Celebrating Us

21 Oct

When ten women gather for a down-memory-lane-high-school reunion, you’d be assured of it being a boisterous one, almost bringing the roof down. Staying at a resort owned by another school friend (from the primary school years) and a surprise 11th hour turn-up of another flying in to join us on the third night, it made the four-day bonding even more special and the celebration memorable.

Throw in good food, lots of alcohol, some shopping, silly card games, a commemorative tee-shirt, girlie chatters, an impromptu cooking session (which we enjoyed the end result tremendously after toiling over the stove) and of course the endless squeals and laughter, the gathering will be remembered for a long time. Even the weather was beautiful throughout our stay as it only rained on the island after we left.

All of us attended Methodist Girls’ School in Klang together since we were seven years’ old (Standard One) until we were 17 (Form Five). During that phase in our lives, some joined in later but it didn’t matter. That’s how we met and forged a friendship that lasted so many decades.

As time passed, some left for different schools or countries, others pursued different paths in education, careers and lives. Despite the distance but thanks to technology though, everyone reconnected. That’s what being friends is all about… remembering each other to keep in touch and stay connected.

This 2019 as we all reach the big five birthday milestone, we reflect back our times together with this trip, which was planned basically to celebrate our birthdays and to cherish our friendship throughout the decades. Through thick and thin, friends we have remained.

Celebrating Us is about us. Happy Birthday Gals!

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BFFs

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Bonding Time

18 Oct

Girlfriends are the best. They will be there for you in times of need and no questions asked. So you know you can always rely on them.

My high school girlfriends and I have been friends since the longest time I can remember. After all, we are all dinosaurs. It is for this reason that we planned this trip to celebrate our friendship and our significant milestone birthdays this year.

Although a bigger group would have been better, the fact that ten of us made it is truly wonderful. What is even more wonderful is that we are staying at La Pari-Pari resort, owned and operated by one of our classmate of the earlier school years.

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Our room

The laughter, besides the drinks and food, is what makes our friendship so treasured, indeed a good bonding time which started yesterday and will last until Sunday.

Seafood lunch

Dinner spread

A toast by the early arrivals

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Letting Go

15 Oct

It’s a good thing this weekend I am going away. A timely change in routine in view of the recent heartache. Unfortunately hubby is not coming along as this trip with my high school girlfriends was actually planned ages ago.

I hope being away—albeit a short one—will heal the broken heart to be at peace and accepting with life and the daily routine. Death really grips the heart and we must learn to overcome this or forever be sad or even burdened.

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Emptier Nest

14 Oct

The past few days, the home front felt different and odd. Not used to it. The coming home and being home routines are unfamiliar without official pet number one around. The empty nest is now emptier.

No more sight of him waiting for us, no more insistent barks during our dinner time, no more demands to share our fruits or more of his snacks, no more snores or unabashed farts to break the silence, no more presence. In short, no more routines that we are used to. Sniffle…

Rooney was certainly a family member and a very vocal one, not just a pet like the fish or the tortoise, visible but silent.

Sad as it is, this is inevitable. We should be positive and look at the bright side; he lived a good and happy life – giving us many wonderful memories, annoying moments included.

He was a month and a day short of his 12th birthday, far longer than the eight to ten years typical for bull dogs. He will be dearly missed… Sniffle…

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Devastated

11 Oct

Yesterday our beloved senior citizen official pet number one, Rooney passed away from an infection and internal health complications. No words…

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A Good Push

8 Oct

Pumped by the satisfaction of Ginormous Gnome being completed, it was odd I couldn’t push myself to start on the next Whale despite plans to do so and having all that energy to carve. Plus I had just given away yet another Whale, two pieces within a week, it’s reason enough to get back to producing Whales.

Citizens #188 right through to #193!

Instead there was a sudden burst for the Citizens of Gigglesville. Within a few days, six new Citizens came about! Which was kind of nice because this means I should be able to reach 200 in its population count sooner that I thought I would.

However, in the midst of this, I found myself planning yet another Ginormous Gnome as I have started the process for it. Should be interesting how this one will turn out after the trials and error from the last one.

Glued and clamped to have a big block

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The Ambitious Piece Completed

7 Oct
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He’s one good-looking gnome I must say!

I am so very pleased with my latest piece of carving. My best effort yet. This was an ambitious piece because of its height at almost 20cm to begin with and the unevenness of the glued pieces to tackle. The protruding excess was, well… excess.

But once it started taking shape, the height wasn’t the issue and eventually it got shorter. The completed Gnome now stands at 16cm (about 6.5 inches).

Soon after I painted it up, I would just sit at my little work station to admire it from all angles at every opportunity possible. I didn’t even bother to start on the next intended piece. No hurry as I bask in the satisfaction on a job well done for the time being.

Yes, I love my new Gnome!

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An Ambitious Piece, Part 3

4 Oct

I am at the tail-end to complete Ginormous Gnome. I’m satisfied with how the shape of the cap bob at the back turned out. I think it’s not necessary for it to be even more prominent because then I’d have to glue an add-on piece to it, like what I did for the nose and then tediously carve it down.

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Nose checked, gap in beard checked!

The nose which posed some challenges initially was resolved. Once I got over these issues, the rest was not that difficult – the body was effortless but the beard was time consuming to shape. However after shaping the beard, I was faced with a new predicament!

 

The front of the beard was looking so flat! Haish…

After all that effort to give the nose some prominence, the flat beard made all that hard work look wasted. So I decided to glue a piece and several add-ons to the beard part so that it does not appear so flat and square. Quite challenging to carve, shape and puff up that part but it was fun.

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The extra piece to puff up the beard

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The beard part resolved and putty all over to smoothen the surface

It’s good I am keeping track of what I am doing now because if I ever wanted to carve another Ginormous Gnome, I have this to refer to and would be better prepared. Sometimes what I envision in my mind does not quite come out right, so along the way, I have to adjust.

That being said, Ginormous is progressing at a good pace as I’m at it diligently almost every night. Soon I will be starting a new piece and it will most likely be another whale because recently, I gave one away.

At this point, I’m considering to paint Ginormous in the red and blue uniform like my other Gnomes rather than the Lavender of Gandalf. It should look good.

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Last step of putting gesso completed before the final paint job!

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Our Poor Frangipani Tree

1 Oct

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It looks like the rust fungus has acted up again on our frangipani tree and hubby had no choice but to chop off the branches with the affected leaves.

Otherwise how else to contain this problem so that it does not spread and contaminate his air plants hanging on the branches? Poor tree.

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An Ambitious Piece, Part 2

30 Sep

Ginormous Gnome is coming along fine. The cap was challenging because I had to file it down in order to make the hole disappear; then I had to shape it – at the back especially, so that the little bob (at the back) looks natural. I think it’s coming along.

 

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Notice the gap on the beard? Needs to be patched up too

The next challenge was the nose as it’s rather flat. After much thought, I decided to glue a piece to give it a more prominent bulge. But the add-on that I split did not split well and I ended up with such an uneven piece, it made Ginormous looked like it had a pig nose. Ugh.

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Ginormous looking piggylicious with an oink of a nose!

So more effort was needed to shape the nose to make sure the add-on doesn’t look like an add-on. Glad to say, it worked out well and with some putty to smoothen out the surface, you can’t really tell that Ginormous had a nose job. I’m confident by the time paint is applied, all evidence of an add-on will not be visible.

Stay tuned, I’m almost done with this fella!

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