Entry 28 : Cotton Tree

 When I was a little girl, before starting primary school, I stayed with my grandma for a couple of years in the small town of Alor Gajah, Melaka.

There was a huge cotton tree with its huge trunk full of thorns growing in front of the house. I still remember when the tree blossomed, white almost like magnolia sized flower covered the top branches. My grandma used to look forward to the tree flowering season for a simple reason that soon the flower would produced pods of white cotton.

When the flower dropped off, a small bean pod appeared and these pods grew bigger for about 3 months. Then the pods become brown and started to crack open. Even when the pods cracked, the cotton inside were not ready to be picked. We have to wait for the cotton inside each pods to be furry, then it is ready to be picked.

My grandma would attached a hook at the end of a long bamboo pole and hooked each pods from their branches. We would break the pods, spread out the cotton inside into a mat and picked the black cotton seeds that was attached to each cotton bean. We would filled up gunny sacks of the cotton and stored them in the house so as not to get it wet.

After this my grandma would sew up by hands large square pockets of material and stuffed the cotton inside. This becomes our new pillows. Some years, we have abundant harvest and grandma would exchanged her new pillows with friends for food. But sometimes, when cotton harvest was insuffient, grandma would store for more cotton from the next harvest to make into matteress.

After the demise of my grandma, someone cut the cotton tree and I told myself that would be the last of any cotton tree for me to see.

But, beyond believe, when I moved to this island some four decades later, I saw lots of cotton trees grown all over the island. The cotton trees here are of the pink variety.

During its blossom season around Sept or October, with branches having few leaves, the tree take the shape of sakura blossom as its flower is the colour of sakura-type of this island. During the fruiting time around January and February, the pods break and throwing out furs of cotton. When this happens, the furs of cotton is flown about brought by the winds and standing near the tree, one would feel like rain of flurry snow around.

Haiku:

Head on new pillow

lying beside my grandma

cotton flower scent.

Entry 27: My Chromebook is not functioning.

 I just got my laptop, the Chromebook like just a couple of years ago and its slapping me in my face now. 

I bought this Chromebook on 2/5/2020 and the updates expires on June 25. It's less than 2 half years the pages keep on reloading even seconds. I've checked the storage is over-loaded but not at all. I bought this Chromebook because every apps comes in its own box and there is not tabletop. This way it is not easy to catch online virus and I can save on buying anti-viral programes. But now, I'm very disappointed with it. Using my tablet and external keyboard, like it or not, I'm making do.

Haiku :

My Chromebook kaput

throw off this hopeless feeling

soft-creamed strawberries.

Entry 25 : Ending 2022

 

Have been ignoring to update here since October and now finally it's two more days to 2023. God, the time really flies unconsciously. I've started to take swimming practice at the nearest public pool near my house. I need to my heart strong again, only by swimming I can't control my heartbeat, whereby in walking or cycling on the exercise bike, I can stop in the middle of the movement when I feel breathless. This is not good for heart exercise. November, I continue the monthly post ops for my left eyes and took the yearly health test together with breast and overy cancer test. Alhamdullilah, I'm blessed with good health other than for a little over the limit line on the cholestrol issue.

I've to prepare the guest room as Minako, my first daughter and Myiesha (her daughter) will be visiting us in December. But before both of them come over, we are meeting at Ayumi's house at Kameyama. 

Haiku:

Year-end cleaning up

it's been four long years meeting

corona distance.

 

Entry 26: Books 2022

Around 2017 to 2018, I started teaching haiku to enthusiasts from Malaysia and Singapore. I conducted the class online. The response from the first group was stimulating and encouraging. When the course from the first group ended, there was a request for another group.  With the course layout from both group, I started to draft a haiku writing guide base on the same layout plans. Some of the students wanted to selfprint the book and I let them handle the process. Due to some complications in deciding the printing company, I decided to send the manuscript to publishing company. I tried ITBM, some couple of months later, the manuscript was rejected. Then, I sent to DPB, same story. I almost gave up on printing the book but someone recommended a printing company. We decidedto do selfprinting. It took several months due to clisure of printing companies during the heightof corona season in 2021. But when things started to become better after the corona ended, the printing company turnedto reject my manuscript. then, with aliff zamri help as he just finished printing his own haiku collection, I decided to send my manuscript to the same printers. At the time of writing this, we are in the process of printing our second lot. The first printing of 50 copies was done on purpose as I don't want the books lying idle in Alif house, not moving. In fact, I wanted the book to go to all the people that Ive taught first. For the second printing, I go for another 50 copies and this time, Ive instructed the distribution to go to bookshops. 

I started mulling a compilation of all my short stories for several years. I wrote short stories to the Berita Harian papers and Asas group for several anniversary team. I gather all the past BH writings and asas collection together with a short story that I've won a second award in the Golden Point literature Award in 2015. I gather all these short stories and send it to Unggun creative, a publishing company in Singapore. The company applied a writing grant and surprisingly, I qualified. 
With the generous writing grant from The National Arts Council Singapore, the publisher invited a famous literature personality from Malaysia Emeritus Prof Dr Mawar Safei to write the forwarding address to this book. It gives quite a prestigous reputation to my book.

I started gathering Japanese proverbs from 2012, when my first grandchildren, three of them, were born in this year. At last, after 6 years of data gathering and matching of the Malay probverbs, I mailed the manuscript to the publisher, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka in 2018. Happily, the manuscript was accepted but we had to do a thorough editing of the writing format in kanji, hiragana and katakana for three years and another 100% checks on the matching malay proverbs. It took another 2 years for the printing process and at last, I was inform by my co-writer that this book was already in the market from November 2022.

It was tremendous hard work gathering a total of 2078 japanese proverbs for 7 years together but such a satisfying feeling to know that nobody else has done it before. I think Ive carved a name in the literary circle such heavy duty book as this.

Haiku

Ten years of writing
from the birth of twins in spring
till the skin wrinkled.