LG - Life is good in Summerglades, Cyberjaya!

We first visited this site several years back. At that time, it was totally undeveloped. A group of us bought houses here and saw the development grow from scratch to what it is today, pleasant homes for us. Many of the houses are already rented out now at good prices and others are busy furnishing their houses. But we will keep one house totally for ourselves, friends and families to enjoy the simple joys here. What are the joys of Summer Glades?

A picture speaks a thousand words. Let the pictures speak the joy and happiness we feel when we see what we see in summer glades.

Pink lotus in the glades pond

Joanne - pink lady enjoying the pink lotus after her workout

Breakfast in the garden with the lotus in the glades behind.

The ducks from the pond.
You also see migratory birds
there since this is the real wetlands

Duck eggs in the garden.
They oblige if you feed them breakfast

Sunrise over  Lake Perdana in Putrajaya

Cycling around the Perdana Lake in Putrajaya in the daytime.

Life is good!  Amen.
The hot air balloons actually fly over here during the fiesta.

And ... the night unveils even more happy activities. Like ....

Great view of the fireworks without battling the crowds

                                       

Million dollar front row seats to see the fireworks.

We bring friends over to enjoy the sights.

Whenever there are fireworks displays or competition in Putrajaya, we go to Summerglades. Why? We get this front view seat on a hillock above the Perdana Lake without having to battle the crowded hordes down there in Putrajaya or Cyberjaya. And when there are marathons or runs in Putrajaya, we have the option of starting or ending from Summerglades.

Before the Fun Run in Putrajaya.
You have the option of sleeping over in Summerglades
after the run.

On our bicycles at midnight around the lake.

We end  the night with cycling around the lake; enjoying the changing colors of the bridge and the cool night breeze. We have like 11 bicycles there now.

And we have not shown you the pics of our live karaoke singing here that goes late in the night or really to early in the morning. And the yummy food we can get by driving a short distance from here.

LG - life is good here in Summerglades with our friends.

School Principals let loose in China

This was an unusual trip because out of the 20 people on board, 16 were school principals. You think we would be a very serious group? Think again! Try to think of 16 stressed out overworked principals let loose. What do you think we would do?

School Principals let loose.

Dali was a pleasant surprise for most of us. Ok -to be fair, I think none of the currently serving principals did much homework for the trip since we were swamped by work in school.  So we came to Dali with no expectations.We found Dali was situated by this huge beautiful lake Er Hai. . Our hotel rooms had views of the lake in front or the scenic mountains behind

Putting our best foot forward and ...
valiantly trying to maintain balance.

I was intrigued when I heard that we could view cormorants birds catching fishes for the fishermen. Excuse me, I remember studying about this in Geography a very long time ago while I was in primary school. Of course, we needed this optional package. In the end, all 20 of us went on 2 boats. I was surprised to find out the birds were free flying and came to the fishermen's boats when called by them. The fishermen stopped them from swallowing big fishes by tying a straw around their necks but the birds could easily swallow smaller fishes. Sometimes the birds work in groups to catch several fishes.

This cormorant has caught a sizable fish.

We had this interesting steamboat where the noodles were cooked like the opening of a fan. I liked this trip. It was quite relaxing since we stayed a minimum of two nights in each location before we moved on. Another good surprise was the four-stars hotel we were housed in. We slept in rooms with two queen sized beds for the duration of our entire stay  in China . During this trip, I saw the pretty colors of China. The blue sky, green hills, and fields with varying shades of yellow from the sunflowers, maize, tobacco and padi.

If you zoom in to this picture, you can see the
dinosaurs painted on the house walls.

I was intrigued by the dinosaurs I saw painted on the walls of many Chinese villages. In our initial animated discussion , we thought they were Chinese dragons. Later we found out we were passing through Dinosaur Valley and there were even a museum to view the fossils of the dinosaur found in this region.

Dinosaur painted on the walls.

Watching the show in the rain and
with the snow mountains as backdrop

Another highlight was watching Zhang Yi Mao open air show in Lijiang. We are dressed in raincoats and the show goes on , rain or shine. The Snow mountains in the background are part of the backdrop for the show with a cast of more than 500 people. There are so many things to view - the changing backdrop, the cast appearing among us, the cast appearing from different areas apart from the stage.

After the show, we took the cable car to Spruce Meadow. we breathed in fresh air - pure oxygen.Any chance of us looking younger?

At the first bend of the river that flows to Shanghai.

Pretty patchwork fieldsaginst blue sky and white clouds

With Tibetan mastiff dog

Poisonous red flowers. Even the yaks avoid them.

We came back to Malaysia, refreshed. And we had one more day to rest ... before going back to our schools. Thank God for good company, good weather, journey's pleasures and journey's mercies.

