I am blogging somewhere else.
Dear friends and family,
I have a new home.
http://rubymat.wordpress.com
I will try not talk about personal matters too much now.
Miss you!!
Ruby
Dear friends and family,
I have a new home.
http://rubymat.wordpress.com
I will try not talk about personal matters too much now.
Miss you!!
Ruby
My grandmother's name is Seni binti Mohd Zain. I could guess that she is 67: my mother's age plus 15, only a year older than my mother in law. She is very healthy, active with everyday life.... cooking, attending to our grandfather, house keeping, even farming in Kampung Paya Datu, Manir, Terengganu. She has 7 child, only two of them are boys. My mother is #1. #2 Cik Ngoh is a nurse living in Segamat, 3 child, 2 grandchild. #3 Cik De Zu is a housewife to a Kastam staff living in Kemaman with 5 girls. #4 Pok Awang married Cik Ha from next kampung and got 4 child. #5 Teh Muni, a clerk married a Pos Malaysia staff living in Bukit Datu Terengganu with 2 child. #6 Cik Lela, an ustazah have 2 sons and expecting in April. #7 Pok Shang aka Pok Su is not married yet! They are just trying to find the perfect girl for quite some time now. Pretty, fair, working, comes from a respectable family etc the list goes on and on. All the best for my dear Pok Su. He is the same age as I am, already has 6 grandniece/nephew. Here is Tok Seni with all her great grand children, mine is #1 and #5 in the row. 
Arifah had her first role in a play at school. She was a Santa, suppossably to climb up the chimney to send out presents. They rehearsed everyday with lots of songs and rhymes... Here is Arifah and Mrs Maknawa. I cant get her to grab Mrs Robinson, her favourite teacher whom when she first started going to school took her from my arms into hers every day for two weeks before she can accept me leaving her just like that.
telah selamat dilahirkan di Azzahrah Bangi pada Sabtu 8 Dis 2007, got emails from ayoh himself and an entry from Zidni's blog. Congratulations, Malini+Hanief and abang long Munief Ridwan. 
On the 13th Nov Siti Aidah was not well. On this day at the age of 9 months and 5 days she is ill for the first time. She was born a healthy girl, never losses her appetite since then. But at some point for some reason, I have become emotionally unstable, so her supply of milk from my mammary glands deteriorate. I myself lost 7 kg, but I keep telling myself to eat for her sakes. Arifah also got a virus infection, affecting her mouth and eyes with cough and running nose. Later it became 'bacteriacidal' (betul ke istilah ni Norley?) forcing her to take the antibiotic. Today as of 1 Dec, Aidah had her chicken pox. Above is a family picture on recently Eid ul Fitr.
My father has a very comprehensive, thorough website, telling histories and stories about him and us. The year 1978 is here: ttp://www.matzakaria.com/fototeks/a_1978.html. I havent had the time to read all of it but I tend to browse it once and a while when I miss him, and home. 
In 1978; there is this picture of mine being bathed by his late mother, whom we called Tok Me. I remembered her to be sick all the time (yes, with high blood pressure and diabetes; in runs in the family both from my father and mother's side plus from my husband's side).
My father loves her very much. Her name is his formal email : selma@pkriscc in UKM, and my mother told me once he picked up Tok Me to get her in the car (to the hospital) until his back ached for a month. Al-Fatihah to her, resting peacefully beside Tokki Kari (Zakaria); whom I haven't met, and I cant remember whether my mother had the chance to meet him. He died in 1972, they got married in 1976.
Anyway, the thing is; look at me!! Naked, yet adorable enough to make my father publishes it in the website. My hubby would say; 
look at you, I am fairer so we are lucky that our daughter's skin is fair, taken from my side! (well, you how this can be said in Malay - just like the tittle says it). Somehow I feel inferior of this fairness of the skin.
The point is; thank you for those of you who wishes me Happy Birthday. Wan Fazrul of exhamidian YG, Khalid Hamid Ahmed Musa of Sudan (MSc-UKM), Loh Lai Ching (BSc-UKM), Azlifah (cute girl in Loughborough), Naqiuddin (Nottingham). One year more, and I could not consider myself the twenties. Oh ya, adik Aidah tumbuh gigi pertama hari ini, rahang bawah belah kiri, sedar pada 7.17 pm 16 Oktober 2007. And today; 17 Oct, she fell down the bed for the time while in the hands of her Abi and Arifah... about 12.30 pm.
