When Our Lives Intersect charts Jamie's unhurried journey covering 10 years and 30 trips to Fraser’s Hill (Photo: When Our Lives Intersect)
There is no rushing nature. By a happy coincidence, going with the flow has led Jamie Solomon into the natural world that moves her to paint and write. When Our Lives Intersect charts her unhurried journey covering 10 years and 30 trips to Fraser’s Hill, where she is constantly reminded “we can only take one step at a time”.
Retracing paths trodden at will, this mother of four says her life has never been about cause and effect. “I just float along, doing what is right at the moment, or what I think I want to do, then see what happens.”
What has happened is her book, a charming collection of sketches, paintings, prose, poetry and photos dating back to 2014, when Jamie and her husband Li Soong began taking their four children, including a newborn, to Fraser’s, one of three hill stations on the Titiwangsa Range in Raub, Pahang. It comprises seven rolling hills with peaks that rise 850m to 1,400m above sea level.
Closer to the clouds and cocooned by greenery, the family settles into a pace in step with the rhythm of the seasons. Serenity draping breathtaking views keeps them spellbound. They find respite among trees, plants and blossoms as the sun peeks out behind mist, catching the symphony of birds and watching crawlies and small creatures go about their day.
The hill was discovered in the late 19th century by Louis James Fraser, who mined tin deposits from that period until the early 20th century. Visitors who like to pack their holiday with activities complain it is “too quiet, boring … there’s no internet and nothing to do”. Jamie knows differently.
“As a family, we come here to enjoy the great outdoors and each other. We take walks, have ice cream. Li and I have lots of couple time. We walk (yes, lots of walking here), we talk, sit, have coffee … Each time, I’m invited to get up close and personal with creation,” she writes.
Her book, out this month, is an ode to this magical place she has fallen in love with and a celebration of their time there. Stunning shots by Li, who enjoys taking photos of nature, offer another visual salute to Fraser’s.
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“The hill communicates in a language inaudible to the human ear but which can be felt deeply by the heart. It invites me to slow down, to listen more and look at my surroundings. It teaches me I don’t need many things in life and simplicity is the way to go.
“I go up to refuel and return refreshed and energised. Familiarity breeds wonder, not contempt, and repetition fosters delight, not boredom. Every time we are there, I feel a deeper harmony, a stronger bond. I leave planning my next return.”
Trips to Fraser’s are like pilgrimages focused on simple routines, many outdoors. They take long strolls, explore new paths, go bird-watching, skate at the playground, play cards and board games, visit farms, take dips in the waterfalls and have ice cream. Someone suggested the last after a brisk walk and Uncle Siva’s convenience store is now a mandatory stop for this family tradition. Meals on the balcony with a view of the hills and nights when Shawn, Robin, Sarah and Ryan take turns to share a room or an indoor tent make special memories.
Drawn by surrounding beauty, Jamie, who saw herself as hard-wired and left-brained, started sketching the birds and the trees and keeping a nature journal. Initial worries about being raw and unskilled faded as she became adept with pencil and paint, and the stack of sketchbooks piled up. Her artistic observations of multi-hued winged creatures, more detailed as she got to know them better, are the best parts of her book.
“It has only touched the surface,” she says. “I want to observe, draw and learn more about nature’s gifts.” More importantly, she hopes to inspire readers to protect and preserve Fraser’s natural landscape through art, poetry and education, and “become caretakers and guardians of our environment”.
Jamie spent her formative years in Taiping and visits to its Lake Gardens and Maxwell Hill have stayed in her mind. Fast-forward to May 2014, when her Fraser’s Hill narrative begins, and what she remembers is packing for their first adventure as a family of six. There were frequent stops for diaper changes and clean-ups on the way up to Silverpark, where her in-laws have an apartment.
Annual getaways over the next four years were built around outdoor pursuits as the children explored their surroundings, played, stretched and grew. Nature was a “classroom” for the kids, all home-schooled by Jamie, who did bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees in accounting and economics and worked for several years in the corporate world before deciding to be a stay-at-home mum in 2006, when her scholarship bond ended and Shawn was one.
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Homeschooling has been a journey of finding what works for each child, herself and the family. She explains, “You start with one, and then number two comes, so you kind of figure out what works now. Then number three comes … We chose this route because we want them to have a balanced life, to appreciate everything as much as possible,” adding that kids should not be bound by school rules and the system. “It’s not easy and many times I wanted to give up. All this experience has given me courage — you know, you can do it. Like I said, it’s not just a seed but different seeds. I think the beauty of home education is the children are very independent — they can pick up whatever they want to learn, if they want to learn.”
They have, as Jamie notes in the second section of When Our Lives Intersect, covering 2019 to 2023. As the brood became more self-reliant, she found more time to draw and journal, and observe. A Sherlock Holmes’ quote in the book speaks to her: “I see no more than you, but I have trained myself to notice what I see.”
Spotting a bird for the first time and capturing how it looks in her mind’s eye is a feel-good boost for a solitary activity that requires patience. But forgetting bird names is frustrating and she has had to reread and relearn. Names come more easily now and her eye for detail is sharper. Being able to identify plants and creatures along her walks makes her feel she is in the company of friends.
Fraser’s Hill, integral to the family’s time together, was the backdrop for a lightbulb moment in December of 2019 — realising she could draw! Jamie’s memory of sitting beneath a Madagascar almond tree in the public playground with a journal, pencil and eraser, trying to capture the scene before her — a skating rink surrounded by trees — remains vivid. With time on her side, she sat for three hours making straight lines, erasing, redrawing and shading until the piece was done.
She thinks being a mother kicked off her artistic journey. From whipping leftovers into something “tolerably edible” to picking out the best matches from hand-me-downs to optimising time, “my creativity was birthed and honed in the crucible of motherhood. After 15 years, it has found quite a different channel of expression, in paper and ink”.
The hill, where she goes “also to dream a little”, is the birthplace of her poetry and prose as well. This cradle of her explorations with nature and art has unleashed the passion to write because “it’s from the heart”, shares this daughter of English teachers who adds that she was not good in the subject.
Henry David Thoreau speaks for her here: “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.”
Now a fervent artist and nature advocate and educator, Jamie hopes to draw attention to the country’s rich natural heritage so people will appreciate it and guard it well.
“When you love something, you want to protect it. I find many people engage with nature only when they’re older. What about the children? Why don’t we teach them to be aware of what we have, give them some skills and tools and show them what they can do when they go out?”
Having met locals born on Fraser’s, whose parents are labourers who helped build the hills, she is touched by their history and stories. When Our Lives Intersect is hers, but Jamie has no plans for what next after two books. Her first, Voices of Nature (2023), is a collection of poems about the natural world.
“My experience has been like, I’ll just be sitting down thinking, and then the inspiration comes and I’ll chew on it a bit. Then I’ll think, okay, let’s do this.”
With the clarion call for stewardship of the hills loud and clear, something will happen. Slowly but surely.
When Our Lives Intersect: Celebrating Ten Years in Fraser’s Hill (RM90) is available at Sunda Shelves.
This article first appeared on Oct 28, 2024 in The Edge Malaysia.
