Thursday Challenge: Heat

my sis Helen is learning Eastern med. My Ah Tai practised this, Chinese mugwort (Folium Artemisiae argyi) is used for moxibustion, for a wide variety of health issues. The herb can be placed directly on the skin, attached to acupuncture needles, or rolled into sticks and waved gently over the area to be treated. In all instances, the herb is ignited and releases heat. Not only is it the herb which is believed[by whom?] to have healing properties in this manner, but it is also the heat released from the herb in a precise area

The current theme is "Heat" (Hot, Glowing, Fire, Smoke, Heat Distortion, Curling Iron,...).

Posting begins approximately Thursday 1am UTC (Wed 8pm EST, Wed 5pm PST, Thu 11am AEST) at http://www.spunwithtears.com/thursday.html



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ABC letter C for senior citizens

Last year, I made a trip back to my home state of Sarawak. I met my cousin Jeffery Kong for the first time. He had told me that he was a manager of two senior citizen's homes. I ask if I could visit. I was very impressed with the place and how he treated his customers. He said he treated them as customers because the customer is always first.
I took a few impromptu photos including this one with the oldest customer. I came home and wrote my The Playgroup Club book. Jeffery had inspired me to write about a senior citizen's home. As I was writing, I remembered I used to visit a senior citizen with my daughter Deborah.


http://abcwednesday.com

ABC Rubblish/garbage bags

Zero-waste Management Strategy:
Here's the collection of the bags by some of the volunteers, including a very young boy. Ka Pai to him. They had to lug the heavy bags to the quad bikes as runners.

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http://abcwednesday.com

Robert Burns

The Auckland statue broke with tradition. Instead of Burns in writer's garb holding a pen, Pomeroy created an image of Burns as the ploughman poet. Burns is shown in a tailcoat, knee breeches and a big Kilmarnock bonnet, leaning lazily against a plough and wistfully holding a pencil and notebook.



Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard[1][2]) was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide.

http://abcwednesday.com

ABC: Letter B for blade

"Blade" Fidget Spinner is the HOT new popular spinning concentration toy! I first heard of the word fidget when I was 15. A teacher had told my girlfriend not to fidget her hair. When I was teaching, I told my students not to fidget another's hair. I told them hairs may have nits. Now, fidget blade has a new meaning.


http://abcwednesday.com

Dischidia ruscifolia – Million Hearts 

When I was living in NTU, in Singapore,m I was the secretary of the gardening club. We stayed in the university residences. Staff came  and went on their three years contract. Some when they left would tell me to come and get their plants. The owner of this plant left and I brought it home. I split t into two, and they grew beautifully. 

One day  another friend and saw the plants. She said she gave to baby plant to the person who left. I told her she could have one.

 When I left, I had a plant sale and raise two thousand dollars for the deaf in Kenya,

 

sunset

"SUN (week 1 of 2)" (Sunset, Sunrise, Sunlight, Sunny, Sun Tan,...)

http://www.spunwithtears.com/thursday.html
sunset

abc wed letter A for aeroplane

Last year, I was in a situation thinking should I be a busybody aka KayPoh. I flew from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, It was a long trip and I had flown from winter to the tropics. I was feeling a bit bothered.

There was a young mother with a young baby. She had bags, and I could tell she was having problem to get her check in luggage from the carousel. I asked her if she could identify her bags, I will help her take it down. Her luggage came before mine, and I wasn't delayed. She told me she came back to rush to the hospital because a relative was very sick.

I am glad I gave her a bit of good cheer.

 

http://abcwednesday.com

secret garden One

I have posted this photo, but I really love it. One day, I was walking along Mt Eden Road. I have not walked this road for twenty years. Down in the valley, in between two buildings was this gem. It is so well hidden that unless you look down the valley, you won't see it. It was so beautiful, just what I would dream about.

These photos were taken more than ten years ago. Today, I went and got more photos.

There was a man working down there, so I was discrete when taking the pix. I suppose if I told him I was a keen gardener, he would kindly show me his crops.
I wonder if an original building had been torn down, and the place left to become a bush. The man took it upon himself to make this garden. He puts me to shame with his manicured garden, and when I look at my unruly and abandoned one.

Macular generation

http://www.visionaware.org/info/your-eye-condition/age-related-macular-degeneration-amd/12

I am privileged to have a couple of adult students , the husband over 80, and the wife almost eighty. They go walking before they make use of the gold card to ride the free bus. They also go to swim and the sauna to keeep warm.

She uses a pencil, and doesn't use reading glasses. She did tell me she has macular degeneration.

ABC Wed :letter A for alkekengi

Physalis alkekengi (bladder cherry, Chinese lantern,^[2] Japanese-lantern,^[3] strawberry groundcherry,^[4] or winter cherry;^[2]) is a relative of P. peruviana (Cape gooseberry). It is easily identifiable by the large, bright orange to red papery covering over its fruit, which resembles paper lanterns.

In Japan, its seeds are used as part of the Bon Festival as offerings to guide the souls of the deceased. Also, an annual market is dedicated to the flower called hōzuki-ichi, which occurs in Asakusa around Sensō-ji every year on July 9 and 10. This photo from wiki.

http://abcwednesday.com

My Kai Ma/god mother

This is Mrs Chew Tien Kui, aka Connie Ang. She is my God Mother in a Chinese social sense, not a religious sense. I went to visit her in Christchurch. I asked her if she would be my Kai Ma, and she said yes.
Many people asked, if she is my mum. I chose her to be my mum. Not many people knew that she did a special thing for me.
In 1974, I was going to teach in Kai Chung School in Binatang, now known as Bintangnor. I caught an expressed boat from Sarikei where my parents were living. The principal Mr Tang met me at the wharf and brought me to the Chews. I had assumed he had found accommodation for me. We made polite conversation. I think it was Mr Tang's intention for me to stay with the Chews, but he didn't know what to say.
Mrs Chew asked if I like to stay with them for the night, and Mr Tang quickly said a relieved "Yes".
That's how I got to know them, I frequented them. When I was going to Canada, I stayed with them.
I didn't see them for a long time. Then I found she had lost a son Ah Kok, whom I taught. We two have some thing in common. We are both bereaved mothers.