Arifah likes horses, a trait inherited from her abi. We went to Sutton Bonington Show one day, and all she could ask is; when can I ride a horse ?(of course dalam BM).
She has been to the playgroup almost a month now, and trying hard to communicate in English. She knows "what is your name?", "good night" "come on, then" and some more usual phrase. 
Aidah in the other hand becomes very clingy! Can't put her down even for a little while, and getting afraid of everybody except us.
Here are picture of the two of them together (mind the mess... bilik kkemboh sokmo).
We wish all of you; Salam Aidilfitri dan Maaf Zahir Batin....
This entry is a request from Mynie http://myniemat.blogspot.com/. How Siti Arifah and Siti Aidah got their names. Simple Mynie, not as complicated as you. But to make it complicated, here are some rules.
First rule: of course names that have good meanings in Arabic. Second rule: avoid familiar names such as Daniel, Balqis, Amirah etc.... (here in Loughborough alone ramai kanak2 yg ada nama sama! Tu belum di Malaysia. Esok bila diorg gi sekolah pening cikgu nak ingat nama).
Third rule: for girl Siti would be the first name, and Mohd for boys. Forth rule: nama yang simple, mudah diingat, yang kalau dipendekkan sekalipun ada makna yang baik. Cakap Melayu lah laju sikit nak explain. Mula-mula nak bagi nama Fatimah. Tapi orang Trg suka panggil Timoh, jadi makna logam pulak!
Halimah (lembut), abang Eddy suka sebab sama dengan nama arwah Abang Long Quraish (al-Fatihah), tapi dia akan juga teringat cerita Bujang Lapok... so terpaksa dieliminate; too controversial.
Shahidah.... I cant remember why we did not 
stick to this one. 10 hari lepas Arifah lahir kami masih belum decide nak beri nama apa, apatah lagi nak panggil masa dalam perut (panggil baby je). Kawan dan saudara yang ziarah, panggil Kak Long siap-siap (tribute to Ayoh Cik Nun).
Then, pada suatu hari (mungkin hari yg ke 13 lepas bersalin) abg Eddy dapat idea untuk beri nama Arifah. Saya pun terus suka! Root word dia ain ra fa, makna; tahu. Hal ariftu? Awak tahu/faham? Muannas; utk perempuan letak ha kat belakang (ini dikira i'rab juga ke?) So, maknanya berpengetahuan. Orang putih kata: she knows.
Bagi adiknya Siti Aidah pula. Disebabkan Arifah bermula ngan ain alif akhiran ha, maka pattern yg sama perlu diikut... macam2 nama dicadang, Aqilah, Azimah, Alimah semua makna yang baik-baik bermula ain alif. Dan pada hari yang ke 8 kami terfikirkan Aidah (keberuntungan).
Hari ini Adik Aidah meniarap dengan sendirinya tanpa bantuan (berumur 6 bulan 21 hari, huh berat punggung!)... tapi hanya disaksikan oleh Abi, bukan Ummi... sedihnya. Ummi di lab sibuk buat eksperimen dik. Esok Ummi kena ambik cuti lagi Kak Long Arifah nak pergi sekolah, first day tomorrow, so prepare nak stay through the whole 3 hrs session. Hari Jumaat pula, Ummi akan cuba tinggalkan Kak Long Arifah dengan cikgunya sebab Ummi ada appointment dengan doktor, nanti Abi datang ambik ya...
Untuk kawan-kawan di Malaysia, hujung minggu baru ni England ada cuti umum 2 hari Isnin dan Selasa. Ramai yg ambil kesempatan bercuti ke luar negara (Eropah), ke London, Scotland dsb. Kami? Duduk di rumah, kemas rumah... susun barang yg 'kutip' di car boot dan susun atur semula bilik tidur. Prepare utk Ramadhan. Susunan sebelum ini, lepas utk seorg shj solat, tak boleh berjemaah sebab katil double dan single dicantum. Dah dua malam Abi dan Kak Long Arifah tidur di bawah beralaskan tilam angin, bila malam diangkat utk sandar ke dinding.
Tak lama lagi, kita akan menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan yg ke 50... tentu meriah di sana. Di london, pada 1 Sept diadakan keramaian. Ramai yg akan berkumpul, kami bercadang nak pergi tapi bergantung kepada kawan kami Hj Kamsen Muni sekeluarga. Dia pergi tahun lepas, meriah sungguh. Kami main ikut-ikut je, malas nak organize sendiri. OK, jumpa lagi...
