Long weekend ahead

I am so jealous coz people like Fendi is having a day off today ...it is FT day ...but all of us at the other state in Malaysia still have to work ...but, there is a light at the end of the tunnel ...coz next Monday is a public holiday ...yippppee that means a 3-day weekend ...

as always, we planned to go back to the cottage ...my mom and dad are so looking forward to a couple of day at the cottage ...it is a break away from their routine babysitting tasks ...i don't blame them for thinking about breaking away from the routines ...for yearning to go away from this environment ...and the cottage is just 2-hour drive away ....

So people may wonder, why the cottage? Why not go to other places? Well, the cottage is dad's pride and joy ...he and my mom left the cottage unattended for a long time coz they were busy playing grandparents ..especially when they had to stay in KL for over 6 months way back in 2007, when Al was born ...and then in the early years of adik's staying in Kuching ....as a result, the cottage was in a neglect state ....till very recently ...

June 2009 - the landscape was already in the state of neglect

Late last year, we decided to be more involved in dad's "management" of his cottage and the land surrounding it ...partly because dad was not well, and he is always worrying about the running of the land etc etc ...so, to take his mind off things, we said we would be more hands-on with the "management" ...my brother said he will look after the fish ponds and the orchards, while I told them that i'll look after the provision in the cottage and also its landscape ...my sister helped out as and when needed ...that makes dad and mom happier ...since then, we started to go back more frequently ...my brother, Dom, has been actively expanding the pond and the fish "collection" ..and as for myself, am busy with redesigning and replanting the gardens at the cottage ...which was left at an awful state ...dad was the boss, he make decisions on where to do the planting, and the design of the landscape - both soft and hard landscape ...all i have to do is hire my cousins to help out with reshaping the gardens, choose the plants, replanting and repotting and to ensure that there is a continuous supply of seedlings, top soil, fertilizers and so on ....

mom releasing some catfish into the pond ...ala2 menteri masuk kampung LOL

So this weekend, we are heading for the cottage en mass ...the kids are coming as well ...but we are not planning to do extensive work (coz we did an extensive planting and gardening work the last two visit) ...the plan is to chill out at the cottage ....fir dad to identify things that need to be done ...to do a bit of fishing with Al ....and, of course, to enjoy the rambutans, cempedaks, langsat, manggis and so on which are still plentiful there ...

rambutan aplenty ..

So, here's to a long, relaxing weekend ......