08.24.2024 A quick trip to Sarawak, Malaysia

 Can there be such a thing as a quick trip to Malaysia from Boston?  Yes, there is! I was kindly invited by ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) to give a presentation at a joint conference in Sarawak, Malaysia. How could I resist? It was an incredible opportunity. So every free moment I had was spent preparing for the conference. As I write this I am reflecting back on the very old days before computers and PowerPoint when we had to have our slide templates typed out far in advance so media services could make the slides. Heaven forbid there was a typo or if changes were ever needed - most likely corrections would not happen. But here I was, on the plane making last minute revisions again and again until I had it right. 

The travel time was over 36 hours each way for a 2.5 day visit. I would do it again in a heartbeat. The local medical faculty were extremely nice to us visitors - such gracious hospitality. I was picked up at the airport and subsequently taken back to the airport for a very early flight back home by Dr. Chong. We were dined in very good restaurants, taken to the orangutan reserve and a pitcher plant garden and yes, did a little birding in a very short period of time! In general, it was an excellent time - new colleagues and new experiences.

 Had the opportunity to see six orangutans at the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre.  They live in the wild in a protected area and come to the feeders twice a day for bananas. There is sufficient food for them in the wild so not all of the orangutans come to eat. I think they like people watching as much as we like observing them! This was a very popular area with the locals as well as us visitors.

This is an old orangutan. 

Look at those feet and toes.

A Momma and her baby swinging along the cable. She was mostly shy and did not try to take any bananas. Most likely she is still protecting her babe.

Wonder what is on his mind?

And this one was just hanging out - shaking the cable to disturb the older orangutan! Ornery. 

The pitcher plants are really very interesting. We do have them here but are always fascinating to see them. Thank you to Dr. Kai Lin for chauffeuring us on this local tour.

Getting back to the conference, the opening ceremony was entertaining. They had local dancers perform for us. I did a video the performance, but it is too long to upload here. I'll work on it and if I can get a nice snip, will upload to another post. 

Some of the conference speakers and attendees after a sumptuous dinner. Thank you, Dr. Voon for your excellent dinner choices. 

If you visit Sarawak, this is an excellent local seafood restuarant.

Everyone had a good time! Dragon fruit is on the table - oh so good.

The closest I came to the rhinoceros hornbill - the national bird. Guess I will just need to go back for a birding trip!

Delicious dishes. Family style.

Food festival during our visit - maybe next time.

Polara route from Boston to Hong Kong - nonstop 15 hours. Enough time to watch movies, work on my presentation, get a good night sleep and read my book.  Then connected to Kuala Lumpur then to Kuching, Sarawak which is on the island of Borneo (one of my must see destinations!). It did not disappoint.

 My first time flying past the North Pole.

An incredible opportunity to participate in an excellent conference. Made some very nice colleagues in the oncology fields and members of the health ministry. And I do hope to be able to return sometime.

Until next time................................

07.11.2024 Bucky Deerburger strikes again

 Our resident rodent with antlers, Bucky Deerburger, was at it again. Yes, he has been seen in the yard on multiple occasions and never seems to mind. I came home from work this past week to find him standing in my garden along the driveway. He did jump across the driveway but waited in the woods next to the house to watch me. As I approached, he galloped away over the hill.  I checked that garden, all of the buds on the lilies were intact. Good I thought. About 10 years ago he ate all of the lily buds along the driveway. Maybe not this year. This flower garden is especially nice as I have many beautiful lilies ranging in color from white to pink to yellow to orange and light purple and deep red and deep purple. From July through the end of August some lily is in bloom. It is really nice to check them each morning to see what is in bloom.

Well, it appears that good ole Bucky was just on a scouting mission when I saw him. He came back three nights later and ate ALL of the buds from the nice lilies and left all of the buds from the less special orange lilies. He apparently has gourmet taste! A few lilies have been spared - those that were blooming in between the links in the fence and those inside the fence - although he also ate my hostas inside the fence. O Bucky, you should be very careful!

Here are several pictures of some flowers that were spared his dining experience.

No bunnies to eat my daisies, black eyed Susan's and purple cone flowers!

One of my favorite. Only two buds left after Bucky was here.

These are of no interest to Bucky and are quite plentiful.. 

Hope you enjoyed the bouquet of garden flowers.

My boys - Shorty, Fionnegan and Gunnarr are just as happy as can be - even in this very hot weather.

Until next time.................................

Maybe a few more flowers with luck.

