only say it tasted quite nice.
3. Mopiko. This is a Japanese menthol-based ointment used by generations of people here for bites; while it does work pretty decently on mosquito bites, it couldn't conquer the sandfly.
4. Savlon. This is an antiseptic cream often used in first aid for wounds, nappy rash, and "bites". While that might even have included rattlesnake and rabid dog bites, it had no effect on the 15 ****ing *@#!&s dotting my legs.
5. Steroid cream. Not sure what that did, despite the ominous-sounding literature that accompanied the tube.
5. Hand sanitizer. This I just did out of desperation. Pointless of course, except for that two seconds of hope.
6. Hot metal. Useful only for burning yourself in a fit of misdirected anger and loathing.
7. Ice. Possibly the only slightly effective thing. It may well work for more than five seconds if you encase your legs in an entire tub of cubes. For a whole day.

So there. That's everything I've tried so far. Any other suggestions? I had wanted to try tea tree oil applied neat, but someone had left my completely empty bottle in the bathroom without saying a word... If you have any ideas, even half-baked ones, please feel free to share. There is of course a plethora online, including toothpaste, garlic, lemon juice and urine -- I will probably try them all; well, except perhaps that last.

But on to something more pleasant. Dollyland is always fun (though, admittedly, even working on a new doll today did not help distract me). I'll just quickly share some dollies who went up for adoption. That little one up there is Oisín, my little deer girl. She's quite different from my other dollies obviously! She wears needle-felted deer ears, and I like the idea that she might be both a therianthrope -- half animal, half person -- as well as a little girl playing a game of make-believe. She was a big step out in faith for me, and I'm happy with her colouring, and sweet, gentle expression.

This little minx is Juliette. I was thinking of Miles Davis and beatniks and smoky little dens where groovy hepcats wore stripey sweaters and spouted poetry. I gave her plenty of eyeliner, and eyebrows too! Juliette's mommy writes atmospheric stories about her dollies, in segments avidly followed by her readers, so I'm thrilled that Juliette has joined her cast of Jazz Age characters.

This curious thing is a Blythe doll faceplate; well, specifically, it's Persis' faceplate. I took a picture of it because I wanted to remember my first attempt at carving an actual open mouth -- not one that appeared open, but one that actually is. The opening in her mouth was made all the way through, and I fit little teeth in inside. This too was another big step out in faith -- thank you Lord!

Persis made me think of peacocks and fruit punch and tropical islands; I gave her a very bright, vibrant faceup. I really love her, so I'm glad she's been adopted by a wonderful lady in the States.

So little Nova here is still waiting for her mommy or daddy. She is a sort of sister to Electra, with her galactic eyelids and star cluster tattoo. Her blue-lilac hair is really lush -- the thickest I've ever come across. She's hoping she'll find her home really soon! Bloggy friends, feel free to make an offer if you like :)

I'm off now to meditate/scream silently/pee on the *@#%ing bites -- I'll catch up with all of you really soon! Keep well, dear friends, and use repellent!!

A bird ballet by Neels Castillon

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
~ Emily Dickinson

Have a soaring, transcendent week, everyone!

random bits

Hey ho everyone! I trust all of you are doing happy and well. I'm just writing a quick post while my mother is over cuddling Jacob! This post is really Rebecca's work; these are all her pictures (except, of course, the ones I took of her). They were taken on one of our regular walks to the beach (with my little old camera, I might add); I'm always fascinated by the way children perceive and interpret their surroundings. The picture above though is of Rebecca getting ready for ballet class :)

This is a picture of a sunbird, a bird that does bear some resemblance to the hummingbird. Rebecca got some neat pictures of this little fellow, which can be seen on her blog, along with some interesting info.

This mangrove swamp leads to the sea. It used to be substantially wider in area, and teeming with wildlife such as snakes, monitor lizards and mudskippers; sadly, this has been greatly affected by rampant human encroachment and development.

Many of the trees have been here since I was little (which, trust me, was a long time ago). They have the lush quality of the trees which used to surround our home; thankfully, these ones are still surviving.

These offshore structures are called kelongs. They're made largely of wood and are supported by tall wooden beams buried several metres into the sea bed. They're used mainly for fishing, though fishermen do live in the larger ones.

There's Ro scouring the shore with her specimen-collecting bag.

Rebecca had some interesting things to say about crustaceans in her blog post. She found a study that confirmed what I always believed -- that crabs and other crustaceans do feel pain. I've always been very much against the whole boiling them alive thing, and never accepted that crap about them feeling nothing.

