休假一日

星期三早上，醒来的时候突然有种莫名其妙的快乐感，可能是自己不用上班，男人也跟着旷工ing，起床的时候不用像平日那样赶东赶西的，不用争厕所，也不用塞车上班，都好一阵子没有享受过那么舒心无忧的假日了，哪怕是一整天宅在家里上网也是不错的选择。不过难得外面天气明朗，阳光又那么灿烂，我们俩又怎能只待在家里不出去好好享受西式早餐呢？

因为平常都没有吃早餐的习惯，一下子吃了那么大份的西餐，不去公园消耗一下热量又怎么行呢？吃得那么饱，挺着大肚腩想说跑步是不可能了，散散步看看树倒还差不多。星期三的公园因为观光人数不多，因此显得公园特别宁静舒服。我不晓得这个公园有多少年历史了，不过看样子应该蛮老了，公园里几乎每一棵树都很高大很粗壮，棵棵看来至少年过两百了吧？

哈比人与大树的惊人对比！有没有像魔戒电影里的树人啊？

不管我再怎么弯身下腰，即使趴在地上镜头都还是捕不了大树的全身。

公园里的大树一棵比一棵壮，一棵比一棵猛，吓得我们目瞪口呆！

那么茂盛的公园也自然吸引住上百只鸟儿来做窝，一路上都听得见小鸟悦耳的鸣叫声。

尤其是这棵开得花儿满满的大树，枝头上不知道坐着有几十只小鸟啊？

这是什么树？！怎么会开满了番薯啊？

更何况番薯家族都不是生长在泥土里的吗？

拍这照片的时候难免会害怕被番薯砸到头。

我们一边步行着，男人一边给我采了不少花，哈比人真贴心 ♡

公园散步后，我们又驾驶40公里到另一座城市的海边散步，也顺便到那里著名的西饼屋买苹果派，超好吃的！没拍到照片好可惜，如果天天都可以像星期三那样轻松写意那该多好呢？

八月终于结束了，春天也正式来临了，希望你有个美好的九月份。

在此也祝我亲爱的马来西亚同胞国庆节快乐！ 

Japanese Souvenir

Hello all...

I have been battling cold for the past few days and still can't stall this horrible coughing fit.

I have not been feeling real well until I received an air mail from Japan yesterday.
It is soooooo heart warming to receive a gift from kazuki-san again!
It truly made my day ^_________^

Kazuki-san, thank you, thank you and thank you for being so courteous, generous and thoughtful to me... Greatly appreciate our friendship!

过敏记

其实我没有很期待春天的来临，这阵子因为天气转热了很多，也可能因为我感冒的问题，我的脸上又出现了过敏的症状，尤其是鼻子两侧，脱皮＋发红＋发痒－样样齐全。害得我每一天要洗好多次的脸，涂好多次的药膏，敷好多层的润肤霜才能把它控制下来。

没办法啦⋯⋯ 敏感肌肤就要比一般人更努力打理才行！

季候性过敏几乎每隔两天就需要用上磨砂膏，接下来的春季会尽量用一些比较天然的润肤霜。我觉得Clarins系列挺适合敏感肌肤的人使用，而且我发觉自己其实还蛮依赖SKII的，因为这段过敏时期我发现它能舒暖我肌肤热红的现象。

这阵子我也不太敢把妆化得太浓，粉底液用不上了，脸上只盖薄薄一层BB霜，腮红也是涂得很薄很薄，或者有时候甚至不用，因为过敏的皮肤本来就已经是红的。

前阵子，皮肤专家建议我在发红的地方涂抹少许Nizoral。试用过后发觉效果真的很不错，比一般的Steroid cream更有效，而且副作用也比较少。

我的皮肤问题跟了我已经好久了。

还有什么拯救敏感肌肤的良药可以分享吗？

The Way I See Love ♥

Sometimes we take things for granted when we have all the things we need in our lives. Because married couple have been living together for too long, we forgot the reason why we love. We forgot we owe each other more than just a home, food and clothing. We forgot that our time, attention and interests are important in maintaining a happy relationship. We forgot that our happiness only come to us through our working together as husband and wife. We forgot that at the end of our lifetime, we have only each other to stick by but not our money or our children.

We might be luckier than many singles seeking love out there. But we too have our uneasy moments like many couples do. And I always cry in silence when it happens. Usually on the next morning I write him a letter to express how I feel. And he usually reads his old text messages (from me) to remind himself of why we love. This is how our problem usually get resolved. In this society, we are seeing a rapid rise in divorce I begin to ponder why people bother making wedding vows when they can be forgotten after a few years? So it is true that recipe for love requires not just 2 hearts full of love, but also 2 heaping cups of kindness, 2 armfuls of gentleness, 2 minds full of forgiveness and a dash of faith and trust for each other. Remember home is one of the sweetest and fondest words enshrined in human affections. So we should all cherish our loves.

