At the break of dawn...

... we made a trip to our usual hiking rendezvous at Pokok Sena. Our Saturday morn hike has been off for more than a year now. It's difficult to tear people away from the comfort of their beds in the wee hours. And after a while it can get kinda disheartening... but still, at Tim's request, we had a decent number of 8 in our group. 8)

So here's an award of chew neng pui (that's Foochow for rubber trophy) for all who made it. LOL!

The rays breaking through the leaves bathing us in its full glory... there's always hope breaking through obstacles in life.... With the mist and all that, I'd say this is one of the more beautiful mornings here.

The rains have come back with a vengeance after a really hot and dry spell. Everywhere was damp and teeming with life. Mushrooms seem bigger too, what with the heavy rains and also after the more than normal fall of leaves which meant more 'food' for them. This one was on the ground and it was bigger than usual.

Do you know that mushroom specialists are called mycologists? And that mushrooms can be used to filter (purify too) water and neutralize toxic chemicals? Or that their mycelium actually helps to build deeper soil layers so that trees can grow bigger and taller? They can be a fuel source as well. That apart from being quite yummy as a source of food. I learned that from one of my podcasts. 8)

This particular hike had a little extra oomph it it. Karyn saw this huge moth hanging on a tree; actually perched on a pupa. That's my hand behind for size comparison. It was still misty and cold and the moth wasn't going anywhere. One of the biggest I've seen in this area. Simply beautiful! My lil one would have probably oohed over it.

A mass tangle of spidery web.... ain't life like that too sometimes? Nature is full of parallel comparison for us. Can be perfect and nice and a tangle the next minute. But in a tangle there's still lessons, functionality, etc....

Find the aberrant goose... LOL! Ain't life like that too? There are always aberrant ones among us, but that doesn't mean they're not part of us... as long as they continue to stay in the group. This gaggle of geese was really noisy. The kepala started heading towards the water and the rest followed suit quite immediately. Talk about charisma and herd mentality. BTW, the collective noun of gaggle can also be used for salt.....

And after the huffing and puffing, sweat and smell... we went for our refueling. I didn't take this but notice the si-ham (cockles)? The 3 who ordered curry mee don't fancy them. So they ended up on my chicken rice. 8) Oh ya! You can order an extra topping of yu-char-kway to go with the curry.

So, all in all it was a good hike. We bumped into another group of people from FGC while we were there too. The pastor was telling his flock that praying alone for good health won't be enough; we've to get down to the hard work also. So very, very true.... a morning of fun and thoughts for me...