The One About Inori

My granny (dad’s mum) passed away peacefully last night.

She waited for my Aunt and my cousin to be by her side. She passed with her family with her. I even got to see her on livecam as my dad brought his laptop to the hospital. I don’t know if she saw me in the video or heard me calling her name.
She was very thin and sunken.

The last time I saw her was more than 2 years ago. She couldn’t recognise me and took a very long time to realise that she was Sunshine’s “Ah Tai” (cantonese for ‘great-grandmother’). Then she thought my mum and I were sisters.

My granny doted on me. In fact, both grannies doted on me. I was the first grandchild on my mum’s side and I was my dad’s first born.

I remember the nights I would crawl into her bed because I was afraid of the dark. I remember the nights when my nose would bleed (I had a condition when I was a child where my nose bled very often. I seem to have passed it on to Sunshine. ) and she would stuff herbs up my nose. I remember the nights where she would lay strong smelling herbs in my pillow. And she would go to the temple to ask for a talisman for me, sew a red triangle casing for it and slip it in my pillowcase.

I remember I would wake her up at weird times of the night to cook instant noodles for me because I was afraid to light the gas stove. I remember she would make milo for me. I remember waking her up to sit with me at the tv because I was afraid to sit alone in the dark. I remember her sewing me pajamas and how I used to love the flannel material she used. She used to bring me to the coffee shop and let me drink a little bit of her coffee in the saucer,

All these things, she did for me willingly and without a single complaint.

I have a secret which should be embarassing but yet I don’t feel embarassed about it anymore. I still sleep with a pillow that has been with me since I was 3 or 4 years old.

The one on the left is my pillow and the one on the right is a bolster which is soooo flaccid now it’s just a casing.

My granny sewed them for me. I sleep with them every night. Well. Only with pillow. Bolster is too fragile and I fear for it’s ‘health’ so I’ve put it away in case the kids fight for it and tear it into two.

I only hope it will last me till the day I die. Now the pillow holds much much more memories than before and I treasure it even more.

(Incidentally, it works great to have kids because guests come and see the pillow and assume it belongs to my kids. Haha!)

I had the privilege to live with her for a short time before getting married and moving a country. I must have driven her nuts with my dogs and then my cat. I admit I was a little short tempered with her at times (because of her dislike for my pets) but I hope she finds it in her heart to forgive me for my insolence.

I am very happy that she saw her family before she left to be with God and I really wished I was there.

I know I will see her again. And when I do, I will tell her about the wonderful things about His kingdom. Till we meet again, goodbye.

啊嬤, 多謝你多晚陪我睇戏, 煮 Maggie 麵俾我食. 我地會再見面嘅. 再見, 啊嬤. 我會自己保重.

Hehehehe… just popping by to post pictures of my new tee shirt!

I’ve been getting a lot of ‘supermum’ comments of late due to me studying, working and being with kids… although I don’t think I qualify 100% since my dearest husband helps out with the kids A LOT…… but I liked the term! And thus wanted a teeshirt with a superman logo on the front.

But I looked and looked, I couldn’t find a plain red and yellow logo on a white shirt base. So I complained (a lot) on Facebook about how it’s so hard to find a superman tshirt… and how expensive blank tees are… etc.

I finally found a store that sold blank tees at a reasonable amount (but charge crazy shipping!) and ordered from them. Then we went to get tshirt transfer papers. Nad said he would do the logo for me…

At first I was thinking… it can’t be too difficult to grab an image online and print that could it?
Well, turns out many images online are low res… so would make a crappy tshirt print.

So my dearest husband grabbed a vector drawing of it and filled up the colours in photoshop and viola! We haz high res logo! It’s little bittle things like these that makes me sooo happy to have him as a hubby.

So I asked if he could take pictures of it. He happily grabbed the camera and directed me on where to stand, how to pose, etc.

And then he showed me this:

“HELLO? Where’s the logo!!!!???”

“Oh… right! Sorry!”

I love my new tee shirt! Even my neighbour who saw it wanted one! LOL.

I’ve quite a few things to write about… so to make the post slightly more readable, I’ll put them in point form.

1. I’ve released the pattern for Ulverstone Stole on Ravelry.

This stole is knitted with Malabrigo Sock yarn and takes two skeins. I was left with about 30g from the second skein so was cutting it pretty close!

