Thursday, June 25, 2009

The walk

In her comment on my last post on commenting, JLT said "post maadi, jaldi!". I love the wonderful mix of three languages.

Why have I not blogged?

I'm being stalked by a lizard. The lizard must have been a snubbed romeo in previous birth, persistent as it is in popping up only when I'm in the kitchen. I'm quite tired of gingerly peeping into my dustbin before throwing any rubbish, or sifting through my laundry to avoid washing a lizard. And yes, the post of lizard chaser is currently vacant. My knight has returned his sword..err...broom.


This was not a reason for not blogging but irritating enough for me to include it here.


Vacations are on, the boys' days begin at 10, sometimes 11 (GASP!) in the morning and end forcibly at 12 midnight. I have no clue which day of the week it currently is. I do know that these kids of mine are having an awesome vacation, even though they think it could have been better!


Sometimes we go exploring. That's a fancier name for walking, in my son's unasked for opinion. One Sunday found us at the Mac Ritchie reservoir. Beautiful place, complete with water, dense foliage, tall trees, a monkey and humid, humid weather. There is a treetop walk (a walkway,250m, constructed over the natural canopy of trees) which we could not attempt because we reached a bit late. It closes at 5 pm. and we landed there half an hour before.
After much pointing fingers at each other for the delay we proceeded to walk on the 2.5km Prunus trail, a boardwalk which hugs the reservoir bank.

RUN! here comes the 'papa'razzi!


sigh...what drama!


G, of course, seemed more keen on freezing the beauty within his camera than earnest walking. Photography is his ongoing hobby. He is quite good at it, considering that he manages to make me look very presentable, which is a decent parameter to measure his skills by. On this walk, the boys as usual were keen on showing their backs, so i was the only convenient fixture he got.


It was "walking a few steps, stop, get photographed, take two steps to the right because he needs that tree, now continue" walk all the way, with him indulging his creative eye, completely! It sure is more difficult to be with a wannabe photographer than to be with a wanna be writer.



See the reflection? :)


All in all, we walked quite a bit, and I realised that nature walks and 11 yr olds don't go together, not if you are strong enough to take intermittent doses of gyan, given regularly, from the 11yrold.


Sample one such gyan : "I have a great idea. Take all the pics you want and photo shop us on everyone of the pictures, easy!"


Gyan 2: "good, i saw the trees, i saw the water, can we go now?"

Just to say that we have not yet learnt our lesson, we are coming back to walk the tree top ropeway soon!

32 comments:

Shruti said...

wow! 5 km walk.. which one of u was tired later that day? :)
U sure the kids will not make excuses for another nature walk?
11yr old has good ideas btw ;)

Pavi!!!! said...

so much fun n amusement in ur life ;)

n hey its gonna be few (read MANY)yrs before the boys start appreciating nature...mabbe a walk with thier girlfriend will do the trick?;)

BTW..tht place looks SOOOOO beautiful! i so wanna go there!

Kavi said...

Enjoy the holidays ! Treasure the ropeways and the trees and the water !

My mom tells me, as she retired last year, that those memories are the only ones that are such a catalyst to daily living!

And those indeed are some awesome snaps. Have fun !

:)

Just Like That said...

see...! I KNEW you would give me the giggles.:-D
LOL at your description of the walk, and ROFL at the 11 yr old gyan. he has a rollicking sense of humour. :-D
WoW! that is a BEAUTIFUL place! Your hubby can be excused for the photography obsession.

magicalsummer said...

sounds like you've got your hands more than full, enjoy :) and when you can't take it, farm them off to a more than wiling grandparent. happy holidays!

magicalsummer said...

btw, beautiful photographs!

Meira said...

hahaha :)
my nephew hates walks too. But then he prefers to climb trees and swing like monkeys...some 'evolving' issues, i'm sure :D

aMus said...

Shru::
my mistake..i think we went half way..the kids were tired..we left them 'resting' on a bench while g and I went forward...and no, we weren't tired..singapore sort of gets used to walking esp if you decide not to have a car..we don't :)
yes, the place is quite nice

Pavi::
haha...well, i'm not giving up..i'm going to ooh and aaah over every pretty sight i see, so they are prepared to do the same with their friends :)



Kavi::
its such a pleasure to stay here when you know that the greenery is being cared for...memories are what we make and live for indeed!


JLT::
comment maadithiri, dhanyavaad! i was just wondering if JLT does not make an appearance, people are going to wonder who i was talking about....
yes, the hubby takes excellent snaps. i take credit for the location :p


magical summer::
you said it..but then how will i pass my days :P
thanks for the compliments...wll pass it on


meira::
you said it right..its not that they don't like physical activity..they thrive on it..if i were to hand over a ball to him i would have probably found him leaping over the lake

Prats said...

**Gyan 2: "good, i saw the trees, i saw the water, can we go now?"

Lol....the gyan guru is something...my kids are the same too....as long as they can climb, fall, see the tree tops from the treee, fill my bag with lots of stones, its ok for the younger one...the older one just can't be bothered...if there are no one his age :(...and i'm sure, I cna't downsize :(
Do take them for the next one...i'm sure they'll love it...at least the name sounds exciting

rm said...

