TWENTY TWENTY-ONE

 

Those who know me well, know I love a game of scrabble.  And so when I saw this, I was reminded of many games played with loved ones.  It seemed a fitting image for times gone by and for all the lovely memories.

Anyway, we're in the last night of 2020 and this is scheduled for publishing at 11.59 pm. 

So Happy New Year and goodbye to a strange twelve months for so many of us.

We couldn't travel much but with technology we stayed in touch with our loved ones.

2020 has been somewhat special for us because we felt God's love and blessings in a truly personal way.  

2021 is representative of SFGEMS because Stephen was born on the 20th and I was on the 21st.  I like that the new year will combine our birthday numbers.  Plus looking at it backwards, it reminds me of Jared and Doug.  

Every day of the next 365 days will be treasured with more love and laughter.

Christmas Eve Anniversary!

 

We are blessed to have each other!  

Happy anniversary, Stephen Felix Grosse!

Images from Instagram

Our wishes for you

For Stephen Felix Grosse

 

It's your birthday again!

Now why do I feel blessed as well!  

That's the kind of magic you bring to people around you!!!

Always remember that you are loved and cherished. 

Contentment

Someone we know is getting married today.  The US President should be decided today.  People who don't need to work have slept in because of the rain.  Those who needed to work, woke up reluctantly but enjoyed the cool, fresh morning air.

Me?  I'm already putting up Christmas decorations.  Not much like how I used to do in KL but enough to cheer up the ambience at home.  

And since I've found Shopee, we're ordering some new Christmas stuff (Thanks to my Minister of Finance).  He even suggested some bedsheets and chair covers.  Hurray!!!  

It's a lovely day, wet outside but cool inside and I'm going to continue from where I left off yesterday.

Yennyways (as my friend used to say), the TV is on to follow the US elections, my HP is on alert for wedding photos and so I am waiting, watching, working, but contented.  

I miss them all.

 

Remembering all those we once loved

and who have gone on before us.

Image from Pinterest

Wake me up when September ends!

September always reminds me of my aunt Corazon.  Sadly, she passed away in 2014.

She never forgot birthdays or anniversaries.  She bought and stored cards.  She used to write little poems inside.  She used snail mail but she would do it way in advance so that it would arrive on time. 

I wonder how she would have managed in this almost completely digital age when people send wishes via social media.  Would she have embraced the new form of greetings?

When she died, I inherited her stash of cards.  There were tons of them for all occasions.  Some had turned colour and had little notes put inside to remember who she sent loving words to so they wouldn't get a repeat message.

In a way, I inherited this trait from her.  I have an online calendar to keep track of all the occasions.  I make it a point to send either a virtual wish or call (for those not on social media platforms).  I like doing it.  I like remembering the folks who are in my life.

I think that remembering people gives them a nudge of positivity.  Someone remembers and someone cares enough to send a wish.  Now it's instant and so easy.  We have no real reason not to do our tiny bit to make this world a better place. 

In memory of my beloved Aunt Corazon, I carry on this tradition happily!

Anyway, goodbye SEPTEMBER and I welcome OCTOBER with renewed optimism that things will be better and brighter.

Image from www

M is for memories and so much more

It's been a long time since I really needed to be anywhere purposefully.  There were many days when I did have to go out even when I didn't feel like it!  Sitting and waiting for results or news didn't make the hours go by quickly!

One solution for me, at that time, was to read but concentration was difficult.  I did some word games and managed to lose myself in it for a bit.  Stephen also joined me to do some of the challenges.  

Then someone said I should doodle.  It should be easy but that was hard for me.  Doodling is fine when you don't think about it like when you're on the phone.  Otherwise, it can be a daunting task to stare at a white page.  Plus, I'm not exactly the creative kind and art was always a chore for me.  Anyway, I gave it a shot and I am glad I kept these to remember those meaningful times.

This was the first page in my doodle notebook!

Naturally, my thoughts were on one person at that time

and so I went with this.

Looking back, I don't even remember doing these!

I just wanted to fill up the time when mom was asleep.

I tried to steer my thoughts to whatever was playing on my mind.

Creativity doesn't come naturally to me!

 I had to struggle to keep at it.

Somehow these doodles helped me through tough times and I'm saving them here as part of my memories and Mom Myra.  

 

 

This is a favourite picture with mom and her trademark smile when we celebrated her birthday in 2013, at Quentin's, with a nice Eurasian meal.  She was still hale and hearty then and I remember how she asked the waiter if they had tosai!  We all had a good laugh.  We still smile when we think about that day!

M is for MANY MEMORIES OF MOM MYRA

Onwards to 2025

 

Last week I got my Long Term Visit Pass Plus (LTVP +) renewal done!  This will allow me to remain in Singapore until 6 August 2025.  When we left ICA, Stephen told me that I would be 66 years old the next time I needed to apply again!  Then he sent that image to our children in Malaysia and it made me smile.  And as Jamus Lim would say, "it warms the cockles of my heart". 

I now realise that I've been here for eight and a half years already. Somehow those years went by so fast though it didn't feel that way at all.  

Anyway, despite all the Covid-19 restrictions, I managed to renew my Malaysian passport online, collect it at the Malaysian High Commission here, and also sorted out the LTVP+.  

Thank goodness, we are both computer savvy and can do everything on our own.  

Majulah Malaysia and Singapura!

And just like that....

Where did all the time go?

It was January when I last wrote in this blog and almost half a year has gone by.  I haven't been busy nor did anything keep me away from writing.  I was just putting it off for no apparent reason. Sometimes that's how it should be.  We should move according to the beat of our own rhythm. 

When we returned to Singapore in the first week of January, we hadn't expected to see the Covid-19 mania overtake the world and the lives of so many people.  Since its inception, nearly everyone has been in some kind of quarantine or was in lockdown mode. In Singapore, we called it the Circuit Breaker.

Initially it was just something we thought would come and go but as it stands now, we were all wrong.  Nobody could have known how it would dominate headlines worldwide and been such a topic on everyone's mind.

Anyway, I decided to sit and write a bit today after such a long absence because my online calendar reminded me that SFGEMS is 8 years old. 

And just like that, it also means that I have been here in Singapore for a little over that same time span.

Life, now, is basically easy-going.  I'm just enjoying the quiet time at home.  Of course, my day is punctuated by whatsapp messages and video calls but overall, I am on my own which I thoroughly enjoy.

Thankfully, the other person in my life and space (my better half), makes all this possible.  I am mightily blessed.

Happy Chinese New Year 2020

It boggles the mind that we are now in a new decade and the days are flying by at supersonic speed.  It seemed like just a couple of years ago when there was hype about the Y2K and now twenty years have passed.  

Whatever it is, here's hoping the Chinese New Year will bring greater blessings for us and for all we know.

H A P P Y * N E W * Y E A R * 2 0 2 0

Images from Pinterest