When I blocked it, it took up the ENTIRE length and width of a single mattress. Didn’t expect it to be that big! I’ve encouraged people to use smaller sized needles as the stole was a little too airy. Some knitters have also expressed interest in using lace weight yarn for the stole. I’m looking forward to seeing the projects of other knitters!

I included diagrams to help with the knitted on edging and what I hope are detailed instructions. This is my first time doing a knit on edging too so if I can do it, so can you!

I’ve offered the pattern for free until January 2011 when I will start charging a small token for it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see 431 downloads on the first day, 123 downloads on the second and 66 on the third upon its release! I had a flood of comments and well wishers congratulating me. Made me soooo happy! Thank you all for your support!!!!!

2. Fun on a pony

We’ve been bringing the kids out quite a bit!

I called up this horse riding school one day and asked if they had a pony for a 3 year old (and hopefully, for a 1.5 year old as well). He said yes, they have a pony but only the 3 year old can ride. We were so excited and thought of Sunshine riding on a miniature pony (think Shetland pony).

When we arrived, the pony is this big:

Apparently, a horse that is less than…ummm.. 16 hands (??I cannot remember how many ‘hands’) in height is considered a pony. This ‘pony’ is one hand short of being a horse.

Look at her glum face…
She wasn’t unhappy. Just a little apprehensive. I had to hold her hand the whole time we walked in the bush. If I let go, Sunshine whined and wanted me to hold her hand again. So being the poor mother I am, I had one arm up, holding on to her while walking beside the horse pony and bumped at the side by the pony’s buldging tummy. -___-

Some parts of the bush had really thick foliage and it was hard work walking beside the pony as the path was so narrow. Once uphill, I tripped on some branches and fell. -___- The things we do for our kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Fun at the beach

Since it has warmed up a little, we brought them to the beach.

They enjoyed playing with the sand, flicking it into our hair and eyes. Chubbs even tasted some just to make sure he didn’t miss out on yummy food.

No.. he didn’t like it at all and we had to wash out his mouth. Silly boy.

Their cheeks were really rosy as it was rather warm. Nad held up an umbrella to shield us from the strong rays. I sat knitting while enjoying the sea breeze. Granted, I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t wearing jeans!

4. Fun in the backyard.

Here are some pictures of the kids in the backyard. Chubbs is very hardworking. He sweeps the grass instead of the paths.

Am I cute with pouty pouty lips?

I love her smile.

Nad reckons they are twins. What do you think?

Our chookies. Lizzy is on the left and Penny is on the right. I love them so much, esp lil Lizzy. She lays the most awesome eggs. Penny is broody at the moment and not laying. She keeps sitting on Lizzy’s eggs. We have to take it away and lift her to the branch to try to break her broodiness. Hope she snaps out of it soon.

5. Fun at home

Some random shots from home.

They crawled into their highchair and Sunshine read to Chubbs her bible story book. SOOOO SWEET. He was listening to her too! I didn’t know until I heard her reading and turned around to see this. *Heart melts*.

Random shot.

They each have a piggy soft toy. And they love sitting in their toy box, pretending to be in a boat.

He put the headband on his head all by himself. Soooo funny.

Chubbs is the happiest with food in his mouth.

He’s pretty serious about food.

So happy that we can’t see his eyes.

6. Of Lizards

So 2 days ago, I was in the backyard trimming the bushes when I heard benji growling and emitting low barks. I took a look at what he was growling at and saw what I thought was a skink. Except it had a long tail.

It was stuck in the bird netting we drape over our pots of veges. Walked right into the net and got its head and upper body hopelessly stuck.

I came in and told Nad about it while shooing Benji back into the house. I reached for the scissors but Nad said to look up online about it first.

We found out that it was a Eastern Blue Tongued lizard. And that it makes a good pet.
Nad wanted to keep it. -________________-;;;

I said no… we do not need more pets. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted but we simply have no time!!!!!!!

Then we went out together and freed the poor fella.

It’s a fat fat lizard. Look at its waist line!!!!!!!!!

I was surprised when Nad put it in the bush. I asked if he changed his mind about keeping it. He said yes. Because he read it wasn’t advisable to keep with children under age 5 since it may spread reptile samonella. (Hence the gloves we wore while handling it).

