Hot air balloons by olive oyl

hot air balloon

I am trying without much success to copy paste the pictures taken by Mimi of the hot air balloon fiesta in Putrajaya. I do not know why I cannot do it.  I would like to share it with you so much. Because I like them balloons so much.  It is one of those things.

Doesn't  it look delightful? Round at the top and closing at the bottom into a teardrop shape, with a wicker basket tied below, the balloons  usually in bright or mixed colors or motifs, looking like  an animation in the sky. How can something that look so incredibly cute able to do incredible  things like ferrying people up in the sky,  also being the first craft in the world to do so, while adding  romance and whimsicals to the whole idea .  Imagine yourself in a hot air balloon crossing the fields, trees and rivers,  in a basket. A basket!!! I can die from  the cuteness of it all.

At the fiesta, the balloons are blown up using big fans and heating equipments.  Then they would puff upwards with all the hot air. Equipped with the cylinders in the basket  that burns out fire to keep the air in the balloon hot and afloat.  There were twenty over hot air balloon preparing to take off.

The  balloon pilots, as most pilots are,  look so debonair but with somewhat roguish charm since their sport is for the daring, since  it is just you, the balloon, the basket and God's good humour.  You do not see them in safety suits or safety gadgets, just their rakish smile and experiences managing the wind. And maybe prayers.

You could land abruptly dangerously,  to put it nicely,  and it can be where you should not be landing but all is too cute to think of the worst.  For all I can imagine, you can go around the world in a hot air balloon landing only on the most picturesque places like the fruit orchards in the Mediteranean or the zen gardens in Japan.  Maybe drop by Taj Mahal for a short while to reflect on other people's love story  and perhaps the  Buckingham Palace to witness  Prince William's wedding. Or Beatrix Potter's home at the Lake District, Scotland.  See, my imaginations qualifies me to be on one, but the courage part, I am not sure.

At the moment unfortunately  I cannot paste the beautiful  pictures taken by Mimi..Hot air balloonis are a natural prozac for me, all the  wonderful balloons lifting up into the sky, lifting my spirits, lifting my hopes into a euphoria.

Aishah could only bite her fingers, as she could not  get into one.

Hope we can go to Turkey for a real ride  one day.  As is Aishah's dream.

Hadith

Apa yang Allah halalkan dalam kitabNya maka halal. 

Apa yang Allah haramkan, maka haram. Apa yang Dia 

diamkan maka itu dimaafkan. Terimalah 

kemaafanNya. Kerana sesungguhnya Allah tidak 

pernah lupa sesuatu pun”. Lalu baginda membaca 

firman Allah (maksudnya): “Maka tidaklah tuhanmu 

itu lupa 

-- HR. al-Hakim dan al-Darqutni

Kita banyakkan tazkirah

Hai, bila datang musibah yang besar-besar baru lah insaf.

Kalau tidak, sibuk dengan apa-apa entah. Asyik lupa.

Kalau kita banding dulu dengan sekarang, datanglah  rasa takut, sebab dulu-dulu musibah tak lah begini kerap.  Jarang-jarang sekali, sekali dalam 20 atau 30 tahun, paling dekat, 10 tahun sekali.  Kita dengar tentang gempa di benua lain, dan  yang saya ingat, semasa sekolah dulu,  letupan gunung berapi yang lahar yang  telah  menlenyapkan sebuah pulau.  Itu pun pulau yang jauh dan tak di kenali.  Yang nama nya tak pernah kita dengar.

Sekarang 'disasters' ini berlaku dekat dengan kita. Terlalu dekat.  Kita pernah pergi ke sana, atau kawan kita pernah atau berada di sana atau anak kawan kita berada di sana, seperti di Jepun.  Saya harap dan doakan  anak DrF yang bekerja di Jepun selamat.

Amat amat menakutkan. Kecut hati dan perut di buatnya.

Seolah-olah alam kita marah.  Jadi keluar lah dendam  nya yang tak dapat di kekang , tak dapat di hindar atau pun di lawan.  Datangnya untuk menghancurkan.  Untuk memusnahkan.

Atau dunia sudah tua dan menghampiri kefanaannya.Crack sana, crack sini.

Bagaimana kita ni yang berada di atas nya.  Selamatkah kita?  Kalau kita tak dapat selamatkan jasad, sekurang-kurangnya dapat selamat kan iman kita.

Kita hendaklah terus juangkan hidup kita, iman kita sedaya mungkin. Betulkan syahadah, betulkan amal ibadat, betulkan niat.  Baca doa iftitah kita dan selami maknanya

"Sesungguhnya solat ku, ibadahku hidupku  dan matiku untuk Allah raja sekelian alam."

Kita bersatu hati untuk saling ingat mengingati, boleh? Ikutlah, melalui facebook ke, blog ke, email ke.

Dan sentiasa berdoa supaya Allah melindungi kami, keluarga kami, sahabat handai kami  dan juga semua muslimin dan muslimat seluruh dunia.  Besarkan lingkungan doa.

Semoga Allah memberi kekuatan kepada semua mangsa bencana alam, dan gantikan apa yang telah mereka hilang dengan yang lebih baik.Ameen.  Bacalah Innalillawainnailaihiroji'un.dan doa-doa  musibah. .

Aku jamin rumah di dasar syurga bagi yang menghindari berdebat sekalipun ia benar, dan aku jamin rumah di tengah syurga bagi yang menghindari dusta walaupun dalam bercanda, dan aku jamin rumah di puncak syurga bagi yang baik akhlaknya. 

