It’s the first weekend of the year, and what a wet weekend it has been so far!
Singapore has received more rain this weekend than the average monthly rainfall for the whole of January. Let’s hope this means ample blessings for 2021!
Here’s a post I wrote last August about rain maps and history.
In 2017, I started a year-end tradition of posting 12 photos, one for every month of the year that had just passed. For 2020, I’ll be posting the photos on my website blog for the first time.
So, here are 12 photos for the 12 months of 2020:
January: Facing the sunset.
February: Forest tracks.
March: New line, old building.
April: When the streets emptied.
May: When the streets remained empty.
June: When the grass grew wild.
July: Retracing railway tracks from a hundred years ago.
August: May the gods be fair and just.
September: The last of Jurong Road.
October: The end of a road.
November: Off the beaten path.
December: Searching for my heritage.
***
What will 2021 bring?
It has been a week since I found my paternal grandfather’s “lost” grave in Kopi Sua. Today, Tiak, my dad and brother, and I cleaned his grave.
We came prepared, with jugs of water, a broom, scrubs, and a toothbrush. We swept and scrubbed, and watched years, maybe even decades, of moss and muck disappear!
The result was stunning!
Before:
After:
Now, many words carved on the grave which were previously indecipherable, can be read again.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
The four characters can be seen now: From right to left, “Bai Zi Qian Sun”, or “A Hundred Children, A Thousand Grandchildren” - a blessing upon my grandfather’s descendants, which I guess means a blessing upon me too.
Intricate ornamental carvings on the sides of the grave appeared after the scrubbing:
This phrase, part of a couplet, reads “Qing Shan Zang Ji Di”, or “The Green Hills Harbour Auspicious Lands”.
I hope you’re feeling good, Ah Gong! From now on, your grandson will visit you and clean your grave often.