Gifts Ideas for Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is just around the corner. This year the day coincides with the first day of Chinese New Year.The latter is an important occasion for all Chinese to be with their families and loved ones. Many couples may choose not to celebrate on the day itself as priority is given to their families.

There are many ideas of gifts for her:

A simple box of chocolates and a card would just touch her heart; provided she's not on a diet. Or else after she finishes the box of chocolates, no doubt she would feel the warmth in her heart, but she would also put on an extra 5 pounds at her hips. lol

 

A dozen or more beautiful roses would bring a broad  smile on most girl's face (also on my face); unless she's not a flower-lover..

                                                             

If you want to show how much you love her (and don't mind paying more), jewellery would be nice.  Diamonds, gold and gemstones are many girls' (mine too) best friends.


Those who want to be more romantic, could consider lingerie.

 Too late to get gifts? Since this Valentine's Day is also the first day of Chinese New Year, why not give her a red packet (with cash or cheque) instead?

Here's wishing everyone a prosperous Chinese New Year and a romantic Valentine's Day!!

                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                       

Spring Cleaning - Once a Year

When I was young, I used to look forward to Chinese New Year celebration as there were lots of goodies to eat (normally I won't get to eat that much of junk food); receiving ang paos and seeing my relatives (whom I don't get to meet for 364 days). Spring cleaning were usually done by the adults.

Ever since adulthood, the duty of spring cleaning and preparation for the new year had fallen onto my hands. Clearing of unwanted stuff accumulated throughout the year is actually quite a headache. Getting each curtain down to wash was a bigger headache. Imagine I had to climb the ladder to get the curtains (piece by piece) down, machine washed, hang it to dry, iron it before climbing up the ladder to put it up. We have at least five big windows in the house and each has day and night curtains. Thank goodness I had just completed hanging the last piece of curtain back.

For groceries, I had to make a few trips to the supermarket to buy soft drinks, mandarin oranges, tit-bits and finger food. Fortunately, for the past few years, my family has decided to dine out for our reunion dinner (or lunch to avoid crowd). So that makes less to stock up.

Then, two days ago I'd decided I wanted to do some light decoration for the house. I'm not that good at craft work. So I just folded some butterflies and fans using red packets.

(The lantern and the two fireworks were purchased, of course).

I thought it look quite alright..

 

A Mother's Search For Her Lost Child

I was on my way walking home after buying lunch today when I heard tiny chirping sounds on the grass patch beside me. I turned to see a very young bird resting on the grass. Up on a tree (behind me), there's an adult yellow bird ( it looked like a black-naped oriole except that it's in yellow and green) 'calling out' loudly. I figured it was looking for her young who might had disappeared from the nest.

There were traffic passing by and the young bird's chirping sound was quite soft. Perhaps the mother could not hear its cry. The adult bird, on the tree, was looking around and calling out non-stop but never looked down at the grass patch. Soon, the young bird was tired and closed its eyes to rest. I tried whristling to catch the attention of the adult bird but to no avail. It flew from one tree to another and it never stop calling loudly. Usually these birds sing beautifully in the morning. Whenever I walked pass these trees I could hear them singing. But today, the sound was definitely not normal. It sounded like loud caws of crows. I could detect the urgency and desperateness in her calls.

(Below is the usual sound of the bird)

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As I stood helplessly looking at the young bird, an old lady was passing by, stopped and asked me what's the matter. In my broken hokkien, I managed to explain to her. I told her I do not know how to help. We watched the adult bird flew from tree to tree. Then the young bird opened its eyes but was not making any more sound. We spotted a shorter tree nearby (newly planted; not fully grown yet). I told her it would be good if the young bird could rest on the branch instead of on the grass as I was afraid it might be harmed by cats or dogs.

She agreed and immediately put down her groceries and went to pick up the little bird and placed it on the tree branch. I applauded the old lady's bravery as I would not dare to touch the little bird for two reasons: (1) I feel uneasy touching the soft bones of the bird and (2) I'm afraid of bird flu. 

I thanked her for her help. The old lady said she was going to hang around to see if her action was successful. I walked back to my block feeling pretty pleased.

In the evening, I passed by that tree again. The little bird was not there anymore. I really hope it has reunited with its mother.

Memories of the Past

Was going through my cupboard earlier and found some interesting stuff I still keep till now.

I remember this doll! It was the only one time I asked my dad to buy for me. I knew my dad was not earning alot when we were young and I would usually not ask for new toys. But I could not resist that particular one. It came with three dresses, curlers, hair dryer, make-up, etc. I remember I tried to convince my dad it was not that expensive; "Dad, its only $8.15!" (the price tag is still there at the top left hand corner of the box). Oh, I remember I'd hand sewn extra dresses for my doll too. Isn't she adorable?

This piece of drawing was one of my favourite. I had chosen pastel as the medium and had used perspective to project space between the lady and the guy. The outfit on the guy was actually one of the designs of my collection.

Not sure if I could reproduce the same standard now. Drawing needs patience and lots of practice...

This piece of bangle was my exam piece for my jewellery design class. Though it was an elective class, I still spent alot of effort in researching and refining my designs to come up with the final design. And because I had chosen to make a bangle, due to its size and weight, it had actually cost me a bomb in acquiring the right amount of silver to work on.

Don't assume a piece of silver to be shaped like a bar (like a bar of gold). It actually shapes like a piece of rock; irregular shape. Alot of work has to be done to turn a piece of silver into a piece of jewellery. Cutting, flattening, pulling, soldering, filing, etc. are all neccessary procedures of any kind of hand made jewellery (not to mention the amount of sweat too). I had deliberately chosen not to polish it in order to give the bangle a tarnished, rustic look.