Tradescantia plant

Each time I watch Jamie Oliver talk about organic farming, I think of Mum and her farming.

Mum was into organic farming before the word became popular.

When we were little, we used to collect this Tradescantia plant, chop it up and feed it to our ducklings. We called this plant "Duckling grass." or ARP ZAI CHO.

This grows in my garden, and makes me wish I can rear ducklings in my own back yard, the way Mum did in Borneo. My colleagues told me to catch some at Western Springs.

. Tradescantia grows very fast and ismajor plant pest when it has escaped into bush land, A member of the spiderwort family, tradescantia flumensis is native to South America; its name commemorates the discoverer of the species, John Tradescant, a 16th century English naturalist, gardener, and intrepid plant collector. The succulent green stems and oval leaves of this plant are accompanied by simple white flowers, but no seeds are produced. Instead, the tiniest stem or leaf is capable of sprouting leaves, and forming a new plant which grows rapidly. Tradescantia plants thrive in solid shade and form a dense mat completely inhibiting the survival of native plant seedlings or ferns.

I grew it in my worm farm kit  in school, and it has pushed out the lid. The kids love it.I restarted the kit, the children were surprised they don't need to put the plant into the ground, They just drop it to the soil, and the plants grow.

Quaggy

My photohunt meme 's theme: Quaggy. Quaggy  according to Google is marshy. I remember my home town, Sibu. Part of it is quaggy. We were flooded every year. When the flood water receded, the  mud were squishy.

Dad grew up in Pulau Kluadi. We used to visit relatives there, and it was so swampy.  (Photo from Francis Chen)

Houses then had stilts, and no running water or electricity. The stilts were because the Rejang River tended to flood. Though my grand parents houses were not in a flood prone area. It was also to keep the house cool. 

The jar evoked many memories of children raised in the town, but of their grandparents' in the country. The jar contained water, and at that time, we didn't wear shoes. In this case, a small tin container was attached to the rim, and you scooped water to wash your feet before you went into the house. You didn't need to dry your feet, as by the time you walked up the steps, your feet is dried. 

My grand dad Chan's jar was different, no, it wasn't the big salted eggs jar. It was much smaller. The opening was bigger, so we got inside and rub our feet or in the case of the youngsters, we did a jiggle and dance. We had great time, even washing our feet. I know, because my siblings who now live all over the world relish such minor things which our children can only imagine.

 Theme For Saturday Photo Hunting

Quaggy

http://whistlestopphotohunt.blogspot.co.nz 

Margaret and geese

It was the year before I started school in Padang Road. I was almost 5, and my sister Margaret was three plus. We kept chicken, ducks and geese. 

One day, Margaret went missing,  Mother asked me if I had seen her, and I said no.

In a frantic search, round the neighbourhood, they found her herding the geese back. The geese ignored her and the more she chased them with her stick, the further away they went.

The geese continued to gallivant, and Margaret continued to herd them. Father and Mother even took me and Margaret have a photo taken in case Margaret went missing again, they could show the people her photo.

Father and Mother decided it was too much hassle having to look for Margaret and the geese. The geese went to the pot and that was the last of the gallivanting geese. We didn't keep another goose again.

Tung Kwa - Winter melon.

My sister Elizabeth grew this marrow, the winter marrow or the Tung Kwa. When I was growing up, I thought just the Cantonese group of Chinese ate them  

Mum grew a small one, and stuffed a whole duck before steaming it. She craved patterns on it.  We lived next door to the District Officer and they often came for dinner. The whole Tung Kwa was mum's pride and joy.

I didn't quite appreciate it, and may be that is why I didn't marry a Cantonese. I like it better when we cook it sweet and have it as a cooling dessert at 3 pm.

In Singapore, as a professor's wife, I meet other wives from all over the world. I saw a small Tung Kwa in an Indian professor's house. It reminded me of home.

My facebook friend Dr Syn posted a photo of  the Tung Kwa soup. We must have good vibes, last night I showed a photo  of the above photos to my other friend Ling Liong Ming to console him because his mangoes were stolen.  

Father grew Tung Kwa in Kuching in Margaret's house. He waited and waited for the white powder. When it was just ready, some one had harvested it before him. A good story for all of us,

Sarawak: A week in the news.

 This past week, the people of Sarawak were  rejoicing. They were anticipating a week of public holidays. It is their harvest festival and beauties like Awa and her friend dress up in their finest and welcome guests to their longhouse for eating, drinking, merrymaking and dancing their traditional dance, the Nyajat. (These photos were last year's when I visited the Bintangnor Longhouse organised by John Benet, during the Kai Chung school reunion.)

Disaster struck, in Sarikei, a jetty where the boys can be seen to board the boats,  collapsed. Was it an ominous sign that bigger catastrophe was to come?  

Early one morning, on May 28, a smaller boat than this with a capacity of 67 capsized with about 180 on board. Many were seated on the roof, and miraculously they survived despite the ragging water. Statistics are hard to come by, because there is no statistics. No one knew exactly how many were on board. They fear 20 were drowned in our Rejang river. No wonder, locals term it their mighty river.

Around half a century ago, my siblings and I used to swim in this river 95 miles from the sea. It was our river.


You can see only part of the jetty for this week's meme.

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/

Family Photo 1970 and 2013., 陳鹞飛/陈鹞飞

In 1970, just before Charles went to New Zealand, we went to Art Friend with Ah Kung to take this photo. That was the last time Ah Kung saw Charles. He died in 1976. Mum died in 1988 in Australia, Dad in 2006 in Kuching.

I wanted to  replicate this photo, and Grace remembers that she had a biscuit in her mouth. 

                 

                      The Chan Family 1970 January

Back Row:

Dr Margaret Kit Yok , Ann Kit Suet, Charles Chok Kwong, Rose Kit Fon, Elizabeth Kit Pen.

Front Row:

Helen Kit Mei, Mother, (Kong Wah Kiew, Mary)Grace Kit Mui, Grand Pa (Chan Kee Seng), Father (John Chan Hiu Fei 陳鹞飛/陈鹞飞), Dr Henry Chok Khuang, Joseph Chan Chok Hiu.

Happy Gawai 2

It is the Queen's birthday in the British Commonweath. 

Once in Sarawak, we celebrated this too. 

When Sarawak joined Malaysia, we celebrate Gawai Day

 . It coincided with harvesting and can be considered as 

a harvest festival for the natives. It is celebrated in the 

1st of June, but is stretched to a week.

Some of my family are Kelabits, orang ulus, Ibans and 

Bidayuhs. I wish them a happy occasion.

Here's my niece Ruth dancing their traditional Kelabit dance. It is important to keep one's culture and traditions

Ruth learned her dance from her mum Elly. Henry and I were doing the modern version of the Nyajat during Charles' birthday,

Below, I was enjoying my first Nyajat dance, totally oblivious of the camera. We were following the steps of the beautiful Awa.