-- HR. Abu Daud

More cartoons for you

AISHAH WITH HER NEW TOY AND WAITING FOR HOT AIR BALLOONS TO COME TO PUTRAJAYA

MIMI WENT CAMPING IN RAUB

HAJAR TRYING OUT SEWING

If

f you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

–Rudyard Kipling

job description

While looking for images for my post I came across really cute ones which I would like to share with you.  Let's put it under 'the jobs I have done before'.  How cute the cartoons are.

Now, this is what I do.....

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Ma u forgot this one

Before and after all the jogging (you wish)

                                                                  

                                                                                Before

                                                                               After

Tougher regime

Humph!!  No go.  I must try harder.

Yesterday and today I was diligent in carrying out my weight losing scheme.

Cutting down on more food. Nibbling on cornflakes and raisins.  Exercising at least once a day.  Cutting off chicken.  There was a time when I was off chicken for a few years and my weight was less then what it is now.  Lets try that too.

Yesterday before lunch, my sister Idah picked me up to accompany her to  the dental faculty, UITM to be Mimi's guinea pig. I bought some cut fruits, my so called lunch and bought her a pack of mango.  2 packs for me.  As soon as I got into the car, I attacked my fruits.  Idah laughed, "Kak, you look exactly like a rabbit. You must be really hungry!".  "No, I love fruits", chomping away.  " Only hungry people eat at that speed", she insisted.  "Ok lah,  I love fruits, I am hungry and this is the only thing to eat for me to lose weight",  I admitted.

" I am not doing your diet, it is so sayang not to be able to eat", Idah had never been one to forgo eating.

But, if she does go on  one, with her million dollars smile, her winning ways and fair skin and complexion, she would get the men ogling and drooling after her.


Old ladies like me, we do this to get the cholesterol down and I no longer dare to hope for more.






IDAH


                                                                     ME

Coming in terms

What do you do when you have to make big decision and you do not know what exactly to do?  I like to drive around. Like I did today.

I have lived many houses  mostly within the vicinity of Bangsar, Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam and Klang. The Klang Valley.

For a while I wanted to forget my past and blocked them out.  It feels like running while being tide up by this unlimited unbreakable string.  The faster you ran, the further you go, but cannot break away. You end up feeling there is something amiss. You reluctantly let the memories in. You feel more whole. We should not leave our issues unresolved.  Or you will be driving around like me.

Today I left the house early and drove around the Klang Valley.  At every corner I would let the memory come back.  Where I sat under the rambutan tree.  Where I went for my first Abim meeting to see Anwar Ibrahim, before all this befallen upon him.  Where all the winding flyover never existed, and the LRT was unthought of. Where the mosque then was smaller and simpler. When most girls wore skirts.

Drove to Klang to see it all changed and unrecognized. The kindergarten belonging to Mariam's family at Jalan Telok Gadong is no longer there.  But my brother's La Salle School still stands tall and forbidding. Dewan Hamzah still a distinguished landmark, where my classmates went to perform the school's recorder recitation. No more the ones upon a time famous colourful fountain roundabout that was a big attraction, where our cars would stop around it to see the colours in the waters change. People then were easy to entertain.  Klang was one place where things were without much upheavals. Good feelings in Klang.

Stopped at my old school in PJ and immediately felt youthful again, as though something got restored.   I could see me, Azam and Azlina at the bus stop. Them,  for transport,  I walk home.  Taking my usual short cuts, criss crossing peoples' back lanes, avoiding the boys' school.

We lived so privately in an area where everyone was behind locked gates.  All you say is Hello here, Hello there and that's as far as it goes. Unlock your gate, go in, lock up and dissapear indoors.

Then the life changing experiences took place, shook everything up, topsy turvy, and like Tsunami, destroying whatever it could,  living me with little hope, dignity and resources.

Now I drove back onto those past lanes, on my terms.

It never leaves you. When too much had happen, it never leaves you.

Memories can shatter you, but it can also put you back together again. 

Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter is one of my inspirations.  I did not really read her books even though I have come across Peter Rabbit a few times growing up.  It is until I saw the CD titled her name that I came to know what a great childrens' book writer she was. Watching her movie never fails to motivate and inspire me to....well, get artsy.hihi.

Only then did the characters of her books caught my attention as to how wonderful they are,  so  beautifully created and painted, it is truly amazing because during those times, everything was done by hand.

Actually I love cute things. Never grew out of cute things.  And her drawings and her biography  are very cute.  Except the part when her true love passed away.  That was sad but she got to marry her childhood friend and had followed her heart to where ever it brought her.  She was ahead of her time, facing difficulties in the male dominated community, but continue persistently to churn out the produce of her many talents. She did what she loved and lived where she loved and painted with  much love that her books remained a classic till today, bringing much joy to the readers, both old and young. A women of enormous 'fighting'. 

That brings to show that real passion is a gift, no matter how small.  Brian Kim said, we should do something out of love, not out of fear, for the root of fear is black.  The results would be too. Unquote.

The root of love is beauty.  And real beauty is everlasting.

Kak Hanim has a set of cups with Beatrix Potter characters on them. Must get them too.

autumn in shah alam

In Shah Alam there are alot of trees.  Therefore, alot of leaves, which seemed to be falling.

At this point of time.

I see the sweepers  busy sweeping and I suddenly have a desire.  A strange one.  To sweep the leaves too.

I would be happy to be able to sweep and put the leaves in the big black bags.

Swish, swish, swish goes my broom, piling the leaves, clearing the grounds.

Swish, swish, swish goes my broom, being a part of the leaves'  cycle of life,

Once green, now brown and falling off.

Covering the earth, messing the roadsides.

If I sweep, a simple task so vast to complete.

A change from my usual, mind boggling deep thinking task, so vast to complete.

It would be so nice to do, to just sweep, sweep, sweep

At this point of time.