Australia Day/Libby's Birthday/Test week

In the 4th week of every term all our classes undertake tests, which I think are designed to test us as much as the kids. Most of the questions are in multiple choice style and one of the questions in year 4 was: 
The _____________daughter resigned from her job to take care of her ailing father.

a. filial
b. pious
c. grateful
d. indebted


It has been rather cool here in the mornings so I took the opportunity on Friday to take a solitary walk over to Robert and Maria's new abode. It was very pleasant strolling by the river and I spotted, and later identified via the internet,  a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker. It was much smaller than I had envisaged but its pecking habit was just like Woody Woodpecker! Obviously this is not my photo! 
 A little further along the path I passed a shrine set up by some workers who are on the construction site next door to us. They visit these shrines to honour their ancestors and to leave offerings to them especially at certain times of the year.

 

Riverside Shrine

As I wandered through Punggol Park I was struck by the many and varied uses people make of outdoor spaces here...from a guy practicing his flute to tiny 3 year olds, all in uniform, doing exercises. The park is a delightful patch of green, with a lake in the centre and there is a restaurant at one end...in fact we are planning to finish our week there this Sunday night.
Another pastime in the park is the game of Woodball. No-one was playing today but I have seen it in operation before. It appears to be a cross between golf and croquet with a wooden ball being struck with a mallet, which is made of a plastic coke bottle filled with sand, on the end of a long handle. The ball is maneuvered around a track marked out with pipes, with different 'pars'.

Woodball Course

There were preparations all around for Chinese New Year, which happens on February 19th. There are red lanterns everywhere and I walked past this large statue about to be hoisted into an upright position at a nearby neighbourhood precinct. As I got closer to my destination I was taken by the way an effort is made to brighten up the areas of high rise buildings know as HDBs, by painting some of the facades.
My one hour walk certainly brought home the diversity of this interesting island country, especially when you get away from the central area, which unfortunately, is all most tourists see.

After a reasonably easy weekend administering and marking tests it was pleasant to relax by the lake in Punggol Park with the usual diehards and as it is close to home for me it was not a late night.

It is amazing that you can do the same walk several times but going around a different path you see things not seen before. As we walked out of Hort Park on Monday's walk we were able to read our horoscopes for the Year of the Goat...mine was not overly cheerful, but things are supposed to get better by the end of the year!

We also passed a colourful mural made of ceramic tiles. We had a different perspective of the Henderson Waves as it was closed for maintenance and we had to go under it for a change. 

Monday night it was time for the double celebration of Australia Day and, more importantly, Libbys birthday. It was a very pleasant night with great food and drink, and friends, at Plonk in Serangoon Gardens. Peter did his usual stint of singing, with a touching song for Libby and a couple of people really got in to the Oz theme.

Peter serenades Libby