Wintry days in Terengganu

Honestly, it certainly feels like it! It has been raining on and off since December and the new year brought more rain (Happy new year everyone!). Well it rained non stop yesterday and it has just stopped today - midday, though the sky is still downcast. The rainy season bought colder weather... thank God for water-heaters!

The river in front of our house-nearly overflowing..

It rains day..

...and night

Annual Dinner

PERMINT held its annual dinner last week at Taman Tamadun Islam. Some pics from the event:

Waiting patiently for event to start (arrival of VIPs)

The Chief Minister giving his speech - in Terengganu dialect..

'Eating' event at last... for starters - mushroom soup

Main dish

H

Simple dessert

Hmm.. must get ourselves matching batik suits..

PS: Happy 'Maal Hijrah' (new year) to Muslim readers! Resolutions? To keep to my resolutions.. lol

Convo

Last Sunday (28 Nov) the hubby and I were at UiTM in Shah Alam attending the daughter's convocation. She has completed her diploma program in Actuarial Science (what on earth is that, you ask? Try the video I posted below for an answer.. ) and is now into her second semester of a degree program at the same university. Alhamdulillah she was also one of the 5 who received the vice-chancellor award (thus the sash).

With proud Dad

Celebrities for the day..

28 years together!

It was our 28th wedding anniversary 11 days ago - 11/11/10. I didn't have time to go online to document the event, so here I am 11 days later.. Anyway, we had our usual dinner date, this time choosing the restaurant at Primula Beach Resort (just next door to Sumai where we had our anniversary dinner last year). We ordered Western, again.. this time the meal was much better than last year. We ordered smoked salmon salad, asparagus soup and steak. Unfortunately, the steak was leathery and after trying my best to chew without success, the hubby asked the waiter to take it back to the chef. Fortunately they admitted that their meat that day was not very good and other diners had complained too. So we ordered fish and chips instead.. (missing British fish and chips!). I want to post some pictures but I can't seem to be able to.. (darn!) Anyway, here's a lovely song by Maher Zain (the hubby loves his songs, too) dedicated to his wife. Well.. hoping the hubby feels the same.. well, towards HIS wife (me! me! me!) not Maher Zain's, lol!

LabbaikAllah!

It's the time of the year again.. when I hear and watch with 'envy' about people going off to Makkah to perform their pilgrimage.. It's not that I haven't been there but it's normal to yearn to go there again and again and again.., maybe not for Hajj but for umrah. Up till now, the chance hasn't presented itself, yet. Nevertheless, Alhamdulillah, we had been given the opportunity to perform the 5th pillar of Islam about 6 years ago. Adik was just 8 then and we left him with our good neighbour, Kak Nab who took care of him for about 40 days... Kaklang was in form 3 and she was staying with a friend, Noraini in Bangi as she went to a school there. Bangah was in form 5 and staying in the hostel at Hira' while Banglong was at UiTM. I'll have to continue some other time but here are some pics from 6 years ago:

The prophet's mosque in Medinah

A view from my hotel room in Makkah

An 'illegal' picture of the Kaabah taken with my mobile phone..

The hubby, looking not unlike a Yemeni.. the local shopkeepers used to ask him whether he came from Yemen, haha

Another Granchild!

A second grandson was borne today, 22nd Oct.. Our daughter-in-law was due 2 days ago and we were actually anticipating a 'glamorous' birth-date of 20/10/2010 or at least 19/10 which is his father's birth-date. (his elder brother, Umayr shares the same birth-date as their mom ; 31/1). Ammar, though, decided to arrive 2 days late but it's ok, mother and son are doing fine... This time around Banglong will have to cope on his own with the daughter-in-law's confinement and looking after Umayr. When Umayr was borne Banglong's mom-in-law stayed for a month in Adelaide taking care of things. However, she couldn't make it this time and as for me; next to impossible due to work.. I remembered when MY babies were borne, the hubby coped wonderfully without any help. The first two boys were borne in Cardif, UK. No help from home, then. Kak lang was borne in Sungai Petani 7 days through Ramadhan. Both mothers had responsibilities due to Eid-ul-fitr preparation or something like that, but I can't remember being waited on! And the youngest was borne in Kota Kinabalu; my late Mom only came for a few days to visit. So looks like Banglong will have to learn coping on his own.. just like his old Dad! Anyway, here are some pics that I got from Banglong's facebook:

Big brother probably wondering who on earth is this little guy that Mom and Dad are fussing so much about?

Looking serene and contented, and only less than a day old..

Can't resist uploading this picture of Umayr - so smart and handsome!

Bye bye Baby

Adik went back to Cairo last Friday (sob sob) after exactly 2 months home (well, minus 2 weeks in Australia). His flight was at 3 in the morning on the Friday. The three of us took the night bus from KT and arrived home in Meru just before dawn on Thursday - slept soundly almost all the way.. beats driving; I'd usually arrive a total wreck! Anyway, travelling by bus means having no transport but our good neighbour let us borrow their car. We started off for the airport at about 11 something but the baby wanted to go to 'the city of lights' first so at almost midnight found us at the top of the hill of I-city enjoying the sights and lights..

Trees of lights or lighted trees or.. whatever

More lights - colourful too..

At the airport at last. He was going on Kuwait Airways but those checking in that morning were mostly Malaysian students going to Cairo. So, no worries there.

Dad giving last minute advice; Adik probably going YYSSW (no.. he's a good boy, really!). Sis probably going: I'll be the only child again, heh heh!

Here he is with his 'juniors' who were also on the same flight with him (except for the 2 elderly men of course)

Our last sight of him as he went on to board the plane.. Bye bye Adik, we love you baby!