The seaside version of that cow skull in desert thing.

Seeing this picture made me think of Blake's Auguries of Innocence, in particular the stanza that reads: "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour".

Now this thing. We've been seeing it out at sea for days now, bobbing about and looking increasingly weird and gladiatorial. The kids have taken to calling it "the head" and rush down to the shore every time to see if it's still there (it is). Despite looking at it through binoculars -- which Rebecca made a point of bringing for that very purpose -- we still can't tell exactly what it is. I keep saying that since no one's been reported missing, it's ok. The kids keep saying he's the lone survivor of a water-treading competition.

This is a picture I took of Becky looking thoughtful and melancholy. She's been having quite a bad bout of flu, poor thing, but is on the mend now. I look at her here and marvel at how fast she's growing.

And finally -- a quick one of Jake. He's a month now, and becoming increasingly responsive; there's nothing quite like a baby smiling at one in recognition or delight -- well worth the thumb splint lol (from which I'm recovering, praise the Lord). Do drop by Becky's blog for more pictures (bigger, better ones!) and deeper insights :)

Have a blessed, peaceful week everyone!

curiouser and curiouser

Hello everybody, it's me Rebecca -- from My Amazing Days!! This morning Mommy woke up really cranky because she had another achy, disturbed sleep, but she cheered up after her prayers because this was the title of today's devotion: "God's Perfect Timing"!

The Bible quote was "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:4). "'Due season' is God's season, not ours," the devotion said. "We are in a hurry; God isn't. He takes time to do things right -- He lays a solid foundation before He attempts to build a building... We may not always know, but we can be satisfied to know the One Who knows. God's timing seems to be His own little secret. The Bible promises us that He will never be late, but I have also discovered that He is usually not early. It seems that He takes every available opportunity to develop the fruit of patience in us.

"Vine's dictionary of Greek words begins the definition of patience as "Patience, which grows only in trial"... Patience is vital to the development of our full potential. Actually, our potential is only developed as our patience is developed. It is God's way -- there is no other, so why not settle down and enjoy the journey?" (from New Day New You, by Joyce Meyer).

I was glad Mommy felt better! Then I decided to show her my little movie that I had been working on yesterday! Do you know what the "twilight zone" is? It is the middle layer of the world's oceans, that part of the pelagic zone that goes down from 200 to 1000 metres below the ocean surface (the pelagic zone is any water in a sea or lake that is neither close to the bottom nor near the shore). According to Wiki, some light penetrates this deep, but it is insufficient for photosynthesis. Animals such as swordfish, squid, wolf eels, cuttlefish, and other semi-deep sea creatures live here. They are adapted to life in near darkness, cold water and high pressure. Also, there is enough sunlight for animals, such as the chain catshark, to be fluorescent!

Mommy enjoyed my little movie -- I hope you will too!! Have an awesome weekend and see you again soon!!

nothing says tropical...

... quite like a parrot -- just look at the colours on this fellow! Did you know that parrots can see parts of the ultraviolet spectrum? This, and other cool animal facts here. All the pictures were taken by Rebecca (except the ones she's in of course); I think she shows promise, yes?

Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue -- the same genetics that show up in Ming!

B writes that "In just a hundred years, the world has lost 97% of wild tigers" -- a very sad fact indeed.  I'm glad there are people like her in this new generation who care, and want to do something about it.

I was greatly saddened this morning to hear the sound of chainsaws outside my home. At first I'd thought it was just some pruning of the trees by the road, but looking out my windows, I saw that it was in fact the beginnings of the complete destruction of the last parcels of forest that once carpeted this entire estate.

These trees have been here since I was a child; they used to grow so thickly together that you could barely make out what was beyond the first few rows. The whole place would be alive with the sounds of birds and frogs and crickets and numerous other animals scurrying secretly within the foliage. Everywhere it was a deep, deep green, and the air would be so cool and smell so clean.

And now, the incalculable greed of developers and investors has bulldozed its cruel way in. I had in fact written to a certain minister with regard to this, not once, but thrice; almost needless to say, I did not even receive a token letter of acknowledgment.

For those of you who are so blessed to live surrounded by nature in all its life and splendour and beauty -- relish and delight yourselves in it, be daily thankful for it, do all you can to preserve it.

