Welcome home, Elmo

One weekday morning, 8am. Kids were in school, I was halfway through vacuuming/mopping (using our roombas and scoobas) when I heard a loud shrill cry. At first, I thought it was a cat. But no, cats aren’t that loud. The cries got more intense and my curiosity was piqued. I looked out of my wonder and got a huge surprise!

There was a macaw perching on the tree right in front of my block. What’s it doing there? I knew for sure this was a lost bird. And I knew this bird was BLARDY expensive. The owner must be panicking big time.

I debated if I should start shooting with the DSLR before it flew away. BUT, I didn’t. What was more pressing was that the owner and the bird reunite. So I hastily took a picture of the macaw with my handphone and posted the picture on the Singapore Birder FB group and my personal FB page, hoping to find the owner. Then, I took some nicer shots of the bird.

I was due for an errand then but oh my gawd, how could I leave? I was pacing about in my flat. At one point, the macaw’s calls got so desperate I burst into tears and started begging for it to be just a little more patient while we wait for news. Honestly, its call was one of the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever heard.

I felt I couldn’t just wait around any longer. Left the house, took off on my bike and started asking people in the neighborhood, even got so far as to knock on 2 possible birdowners’ doors. No luck.

Just then, someone on the SG Birder group said he found the owner and asked me if the bird was still around. I couldn’t answer him then. Rushed back to my block and saw a group of guys with various other expensive-looking birds, trying to coax the macaw down from the tree.

They succeeded. And these 2 lovey-dovey friends had a warm reunion.

I spoke to the owner briefly but he had no idea I was the one who helped in finding his bird. It’s ok. I was just so so happy for them.

Soon, birder guy who found the owner sent me screencaps of relieved members of the macaw owner family thanking me and him for the teamwork. Awwww. I felt like I did something wonderful. Nicest feeling in the world!

It didn’t end there. The next day, I got a FB message from one of the members of the parrot owner community here in SG. He said the community was very grateful to me. Apparently, they’re a close knitted group and meet up every week for their birds to free-fly. He invited me to one of their sessions, as a way to thank me. Awwwww.

We did go. I and the kids. We cycled all the way from Sembawang to Woodlands to meet the birds, I mean, the owners. It was the best weather to cycle in. Kids had such a blast! The venue is so pretty and serene too! Love it!

Guy who invited me, and his 2 hyacinth macaws. Magnificient!

The PCN that linked the 2 towns. Quiet mornings are the best!

Halfway through the session, the birdowners had to change venue, because.. traffic police… oops. This^ is us cycling all the way to the next venue to join them. Well, good thing second venue is near our place. 🙂

More birdies joined the gang in Sembawang. This is a super adorable little lovebird on my hand!

Doing their thing.

I only brought along the small camera because I wasn’t sure the owners would be comfortable with me taking pictures of their birds. Turned out they WANTED me to take nice pictures of their precious pets. Haha. I told them next time! 😛

The morning was really really fun and well-spent. It was such an eye-opener! I talked to a couple of the guys and learned quite a bit about parrots too. I also found out the circumstances in which Elmo (oh ya, that’s the name of the bird that was lost) got separated from the flock. Must have been super traumatising for both Elmo and its owner.

Elmo wasn’t there that day. Maybe I’ll get to see it next time. Meanwhile, we picked up this beautiful feather that one of the hyacinth macaws dropped. Our souvenir! 🙂

Protected: A Science date

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Birding at Lower Seletar

Kids had their school’s sports day at Yishun Stadium. I didn’t think it would be much fun staying. So I lugged along the big camera and went for a 4-hour birding trip at the nearby Lower Seletar Reservoir. Actually, I walked all the way to OCC (Orchid Country Club) and back. Hehe. Caught a few birds that I’d never photographed before. Very satisfied. 🙂

Olive-backed Sunbird, male

Pied Fantail (OCC)

Common Flameback, female (OCC)

Tiger Shrike (back to the reservoir)

This shrike was so adorable, looking around with its big round eyes.

Scaly Breasted Munia

Doesn’t it look comical?

White Throated Kingfisher

I chased this kingfisher for quite a distance but it kept flying away from me.

Love these…

Brahminy Kite

These birds aren’t exactly uncommon but I was already very thrilled to photograph them. I am an amateur birder afterall. Haha. Actually, there were 2 more birds which were caught on camera: Common Kingfisher and Blue Tailed Bee-eater. Sadly, they were both too far away. I would be STOKED to capture these 2 birds! Never mind, next time!

 

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September break

I wasn’t as hyped up for the September break this year because it was a very busy marking period for hubby. Still, we managed to squeeze some fun into the one week.

First off, a staycation at Sofitel Sentosa Resort and Spa. Such a pretty pretty hotel!

