May 30th - Day 56

It's Saturday, and it's bed to the basics. =D This a day for photography -- mind-calming photography and photo editing.

The sky is very very blue today. It was very sunny, I didn't even have to wear my sweater or my coat. Look very very carefully at that the middle of the sky, between the lamp post and the building. You will see something special. =) Either you see it or you don't. Just sharing a beautiful thing, but if you're not lucky enough to see it through my eyes, it's fate and there's nothing I can do about that.

On a wall full of leaves, a heart-shaped leaf is easy to find (it's not exactly rare); but if you're not looking, it is easy to miss. That editing technique is not new, but the result is more satisfactory. Maybe, this is a perfect subject to practice on. =)

Oh look, three generations of roses: the bud, the half-bloom and the full-bloom, caught together. How do you like that? I'm quite proud of the angle myself, thank you. More garden flowers below, enjoy.

Dinner was grilled salmon, served with boiled vegetable in gravy. Mmmm... A little colour enhancement was done, and the results look almost edible, don't it? Fish is quite expensive in this area: my dinner cost me around six pounds. However, people don't usually eat that much. That's two fish steaks in there: one stacked on the other. I stacked them so that the thickness would be about the same, so the steak would cook evenly.

May 29th - Day 55

It was pay day at Sanger. Mood was high, you can feel it in the air. =) First thing in the morning Alejandro said "Ah... Friday!" when he walked into the room. "And?...", I pried to find a cheerful "Pay day! Yeay!" reply. Well, not me, K? Ha ha ha ha...

There were free beer in the afternoon, but I skipped - was on high productivity. I'm sorry I'm anti-social. Ha ha ha ha... Adam said: "No? Free beer. That's always a yes." Alejandro said:"Yeah, it's like two plus two is always four." And I said:"Well, one plus one is not always two." See? I was so blur, I wasn't making sense!

Skip it, I'm tired. Oh, and do check out Julian Smith's performance for Britain's got talent's semi-final last night. I tuned in accidentally and absolutely fell in love. Peg couldn't understand what I saw in that guy, though. The truth is, I don't even know. I told her being touched does not have to involve logic. What? Don't tell me you've never. Oh, yeah? You can tell me that and I just won't believe you. (Ha ha ha ha... I can't believe I'm imagining your response... What is wrong with me?)

Hope somebody out there likes him (Britain sure does -- he's going into finals), cause I don't want to be all by myself in this. (Yeah, that was a pun... Gotcha. No? Oh, got me then...)

May 28th - Day 54

That's breakfast of crumpets on the left and another fried chicken dinner on the right. The crumpets are soft and fluffy, like pancakes. I had them with butter. It said on the pack that it's best with butter or peanut butter. I didn't have any peanut butter... Hmm... There were 5 leaves of lettuce and one whole tomato there. I usually eat that much (and more), but am amazed at the volume increase just because I didn't boil it down.

May 27th - Day 53

Breakfast was bagel and a pistachio ciabatta, with peach yoghurt. Both the bread reminds me of the same thing -- the foochow "kong piang" -- chewy and tasteful. Reminiscence... sweet.

Dinner was fried chicken meal. But I only contributed 50% to this plate -- the not-brown-coloured 50%, which consists of the tomatoes and mushroom gravy over lettuce and brussel sprouts. The chips were cut and packed in a bag, leftovers now in the freezer. The chicken were breaded and packed in a box, leftovers are now in the freezer too. I've had a sudden strong craving for fried chicken today and it so happened that breaded chicken were discounted. Anyway, the dinner was yumm yumm... =)

May 26th - Day 52

My younger sister just drove down to Johor today. My parents are joining my sisters tomorrow. My family is going to have a vacation without me. Imagine what that makes me feel. Well, You're probably wrong. I'm fine. Ha ha ha... I'm happy that my parents get to do something like that. And I'm happy that my sisters will do this with them.

I was very hungry when I got off the bus this evening, so I bought two microwave dinners and had dinner within 15 minutes that I reached home. I was really hungry. Really! I had the cottage pie for dinner. The instruction said to microwave in the plastic tray it came with. Oh, I don't think so. But that's probably the reason they didn't come out as beautiful as the picture on the box.

While waiting for the dinner in the microwave, I had the last of the blueberries. You know what? I've always thought the insides of blueberries were supposed to be blue too? Well, purple.

And my breakfast was really healthy. I had a croissant, pineapple yoghurt and a peach. Mmm... the peach is not as sweet as tinned ones (*duh*...), which were the only one I've ever had. But the crunchy- chewy texture is just the same. Funny, I've always thought the pit was dark brown. Hmm... there's a lot I don't know about fruits. I'll just have to find out more by eating more.

Hmm... long day. Good night, myself.