Travelling in Greece

3 Sept  2013.
Visiting Greece is a much delayed trip - I had wanted some 3 years ago to visit Greece but with the financial crisis and threatened security in Athens, it seemed not very practical. This longing to visit Greece must have come from teaching Bible Knowledge - the whole book of Acts centers around Israel, Turkey and Greece.So this year I got desperate and do or die, I had to visit Greece. Something to that effect

We flew in to Athens. That first day we walked up to the Acropolis and up Mars Hill twice - once by day and the second time by night. The Acropolis is a good 1500 m above sea level. .

The Acropolis and Mars Hill.

Jason on the Acropolis.
Note the thick columns

Up there, just before the Acropolis,  I found Dionysus' amphitheater. It looked so familiar. I then realized this was the place of a photo my students Sara and gang  in SMK Seksyen 5 used for teaching parabola.

At Dionysus amphitheater

                                                Greek busker on the way up to Mars Hill.

The Acropolis by night . Photo taken from Mars Hill.
No wonder Paul had that discussion on Mars Hill.
It overlooks the busy city and is cooler and
 is a good place for people to lepak and hear the latest fancies.

We took  a day trip to Corinth, about an hour drive away. Until  the day we visited Corinth, I never understood why Paul wrote two such thick letters I Corinthians and II Corinthians. Guess the location of Corinth?

Corinth was a very important city located at the narrow isthmus of Corinth. The word isthmus means neck. This is a narrow land bridge connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of mainland Greece. Ships had to take many days to sail around the treacherous coast of  the Peloponnese peninsula  but if they came to Corinth, They saved precious time and lives! 

Here at Corinth, they were rolled across on wooden logs ( smoothed with animal fat) on land, for a hefty fee of course! This made Corinth extremely prosperous! Her strategic location at  the connection between the Mediterranean sea and the Aegean sea meant a meeting of cultures.It is no wonder the very word Corinthian means ultra liberal. If you view the map below, you will find Corinth is not far from Sparta and Olympus and the 3 cultures - spartan versus liberal versus rigorous sports training in Olympus are very very different despite the nearness in location. 

Paul spent much time in Corinth. He stayed here twice, the first time for more than one and a half years. In Acts 18:18, we read that Paul sailed from Cenchrea ( the harbour near Corinth) and sailed to Ephesus. Look at the map and you find Ephesus is almost in a straight line slightly above Cenchrea across the Agean sea.

The Corinth canal was built with the invention  of dynamite
and ships now sail across instead of being rolled across.

Paul must have preached at this place
overlooking the agora (market place )  in Corinth

Corinth was the place where the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and encouraged him to stay there and to speak. God assured Paul he had many people here and that He was with Paul here and no one would attack or hurt him here.

Are there difficult places where God calls you to stay?

The pleasure of travelling

When I was much younger and poorer, I had many dreams of travelling the world and seeing what I read in books come alive in my travels. In fact, I told Papa God if ever He intended to take me home to Heaven earlier and if by chance I hadn't quite travel as much as I wanted to, to make very sure His angel take me on a round the world tour first, before taking me up to the more glorious heavens.

Papa God must have heard my prayers and blessed my husband financially so that we can travel often and savor travelling and not make the angel do a whirlwind tour. Thank you Papa God for hearing and answering my prayers. This post will show pics in Santorini, Greece August-Sept 2013. Santorini means Saint Irene - so for my good friend and pastor Irene, here is one beautiful island bearing your name to which which you must go.

At the castle ruins overlooking Oia.

Santorini has ...
more churches than houses
more wine than water
more steps than roads
more donkeys than taxis

Yummy Greek food at Kamaris, black beach resort area.

Jason at Oia

This handsome bus conductor on the bus to Kamaris
transported me back in time to 30 years ago  nostalgia
on the Len Sen bus in Setapak.
He  issued tickets by punching holes in each tickets
and shouted the name of each bus station .

Sue Ann in  Fira overlooking the bay where our
Spanish cruise ship The Zenith awaits our return.

Donkey ride down 600 steps from Fira to the harbour 

to our awaiting ship. Remember Santorini has ...

more steps than roads and more donkeys than taxis.

Returning back to our cruise ship The Zenith.
She is a 11+1 storeys ship with lifts running
up to the 11 floor. 
The 12th floor is the deck from
which we often view sunrise and sunset.

What a happy time, savoring the sights, the smells, the sounds of Santorini. Thank you God.

Grasped by His strong hand

Light in darkness

                                                    Aurora in the Yukon , Canada.

I could not fathom it but I knew something was not okay with me emotionally when I returned back from US in 2012. Initially I thought it was just jet lag and fatigue but as the months went by and the low feelings persisted on, I realized it was more than that.

