Recycling vs spending

A facination in recycling and improvising

Adi thinks I am stingy. Me? stingy? Okay....Maybe I am. After all I am my dad's daugrhter.  And to me, he is stingy.

Both my parents were poor.  They had a hard deprived childhood.

That hardship never left them.  Especially my great grandmother who brought me up.

Mok kept everything. Nothing should be wasted.  She loved to keep bottles which she called 'jebo' (please pronounce properly) and that trait, I followed.  I keep them too, which I call 'jars'.

Other than realizing the aspect of saving , to me there is an aspect of creativity in it all too.  And at times of economic gloom like this, (which might get gloomier) we should find ways to minimize spending and maximize saving, so I very much so believe in recycling.

In my garden,  I make use of plastic bottles, tins and containers for pots.  So you see a jumbled, whatever goes and eclectic sort of a garden. Butter cookies tins holding the pegaga and sireh.  Daun sup in the toiletries holder.  Tomatoes growing from cut plastic bottles. As soon as I can figure out how to use the drill, I will make more pots from whatever is old and cracked or chipped that I can get hold off. There is the paint palette that we no longer need from painting this house.  The old pails and 'gayongs'.  The cooking pots that have holes in them.  These will all be holding some plant or other one day.  And I am sure if I ask around, I will get more.

So far, I find  gardening and recycling the second most fullfilling,  compared to the array of things that I do.

Okeh! Next change, will show the pictures.

The cats' antics

Gio-gio the supercat

Na's cat, Pak Abu who knows life at the condo includes going up and down in a lift

Gio-gio smuggled into a hotel in an ikea bag because of blackout at home

Shu-shu refused to be put in the hotel's toilet with the others

Tutty will always go for the soft comforters 

Kakak Kucing who loves cats and the cats love her

Love is looking at the same direction.

Endangered species.

My cousin Kak Ani is a person whom  from young is diligent. In every way.  She would do what ever that needs doing.  She would study when she has to, help her mother with house work, does all sorts of activities and hobbies and never seem to be tired.  My  congratulations to Mak Long who has produced such a fine woman.

I dropped into their household when I was 12.  The 3 years with them have a very strong hold on me. People rarely guessed I am half Kelantanese.  And my constant drop-ins these days to check on the old lady had brought back memories I thought no longer existed.  When Kak Ani came to break fast with Mak Long and I day before yesterday, being together preparing food  brought back memories of us, as girls,  helping Mak Long in the kitchen 36 years ago. Yes, 36. She was going for her training at a Maktab Perguruan and I was a student shipped off to Johor Bharu by my parents.

Kak Ani's  last vocation was as School Principle.  Out of  all 5 of her children,  except the youngest who is in medical school, they have obtained their Master's  or in the midst of their Masters or applying for their Masters.

If you see her, she does not have the airs of a successful person she is, for her heart has always been for her home and family. Slim and simple, always so proper.  She would find time to make delicious  kueh talams for tea .  Would 'sembat' her daughters' baju kurungs in the teacher's room.  Would make her own delicious biscuits for hari-raya, her capabilities are endless.

If I could be half like her.  As a single parent I am thinly spread out.  That is the excuse I give myself.

Probably if she is in my place, she would still be what she is today......

I feel like telling her I am so proud of her, dulu, kini dan selamanya. But shy to say it.  My cousin sister who has achieved so much, mainly a result of sheer diligence that I knew so well and admire so much,  since 36 years ago.

Klinik Iman

Iman ku sakit.  Mungkin juga tenat. Sebabnya saya rasa ada sesuatu yang tak kena dengan iman ini. Ia semakin lemah untuk beramal.  Alhamdulillah saya masih boleh bezakan apabila iman saya ok dan apabila iman saya tidak ok, walaupun penurunan dalam iman dan lupa kepada ilmu-ilmu yang sekian lama di cari adalah sesuatu yang amat tidak baik dan sangat di takuti oleh orang yang beriman. 