I think it looked relieved and happier in the bushes. Don’t you think?

We think it’s a beautiful creature. Sunshine had different opinions though… but then again she has a growing list of animals she is afraid of/ dislikes. Spiders are number one on her list and flies are another. I suppose the lizard made it on the list as well.

7. Exams

Well I’m done with the pictorial part. My exams start next Tuesday and ends 24 Nov. I cannot wait to finish! Part of me wants to drop all studies and run screaming from it. It’s really really tiring. I know how hard it is to get into Medical Science so I have decided to let God decide if I should enter or not.

It’s not surprising for me to be rejected as the entry levels are really high. You really need to be one of the top students to get in and I cannot say I am one. So….. there is a high chance I might not be accepted and if this were so, I will not persue. I will stay home and be a good wife/mum. While knitting. And sewing.

I will still study hard for my exams, of course. Thus far, I am getting majority of  ‘A’s in my school work except for Biology and English. English is a tricky subject to score in. I never liked languages as a school subject! They are so subjective. Heh heh.. see what I did there?

So I guess I will be MIA again until exams are over. Then I can be a normal person again.

8. My granny

My granny who is 95 years old, had a stroke a few days ago and is now in hospital. It pains me to be miles apart from her. She is not doing very well and I hope she feels as comfortable as she can be and not in pain. She has my other family members around her, although she cannot remember a lot of people but I am relieved that she is not alone.

I feel for my sister as she is doing her major exams there now too and still she visits granny every day. She’s a good girl.

My other relatives are flying there to see her this Saturday. I don’t know if she is waiting for them or not but I do hope she goes peacefully. I do miss her at times.

Rightio. I’m going to snuggle in bed now. I’ve a LOT of yarn to dye up after exams! I’ve been reskeining some coned yarn and also dyed up a sample which I am very pleased with. Can’t wait to play with yarn again! I just look at the yarn blanks (undyed yarn) and am filled with inspiration! Soon! Soon!

I’ve run out of titles to use to explain my long absence.

I’m taking a short break from my PILE of homework to update this space before I forget how to blog. My Maths teacher actually called me a few days back to ask if I could please speed up my pace and hand in the latest assignment.

Exams are in November and I will be done with it all by 24 Nov. (YAY).

On the same note – I have my UMAT results. I’m on the 78% percentile.. which means that 78% of candidates scored the same or lower than I did. I have no idea how many people sat the UMAT but it’s taken by candidates Australia wide as well as some overseas students. In my exam hall alone, I predicted about 200 to 250 candidates. An estimated 1000 to 2000 candidates in total would not be off the mark I reckon.

I have been busy in the store as well.. We had a fresh shipment of yarn arrive and there was a yarnzploshun (yarn-explosion)

See?

It’s fun packing orders though.. I have to wear a yarn-fumes mask to avoid collapsing from the work I had to do.

Well few weeks ago, we had some out of town vistors so thanks to them, we actually had a chance to enjoy a breather from our daily work and visit touristy places! As we are not tourists, we never stepped into the wildlife park here before. We loved it.

We did A LOT of feeding. It seemed like the only thing we did the whole time we were there!

This kangaroo stood up and was almost the same height as I am.

Albino wallabies.

Chubbs had a go at feeding deers.

Sunshine is a natural with animals. No fear of them whatsoever. She fed all the deer and kangaroos without wincing.

We went on the ‘bus’ ride and were given packets of food to feed the animals. This is a HUGE camel. He ate the entire packet of food.

We fed emus and ostriches. I never realised the size difference between these two birds until that day. Ostriches were almost TWICE the size of emus! And they looked scary up close and personal. We had to watch them closely when our children were about!

We got to feed the white lion cubs. They are SOOOOO cute.

She seems not to want us to leave. Haha.

The keeper walks up to these two cubs and they play with him. He mentioned that soon they will have to stop interacting with these cubs as they are growing bigger and stronger. One playful swipe could knock the keeper unconcious and one lick could tear off his skin. It’s a pity, though. They were so close and loving to their keeper.

See? I’m jealous.

Baa baa! Where’s the sale? Run to the sale!!!

In addition to the wildlife park, we also went back to the mountain for more snowy fun!

Here’s a shot of Sunshine… I was trying to be artistic. “Trying” being the key word here.

