Mama Pat

Posted on January 20, 2018 by thepogblog

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I got to do something amazing because of one lady and her family, but mostly because  her Mum said ‘yes’.

It was actually 2014, so not that long ago, although I think it will always feel like yesterday and forever ago at the same time.  In case you don’t know the story, four years ago I decided I wanted to do something to help people in Tacloban, the Philippines, after typhoon Yolanda. Ideally I wanted to stay with local people so I didn’t get a sanitised hotel experience and also so that I paid a person for my board and lodging rather than a company.

The lady who made it possible was a colleague from work whose family live in Tacloban. Her Mum was Mama Pat; the matriarch of a huge family who welcomed me into their home, their lives, their laughter and their stories. In Mama Pat’s position I would never have agreed to have some stranger staying – an English giant no less (a very rare species in Tacloban) – but Mama Pat was amazing.

Not only did I stay, but the first night Mama Pat and I had a strongly worded ‘discussion’ (mostly involving hands as neither of us understood the other) because despite being in her late 70s, she was adamant that she would sleep on a foldaway camp bed and I would have her double bed. I’m pleased to say I won that one :o)

So Mama Pat and I shared a bedroom while I was there.  I was relieved to hear that she stopped being concerned about my visit when she realised that I would eat anything she put in front of me. (I’ll be completely honest though, Mama Pat: that day it was just us having lunch and I heaped the green stuff on my plate before asking what it was…that day I nearly failed in my quest to try everything. Finishing that plate of – in your words – ‘cow intestines’ took almost all the determination I possessed!)

Mama Pat and her family were so welcoming and lovely that they invited me back the next year for Mama Pat’s birthday.  And I went. And this time I was allowed to sleep on the camp bed with no arguments. :o)

Today is Mama Pat’s funeral. I know one of her main concerns will be whether everyone attending has enough to eat.  I’m sure her children and their partners and her grandchildren and friends will do her proud.  She  taught them her ways, after all. To all of you: I understand no words will help with the loss you feel right now. Please know though, that her love was felt right back here in the UK and I will never forget her.  I don’t think there are many people who have that much of an impact in their lives.

Goodnight, Mama Pat. Xxx

Posted in Pog Life, Tacloban, travelling, Uncategorized, Volunteering | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Belly button issues

Posted on January 19, 2018 by thepogblog

I was told the other day that I’m less personal on my blog than I used to be.  I’m not sure if this was a complaint or a compliment, but to redress the balance – probably waaaay more than I need to, I thought I’d tell you this:

Being clean is very important to me.  I have no idea what led to it, but this week I realised my tummy button looked quite grubby so I rubbed the dirt out of it.  I was quite enthusiastic in my efforts.  It turns out that 1) you can mistake a shadow for grubbiness and 2) you can break your tummy button.

Moral of the story:  leave your tummy button alone at all times unless you like the red soreness that hurts if you step too heavily  :o(

And to redress the balance in the other direction, here is a picture of me and Norman being happy on our new sofa:

:o)

 

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The excitement of neighbours

Posted on January 17, 2018 by thepogblog

Our Towers has been our home for almost a week.  We’re strangely settled (even if it does feel like we are staying in an Air BnB that we’ll have to leave soon).  We’re mostly unpacked (other than the rather large number of boxes we’ve hidden in the storage under the house and I’m ignoring the fact that at least eight cupboards pour their contents over you when you open the door because I’ve just pushed stuff in there until no more will fit).  But it’s looking quite good really.  We look almost like grown ups.

Excitingly, we have neighbours that talk to us (they didn’t in the last house, mainly because being a coach house we were literally in the middle of the road so didn’t tend to bump into anyone).  One of the Our Towers neighbours came over on Monday night when I waved through the window.  It was slightly weird:  I opened the front door and stood in the porch listening to him (he seemed lovely but there was no chance of getting a word in edge ways) and suddenly remembered that the front door locks itself when it shuts and I didn’t have a key.  Not wanting to distract from him monologue, I shook one of my slippers off behind me and positioned it so that the door couldn’t slam shut – all without breaking eye contact.  And that was the point that Norman decided he would quite like to investigate outside – something that is at least four weeks away to be sure that he knows this is definitely home and remembers to come back here.  So as he shot out the door I swore loudly and just managed to catch him before he completed his bid for freedom and ushered him back inside.  Chatty neighbour didn’t seem to notice – or in fact pause for breath – and I wondered if I could just walk through the house and grab the keys while he continued talking but thought that was a bit rude.  So instead (all while maintaining eye contact as this was becoming a bit of a game now), I maneuvered my foot back into the slipper behind me, located the window thingy on the far side of the porch that I’d used to wash the windows with and popped the pole of that in the door instead.  Success!  The door wouldn’t slam shut, the Norman couldn’t escape through a smaller gap, both my feet were warm and….chatty neighbour was still chatting.

