Perils of Cat Ownership

There is a worrying trend emerging - somehow there seem to be a predominance of cat-related entries in this blog. But what to do, there are so many cats around the garden that they tend to find their way into other areas as well - our conversations, my blog. They have also been trying to get into the house. There was also that embarassing moment on Christmas Eve when one of the male strays (Paddy) got into the house and sprayed a guest's handbag! Fortunately there were many people around. No one claimed the bag and so we hastily cleaned it up after chasing the naughty boy out of the house.

The major downside is that they have also started leaving their droppings around the place. The grass verge outside the house is a regular recipient, as is the bushier part of our little mini garden patch. Yes, in case you didn't get it, that is the part which is difficult to get to. The neighbours are also complaining that they are starting to get their share of "presents".

And so, we have decided to put the kittens up for adoption. I have sent in the notice to CWS and the kittens have been put on their adoption site. This has been a painful decision and the worst is yet to come, when one of them is actually taken away from the house. It is also a weighty responsibility to find a suitable adopter, who will take good care of our little ones, and, importantly, who can house train them. They are such trusting, affectionate little animals and really so adorable in the way they come rubbing themselves around my ankles asking for attention and affection.

I am reminded of how my dear aunt tried to sell off her Persian kittens. She managed to sell one - but it was such a painful and tearful experience that she could not sell another. Hopefully once all the cats are sterilised, I will be spared this painful task in future.

Where are my Prezzies!??!

Christmas-time - a time for friends, family and faith renewal. Well, at least that is what it is supposed to be. But it is also a stressful time. The art of present-giving is not an easy one. How does one find that gift which would a) demonstrate that you know the recipient's tastes and preferences b) look fairly expensive but not be too expensive and c) would be in line with what you would likely receive from the recipient.

As a child, one memory of Christmas was the gift giving from my uncles and aunts. We used to get individual presents from each of them. I still remember the floor all covered with wrapping paper. But then as the number of us cousins increased, the parents decided to take action. They decided to pool their resources together and buy one big gift per child. That reduced the stress of having to purchase and wrap numerous gifts and at the same time the kids could get those big-ticket items which they'd always wanted.

One of my cousins also had a fairly simple method, albeit the exact opposite of the "pooling" method described above. She would buy presents for everyone from the $1.99 Shop (this was before the chain folded) and give them out at her annual Christmas party. She proclaimed the source of her presents to everyone (with pride) and the gifts were generally quite good for a laugh. One year I decided I would out-do her in the buying of cheap gifts and gave her a free gift which I received when I made another purchase that year. Not sure if she has quite forgiven me for that - she has definitely not forgotten.

Over the years, my immediate family has evolved various systems to ensure that we get the presents we want. We provide gift lists to others, or even buy our own presents and pass them to others to wrap up. Then, there are the staple items - books, CDs, shirts and jewellery. Even so, there have been unfortunate duplications of gifts in the past, particularly books. That's why I like buying gifts whilst overseas over the year and putting them in a secret drawer until Christmas.

I have yet to encounter any good system for office-party gift exchanges. I personally like a system whereby people put down what they want to receive and so the giver knows exactly what to get. But I've been told that this lacks spontaneity and surprise. Ah well, what to do. I just think that the spirit of giving is somewhat thwarted if the recipient looks at your gift and thinks inside, hmmm. And I speak as one who has received comic-printed toilet paper as a gift. What was I supposed to do with that? Use it for the purpose intended? The more common practice appears to be, that you pull someone's name out of the jar and buy for that person. Now, this is pretty hazardous. There are people who are good at buying gifts and those who are not. There are people who are hard to buy for and those whose tastes are well known. There are people you just know better and those you don't know as well. So the problem is, how do you buy something for someone you may not know very much about? I just looked around the internet sites for some assistance on present-buying and this website: http://www.imagini.net/ seemed to offer some interesting solutions. I tried it out (on myself) and it did come up with unusual and imaginative gifts (as well as some pretty standard ones). Of course the downside is that it does require you to know something about the person you are buying the gift for.

