Good morning world....

A beautiful bright sunny, blue-sky morning, Broery's rich voice filling the air, my week's soiled clothes in the washing machine and I am in a very good mood even if the first sms I read was of Fadzil cancelling our tea appointment today, no excuse offered! Typical lah you brother! Hopefully it's the start of a lovely weekend. My heat-challenged Mat Salleh neighbours decided to honour the world with their two minutes presence in their garden and after some twangy pronouncements promptly reentered their Alaskan cold comfort zone from the kitchen door closing it with a bang. Not trying to be a busybody, but I can't help noticing that they are into their 3rd maid now! I guess the previous maids couldn't stand the totally shut, 24-hour air conditioned ambiance!!!

Had a simple breakfast of an orange, a banana, a raisin scone with olive oil spread, a piece of left-over naan with acar buah and a mug of white coffee, big deal ah! But I had it in my almost completed traditional Trengganu wooden gazebo attached to my kitchen which my young charge has painfully been constructing these last three weeks, and that made it special. He uses hardy chengal wood, Malay carvings and the roof is of fish scale-like earthen tiles which are almost a hundred years old that he found in some kampung and bought for 55 sen a piece and painstakingly scrubbed and cleaned. Am looking forward to its completion so I can throw a garden dinner party, laksa Johor and all, haha! Meanwhile, my elevated back neighbour's half a dozen or so pet cats have been amusing themselves with regular inspection visits of my gazebo's roof. Wish I can have a cat of my own!! Miss my Toby.

My garden is coming up nicely and my frangipani are already blooming. The rest of the plants I put in are really competing with each other who will grow faster. I get much satisfaction to see them grow. I had originally asked for a quotation from a professional landscaper who quoted RM8100 to fill up my garden. Well, I went on several trips to the nurseries in Sungai Buloh and Sri Hartamas and had spent just over RM1200 and I feel more satisfied with my own choice of plants, and efforts and the anticipation of the garden growing into its full glory.Yesterday's late downpour was a bonus for the garden even if it deprived me of my cardio walk up the peak near my house. 

After the rain I took my brother and brother-in-law and their spouses for dinner at Sungai Pencala and we had a really sumptuous meal, a Chinese-Muslim fare at Muhibbah, absolutely delicious (out of this world kerabu pucuk paku to boot). This was capped with dessert at a very beautiful restaurant Subak (http://www.subak.com.my)/ a hill amidst matured natural greens and traditional Malay wooden canopies tucked in some unsuspecting wooded part of Sungai Pencala. A really special ambiance, and the trio musicians sang three kroncong pieces at my request (Kartina Dahari might squirm at the way they delivered her famous songs, but I was entertained all the same!)

I had an easy good week at work for a change though on Wednesday, for the first time in my working life I thumped my fist on the table two hours into a meeting with some 25 of my staff, which went off track. But the meeting ended with me and my staff fostering a better understanding and goodwill after I put things, or rather 'them' into perspective. My message was clear - built your expertise and credibility, and prove your worthiness to the institution, then you can make demands or negotiate what you want! I had four separate delegations afterwards, all trying to explain  the 'rebellion'. It was clear that they rebelled without realising that the cause of their 'rebel' was no issue at all since I had never agreed to the issue at hand in the first place. One thing I realised after that incident was that they were actually worried if I would leave my job, and them!! Haha!

A worker is coming shortly to fill some cracks on my wooden floor. My weekly acupressure massage session is in the afternoon (has done me a world of good lately, felt my stresses completely dissipated by Mr Ng's  magic hands) and a choir concert in Shah Alam tonight (for Norliza's sake! She promised to seat me next to Syafinaz, hehe!). Tomorrow breakfast with YAL and the gang (to test his new Sulawasi cook's culinary ability I bet! Sulawesi got nasi lemak ke?) and an appointment with the pest control people at my Putrajaya house, and Mehboob to mow the grass. Abed has asked me to join him for an afternoon matinee at Actor's Studio. Ayu has gone back to Malang for two months to see her son whom she had not seen for over two years and has put Endang to cover her and I should rightfully be home while she works, being only her second week! How to juggle all these lah. And God knows what else will fill my weekend. But I feel great, Alhamdullilah....

Happy weekend all, God bless!

PS: Guess who proffered me a salam/handshake after the Friday prayer at the Angkasapuri mosque yesterday? Papa rock himself - Ramli Sarip!