Dynasties (Part 2)

Click HERE to read.

Brian Monk & Dr. Fauci

The write-up below appeared in my Facebook Feed. A certain Brian Monk quoted Dr. Fauci. I am not sure if it really was Dr. Fauci who said/penned these words but they make a lot of sense.

____________________________

“Chickenpox is a virus. Lots of people have had it, and probably don't think about it much once the initial illness has passed. But it stays in your body and lives there forever, and maybe when you're older, you have debilitatingly painful outbreaks of shingles. You don't just get over this virus in a few weeks, never to have another health effect. We know this because it's been around for years, and has been studied medically for years.

Herpes is also a virus. And once someone has it, it stays in your body and lives there forever, and anytime they get a little run down or stressed-out they're going to have an outbreak. Maybe every time you have a big event coming up (school pictures, job interview, big date) you're going to get a cold sore. For the rest of your life. You don't just get over it in a few weeks. We know this because it's been around for years, and been studied medically for years.

HIV is a virus. It attacks the immune system and makes the carrier far more vulnerable to other illnesses. It has a list of symptoms and negative health impacts that goes on and on. It was decades before viable treatments were developed that allowed people to live with a reasonable quality of life. Once you have it, it lives in your body forever and there is no cure. Over time, that takes a toll on the body, putting people living with HIV at greater risk for health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, liver disease, cognitive disorders, and some types of cancer. We know this because it has been around for years, and had been studied medically for years.

Now with COVID-19, we have a novel virus that spreads rapidly and easily. The full spectrum of symptoms and health effects is only just beginning to be cataloged, much less understood. So far the symptoms may include:
Fever
Fatigue
Coughing
Pneumonia
Chills/Trembling
Acute respiratory distress
Lung damage (potentially permanent)
Loss of taste (a neurological symptom)
Sore throat
Headaches
Difficulty breathing
Mental confusion
Diarrhea
Nausea or vomiting
Loss of appetite
Strokes have also been reported in some people who have COVID-19 (even in the relatively young)
Swollen eyes
Blood clots
Seizures
Liver damage
Kidney damage
Rash
COVID toes (weird, right?)

People testing positive for COVID-19 have been documented to be sick even after 60 days. Many people are sick for weeks, get better, and then experience a rapid and sudden flare up and get sick all over again. A man in Seattle was hospitalized for 62 days, and while well enough to be released, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Not to mention a $1.1 million medical bill.

Then there is MIS-C. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired. While rare, it has caused deaths. This disease has not been around for years. It has basically been 6 months.

No one knows yet the long-term health effects, or how it may present itself years down the road for people who have been exposed. We literally *do not know* what we do not know. For those in our society who suggest that people being cautious are cowards, for people who refuse to take even the simplest of precautions to protect themselves and those around them, I want to ask, without hyperbole and in all sincerity:

- How dare you?
- How dare you risk the lives of others so cavalierly?
- How dare you decide for others that they should welcome exposure as "getting it over with", when literally no one knows who will be the lucky "mild symptoms" case, and who may fall ill and die?

Because while we know that some people are more susceptible to suffering a more serious case, we also know that 20 and 30-year-olds have died. Marathon runners and fitness nuts have died. Children and infants have died.

How dare you behave as though you know more than medical experts, when those same experts acknowledge that there is so much we don't yet know; but with what we DO know, are smart enough to be scared of how easily this is spread, and recommend baseline precautions such as:
- Frequent hand-washing
- Physical distancing
- Reduced social/public contact or interaction
- Mask wearing
- Covering your cough or sneeze
- Avoiding touching your face
- Sanitizing frequently touched surfaces

The more things we can all do to mitigate our risk of exposure, the better off we all are, in my opinion. Not only does it flatten the curve and allow health care providers to maintain levels of service that aren't immediately and catastrophically overwhelmed; it also reduces unnecessary suffering and deaths, and buys time for the scientific community to study the virus in order to come to a more full understanding of the breadth of its impacts in both the short and long term.

I reject the notion that it's "just a virus" and we'll all get it eventually. What a careless, lazy, heartless stance.

Signed,
Dr. Fauci

Bed Canopy Curtains

This cotton mosquito net comes from HERE.

With dengue fever on the rise, we have had to inspect the ovitraps daily. I must say that the ovitraps really help to keep us safe. When we first moved in here, we could kill upwards of 200 mosquitoes in 1 night. These days, we encounter no more than 2 in 2 weeks. Our ovitraps probably kill thousands of mosquitoes even before they become adult. Each ovitrap has copious larvicide applied to it. They protect not just our household. They protect the whole street.

