Author: leapingtoes

The world is my oyster! Yumz

Pulchritudinous

Inuits believed them to be the frozen embers from the aurora borealis.

Suburban Paris

So we moved to Triel-sur-Seine for the final weekend.

Paris

My Mini Me joined me in Paris!

Cologne

Stopped over at Cologne to break the long train journey from Berlin back to Paris.

Backflow

My mind is now flowing backwards against time. I shall update all the photos that I so ambitiously promised to post.

Tokyo II

Ahh sooo sooo sooo is the commonly recognisable phrase I hear in the izakaya.

Tokyo

Tokyo is not at all what I imagined it to be. Even where Godzilla was probably was not where I am staying at.

Knotty thoughts

I thought I escaped the heat when I made the trip to Europe from the equator.

Morning blabber

Oh my, I am very surprised I have not blogged about Cologne yet! Been too busy rabbiting around that I lost track!

Delay

Delays for every public transport service I planned to take!

Berlin (West)

So … today I just sauntered and roamed around the other city of the Berlin, and indeed it had a lot more character.

Berlin

We stopped over at Frankfurt for lunch.

Rennes

I was expecting to enter an older(er) city of masonry buildings dotted with quaint wobbly-looking wooden facades.

Mont Saint Michel

Why are abbeys always built into such breathtaking naturalistic elements?

Surprise!

Surprise, I’m back at ohborder! Will probably be posting everyday for the next two weeks!

Teaching

I survived a year of teaching!!!

Bread monster

I recently discovered we have a bread monster in the house. 

May the

… pingbacks start working again.

Thaw…ing

I am more like melt…ing. It’s crazy hot in Phnom Penh.

Ho-Hum

Lil’O is the smallest and youngest being this Chinese New Year, and was thus the centre of attention for the huge family gathering.

Kungfu fighting

It’s Chinese New Year and it seems like a costume party galore for the little ones.

Lil’ O

I hardly write about Oscar, so today I shall put in some effort to introduce the other O to the blogosphere.

Camouflage

Babysharkdooodoodododooo. Quite a job. Not sure whether his camouflage is for the baby/mummy/daddysharkfamily, or for the Chinese New Year red packets. Vain boy in winter jacket on the equator. Getting ready for japan!

Flight(sssssss)

Many people are off for vacations, but no way am I going to make any trip out of this country. Finally some ground time and I am staying put!!!

Intangibles

There is this photo I took in class one early morning, and it matches the RDP angle! I had nowhere else to show it off, so here would be best!

Sweet Spot

I am now working towards a more balanced lifestyle where I have enough rest while also having enough time to pursue the meaningful things in life.

River(s)

Almost all the cities I have planned has river(s) running through them. Those that do not, are cities directly fronting the sea, bay, but not the ocean though.

Mystery

I normally do not do awards, but since I am still ringing the new year vibes, and today’s RDP happened to be Mystery…

Anticipate

Prelude to 2019 having meaningful conversations and meaningful relationships with meaningful people. I anticipate positive dynamics for 2019! ❤

20188888889

Wow, crossed over to 2019! Wheehee! Instead of having last year segue into this year, I felt I had to interrupt it, almost like a hard reboot.

Abstract

The abstract moment of truth when you suddenly see what it means by DNA and the thread that runs through your blood.

O-o

Came home early from work today to hang out with the double O bros. Oliver really had me in fits of laughter from his antics.

Assumption

Originally posted on Oh, border!:
On the assumption that life keeps up this momentum, this shall be the view from my office before the end of 2018 ❤

Solstice

Yay, just completed my final flight for 2018!!!

Ripples

I am seeing the ripple effects of incidents from last week. So I want to send out positive ripples instead.

Dreams and Ideals

The sparklet that says we can, and we have to, make this world a better place.

Friendship and stuffs

I think friendship is a basis, a foundation. Yet, I am very fussy about when I use the term friendship.

Rains pours

I have been very quiet lately because it was pouring crazies. The week started out really brilliant, but got much worse along the way.

Walk

My favourite walk thus far is in a cemetery – a former jungle, battleground, necropolis – so much history and heritage.

