Tudors Fever

Ha........i keeping late nights again. No, its not the late feeds (pray NEVER!!!!) nor the stress of studying for exams when I am most mentally productive BUT I am catching up with BBC TV dramas. TUDORS.

I chanced upon the Season 2 series in Borders and now I am watching an episode or two before I allow myself to rest for the night which is early morning 2 am anyway. Season 2 starred my favourite Hans Matheson as Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and he was said to be secretly married with not one but two wives. Scandalous!!!!! But this "nobody-obscure cleric" was exactly what the handsome Majesty Henry VIII needed to help nullify his marriage to the his wife Queen Katherine of Aragon and marry the ever beautiful Lady Anne Boleyn he was obsessed with. Anne was rumoured to have a very shady past and BBC wastes no time to show us her rendevous with a certain poet, Thomas Wyatt in Episode One........HAHA.

Historically Anne Boleyn had had many lovers growing up in France but she denied Henry VIII sexual favours he craved. Eventually it evolved into a "Queen or nothing" thingy where she was eventually crowned Queen of England. STRATEGY INDEED!!!!Most people especially the Roman Catholic Church refused to accept her marriage to the King, let alone her coronation as Queen when the marriage to Queen Katherine was still valid in the eyes of the law and the church. Needless to say not many attended nor celebrated at her coronation led by the Archbishop Cranmer.

King Henry VIII was deeply infatuated with Anne Boleyn who was described as short slim with a long neck, olive skin complete with dark eyes and hair. She had a sharp witty tongue and the royal couple quarrelled much even in the presence of the many servants. The LOVE that King Henry VIII had for Lady Boleyn was attested to the fact that this guy who did not like writing much wrote some 17 love letters to her. I read one and would like to read the rest. They are currently preserved in the Vatican Library.

Actually J'adore men who "hold the pen and write their hearts" whether the outcome is a song, or a poem or a plain speaking letter, it speaks volumes to my soul which yearns to feel, to connect, to understand, to love etc.

Both Mozart and Beethoven wrote much to their love ones, in the case of Beethoven, he wrote to his Immortal Beloved- exactly who no one knows!!!! But with such tenderness in his words : " love me-today-yesterday-what tearful longings for you-you-you-my life-my all-farewell-. Oh continue to love me-never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved L. Ever thine-ever mine-ever ours." One cannot help but *swoon*

Oh Yan wrote me a birthday card too, kind of suggesting "being together" we were only best of friends then, platonic to the core, looking back, I think it sort of catayles our relationship. Hee He hit the right spot!!!!! My sentimental heart that I tried to conceal by projecting the "brainy"size but still everyone can SEE i've got more heart and brains. If I can find this card again, its somewhere in this 1636 sq ft unit, I will read it again and feel "high". Hahaha

Back to Tudors, Anne gave in to the irresistibly charming Henry and became pregnant with Elizabeth who then became the Virgin Queen due to Henry VIII Act of Succession. Despite consulting astrologers and timing the conception, the royal couple did not succeed in conceiving a son they wanted badly as heir so DO NOT waste time on such strategies. Hee

I must say I like Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the handsome (he's definitely worth ogling!!!!!HAHAHA) licentious, passionate, blood thirsty King that forever changed the history of the church. In his ardent pursuit to legalise his marriage to his mistress Anne Boleyn, he started the Church of England where He is the supremacy of the church. This audacious move was frowned upon by commoners and angered Rome- the headquarters of the Catholic Church. At that time the Catholic Church was no better in terms of beliefs and morality, but God in his grace, caused the Christian faith to flourish even as Henry's reign brought about the printing press. From then on, the Holy Bible was made available to everyone in print and even lay people could "connect" with their Heavenly Father themselves in devotion and prayer. Previously, only the clergy could access the Holy Scriptures in Latin and as usual offer prayers through the priest via Holy Mary, Queen of Peace!

Hallelujah!!!

With much nudity and sex scenes, I was told that Season One is banned in Singapore!!!!! The latest season 3 is with the Board of Censorship and I pray it will survive uncut to the stores that are wise enough to carry the dvds. After all season 3 deals with Henry VIII's true love??????? Jane Seymour. God he had so many women!!!!! A total of six wives, it pales in comparison to King Soloman in the Bible who had 1000 wives and concubines. They are so highly sexed!!!! Must have experimented with everything!!!!!! Jane Seymour was the third wife of King Henry VIII. She was the only one who bore him a son and she died some 12 days after the long and arduous birth. Jane Seymour was never crowned!!!!! Clever Jane kept a much lower profile knowing how the other queens had perished.