For added protection, all of us have mosquito nets. Mosquito nets are useful in 2 ways. If the mosquito is trapped inside with us, killing it is easier than chasing it all over the room. If the mosquito is outside the net, we get a good night's sleep.

Mosquito nets can range from $15 to $149, depending on the material. The cotton ones are pricey but they are more robust. The polyester ones are cheap but holes develop quickly. I love the mosquito nets and my ovitraps. They are a chemical free way to get a good night's sleep at the height of the mosquito season.

Selling Organic Vegetables

Sweet potato leaves at $2 a bunch. 

Thai basil at 50c a bunch.

$4 worth of sweet potato leaves.

I have been giving neighbours and friends organic garden veggies left, right and centre. It has come to a point where I feel like I am dumping veggies on them. So, I decided to start selling my veggies. This way, people don't feel like they owe me anything. There is no pressure on them to try and give me things or to repay me. They have already paid me in money.

So, there you have it. Petunia has a new career as an organic vegetable seller.

I love to eat sweet potato leaves. These are hard to find in the markets and they are so easy to grow. Unfortunately, mine has holes because we remove pests by hand, and often we are not able to catch them all. The sweet potato leaves sold in the stores also tend to be quite fibrous. For some reason, the leaves I grow can be huge but their stems stay tender.

I don't think I can make enough money to cover the costs of the garden, but covering some costs is better than none at all.

Dynasties: 富不过三代

Click HERE to read.

Myanmese Dishes

What is amazing about M is that she can manage to coordinate the delivery of all sorts of things she wants without ever leaving house. People come and deliver:

- fresh seabass

- fresh bamboo shoots

- fermented tea leaves

- some sort of crispy nut mix

- crocodile meat

- long bean seeds

- bottle gourd seeds

- etc...

M has a vast and invisible network of contacts who rally around her needs.

Thanks to this network, I get to experience Myanmese dishes. Laphet is a salad made of fermented tea leaves. The mix of crispy nuts, fresh diced tomato and spicy fermented tea leaves is addictive. It is this year's best culinary discovery with Petunia's lap mei fan coming in a close second. 

Then, today, M produced fresh bamboo shoots from the Myanmese grocer. She prepared it for dinner and it was mindblowingly good. I must get her recipe! We have had many helpers come and go, but M is not just a helper. She has become a family friend and the goddess of our 2 dogs, who worship the ground she walks on.

M and Her Productivity Tools

When M first arrived, she used a broom and dust pan, and then a sponge mop for the floors. Sweeping the floor took quite a while because you had to make sure you swept gently so that the dust did not fly up. Sweeping also requires a few passes over the same patch of floor. Next, she had to wring dry her sponge mop every now and again. To help reduce her workload, I got her an Ohm Shimono light cyclone vacuum cleaner. This reduced sweeping time to about a quarter the time she used to take. I also got her a spray mop, which reduced the mopping time to about a fifth of the time she used to take. The spray mop can mop the whole room with no need for more than TWO cloth rinses.

So, M was very happy.

When M first arrived, she had to chop garlic using a sort of manual chopper. It took about 45 minutes to fill one glass container with chopped garlic. One day, I came home with a food processor which did the job for her in 2 minutes flat.

So, M was very happy.

One day, I wanted to slice frozen iberico sausage. Never ever use the food processor to slice iberico sausage. The sausage was intact. The food processor broke. The part that we needed to get it working again had to come in from Germany. So, for 1 month, M had to use the manual chopper. Oh! She gave me such grief! Twice or thrice a week, she moaned about how long it took to chop garlic, and slice carrots and of course, she could not make gluten free almond flour cookies for us.

The part arrived, and M was very happy.

One day, I held up a lap cheong, and said that I would try to slice it in the food processor. No way! M blocked my access to the said machine and said, "I slice for you. Later, the machine spoil and I will have to chop garlic with that chopper again." She is now very protective of the food processor. Sometimes, she pats it on its top and says, "This is my favourite."

Today, I saw her mopping with a spray mop that had seen better days. I gently said, "M, there are 2 new spray mops on standby in the store room. Just break out one and use it."

M said, "This one still can use."

Then, I saw her out in the patio sweeping the floor with a broom that was missing its pole. There was only the stiff broom head. She had to squat on the floor to sweep. So, I exclaimed, "M, why didn't you tell me? I can get you a new broom!"

M said, "This one still can use."

M is very very cute.

