save the world: Save the whale

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/

This photo is taken at the Science Centre, Museum in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I was there in January. I was curious with the barnacles growing on the whale.

I wrote a novel Mail Order Bride which unfortunately, is still waiting for a publisher. In a section I wrote about whales beaching, today, that fiction has sadly, become reality.

Watch our TV3 news video. Please allow a few seconds before the items comes on.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Rescuers-race-the-tide-to-save-15-whales/tabid/1216/articleID/171799/Default.aspx
Nearly 60 pilot whales are dead after a pod of 73 stranded on Karikari Beach near Kaitaia today.

The Department of Conservation in Kaitaia received a call about 10.30am advising of a mass whale stranding.

Carolyn Smith, community relations programme manager for DOC in Kaitaia, said the whales had probably stranded during the night, and that was why so many perished before being discovered.

The Far North was experiencing heavy rain and wind, which was both a help and a hindrance; the whales would not dry out but it made conditions difficult for rescuers, Ms Smith said.

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/mail-order-bride-chapter-4-jamie-toy.html

This is part of my novel, I hope you will enjoy as it has an environmental theme.

One day, tragedy struck New Zealand. It also struck Isabella personally. When Jamie and Isabella arrived at the car park at Muriwai beach in the morning, they were told a pod of fifty pilot whales had beached and stranded in the shallow water during the night. Rescuers, old and young and Jamie’s surfing mates were out there in the shallow water in a desperate attempt to save the surviving whales. Even school kids were given the day off school by their parents. The rescuers had covered the poor whales with beach towels and blankets and wetting them by scooping water to prevent the whales from getting dehydrated. Jamie told Isabella to bring her beach towel along as he raced to join the heroes and heroines in their noble attempt to save these beautiful animals.

“Take your beach towel.”

Jamie told Isabella to join the group of three middle aged women and a child.

“Hi! We are glad you have come to help. I am Grace, they are the two Anns. Ann without an E, and Anne with an E, and this is my daughter Jessie.”

“Hi! I am six.”

“Hi! I am Isabella.”

“Will you cover the whale with your beach towel at the exposed area?” requested Anne.

“No! I don’t want to get my new towel fishy and smelly.”

The two women and Jessie had been up the whole night and tempers were fraying.

“You have to scoop water on the whale and help us hold the whale up right. If not, their blow-holes will not be clear and the poor whale will drown,” said Grace.

“This is hard work,” grumbled Isabella when the whale blew water and drenched them.

“Why did you come? You knew this is hard work,” commented Ann.

“I didn’t want to come to help, Jamie told me to come.”

“Who is Jamie?” asked Grace.

“He’s my boyfriend.”

“You mean that handsome hunk?” asked Ann.

“Yes, the blonde guy.”

“You lucky woman,” commented the three.

After three hours, Isabella found the three women very friendly and they carried on a long conversation with her. She was surprised the extent they went in their nature loving activities like feeding and sheltering stray dogs and cats, planting herbs and native shrubs. She found them unpretentious and so different from other Kiwi women she had met. Isabella was happy they didn’t mind her Togalog English and the wrong grammar she used.

“What happen when we can’t save all the whales?” Isabella asked when she saw the dead whales.

“We use a forklift and a tractor to hull the poor whale and bury it,” said Anne.

“What, you mean you waste all the meat?”

“Huh?” asked all four of them in shock.

“You can sell them to the Japanese?”

“Isabella, you haven’t been in New Zealand long enough. The whole world hates the Japanese and their whaling,” said Ann irritably.

After twelve noon, under the hot sun, their poor whale died. Ann and Anne, Grace and Jessie cried openly. They christened him Moby. Isabella thought they were weird and gone soft in their head over a dead whale. Gordon came with the fork lift and hoisted the whale to give it a decent burial. Ann and Anne, Grace and Jessie followed as part of the cortege. The atmosphere was somber, there was so much death and sadness. The whales had to be buried quickly to prevent stench and spread of sickness.

Isabella chased the rest, and looked happy as if she had a brilliant idea.

“Wait, I want to lob off a chunk of meat to take back for my Filipino girl friends. It is such a waste of good meat.”

“Shit! Don’t you have any sense of decency? How can you eat whales?” shouted Ann.

“Whales are like people, they are not fish, they are higher beings, how can you even suggest eating them?” admonished Gordon.

Isabella quickly retreated with her tail between her legs.

But it was too late, Gordon and the women were so appalled by Isabella’s indecent proposal that they told everyone about this. Many of them were Greenpeace members and they told Jamie.

Jamie was diabolic and he shouted at Isabella in front of all the rescuers.

“I am so ashamed of you. You made me wish I had died and buried with the whales. Better still, you had died and we buried you.”

That sorrowful morning, twenty nine whales died and were buried in a massive grave: so was Isabella’s and Jamie’s relationship.

Outdoor Wednesday: Pass it on.

April with Joshua.

The Shop is at the corner down at the basement of the church.


http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com

Meet Amazing April Harris of Mt Albert Baptist Church in Auckland New Zealand. Together with her group of Christian women of the church, the "Well" women life group, founded this "Pass it on" Op Shop.