It is funny how I recall Alex used to tell me he liked me instead of he loved me.
I pretended nothing has happened until about a year into our relationship he started to say to me that he loves me. Hence I thought the words "I love you" must entail a significant meaning to him as he doesn't simply say it to anyone unless he is sure about his feeling. Believe me I have never felt a pinching pain in my heart because I only appreciate the three magical words to come naturally when he really meant it. So when he took so much effort to produce a diamond ring to propose to me, I knew I cannot doubt his sincerity anymore. I can't thank him more for making me the happiest woman in the world.

绫木嗓

这一篇要是给我婆婆看了可能会被她用汤杓敲我的头 (¬。¬|||)
毕竟经历过第二次世界大战的老人家对日本相关事务还是会比较敏感一点⋯⋯

绫木香织是我刚认识不久的朋友。跟绫木嗓第一次见面是在一家很传统的日本餐馆里，里面的服务生一律都是日本人，所以用餐的时候感觉特别好。在很多个月前，我和绫木嗓其实早就已经擦肩而过了好几次，因为我和男人常常到那里用餐，而且绫木嗓她一身传统的kimono制服真的可爱到很难不让人去注意她。这种 ‘您好’‘谢谢’ 的门面关系维持了一段时间，有一晚绫木嗓突然主动过来跟我说话，她说 “常常看您到这里来吃饭我觉得您很漂亮呢”。哦⋯ 想不到绫木嗓第一次跟我说话居然是那么突然的赞美话，我当场愣了一下。接着她跟男人说 “先生娶到漂亮的太太实在太幸运了”，那一下我又被她搞到整张脸红番了。绫木嗓她太谦虚了，怎么我都好久没遇过这么虚心又有礼貌的人呢？因为怕尴尬，随后我也礼貌问她 “是东京人吗？”。 “对！对！对！以后过来东京玩我带您们去走走” ，我心想 ‘这女生怎么会那么可爱呢？’ 而且她好客气喔！经过那一晚上的谈天说笑，绫木嗓后来给了我她的电邮地址，希望互相联络，而我们的友谊就这样开始了 (^o ^*)⋯⋯

我和绫木嗓的电邮几乎都是每日一封，内容里常常听她讲述她在澳洲和在日本的生活模式有多不同。因为常常听她说新宿车站和涉谷商场的故事，我有时候在想自己要是能居住东京就好了，因为我喜欢人多热闹的地方。其实澳洲的安静生活我过得有点腻了，但是对刚抵达澳洲不久的绫木嗓，她似乎感觉不出澳洲会像我所描述的那样闷骚，她反而在这里已经安排了很多旅游节目，她说想在回东京之前要到凯恩斯、艾尔斯岩、墨尔本、悉尼和黄金海岸看看。被她说得那么好玩，我怎么觉得它们都不比北海道和京都的景色美啊？是我定居这里太久了吗？还是一直以为外国的月亮比较圆？

跟绫木嗓相处短短的日子里，我发现绫木嗓用心及诚恳的态度是非常罕见的，尤其在洋人的国家里，特别是澳洲。一般人要想在澳洲跟当地人交朋友，首先必须学会的不是英文，而是喝酒的门道。如果酒量麻麻或像我这种滴酒不喝的话，那么想跟当地人有跟进一步发展的友谊机会可能会变得更难了。自一百年以来，以酒代茶已是当地人立下的风俗习惯，因此这里大部分的人是不可能为了你而改口喝茶的。这就是澳洲人与日本人交友态度之大大差别了。

想不到天大地大，身在异乡的我们居然还能遇上了志同道合的朋友，真有缘份呐！听绫木嗓说今年年底要回东京结婚了，所以在澳洲剩下的日子她打算要巡游全澳洲，好羡慕喔！这次安全回到日本以后，我们下一次就换在东京见面吧！（我和绫木嗓的相关博贴 请按这里）

