..hotsprings..

..it was hardly a river..it was more of a brook than a creek, hardly 3 feet deep at some points...but it is tantalisingly clear and sandy...and it curves and turns like a benevolant serpent through the forest...and pakmat was charmed...enough to make repeat visits...

.and  the hot spring that spurts out through some rocks on a mount that banks the river is collected in a mini pool...it is solid rock and it is hot...hot enough to keep away the kids...but not enough to keep away pakmat...who emerged fresh and warm after several dips...

..but I am no more the gung-ho youth of before...though I did let my hair down, or whatever is left of it, there is still decorum befitting an old man to think about...I dipped and waded...but I did not convoluted or attempted somersaults...I just absorbed  the peaceful surroundings...and praised the Lord for my endearing health...

..the verdant trees and flowing stream reminded me of Mekkah...the stark contrast did...and the soft, billowing breeze that flowed through the trees was like the breeze that I encountered as I tawafed the Kaabah...

..Praise be unto You, Lord...for, indeed, Your Bounty is endless.....

..rocky bubu...and a thing about cats..

..my belle..ayam..

...I was never into cats as a kid or when I was a struggling youth trying to carve out an existence in Kuala Lumpur in the early sixties...cats were just..cats.....I did not care much about them and generally, they kept their distance from me....I was more into girls...they were the object of my dreams and fantasies..But I did not made any headway with them, either...girls of my age were just not interested in boys my age...and girls younger than me were not interested in anything...and I was only good for running errands with the older girls...

..and the late itek..

..it was only upon marriage and two kids later that cats entered my life...but they did not figure much...we were in Terengganu, and there were the beaches, stretches of beautiful beaches...and tantalising islands within the horizon...they cats were there, somewhere in the background, getting a rub or a pat as I rushed about busy as a servant of the government, a father and a husband...

..taking care of sick rocky bubu..

..but later, much later, three marriages, two divorces and 13 children later, the cats came in...a daugher in Form Three and her two years younger brother from my second marriage, about the only marriage that I have now, started it...they wanted some cats in the house...at least two...

..rocky bubu when first found...

...a house without cats is lonely, they said..and you both are not going to have babies anymore...
...hey, your father is not yet over the hill...its your mother...
...yes, they said...they still want a cat or cats...

.it was 2007..I was a retiree for 6 years..the eyes have stopped roving but the mind has not...might as well focus on some felines of the furry kind...its safer...and less tiring..or so I thought...

..before he turned sick..

..and so it was that we had ayam and itek...two furry balls that rolled straight into my heart...and when itek drowned a year later, there was not a dry eye in the house...

..giving bubu a wash from his  own excrement..

...cats are here to stay...and I believed that I became a better person because of them....and when my health improved, my wife and children said that it was because of the cats...and I agreed...

..

...cny reunion dinner..

.....we had a family reunion dinner of sorts last night...which is nothing unusual, of course....but since it was Chinese New Year eve, it could very well be a Chinese family reunion dinner...but ours is a multicultural society and I had always been a multi-cultural man, so last night, it was a most natural thing to do...the children were excited and chose the venue...Restaurant Satay Malaysia, and upbeat satay joint along Jalan Pengkalan Chepa...but ours were not the only family intend on having a reunion dinner last night, judging from the rows of cars parked...and anxious customers waiting for tables  to be cleared..

..going through the menu..

..time for some pictures..

....food were served in batches, and we waited almost an hour for it to arrived...but it was ok...we were just too happy to be together to let the late arrival of food to bother us...it was Chinese New Year...and tomorrow the Chuan awaits us with roti jala and chicken curry..

..68 and beyond..

...I will be 68 in a few weeks time...not that it really matters for I am not one who places much importance on dates, anniversaries and such stuff...it must have been my upbringing...growing up in a family where there were no blowing of candles or cutting of cakes has made me into what I am today....a little bit cynical in outlook... a little bit rye with a dash of sacarsm...it  does not put a stopper on aging, of course...but that's ok..I just realised that in every old man such as me,  lurks, in thoughts and in the soul, a young man...we are what we think we are...the colours may fade...the gums shine without its pearly whites...hairlines recede or thin into shining white...less on spring but sprightly...yes..I am that young man when ever and where ever I am...it takes but a chuckle, a glance and a smile and I am that 26year-old again...dashing out that cha-cha steps to Cherry Pink and Blossoms White...

..cats and stuff..

..ayam enjoying a nap..

..of course, there are cats like Toffee and One Ball Bandit, and they loll in luxury and travel in beemers and posh limousines...as there are cats like Awang Jules and Lilie, staying high above ground, peeing and pooing in private loos prepared by their masters and mistresses...but as they bask in the love and tender loving care of their minders, they are also cats who literally litter the wet markets and five-foot ways of towns and cities throughout the country...and for these cats, I try to spare a few seconds every time I meet them...a stroke and a pat...some cat food..sometimes, if they are in too bad a shape, a trip to the vet...

..mokku..just after her visit to the vet..

 ...one such thrown=away cat was mokku...dirty and thin with a pair of bright eyes, shining below a heavily diseased pair of ears, she was found sprawled one morning in front of my wifes little shop, starving...after a trip to the vet, she improved and turned out to be quite a dainty little lady... she remained at the shop and became the wife's constant companion...until a few weeks ago when she went missing...we think she was abducted, judging from the many comments she received from passerbys and strangers who saw her...

..rocky bubu, 7months...found wailing near a rubbish dump..

