Thursday, March 11, 2010

God Has Answered Our Prayers!

As if in answer to our prayers, it rained early this morning. When there was light enough I went out to check for the sign of rain, sure enough there were puddles of water on the road. Around 8.00 AM it rained again and I was able to snap some photos to capture the scene.
After being deprived of rain for so long, this light drizzle is bliss not only to us human beings but also to plants and animals. I can see the wet leaves which seemed to be smiling after being wet by the rain. The slight drizzle has cleaned up the leaf surface of dust thus opening up it's stomata opening for easier intake of carbon dioxide from the air and the release of oxygen much needed by others. The birds are singing and chirping in joy too. They too must have felt the heat of the weather.

The falling rain cascading from my awning.


Puddles of water on the road indicating the amount of rain was quite substantial.

The overcast sky indicating that there is more to come.

The look of joy on the leaves of the mango tree.
Let us hope more rain will come as the padi field in some areas in Pasir Mas as well as some of the wells in the area. Those who depends on the well for water, life must have been hard for them. Those of us who were using piped water could sense the low water pressure and was anticipating the tap to dry up soon.
Fortunately God has answered our prayers to provide us with some relief.
Thank you Allah.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

What Happened In The Past Three Months

If not for the freak accident with the mean little machine called The Grinder yesterday (Wednesday 3rd March 2010) I still may not write this blog yet as I will be busy doing a new project after having done the new kitchen. The accident involve the grinder to which i have attached a 4 in circular saw to cut wood. The grinder jerked off from my right hand onto the concrete floor of the pit I was constructing and bounced off to lodge itself between my short and gnawed away some skin just below my right knee cap. The cut was bad but it wasn't life threatening and I had it stitched at a nearby private clinic whereby Dr. Maliha of Klinik Lily did a find job to keep me out of any pain while suturing up my contused wound.

The new project is a water retaining pond where water from my drains and house will collect before being pumped out to the roadside drain. The project must be completed before the rain starts again as the water table around my house is very high and any heavy rain may inundate the compound of my house if it is not ready.


The little mean machine that kept me out of work for the next couple of days.
The accident and the new project will be another story by itself.

After coming back from nannying Adam in Shah Alam in late November 2009, heavy rain lashed Kelantan. Many parts of Kelantan including Rantau Panjang in Pasir Mas was flooded but not Pasir Mas town itself. My own house is on relatively higher ground and thus was considered safe. little did I realise that this time around the roadside drain in front of our house was clogged at one end and the water from my neighbours house just couldn't flow out the normal way. Instead it just flowed into my compound over the low drain edge that separate our houses. I couldn't do much at that time other than did my best to facilitate the flow of water from my neighbours house into the main drain while they themselves cozily made themselves comfortable in their own houses.
When the weather changed for the better and rain stopped, we ordered all the materials to raise the level of the drain walls to prevent future breaches. We called for workmen to do the job but the job was too small for most workmen in the area and i had no alternative but to do it on my own. Thus it began the Do It Yourself job that lead from one job to another.

The drain that flowed into my compound. Here is the beginning of the wall. Note on the left, the structure that was later converted into my wet kitchen.
When the school holiday for end of year 2009 began, My son in law Lokman came home with his family. After a week he left home for Labuan leaving behind his wife Azini and daughter Balkis. Azini remained behind for her sister's wedding in mid December.
it was our joy to have Balkis live with us for awhile.

We let Balkis do almost whatever she wanted to do including playing in the rain.
My painting continued. Balkis often observed me doing the painting and I did allow her to put colours to pieces of drawing papers but she soon lost interest in it.

Balkis in a mini telekung observing Tok Pa painting.

I did complete a couple of paintings for Davis Ritchie from Korea. David had visited my home almost a year ago while in Kelantan.

I was surprised to find Euro 200 in the mail as payment for my paintings to David.

My eldest daughter Azura whose earlier marriage to Joe faltered will be remarrying a second time. The marriage will be solemnised on 18th December 2009. Since my restrooms were not on par, I embarked on remodelling one of our two restrooms. Having seen how tastefully made was Pak Idrus restroom in his house in Ampang, I decided to have a go at mine and hopefully it would be serviceable by the time the function will be held.

It was a completely redone from the bottoms up. Here I am doing the tiling. Only high quality fixtures will be fitted. The saving on workmanship will be used to buy the better materials.
The restroom was almost done except for the top half of the tiles that left. It will be done after the Azura's marriage ceremony.
The children and grandchildren came back for the occasion and there is no better joy than having them around.


The wedding was solemnised by the local Imam at the mosque in the morning. A simple Bersanding ceremony was held later in the afternoon.

The Bersanding

The reception at the bridegroom's home was held in a Felda Scheme in Triang, Pahang. It was a grand event replete with bearing officers of the army as the bridegroom is a Captain in The Armed forces.





Another small reception for the immediate family members around Kl was held at Azura's home in Amanputra Puchong.
My younger brother Hasan Bokhori with my wife Fatthiyah.

After everything was over in KL, we came back home to Pasir Mas and I started working on the new kitchen which will be designated as the wet kitchen while the old on will be relegated to the dry kitchen.

The new kitchen was an old section that was intended to be used as the rest area without any walls. Unfortunately the low metal roof made the place too hot for any use.

The old kitchen with the new kitchen at the other end.

Another view of the new kitchen.

Do we really need the new kitchen? Definitely not. With just two persons in the house who needs an extra kitchen?
The idea of turning this area into a kitchen came about after the burglar(s) broke into my house. The new kitchen will act as the first line of defence. Anyway that was the excuse to turn this area into a new kitchen. The fact that our house was bursting at its seams with things we have collected over the years and refuse to part with necessitated the creation of a new place. Since we enjoyed doing it why not?