Joined Carol, Madi and the kids at their first picnic outing, I think, at Pasir Ris Park last Saturday. The weather was beautiful and there wasn't much crowd compared to East Coast or Changi Beach. Food was a simple fare of cream chicken and corn soup, summer salad, mashed potatoes and a bottle of sparklies. The kids had fun especially Isabel as she was the more adventurous one compared to Evan - the poor boy was close to tears when they tried to make him run bare-footed on the grass. Let's give him some time to acclimatize to what nature has to offer, he'll get there I'm sure.

Glad we've discovered another picnic spot near home. Will plan a mini bbq there one of the weekends.

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I was out sick yesterday and Hubby who was recovering from flu picked up the bug again, except this time his condition was worse than before. His current temperature measures at 38.5 degrees, so he will have an early start to the National weekend cos he's on 3 days medical leave! Poor Vicki was also ill. Sent her to the vet on Sunday only to find out she was running a temperature of 39.1 degrees. I decided she might as well get her pearlies cleaned up so took this opportunity to also get her health screening done to check for diabetes, liver, kidney and heart function. I was there to witness the Vet drawing her blood and it was a heart-wrenching sight to say the least. She struggled a bit at the first attempt and the flow was slow but it got better at the second attempt; perhaps she turned around and saw me that kinda gave her some reassurance?? Thank goodness the results came back looking good. Phew!

A Lesson From The Chinese Bamboo Tree

I've come to realize long time ago that life is never a bed of roses and I continue to believe so. Sometimes, hard as you might try things don't happen the way you want it to be, rather, the tide is against you and the harder you peddle the stronger the undercurrent... very disheartening indeed. From each of life's lesson I just hope to emerge as a stronger and hopefully wiser person after the chapter is closed. And as the poem suggests, do not be discouraged...

You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilise it for a whole year, and nothing happens

The second year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens

The third year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens. How discouraging this becomes!

The fourth year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens. This is very frustating

The fifth year you continue to water and fertilise the seed and then...take note. Sometime during the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree spouts and grows NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEK! Life is much akin to the growing process of the Chinese bamboo tree. It is often discouraging

We seemingly do things right, and nothing happens

But for those who do things right and are not discouraged and are persistent, things will happen

Finally we begin to receive the rewards