..titbits and cousins..

..on returning home after my morning prayers, I would normally take a brisk walk...along the road that fringes mine and my neighbours' houses..Mekbu, on being released from her cage, would follow me.. being blind, she would trot in a zig-zag manner..with Pakpong darting here and there after imaginary preys..

..on a open field before the road dropped onto padi fields, Ayam would be waiting, having been let out earlier as I left the house..together we caught the sunrise...


..I was baking scones when Piere and wife Su decided to pay me a visit..we have not met for more than 30 years..he is a cousin and a successful quantity surveyor in KL..they were here for a wedding in Kota Bharu..as they glided in with their SUV, the scones were in the oven...I led them to where the scones were being baked..daughter Auji prepared tea from teabags that had Chelsea stamped on it..and we had tea with scones dipped with wild honey..later my wife joined us..she bought some pisang and tapai goreng, fried fermented tapioca, which Su had never tried..we all enjoyed them with the scones and the wild honey...and I thought it was a beautiful blend of East and West..

..Nikidah, a cousin who has made Adelaide, Australia, their home, called one morning to say that she is in Kota Bharu with her family (husband and two teenage sons) and they are coming over for breakfast..

"What are you having for breakfast?" She asked.

"Quaker oats broth and toast."

"Ok, we'll buy nasi berlauk."

...they spread their fare on the kitchen table..wife makes tea..

..they are looking for recipients worthy to receive zakat..since pakmat has helped in identifying a couple before, who are now receiving RM200 - RM300 per month from them, perhaps pakmat can continue and find one or two in Bachok..her husband is a successful businessman and is now on a 'payback to society' blitz..

..as we enjoyed the feast, I thought how ordinary this multi-millionaire looks..but then, God giveth to whom He chooseth...

..seeing that there is a bonus in my pension this month, I took the children for a makan in town, as their cousins, Wani and Shahira were with them..later Akram wanted to try his hand at bowling. Feeling expansive and generous, I said ok..it has been decades since I last bowled..Bowling hit KL in 1963, if I am not mistaken, with Jackie's Bowl near the old Race Course..and a game was only RM1.50 then..

..on my insistence, we trooped to Perdana..'where papa used to catch your mother bowling with her boyfriends thirty years ago..' Its showing signs of aging, worn and jaded ...but not crowded, ideal for beginners..amid the shouts and laughter from the children, this oldster managed to return a score of 115..with a solitary strike and missing several easy spares..
but I thought it was not too bad for an oldster pushing 65..

..I topped off my breakfast this morning with fresh, red cherries from Melbourne, Australia..my neighbour returned last night from a week there, attending to their second daughter's convocation as a doctor..Doctor Arifa Saufi...

..as I enjoyed the shining, red cherries, I could not help but reflect...it is not too difficult to lead the good life..if I could learned to be thankful for the little things that God has blessed me with, I do not have to be a millionaire..for, in a way, I am already rich..