Modern science tells us that it is the male species that determined the sex of their next generation. So I really pity Anne Boleyn who believed she was carrying the royal heir and made every preparation to welcome the birth of a "prince". In those days they even prepared to name the prince in advance,the names "Edward" or "Henry" were considered and favoured. In the end, it was a GIRL!!!!!!! Anne had a subsequent miscarriage due to stress. She knew that her failure to produce a living male heir was a threat to her own life even as she was aware of fact that the King had fallen for yet another lady in waiting of hers- Jane Seymour.

Then quite suddenly, her best friend confidante and musician Mark Smeaton and her brother George Boleyn were arrested and tortured into giving "revelations" about her. On charges of adultery, incest and plotting to kill the king, she and her brother were tried and beheaded at the Tower of London, after denying all charges and having delivered a speech.

In those days, some even believed Anne Boleyn dabbed in witchcraft and had bewitched the King into lewdness. There was an argument of her having 6 fingers in one hand and large moles on the neck. Still she must have been a real beauty and brains coupled with eloquence type that many miss world and miss universe are found lacking. Anne's body and head were first buried in a arrow chest in an unmarked grave near the tower of London. During Queen Victoria's reign, renovation of the chapel identified her body and it was given a resting place-marked on the marble floor. RIP Anne Boleyn

I don't know about you.......But I am intrigued with the Tudor dynasty -One of the most dramatic and exciting times historically.

Family Parties

I lurve parties. I love hosting them and attending all types of parties........really!!!!!!

I remembered in my childhood days, being the eldest of 4 kids, i would look forward to "organising" snack parties for my siblings to commemorate their name days. It started with some chocolates and sweets and progressed on to birthday cakes!!!!!! It was so fun!!!!

Just yesterday, during the Hari Raya holiday, I organised our premiere Durian cum Children's Party. I like the before party preparations that included cleaning the entire house sans any help (if the house gets any bigger, the servants are a must!!!!). Rachel loves the shopping for party accessories, her favourite the banners and the balloons plus her compulsory party hats. And of course, gifts for the kiddos.

Dad bought some $80 worth of creamy D24 which almost all adults chomp greedily. There were card games, Monopoly and jigsaw puzzles for the children from 2-7 and the excitement of yet another niece due this coming mid Nov. I particularly enjoyed my little nieces trying their hand on music, be it on Yan's piano or Rachel's violin. I played my D'vorak's Humouresque while Rachel performed her favourite Hot Cross Buns to humour the little ones.

Thankfully Yan did not miss out on the durian party and afterwards the Jumbo Seafood dinner. The only person "missing" was mum who liked parties and huge family gatherings. She had passed on last March due to late stage cancer.

Still, there is a season to grieve and a season to celebrate!!!!!!

I really believe God will bless our family with a big house complete with swimming pool and sprawling garden. In time to come, we will have family parties complete with mini concerts. God knows how much I love preparing for parties and even the cleaning afterwards!!!!!!! I just love to be a hostess....not the mid air type. Pity them, they had to push heavy trolleys and put up with out-dated thick make up and hair do. Not forgeting dealing with semi drunken passengers and those who mis-behaved for whatever reasons.

Now I am taking a break.......... soon, there is the annual Christmas shopping and family party. God is good.

Home-schooling basics

Rachel is 4 now and after almost 2 years of home-schooling, I am satisfied with the outcome and the journey that our family had started together. I want to take this opportunity to reflect and share some home-schooling tips which may come in handy for those considering this wonderful option of educating and nurturing their children.

Its a joint decision
First of all, we decided to home-school Rachel at the time when my mum was critically, terminally ill with cancer and I wanted to spend time with her and my only child. Whilst at a nearby child care centre for almost 10 months, we were frustrated that Rachel, a breast-fed child was falling sick almost weekly and even having to be hospitalised for 3 times due to rotar virus, bronchitis and hand injury. There goes part of our fortune for she was treated in the private hospital where she was born via emergency caesarean. It was a emotional struggle for the child to leave me for child care every day.

