Strange Weather Report

Woke up this morning to see this as the weather report for Singapore today. Someone either made a serious typo or we are in for an arctic blast today!!

Icy
87°F
Current: Icy
Wind: NW at 5 mph
Humidity: 66%

Touch and go...

Having another rough week in the kitten department at the Wood household. Last Wednesday we were given another batch of two all white (2 weeks old) kittens. There were actually 4 of them at the shelter but they decided since they were so young and needed lots of attention that it would be better to split them up into 2 different foster homes. The little ones did great the first day and a half, I was feeding them every 3 hours day and night. Then midway though the second day they started having loose stools and stopped eating. Of course this happened after the SPCA clinic was closed so I spent another all-nighter force feeding them kitten formula every three hours and first thing in the morning took them in to get checked by the vet. He said they were "very sick" with a virus and that they likely would not make it. He went on to share that the other 2 kittens in the litter that went to another foster home both had died the day before from the same virus :(

The vet was not very optimistic about my little guys chances but he agreed to put them on some antibiotics to see if that would make any difference. They have been on antibiotics for a few days now and are still pretty sick. There are good moments (they are eating again) and bad moments (they now have blood in their stool) but I cant and wont give up on them. Will keep you posted on Yuki (snow in Japanese) and iFlake's progress.




Singapore Top 10 - Fashion Faux Pas

Now I am no fashion expert and for all I know people are taking photos of my crazy outfits too. However, I do believe there are some unspoken rules about what is universally appropriate to wear in public and what is not. The puzzling thing is that almost everyday I encounter such fascinating fashion flops that I cant help but stare in amazement. Below are my top 10 list of Fashion Faux Pas over the last few months.

1 - Dressing up like cartoon characters to go to lunch

2 - Arm sleeves

3 - I don't even know where to start with this outfit!

4 - Socks with Sandals

5 - Very large bow in hair - not okay after age 5

6 - Fake mink fur tail attached to backpack

7 - World of Warcraft - boots of invisibility (level 7)

8 - Knee high black socks with white hightop reebok tennis shoes

9 - Bright orange heels with a professional business suit

Man carrying a ladies purse

Double Rainbow, all the way...

One of the many things I love about Singapore is the weather. Being only slightly north of the equator its is perpetually sunny and 85 degrees. Which means although the days can get pretty humid, the evenings are cooler (apx 80 degrees) and thus the perfect temp for an outdoor picnic. We met up with some of our very special friends, Sharon and Dave for an impromptu dinner yesterday evening.

We even had the rare joy of seeing a beautiful rainbow on our picnic.


On our outing, Kingsley and I had another rare occurrence - witnessing the MRT (train) break down. I have never heard of such a thing happening in Singapore so when everyone was taken off the train and told to expect "slight delays" there was a slight state of shock among the passengers.

Reinforcements (police) arrived while announcements were continuously made over the loud speaker to continue to expect slight delays. After a short wait a new train arrived and all was well again. The fact that I felt the need to even mention the delay in our blog is a testament to how incredibly unusual it is! I'm just glad I had my camera and was able to document!



RIP Wii Fi

Last week was a tough one at the Wood house. It started off well, I got a call from the SPCA saying they had a kitten for me to foster. Those phone calls always put me in the best mood! So I rushed off to pick up the smallest kitten we have fostered yet. She was somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks old and had just opened her eyes.
Sadly a few hours after bringing her home I realized Wii Fi was not at all well. She had blood in her urine and it was obviously in a lot of pain. I spent the night sitting in our bathtub with the little thing trying to make her comfortable and first thing in the morning I rushed her back to the SPCA with hopes that it was something treatable like a bladder infection. After an examination the vet determined that she had serious bladder/kidney problems and would need to be euthanized. Its incredibly sad that she never even had a chance and I have been pretty down all week. Just wish there was something more I could have done...
Since we had her for less than 24 hours we didn't get any photos and only this short video clip.




