Friday Fill-Ins

1. Please don't tell me lies.

2. Can you wake up at the sound of the alarm clock ringing in the morning?

3. The color red and pink makes me want to think of roses and tulips!

4. I have a craving for a cup of steaming hot tea and a book right now.

5. If my life had a pause button, I'd pause it whenever I am in need of a break.

6. Eyes are the first thing I notice when I look at a person.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eating out with my husband, tomorrow my plans include household chores and catching up on my reading and Sunday, I want to spend more time with my family!

A Trip to Perth, Australia - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1.)

So the next day after having our breakfast at the hotel, we packed and left one of our luggage with the hotel concierge since we were to stay at The River Retreat farmstay in Swan Valley. But before that, we had some free time before meeting up with the other tourists for the local tour at 1p.m. so we visited these places.

The Swan River

Landscapes in Perth City

The Bell Tower
(Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we did not take a tour of The Bell Tower)

We had such a fun time exploring these places that we lost count of the time and nearly could not make it timely for the local tour. Needless to say, we could not afford to spend more time at some eating outlet to have our lunch so we stopped by a McDonald's outlet for a takeaway.

Fortunately, we were five minutes early before we reached the entrance of the hotel where the coach was supposed to pick us up (along with the other tourists) and then that began our journey out of Perth. We filled our empty stomachs with the McDonald's meal in the coach, careful not to spill anything and were very grateful that no one had lodged a complaint on us after the trip. We were also thankful that our groups are small and thus, make it a more enjoyable trip as I feel bigger groups are harder to manage.

Anyway, we passed by the historical town of Guildford and made a stop at the States oldest and best-known vineyard, Sandalford Wines for a wine tasting session. They have an extensive cellar and wine emporium gift store featuring stunning wine accessories and also works by local artists. Not a wine person myself, I too was captivated by the rows of various bottled wines on display and tasted two kinds of wine (one white and one red, although I could not remember their names!).

We then visited the vineyard on our own, while the others were still inside the shop tasting the wines. I have a thing for fruits so I was especially happy to have the opportunity to visit the vineyard and viewing those luscious-looking grapes.


My four-year-old daughter loves grapes so after seeing them, she innocently asked me if she could pick them for consumption. My husband and I couldn't help chuckling after hearing her remark, and so we had to tell her no and further explained to her what these grapes are for. (I have to admit I felt the urge to pick them myself upon seeing them the first time; don't you think they looked delicious?)

Our next stop was at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Now did I pique your interest at the mention of chocolates? It was a wonderful experience and an eye-opener trip for us. Being a chocolate lover, this place seems like paradise because we got the opportunity to try out two types of chocolates (the regular chocolate and the white chocolate. They were in small bits and were served in a big bowl and the visitors are free to help themselves with them).

Rows of chocolates on display

We then proceeded to watch the staff on preparing and making the chocolates through a glass window and this had also attracted a lot of other tourists (besides the chocolates that is) as I am sure most of us are very curious how our chocolates are made. I admired the staff for their nonchalance and seemed not to be bothered by the attention we showered on them during their work, because I know I probably could not concentrate having so many eyes on me.

Our next stop was at Caversham Wildlife Park, where we had a close up experience with native Australian animals and had the opportunity to feed kangaroos and take photos of the adorable koalas. This was another wonderful experience for us, and I know my daughter had enjoyed herself immensely. She was really excited seeing those kangaroos hopping around and was curious about the koalas when she had the chance to take a close up picture with them.

The kangaroos resting under the shades

Don't you think the koalas are adorable?

I just love the name of this little guy - Tasmania Devil

Emu, which I had mistaken as an ostrich initially

A beautiful peacock which shy away from my camera when I tried to follow it around.

Our final stop was at The River Retreat in Swan Valley and this is where our farmstay is. We were the only family among the group who had opted to stay overnight at this place so the coach left for the Perth city after leaving us here.

I just loved the feeling that I was being so close to nature.

