Snow White's friends

Winter time.......and climate change or not....it's still freezing cold.

We, humans, tuck ourselves in cold-weather outfit, stuff ourselves with lots of calorie-rich food, hot drinks and turn on the heater to the max.

But there are other living beings who are not as fortunate as we are....and who suffer tremendously during these yearly bouts of harsh, cold weather.....namely our feathered friends, the birds.

In a bout of compassion, Mainwah (that's my bro) had hung some satchels of birdfeed on a tree. And sure enough, the whole gaggle of neighbourhood birds sensing that there was free food in the offing descended upon those foodsatchels like a pack of hungry, ravenous wolves.

Ofcourse, those satchels became empty in no time.

As it happened to be, my dearest girl noticed those empty satchels and busy-body as she is, she enquired what the use of those satchels were. I duly explained to her what they were supposed to be used for, but since that they were empty the chances of the birds finding enough food to eat is virtually nihil and therefore some of them might.........perish.....or in plain lingo,...die.

My little dragon girl pondered over it for a while and suddenly asked me to replenish the foodsatchels asap. Well, well, well.........my daughter suddenly cares for the well-being of birds? That's a new one.....So I asked her why?

"Daddy, I don't want the birds to die, because they are Snow White's best friends!!"

Gosh, I didn't realize that animations contained a "Save the Birdies" message.

Hallo SinterKlaas, .... Goodbye Santa Clause

December 6 is synonimous with 'Sinterklaas Dag' in the low countries (Holland & Belgium).....the Patron of Children who rewards all the good children and showers them with presents.

As a matter of fact, Santa Clause is a 'copy' of this aforementioned historical person.....but heck, I'm not going to divulge myself into a discussion about who's who.

For those of you who are already wondering what I'm blubbering about, click on the link below...(phew, thanks wikipedia....saves me some explanation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Anyway, yesterday was Sinterklaas day in Belgium, but since that the little lady is ignorant about this particular dude in red cape, I didn't notify his 'Holy Highness' to shower her with some gifts. So no gifts for her........yeah, right...in my dreams.

Took her to an authentic Belgian bakery (mmmmhhmmm, nothing beats the smell of freshly oven-baked bread, buns and tarts.... and lo and behold.....'Zwarte Piet'......SinterKlaas' helper was awaiting for her with a gift. Laetitia's eyes went wide and she stood there speechless, lol. Had to jolt her awake and inform her to say the 'thank' word. :)

After that our trip to the butcher, grocer and newspaper vendor produced some more spoils for her in the form of sweets and small toys respectively.

Grandma couldnt be outdone ofcourse by SinterKlaas as she miraculously came up with a life-sized doll and on top of all the above toys and sweets, my bro's cook, Steven, gave her a big Sinterklaas chocolate figure.

My oh my, I think my girl will throw overboard Santa Clause and embrace Sinterklaas from now onwards. :p

Heartfelt thanks to NS

Terra Firma on the good 'ol continent....and apart from the miserable, cold winter weather the reception we've received was very heart warming.

Hats off to the staff of the Dutch Railways (NS) who friendly helped us through on our final leg of our journey back to our home town. I have to admit that despite the awfully, early morning hour....they were good humoured enough to put a smile on our tiring faces after an agonizing long trip on a jam-packed aeroplane.

This is definitely a good omen for our Belgian holiday :)

Malaysia girl, .... ooops, Hong Kong girl

I'm always astounded by how my wife can acclimatize herself so rapidly into any new environment (country), picking up the language and more specifically the local accent/slang. And it seems that the little girl has inherited this particual skill from her mum too.....

Watch the clip and hear how near-perfect her Hong Kong Cantonese is....geez, and this after just a few weeks of holiday in Hong Kong. A true chameleon, therefore we would not be worried that she won't be able to assimilate into any new 'culture' in the future.

Mama Mia

Our girl had one of her bright ideas again.....wearing mum's bra loaded up with oranges. Granted she is already developing into a well endowed young lady in that department, but heck, this is a bit over the top.

A kid is a kid, and I guess she might have a good laugh in the future when she sees this clip of herself in action again or she might be a bit embarrassed.

"Smile.....you are on camera!!!" :p