So actually, either we have the chattiest neighbour in the world who was so enthralled by himself that he didn’t notice my need to push things through the door gap, my swearing, an overexcited Norman or my balancing on one leg, or we have the politest neighbour in the world who noticed every little thing and will just never acknowledge us or my slipper tricks, ever again.  I’m not entirely sure which I’m hoping for.  But I think maybe I should introduce myself to the neighbour on the other side so there is no chance of a repeat performance; I like the idea of friendly neighbours – I don’t want to scare both sides off :o)

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Slightly problematic packing

Posted on January 7, 2018 by thepogblog

I’m not sure packing should take this long or be this chaotic, but maybe it’s just the Pog factor.

Items I’ve realised (so far) are somewhere in this lot:

  • All but two mugs.  We have removal men and deliveries of four different pieces of furniture, two needing assembly all on the same day (it seemed like a good idea at the time…) so I imagine much tea will be required.  We do have two huge pasta bowls still out though; I guess I could use those.
  • The kitchen scales. And I have no idea what the 150g of rice that is required for dinner should look like.
  • The hot water bottles. This house is freezing. I need one at all times. More jumpers it is then.
  • My wool.  Last night was my last ever on my own for the foreseeable future and I thought it would be nice to relax with a bit of crochet and crap tv like I used to at Pog Towers. I didn’t pack the finished bits of the project; just ALL my wool.
  • The toothpaste.

Items left to pack: 2877388392.  Our ghost must be unpacking when we aren’t looking as every time I walk into a room I find MORE stuff we’ve missed. And they are entirely separate to the ‘bits we have agreed we can’t pack until the night before’ which seems like an awful lot right now…

Items found from the move from Pog Towers that should have stayed there: The foamy bit of the letterbox (it’s that weird shaped thing on the table in the photo above). I have no explanation.

But none of it matters that much, because:

Now it’s time to get all the boxes out of the loft that I’ve not opened since moving here. I think space is about to become a bit of an issue…. roll on Thursday :o)

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Paintings and plates

Posted on January 3, 2018 by thepogblog

I don’t think I’ve ever used this blog to recommend anything or anyone – it doesnt really fit with the aim of spreading smiles, but two people have sent smiles my way recently and I think you might be interested….so, first of all:

I won a raffle prize last year for a pet portrait.  Norman and I were so excited and the lovely artist was very patient with looking through around eleventy billion of my photos to identify one that would work. I finally managed to pick up the finished painting when I went back to Bumpkinsville just before Christmas, and Norman and I love it!

The talented lady is called Christine Stainer and you can see her website here.   She doesn’t just draw pets, but we think she is particularly good at black cats :o)

And over a year ago, I found an Aladdin’s cave of a  furniture shop a little way from Bumpkinsville.  When Himself and I realised we’d need some furniture for Our Towers we couldn’t find anything locally that could match the prices or quality so, we went back and filled a large car with a table, chairs and mirrors. We couldn’t quite fit everything in, so Mum and Dad picked up the last item before Christmas and called me to tell me that Guy – the owner – had also given them something extra to pass on to me.  Guy had remembered me between visits, and had also remembered me telling him and his Mum that I’d moved to Beachville, and had sent me this:

It’s the pier that I run down to on all my beach front runs in days gone by.

I’ve not told many people about his shop as no two items are the same and I love them all and don’t want anyone else to snaffle them, but after this act of such thoughtfulness, I feel I should let anyone in the Bumpkinsville area share the smiles there.  (Also, I admit I probably dont need any more furniture at the moment).  The shop is called Adpine Antiques.  This is the website and this is the Facebook page (Guy adds photos on Facebook quite a bit so you can get a taste of new stock).  If you go and visit though, could you just leave me a few of the over sized rusty flowers that he keeps in the garden section out the back?  :o)

Thank you to Christine, Guy and Guy’s Mum for all your talent and loveliness.  Both the paining, the plate and the furniture will be moving to their new home in just over a week :o)

Posted in animals, Beachville, Bumpkinsville, cats | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Christmas was the time for….

Posted on December 30, 2017 by thepogblog

For me, Christmas turned out to be the time for….

