Fry away with me!

With Outstanding gone (part 2), Gumption has taken over the cooking duties. First attempt was an Outstanding speciality...

FRIED RICE!

How does your garden grow?

With Outstanding gone, Gumption has taken over looking after the plants.

While some have bloomed...

Sorta bloomed...

Others have not done as well. Come back soon, Outstanding!

Ease

"All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; the Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death."

The Journey of the Magi ~ T.S. Eliot


I had been back in Singapore for a couple of weeks and met up with Pat for coffee and telling her what i had seen.. my mother the same and different, bleeding and ill, me, each night in the dark fixing my heart painstaking scotch tape feeling already the next break, sleeping once more in the kitchen of her home, like i did till i was 13, beside the washing machine now what was the oven, and we moved to a bigger flat and no more, and another and they back to a smaller, life passing and friends some much much more and stranger less and the streets full of new clothes and bright cars and the city shinier still and sadder, things different and not some yet the same much no.
Then she said to me like a thunderbolt i can't remember the title i can't remember i think you are no longer at ease here no longer at ease no here i was

Holidaying!

Mousey and Mark. Post-dinner stupor.

Full from dinner but still dwarfed by giant bed.

A photo Outstanding would be so proud of!

No beef with this lunch!

Photo of very expensive steak. Yes, Joshua, it did cost US$35. And boy, was it yummy! Thanks Mousey, Mark and Zann!

Spidey Sense-less

It's Spiderman 3 being filmed under our block! Woohoo! exciting! But all we got to see was the back of Tobey Maguire! Still!

See that tiny little round dot in the middle of the photo? That's Tobey Maguire! Well, the back of his head anyway! Yes, Gumption shot these photos, not Outstanding...

It was such a Brighton Day!

Zann has no hand-ice-cream co-ordination!

Mousey's very neat cone!

Mousey and Zann pretending to be mobsters! Welcome to the Family!

On the Rhode to Providence!

We're on the way to Providence, Rhode Island! Woohoo! Check out my spiffy new Yankees cap! Down with the Mets!

On the world's most gi-normous bed!

All kinds of seafood! Yum-o!

Gumption attempts to eat a steamed clam!

All tired out from our one-day trip!

This Post is Heavily Monitored

i'm in Singapore on account of my mom.

Was at Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve today. Observed

- 1 ferocious shower spelling no relief passing
- 2 monitor lizards basking in the sun motionless
- 3 monitor lizards languid swimming in the brack like snakes one in faraway shade of cathedral roots one later braving an open pool of light
- 1 unending chorus of crickets meticulously tuning their instruments
- 1 monitor lizard beatup tailless heaving out of coppery pool with an almighty splash
- 1 monitor lizard stand-off .. flickering tongue on the foot path refusing to get out the way and me nervous not knowing if he knew i come in peace
- 1 mosquito on my left arm abdomen ballooning with my blood that i promptly dispatched from this earth and too brief life and left me pondering on karma
- 1 mosquito on my left arm bloodless next to mosquito with blood who was also dispatched henceforth with same palm slap and left me itchy
- schools of fish glistening in pond like burnished change cast in wishing spell
- 2 kingfishers flash of blue
- 1 mudskipper size of a turkey drumstick sinewy in oily water spastic on land
- 1 whooping call from an unseen bird in the canopy that brought flood of memory of place i used to live where each morning i was roused with the same and swore bloody revenge but now feel fondly
- 1 monitor lizard expired in flotsam upsidedown
- 3 labourers siesta in hide tousled with my inconvenient arrival
- 5 sideways crabs brooking no audience retreating
- 1 evil looking wasp like bug that seemed to think i was following him and meant harm when i was just going down boardwalk following signs and more nervous than he before we parted buzzed his displeasure in my ear
- 1 juvenile monitor curious polished head peeking out of hollow of mangrove stump at my passing
- 4 shiny sudden skinks
- 1 mudskipper walking on water why not swim
- 2 waterhens conversation
- 2 movements on mudflats indistinct just out of field of vision imagined perhaps
- 2 singaporean families of reluctant children with complaisant parents out of element too white legs in tow
- 3 separate unexplained bursts of noises beyond the reach of language and imperfect grasp of meaning and memory
- 3 flights of rowdy pipers wading out the distant winter searching for crustaceans and news from home
- 1 five foot long crocodile whereby i went holy shit! out loud to no one and feel blessed who calms me with one primordial beady eye and soundlessly slips into water on other side of embankment out of sight forever

Fade to Black: Keane Retires from Football

"Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power"

To Market To Market To the Designers Market, Nolita, NYC

The Singapore contingent at Designers Market NYC
Er.. 3 pretty maids in a Row...
(this posting kindly sponsored by the Swirl Girls and G. Gumption)







At the Swirl booth
"Er... What if the shoppers get into a frenzy when they see our Swirl designs? Like at the Fashionista Bazaar in Singapore?"
"It's ok donch worry I will flap open my trench coat and flash them!"
"Er...ok good idea!"
"Anyway when they see our matching helmets they'll know we mean biznezz"
"Ya hor!"


At the alfieleedesign booth
"Er... I just close my eyes and rest them a bit.. donch worry my finger puppet rabbit will continue to serve you and answer any queries you might have... zzzz"

Happy National Doughnut Day!

Today is National Doughnut Day in the US!
This yummy delish celebration was established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to raise much-needed funds during the Great Depression and to honor the work of World War I Salvation Army volunteers who prepared doughnuts for thousands of soldiers.
National Doughnut Day is celebrated annually on the first Friday in June.
To mark the occasion, Krispy Kreme gave its customers a free doughnut of their choice.
No. You do-nut have to ask where we went today..

Zann & Gumption's Broadway Reunion

Zann & Gumption stop traffic in the middle of Broadway and 5th Avenue!
This was just after way too much Cuban soul food at Sophie's at 34th & Madison.
And not long before jet-lag kicked in and Zann boarded the express to Z Z Land..

Zann: Hey! The weather iszzzzzzzzz...
Gumption: Ya it's hot! Why don't you remove your helmet?
Zann: Zzzzzzzz..

Curry Puff Girl!

Now doesn't Gumption look absolutely over the moon?
Finally, she gets to sink her teeth into an Old Chang Kee Curry Puff! Thanks to Zann for escorting the 6 Curry Puffs on the 23 hour flight across too many continents and 2 oceans!
Operation 'Chang Kee' was a team effort, with Outstanding Mom retrieving Gumption's tupperware from storage in Singapore, relaying it to Gumption Mom who handed over to Zann. It was Zann Mom who decided to buy 8 Curry Puffs.. er.. 2 were lost in transit.. eaten we believe.. reports are suspiciously sketchy.. anyway..
Well done team!

ps. Yay! Suzanne is here!!
pps. Gumption's tee is available at alfie lee design