...at the last count, we have a total of 11 cats, with 4 toms, not counting another 3 belonging to our neighbour which had made pakmat as their forster father...they free ranged around our house compound and made the shaded area at the back of the house their play area...they slept where ever they like, pee'd everywhere and poo'd on a sand dump across what was supposed to be the lawn of our house...

..pointer-cat, ayam..

..gua musang rest area..

..gua musang rest area..

..greeting the main provider of food..

..there are times, of course, when the missus sighed and wished that we never had cats...but come feeding time, once in the morning and another in the evening, when she feeds them rice mixed generously with boiled ikan selayang, she changed her mind with 'Mari sayang...lapar ke?..kesian..'

...to pakmat, the cats are here to stay...they are totally dependant on us for food and healthcare...I enjoyed having them around and I think, my wife did, too...they are, after all, one of God.s creation...and I think, in many ways, my life is richer for them..

..chuan and chinese new year..

...Chuan, the goldsmith, is about the only person in Bachok who reads The Star...as it is not available in Bachok, he buys them in Kota Bharu where he lives...and pakmat the second person to read it after him...usually at about midday when I drop by the shop just before solat Zohor....over the years that we had known each other, it has become a routine...

..Lyn Sin...Chuan first cucu...to her I am papatok..

...yesterday he gave us a box of mandarins...he placed them in my car which I had left unlocked as I made my way to the bank...later as I walked in into his shop, looking for his day's copy of The Star, he told me about the oranges...he answered my comment of it being too early, isn't Chinese New Year another 20 days away, by saying that he will be closing shop next week...and for me not to forget to come by his house on New Year as he will be serving roti jala and chicken  curry...all halal, of course....supplied by a known Malay caterer....I raised my eyebrows as he had never done it before, being the strict vegetarian that he is...

..'Its for you and family lah...and some of my Malay friends...'
..'Kuih bakul?..'
..'Ye lah..but no Ipoh groundnuts this time...what for give you kacang...?.. you pun ada gusi saja..'

..yes, endentulous me would not be able to enjoy the nuts...but I am looking forward to the roti jala...

..happy chinese new year, all...

..new year thoughts..

....it was slightly misty on the morning of the 6th day of year 13...it sat like a thin veil across the fields near the river that flows in front of my house...aidil and adha, two newest members of our cat family,  were playing catch me if you can in the receding light...I scanned the sky, seeking signs of the promised tropical storm...but the clouds were thinning...and I sat there on the steps of the house that has been home for pakmat for the past 25 years..

...time fly by fast when you are not counting...but the house is in need of a new coat of paint...as pakmat is in need of a new set of teeth...but I am not a man of means...hardly a Roland Bleke, by any account....just an aging retiree, settled into his retirement, and wanting for nothing...except, perhaps, an enduring good health...

..but as I sat there, a song kept playing in my mind...dreams left behind sometimes are too real to replace..

..the new year..

..I did not do much on new year eve..it rained most of the time on the last day of 2012..and the night, I just lolled around the house, playing with the cats, or just listened to the patter of rain as it fell...neither did I dwell much about all those things associated with the new year...I have no resolutions to make...or any past resolutions to reaffirm...I just allowed my mind to free-float...apart from my health, which is failing in many ways, eyesight, hearing, and memory, I have few worries...life now is in auto-cruise until the final stop...

..but a free-floating mind will bring you to your past, inevitably...

...reduced to now having only one wife, I remember, as my children are fond of saying, my ex'es...I remember my first and I know that to her, I was a letdown...but there is no appeasing the first once you took a second...and I was a disappointment to my third..she married and old man of fifty who should have known better...the odds were stacked against her succeeding...

..like everyone else, my life has its highs and its lows...but I learn to take the laughters along with the tears...the good along with the bad....I have been hurt and spitted...as I have done wrong and slighted others...it is a long and winding road...whence  its end, I know not...but I am nearing it...

..so, happy new year, friends...it is not the end of the world yet...but it will end when it ends....

my eldest brother..

..my eldest brother is 72 years old, infirmed, widowed and as from two months ago emplaced in an old folks home in Pengkalan Chepa...and pakmat tries to visit him  at least once a week...some kind souls, cousins and relatives would credit into my account monies, token sums, mostly, and pakmat controls the flow to him...ensuring him that he is sufficient and not left wanting...he once told me that it is humbling when you are broke...and watched with downcast eyes as others buy 'nasi berlauk' and 'kerabu' for breakfast...and  I said, yes, I know the feeling...

...sometimes as we banter and joke around that concrete table under a wizened tree, I could not help but see in him me...life has not been too good for him..now frail and aging he is very much alone...he is homeless and penniless...oft times when we met, I rebuked him his past mistakes and foolishness...and oft times we just laughed together....not much can be salvaged from a receding past...but there were tears in his eyes as he guffawed showing a single tooth from shining gums...but the Lord knows best...and may his end be with iman...

...

..the journey in pictures, part 2...Arafat, Muzdalifah, Mina, Medinah, Jeddah and home..

..wukuf in Arafat..

..jabal rahmah in the background..

pak pa from Bachok..

..muzdalifah..reading the koran..

..muasim tunnel..2.6 km long..

..cropping of hair in mina after the stoning of jamrah kubra..
..tahlul awal..

..mina..mourning the death of the wife,
..pakmat chided him for smoking..and was told later that he had
just lost his wife...

..queueing the loo.. sense of humour helps..

..the journey to madinah.. with second driver taking a nap..

..masjid nabawi..

..azan, the call to prayer..

..boarding the bus for Jeddah..last leg for home..

..madinattul hujjaj, jeddah..final stop before home..
..haji abdul rahim and family..

..king abdul aziz hajj airport..following the flag..

...the plane that took us home...