When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

(this article was written by a friend of ours)

Have a Great Day

make your life a happier place

When you reach the end of your days, will you be able to say you had a wonderful life? Or will you feel it was full of suffering & missed opportunities?

You’re painting that final picture now - in every single moment of your life. The way it turns out is not determined by what the world throws at you, but by how you respond to it.

Wise people say: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”

Focus on What’s Right rather than What’s Wrong

Human beings spend a lot of energy dwelling on what’s wrong in life. We re-hash daily dramas. We point out our annoyances with people & situations. The TV “News” could be called the “Bad News” considering it only addresses negative things that occur. Our entire society seems to be geared towards focusing on life’s dramas, with very little attention given to acknowledging the positives.

Count your blessings regularly & don’t take the good things for granted. Identify at least one positive experience every day, whether major or minor & celebrate it.

Give thanks & feel grateful for all its benefits. Express your appreciation for it & for how great it made you feel. When you get into the habit of that, increase the number to 5 positive experiences, then 25, 50 & more. If you find yourself giving thanks continuously through the day, you know your life is going
pretty great!

While you do still need to identify problem areas in your life which need improvement, that process should be practical & matter of fact. Identify the problem & see what’s needed to improve it. Then make whatever changes you can. Deal with the problem, rather than dwelling on it.

Dwelling on the negatives helps nothing. Moaning about what’s ‘wrong’ only serves to drain your energy & make you feel bad.
Remember the guidance of the ‘serenity prayer’, which is to accept the things you can’t change & to change the things you can.

You should also be honest with yourself about the unhappy situations you’re actually choosing not to change. When you’re afraid of changing a situation, it can feel like you haven’t got the choice or power to change when, actually, you do. It only seems like you have no other options.

In reality, you just haven’t considered your choices consciously &
honestly. Your unconscious fears can cause you to fail before you even
begin & you end up feeling like a victim to your situation. There are many valid, life-affirming reasons why we do choose to stay in challenging situations. Whether you choose to stay in, or leave, an unhappy situation is not the issue. Suffering only comes when you feel that you’re a victim to it.

To avoid this, always assess your situation consciously. Be honest with yourself when you’re not prepared to take the risks involved with making a change. Acknowledge that the power of choice is always in your hands & that, at this time, you are choosing to stay.

When you’re honest with yourself, you don’t need to feel like a victim. Rather than hating a situation you’ve chosen to keep in your life, focus instead on all its wonderful positive aspects. See only the good in it & learn to love it. If you’re going to stay, you may as well benefit from it!

by Kathie Strmota



we really enjoyed reading this and wanted to share it with others on the blog.

Kathie makes note that "Human beings spend a lot of energy dwelling on what’s wrong in life. We re-hash daily dramas."

..... so true, even within my own family we see - or should we say hear - this so often. John and I talk about this and wonder if these people ever think they have anything 'good' happen in their lives .... they don't stop to take a good look at their own life, the wonderful things around them, the simple fact of being alive and the joy they may bring to others.

John and I are blessed with being able to enjoy so much time together and at the moment to have the opportunity to experience this life we have in Singapore. There are a few downsides to this by being away from 'home', but we do not dwell on that, but take each day as it comes and appreciate and enjoy what we have today.

now go out and enjoy your day!

Awesome MySpace Graphics & Myspace Layouts

todays storm......

yesterdays posting about Thunderstorms and frightened boys - should have been left till today to write.

Out again today, another storm..... ......

home to find the tap running full blast in the guest bathroom!!!!!

Yes it had to be Pokey (who else??) climbed up on the toilet and into the sink.

Then turned on the tap!!

Do not ask me how, all I can think is that it is so easy to knock the single tap for it to turn on ..... just thank goodness that the sink plug was not activated ...... otherwise the apartment would have been flooded.

The water would have been running for at least two full hours, I shudder to think how much water was wasted, not to mention this months water bill.

OK, from now on the bathroom door will also be CLOSED.

This is the bathroom before the disaster:

Thunderstorms and frightened boys!

I am sitting here listening to the thunderstorm, naturally Pokey and Oscar are sitting under the desk and on my feet, frightened out of their wits! Nothing will ever stop them shaking and being so frightened. I have tried ignoring them, cuddling them, taking them out, covering them ... nothing works. So I just leave them to do what they want.

We were out most of yesterday and on our way home we could see there was a storm over where we live. By the time we did arrive home it had past by but we could see the evidence of how frightened "the boys" were....... we close all the doors when we go out and they only have access to the lounge, kitchen and one bathroom. Mainly so that having those doors open there is a cross flow of air.

The evidence was the toilet paper had been pulled down and it was spread all over the floor, and it looks as though they had tried to get behind the actual toilet.

But that was all the damage I could see. In the past on arrival home I have found Pokey up on the bookshelf or on the cupboard. Once when I left the study door open he was on my desk!


I was going to upload about Jonker Street in Malacca..... but will do that over the next few days, and of course also about our trip out to Changi Beach yesterday....

so much to write about and so little time - or so it seems!

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so much to see....

There is a lot to see in and around Malacca, but you do need to walk.

You take a walk along one roadway and look up one of the side streets and next thing you are wandering along that and again another side street that looks interesting.....

in the end, you are lost!

Well not really, everyone is helpful and friendly and more than happy to guide you back to the main road!!

It is a photographers paradise, old buildings with such amazing architecture and most of them brightly colored. You just have to walk around to see it all......

some of these images may give you an idea of what it was like for us last weekend.











I took so many photos, I hope to be able to upload the last ones - of the famous Jonker Street - over the weekend.