Water Management

Ever since Covid19 started, I have been washing my hands so often that the water bills have gone up. I seem to now be ultra sensitive to the icky feeling of sticky hands. The water still looks clean after just one wash. So, I decided to put a pail in the sink to catch the hand washing water. That way, I can wash my hands another 3 times in the same water. Once the water turns cloudy, I pour it into the gray water pail that catches our shower water.

This is then used to wash the outdoors area, or flush the toilet bowl.

I get a deep feeling of satisfaction every time I flush with tray water. I am not sure where this immense satisfaction comes from.

Embroidery Project and a Cloud

I tried to buy new quilt cover sets. 20 years ago, I bought numerous sets from Sintex, which were beautifully embroidered. The Husband liked them. He thought they lent an air of elegance to the bedroom.

With wear and tear, we have retired most of them. I replaced them with quilt covers of large flower prints. I thought these might lend some cheerful colour to the room. The Husband hated them. Now, it is time to retire those as well.

The embroidered quilt cover sets on sale right now, are really pricey. Some cost about $500 and the designs look like they come out of some sort of Gothic style palace, dripping with chandeliers and gold fittings. Yuck!

So, I made the gung ho decision to embroider my own simple garden friendly designs, in my favourite colours of yellow and orange. I ordered 2 sets of plain white quilt covers and intend to embroider 5 of the above bouquets of Black-eyed Susans, chamomile and Queen Anne's lace flowers onto the plain white quilt covers. The quilt cover set costs $67. The embroidery supplies cost about $120. Then will come the slow embroidery work. It will be fun and I save about $300. Plus, I get a bespoke quilt cover.

I will embroidery a row of 5 bouquets near to the foot of the bed, about 1/3 way up from the bottom edge of the quilt.

Thinking to get cheap embroidery supplies, I went to Daiso. I did not get any embroidery supplies but I ran into a pile of yarn that felt so soft that it seemed almost to be made of cloud. Autistic, you see. Some of us are touch sensitive. We react badly to unwelcome touch but we also seek out touch sensations that we enjoy. So, I stood there compulsively rubbing the yarn with my fingers. For $20, I bought 10 balls of the yarn. It felt so good to knit with it. Since the yarn was thick, I used humongous size 50 knitting needles. Big needles knit fast. I finished knitting one scarf for M's Mother in 1 hour.

There is no way to explain to M that thick yarn does not mean warm clothes. Thin pullovers made of silk and cashmere wool keep a person warmer than thick sweaters made of acrylic yarn. M likes thick sweaters and scarves. So, she was thrilled when I gave the scarf to her, for her Mom. It is a win win. I don't like thick winter clothes. I just like feeling the yarn on my fingers, as I knit. I am happy. M is happy.

Yielding to Temptation and Pride

When you have quasi-absolute power, there is always the temptation to use that power to strengthen one's gameplay, thereby denying loved ones with lesser power, a voice. I see this all the time in families where parents use their power to shut the children up, instead of encouraging their children to speak their mind so that bridges can be built.

On the one side, there was the PAP, with quasi-absolute power. On the other side, there was the electorate. For 5 years, we can voice dissent but if the PAP insists that the PAP is right, the electorate just has to suck it up. The electorate gets only 1 chance to vote its dissent at the end of every 5 years.

With its super majority, the PAP ensured that Halimah Yacob walked over into the Presidential office. POFMA powers were given to Ministers instead of the courts. The GRC system is alive and kicking, even though the electorate has long complained about having new MPs we don't know, foisted upon us... landing a place in Parliament on the coat tails of a Minister.

I am not even talking about opposition political parties, here.

I am talking about the electorate vs the PAP.

Within the boundaries of what is legal and constitutional, the PAP did what it could to grip onto power. Tan Cheng Bock was not PAP friendly. So, an ambiguity was conveniently interpreted, and the electorate was denied the chance to vote for their President. To be frank, if I had voted, I would have voted for Halimah Yaacob. I am angry that I was denied the chance to vote.

The official explanation is that it is time for a minority President. The PAP can try as much as it wishes to cram this explanation down the electorate's unwilling throat, it is not quite going down. This is not unlike how parents justify certain decisions. Their children have no choice but to suck it up, but are not convinced. The ill feeling will come through at the next opportune moment.

So, this is how the PAP lost Sengkang.

Then, there was POFMA. This law gave Ministers (not the Singapore courts of law) the power to take down news. During this election, top Ministry officials used POFMA liberally. It was almost as if opposition parties went up against the PAP in the boxing ring, and only the PAP had the benefit of a party of dwarves wearing knuckle-dusters, coming in to land blows on the opposition. The opposition did not have the benefit of POFMA. These powers were not given to the courts. They were given to Ministers.