I'd taken these photos when it first became obvious that even this last patch of forest had been condemned. I felt we simply had to have some record of what it looked like. I didn't want my kids to forget.

This picture kinda captures what it's all about.

When I was a child, there used to be a tiny village in the midst of all this jungle; the people had little thatch-roofed homes, and raised their own chickens. I used, in fact, to play with a boy who lived there, a little ragamuffin who never spoke. They all disappeared when the land was taken for the construction of block after block of apartments.

Ro is still too young to fully grasp that what we'd just walked through would all be gone. As it turned out, it was in fact our last walk through there; the very next day, they started boarding it up.

Goodbye.

on the opposite of love

A resident of the green belt (photo courtesy of Pasir Ris Greenbelt).

Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is - Rollo May

OK. Today I just want to VENT. I am UPSET. I can't believe the apathy, the insensitivity, the callous indifference, the sheer dullness of some people.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm being naive, or idealistic, or whatever you want to call it -- but I really believe, cliched as it may sound, that we all can make a difference.

Yesterday I gave hard copies of the petition to several family members to help get signatures at their schools and workplaces. Well, my daughter comes home with ONE signature -- her form teacher's (thank you, caring, enlightened soul!). I ask her, didn't you see any of your other teachers today? And she says, "Yes, I did, but none of them wanted to sign".

I ask, "You mean you explained to them what this was, and they just said, 'No' outright?" And my daughter nodded, sighing as she put the petition back in her folder. "I don't know why people are like that," she said. "I don't know why they don't care". And in that instant, I just felt so... SAD.

HOW could these people set such a lousy example to a child?? HOW could they even become teachers?? And then, as if to add insult to injury, my aunt calls and tells me that she had brought her petition to work, and NO ONE wanted to sign.

"Most people are just leery when they see this sort of thing," she said. "They don't have the courage to be activists, and generally they just don't care. They think that as long as it's not literally in their backyard, it doesn't matter. They don't see the bigger picture and they can't be bothered to try".

And all I'm thinking is, But they know you! It's not like you're one of those strangers who go knocking at people's doors asking you to invest in some weirdo project. Those teachers see my daughter every day -- were they worried she was trying to collect their details for her Mom's devious schemes or something? When you realise that even teachers -- our future's educators -- can be so uncaring/passive/cowardly, you just shudder at where this world is heading.

Honestly, I am on the verge of tears. At the basic level, there's the issue itself -- the extensive, indiscriminate deforestation, and the killing of countless species of flora and fauna. But at the next level, there are these... these... people. I understand now why my girlfriend, the one in the Green Belt committee, said she had had "so many such encounters, and was so taken aback and disappointed".

What is the problem, people?? Do we get that our carbon footprint is rising at a frightening rate? Do we get the importance of trees to our very existence? Read this if you need to learn more. An excellent point in this article, by the way, is Trees help stop inner city violence.

"A scientific study by the Human-Environment Research Lab has demonstrated that contact with nature may actually help reduce the incidence of aggression and violence in inner-city neighborhoods. According to this study, levels of aggression were significantly lower among people who had some kind of nature outside of their apartments versus those who didn’t.

"The impact of the physical environment on human aggression has been well-established -- crowding, high temperatures, and noise have all been linked to violent behavior. Some scientists believe that it’s because people living under these conditions suffer from something called chronic mental fatigue, which can make them inattentive, irritable, and impulsive -- all of which can be linked to aggressive behavior. Exposure to green spaces, it has been shown, can mitigate the harmful effects of chronic mental fatigue, reducing aggressive behavior in the process"

But hey, never mind the overwhelming evidence we already have here of "chronic mental fatigue" and "aggressive behaviour" which we encounter every day on public transport, in the office, at the mall, etc etc. I just care about trees and wildlife! They are actual, living beings!

Who gave us the right to just bulldoze our way through the homes of other species, without caring what they feel, or where they will go? I've never forgotten the words on my PETA Christmas cards back when I was in university: Be kind to your fellow earthlings. I believe we have a moral responsibility to protect those who are at our mercy.

On a whim, I typed "Why people don't care about saving the planet" in the Google search box. And up came this excellent article by Zachary Shahan, the editor of Planetsave.com, entitled Why People Don’t Care.

"There are a number of reasons for it, but one big one is that there isn’t the societal demand for such action. People don’t care that much.

"Sure, if you ask people “Is the environment important?” or “Do you care if endangered species such as tigers and polar bears go extinct?” they will say “Yes.” Or if you ask them “Should the government do more to to protect the environment?” they will say “Yes.” But that doesn’t get into the depth of their caring.

