bus ride

thoughts about my ride on the interstate express bus back to the homeland today:

• semi-modern architecture with typical rustic-level decor and down-on-the-heels feel
  
• 'orrible acoustics so the announcements come out like banshee wails
• and loos where you have to pay to enter and pay some more for access to paper

      BUT

• tech infrastructure to rival the best, with scanned ticketing and on-the-dot departure!

the journey is smooth and i arrive as promised. at the checkpoint, a nice elderly fellow takes me under his wings and shows me where to go to clear immigration and where to find the bus again after that. 

back to the grindstone tomorrow.

melaka

quickie trip to the old faithful location with my mum and with Ji J2 and their girls. inevitable meltdowns notwithstanding, we have a precious time catching up. very thankfully mum is a well super-ager A willfully and charmingly wraps us all around her little finger and E is sunny good natured and blissfully unaware that she should be acquiring stranger anxiety any day now.

time out

life hack: steal time for morning coffee* in the midst of grandparenting chaos.

*my first visit to margaret drive hawker center since they re-opened, and rather a disappointment it is too, in missing the energy and accessibility of the old one. they don't build 'em and cook 'em like they used to.

babysitting

we survive a night with A, HOM and i. from dinner to dessert to shower to story time to prayer to the next morning! even though we cycle thru llama llama red pajamas three times and there are heart-stopping moments in the middle of the night when she asks where mama is. and even though E the dog is distressed by the additional human in the bedroom. 

we feel accomplished (grandparently milestone achieved) humbled (she doesn't mind us!) delighted (nothing beats that trusting little hand in yours) and exhausted. 

with thanks to: cold storage roast chicken, the gelato joint in sunset way, last minute pdf download of llama llama red pajamas, and a random hair clip that allows her to twin with my updo.

baby's day out

A and E visit.

A prefers to be carried. E needs to be carried.

my upper body is getting a workout.

so is my back.

ouchhh.

li'l fashionista

 

A's shoes are giving mine a run for their money.

hot chocolate on thursday - michiko aoyama (2026)

delightfully gentle sweetly unexpected and wound through with rainbow skeins of connectivity that surprise you to the last.

michiko aoyama is getting better and better at this.

and after you finish the book you find yourself thinking thru the interconnections and enjoying them again, which is the mark of a really good story.