Then, there was the matter of Josephine Teo, who has not quite given a clear and adequate explanation of whether separate home quarantine facilities were provided to FWs coming back from China as at 31 January, and had to go on LOA. It really just needs a Yes/No answer. So, why was there no Yes/No answer forthcoming?

If LOA were done in the dorms, then, is it surprising that the dorms exploded with Covid19? It is ok to make mistakes but people would respect you more, if you gave a proper accounting of the mistake before moving onto remedying it. What was done to remedy it was amazingly good. Still... an accounting for how it all started was never properly given. This again, is no different from a parent who inadvertently hurt her child but was too proud to apologise, nor admit. It breeds ill feeling for no reason. It also shows the mettle of the parent.

Now that the PAP is still the super majority in Parliament, nothing stops them from unilaterally enacting more laws and more CONSTITUTIONAL changes without a care for what the electorate thinks. The question is to what extent the PAP is weak enough to yield some more to the temptation to play legal but still play unfair, in the next 5 years. I suppose it thinks itself strategic and smart. To some extent, I do believe it is strategic and smart. Simply, it is unfair. The electorate can see that, you know. We then make certain conclusions about the mettle of those who would play the game like this. Not dishonest. Simply lacking in good sportsmanship. Nothing wrong, but still not worthy of greatness.

Singaporeans are afraid to vote out the PAP because of livelihoods and wealth. It does not mean that there is no steady erosion of respect for the way the PAP has played the political game in full view of the electorate.

Surely the PAP would prefer to win because it commands the respect and the affection of the electorate, no? Can there be satisfaction winning simply because we look to it for wealth? It is much like what I tell my husband, "If all you appreciate in me, is that I am a good housekeeper, good mother... that I wash your face masks, nurse your illnesses with herbs and prepare yummy chocolate snacks for you at night, then let us not stay married. I want your heart and your respect too."

To some extent, the marriage between Singaporeans and the PAP has become one where affection and respect has been eroded, from years of a lack of open communication. We stay together in a marriage of convenience. I need your money. You need my vote.

There is one bright spot: Ong Ye Kung.

This man suffered a defeat at his first election campaign, when he had to ride on someone else's coat tails. However, his performance as Minister of Education, his solo call for Singaporean unity in GE2015, his easy getai manners AND a keen commitment to his own truths has won the hearts of many, including mine. The whole slate of new MPs rode HIS coat tails this time, to a voting result that stands head and shoulders above those of his peers.

Ong Ye Kung would be a Prime Minister we could all follow.

However, the PAP has a super majority again. It will impose the Prime Minister it wishes on us for another 5 years, till the next time we vote.

A While More... Just A While More

My Thursday class is a new class. I always forget what new classes are like. The children are difficult, rowdy, hard to control. One child could not sit still. Another refused to speak up. Yet another ran around the room flapping his hands. One girl began to chant something at a boy.

I went home so overstimulated that I spent all of Friday 3 July, weepy and shaking.

Sometimes, I look around at my friends. Many of them are comfortably retired. Yes... I am THAT old. I stalk them on Facebook and then I wonder if I made the right decision to start up The Collaboration Corner.

I mean, look at them! Their photos place them in South America, Inner Mongolia, Nepal, Turkey. Smiling faces, with wind in their hair and a healthy tan. Friends who used to be fat, in the 40s, now look trim and muscular in the 50s and 60s. Retirement has been kind to them. Meanwhile, I need to wake up at 6am to cycle like a crazy bitch, in order to maintain muscle mass and a flat stomach.

And I spent all of last Friday so tearful that The Husband asked, "Why are you crying?"

To which I wailed, "I don't knoooooooow... I wanna stop work. May I please stop work!?"

The blessed man held me close and said, "Yes."

Then, I had my Saturday class. That class has been with me for about 9 months. They were such a balm to my spirit. They knew how to speak like ladies and gentlemen. They remembered their Ps and Qs when talking to each other. They stepped up to volunteer of their own accord. They silently supported and helped their friends with kindness. They gave in generously to each other. They listened to each other. I looked around at all of them and mentally told myself, "This one, if the parents don't want him/her, I will adopt in a heartbeat." By the time I was through, I had mentally adopted everyone of them.