"good, i saw the trees, i saw the water, can we go now?" !!!! What did u say to this? superb post.

Gazal said...

ahem
//he makes you look presentable??//
comeon lady we all demand to know "how you look the way you manage to look?"

lovely pictures...must have been a great experience

rayshma said...

i like the gyaan, btw. and i just realized that i sound like ur 11 year old if vin asks me to go walking anywhere! :D

G has a wonderful model in u... and all u post is photus of trees and water?! why why why?!

Preeti Shenoy said...

Lovely photos! :) And here in our family I am the photographer making everyone look good :) And I keep mumbling that ONLY i know to take good pictures :)

I know what you mean when you say days start at 11 or 12 and end forcibly at midnight.God--its the same here!

Nice post.
Cheers
preeti

Rambler said...

well I dont know about the gyan..but I don't want to miss this tree top walk when I am in singapore next time

Unknown said...

can you believe it , soon it will be from green green everywhere to brown brown everywhere, hee, hee hee

Keshi said...

I did a similar 5-10km walk/run recently for Charity :)

Nice pics Suma!

Keshi.

Anonymous said...

Tagged.

I love MacRitchie reservoir We had field trips there. Its been long time since I went.

And 11 yr old boys are the same as 10 yr old girls. Both of mine refuse to walk as well.

Sumana said...

I can relate to the gyans received. We took the 4 year old and 2 year old for boating. The 2 year old went off to doze and the 4 year kept asking why we are still in the water or when we are getting off the boat. Applaues to G, wonderful pics. Ahh vacations are such fun right 10am to 12 midnight masti. Great times..

--xh-- said...

wow.. thazt a nice pathway, and i hope kid swill like it more whn the walk the path way on top of trees :)

Monika said...

what pics and what gyan :D

cm chap said...

Ha Ha.. Glad you walked 5KM & got photographed :)

All I can tell you is.. You son is getg ready to land in US. yes, the fancy words for each common thing is the culture of this land... Good start with exploring :)

Be happy... G is just wanna be photographer.. think of what wud be the case if he is wanna be photographer & also wanna be writer... you will have no time from him then :)

WhatsInAName said...

hi ya!
Those snaps and description did make me go green all the way ;-)
Seems like you had a lovely walking talking gyan-y time! And yeah photoshopping is a wonderful idea! I will try it next time :-D

Guruprasad said...

i love your 11 year old! that comment "good, i saw the trees, i saw the water, can we go now?" was priceless! :P

but i think this is a great idea... should try it out with my 8 & 5 year olds!

aMus said...

Prats:
gyan guru is an apt name for him!and we will take them everywhere we go, because much as they come up with these one liners, they do enjoy themselves



rm:
what did i say? look at the birds and watch out for the monkey :)


brocas::
nah, can't do that! we chase them away we avoid killing them. no wonder they come back!


gazal::
ahem! look who's asking?!
yes, the place is good for those keen on trekking/walking

Rayshma::
what a spoilt gal you are :)
the trees and water really deserved to be posted than good old me :)


Preeti::
haha...noone understands a photographer's woes!


Rambler::
its worth it...take a look at the link in my post.


Smita::
:) I'll find some place to drag them around there too! :)


keshi::
that sounds like a great experience! were you able to complete it?

aMus said...

Asaaan::
did you try the treetop walk? i hear it's quite a long walk and am wondering whether my 6 yrold will be able to complete it?



Sumana:
haha, i understand. its too much to expect them to sit still in a boat, their age is such :)


xh::
i hope so too :) how's wedded life treating you?


monika::
:)
there were more but consider yourselves spared!


CM chap::
ah yes, good point...
and we will still explore, he knows it too


WIAN::
what should i do to get a post from you?!


Guru::
:) there is only so much that they can admire nature...

and what must you try? the walking?

Guruprasad said...

yeah, i meant the walking of course! what else would i mean? :)

Jaya said...

Beautiful pics. But where are the other pics where a beautiful lady is captured :) :) Enjoy the summer!!!

aMus said...

guru::

oops, why did i think u meant the photography? because 8 and 5-yrolds must be still willing subjects for a photo shoot

joy::
ummm...not many, there were quite a few backs though! what was there made it very apparent i need to work out more :(
what a bummer!
how is the birthday girl?

Guruprasad said...

my daughter is going through a phase where she loves posing for the camera... my son looks like he's just grinning and bearing it for now :P

aMus said...

guru:
:) :) :)
my sis has twins, a boy and a girl..and the girl loves it when teh limelight's on her!

Neera said...

oh god ...I know I'll be so mad when my kids reach the gyan 2 stage

loved the place ...looks so serene and calm

Unknown said...

:)
This is the same place from where I take my bug photos at night.

From what I can see, it looks lovely in the daytime too...

Love this statement : "good, i saw the trees, i saw the water, can we go now?"
It seems every kid has said that at some point in time.
5km walk...my god.