 |
| Jane in October 2011 |
My friend and colleague Jane died in May and some of us
wanted to celebrate her life in Sabah in some
small way . A weekend was organised and her husband Alan, who lives in
Peninsula Malaysia , was
invited, along with those people who knew her in Sabah.
The venue was chosen at The Seaside Lodge in
Kuala Penyu,a place I had never heard of before, but recommended by some other
mentors. I was very unsure as to how it would go. I felt that it might be just
too sad for us all and we would be overcome with emotion. Fortunately I went to
the resort in the same car as Alan and he is being so wonderful about coping
with his grief it gave me the resolve to enjoy the time together as Jane would
have wanted us to.
 |
| Our private beach |
 |
| "Dostoevsky" |
We arrived at The Seaside Lodge in time for lunch despite the lack of signposts and the most terrible road leading to it. The lodge is set up on a hill overlooking a very long deserted beach and apparently used to be someone's home and has a sort of colonial feel to it. The eleven of us, plus two babies, had lunch together and then we spent the afternoon together looking at the wonderful photographs of Jane's life and then of her photographs of Sabah. She was a very keen photographer and had a wonderful talent of capturing the people and the scenes of Sabah. Alan was able to tell us more about her life and how they first met and their 30 years of marriage was a shining example of how a inter cultural marriage can work. By 5.30 we were ready to have a drink which we did in Jane style drinking her favourite drink Absolut Vodka and ice with her "Dostoevsky" cheers.
 |
| Looking down to the restaurant |
The evening continued with more stories of Jane, a few tears but lots of laughs and after dinner the guitar was brought out and despite not knowing many of the lyrics we all managed to enjoy ourselves. The star of the night was Duncan who created the now famous song of the
Keningau Blues, an improvisation that was memorable and will hopefully be repeated! This morning we all enjoyed the beautiful beach and sea and finally after a game of snooker we said our goodbyes and promised to keep in contact with Alan.I think Jane would have enjoyed the weekend and we have decided to compile a calendar in her memory with some of her photographs in order to fund raise for the schools she worked in. We miss you Jane.
 |
| The Keningau Blues! |
 |
| The other direction |
Thanks for a lovely note on the weekend. We heard a bit about it from Daddy but it was nice to read your experience too. I hope getting the calender together happens -- this was something Mummy did as Christmas presents every year so it's very appropriate as a memory to her! Tasha xxxxxxx
ReplyDeleteHi Tasha, How lovely to hear from you. Yes the calendar is going to happen and I didn't know that she did that every Christmas - very appropriate then. I'll let you know how it is going. Perhaps we can contact each other through Facebook?I think of you and Crystal often. Love Fiona xxx
Delete