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a bit of a wander around the town.

No historian has been able up to now to pin-point the year Malacca was founded.

Going by the State government's celebration of the 600th anniversary of the founding in August 1990, it could be deduced that Malacca was founded in 1390.

Malacca was founded by a fleeing prince from Sumatra in 14th century, it developed into a major trading port for ships from India and China. As the Melaka Sultanate flourished, the Portuguese conquered Malacca in 1511. Later the Dutch took over in 1641 until much later the British empire ruled Malacca. The state finally obtained independence with the then "Malaya states" in 1957. Today, one will find many remnants of the glorious past dated back more than 500 years ago.

After the Portuguese captured Melaka, they built a fortress to defend themselves. The fortress, called A'Famosa suffered severe destruction during the Dutch invasion. What's left today is just the entrance walls, still well preserved till today.

it is a large town, much larger than we expected, and one must walk. It has many historical buildings to visit, there is shopping in Jonker Street, riding on a Rickshaw or perhaps a river cruise.......there is much to see and do you really do need more than just a few days.

These few images taken around Melaka in general will show you just a few things we did.


and we did stop for an ice cream down by the river.....






the next posting will show more images of around Melaka ....

the colorful Rickshaws of Melaka

Well here we are with the very colorful Rickshaws of Melaka. The above image is of John paying the driver after our 'ride' back to the hotel... They really are quite amazing!!

and some info from Wikipedia has:

Rickshaws (or rickshas) are a mode of human-powered transport: a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two persons. The word rickshaw came from Asia where they were mainly used as means of transportation for the social elite. However, in more recent times rickshaws have been outlawed in many countries in Asia due to numerous accidents.

Runner pulled rickshaws have mainly been replaced in Asia by bicycle rickshaws. They are also common in Western cities like New York City. In London they are known as pedicabs. The term "rickshaw" is today commonly used for those vehicles as well, but this article deals exclusively with runner-pulled rickshaws.

The word "rickshaw" originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha (人力車, 人 jin = human, 力 riki = power or force, 車 sha = vehicle), which literally means "human-powered vehicle".

The images taken at night do not do them justice....

during the night time they have music blaring and are full of sparkling lights, during the day if they are taking a larger group you might also hear the music.... but usually it is the driver puffing and panting as he winds his way around all the tourists in the hot weather!!



a great tourist attraction for Melaka !!

Staying at The Equatorial Hotel in Melaka.

oh my, am posting lots about Melaka onto the blog!

... I have posted about the bus trip to JB, also the coach from JB to Melaka and then a bit about the dangers of walking around Melaka .... now it is about the hotel before I get onto "the colorful Rickshaw Riders", "around Melaka" or the "Riverside of Melaka".

We had booked the hotel on-line a week or so before hand, always handy to have the payment and booking completed before arrival ....... does not make the checking in process any quicker though. Perhaps just more organised.

After the coach trip from JB we arrived at The Equatorial Hotel by lunchtime on Saturday and were shown to our room on the 15th level. We could see the pool from our balcony as seen here:

This image was taken outside the hotel ....
and then we had lunch in at the K5 Street Cafe attached to the hotel....






The Equatorial Hotel....

and views from our room looking towards the Melaka Straits and the old area of Melaka...




The hotel was nice, though more of a 'business hotel' rather than a family resort. The staff were pleasant but not near as helpful or friendly as the staff at The Mutiara Hotel in Johor Bahru.

Room was smaller, but we did have a balcony.

The breakfast menu was extensive, but catered more for the Asian Tourist. We felt the choice could be more evenly divided. All hot dishes were either noodles, rice, chicken sausages, or curry . Though to be fair, there was the inevitable "egg station" where we could order eggs any which way we liked.

We had fresh fruit, juice and poached eggs for breakfast on the Sunday morning.

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next posting.... maybe the colorful Rickshaw Riders??
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watch where you are walking in Melaka

Melaka is a very old and historical town ...... when walking around one must be very careful of all the potholes, footpaths, open drains, gutters, steps, road crossings etc....

Just last year a lady died from falling into an uncovered manhole at the Chingay Parade.

These few images will show how easy it would be to fall or trip into one of these 'traps':

at night the street lighting may not be as well lit as you might expect. Always be very careful.

The KKL Coach to Melaka.........

after a good nights sleep at The Mutiara Hotel in Johor Bahru, we took a teksi (taxi cab) to the Larkin Bus Terminal.

This is where all the coaches arrive and depart to and from Johor Bahru.

The coaches wait in a 'holding bay' area until their numbered bay becomes vacant and they can pull in to pick up passengers.......
The following image is where we had to wait (Bay 41) for our coach to arrive to take us to Melaka.
We then board.....
Image of inside the coach..... do not expect 5 star travel service ..... but it is comfortable at least.
No eating or drinking on the coach, but the driver is allowed to smoke!!!
TV 'case' is there above the driver, but no sign of any TV.
our coach was to depart at 9.30 - which it did - along with most others. Suddenly the Bus Terminal became quite empty.
a little ways out of town we stopped to pick up a few more passengers......
we passed thru a few Toll Booths.
.... and we are on our way. Trip takes about 3 hours from JB to Melaka.
The roads are excellent.
there was one police stop ....... reasons unknown.
then we see the Melaka sign.... wahooo.......
turning off the main highway.
thru another Toll Booth......
and we come into Melaka Sentral, where the coach stops for all passengers to alight.
we arrive in Melaka at lunchtime, then took a cab to The Equatorial Hotel where we had booked to stay the night.

More on Melaka in the next posting!

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