Peggy and William
Tom in the company of his girl friend and her mother
The male members of the Tan clan -- Vincent, Kevin, Leslie and Leslie's sonsSunday, December 30, 2007
And more photos
Peggy and William Tom in the company of his girl friend and her mother The male members of the Tan clan -- Vincent, Kevin, Leslie and Leslie's sons
Saturday, December 29, 2007
More photos of the occasion
Christine, Linda, Terrance, and Robin
Friends and neighbours
Tashy
Tashy, Wendy Linda and Paul
Friends and neighbours
Tashy
Tashy, Wendy Linda and Paul
Christine's 80th birthday party, 2007
Christine's birthday party was celebrated on the 21st of December 2007 simply because her actual birthday, which falls on the 24th, was too close to Christmas. We, Peggy and I and the Hunt family, Wendy, Paul and Tashy, from Canberra, were there to help make the occassion a really grand one. Others, namely Kevin Tan and family, of Western Australia helped to boost the number. The Shankey family-- Linda, Ron, Tom, Michael and Rabecca were there being the closest members of the Metcalfes. Leslie Tan family of Moony Ponds was also present. June McKenna hailed from SA. The rest present were friends and relatives of the birthday girl. The dinner was held at the Flower Drum Restaurant, in the heart of Melbourne. It was an occasion we will never forget.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Carbon Footprint
How green are you?
Seems like a funny question.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean how naive or easily deceived you are, nor do I mean how envious you are of others of what others have or possess.
If I can put it simply, are you a tree hugger? More pointedly, how large is your carbon footprint?
What is a carbon footprint you might ask.
Well, carbon footprint is the aggregate amount of CO2 each of us produce directly or indirectly each year. This could amount to approximately 10 metric tonnes (each year, my dear).. It is the total amount of carbondioxide we breath out, or expel as a result of excessive gas produced in the alimentary canal. (Sometimes referred to as flatulance, pang phooi (Chinese), kuntut (Malay), etc, etc), as well as gas produced by the cars we drive, or the amount of CO2 produced as we allow our appliances, viz. Plasma, or 200 watt lamps to burn unnecessarily every 24x7 with no end in sight. Incidentally the millions of heads of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs also produce greenhouse gases known as Methane. In fact, they produce more methane than we produce CO2, believe it or not. The good news is there are methane consuming bacteria that can digest the methane and turn it into a non reactive substance. That is a plus for our environment. Methane gas can also be used as fuel for home use for cooking as well as for the production of electricity.
How do we offset our carbonfootprint? How do we counter the excessive amount of CO2?
Trees, my dear. We grow more trees.
What is the connection between trees and the CO2 we produce? The trees absorb and store the CO2 in their wood and leaves and fruits as carbohydrates. They store these products during photosynthesis and in return give off O2 which is what we breathe in to stay alive. The expression is carbon sequestration, the storing of CO2 in the plant so that it will no longer be available to react with other gases. (locked up for good, in other words.)
Where are we going to find enough space to grow more, our backyards being so small? I already have five trees in mine. More would just see them remain stunted and depressed.
The other solution is to offset the CO2 we produce by paying some organisation to grow more trees in areas which have been deforestrated, not necessarily in our country; it could be a neighbouring country where the forest has been expoited for timber, for cash. How many trees? As many as the world can hold - as many as you can afford in dollar terms.
Think of what you can do for the health of the world and not just what you can exploit from mother earth.
Seems like a funny question.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean how naive or easily deceived you are, nor do I mean how envious you are of others of what others have or possess.
If I can put it simply, are you a tree hugger? More pointedly, how large is your carbon footprint?
What is a carbon footprint you might ask.
Well, carbon footprint is the aggregate amount of CO2 each of us produce directly or indirectly each year. This could amount to approximately 10 metric tonnes (each year, my dear).. It is the total amount of carbondioxide we breath out, or expel as a result of excessive gas produced in the alimentary canal. (Sometimes referred to as flatulance, pang phooi (Chinese), kuntut (Malay), etc, etc), as well as gas produced by the cars we drive, or the amount of CO2 produced as we allow our appliances, viz. Plasma, or 200 watt lamps to burn unnecessarily every 24x7 with no end in sight. Incidentally the millions of heads of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs also produce greenhouse gases known as Methane. In fact, they produce more methane than we produce CO2, believe it or not. The good news is there are methane consuming bacteria that can digest the methane and turn it into a non reactive substance. That is a plus for our environment. Methane gas can also be used as fuel for home use for cooking as well as for the production of electricity.
How do we offset our carbonfootprint? How do we counter the excessive amount of CO2?
Trees, my dear. We grow more trees.
What is the connection between trees and the CO2 we produce? The trees absorb and store the CO2 in their wood and leaves and fruits as carbohydrates. They store these products during photosynthesis and in return give off O2 which is what we breathe in to stay alive. The expression is carbon sequestration, the storing of CO2 in the plant so that it will no longer be available to react with other gases. (locked up for good, in other words.)
Where are we going to find enough space to grow more, our backyards being so small? I already have five trees in mine. More would just see them remain stunted and depressed.
The other solution is to offset the CO2 we produce by paying some organisation to grow more trees in areas which have been deforestrated, not necessarily in our country; it could be a neighbouring country where the forest has been expoited for timber, for cash. How many trees? As many as the world can hold - as many as you can afford in dollar terms.
Think of what you can do for the health of the world and not just what you can exploit from mother earth.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Cherokee Legend
Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. May be even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!
Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.
We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it. Our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.
~Author Unknown~
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. May be even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!
Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.
We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it. Our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.
~Author Unknown~
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