Convo with Universe

It dawned on me yesterday that whether or not we see and receive what He is waiting to give, depends sooooooo much on how ready and willing we are to receive.

Mercury dance

So Mercury retrograde has shown its face very early this round.

Sea Snooze

I had a dream of crystal clear waters again, and this time not in the still boundless ocean but in a crowded sea with waves.

Snoozy

My clock was thus pretty messed up, and I could not slumber through the flight the way I usually do.

Conversations

It is very interesting to observe the evolution, or creeping in of adulthood, in our family chats.

Baby bucket list

Oliver suddenly asked me about Shanghai this morning. What a strange strange strange bucket list to start.

Asian squirrel

Corniest of all corn in the world:
Q: Why is this an Asian squirrel?

Sowed and reaped

前人种树，后人乘凉 is a Chinese saying for the earlier generation sowing a seed for the future generation to enjoy the shade of the tree.

Baskin’ Bangkok

All weekends should be like this. I am now writing on the top floor of a very nice shopping mall, with a double volume space and natural daylight, surrounded by books and pretty decor.

Divine drench

Let’s say in this case, I am the animal, and the divine is administering me a dose of my own medicine. Via a very serendipitous anonymous hand.

Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge

So here is my rendition of (foot)Steps – the happy feet stepping on happy tiles. The tiles did come in black and white, and so did my shoes that day.

Lustrous golden light

One epiphany that stopped me in my tracks was that it takes strength to see strength in another. The other was that it takes love to see love in a situation.

Loving objects

The little ones object to anyone of us feeling blue! I woke up this morning to two chuckling bouncing objects – little bundles of joy.

Fabulist

Thanks to the very educational Ragtag Daily Prompt, which is Fabulist today, I realise that it actually means a person who relates tales/fables, or a liar. Ouch!

Serendipitous

Sometimes these things that we do/did/are doing/will do have a wayyyyy bigger picture than we realise, and by definition of serendipity, you don’t exactly know if this happy beneficial occurrence was by chance or by hard work.

(Video!) On fleek

There are so many things we lived with all our lives without questioning, “is that right?”, “is that acceptable?”, “is that fair?”. Or maybe I was just too busy following the “rules” to keep myself as safe as I possibly can.

Herd

Here is the herd of our next gen in our ah-ma daycare.

Tarot wideSpread

Just did a superduper extensive, and pretty much impressive (at least to me) spread of tarot. 😀 Look at it!

6am rolling

It’s 6am writing from the airport again. I am feeling like a plump little plum rolling around in a bunch of linguistic obstacle course.

Burble

I had a fantastic burble-ing weekend! Sis was away, and I had the double-Os to myself, and relinquishing them for abit to babybro now and then.

Brace for the ride

Something weird is happening. I cannot get my head around it, and the angels keep nudging me to write.

Comeback

Celebrating the remarkable decision for a comeback.

Contrasts and perspectives

I think how we feel and see the world really depends on how we frame it, and how we tell ourselves what is happening.

Flowers of Fall

It’s a weird feeling, not that it tastes good or bad, but it just tastes so darn interesting because I never thought of eating flowers before.

Inspired

Falalala feeling inspired by my own life.

Posh

Posh is such an apt prompt to write to, this recovery weekend with one full dozen of oysters, a honey sake topped with a pretty purple flower, and two premium sushi rolls!

Grubby

Featherlightheartedness indulging in the meaningfulness and fullness of life, however grubby I may feel with the hair, face, and skin, dry from dusty roads riding in exposed tuk-tuks.

Roboto

I am already knee deep in trying to understand the natural world, so I have never looked into this other new realm of robots before.

Coddiwomple

Guess I have been coddiwompling – travelling in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination – most of the part of my life I have control over.

Absence

Pardon me for my absence, has it been one full week already?

Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge

This black and white photo of our little boy wandering the big busy world of cold hard sculptural adults is in response to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Sculptures, Statues, Carvings.

