Political Patchwork and Stitch-ups in Malaysia

I promised myself  I would undertake more postings in this blog of mine when I'm back in cooler climes in Leicester, when the septuagenarian-brain is not getting pickled in the heat of my tanah air.

I did quite fine in November.  But December has been taken up with cooking dinners for dear friends that we have not seen for 8 months - people like Ann and Dot, Jack, Colin and Doug.  The aroma of chicken cooked in spicy-serai sauce, tomato-apricot chutney, all sorts of spuds dishes (spicy, sauteed, boiled, mashed, roasted etc), curry mutton and chicken, grilled lamb chops and a vegetarian methi cake, filled the house for the past few weeks.  As for desserts - the spouse had his fill of Eve's Pudding, apple crumble, lemon layer pudding, Bramleys topped with custard sauce and the creme de la creme - a dessert he would cry for - bread and butter pudding!!   But I must also record the great evening we had at a pub, the Rose and Crown at Thurnby, with our mates from our favourite charity shop, Animal Rescue.  Iain and I learned that we could get just as heady (but not quite pickled) on plain Tonic Water (sans the Gin) !!!!   Of course a game of Skittles was on the menu and I have to report that AsH did win a prize - the wooden spoon.  I will never live this down for the rest of my days.

But one cannot avoid the antics of politics and politicians in Malaysia even in this little corner of England.  Why do I scare myself with reading Malaysia's online papers?   Sandiwara Malaysia goes on and on, with the same actors and actresses - roaring the same nefarious and hypocritical lines, this time with their eyes on the next General Election.

Indeed we are spoiled for choice.  It's like being in a sweet shop where the bottles are filled with multi-coloured sweeties but they all taste the same -leaving a nasty, bitter after-taste in the mouth. But to be fair to Malaysia the effect is the same in USA or Britain.  Maybe not so in Singapore where the political sweet shop has fewer flavours.

Still, I have been dipping my toes (freezing at times) into an interesting pursuit - dabbling in the art and artifices of  Photoscape.  People may pooh pooh at my venture, but try to do something new and hi-tech(?) when you get to 72!

It's like making a Patchwork Project.  I sewed two lovely (so I believe) patchwork bedspreads, made up of  Liberty of London fabric samplers, for Shah on his 21st birthday and Maria on her wedding day.

But this is still the most beautiful patchwork for me - made by my dear mum to take with me to my new home in England.

A patchwork bedspread made from batik remnants.

Read  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a-patchwork-story.html


And so patchwork samplers lead me on to amalgamate this old hobby with my new techno-thingamajig undertaking.


1. A connection of people.

 -

2.  A stitchup - by the mouse, the frog and the hawk.

3.   Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it.  (George Santayana 1863-1952)  

I guess that's as much mush as I can manage - technically and spiritually.


No skittles on this blog.  Let's just do the boogie woogie with Gitarzan, Jane and the Gorilla .... and the Yellow Bananas.


MALAYSIA BOLEH!