07.04.2024 Happy 4th of July

 To those of you who celebrate the American Independence Day holiday - hope you have a safe holiday of celebrations! We too will celebrate with a cookout and fun at home.

(not my picture) - New York City and the Hudson River.

Fionnegan, Gunnarr and Shorty are enjoying my time at home with them! And yes, they will be getting a haircut soon!

Happy 4th!

Until next time........................

06.23.2024. Bye-Bye Birdie!

 The baby house finch was on the nest this morning.  Maybe trying to stay out of the rain and wind. They have also been sitting in the hanging baskets of flowers. After a couple of quick pictures I left her alone. When I went to check the nest later in the morning she was gone, three birds flew out. I think they must have already fledged as they appeared to be expert fliers, so down came the wreath.  I put the nest in a hanging basket just in case they wanted to use it.

Will see who nests in the new wreath next year.

Here are my boys. It was really hot for them this week and we had lots of fans going to keep all of us cooler. The rains this morning were a welcome relief although it is now hot and humid again. Hope you all fared well in the heat wave. 

Until next time.......

06.19.2024. Baby Carolina wren birds!

 Every year a Carolina wren and her mate build a nest in the Christmas wreath that is on the front door. They usually build it on the inside curve and I can watch them build it and then see the eggs and small birds. Not this year - they built the nest on the top making it very difficult for me to see any activity.

I first knew there was a nest in progress when I found nesting materials on the front doorstep. The wreath was still very much green and hence it was still hanging on the door. If the boys - Fionnegan, Gunnarr and Shorty were on the porch, the bird sat on her nest. But if I should open the atrium door wide enough for me to exit, she would fly off her nest. So I stopped using the atrium door as it makes a right ankle with the front door and disturbs our little bird!

Her nest is nestled in the wreath. Very hard to see and this is the best I could do without disturbing her.

This is a nest from last year - easier to take a photograph.

So at the end of May her brood had fledged and I was going to take down the wreath. I had seen her with suet and flying off so I guess she was feeding this to the little ones. But I noticed new nesting materials on the front porch and sure enough she was back there incubating her eggs. So once again we did not use the atrium door and did not disturb her. Although she does seem to like to sing at 4:15 in the morning and sometimes she perches on the windowsill next to my bed! We look at each other for a moment and then she flies away. Apparently, she either does not mind disturbing my sleep or it is payback for her flying off her nest when I open the door! 

After a couple of weeks of knowing a renewed nest was there and a few days of not seeing her on the nest I thought they all must have hatched and fledged. So I lifted the wreath from the door and lo and behold there were at least three little one all crowding this little nest. So I carefully put it back on the hanger and fortunately did not disturb them too much as Momma bird came back to feed them and sit on top of the nest. Not much room Momma bird - they are getting big! I them went and put out another suet feeder for her and the baby birds.  I'll give her another week then check again. I think maybe they all fledged now but will give them all another chance to grow and mature! They are precious but there are no pictures. I opted not to stand on a ladder to photograph them as I think they are happier without me being a nuisance or a risk to the Momma not feeding the little ones. They are so cute and I do enjoy them singing early in the morning and also late in the evening. And I hope they return next year!

Carolina wren on the branch by the front door.

We also had a pair of house finches nesting in a tree near the front door. I did not want to bother them either so no pictures of them. This was also a popular for the cardinals to build their nests - must be because it is rather protected from the elements and other birds and dangers.

Do you have any birds nesting nearby your house? Are you able to watch the birds build the nest and then watch as the eggs hatch and the parents feed the little ones and then observe the birds fledge? It truly is special privilege to observe Mother nature.

05.12.2024. Happy Mother's Day

To all of the Mom's, hope you all had a very nice day. Hope you were able to do something special - even if it was to take 10 minutes to yourself! 

Hope you enjoy the photographs of my garden flowers!

We had a nice day, my fur babies and me. We had a nice morning walk, and I was able to enjoy the flowering trees and shrubs.

There is a hummingbird in this picture. Can you find it? 

Fionnegan and Gunnarr before the haircut and spa date today.

Shorty loves the camera! He puts his nose and eye right up to the lens.

For a full report, see Shorty's blog for the activities of the day!

05.12.2024. Happy Mother's Day and ... A special breakfast with my Momma

https://mydogshorty.blogspot.com/2024/05/05122024-happy-mothers-day-and-special.html

Hope you all have a lovely Mother's Day.

Until next time................