Getting the shop ready involved the ladies in her group and their husbands who made the shelving which in turn involved the sale of some scrap metal that were just lying around in front to the space allocated for the shop.

This is also a community service by our local supermarket Pac'N'Save who donates food to stock the shop, and Bunnings hardware who will be donating timber to make a deck.

This has also created a job opportunity for our ESOL student S to do the child care for the women who help in the shop. Such a spin off effect reminds me of my Economic lessens in High School, the multiplier effect.

Like all Op shops, this "Pass it on" depends on the goodwill and donation of everyone. And volunteers to help run the shop. If you happened to be in Auckland, do pop in.

To me, April is fantastic. What is incredible is April volunteers at this shop 5 days a week from 9 to 3. She has five children aged eleven to one. Kudos!!! Ka Pai and Paki Paki.

Here she is with her 4th child, Joshua. She was showing me the area where the deck will be.

My world Tuesday: Giant Transport machine

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/
I received an email in school warning of a closure of Newmarket Viaduct's southbound motorway lanes early next month.

I was not alone, sports clubs, schools and churches are among scores of organisations being blitzed by an email campaign by Transport Agency.

"No, this is not a hoax," says a message on the Transport Agency's website, in reaction to inquiries from some disbelieving email recipients about the closure of one of New Zealand's busiest motorway arteries for up to 36 hours from 5pm on Saturday, September 4.

This machine which I saw on my way south in April drew my attention. My friend asked why I took the photo. It is an 800-tonne piece of equipment on to the existing southbound carriageway, which will be demolished to make way for a new northbound structure.

That machine is the giant blue lifting gantry that has dominated the Newmarket skyline since the beginning of this year, and which will be moved by its own power generator on large metal sliding beams, from on top of the new southbound structure it has just finished building.

Save our world: save our ears

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/

There is a new wave of ear treatment that is sweeping the world. It is ear candling.

In the Chinese culture, it is a luxurious sensation for the men to have their hair cut, facial hair shaved and their ears dug to remove the wax. My aunt and uncle had a hairdressing and barber shop, and it was fascinating watching the barbers dig their client's ear. They have a whole set of tools to do it and they remove flakes like oat meal.

The Chinese dig their ears and there is no question about it. My sister E. used to line us up. We lied down on her thigh, another sibling held a torch light to the ear. Sis E dug our ears with a little digger which had a tiny spoon at the ear. When I grew older, and my sister left home, it was my turn. Sometimes, a slip of hand, and the poor victim would have a very sore ear.

At the Windsor University, I actually read about this ear digging thing, and some one actually did a study. Chinese ears have dry flaky wax, White people have gluey wax. My nieces and nephews who are half white and half Chinese have a mixture.

The doctors tell us not to dig our ears, or use the cotton buds to poke our ears. If it is necessary, you go to them, and they have a special syringe to flush the wax out with water directed into the ear. But that didn't work for my Dad.

My Dad had so much wax, my sister in law and I performed an enormous job on digging his ears, and I told him, no wonder he was getting deaf.

This January, I was at a friend's house. One of the girls came back with wax candle. We performed the procedure on the Dad. I helped and we giggled at the same time. You lit the candle and stuck it into the ear. When the candle stopped burning, there were residual flakes. I don't know if they were wax, there certainly was a lot from our guinea pig.

Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is an alternative medicine practice claimed to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal.

According to medical researchers, it is both dangerous and ineffective. Claims that the practice removes earwax are highly controversial. So save your ear, don't stick a candle in your ear. Leave it to the ear specialist.

Sunday stills. Fire and smoke

Ed's challenge makes me think of the idiom: There's no smoke without fire
This may be more of a challenge than last week. Either Smoke or fire or both can be in the pic, bonus for creativity…Have fun…:-) Ed.

For my take, this is a very New Zealand show. You do get it in USA, but here, the geothermal activity is still quite active. Once upon a time, there must be a lot of fire activity in the ground.

The Maori Goddess of fire is Mahuika. Mafuie is the Samoa goddess of earthquake god. Both stories tell of how man got fire. Zhu Rong AKA Li or Chu-jung is the Chinese god of fire and ruler of southern hemisphere. In Roman mythology, Vulcan is the god of fire. Fire is obviously a very important element to many people.






http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/





Geothermal area, The Taupo Region is a volcanic zone which contains some of the most violent thermal activity in the country. My father in law was afraid of the geysers and the howling sounds when the steam shoots up. It takes 30 minute walk visits bubbling craters, mud pools and steam vents.

In the 70s and 80s, it used to be free, but now they ask you for a donation of $6 to the volunteers who maintain the bathrooms and watch your cars. You can also see a lot of interesting plants that have adapted to thrive in the hot, steamy conditions. Enjoy this wonderful geothermal area despite the mild sulphur smell. It now has a wooden pathways with elevated viewing platforms.

My brother Charles and Sister in law Karen took me there in 1978. I fell in love with it. Charles jokes that this is heaven. Back then, the geysers were very strong. Charles says we were fairies in the clouds.