Back

Oh gosh, I’m back (temporarily) into a sane world of normal human pace, and realised I have missed yarn, remember, elder, fluffy, and I shall be early on brio.

Love me tender

This video came around again today, so I thought I’ll share it here.

Ohmoody

We had funny names for the dogs – the one who was there with me is called Number Two because it was a second dog there; the first one was called Number One.

Mobility

Mobility is a huge freedom, and there are so many layers and aspects we can zoom into and examine why it means freedom.

Vaguely blue

I feel vaguely blue today. Vaguely because I don’t exactly know why I feel blue, and totally bewildered with big “Huhhhhhhhsss? What’sss goingsss onsss?”

Zesty

I can smell the lemony / vinegar-ish zest of the perspiration on their hair, just from looking at this picture!

Fungible

“Does this fall under the category of 没关系?” This Chinese term means “does not matter”, and in the context of what we were discussing, “fungible” would be the perfect word which I did not know before this RDP.

Cat

Unrequited love it was, I really do not like cats.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Attitude

Having an upbeat attitude makes life so much easier to deal with. Here are some pics of crazy shit we do when we are not busy saving the world.

Catching up

Time flew past like crazy airplanes! I missed so many prompts that I shall attempt to catch up on them right now.

Protected: Cut

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Fiddler on the roof

It was really hot up there on the zinc roof. I remember them pirouetting and singing “hothothothothot … where are my slipperrrssss”.

Passions abide

Reframing and pushing boundaries are way more fun than just sticking to the darn “correct” answers which I had to “abide by” in the previous education system I was in. 

Umbrella novelties

The novel aspect of this six-pack of city umbrellas is that it was the largest wooden structure in the world.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Music

My memories of Andalucian culture was mostly of music and dance – it is after all the home to Flamenco, a dance form that keeps my heart upbeat and fluttery.

Eclipse Challenge

Heck. It has been one full week, and I am still on the Eclipse like it is a never-ending story. Bear with me, I’m sure today’s the last post about this latest pair of eclipses. Tsk.

Pulse of youth

Managed to find a laptop with a CD-reader, and extracted all my old Melbourne photos from 2005!

Memories

Metaphorically, there’s a whole quarry of memories in this physical stack of flat circles in front of me. On the other hand, I really want to write about my memories of the gold quarry!

Whisper

The eclipse put a black shade over my life this weekend, and time flew past without any productive accomplishment, and it scares me.

Can’t do

Can’t do math. Actually. The bonus is that it is something different. 😀 We sometimes need a little jolt to shake things up a little?

Strength | Courage

Originally posted on Oh, border!:
The immediate association with Courage in tarot-speak is VIII Strength. However, I see Courage as only part of what Strength is about, while at the same time, Courage also speaks for more than what Strength is about. Every VIII Strength card comes with a lion, and a very composed human bravely co-existing with…

Salvage

Clear as sky it is eclipse and blood(y) full moon season. Inner child owned the session this evening, and I just gave her the space to.

Traveling Style

Travel in Style, was my modus operandi for a few years of my life. Of every 30days, I would be spending 10days up in the air and on some foreign land (foreignly China).

ZinggggggG

I like the sound of today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt Zing! The entire suit of Swords came to mind, Ace of Swords – Zing! Two of Swords – ZingZingggg!

Time

Time and again.
Time and tide wait for no man.
No time already, kthxbye.

Mandarina

The beauty of these mandarin ducks are their colours, but I guess having them in b&w brings out the interesting patterns which would otherwise be overshadowed by their gorgeous attractive colours.

Gold nuggets

It’s raining gold nuggets! Metaphorically~ it appears that wisdom is showering down, and hopefully in terms of material gold equivalent too.

RDP #50: GOLD

The prompt for today is GOLD. Take gold as your inspiration and create in whatever way inspires you. Share your inspiration with the group with a pingback. If you need directions, they are available here. Today is the 50th day of Ragtag Daily Prompts! We’ve had at least one a day since our inception, which…

Welcome

A picture paints a thousand words, and this one says, “Welcome home” x 3.

Extempore

This is what I’m like if I have to do any presentations extempore. It’s so tough, I am having problem even just spelling it out.

