Layered

Ogres are like onions. – Shrek-

This post is my contribution to One Word Sunday: Layered hosted by Debbie at TravelWithIntent

The Changing Seasons: October 2019

Highlight of my October is Younger Daughter & Grandparents’ (plus Me) Trip to Tokyo. We had 5 nights at Tokyo Disney Resort, 5 nights in Chiba (千葉市 Chiba–shi).

I haven’t been back to Japan since 2007 so was feeling a little apprehensive over my lack of the language. A Friend who visits the country several times each year assured me that that I would be fine, and after all, I was going to The Happiest Place on Earth (and she wasn’t referring to Disneyland).

Shortly upon arrival, I was reminded of how gracious the Japanese are – immigration is the most orderly and courteous I’ve encountered ever. I found this true throughout our visit as we encountered a variety of service people and folks on the street who were eager to help despite language barriers.

And of course, starting our trip in Tokyo Disney Resort was an easy way to ease ourselves into the swing of things.

JR Mahatma Station

The Resort Monorail

Entrance of Urayasu Sport Park (next to the Resort)

Just in case you forgot where you were.

Grandparents, Younger Daughter & I: Halloween at Disneysea

Chiba-shi is the capital of Chiba prefecture.  It afforded many conveniences without a big city feel. Running through the smaller streets gave me a chance to discover havens of greenery & beauty.

if walls could talk

Singapore has a relatively short history, so our historic buildings are also fairly young. Nevertheless, I am awed by the beauty and gravity that is conservation, and the importance of these buildings to our past.

Feature Photo: heritage houses in River Valley which I run past often. I lived further down the street when I was about 3, my mother tells me.

taking time for little things … and not so little things

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

JRR Tolkien

I am a sucker for flowers on the ground: whether they form a carpet of colour on the pavement or sit smug & all alone, I can’t help smiling, and often, stopping to snap a shot.

The Changing Seasons: September 2019

The Singapore Botanic Gardens has given me shelter & reprieve from the haze which has kept us indoors a great deal these last few weeks.

volume

In consideration of One Word Sunday: Volume hosted by Debbie at TravelWithIntent, I am thinking of our visit to Lon Lon Local Diner in Bangkok a couple of months ago.

fruit of a different route

I am a creature of habit. If left unchecked, I will drive by familiar roads, walk by the same paths, cook tried & tested family favourites. Yet, because someone wise told me long ago that I should break routine at least once a day for the purposes of stimulating  creativity, I try to shake it up a little when I can.

The Changing Seasons: August 2019

August was a month of normalisation: a time to take a breath after an exciting few months of family visits and travel. School begins, routines kick back in, space to gawk at familiar places and wonders.

little surprising treasures

“Darling, when you run tomorrow morning, see if you can find this?” came this request as he pushed his computer in front of my nose. Peering at his photograph of what looked like a sweet bun nestled among leaves, I looked enquiringly at him as Loving Husband explained that he chanced upon this curiosity, stark against the dark of foliage, made even more interesting in the twilight hour of his run in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. “I want to know what it looks like now” he explained.

The Windows

In these dark rooms where I live out empty days,
I wander round and round
trying to find the windows.
It will be a great relief when a window opens.
But the windows aren’t there to be found –
or at least I can’t find them.
Perhaps the light will prove another tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will expose?

“The Windows” by C P Cavafy, 1903

Poem taken from Collected Poems translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard, The Hogarth Press