The moment I took over the full time care-giving, Rachel became active and healthy and a much happier kid. Boy, whatever I taught her, be it games, puzzles, English, French, Mandarin, she was able to absorb well like a sponge. She already knew her alphabet and could read before she was 2. She was also able to identify many classical music pieces, including the different movements and was especially fond of drawing and painting.

Although my immediate attention was on my sick mum, helping her with household chores, medication, dressing changes and meals etc, nevertheless I was able to connect with my child and spend quality time learning and playing with her each day.

I can teach and impart!
I must say that I am not the type that aspires to be a teacher . Having said that, however, the many years spent helping out in the church nursery, sunday school and even baby sitting my old neighbours grand kids when I was a teen sort of fashioned me. I can be very patient. I know how to motivate children and inspire them. Giving one to one tuition and counselling youth in my older days also helped me hone the interpersonal and communication skills.

I enjoy spending time with her!
Still, the best part is I enjoy spending time with my own child and learning together. I am remembering my long forgotten mandarin, writing characters , consulting the dictionary and then there is French, which we both loved to learn using all sorts of materials that range from sticker books to cd roms to french movies.

There are many types of materials available
With the help of reward charts, checklists, a bit of mind map and time-table, we are crusing well, learning every day, languages (English, French, Mandarin), Math, Science, Bible, and Art and Music, Good habits. Games and so on.

Lessons can take place anywhere
Now that my mum had passed on last year, I still take Rachel with me to my dad's place weekly to keep him company and to help with the chores. The journey to the North eastern part of Singapore can take a total of 3 hours on public transport to and fro and really, we could complete word puzzles, learn a Chinese character or two and read books and magazines.

One of our favourite places to study is the restaurant while waiting for the food the be served. And of course there are those coffee moments when I unwind with a cuppa while I coach Rachel math or even magazine activites. Her current favourite magazines are Favourites, Cars and Disney Princess though we buy comics as well. We are now loving the Manga drawing phase and singing along with the Disney princesses. Previously she loved the Playhouse Disney mag but it was meant for toddlers as she would say.

Well-being is not compromised
Rachel sleeps well each night, usually about almost 1230pm, sometimes later. Unless she is very tired from an outing, she would be very interested to learn in the night, activity books like Grammar, Writing and Math. In the morning she would usually wake at 10am, well refreshed for breakfast and Okto. Like me we prefer to warm up and rev up throughout the day.

Without a domestic helper or any part time cleaner, Rachel accompanies me on grocery shopping, shopping, concerts and almost any other errand that I need to run and she learnt to post herself a letter, exercise daily (mostly overhead bridges, stairs and stretches, running) pay for her own purchases, Ben 10 stickers, magazines and ice-cream and order her own food. She loves to make her own decisions like her dinner preferences and what she want to buy.

She eats when she is hungry, goes to the toilet when she needs to and wears comfortable clothes all the time. She tells me she loved being home-schooled when she can wake late and avoid the hot sun and the nasty, over-crowded public transport. Ha

There is no lack of social interaction with other kids
Other than attending children church each sunday, Rachel also mingles with many other students that take piano lessons and those at her violin teacher's place as well. With so many cousins and children playing with her often, she does not lack any friends, though it was obvious that she preferred hanging out with the older boys.

Focus on her strengths and interests
It is very clear to us our kid loves art and enjoys music. Being musicians ourselves, it is important that Rachel develops a passion for making music herself. I am glad to say that she is keen to sing and we are taking music lessons seriously for life.

Sans Neighbours

It was 10pm. I would think that it was considered still early for most Singaporeans. Well, Yan was trying to practise Bach's Toccata in E minor when we heard a loud bang from the floor. It was from the neighbours from the unit directly below us and I know they dislike music. He stopped practising, he hardly started actually since he came home rather late these days.

Last week, I was watching Beethoven's Violin Sonatas by one of my favourite violinists Anne Sophie Mutter. The TV was not at all loud, since I dislike loud music as well, but I heard the same neighour, the often fighting middle age couple who often belittled the maid and teenagers and each other with emotional black mails, shouting from the balcony, something like "Stop the F...... music" I gathered they must hate classical music!!! or any form of music.

So, these episodes created in me a greater desire to practise during the day, and also a deeper longing for a dream house complete with a garden and pool, near amenities but without any neighbours.