They were such good children, and so mature that I was amazed, and slightly wondrous that I had somehow changed them from monsters to angels. It takes a lot of God to make it happen. It takes time to make it happen too. I want them to have joy in their hearts. I want them to take charge of their work. I want them to develop self-reliance, kindness, charity. I want them to carry themselves with elegance, speak urbanely and not crudely/roughly. I want the boys to have their own mind, discover their own direction in life, and respect the girls. I want the girls to carry themselves with strength and dignity (as the bible documents women who will become wives must do: see Proverbs 31:25). Those who come through me, I want them to be able to carry themselves on any world stage with class and elegance. Many of them were nothing more than furless monkeys when I first received them in my class.

Then, a father confessed to me that his son was so difficult that he and his wife would hold each other at night, and cry together, wondering what was wrong and how to bring up their child. He further told me that I was the first person in 3 years to point out a direction and let him have methods with which to manage his child, in calmness and in joy.

So, I suppose, a retirement where one gets to travel through families to spread love, is not any less than a retirement where people travel the world. Maybe one day, I will get fed up and decide to ditch it all so that I can go live for a month in a yurt in Inner Mongolia, or a nunnery in Tuscany. For the moment, there might be days when I cry, but I guess I will stick with it for a while more.

EQ and Financial Security

Click HERE, for an article I wrote for Singapore Motherhood, in May, on how to install financial prudence in children using psychological techniques.

Garden Like a Fairy

I am very inspired by 李子柒. Like every other impressionable young person, I have been influenced by this Real Influencer. I have resolved to garden like a fairy (like 李子柒).

To that end, I need pretty baskets and pretty clothes. So, I got myself an elegant basket to put my vegetables in, and I also involved my dog in harvesting my veggies. I also ordered fairy clothes from 李子柒 's shop to wear when I am gardening.

Anti-Bacterial/Viral Nose Sprays

When Covid started, my friend and I ordered these nasal/throat sprays from...

- New Zealand

- United Kingdom

I have been using these for years to stop a flu in its tracks by spraying up the nose whenever:

- I encounter someone with flu.

- I feel a scratchy nose/throat.

The sprays are made of bee propolis. They are anti-bacterial. anti-fungal, and anti-viral: very broad spectrum. They have to be broad spectrum because bee propolis is what bees use to prevent pathogens from entering their hives. Sometimes, intruders enter the hives and die there. The bees will envelop the carcass with bee propolis to prevent it from rotting and spreading rot into the rest of the hive. 

The Daughter carried a bottle of these everywhere in her travels. She sprays it on everything: mouth ulcers, cuts, her friend's fungal infection. They work so well that her friends come back for a Toot or 2 every time they get something.

We first ordered from U.K. They did not arrive because planes stopped flying. We then cancelled the order and ordered from New Zealand. These also did not arrive because the planes stopped flying. Now, both shipments have arrived and Petunia has too much of a good thing. I have now...

- 1 bottle of Cosval to let go at cost. Sold.

- 7 bottles of Echinature to let go at cost. All sold.

Please leave me a comment, if you are interested to buy. Postage is not included in the price.

Postcript: Click HERE to buy direct from Kiwiherb.

$17.35 (includes freight charges from New Zealand). All sold.

$23 (includes freight charges from United Kingdom). Sold.

Home Made Guava Tea Leaf Shampoo

The Husband misses his guava leaf tea soap. Ah Leo has no more. I suspect that Covid19 has disrupted his supply chain. It is quite a hassle to have to grab the guava leaf tea juice from the fridge, before showering and then return it to the fridge after showering. So, I decided to boil the juice and then bottle it, mixed with some baby shampoo in proportions 1:2 (1 part shampoo to 2 parts guava tea leaf juice.

I hope it works.

I tried rubbing guava tea leaf juice into my own scalp, before shampooing. I like that after washing, my hair feels softer than when I use sulphur soap or rosemary essential oil.

Throwback Post: Don't Do Your Homework!

It has been 12 years of blogging. I started when blogging was the cool new thing. I am still at it, even though blogging ain't cool no more. I don't even remember what I've written. Once in a while, I find an old post that brings back lovely memories.

See HERE.

Lap Mei Fan

It was the last frame from 李子柒:  HERE that inspired me to make lap mei fan. Mine turned out not bad. I used home made pork soup stock to cook the rice. There was no spring onion anywhere in the house. So, I grabbed 4 huge turmeric leaves to top it. Instead of siu bak choy, which I don't grow, I put in okra and long beans, which I do grow. I only had 1 type of lap cheong and should have gone to Chong Pang Market to get more lap yuk. I did not feel up to braving the crowds at the market. So, I defrosted 2 iberico pork sausages.

Technically, this is a cross between a risotto and a lap mei fan.

When I grow up, I wanna be like 李子柒.