"How many people are going to vote their political representatives out of office because of their environmental record? How many people contact or communicate with their governmental officials even once a year to push for solutions to our environmental problems? How many people are even aware of the environmental issues their political leaders could be helping to address?

"Here are a few issues we cover on Planetsave quite regularly that have strong scientific backing:

• we are seeing catastrophic “natural” disasters killing or severely harming the lives of millions and millions of people more and more these days;
• we are on the verge of a huge food crisis;
• we are on the verge of a huge water crisis.

"All of these problems (plus many more related to them) are largely due to environmentally-irresponsible human actions and systems. Of course, these issues concern the basic needs of humans, what we need to live on Earth.

"So, if you care about human livability on our planet, they are very important to you. (And who doesn’t care about human livability on our planet?)

"Objectively, if you try to think about what’s more important, in the long term, not many things come to mind... But if you actually just skip that problem and look at what people spend their time on or say they care about in an open-ended question, you get the subjective answer.

"People spend their time on entertainment and, when asked what societal issues they care about, they say (most commonly), 'the economy'.

"Of course, our economy and the global economy as a whole are screwed in the long term if our food, water, & climatic systems fail. So, I guess the issue is just that people don’t get this (meaning, we need better education on this matter… from those who do) or they get the idea but have some faint hope that some genius or geniuses will solve these problems for us somehow. Or…

"People are afraid to care, [or are] too easily hurt to care. Perhaps it just comes down to this simple matter: it is difficult to care and tackle these problems. I think this is actually not true. I think people live a happier, more enjoyable life when they open up to these issues and work on solutions to them.

"But getting past the hurdle of fear, fear of the problems and fear that the solutions won’t be great enough to solve the problems, is a huge step.

"Finding creative, mind-opening ways of helping others get passed that hurdle is one of the challenges and needs of those of us on the forefront of an environmentally-friendly and sustainable societal shift" (find this article here; italics mine).

Thank you for letting me vent. And thank you to everyone who does care, and wrote to me telling me that they had signed and shared. You are surely the saving graces of a planet filled with callous-hearted people.

I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is Mine (Ps 50:11)

please help

This video shows beautiful green parrots in the trees of the green belt.

I received an email from a good friend about the rampant, indiscriminate deforestation that's happening in her neighbourhood; in the name of progress and development, the area's abundant flora and fauna are in imminent danger of being completely decimated.

I am in fact very familiar with this area -- it was a popular place for families to come picnic and camp when I was a child -- and I know how rich the biodiversity there is (was). It is, for example, home to the White-bellied Sea Eagle, as well as several endangered species like the Changeable Hawk-eagle, and the critically endangered Oriental Pied Hornbill.

Over the past few years though, what was once lush forest has been taken over by a literal slew of condominiums (you'd never believe how many condominiums they've managed to pack together like sardines); there's just this pocket of forest left, the "green belt" my friend is working to save.

Of course, I don't think I need to explain to even a half-intelligent human being the importance of saving trees. In the most fundamental of terms, we need plants to survive. Trees provide oxygen (we do need that people!), improve air quality, help control climate, conserve water, and of course, house wildlife. But beyond all that -- as if it wasn't compelling enough! -- I believe we have a spiritual need for nature. Trees provide the peace, serenity and beauty that we so badly need -- as individuals, and as a society. We must preserve this, not only for us, but for our children and all future generations.

So, my friend is involved in the Greenbelt Committee that is working to save the area. They have arranged to meet with their MP to make their plea, and show, through their petition, the overwhelming support they have for their worthy cause. As it says in their brochure: "The first order of business is to sign the petition form... The more people come on board, the stronger the case for saving the woodlands and the animal and bird sanctuary it houses.

"Our MP needs to know that each and every one of us truly cares. So pass the word around and encourage others to be part of this important green initiative.

"By signing the petition, you are taking the first step in saving these woodlands for our future generations. Regardless of the final outcome, we need to know that we, at the very least, did try our best!"

In this day and age of so-called environmental awareness, it is a deplorable tragedy that this destruction is being allowed to happen. Please take a moment -- wherever you are in the world -- to sign this petition and share it with your family and friends, because this touches every single one of us.

Aren't these orchids beautiful? How "fearfully and wonderfully made"! These pictures were taken during B's class excursion; see more botanical wonders here.