….discovering that playing the game that involved moving a chocolate from your forehead to mouth with no hands mostly involves a lot of laughing, a chocolatey face: and quite a few entertaining photos:

…discoving what Little Pea was pretty sure were terra dactyl bones:

…Father Christmas graffiti:

…Night time ice skating at the bobbley place:

…the discovery that the scaffolding turning these lights into an instruction to ‘winkle’ had been removed, making this picture a lot less entertaining than planned:

….lots of happiness over the wish involving Our Towers:

….and the discovery that because we had delayed delivery of a new sofa (because we were meant to move into Our Towers way  before Christmas) the shop had sold it to someone else and informed Himself that ‘they would let him know when a new one was available but could give no indication of when that would be.’   I was unimpressed, and called them back to inform them of this. 12 hours later we had confirmation that our new sofa will be delivered to us at Our Towers the day we move in :o)

And now, a slightly less brave Pog is off to cook dinner for eight people. And tommorow night a three course meal for six. This was not part of my Christmas plans, although I do vaguely remember informing Himself that this was a good idea and that I might even enjoy it.  Damn that Christmas spirit :o)

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Christmas excitement

Posted on December 24, 2017 by thepogblog

In a complete departure from every run up to Christmas I’ve had in a long time, this one has been about alot of snowmen and snow ladies:

A rather young looking Father Christmas:

The making of a hat for Barnaby Bear as he got cold ears:

And we did ice skating and duck feeding and cuddling of a little person (I do know her; that wasn’t entirely random).

So, Happy Christmas to you all from me and Himself.  Have a lovely day and I hope you get everything you deserve.

And one final thing. FINALLY we have exchanged contracts on what will be our new home. We’ll be moving into Our Towers on 11th January. So just time to eat, drink, be merry…and pack! :o)

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Getting my Christmasness makingness on

Posted on December 15, 2017 by thepogblog

I suddenly got right back into makingness.  It’s mainly the fault of people who felt Mr Gnome needed a Mrs Gnome.  I was worried he would get lonely if I wasn’t speedy, so….:

Meet Mrs Gnome.

Then I thought they needed a gnome home, so I made one of those too (well, decorated the twig wreath):

It’s early days, but they do seem quite happy:

Mrs Gnome was made using the same pattern that clever Miss Neriss made for Mr Gnome.  You can find it here.

I also decided to make a penguin for Small Boy as he seems to rather like them.  I didn’t have a pattern, which resulted in much grumpiness in trying to get matching feet and some sort of Christmas miracle when the wings matched:

He seems like quite a happy penguin.

Next up…more mince pies, I think :o)

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Another parcel and more smiles

Posted on December 12, 2017 by thepogblog

I think I may have been born at the wrong time.  Social media is all very well and good, but the only thing better than sending a parcel is receiving one (I know it’s supposed to be the other way round, but let’s keep it real here), and I got another one!

This time it was Sister 1 and Little Pea who made me smile and the name on the parcel gave me and Mr Postie another giggle.  And the contents not only contained Little Pea’s first big boy school photo (so gorgeous, but maybe a bit too grown up?), but also a Christmas card that he designed. And wow, doesn’t he have taste?  Because I am 99% that the picture is three penguins in the snow.  And we all know penguins are one of Auntie Pog’s very favourite things :o)

AND, not quite a parcel, but I did receive another thing at the weekend from Himself.  My very first (in the last 10 year at least) real Christmas tree.  We tried to do a Christmassy selfie with it.  We gave up:

(Norman is completely discombobulated and just can’t understand why there is a tree inside the house.  So far he’s not done more than look at it in a disapproving tone of voice though, so we’re hopeful it might last until actual Christas :o) )

 

 

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Christmas gnoming

Posted on December 8, 2017 by thepogblog

I don’t own that many Christmas decorations. When we lived at Pog Towers, Norman and I had a set of glass angels I hung from the window frame (many of which had become flightless over the years due to delicate wings), a few other bits and bobs and three baubles.  They are huge baubles (if I do say so myself) and we love them, but that was pretty much it as we didn’t need much more in such a small space.  So I decided to have a go at a bit of makingness to expand the collection.  And I would like to introduce…. Gnome:

Gnome is taken from an amazing pattern from someone called Miss Neriss.  You can find it here.

Miss Neriss is clearly a demon with a crochet hook as she thinks these can be worked up quickly.  I spent an evening on the beard alone, but I do think gnome was worth it.  And if I have time, I’ll try to pull together a Mrs Gnome for him in time for Christmas :o)

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