vintage vibes

i haven't heard di tanjong katong outside of the NDP in years. the egg tart is generously filled. the coffee is passable. this could become a habit.

just dessert

HOM and i toddle over to the neighborhood ice cream joint after dinner for pistachio gelato.

half the neighborhood has also taken to after-dinner ice cream.

of valleys and still waters

we have a straightforward old fashioned sermon today sticking entirely to the passage. this is surprisingly rare and much appreciated when presented. i thank the preacher and find a fan club around him. it appears there are a few of us who hanker for straightforward old fashioned sermons that stick to text although unfortunately the current fad favors a pop psychology message garnished with the bible verse of the week.

after church we spend some time catching up with old friends. the trouble with a semi-retired oft-traveling lifestyle is that one ends up hi-and-bye with many beloved people and soon we discover we have all grown older in the meantime. 

for example, D has developed dementia in the years we have not sat down for a good chat. P is active with her community work and at peace with her non-remission. E and S have just returned from the camino de santiago. if S can do it, bum hip and all, i think perhaps HOM and i can too.

with this past week i feel, to my dazed delight, that God is anointing my head with oil as he leads me beside the deep unknown waters of uncertainty. thanks be to God.  

good saturday morn

lovely overcast morning. the type where you just return under the sheets and nap.

my father's brain - sandeep jauhar (2023)

this is a painful read, especially towards the end of his father's life. he is honest about the indignity of advanced dementia the stress of caregiving and the distress of surrogate decision making. i am humbled as an aging person a daughter a care provider and a fellow human.

they need to make this required reading for somebodies.

he writes best when describing gritty unpleasantnesses, by the way. like the choked toilet. you want to retch along.

senior moment

time was when a pencil wuz a pencil.

now you have exam-grade pencils.

existential problem

what i say is, perhaps they have a vegetarian copywriter.

another sunday

all my life you have been faithful - all my life you have been faithful - with every breath that i am able - oh i will sing of the goodness of God. - Jenn Johnson (2019)

playing in the band today and thinking there are few more satisfying moments than when everyone plays their different parts and we all sound a voice together. the cello, of course, makes me want to take up a new instrument. or just weep.

excuses

hot day. mother's day. sunday. good day for the affogato. delizioso.

byronic moment

flow gently, sweet Afton among thy green braes

flow gently, i'll sing thee a song in thy praise

my Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream

flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream

thou stock-dove, whose echo resounds thro' the glen

you wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den

thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear

i charge you disturb not my slumbering fair

i chance upon these words again and am wondrously swept into rolling green fields and braes and echoing glens and waiting to be picked up at my piano teacher's home. redintegration is real.

why Q needs U - danny bates (2025)

sweeping fascinating amazing breathtaking and all manner of other superlatives.

once in a while you find a non-fiction book about a topic people don't look twice at that holds you in thrall and teaches you gasp-worthy bits of stuff every chapter and this is one of them.

we like real words to have at least 3 letters. semivowels are consonants that sound like vowels. the great vowel shift is responsible for a lot of inconsistencies. americanisms are older than britishisms! (that's reverse snobbery for you)

totally worth reading even if you can't remember most of it eventually.

home grounds

back and what i find i miss the most is the auto-flush in the loos.

final excitement

sitting in the airport lounge and witnessing a grown tattooed man throw a tantrum at the wait staff over his repast and thinking that a tantrum sits poorly on a grown tattooed man. especially with a BMI in the region of 35 to 40. although to the wait staff's credit he is mollified and becalmed quickly enough. if you ask me he is a little bit of an ass.

GZ quickie

 

our quickie weekend in GZ is done and dusted. up and down the walking street and around to the cathedral and the river and serendipitously meeting a choir singing we are the world and lots of lovely grub including freshly pressed soy milk and much shopping.

it's back to the grind tomorrow.

last dinner before home

HOM finds this spot, resourceful fellow that he is. the name 情深翅海 does not even appear on english language searches. 

the buddha here is to die for. 

i tell HOM he needs to remember the next time we are in the 'hood and i say i want to go to that buddha place.

ravaged

HOM and i go up to the hotel reception and ask if our parcel has been delivered. the young man turns to his colleague and says, can you help these two old people with their request?

we look at each other in shock, my beloved and i. our hair may be gray, young man, and our faces may be lined but we'll have you know we are spring chickens inside!

1st road city park

we chance upon old fogies singin' and dancin' and upon youngsters livestreamin' in their cosplay finery. you would be forgiven for thinking this was a spot in some rabid capitalist society! except of course it is all very neat and clean and the public order is well preserved.

old friend

the usual drink of choice. although we have discovered cotti coffee as well.

massage chair

for a fraction of the sum HOM pays the human, i get pummeled cudgeled and pretty much bludgeoned over twenty minutes to a jelly-like consistency.

this is near-orgasmic, i tell HOM.

life in the fast lane (again)

today we try the dim sum place again at a much earlier hour. there are only 39 tables ahead of us this time!

brunch is delicious. alas, the glucose spike is fearsome.

here are the latte lava buns! scrumptious.

sunday

we slip into the cantonese language service. they sing all hail the power of jesus' name. and the gloria patri. the liturgy is familiar yet unfamiliar. the preaching is borderline anodyne but mainstream enough. we end with the apostles' creed and the lord's prayer.

it is particularly memorable because my pew-mate whispers to me that trousers are more comfortable in this weather than my dress. it leaves me wondering if this is a veiled hint that i ought not show my legs in church but HOM says she is just trying to be friendly. nevertheless i switch seats with HOM after that so as to put him between me and her.

life in the fast lane 2

we try to get a table at the dim sum place, HOM and i. the girl at the counter gives us our queue ticket. it says there are 104 tables waiting ahead of us.

we have lunch at the fish place.

1200 bookshop

the modern bookshop sells souvenirs t-shirts coffee and food. there are kitschy coasters featuring movies-from-the-year-you-were-born and kitschy notebooks featuring quotes by authors-born-on-your-birthday. 

yet the modern chinese reader is a far more eclectically widely-read animal than the average western-trained reader. perhaps because of the perceived restriction of chinese-ness their books are translated from all manner of languages and cover diverse topics. whereas our bookstores prominently feature rom-coms and self-help books in english and we are hard pressed to locate the translated stuff.

tea break

the makeshift stall just outside the hotel side door supplies ice cream at a buy-one-get-one deal.

best location ever.

life in the fast lane

may day on the pedestrian street in guangzhou is equivalent to shibuya. the crowds the tobacco smoke the crowds the cosplay and the crowds. on the other hand we start early enough that the morning is pleasantly festive and it only becomes a sardine can when we are ready for a nap.