We were assigned to a cottage which is fully self-contained with cooking facilities. It has a huge living room with dining area (with air-conditioner), and two bedrooms and a bathroom. There are two double-decker beds in a room, and a queen-sized bed in another. It reminds me of a chalet but this is definitely much bigger and better! When we opened the back door, we could see nothing but the wonderful greenery as shown below. It was such a quiet and peaceful place for relaxation. If you step out from the back door and walk further, you could see a playground and some farm animals lazing around at their designated premises.

After our dinner, we had an outdoor activitity where we had a little bush camp and had fun watching a native representative making billy tea. First, he set up the fire with sticks and placed a billy can of water with tea leaves sprinkled into it. When the water has boiled, he used a towel to hold the handle and then he lifted the can and swirled it round and round in circles. The purpose of doing so is to allow all the tea leaves to settle down to the bottom of the can without filling your cup with leaves. I did capture a shot of the man swirling the can at a distance (I was so afraid the tea would spill but funny enough, it didn't. I suppose one required skills and experience for doing so) but I will not post it as it is not a good shot.

After hearing him sing and taking some pictures with him, we bade each other goodbye and we returned to our cottage. It was really a fun day and we looked forward to the next day as we would get the chance to feed the animals.

[To be continued...]

Gossamer

ISBN-13: 9780385734165
Publisher: Random House Childrens Books
Published: January 2008
154 pgs


We are such stuff
As dreams are made on;
and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

~ William Shakespeare,
The Tempest, act 4, scene 1

You know, I have often wonder about dreams. What are they? And why do we have them? A scientific view reveals that dreams are sequence images, sounds and feelings experienced while sleeping, strongly associated with rapid eye movement sleep. In Gossamer, Lois Lowry tells her story about dream-givers and how dreams are casted upon humans (or even animals) by them.

These dream-givers have the ability of dissolving and what they do is they gather memories, colours, words once spoken, hints of scents and any tiniest fragments of forgotten sound through touching. They collect pieces of the present and the past; and with these things they create dreams to people who need a good and happy dream.

However, not all people received pleasant dreams as there are the dark and fearsome creatures known as the Sinisteeds that plague their victims with nightmares.

Now there is a little new dream-giver called Littlest One who is slowly learning her job of bestowing dreams. Together with her mentor, Thin Elderly, they visit an old woman's house each night to gather fragments and memories about her. The old woman has a dog named Toby and she is also looking after a troubled boy who is staying with her temporarily. John is a very unhappy boy because he has an abusive father and a mother who is frightened of him but still struggles to put life together.

When John came into the old woman's house, he is always angry and rude but the old woman is kind and always patient. When John became the victim of the Sinisteeds, the old woman will come to him and comfort him whenever he has nightmares. Now Littlest One, with the assistance from Thin Elderly, will have to try their best to gather all the happy things to bestow pleasant dreams to John before the Sinisteeds beat them to it.

Gossamer is a quick and entertaining read, and one that leaves a warm feeling in my heart after I closed the book and with the story still lingers in my mind. Littlest One is one extraordinary dream-giver. Though young and inexperienced, she already possess the quality of compassion and what most impressed me is her positive attitude and her interest in learning. I especially loved her insights on the sad parts of life:

“... I get a lot of sad fragments from photograph of the soldier - feelings of never-coming-back feelings of now I'm-all-alone. But the kiss is there, too, in that photograph, so I always collect there, just to keep that kiss fragment for her. And you know what, Thin Elderly? Sad parts are important. If I ever get to train a new young dream-giver, that's one of the things I'll teach: that you must include the sad parts, because they are part of the story, and they have to be part of the dreams.”

It is so true. Who said the sad parts have to be all bad? Sometimes, we have to have some sad parts in our life to remind us and be appreciative of the good ones we have.

Can you tell that I really enjoyed reading this story? I seriously do. I can not wait to read more Lois Lowry books in future.

PS: Alice, thank you so much for sending this book to me! I really appreciate it!

Other blog reviews:
Back to Books
Becky's Book Reviews
Hello, My Name is Alice
Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Hidden Side of a Leaf
Things Mean a Lot
(Let me know if I've missed yours.)

