Dad and Mom’s Hard Days Work but Leisure As Well
These are some true stories of my mom and dad…
My dad and mom enjoyed their leisure moments after his hard day’s work and her day rounding up homemaking. Over the years, they built up their recreational hobbies revolving around sports, television shows, food, cars, music and gardening, etc.
After Dad’s laborious fish market activities usually beginning before dawn, he would occasionally round up all the children for a day of leisure trip to the island of Penang. There was much shopping for practical daily needs to do while visiting relatives residing in the island at the same time.
At the height of fruit season, dad would bring home bamboo crates full of durians, mangosteens, rambutans and many other tropical fruits. Gathering around the feast, there was always more than plenty to offer for all.
Like many who worked hard and saved to afford a little pampered extravagance, dad enjoyed cars very much. Over the years, he drove many different kinds of automobiles and usually sedans. Every now and then he would timely trade in for another new one. A part of his hobby, his leisure moment was reflected in the way he enjoyed watching international circuits that usually aired in the afternoon and before the arrival of colored televisions.
During Chinese New Years, we would have our very special way of recreations. We would gather around on the floor and play cards usually Blackjack. My dad being a skillful card player, he would always be the dealer. We would all get into endless rounds of high intensity uproarious thrills and joy of playing the card games.
Dad and mom kept birds, animals or fish at home as hobbies. Dad tended towards rearing dog while cats were rare at home. Dad could possibly have many dogs to keep; however, there was one that he had for many years. Dad had that very special dog the dog for many years and Ah Log was its name. The name could have been suggestive of an utterance from the term dog. Ah Log had always been a good dog for it knew its home and hardly strayed away. One day, Ah Log disappeared into nowhere and never returned. Dad had gone out for several consecutive days looking out for it all over. This was very apparent in how dad had Ah Log a very significant part of his life; later, he seldom had any other dogs for long.
As for mom being a homemaker all her life, she was able to do many different types of delicacies, desserts, cakes, drinks, etc. and in local, ethnic or Chinese flavors. Much anticipated for all during related traditional or festive celebrations, mom with her culinary skills would always deliver a table full of food or drinks, enough for all and that could possibly last for several days.
Mom also learned how to drive. Either mom or dad would drive us all to schools at different locations in town when we were in junior and high schools. It was always much anticipated to see either mom or dad at the gateway of the school picking us up while at that time many peers alike still had to rely on school buses or other means of transportation.
Though rarely seeing dad playing any kind of physical sports, on the other hand, mom was good in rowing boats and able to play tops and fly kites. Mom was able to make tops carving from a piece of wood; she was able to make kites as well. Dad and mom would only to join in briefly playing badminton and for participating interest to the moments. When we were small, dad bought us a ping pong table. Now recalling, the table seemed comparably larger at that time but we had great time playing for many years.
Dad and mom were sure buffs for Teochew or Caozhou Opera. Born in China, dad was from Caozhou, Guangdong; therefore, dad, likewise for mom, spoke Caozhou dialect. They had collected hundreds of black or red vinyl records, either imports from China or Hong Kong then. Years later, mom and dad also picked up trends while their children growing up listening to pops from Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Ever since having televisions from black and white to colored, they would watch all kinds of TV programming and in various languages such as Chinese, English, Indian, Malays as well as numerous other international productions. With few other entertainment, like many households in Malaysia largely relying on foreign productions, my parent was also captivated about following some hugely popular and successful Hong Kong TV serial production made in 1983, e.g. The Bund or Shanghai Tan. They would stay up real late to track episode after episode of dramatic plots. Like many who loved hilarious animations, my parent engagingly enjoyed watching the American comedy The Three Stooges and cartoon Tom and Jerry.
Gardening had always been a part of mom’s life. She tended to many types of cacti and nearly an equal garden area devoted to growing different species of roses. Orchids were something mom enjoyed all the time. Mom was also good at growing fruit tree such as rambutans, mango, guava, etc.
Guess it was because mom grew up in a village while she could keep chickens or ducks for special occasions. Mom was also good in rearing fishes. There was for quite sometime she reared those colorful parakeets.
All in all, it was seldom lacking whenever there was time proper for dad and mom to furnish the growing home with necessary recreational needs or activities.
Jeremy Tew
Shanghai upon the Sea
April 26, 2009; edited June 22, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)