Finally, heartfelt best wishes is something which is always acceptable, so I can only say:

Casey Wishes Everyone a Merry Christmas!

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Time to Smell the Orchids

Yesterday, I took my dear mother to the Singapore Garden Festival. And my, I have never seen so many aunties and uncles toting their cameras and happily taking photos of plants. (I also spotted my own dear auntie amongst the crowds). It was not just a garden festival but a sort of mega get-together of the plant- and gardening community.

I must admit that as a non-gardener (and owner of a new camera) my main interest was in taking photos, but even I got caught up in the arresting fantasy gardens, the appealing and inviting landscape gardens and the multitude of orchids of every shape, variety and hue, which were on display. My mother's favourite was the Chelsea Pensioner's Garden, which is a tropical version of a prize-winning garden exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show. What makes this garden so exciting and interesting is the great variety of plants on offer - and how they have been able to introduce local plants and herbs, and even vegetables! I personally think that instead of a Chelsea Pensioner they could have made it a "Kampong Headman's Garden", to bring it closer to Asia. But, the crowd loved the two old soldiers in their bright red coats (my mother took her picture with one) and this was one of the most popular gardens in the whole festival. Another memorable garden aimed to present an "abstract expression" of Singapore. This was essentially a series of rectangles filled with neat rows of cacti with different coloured flowers on top. Whilst I am sure it must have been a challenge to find so many cacti flowering at the same time, it was the tongue-in-cheek nature of the display which amused me.

It was also pretty exciting to go around the orchid displays as this allowed me to get closer to the plants to practice macro shots. But with so many people with the same idea (those who did not bring their cameras with them were using their camera phones) there was not much time to linger over composing and focusing each shot. I must admit that I have never seen or even conceived that there could be such a variety of orchids - big, small, with large petals and with twistie-like petals, and of many different colours. I suppose this is the result of all the hybridisation which goes on. I also saw Annika Sorenson's orchid - she was apparently present on the opening day of the festival and was presented with her own special orchid. Well, we have certainly named orchids after stranger people

It was perhaps in the retail section that the avid gardeners find occasion to "express" themselves. There was everything that any gardener could want. My mother found her Neem tree products (apparently the Neem is an Indian wonder-tree which fertilises and repels pests all at the same time) and started signing up with various groups (like the Green Guides at the Singapore Environment Council booth).

So it looks like Singapore is going the right route in promoting ourselves as the City in a Garden (or whatever the NParks slogan is). Perhaps a little more inclusiveness in getting Singaporeans into the process would help? I remember that "neighbourhood" gardens in the US had come about when individuals started converting the eyesors at the corners of their streets into miniature gardens. Judging from the crowds at the festival, perhaps there are sufficient Singaporeans who would be happy to help beautify the areas around them (particularly, say, if the cost of materials etc was not borne by them but by their town council? Which then does not need to pay for landscaping and gardening services). Hmmm

Kittens at Play

I have just bought myself a new Canon G7 Camera and have been trying it out over the past few days. Photos above feature Casey, and three kittens - Inks, Binks and Winks - at play. There is a fourth kitten, Minks (or Minx) but she is terribly shy and has not taken up semi-permanent residence on our doorstep (as yet).

Trying to photograph Casey was pretty tough - she was in a jumpy, fidgety mood. Finally she spotted a dragonfly and from then on sat watching its every step - check out her unblinking stare. The three kittens, on the other hand, were very photogenic. Gave me an opportunity to try out the special setting in the camera for pet photography - didn't seem to do too much for me but maybe I'm still getting the hang of it. This is early days yet.

Have also found a website which helps make the mosaic - it is pretty easy to use, much better than my Photoshopping efforts. Downside is that everything must be from Flickr - and I don't want to put all my photos there.

Internal Transformation

The Old and the New (1)
Originally uploaded by Taking5.

I have been going around Singapore the past few days with some of my classmates. On Thursday, we went down the Singapore River from Boat Quay to the Esplanade. Then on Sunday, we visited the re-opened National Museum of Singapore. It is absolutely amazing to see how the museum has transformed itself from the old musty rooms of my schooldays to this modern museum which uses technology effectively to take the viewer through Singapore's history. It was well worth going to - and to my surprise, I could have stayed there for at least an hour or two more. More pictures of the new museum are here.

