Making things in Singapore

No matter where I go in the world I always seem to make things!!

In countries that are hot, I make mobiles out of left over orange peal and bits I find on the beach.

All over India orange peal mobiles now hang from peoples balconies and roof spaces.

In the Philippines I collected coral which I then made into necklaces. 

When I can't find coral I make necklaces out of orange peal! 

This is my third winter in Singapore and as I have a sort of permanent base with Lisa, I have acquired a few possessions that I do not need to take back to the UK with me.

A sewing machine now sits permanently ready for use, an entire sewing kit sits in the cupboard. 

Felting needles, paper and coloured pencils, wire and beads all wait for my return each year.

The first week we were in the new house I made curtains for my room, then cushions for the lounge but once the practical things had been done I began to look for other things to make

Now that Emelia is older she too can join in with the fun of creation!

During my time here we have not only built things out of bricks and toys but we have also baked cakes and made cookies.

We even introduced our young friends to the joys of makng and baking cookies!!!

Together we made hand printed Christmas paper.

While she has slept I made clothes from left over sari material so that she can look like Moana her favourite Disney character.

Although this week we have discovered 'Let it go!' from Frozen and so we now need to wear a cloak while we play!

Rocking horses are daily turned into boats or even dragons as our imagination soars.

During an evening of exploration I found a great shop that has just about everything a crafty person would ever need …

........ and a lot of things one doesn't need but wants …..

... with my felting needles I set to work to make made four felt dreads. 

Once made, they were plated into my hair to add to the three beaded hair dreads I already have.

They have given my hair at least three times its volume and thickened up my top knot superbly.

But best of all on this trip, are the things we have made with paper mache!!!

One of the ideas Lisa had to enhance Emelia's creative play was a land scape where she could role play her toy animals. With Christmas so close it was decided we would make it as a present for Emelia's third Birthday in January.

When the fridge had been delivered to the new apartment just before we moved in, the box had been left. Part of it had already been used to black out Emelia's window so she could sleep in darkness during her afternoon naps.

We had spent a fun afternoon making owls that matched the new bedding that adorned her new Big Girl bed!

Not knowing quite what to do with all the owls that now lay scattered all over the table, we then built a tree for them and stuck it all onto her bedroom fridge box window screen!!

Having spent hours building owls plus our amazing tree she then promptly announced she wanted to put coconuts in it!! 

Moana has a lot to answer for when it comes to this child's learning curve, so we had to build a second tree for said coconuts!

Note the Heart of Te Hiti necklace that got made from my big box of beads!!!

The base of the box plus all the packing still lay in the store cupboard. 

This was the bit that was to become the new landscape!!

Each afternoon for a week, while Emelia took her afternoon nap, flour and water was mixed into a paste. 

News papers were shredded, dipped and layered until mountains, flat lands and sea took shape. 

For a week it dried hidden in the back bathroom while tiny annoying fruit flies buzzed around the damp paper.

While it dried quietly in its hiding place, Grannie, in her infinite wisdom decided we should build a volcano …

..... this time with Emelia's help!!!

A base was built from left over fridge packing, more flour was mixed and with Emelia's help a mountain was created.

More fruit flies buzzed around the house driving us all mad until the last of the dampness faded away.

When the landscape paper mache was dry it was painted and then the fun began.

Each afternoon, while Emelia slept, a different colour of spray paint was used to colour the land, the hills, the sea. 

Plastic trees were found and various layouts were experimented with …............. purely to aid our research!!

Then one night when all the paint was dry, the trees and stones were glued into place.

Just to make sure it worked, animals were introduced while she slept and then quickly put away so the whole thing could be hidden before she awoke.

When the volcano dried, it too was painted. 

First we added the colours of fire and flames scattered over an ash covered base surrounded by the sea.

A boat was built from a sponge so Moana could sail around the Island.

Then just before I left, Te Hiti as the volcano had been named, 'found her heart' and cooled down to allow green things to grow around her base!

She was still a volcano as her heart is stolen at least four times a day if not more and then she would explode into a volcano once again.....

