You come home and find the majority of the mail are for you, and they're all bills.
When your grandparents no longer give you money but it's your turn to give them the money.
But, I must say, there is a deep sense of satisfaction, even though I don't agree with money being the currency of affection, in seeing my grandparents' eyes light up when I placed the notes into their hands and basking in their approval of the filial act and it does do something inside me. Ironic as it may seem, their approval wasn't bought by the money, but rather by the sincerity in the act itself. I hope it's something I can in turn ingrain in my own kids one day.
Since Chinese New Year, I had this itch to snap up shots of the place I grew up in and so I did. My only regret is that I didn't take as much as I would have liked to.
The living room of my paternal grandparents home. The two portaits are of my great-grandparents. Should the altar be scary or bad because of the spiritual connotations? I grew up in this house, and so this altar is like a part of our lives.
Beyond the front living room, there is another equally large space, before it reaches the kitchen. I'm not even sure what you would call it - a second living room? Anyway, the pictures are of the pride and joy of the family, the centre two pictures on top are my grandparents, and on each side is the wedding picture of my parents and my father's oldest sister as they are the two eldest in the family. Below are wedding pictures of my father's siblings, and graduation pictures and baby picture.
And this is the entrance to the kitchen. The table at the corner left is the ironing table, and the little poster hanging at the side of the entrance is a calendar. I can't imagine how my grandparents can dutifully tear away the date as each day passes. My family tried to keep one of those tear-away calendars but eventually, everyday of the year shared the same date.
The kitchen. I love every thing about my grandparents house. Everything. Including this. See that table there? Many many years ago, the kitchen light was acting up, and before my grandparents got it fixed, I watched my grandpa had to stand on top of the table to reach the light and give it a good tap before it decided to give light. During the evening, when the adults were out of the house and left my siblings, cousin and I at home, I decided to be a smart alec and climb the table to copy my grandpa's actions to get the lights going. But unfortunately, I didn't realise how important it was to have my grandma there to hold on to the tables while my grandpa climbed up, because when I climbed up, the table tipped and everything fell to the ground - me, the leftover food and plates that were still on the table. Boy, did I cry. 'Specially when my siblings called my grandma who was at my grandpa's textile store. Thankfully, my siblings and cousin helped me clean up the mess as best as we could in the dark.
My grandpa hanging round the kitchen waiting for lunch to be served. The cupboard on the right is called in hokkien, chai tu. I hope I'm correct. :PIt's actually a larder, but you don't find it in modern homes these days. I love it, I always loved opening it up and closing it even though I wasn't looking for food at all.
My oldest aunt helping out in the kitchen.
Another view of the kitchen, where the plates and bowls are kept, next to the slow cooker and rice cooker.
It seems the neighbour's cat decided to take up residence in my grandparents home. Stoopid cat. I tried touching it and it spent about a minute cleaning up the spot where I touched it. I felt like telling the stuck up cat, "Oi... I got more say than you about who stays in this house. You want me to kick you out ah?!"After I fed it some leftover scraps it was less sombong (proud) towards me but when my mother playfully tried to push the cat with her leg, it hissed and threatened to scratch her.
My grandma cooking soup at the outside kitchen. Maybe I should have taken a picture of it, but she's still using the coal stove rather than modern gas stoves.
The front porch. I remember there was one time when the four of us - my brother, sis and cousin sister and I were restricted to playing under the roof because it started raining, but a car was parked like how my grandpa's car is. And that took up precious playing space. My cousin's mom was sitting on the bench on the right corner, reading a newspaper. My brother had the brilliant idea of releasing the brakes of the car and got us to push it off the porch. We did it and quite brilliantly as well, and our aunt had a shock when she lowered the newspaper to find the car moved and us playing happily.Ok, so that's about it for the pictures for now.
My home got those tear-away calenders even now, according to my mum...my granddad used to paid my sister RM0.5 per piece paper that she tear, and must consistently everyday at the right date! That's how it's up to date, and my sister saved a lot too!!!
Posted by
StephyQ |
10:52 AM