I couldn't quite place my finger on the feeling. It felt as if  every now and then, I was  tele-ported somewhere often - to another continent, to another age, and  to heaven's shore. Turning a physical corner in driving or walking felt as though I was turning a corner into another age and era. Falling asleep also felt like I was going into another time zone. At times, I woke up in the night sobbing and not knowing why. I struggled with those difficult feelings.

In the midst of all this, I did wonder if it was time for me to go home to heaven? Was Father God sending me signals to prepare to go home to Him?  I even consulted a therapist and among some of the things he did was to check if I was suicidal then. No, I said, no I am not suicidal.

Then this vision came. The sketch above done during my quiet time does not do justice to the vision I saw. I saw God's huge strong hand grasping my weak hand. My feet were sinking in miry clay but His strong hand's grasped lifted me up and out of the miry clay. All outside was pitch cold darkness but God's hand holding my hand was bathed in a wonderful shaft of warm yellow light. I saw warm light in the cold darkness.

The poem I wrote next to my sketch

The strength of your hand's grasp, 
Holding my hand, 
Lifts me up and out of the sticky miry clay
I am no longer sinking low 
but you lift me up


It is never how hard I hold on to Him that matters. It is how hard He holds on to me that really matters. In that season of my weakness, I realized it was all about Him and not about me or whatever limited strength I had.


Then the lyrics of Matt Redman's song became so meaningful to me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth


YOU NEVER LET GO LYRICS - MATT REDMAN

I am glad that dark confusing season is over. I am even more glad I have gone through it, knowing God was there with me and it was His strength that held me and not my limited strength.

Favour of God

I should have written this post much earlier but school was just too hectic with all the major upgrading we were doing, so this post is long.... overdue.

I heard from the news and read that 80% of Venice was flooded on 11 November 2012. Our dilemna? We were due in Venice on the 13th November 2012. We heard it was the worse ever floods. We  viewed the YouTube movies that showed people moving their luggage in waist high water. I asked Jason if we could go somewhere in Italy first before going to Venice so that hopefully that would give buy some time for the floods to  recede. He said we had booked all our flights and  hotels for 7 days in Italy and cancellation was difficult.

Well, since we couldn't change, we got prepared. I bought 3 pairs of Phua Chu Kang boots just in case we had to walk through the floods.We repacked our luggage. So off we went!

The weather in Venice when we arrived on the 13th November noon? And the weather after that?
We had sunny blue skies without clouds and not a drop of rain for the 7 days we were in Italy! Miracle! God's grace. God's love. Favour!!! Thank you, Papa God. Muaach!!!

Sue Ann in gondala against sunny blue skies.
Not a cloud in my eyes,
Got the sun in my eye

.

It was also our 30th wedding anniversary
when we arrived on the 13th Nov 2012

To top it, we visited many places near and In Venice.I loved Rialto market and Rialto bridge.

Red hot peppers that looked like Christmas baubles.

Burano with her colourful houses.

Burano with her lovely laces

In August, I visited Furano and had a great feast with our eyes and tummy.  Guess where it is? Then we visited Murano glassworks and had an art feast.  Now Burano... Sigh..! What a lovely play of places that had names ending in ano.

Burano's yummlicious food.

Since I didn't get a chance to wear my heavy Phua Chu Kang boots lugged all the way from KL, I just had to pose in St Marks square where small sections will flood when the tide comes in. Btw, we left our 3 pairs of boots in the hotel for the next guests and next major flood.

Me with my Phua Chu Kang signature yellow boots
in St Marks square where it floods
when the tide comes in

Florence was a dream come true! I had read and taught about the multi-tiered houses on the bridge at Arno river in Florence about 10 years ago. Now I got to see the bridge and the houses and to walk on the bridge.

Jason with the 4 tiered house on the bridge
 on the Arno River in Florence

Which true physicists can resist not going to Pisa and see and climb the leaning Tower of Pisa? Pisa is just an easy hour ++ journey by train from Florence.

Propping the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

We took the cab to the highest point in Florence and viewed the city below. You can still see the multi tiered houses on the bridge. The statute of David is there to keep you company and you can walk down the stairs right past the fort and back into quaint Florence inner city again.

At the highest point in Florence.
Can you see the tiered house bridge
over the river in the distant background

Statute of David

Both Florence and Milan are shopping havens. Ladies - I advice you strongly - check out all the prices of the branded Italian stuff you have dreamed about while you are in KL.  aWhen you compare the prices in Italy, you realize it is very worthwhile to shop in Italy and you will  buy, buy, buy like I did......! Haha!

Cake from Sue Jan's church

We felt truly blessed by the favour of God's love. Thank you Papa God!! Receive our grateful thanks!