........ to anyone who has not watched the film Moana, please make the effort do so. It is not only an amazing film, it also has some of Disney's best animation to date. 

My pens and pencils were used to design a game where Moana and anyone else who was playing, set off to reach Te Hiti.

If we are lucky we can do the journey in three throws of a dice, but even in worse case scenarios it can be done in about six or seven throws which is still within a 2 year old's concentration period!

We even made a flower clip for her hair!!

As time goes on I am sure I will make many more things for and with my Grand daughter.

And as the second little one grows, she too will be introduced to the joys of making ........

.........until their nice new home is filled to bursting point with not only things .....

..... but with hopefully treasured experiences of learning to make those things!

We are never too old to play!!!

Play time in Singapore and moving home

One of the best parts of becoming a parent is having the excuse to 'play' again!! That plus the eventual advantage of being able to live in foreign countries for months at a time while I visit them during the winter months now they are grown ups and pay their own bills (plus a few of mine!!)

During my children's childhood I had the joy of organising treasure hunts that took us all across country but usually finished in a pub play area …. for the children's entertainment of course.

I built carnival floats again purely for the children.

I organised picnics, dragging along my close friends, just so our children could play together.

I even borrowed other peoples children so I could build huge sand castles – this one was actually built when I persuaded the guy that was working with a JCB on the soon to be build Life Guard Station at Restbay to help!!

All this I did purely for the sake of my children – if you believe that you will believe anything!!

The joy I received during those years of 'Play' can never be explained on paper, it is something I hope all parents get to experience for at least a part of their children's lives.

When my children left home and I had no more excuses to 'play' I went out and found myself loads of young and crazy friends to 'play' with.

People love to play, they just need a valid-ish excuse!

Becoming a Grannie opened up a whole new field of excuses to have 'play time'. 

Stories were written and then practised at festivals ....... purely for the sake of my Grand daughter!

Ideas for games were developed, again so I could get some practice ready for when my Grand daughter was old enough to appreciate true Play Time!

When I returned from Tioman, Steve returned to work. Lisa now had a near full time job caring for her new arrival and so I became Emelia's chief Play companion!!

At the ripe old age of Two and Nine months Emelia's mind is open to all sorts of ideas. 

Some days she would role play Winnie the Poo with her in the position of Christopher Robin, Me as the voice for Pooh Bear,

Lisa was the voice of Kanga, who was actually played my Mommy Monkey (?) while Roo was played by Baby Monkey (?)

Other days we would get the bricks out to make homes for ducks (!)

Each time we built, the design had to be changed. Slides were introduced, balance bridges were created.

My aim each time was to use every single brick in the box and I am pleased to say I was usually successful.

As bricks went, these were amazing. 

Bit by bit other mediums were incorporated, felt mats were used for water ways and landscapes.

Entire worlds were designed for creatures to crawl over!

We even managed a scene from the Lion King!

Bubbles were blown from the balcony as we sat safe from the sun's rays under our make shift canopy. 

Bubbles that were meant to float gently over the swimming pool but in reality were caught in the strong up-draft of the condo and popped rapidly as the air inside them expanded in the intense sun.

Straws to be blown through were introduced until bubbles over flowed in a huge mass of popping suds.

Science was learnt when sucking led to an unexpected bout of coughing and a lot of tongue wiping!!!

Occasionally I got to play with Charlotte,

But she didn't do that much, she mainly slept, fed and pooped!!

With so many people now living in the apartment plus an ever growing supply of play things, it had been decided that when the contract for Lakeside finished in December, they would move to a bigger place!!

Viewings for a new home were done, choices were made and the packing began!

In Singapore when you move home the company you chose to move your stuff comes to your house to give you an estimate for costs. As they walk from room to room they calculate how many boxes you will need as well as how much bubble wrap, paper and tape. 

Some companies, for a price, will come and pack your entire house for you!!

Having been told by two companies that the move would be approx S$500, the company we eventually chose dutifully dropped off 60 boxes plus all the extra supplies for packing. Contracts were signed and the moving day was booked!

