Another Birthday

On Friday we went for a walk through Eco Green at Tampines. The Baya Weaver birds were busy building their intricate nests and we had the best opportunity yet to see them in action. The Baya Weaver is commonly seen in grassland habitat with the funnel-shaped nest dangling from a tree. Those that have a long tunnel at the entrance to the nest are complete nests, whereas those without are built by males and rejected by females, hence not completed.

 Male by his latest attempt, just beginning stages

 Incomplete, rejected nests

 tree with mixture of nests, some successfully finished

After a delightful walk through the park we continued on to Ikea looking for a frame for the prints I bought in Malacca last weekend. We ended up also buying Eric a comfortable office chair too, so Happy Birthday Eric. It has wheels but is not a wheelchair!

Yes, Eric enjoyed another birthday on Sunday, thanks to all who sent best wishes and cheeky poems. After work a good number of friends met up at Plonk for dinner then Bev stayed over as she was off to Phuket early the next morning. It was also Kathy's birthday, she works at my branch, so it was a joint event with lots of shared friends. 

 At work they gave him a cake

 At Plonk with some friends

Unfortunately, just after we got home, I came down with a bout of Gastro and have only surfaced today, Tuesday. Thanks Judie for leaving such a good book behind, I've now read my way through most of 'In the shadow of the Banyan' by Vaddey Ratner. While I am off the couch and feeling washed out but OK today, Eric has now gone downhill. Lots of our students and other staff have had this lately so I guess it must be a very infectious strain and only a matter of time before it was our turn. 

Despite the late night on Sunday, the stalwarts made it up to the summit on Monday morning while I stayed home and felt sorry for myself. Peter was there too, he took the picture. He gave Eric a pair of Sakura 30X60 Zoom Mini Day/Night Binoculars, and another pair for me, sick of us never having our larger sets with us when we walk. Now we have no excuse! 

We had made plans to visit the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibition this afternoon before Eric hosted the Social Club meeting at Satays By the Bay, in the Gardens By the Bay. They have both been postponed until we are feeling better.