Clouds

For a while, I lived right up in the clouds. ❤

Walking contradictions

Today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt is Open, and I guess the easiest to write about would be keeping hearts, minds, arms, eyes open.

Kerfuffle

Me reads:
Kerfuffle = covfefe (curvefurfur); or
Kerfuffle = covfefe (coffeefeefeeefEEee *on a caffeine-high*) + wahffles (high on sugar).

Spoofygoofy

Goofy me oftentimes find I end up spoofing myself in the word prompts. Happily, dappily, I’d take the word of the day and run with it.

Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Today’s RDP is Superstition, and friggatriskaidekaphobia means a phobia of Friday the 13th, so says the wiktionary.

Grooves

Always find it enjoyable peeking through grooves and taking photos framed by the foreground from where I take them.

Vintage

The most classic stylish vintage kitchen I have ever visited. Welcome to Claude Monet’s kitchen and dining room.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

This photo meets most criteria – it has geometry, window, brick (tiny slitty one on top left), and bushes (errmm. tree = tall, spacey bush?)

Word

Learnt a new word the past couple of days. Hooyah!
When I first saw it, I thought it was auto-generated translation from Thai in Facebook.

Compassion

There’s a saying, “if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him“. Ouch. And maybe a high-five.

Happydappy

Picked another random page from another not-so-random book today. Universe seems determined for me to work on Reconciliation.

Dart

In the nerdiest of ways, I flipped a page (my mindful dart) from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Reconciliation: healing the inner child.

Clewless

Not sure what is wrong with these two days. So much dirt being pulled out from under the carpet again.

Hospitable

Look at this flower, it is extending its hospitality to the bee from a different kingdom.

Trace Train of Thought

My train of thought does not usually run on the same tracks. The magic train leaps and flies up in the air and lands on whichever tracks that is fancy (or it fancies) at the moment.

Come, come

Here goes another Chinese proverb, “既來之，則安之”. It originally meant when people come from afar, settle them down and help make them comfortable.

Serried

Today’s prompt brings to mind the serried mountains of Guilin that felt somewhat jostled and awkward, however beautiful.

Scale

Posting pics of zen gardens brought me back to the memories of my silly venture into zen-ness few years ago. The level of zen can be viewed at different scales of how a person does/sees/thinks things.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Drawing straight lines on sand must have been tremendous focus training. Diagonal lines without a strict line of reference – does it make it easier or harder?

Congratulations Ragtag~

The Ragtag Daily Prompt crossed the one-month Milestone as we now enter July. Congratulations ragtaggers and the ragtag community!

Fluke

By some fluke encounter, I ventured into the heart of Paris Fashion Week last year, dressed in the sloppiest attire ever.

RDP #29: MILESTONE

Good morning. Today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt is MILESTONE. As we approach the milestone of providing prompts for one month, I invite you to use milestone as an inspiration for a post of your own. Writing of any sort or a photo or an illustration. Go wherever it takes you. When you’re ready to post, include…

Reduced to reflection

Sorry to take you this far with no conclusion of any kind. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, it is just a long long rant post.

Glutenny | Gluttony

Here are foodie pics of the yummy toxins fed into my body, they are sheer indulgence for my heart and soul.

Navigating

It feels very iffy to be navigating life with this intangible compass. However, this intangible compass has proven to be extremely reliable, even at times when it sounds extremely ridiculous to be following it.

Kin and Gin

Kinkaku-ji is the precedent for ginkaku-ji.

RDP #24 -REJUVENATE

Hm… A word. Letters grouped together that have meaning. Or so we have been taught. A word that makes one think. A word that makes one feel. Is the meaning the same for you? or you? or you? or me? Let’s find out. Today’s prompt is…… REJUVENATE! I dare you to surprise me! You know…

Twitterpated

Here is a twitterpated Bambi looking out for Faline, whilst she tries to sniff out his tracks.

Antediluvian

Catching up on this prompt almost one week late would be considered pretty antediluvian, no?

Pond(s)

Ponds have a way of making me ponder about many things in life.