To be frank, musicians need time and space to hone their skills. It was only of recent months that I decided that our family need to stay in a big house on the ground level. Its more practical for the Grand piano that I know we will eventually purchase, not a baby grand but a concert one. Afterall, piano movers charge $100-1000 per level depending on model and Yan had this friend an economist with a foreign bank who bought a $78000 grand piano from overseas and had it set up on the 13th or 18th floor of HDB flat!!! He was a well paid banker indeed who like most in banking did not have the luxury of time to practise much on this expensive grand. I really wonder if the piano is still around??? still in tune??? Is it for cheap sale???????? Hee

It's been a year since I stepped into a swimming pool or a children's pool to frolick with Rachel. She had asked for a house with her own giant Little Tikes playground and pool and I believe God will surely bless her in these aspects. God loves to answer the prayers of these little ones.

Just a few days ago, I dreamt I was inside a large house, coming down from the stairs and in the large hall with high ceiling, many chandeliers, beside a huge grand piano where Yan was practising was a HARP. GASP....who was playing the harp???? I wondered aloud in my dream and woke feeling great.

This is one of my several dreams concerning living in a big house. long before I actually wanted to. I am a high rise lover. I now have this image of a big double storey house, with sprawling lawn and many rooms, garden and pool and the only thing I am not sure is whether the house is in Singapore????. I would not mind if its in Europe of course. London suburbs or France.

In fact, I would very much prefer Rachel to grow up among the rich architecture, music, art and culture in Europe. Perhaps fashion too!!!

Thank you Lord Jesus, for being our steadfast provider who always provides in abundance. With him, our dreams can be reality. AMEN

Violin Upgrade

God is amazing!

I remembered at the start of this year, I asked him for a better violin. It wasn't that the current one was lousy but naturally as one progresses on learning to play the violin, one becomes more "Critical" of it. Even though I had no budget for it, I asked anyway for a better violin, I meant a non Chinese violin with a better tone.

Towards the end of August, I found myself praying often for a violin since my teacher, an avid violin collector herself, with some 20 over violins including antique italian ones, EXHORT me to upgrade mine.

SUDDENLY, a rare opportunity came. A cash-strapped violin dealer asked my violin teacher to help sell a 100 over year old German copy of the double purfling Maggini. The old instrument sounded good and mellow and despite the many repaired cracks and scratches, it was going for half its estimated worth. I sold my unit trusts and bought it immediately and a light-weight case as well. What attracted me was the deep mellow singing VOICE that both my teacher and I liked. Its so much more enjoyable to practise on this old fellow than the 2004 also German made Sandner.

Other than upgrading the violin, I need to upgrade the bow one day. The current Chinese bow being weak and too light, (it was bought to help me recover from a shoulder injury-rotar cuff tendonitis, GOD had completely healed me since then) the weak bow just did not draw out the rich tones as effortlessly as my teacher's $1500 German bow. Anyway, my current budget was sufficient for the new violin and bag and I prayed that God will help me sell the first beginner model complete with accessories so I may upgrade my bow and perhaps get another one of those BABIES with 4 strings. I believe the God who supplied the violin will surely bless me with a suitable buyer for this current violin as well. Of course, I am going to tithe the proceeds with gratitude.

Already I am eyeing another American violin with a saccharine sweet sound and it seems to complement the German Maggini copy. They are like a pair of twins that I could not decide which to keep, so I decided to buy BOTH. So far, the mellow one was paid up in full and the next will be paid in instalments, in time for my next birthday. Thank you Lord!!!

This is so fun!!!! I commit to my Lord the dream of being a avid violin collector myself and I really would like to loan these expensive instruments to top musicians and help them and the violins stay in top form.

God humoured me with a dream. In it I was holding, examining in my own hands, a 1741 Guarneri del Gesu. I tried to played it in the dream. It was so surreal. The next day I found out from the internet that this violin, was once played by Yehudi and Vieuxtemp was not played for some 70 years until a wealthy Russian lawyer 35 years old bid for it for a staggering US$3.9 million in March 2008 and had its debut concert played by Phinas Zuckermann. WOW...imagine owning this one day. GASP!!!!!!!!

My teacher Amy, was surprised that my dream was so "exact". She prefers the 1742 model by the same maker known as the Canone. Anyway, nothing is impossible with God, my passion is in music and the art of making music and I want to contribute to the world one day, instruments and music.