Tak tahu apa sebabnya.Atau adakah saya tahu tapi buat-buat tak tahu?  Adakah sebab saya beri tumpuan  kepada perkara lain?  Atau adakah perkara lain yang memesongkan tumpuan dan kuderat saya?  Adakah kerana kelemahan 'time management'? Ataupun sebab2  fizikal seperti kekurangan vitamin dalam diet saya yang menyebabkan  saya tidak cukup tenaga?

Apakah  yang harus saya buat? Seriously.  Okay, pertama, istighfar banyak2 dan bertaubat sekiranya saya telah alpa dengan sengaja.

Jika tidak, saya harus  betulkan priority saya. Yang mana lebih utama dan yang patut di dahulukan?  Apa harus di teruskan dan apa yang harus di hentikan, tidak pun, di kurangkan.

Mungkin saya patut kaji selidik di mana saya telah silap langkah dan salah percaturan.

Mungkin saya mesti periksa balik apa yang telah saya makan  kerana makanan jasad kita ini jika tidak halal dan toyibah akan menyebabkan hati kita hitam dan keras. Juga jika kita tidak berhati-hati dengan apa yang kita baca lalu  menerima bulat-bulat mesej-mesej yang tersurat dan tersirat tanpa kembali kepada apa yang hak dan batil  juga boleh mempengaruhi perbuatan kita.

Saya kena overhaul iman saya.  Haruskan saya lakukan secara drastik atau secara beransur-ansur?  Nilai balik semua perbuatan saya dari titik penurunan dan dengan tekun halusi apa y;ang saya buat sekarang yang saya tidak lakukan dahulu.  Think hard, very hard. Evaluate and reevaluate.


Dan yang paling penting, ikhlas dalam penilaian ini dan berani untuk membuat pembetulan walaupun sesusah mana pendekatan yang patut di ambil dan sepahit mana akibat-akibat yang akan di rasai.

Juga tak kurang penting untuk menjaga setiap anggota dari perkara yang menjauhkan kita dari kerethaan Allah.

Ya Rob, Ya Rob, Ya Rob. Bantulah aku.

How it has grown

 

                                                   At the beginning
               

Now after constant watering and care

This sunny small patch has grown into........

a much loved edible garden

Brinjals, chilies and tomatoes.

Assalamualaikum.

It is fruiting time for our edible garden. The flowers are out. The 3cm tomato seedlings have grown to be 3 feet tall, so do the brinjals and the chilies. It no longer look nicely arranged and in line since they grow in all directions.  But cannot beat the joy of seeing the flowers turning into little fruits and growing bigger and bigger everyday. I love having ulam raja with my rice but now the plant had exhausted it's leaves and had to be emm...'put to rest' and to be replaced with a new one. I will get it at the morning market on Sunday, InsyaAllah.

All this gardening is therapeutic you know.  It one of the natural prozacs in life.  It never fails to make you feel better. I guess humans are made to come in contact with nature and one cannot survive without the other so much so that people who lives among trees and greens are in a better well being than those that live in the concrete and steel jungle. I read of sick people who got better when they change their lifestyle from urban to a more nature surrounding habitat and  a diet of processed food to wholesome  natural food especially organic vegetables and fruits.  Gradually they regain their health and  their sickness subsides and dissapears. I guess, nothing like the real thing, huh?

What we do with our life is a lot like gardening. It starts with a seed.  The niat.  The right seed would produce the right plant.  If we plant a mango seed and wait for a durian fruit would be dumb. So if we plant the wrong niat in our hearts and hope for the right things to happen, it would not. For instance, if we are doing it for the money but say we are doing it for God, then you get a cut your salary, what happens?  You leave in a huff and a scoff. Arguing that one cannot live on water alone.

Then the ploughing.  Preparing for what ever you are out to do.  Getting ready the necessary. As a friend says, failing to plan is planning to fail. Something like that.

The weeding would mean staying away from the pest or parasites that suck your money and happiness and destroy your leaves of hope.

Watering and manure is like taking care of our physical health. Good food, vitamins, good diet.

The sun is love.  You need all the love you can get.

With all the above, you will be able to produce the best fruits to be benefited by yourself and others.

But nothing would happen without any effort.  No effort, no edible garden.

Love you, Selamat Berpuasa. Next change, pictures!!