It takes a long time to grow an old friend (retake old photos)

During my recent Chinese New Year gathering with a bunch of very dear old friends (most of them since kindergarten/primary school), we decided to go down memory lane by retaking some old photos. 

Photo taken in a studio in the early 90s

From 3 innocent girls to 3 matured women. How time flies!

We went back to our primary school for a reunion party in 1984. 

Close to 40 years of friendship means we can afford to be stupid with each other.

2 of our old friends were absent from this photo (one was back in JB), hence their space were filled in by 2 friends' spouses.

We even skyed our dear friend in JB and sang her our favorite songs of yesteryears.

We have good singers and guitarist. Our gathering is always filled with laughter and songs. I really can't ask for more.

The best thing is, our wonderful friendship has extended to the next generation - our children. They have joined so many of our gatherings throughout the years, sharing and cherishing those precious moments together. 

photo taken in 2011

Cheers to more good years.

It really takes a long long time to grow this bunch of old friends.

"I count myself in nothing else so happy, 

as in a soul remembering my good friends." - 

William Shakespeare

Friends Forever.

Forever young...at heart

 I Love You All!

友誼萬歲！

Dance into the new year!

Our Qigong session ends at 8am every morning and the younger ones (= those below 70s) will proceed to line dancing at the club house, including me. On one particular morning, we're busy working on a special project...

Our instructor, who's also our neighbor, taught us a few Chinese New Year dances. I'm very glad I got the chance to learn to make the new year "flower ball" 新年绣球.

It's not that difficult to make but requires a lot of patience.

Making the flower ball while listening to chinese new year songs... A lot of us brought our "homework" home. The next day, many were complaining that those flower balls were really testing their patience. However, all of us did agree that it's still worth doing as it's less than RM10 to make a pair!

"Gong Xi Gong XI Gong Xi Ni......" it's fun to dance with those flower balls in hands. We're also practicing hard for our new year "dinner & dance" .

I'm holding a flower ball in hand. That bangle was a gift from my beloved dad when I was in standard 2. I've been wearing it for years.

We booked 4 tables and occupied the whole floor in a small chinese restaurant for our first ever CNY "dinner & dance".

Our team were all in red and black while the other group (from another housing area, also under the same instructor) were in black. All the mothers/grandmothers had a great time dancing away...

Our beautiful dance instructor in her silver bling costume. She looked stunning and all of us enjoyed watching her dance.

It was a night to remember.

Luckier than a Tycoon!

Recently China Press reported that Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho sent his personal jet to pick up 88 Musang Durian from Singapore. He then shared 10 biji sahaja (10 only) with his billionaire buddy Li Ka-shing.

My hubby's childhood buddy owns a durian orchard in Bentong. During weekends, this durian lover will personally drives his Pajero to collect the King of Fruits and then generously shares some with us (Musang, D24, D2 & 101). Once my hubby tagged along and came back with more than 20! (aren't we luckier than Lee Ka-shing?!)

The orchard of my hubby's buddy.

A worker with his harvest.

Besides the King of Fruit, the Queen of Fruit - Mangosteen, are planted in his orchard too. What a fruity Kingdom!

My hubby the Kampung Boy used a fork to open the Musang durian.

My late father-in-law owned a durian orchard in which durians grew in abundance. Now only less than 15 trees are left (my brother-in-law replaced them with dragon fruit, banana etc). Even so, two weeks ago we loaded our car with lots of durians for our neighbors, not forgetting my hubby's buddy who loves kampong durian. To our sweet surprise, the next day one neighbor baked us a durian cake. Another one gave us cream puffs with durian flavor (he owns a confectionery franchise).

How wonderful! The King Of Fruit is surely inspiring!

Best of all, it makes you realize that you don't need to be a tycoon to feel RICH (in Friendship)!

My wonderful neighbours

I'm blessed to have a group of neighbours who love cooking and sharing (we have our morning exercise together!). Sometimes after the "qi gong" & aerobic exercise, these motherly & professional homemakers will bring out their home cook food for everyone to enjoy in the park. (so don't expect to lose weight if you join our exercise group!)

They're open to comments from other "food critics"and generous enough to make copies of their good recipes. They will also share the source of all those ingredients. Being a working mom who only cooks once a week, I do learn a lot from them. To show my appreciation, once I bought many packets of "otah-otah" from my hometown for them. They said it's yummy!

A few weeks ago, a member invited us to her house for a dumpling making lesson after our routine exercise. I must admit I've no patience and "talent" for it. It's much easier to take photograph than to wrap those triangle dumplings!

It's truly GREAT to start my day with this group of loving women who are in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and even 70s.!