Going Green

I had an interesting encounter at the grocery store today. I got into a line to check-out with just a few items needed for the day. There were not very many check-out counters open so there was a line several people deep at each counter. Lucky for me, after a year of living in Singapore I am a "black belt" at waiting in lines! When it was finally my turn at the front of the line the cashier looked me up and down and then promptly informed me that this was a "green line only" which means you are required to bring your own reusable grocery bags if you want to check out at that counter. Kind of like the "10 items or less line". I was caught off guard to say the least. But there was no way I was going to get back in another line to checkout so I looked the cashier right in the eye and pointed at my jumbo sized purse and stated "yes and this is my carry bag". This comment was met with a snicker from the person behind me in line who had no less than seven neatly stacked reusable bags ready to go. At that point, I really started to worry that my purse was somehow not the appropriate specifications for a reusable grocery bag (this paranoia is again the result of living in Singapore). I held my breath and waiting with the same guilty tension I have when I enter the "10 items or less" line with 14 items. After a long pause and another once over, checkout lady finally sighed heavily and said "ok" and rang up my items. Thank goodness!



Seattle - Calidora friends

On top of a full schedule of visiting friends and family I also worked quite a few days while home. I work with such a great group of people that it never really feels like "work" anyway :)

On one of my first days back then had a luck potluck in my honor with an AMAZING mexican fiesta.

At another event my friend Carolee (who came to visit me in Singapore) invited me to a Pajama Oscars party at her house which was great fun except for the minor fact that I had not seen most of the movies up for nomination. Which was just as well because I spent most of the evening chatting and catching up with friends.


Sophia, Exotic and Lynn
Lynn and Leah


Seattle - Snowboarding

For those of you who may not know I have a tinsy bit of a...ok...a major phobia of chairlifts. This phobia stems from a traumatic experience at 14 where I did not get off the chairlift in time and was not allowed to ride back down to the bottom but was forcibly pulled off the lift by a very cute ski patrol guy who I landed on top of and knocked the wind out of all while be heckled by the 3rd grade "powder pigs" ski school and my best friend Carmen...Anywho, after several years of intense counseling :) I recovered enough to set foot in snow again but did make a vow never to ride a chair lift. Over the years I have not been able to keep this vow but still feel the panic rising as I get close to the top of the mountain on the lift.

However on this trip I learned of a new Gondola at Crystal mountain which you ride up with your board on the outside and WALK off of. I was saved!

On our way to Crystal


Heading up the perfect-in-everyway Gondola

I wish I could report I had a perfect day racing up and down the mountain but after a few years of no boarding I was pretty rusty. Lets just say there was A LOT of falling involved and maybe a few near tears incidents but thankful none that required ski patrol assistance!

All in all it was a good but incredibly exhausting day which left me barely able to walk for a while...but gosh I did love that Gondola.

Seattle - Its good to be home

It's been 6 months since my last visit home and 1 year since Kingsley was last in Seattle. Needless to say we were both really excited to see friends and family, drive a car again, and just be in Seattle.

My parents picked us up at the airport and after twenty some hours of travel we were treated to an amazing homemade brunch which included:
Banana bread
Egg casserole
Grapefruit
Sticky cinnamon buns
Bacon
And many other amazingly wonderful things that I'm sure my Mom spent hours preparing.


With full stomachs post brunch Kingsley promptly fell asleep on the couch. I however had lots of energy...why? Because I am a smarter traveler than my husband. You see Kingsley slept through the first flight to Japan and then was awake the entire second flight so by the time we arrived in Seattle at 9:00am he was ready for bed. I did the exact opposite and woke up as we were landing in Seattle so felt fresh (as much as can be expected after traveling halfway around the world) and ready to face the day.

It was nice to see snow on the ground at my parents house

Since we only had 2 short weeks in Seattle we packed A LOT into them. The evening of our first day in Seattle, Carmen and Sean hosted a dinner at their house for my family and Kingsleys family. It was so nice to see everyone and to be together.



As you can see by the photos and earlier description. We ate pretty well that day! Ah its nice to be home...