We brought along our pretty boy. Chiyo is afraid of the cold so we left her at home. I think Benji enjoyed the snow.

I had to bribe Sunshine into taking nice photos with Benji. Chocolate did the trick.

Benji licked her face and she shrieked. Hahahaha!

We also took a week long break away from home, at a church retreat. We didn’t take many photos though.

Lookit his feet off the ground!

Wheeeee!!!!!!! He was sooooo estatic!

This is our homemade dog cart. It worked. We only had to steer it in the correct direction and the dogs did all the pulling!

This is Sunshine acting like a monkey. Please excuse my demented look.

More monkeying around.

Sunshine was carrying her ‘school bag’ and picked a flower. Nad thinks she looks Japanese. Does she?

Well after all these weeks, we finally had to come home to reality. I was immediately bowled over by school work. Had to play catch ups.

While we were busy enjoying ourselves, the kids were busy growing up. Sigh.

This photo was taken today:

My dad bought her this top (it came with a pair of bloomers) 2 years ago. It was too big for her then. When it was just the right size, it was never the right season. The weather finally warmed up a little (maximum of 20 degrees celcius in the day… it’s 10 degrees now as I type… comfortable enough to go without a sweater or heater) and I could put this chinese blouse on her.

She really has grown.

Alright… I have to go do my maths assignment now. My best friend’s cow, Tommy, says ‘Moo’.

Moo!

Well, for the very first time in 27 26.5 years, I saw this:

A couple of a couple of years ago (that is, 4 years ago), I went up a mountain in Victoria and saw COMPACT ICE. Which is very different from snow, thankyouverymuch. The biggest difference is when you have snowball fights? It hurts. Real bad. Take my word for it. Don’t try.

It has been precipitating for the past few nights and I was delighted to see snow on the mountain! So of course, we decided to drive up!

(taken on the way up)

The snow on the rocks remind me of frosting on cakes… don’t they look like it?

I’m amazed at how soft the snow was. It felt so good to lie in it. I even did a few face plunges. (No face plonks were attempted at the 2006 compact ice mountain trip, thankyouverymuch.) The snow was knee deep and we had to try very hard not to stay in one spot for too long. Otherwise we would find ourselves sinking in!

I loved how the icicles had formed on the sparse vegetation.

Err………. the kids did not enjoy it very much. *Sigh*

Chubbs cried as soon as we put him on the snow. He only stopped crying when we gave him some clean snow to chew on.

Sunshine was okay at the beginning. We had snowball fights and she helped build part of our snowman. She was also busy ingesting snow bunnies.

But later, snow seeped into her boots and although she had double layer of socks on, she must have felt cold and wet and she too, started to cry. Don’t worry, we brought 3 changes of clothing. Haha. Talk about being prepared!

You can see how GRUMPY Chubbs looked. I can explain the cowl on his head – I left the car with Sunshine first and Nad came later to join us but he couldn’t find Chubb’s hat. So I put my cowl on his head as a temporary measure while I went back to the car for his hat.

And yes, I notice his boot had fallen off. Don’t worry, we picked it up. (He also lost a glove, careless boy… Nad had to get on his fours on the snow to sniff it out. go back to look for it.)

So… yeah!!! This was Nad when the trip just started. All smiles.

Us and Flog. Flog the snowman. Get it? Ha ha. Flog the snowman? Heheheheheheh *Demented laughter*

Ahem.

The wind was blowing mercilessly into our faces so it was a feat to keep our eyes open.

We then decided to walk to Antartica:

It was a long and treacherous and arduous  trek and winds were a-blowing and babies were a-howling and noses were a-dripping and frost bitten.

It was a bleak, desolate landscape with not a soul in sight.

In this strange land, we heard weird whirring noises and felt electric currents through our body. Wonder what caused it?

We stopped at a stupendous rock to have sourdough rye ration. We named the place sourdough-rye-on-the-rocks.

Then we blacked out for a few hours and when we came to, we had weird unexplained rashes on our arms and body.

This is Nad at the end of the trip – tired and sick of the babies’ crying. I think we woke up on a different planet…..?

Disclaimer: Not all of the anecdotal evidence are submissible facts. Use your own judgement.

One last picture of another mountain seen from the ground:

Bai bai.