Tuesday, August 12, 2014

ABC Wednesday: E for elephants




We Chan kids are a funny lot, we laugh, we cry as we recall the times when we were kids. Memories exude such fondness for each other.

When I was 20 months old, Father went to England on a P & O liner. At each stop, he bought souvenirs. We all remember his black elephant. When the ship stopped in India, he bought a black teak elephant. Dad was a collector, he bought a souvenir every where he went.

Elizabeth asked her daughter Jeng to email us if any of her siblings remembered it. I even jokingly accused her that so it was her who stole the Elephant. Some remembered it was made of teak and the tusk of ivory, another that it had a broken stump.

Actually this wasn't the original elephant. Elizabeth's daughter in law Rosemary bought it in Cambodia, because her husband Wayne must have spoken about it very often.

I have 2 elephants, because I remembered that elephant. One, we bought it in a duty free shop in Bangkok. The water engineer took it to his office in Singapore. He didn't bring it back to New Zealand.
 

The other is an ornamented Sri Lanka elephant. This I treasure because my friend's husband died prematurely and left her and her 3 kids in a foreign land.



Now part of the family lives in Australia. I saw this in Brisbane.
 These are panels of a letter holder. When my friend Joy left to live in New York, she gave it to me. Now it is something to remind me of our friendship. I hardly have hard copy letters.
http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

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5 comments:

  1. You're a collector too, with elephants from all over with histories so meaningful.

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  2. What beautiful stories about the elephants.
    Love your choices for E.

    E is for...

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  3. one doesn't forget one's elephants!

    ROG, ABCW

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  4. The Mama has 2 elephants made up of tiny ocean cone snail shells. They bring me smiles and thoughts of whimsy. :-)
    Take 25 to Hollister
    The View from the Top of the Ladder

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  5. Great collection of elephants. Carver, ABCW-Team

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