After checking in and wow-ing at the room, we went off for a few hours of intense shooting at the 4D Adventureland. Good choice we made, as it was scorching hot that day.

After dinner, we had some fun at the luge before going back to the hotel.

Good morning!

Love the breakfast.

Girl had to go for a school event so I took the Science-crazy boy out for a Science date.

Tinkerfest at the Science Centre. Making a marble run.

He tried other activities too but liked the marble run challenge the most. We managed to make one that worked! 🙂

Then, we traveled all the way to the other end of Singapore for a Science-themed hi-tea at Fresh Fruits Lab. He loved it! And I am so glad I got to spend that one-to-one time with him. We really bonded over hi-tea. (It’s a quite a weird thing to say considering he’s an 8yo boy, haha)

Once back home, he immediately sat down to read the brand new set of Young Scientists magazines his dad just bought for him. What a happy boy he was.

On the second last day of the school holidays, we went to Lazarus island with Trixie’s family. Although the beach and water were not as clean and pristine as before, it’s still more beautiful than the other beaches in Singapore. And the peace and serenity of the place is unrivaled, even though there were quite a lot of people there that day.

Unfortunately. I cannot post prettier pictures of the place since they have my kids’ faces in them.

It was cloudy for the most part of the day. That was good. I also caught 5 fish! Yes, there were schools swimming around us. Tiny ones though.

We swam, played frisbee and ball at the water, and basically just chilled in the sea for hours. Such is life.

Looking forward to the next term break!

Japanese Cemetery Park & Opp. D’Leedon

Do you know we have a Japanese Cemetery Park here in Singapore? Yep, me neither. Till I read about a cache hidden there.

I also read about pokemon hunters, or trainers or whatever you call them, descending on the park to play Pokemon Go. Glad this sign was put up. I know some people will say: what’s the difference? You geocachers are also playing a game what!

Well, if you are a geocacher, you will know the difference. So far, I’ve known the geocaching group (at least the one in sg here) to be genuine adventurous and nature/outdoor loving bunch. We also have initiatives to clean up the sites while playing geocaching. Cache owners often remind players to be respectful to the site, the people and the flora and fauna. We also have moderators checking up on the caches.

I took a long long time quietly admiring the park, reading descriptions and taking pictures. In fact, ended up not doing any geocaching at all because 2 muggles were sitting on geozone. Sobs.

Was trying to locate the lychee tree from the map.

My favorite tree in the park. It held such a presence and could be seen even before I entered the grounds.

The prayer hall was locked. Managed a picture of the inside.

If I’m not wrong, this is the lychee tree. An SG Heritage tree. Unfortunately, because of our unsuitable climate, it cannot bear fruit.

Another lovely place geocaching brought me to was the elevated field opposite D’Leedon condominium, which was gorgeous by the way.

Gutsy kids waved off my apprehension and just climbed the slope like it’s nothing at all.

What a reward. Splendid view up there!

We all loved this place. Picturesque and serene. We were quite sad to leave even after finding cache. Maybe one day, we can visit this place again.

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Fairy jar lanterns

Mid-Autumn is coming. As usual, I will be looking out for lantern crafts to do around this time. Came across these pretty fairy lanterns and just had to give it a try!

As you can see, I didn’t stick to just fairies! Actually, it’s because I couldn’t find any fairy cutouts, so I had to cut my own. I did that by googling for ‘fairy silhouettes’, printing them out, sticking them on a cardboard, and finally making the cutouts with scissors and penknife. Yes, it’s a quite a bit of work. But since I succeeded in cutting out the fairy, I thought ‘why stop there?’ and did cutouts of Kiki and Jiji on a broomstick and a unicorn too!

My cutting skill is quite awesome right? :p

Except for the cutouts, I bought everything else from Daiso. Mason jars, colored Led lights (orange, white and blue), and the decorations. Fairy jar was done entirely by me. Well, so were the other 2 but the kids designed them. Mandy did the unicorn jar, and Barry the Kiki jar. They wanted to add so much stuff to their jars omg. I had a hard time twisting and securing everything onto the jars. Haha. So fun though!

I came up with the idea to put 3 different colored lights in one jar. Gosh, so gorgeous!

So you can see the decor better…

The twines, leaves and berries look much better when the jars are not lit. They actually make very nice decorative jars just like that but I’m too lazy to take a picture. Ha.

Like this fairy lantern project? Why not try it. The hardest part will be making the cutouts if you cannot get ready made ones. And sticking on the tissue paper. Mine tore like crazy. Oh, I used scotch tape to stick the cutouts. Glue didn’t work for me. And I didn’t put glitter.

The kids love them. They wanted to hang them on a stick and go for a walk in the park. Hmmm. Not sure I can make them happen. Haha. Have fun!

Protected: Us with the kitties

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