Wordless Wednesday

A fruit stall in Taipei

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

My teaser sentences for today [Gossamer by Lois Lowry (Pg 13)]:

Their task is both simple and at the same time immensely difficult.

Through touching, they gather material: memories, colors, words once spoken, hints of scents and the tiniest fragments of forgotten sound. They collect pieces of the past, of long ago and of yesterday. They combine these things carefully, creating dreams. Then they insert the dreams as the humans (and sometimes animals, for occasionally they give dreams to pets, as well) sleep.

The Orange Girl

ISBN-13: 9780753819920
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 2005
151 pgs
Translator: James Anderson



Georg Reed does not really know his father, after all he died when little Georg was four. Now after eleven years, Georg discovers a letter addressing to him. Intrigued by the mystery and wanting to know more about his father, Georg began reading his letter, which comes in the form of a story.

The opening of the letter is intriguing enough, for Georg's father wrote the letter the way he knew he was going to die and would be read by Georg in the future. Georg is captivated by his father's story and about the Orange Girl, a girl whom his father met on a tram when he was just nineteen. He named her the Orange Girl because she was seen carrying a bag full of oranges, but he made a fool of himself of the girl while trying to save her bag of oranges when they threatened to fall off from the bag. Georg's father could not forget the Orange Girl from then onwards, and he tried to find her again by chance on several occasions. He succeeded, and their friendship began.

There is much intrigue and mystery surrounding the Orange Girl when I began to read about this story. It is a love story between the Orange Girl and Georg's father (the identity of the Orange Girl remains a mystery until it struck me who she is towards the middle of the story). Besides love, it is also a book about kinship, as Georg's father communicated his feelings and thoughts through a long letter after he had passed away. He told his story about how he had met the Orange Girl, and how his choice on their fairytale-like relationship had in turn started or changed everything. Besides telling Georg his story, he also had a question to Georg which I find is a thought-provoking one for all.

“Imagine that you were on the threshold of this fairytale, sometime billions of years ago when everything was created. And you were able to choose whether you wanted to be born to a life on this planet at some point. You wouldn't know when you were going to be born, nor how long you'd live for, but at any event it wouldn't be more than a few years. All you'd know was that, if you chose to come into the world at some point, you'd also have to leave it again one day and go away from everything. What would you have chosen if you'd had the chance? Would you have elected to live a short span on earth only to be wrenched away from it all, never ever to return? Or would you have said no, thank you?”

The story is written in two POVs - Georg being the narrator, and Georg's father through the letter. I really liked Jostein Gaarder's style of portraying this story in a magical way, starting from Georg's father's encounter with the Orange Girl till the end when he asked Georg the above question. I marvel at Jostein Gaarder's creativity of weaving this magical story from the ordinary, everyday's life issues without making it dull or depressing at all, no matter how close they are to reality that is. I would say it is a powerful book; one remarkable story that led me into thinking of the meaning of life and death, and how life could be appreciated even in small, simple ways. It is truly a wonderful story that will not only enthrall the younger readers but to the adults as well.

Musing Mondays - Bookstores

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book stores…

How do you choose what to buy from your local bookstore? Do you have a list, or just browse? What is the selection in your book store like? Do you find what you're looking for? Do you feel pressured to buy the kind of books the store makes prominent? (question courtesy of MizB)

Being a booklover, bookstores is one of my favourite shopping places besides the malls. I visit the bookstore at least once a week, thanks to the place where I work because there is a bookstore which is just a five-minute walk from my office building.

Most of the times, I do not have a list when visiting the bookstores. I just love to browse and look around, and I especially love the feeling of finding a book which I have been waiting for unexpectedly. The bookstore which I patronize has a wide variety. Apart from the English section, it also has a Chinese and Japanese section and a stationery section that mainly carries stationery imported from Japan. Although I love visiting this branch, I would still prefer to visit the main branch as it is bigger and offers a much wider variety. I do not feel pressured to buy any books on display, but I do feel something is amiss if I walk out of the bookstore empty-handed.