Kaori－san, いってらっしゃい！気をつけてね！

我的画画生涯

七岁那年，听我妈说她曾经带我参加过一项公开组绘画比赛，那一年的比赛刚好被我夺冠，上台领奖的时候台下观众纷纷害怕我会被那台巨型hamper压死（还好没事，死了我的画画生涯就从此结束了）。没有多少个人知道我妈其实才是我背后的中梗，是她教我画天要有云，画湖要有倒影，画树要注意阳光的方向。到我九岁的时候，我妈开始嫌我画人画得太扁，脸部的表情太卡通，因此决定每周日把我送到美术班去学画画。刚开始的时候，我很害怕，因为班上的同学都很厉害，而且那个时候我不会说福建话，所以很容易被其他同学排挤。还好Aaron老师很年轻，跟我们孩子很容易相处，所以跟他学绘画的基础很容易就学上手。十一岁的时候，终于升到中学班跟院长老婆徐夫人学粉彩和铅笔画。学了大概一年左右，我后来莫名其妙被调去院长徐先生的大人班，跟比我年长很多的哥哥姐姐、安帝安哥一起切磋切磋。跟徐院长学习那五年的时间可以说是我画画生涯中最开心的日子，他虽然一副严格的样子，但是从他身上我确实学了很多技巧，没有他我也不可能有今天的油画，感谢他坚持要我只画肖像。

跟徐院长拜师学画的那五年里，我画了应该有十几副的肖像油画，因为只有每周日才抽得出那四五个小时的时间来上课，中间也很舍不得的卖出去两三副油画。有段时间我执意不卖，可是后来徐老师点醒了我，他说一个画家总不能收藏着自己的作品，应该能捐就捐，能卖就卖。可因我的固执，如今我妈的家里依然像画廊一样挂着满满的油画，其中一副是我爸的肖像。去年返娘家可惜我只把两副油画拿下来亮相，下一次回娘家时要得好好补拍其他的。

跟徐夫人学绘画的那一年虽然很短暂，可是蜡笔、水彩、粉彩和铅笔画样样学齐全。

这一副是当时跟徐夫人学的铅笔肖像画。记忆中好像是画了蛮久的，因为老师要我每一痕都画得很细，不准我马虎。这副画的角落头盖上了我幼稚的签名，隔壁写着1996，当时我12岁。

这是比较后期的油画，原本说想挑战一点比较难画的动物画。那一次我选了松鼠，因为自己没看过一只活生生的，所以也只能凭空想像松鼠的样子。结果这副画的美感不是来自松鼠，而是来自看来有点3D效果的树皮。

多希望现在自己还能再次拿起毛笔来画画，可惜年级大了，也忙得抽不出时间来作画。

看来油画也只好变成我的回忆而已⋯⋯

跟我现在的作品是不是有很大差异呢？请按这里

Late Winter

As Spring approaches, more colours are showing at the park.
This visually pleasing landscape is very close to our home - Little Leaf.

Sadly I have only started to appreciate trees at this age, while most children in the European countries are exposed to the nature at a lot younger age and they grow up learning a lot from the nature too. 

Growing up in a city with towering apartment blocks and man-made gardens, it has never come across my mind how vast the world is beyond these concrete walls! I hope it is not too late for me to learn now. Fortunately I have a walking encyclopaedia at home who can teach me about native trees and wild flowers =)

This is the beauty of late Winter-early Spring in Queensland.

I don't know what sort of species this tree belongs to. They are not jacaranda or flame trees.

Hmmm... will have to look it up from the internet soon.

These red clusters are actually not flowers...

The leaves are still in the middle of transiting from green to red.

Queensland may have a great weather - sunshine throughout the year - but she has never been popular with idyllic countryside. Although this landscape is nothing to compare with what Japan or the UK could offer, I am still glad I have seen some of the most beautiful part of where I live =)

I realised the nature helps to relax my mind after a long stressful day at work.

I hope these pictures bring a smile to your face too!

Have a wonderful day ^______^

Goodbye winter woollies!

Winter is coming to an end soon...
Queensland is ready to bask in balmy temperatures again!
This dirty old jumper has kept me warm for the last 5 winters.
No wear no tear and still going strong!
As the weather gets warmer, it is almost time to put this old friend away now (^_^)

I'm Not Lovin' It

Alex and I had a back-to-school date tonight.
We held hands in the library. We had our dinner date at McD.
Like most school kids will do on their first date.
Sad to say the quality of McD has deteriorated so much these days.
We waited for a good 30 minutes before getting served. And no one utterance of apology.
The good old McD once being frequented by so many seemed a lot quieter and unwelcoming tonight.
The serving size of my chips looked pretty sad too .(>.<).
And not to mention Alex's junior-sizeeeeed McChicken burger.
Sesame seed bun with sparse sesame seeds.
Wilted lettuce and a little mayonnaise.
It was one sad experience at McD.
Yet we had a good laugh together.
At the very least - we still have each other to spend time together.
And that has made all the difference...