28.3.26 - 90 - Busy days

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The Swee Bo

Pots anyone?


All shiny and clean!








Signature Gardens trolley

Last night I wondered if I knew that Pa was leaving us - because I had tidied the hall, dusted everything, and then thinking it would be nice thing to collect all the things Pa loved which were scattered all over the living room, I put them on a table to display everything. This is where Pa new resides. His mortal remains. 

Anyway, yesterday I continued cleaning the kitchen with the help of Yati. We took off all the pots from the granite table outside and washed them down. Most of the plastic was thrown away as it had broken up. Ma has such a collection of pots and pan and many other things besides. Today we will clean BENEATH - the cupboards in kitchen and we will then store the pots we won't use inside. 

Today we are going to have a home day because Saturday is a super busy day in Singapore. So this is the plan.

Mass                Blog
Prayers            Run
Exercise
                        Shop for Kiam Chye Teng ingredients
Cook               Cook
                        Draw
Lunch              Lunch
Nap                 Nap
                        Swim
Clean              Clean
Exercise
Park                Park
Dinner            Dinner

I have also looked up ceki and asked Jac to get some cards. Also, I have looked up Weleda's Skin Food. Apparently there's this place in Bugis. Instead of the Aquarea, which is a petroleum based product. I can't believe that in this day and age people still use petrol. It's bad enough that we use palm oil for our washing up and shampoo, but petrol??? It's mad.

It's only been a week since the funeral was held. A week and a half. It feels so slow and yet so quick. Everyday is a struggle for Ma... yesterday she said she regretted so much how she treated Pa. Do you think he is angry with me? I said, no. Definitely not. He loved you so much. That was the last thing he said - that he wanted us to look after you. He made sure of that. If he didn't love you he would have said, Go back to Ireland and never come back here again. She laughed. I said, of course Pa isn't mad with you. He knew you loved him very deeply. 

In many ways, Pa's passing has woken us all from this dream which he created for us. It has gotten us doing things - it was too easy to just be around the house and settle. Settle for the dust and the doing nothing and the mess... His passing has woken us up. And that includes Ma and that's tough. No one likes being awoken from a dream. But yesterday, she managed to put on her shoes and she was able to move her feet. the house is opened all day now, with fresh air blowing through it. Once again, like it used to be. And Pa is here, still with us, more than ever. More than ever.

I am enjoying this time with Ma. It has been both a trip down memory lane as well as - recalling stuff, but also carefully looking forward. This house is an amazing house. Ma said that Pa regularly said that it was very comfortable and thanked her for making it so comfortable. It is true. Everything you could ever need is found here. In Cowdray Avenue.

I wrote this on FB today about real Gardeners...

The dapur cleaning goes on apace. We emptied the NTUC trolley yesterday. This was purloined several decades ago. I was informed reliably that most houses in Gardens have an NTUC trolley. This must be the sign of a true blue old skool Gardens house. Other indicators are:
Have a garden... many new houses in Gardens no longer have gardens. They build on every square inch and pave remaining land so its a heat trap.
Have only one storey. Many new builds look like mini condos now.
NO SWIMMING POOL. Most of these pools are tiny, why do they have them, i dont know.
Have airflow through the house... many houses now rely on air-conditioning to keep cool.
Have a red tile roof. Gardens was known as Ang Sa Li... Red Roofs, because the birds eye view of Gardens was its red roofs.

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