There are two series of galleries in the museum - the Living Galleries and the History Galleries. The Living Galleries are entertaining - nostalgia, Singapore heritage etc. But the History Galleries are impressive. Starting with a film on how Sang Nila Utama named a certain island "Singapura", and a section on Sir Stamford Raffles, we walked through exhibits on 19th Century Singapore and then to the early 20th Century. I personally enjoyed this part of the museum most. Especially the room containing several paintings from William Farquhar's Natural History Collection - delicate watercolours of the flora and fauna in the region. Farquhar commissioned various Chinese painters to paint these water colours for him. He brought his collection back to Britain with him and gave the paintings to the Royal Asiatic Society. They were auctioned off in 1993 and sold to Mr G K Goh. GK Goh then loaned them to the National Museum (or is it donated?). May many follow this extremely rare example of philanthropy in the arts !

The History galleries then go on to World War II and the Japanese Occupation, the years up to and struggle for independence. The museum presents the story in two ways - the "personal path" and the "events path" and I chose to follow the "personal path" and follow the journey through the experiences of individual Singaporeans. For example, it was interesting to hear how the Khong Guan brothers worked on cultivating good employer-employee relations throughout the years of labour unrest - they never had a single strike throughout this period!

The galleries conclude with the early years of nation-building. Frankly, I skimmed through this portion but it was fascinating to hear how the two men who conducted the Macdonald house bombing were caught, by the man who apprehended them. With one giant step, the National Museum has really totally transformed the whole museum-going experience for me and surely for a cohort of national-education-doubting-school children.

Sterilising a Cat

We have decided to start sterilising the cats which come to our house for feeding. In addition to the six (6) I mentioned in an earlier post, the four (4) kittens in the next road are now being fed on site following complaints made by some obviously intolerant people that the cats were messing up their driveway.

So the ten (1o) cats are eating us out of house and home. Cat food is bought in large packets and (I believe) negotiations have been done with the retailer to get them at cheaper rates. One of the cats is vastly pregnant and there is another female of kitten-bearing age. We needed to do something. So my father arranged an appointment with the vet through the Cat Welfare Society for the sterilisation of two of the cats. On Monday night, we tried to trap the vastly pregnant female, Blackie. She was clearly unhappy inside her cage, making piteous mews. Her sibling, Sootie, and two half-grown kittens from her previous litter paced in front of the cage trying to make physical contact with her (awww.....). The next morning, before taking her to the vet, we gave a call. The receptionist hmmed and hawed when she heard that Blackie was vastly pregnant. Apparently cats in an advanced stage of pregnancy get very moody when they lose their kittens. She said that the risks of the operation were increased in such a case. So obviously we did not bring Blackie in. We made another appointment for Friday (today) to bring in the other female, Mollie.

Mollie must be psychic because last night she was nowhere in sight. So we trapped poor Sootie (see photo) in the cage. He was actually number 3 on our list after the two females. We don't want him growing up and getting into fights with Paddy or other tomcats. This morning, we found that the newspaper lining the floor of the cage had been delicately shredded. Either he was bored, or stressed. Maybe both. Paddy was also unhappy - the cage was his so what was this interloper doing in it. We transferred Sootie to a basket to take him to the vet and he started whimpering. This continued until we got to the vet where he was probably too terrified by the dogs barking to make a sound. Feeling slightly uneasy and guilty, we left him to his fate.

Sootie is now back here and his cage has been shifted to our back yard. Hope he has a quiet and comfortable night. He is sitting somewhat tenderly.

One down and many more to go.

Running the good race

Last year, I went to support my staff running in the Standard Chartered Marathon last year (2 people actually doing the full marathon, others the mini-marathon or half-marathon) and saw a few others I knew running past the finish line. This year I technically don't have any staff but I thought I'd support them anyway.

