FIG SEEDS VS FIG PLANTS

I am trying to grow figs from seeds...it has been almost 3 weeks since i plant the seeds in a pot of soil mixture...nothing comes out of it. According to the instruction, it might take 15 to 90 days before the seed could germinate...90 days is such a long time and my husband and children are already making fun of me.

I love figs ...I've only eaten the dried ones. I've never eaten the fresh ones. So it is my hope that my fig seeds will germinate so I can feast on fresh figs.

Where in Kuala Lumpur can I buy a fig plant? So I do not stress out not seeing my seeds germinate. In the meantime, my cucumber seeds are already germinating and need to be transplanted in a bigger pot. It will take 3 months before I can harvest my first cucumber. At least I can focus on my cucumber plants instead of worrying about fig seeds...well at least for the next 90 days...

All this while

Assalammualaikum, and hello everyone...,

My life has been very hectic for the past 9 months. A lot has changed and I hope I have changed for the better too. Mysha is 9 months old now and I had looked after her all this while except when I was away for one and a half months to perform the haj.

Haj was more challenging due to the huge number of pilgrims. One really has to be very patient when performing the ibadah. Doing umrah during the haj months was equally challenging. Thousands circling the Kaabah at any period of time. My husband and I managed to circle the Kaabah at the ground floor only twice. The rest, we either do it on the second floor or the top floor. The distance is longer but I really liked it since I can recite more doas.

The ibadah required more physical strength and being a senior citizen, I tried not to overdo certain ibadah, lest I tire myself easily. I thought by walking 5 km everyday before going to Mecca, I will be okay..It was the weather that my body could not take it. The days were hot ( around 40 degree celsius) and the nights were cold. Worse when it was windy. I suffered from cough..who didn't? But the cough made me tired very easily....

I am glad that I managed to do my Haj all by myself. I did the melontar, tawaf and sai' without the help of others, Alhamdulillah..

No matter how difficult it seemed to be at that time, my husband and I have no qualms of going again if Allah permits. I missed the ibadah, the crowd, the mosque, the ambience..I missed the tranquility of praying in the Masjidil Haram and Masjid Nabawi..I missed looking at the Kaabah...

I hope I get the chance to go again in the near future..and today, when I spoke with my sister over the phone..she and her husband had registered for the haj..Her purported time is 2044..

She will be 85 years old at that time..Luckily she has done her haj before..

Mysha Irene Azman Faiz Azman

That's the name of my granddaughter. She was born on the 29th March 2011. All 3.2 kg of her. Can't really express what joy she brought to our family. I am a nenda now and my husband is her Tok Wan.

The rest of my children decided to call themselves Aunt Sarah, Uncle Idan and Uncle Im. No more Pak Uda, Pak Su and Mak Lang. Imran put it this way...Zaman dah berubah, dunia dah moden... thus no more old titles that I'm so used to. Even there's no nenek title to my sisters. They decided to confer the title nenda before their names.

My father, I could see through his eyes, how happy he was when he first saw Mysha. My father.. the first generation and mysha , the fourth generation..A gap of 82 years. Amazing....

Welcome

I have to start writing again. It's been such a long long time since I last wrote. The reason for such a long break is I'm having a frozen shoulder. The pain is terrible and I'm still under treatment. Every fortnight I have to go to the hospital for rehabilitation ( physiotheraphy).

Still I cannot miss this opportunity to share some good news with my readers ( if there's any...I doubt I have any readers).... I am going to be a grandparent any time now. This will be our first grandchild and the first great grandchild for my father. A grandmother...me.

Can't really wait to see the new arrival of my family. Welcome aboard ( what a welcome from your nenda)

MTR HK is amazing

I was in Hong Kong for a week recently. My first time there and the first time we have a family vacation after a long time. To me, HK is just okay but the MTR is something else.

We purchased an express rail line pass at the airport for easy travelling. It costs HK$220 per person. We are entitled to a single journey from the airport and 3 days of free travelling by train. There was a HK$50 deposit and any money not used will be refunded back to us. It definitely worth more than what we paid for.

For those of you who have to travel by train everyday in KL, MTR HK is a godsend. It is easy, quick, clean, punctual and not tiring at all. You do not have to walk a long way, like you did if you want to change station from Putra LRT at Masjid Jamek to STAR LRT at Masjid Jamek.

At some station , you only have to walk across to get into another train. The exit points is everywhere. You just have to know where you are going and just follow the exit points. It's as simple as ABC. That's it, no fancy names for the exits , just ABCDE or F.

There's no fancy names for the lines too. Just, red, green, blue, orange and pink ( Of course, this is the Disneyland line). The trains are big and long. There are queues but these are short and if you are not in a hurry, you can always wait for the next train.

Mind you, millions of people use the MTR everyday, so it is not easy to get seats during the peak hours. But the journey is short since the trains are very fast so you do not need a seat really..

Hong Kong MTR has been in existence for a very long time. Why can't our country adopt this system when we want to have the LRTs? We should have a mass transport system instead of a light one. Of course it is expensive.. but it is better, quicker and efficient and it works.

Any major transport system should be handled by the government..I know ..this system does not make money but it is for the benefit of everyone. If everyone use the system, then definitely the governement will make money out of it.

Then only we do not have any traffic jams since everyone prefers to use the MTR and travelling will be a breeze....

The Jews Did It Again

I have not read the atrocities of the jews for quite sometime. Most of all I cannot bear to look at those young faces in their 'kain kapan'. It just broke my heart. So I refrain myself from reading any news about the jews and the palestinians.

Until now...what had happened on the flotilla of aid.Mavi Marmara and Rachel Corrie..... I just cannot comprehend with what had happened. Those blatant arrogance of breaking the international laws... Soldiers abseilled from the helicopters in the wee hours of the morning....

If a stranger come to my house in the early morning without my invitation, I would have acted the same way as those peace activists did. If they have a peaceful intent , they would never behave the way they did. Any fool would not believe that they came with peace on their mind.Enough said. But then again.. they are jews, there is no element of surprise there.

9 lives were lost that day. At least now, the rest of the world have opened their eyes wide. The thing that saddened me most is the way Egypt closed their border to Gaza. If Egypt had opened its border, none of these things would happen. As a Muslim country, Egypt should help their muslim brothers in their time of need. The rest of the Arab world just keep quite. Believe it or not, they have lost the war with the jews. If only they are united, the jews would not be so arrogant like now.

But I believe in the Quran, there will not be a Jew state in this world. Even their 'holy men'...the rabbis believe so. They can never have peace of mind unless they give back what belongs to the Palestinians. In the meantime, lets send thousands of aid ships to Gaza from now on.....

Nabil is Coming Back

My son, Nabil, will be coming back for holidays in two weeks time. It has been 2 long years since he went away to further his studies. Both my husband and I have been planning a lot of things for this coming holidays. I have been planning the menu on the day he arrives. I was thinking of making his favourite dish, grilled lamb for the dinner.

The rest of the family are equally excited about food. Then came the bombshell, Nabil called and told me, he daoesn't want to eat ayam masak merah, kari ayam, ayam masak kicap, ayam masak lemak, barbecued chicken and I guess anything that includes ayam.

The first thing that he wants to eat is satay, the food that he actually not really fancy.. not the last time before he went away, anyway. So, abang, your papa and I will stop at Satay Shamuri on the way back from the airport to our house. How's that? with all your luggage and all. I really can't wait for the day when you come home...