I went again with my kids and Sisters R and E.. Now you know why I like it.


This is Ho Mok Talay, New Zealand style. This Thai dish traditionally steamed in banana leaf cups has now morphed in Auckland and comes piping hot, smoking and on fire. It is in the form of a burning aluminium foil bomb which we dub as our Mt Eden Volcano.

Inside this alumnium foil mount exterior is a mixture of chopped calamari, mussels, shrimp and crab meat, mixed in an egg custard and steamed. It is spicy and soothing at the same time. My daughter likes it and she says it is very close to her Singapore favourite sea food, the chilli crab.

For her sake, whenever we go to the Thai House in Ponsonby, she orders this dish. You can't see the fire because I forgot to take the photo when it first arrived on the table.

In New Zealand, our natives, the Maoris have adapted their version of volcano cooking called the Hangi.









I was teaching my ESOL adult students what a Hangi is.
I was pleasantly surprised that In South America, they also cook food in a similar way. In Peru, Felecites tells me they call it Pachamanca, and in Chile, Monica says they call it Curanto. My Samoa students call it Umu.
In my other blog, annkschin.blogspot.com, I wrote about Hangis and my book, Mail order Bride., and short story, Nadine in various posts, but I didn't have a closeup photo. Here I am fortunate that Ngarimu's cousin invited me to take as many photos as I wanted.
Here are pix of the hot pit.

Cooking for a storm, chicken, pork, mutton, potato, kumara, pumpkin, cabbage, wholesome food cooked on site. Food wrapped in paper and alumnium foil placed in a basket and steamed in the ground for hours from hot stones.

The Maoris got this idea of a hangi from the hot thermal volcanic grounds where eggs can be boiled by lowering into thermal pools. In a Hangi, a big pit or more than one square yard is dug in the ground. Timber is burned, and stones are heated. The baskets of food are put into the pit and covered with jute sacks. Dirt is dug on top of the pit. The food takes a few hours to cook. It looks like a smoking volcano.

Next time, if I have the opportunity, I will get a photo of the burning logs.

Finally, no photo here. In Borneo, there is a lot of slash and burn farming methods. My parents make a big bon fire, and cover then fire with soil. They believe that this will kill off all the virus, grass seeds and make the soil fertile. Since the haze problem, this is stopped.

Friday shoot out: Roads

The photos I have chosen are for this theme: Uses of roads.

This is a hearing truck, the technician has a Ear clinic inside and visits schools. It was parked on the road, and I went to check it out and spoke with the technician.

In New Zealand, there are a lot of trailers. All you need is a tow bar at the back of your car, and you can tow them.

You can protest at road junctions for maximum effect, if you stand near to a school. This father led his kids to protest a cell phone tower from being built near his house and Pt Chevalier school where I work.

Kudos to these young mums, in the middle of winter, they push their pushchairs with their young ones.


Because Auckland is an earthquake area, before you build houses, you need to drill the ground to check the soil condition.

I love big trucks. This truck delivered brand new furniture to our new school buildings.

Roads are good advertising medium. You don't have to pay anything. Just employ someone willing to stand in the freezing cold and heavy traffic.

Inner city Auckland has no place for the horse. We don't have the Royal Canadian Mounties. You have to go to the outskirts to ride you horse on the road. This poor horse just looks pretty advertising for Chevalier Company which makes all the paraphernalia for the horse. My school Pt Chevalier school is in Pt Chevalier Suburb. Pt Chevalier or Pt Chev comes from Captain G.R. Chevalier, a musketry instructor during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s.



http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/
http://mytownmrlinky.blogspot.com/
"Member Voice" for August 13th - Roads and Pathways
Our theme for August 13th is "Roads and Pathways" by Lena aka SOL. And I just realized it is Friday the 13th! That only counts if you are superstitious I guess.....

In Lena's words:

"Roads and pathways can vary greatly from place to place. They are a great way to really highlight one's town or city. Also, roads and pathways have metaphorical value. So much of life is a journey and we are always "on the road" to something. Additionally, there is the mystery of what is at the end of that road or pathway; what is next. Also, I Iove perspective shots and have seen some amazing ones from FSO members, so I look forward to seeing more!!"

In my last year of high school, I did Robert Frost's poems. I like "Two Roads meet", and it is also the only poem I remembered in that book. In my interview for FSO, I quoted this poem. As I reflect my life, I have traveled to many parts of the world, and done many things. This poem just seems to describe my life almost to a T.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


Thank you to all of you who read and left cool comments on my FSO interview.

Outdoor Wednesday: skiing in NZ

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com

This is for Khengsiong. This is what I used to dream of when I was growing up in Borneo. "I am dreaming of a white Christmas."

In Auckland, winter is just cold and usually wet, gusty wind and squalls. Occasionally we have frost and hail, and lots of rain. You can drive 4 or 5 hours to the mountain, and you can ski at Mt Ruapehu.
http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2009/02/skiing-at-mt-ruapehu.html

These are my cousin Alicia's photos.