Many people see running a marathon as a milestone in their lives; an achievement to remember. Watching the runners come in, there is a wide range of people taking part, especially in the half-marathon and mini-marathon. Marathon runners are obviously super-fit types, but I did see a few older men come in. In the half and mini marathons, there are more older runners, and a wider range of female runners including many who have given up and are taking a leisurely stroll to the finish line at the end. But I still applaud them for trying - after all I didn't take part myself. See more marathon pictures.

I reached the finish line a little after 9am and found a colleague of mine stationed opposite the portable toilets in front of Supreme Court (not the best view surely?). He held his SLR with his superlong telephoto lens (I can't remember the length), I had my tiny little Canon IXUS in my bag. I need a new camera. We waited for some of our colleagues to come in after their 10 km run, and together we awaited the arrival of the sole half-marathoner of the group, to cheer him on the final stretch of his run. In the meantime, the kids'event was held and I spotted a friend of mine in the midst of all the kids, with his video recorder in hand. But where was his son? According to what he told me thereafter, he had jogged the last 3km of the half-marathon with a strained leg muscle (nonetheless he did it in about 2 hours, a good result) and just couldn't keep up with his son during the kids' event. He didn't hear me calling him and as a result I have only a photograph of the back of his head.

After the kids, the stragglers for the half-marathon were coming in and our young man was still nowhere in sight. I was complaining that he seemed to be pretty slow and someone told me I should be "more supportive". Finally we got an SMS from him - he had just woken up. Good thing I didn't waste my "supportive" energies.

Contemporary Music and Jazz, played by Russians

Yesterday night I went to a contemporary music and jazz performance organised as part of a mini-Russian festival here. The first (classical) half of the concert featured Tatiana Gridenko and Opus Posth and the jazz performance featured Vladimir Volkov and the Volkov Trio.

I enjoyed the classical performance more. I like chamber music and love strings. Favourite was the second piece by Vladimir Martynov, entitled "Autumn Ball of Elves". Gridenko introduces each piece before the ensemble plays it - I thought this excellent practice as it makes the piece more accessible to the audience, as compared to the rather "atas" expectation that the whole audience will understand what is going on through reading the programme notes. Martynov is a minimalist composer and he believed that the high point of music came in the 19th Century with pieces such as "Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream"; everything else is in decline. His composition certainly did not bring to mind Titiana and Oberon. Rather, I was reminded more of the Elves in Middle Earth. The piece opens with a rather charming, minuet-like theme which is then interrupted by short spiccato passages played by one viola and one violin. This is repeated several times with the main theme getting shorter and shorter with each repetition. The middle portion is played mainly spiccato; it is very rhythmic and reminded me of Frodo racing away from the Black Riders and the river rising up to block their passage. The last section is variations on the theme which is really rather pretty and recalls Rivendell to me. It ends on a slightly melancholic note. The composer was in the audience and Gridenko (the leader of Opus Posth) called him up to the front of house, next to the stage. As he was dressed in a polo t-shirt I don't think he was quite prepared for this public appearance.

The third composition was by Iannis Xenakis and this is supposed to be an "avant garde" composition. It is supposed to be "destructive" and indeed it sounded terrible. But it was far more interesting to watch! Could really see the players working to deliver the strange and distorted sounds the composer required. As the piece progressed I could see the bows shedding horsehair. The cellist in particular had several strands hanging off the tip of his bow. After the end of the piece everyone had to re-tune their instruments. Talk about destructive!

The jazz section was quite interesting altho' I didn't enjoy it as much. What made it enjoyable was the way you could see the Slavic soul coming out. The double bass player (Volkov) stood throughout the performance and his whole body moved in time to the music as he played. The guitar player flung his hair about and did some head banging but you would expect that of a guitarist. This expressiveness was also apparent (but less so) in the classical performance. I suppose it is a Russian thing; we had a word with the organiser of the event post-performance and she said that when she worked with the German ensemble they held themselves more formally whilst playing.

Whole Programme:

Philip Glass - The Company
Vladimir Martynov - Autumn Ball of Elves
Iannis Xenakis - Aroura
Pavel Karmanov - Green DNK (pronounced Denka - Green DNK is thus a play on Gridenko's name)

~ Interval ~

Jazz Improvisations