May 25th - Day 51

Passing 50 days meant something. It's like 0.5 is half, althought the half-life of my stay in England is supposed to be 45 days. The start of day 51 still meant moving on to the second half to me.

It was Spring Bank Holiday today. I have no idea why they would want to celebrate spring at the last possible week of the season. Seriously, is celebration not about embracing the celebrated occasion? *Shrug* I spent most of my time indoors today. Having slept late last night, I only woke up at half past nine. Spent the morning with the computer reading comics and the TV watching old re-runs of Friends.

After a late lunch at two, I went out for a walk near four o'clock. I must say, the walk today made me wonder about CBG. Remember that there were absolutely no roses blooming at CBG? Well, roses are running wild in the garden of homes.

Look at all these weird plants I've sighted. The tree was trimmed like a beehive with a hole to accommodate a street light in the midst of its branches. That purple flower there, I think you have to boom it up to see, looks as if it was fused to needle leaves. I like that a lot. And the yellow satay of blooms is my first time seeing blooms of such.

Spend about an hour bugging my book at Jesus Green before heading home again for an anticipated movie on TV: The hunchback of Notre Dame (Walt Disney's version). I've actually never seen the movie before. I've got it's soundtrack, which pretty much covers the entire movie since it was such a musical. So, although I've not seen it, I've known how the story goes. I could even sing with the characters (if I wanted to), because I remembered almost all the words. But watching it was a different experience. One for the eyes to feast upon. And after this I can really say I've seen the movie. And was deeply moved doing it.

Time for bed, and to wake up to a new dawn of a working day. Ahh... one does have mixed feelings for that: anticipation mixed with reluctance. Not at all the perfect cocktail.

May 24th - Day 50

50 days!!! How did I come so far??

My plan for the day: Cambridge botanical garden (hereafter referred as CBG). It was beautiful, albeit a little disappointing. Here's a map of the place.

I had planned to spend a whole day there, from 10:00 to 18:00 (the duration of their opening hours), intending to maximize the 3.50 pounds I paid to get in. I walked out of the entrance around 16:00, after lingering around the Garden shop and the area near the entrance for the last hour or so, trying to decide whether I should leave or not. My camera failed me today. It only lasted until about 14:00, when it started screaming low battery every time I snapped it on and took one single shot.

The Woodland Garden was as it was called -- a woodland. Although the piece is a bit too small to have a woodland feel to it. I'd only felt like it was an overgrown patch dominated by plants that required not as much care. The stream garden was even smaller a patch. I admit I'd imagined the stream to be longer. Also, it smelt more like a swamp than a stream over there. Did get a nice shot of a duck couple though. Can you see it?

The systematic garden did not gather much of my interest. To me it was just a big patch that tells you which plant is what name. It did not grab my attention because the plants were simply subtle. I had wondered why so few plants bloom at this time, I thought it was supposed to be spring? I did not get the Gilbert-Carter Memorial Area at all. It was untidy, without a specific theme, and also not a very pleasant walk: I could hardly find a path through it.

Both the old and new pineniums were filled with pine trees, but the grounds were left to be won by various unattractive weed. If you ask me, I think the Main walk did a better job as the pinenium. At least the ground was mowed and weeds are not knee-high to grab your attention away from the pines. But all those places smell of pine. Ah... unbeatable smell, that is. Truly comforting. Got me some souvenirs under some pines along the Main walk. Those three there, I will call the roses of CBG. It'll be a gift for the family. Just to keep it in the family, I've decided to give it to whichever one of my sisters who gets married first. In the quite improbable case of me getting married before any one of them, my husband will get to keep it. Ha ha ha ha...

The rose garden was a big let-down, probably the biggest disappointment. Not much "traditional" looking rose. Not one. Sorry, ma. Had wanted to do this for you. But too bad... They have geraniums in there, but not much roses. Just these small, yellow ones.

I don't understand the herbaceous garden, because nothing look herbaceous to me. What were herbs supposed to look like again? The scented garden was overpowering. I'd almost, almost fainted. But I kept my paces swift and raced on. Trust me, you do not want to mix the scented plants. Each on its own might do wonders, but mixed together and infused under a hot sun, it's deadly.

The Winter garden was again clueless, and I find that the picnic area should be labeled winter garden. Reason? Look at this and tell me it doesn't look like snow. It's just amazing. One big surprise I did not plan on getting. And it got on the good side of me. Although, I don't plan to eat my lunch anywhere near that.

Lunch! was prepared this morning. I woke up to the sun and made this for lunch today. Chicken Croissant sandwich and blueberries. This is the first example of my ability to make good-looking and good-tasting sandwiches. I'm impressed with myself. Ha ha ha ha... Boaster!