There was only one slight hitch to our move..... we were moving from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished one! No beds, no table or chairs, no sofas or coffee tables.... BUT.... they had a Skip Raiding Champion in the form of Grannie!!!

By the time we moved I had 'found' two sofa's plus, after a bit of a clean, a single bed and mattress, a double bed and mattress, two coffee tables, two folding mattresses and a play mat, 

an easel and a play mate for Emelia. (?)

Despite some miss givings on my part she absolutely loved Domo and he is still part of our family today even though at one point we realised how much we could sell him for!!

Apparently he is rather famous in Japan!!!!!

Lisa worked her way through Singapore's Carousel and found a HUGE sofa, another double bed, a table with six chairs and a large coffee table. The price for all these buys was amazing, the price to have them delivered however tripled their original price!!

'A man and a van' does exist but with road taxes for simply owning a vehicle not being cheap, to make money they have to charge accordingly!

But they were still good buys and they were needed.

A week before the Big move we arranged for the bought things to be delivered to the new address and we all went over to give the empty space a final clean, taking Domo with us!

Beds were rebuilt and the place was explored fully.

After the compactness of lakeside this place was huge!

Each one of the two small bed rooms was the size of our existing master bed room!

Emelia immediately chose the 'Pink' room as her bedroom. 

For a child who has been brought up with a range of colours and no Princess role whatsoever, her sudden fascination with Pink has confused us all!

With all the cleaning done, it was time to return to the packing boxes in Lakeholm! 

Bit by bit the house was packed away. 

Emelia was called on to do her bit too and each day she designated another ten toys to a box to be sealed ready for the great move!

The morning of November 28^th I went to the park for my final Tai Chi workout with all the wonderful ladies I had randomly met while walking through the park one morning when I first arrived.

For two months we had stretched and turned in unison at 7.30 sharp before I returned to our condo to do my own Tai Chi set to my Jason Mraz music.

I was now the fittest I had been in many years and I was going to miss their happy faces and support.

By 9am I was back at Lakeholm putting the final things into boxes. 

We were ready ...ish. 

It is amazing how many random things you fail to notice until you do a final walk through!!

At 10am precisely six men with small wheel based trolleys arrived to move our belongings! 

In less than half an hour they had packed everything onto said trolleys, wrapped them in cling film and pushed everything we owned out of the apartment.

An hour later they pushed the same cling film wrapped trolleys into the apartment at Braddell hill! 

The move was done!!

It took two days to unpack the boxes, which the delivery guys then picked up for recycling and another week to find homes for everything!

Being this high up the views are amazing and being situated on top of a hill also gives us wonderful breezes that race through all the open windows.

I now have ten flights of stairs to climb each morning and although on the first day I was ready to quit by floor eight by the end of the first week I had mastered the final two floors. 

In the three weeks we have now been here I have also 'found' two book cases, a set of shelves, two side cabinets plus a few other potentially useful things!!

My main gift to the family toward the costs of the move was my return to the old place to give it a final clean.

The land lord had insisted it was 'professionally cleaned' but having cleaned various places over the years I knew I could do just as good a job, if not better, for no cost whatsoever!

For three days I scrubbed away marks that had been there when Lisa and co had moved in.

I used shoe polish to polish away all the scratches

until side boards gleamed in the sun.

The dry cleaning guy came for the curtains and sofa covers, returning them 48 hours later all clean and pressed.....

.... and by the end of three days the place looked amazing!!

When the land lord arrived to meet Steve for the final handover at the end of the week and to assess how much of the deposit he would be able to keep to 'fix' things (they always keep something!!) he apparently gazed in amazement and handed the entire deposit over there and then!!

As we have settled into the new home I realise my work here, as a mother and a grand mother, is nearly done!!

Charlotte has settled into a routine, Emelia has coped with all the life changing events well and the move from one side of Singapore to the middle had been completed!

All that is left to do now, is to explore the new area and and make my plans to move on!

Although I am sure I can find a few things to do!!!