I had lunch at the Autumn colour area, the very corner of the gardens -- away from the crowd. The Autumn colour area wasn't obvious until I read the map after lunch. Oh, so this was it? I count two trees that gave a shade of red. Maybe the point was to be there in Autumn? Hmmm...

Genetics garden was interesting, although I'd expected the patch to show basic genetic variances, e.g. different flower colours, plant height etc. Well, at least I find the explanations on the garden pea plants variation exciting. Garden peas have always been a classic example for genetic study. It really felt close to University first year again.

The dry garden was impressive, it's an experiment to find out which plants and/or gardening method can go minimal water: dependent only on rain water. The description said that Cambridge is one of the driest cities in UK. So I'm interested to know, really. But I think the experiment is just started, all the plants seem to flourish. Unless its because they picked all the right plants or that means not having a lot rain is fine, that all plants can adapt to drought.

I'd misread the map. I thought Fen Display was Fern Display. I looked and looked for ferns, but couldn't find any, then a glance at the information board made me laugh hard at myself. Not very interesting to me, though. And the grass maze was disappointing because seeing it on the map I had anticipated to meet a huge green maze constructed with hedges as seen on TV. Instead, this maze was made out of short, chocolate coloured New Zealand wind grass. The maze was broken in a few places and don't really resemble the drawing on the board. But just for the sake of it, I tried my best to follow the route in the drawing and reached the pillar/post in the middle.

The fountain was well-kept, and a beautiful film killer. If only there were less people around. I did not stay long and try not to take so much picture lest people think I'm a stalker. I already look weird being the only one still in a sweater while everybody else were in summer shorts, shirts, tank-tops, summer dresses... One guy even went topless while his girl friend wore bikini-top... Now, that is over. *shake head* Tsk tsk tsk... kids these day... Oh wait. They might be older than me? Ha ha ha ha...

The glasshouse was hot. I mean it was like Malaysia at noon. Granted: I did go in there at noon. I took off my blue sweater in the tropical garden. Ha ha ha... I went out this morning with my scarf, coat, and sweater on. Took my scarf off at the entrance before going in, my coat came off at the rose garden, and finally the glasshouse took my sweater. It's been awfully clear and sunny these two days, and the forecast for tomorrow is scattered thunderstorms. I cannot understand English weather. I just don't, and I think I will have a headache if I even try.

Anyway, the rock garden was one of the highlights. That place is beautiful. According to the board, every rock was laid with a purpose -- to create the right atmosphere - shade, water reservoir, support etc. - for different kinds of plants to grow. And there were so much variety, it's beyond words. Only, unlucky me, my camera chose to start screaming low-battery. So I tried to take general landscape shots instead of closeups. If my battery life were longer, I'd spend more time here. And I might probably achieve that full 8 hours. I think I was sold an old battery, but I shouldn't complaint. This is a cheap camera bid of the net, and the seller did state it was a display unit. Trust the salespeople to take care of the show unit's battery, huh? Anyway, back to the gardens. The bog garden was so near to the lake and the rock garden that I don't know where one ended and the other started.

So ends my 6-hour walk in CBG. I have a lot of closeups of beautiful flowers. But I'm too tired to upload them... I went home and cooked myself a wonderful dinner of chicken rice and vegetable soup (I meant to make gravy, but too much water in the first place, so soup it became). Chicken rice was the only dish I remembered my ma to have taught me step by step. And I sure can say my ma have taught me well. I've ventured my own chicken rice for a few times now, and they've never failed to be delicious. Although I did change the recipe from time to time, but the theory behind it would always be the same, and I really should thank ma for that. =)

Oh, and they've changed my sheets. I got brown stripes on grey this time. I love it. Heaven knows why I like gloomy colours, but I so do. Good night.

May 23rd - Day 49

Ahhh... such a long and wonderful rest. Even the sun had failed to wake me up this morning. I refused to let it pry my eyes open. I turned my head away from the window and slept on till nine, before turning over to smile at the sun.

Spent the rest of the morning reading my sister's blog and chatting with friends. Then I called ma and talked for almost twenty minutes. Then I had a really light lunch of fish fingers. More chatting, a little lazing with my book, then forced myself up and out.

Went shopping. Got cheap earphones (mine were broken), a new bag (which translate into cheap) and groceries. Home for dinner. I was famished. Chicken drumstick with spaghetti, with vegetable. It was sweet.

After dinner, brought my book and iPod (with new earphones) to Christ's Piece for some time off and some photography break. This is the first day i went out without my coat. It is getting warmer.

But I have a feeling it's just today. I've got something planned tomorrow. But hey, I'm not going to spoil the surprise. Ha ha ha ha. Anyway, that's why I hope it's not too cold tomorrow.

Look at the difference of the same shots with different settings. Wow... And look at all those flowers. Hard to believe spring's almost over, but there are traces. Remember those purple flower balls? Now they are just wilted balls of green.