My Mom: I Am My Mother's Daughter

I treasure the memory of my father, the Happy Tomato, who passed away over 10 years ago.  I think of him so often. Today, I am thinking of the mortality of my aging mother, and wonder: Am I my mother's daughter?

My mom has always had "a bee in her bonnet" about something.  Here are a few thoughts and memories about my mom.

• I grew up in Trinidad, an island. When I was in my teens, my mom decided that she wanted to build a farm on a fairly large property that my father had inherited.  Money was tight, but she really wanted to do this, so whenever we had a few $$, she would buy bricks and take them over on a weekend for the house she was building.  Literally, brick by brick, that house was built.  It took a while, but at the end, it was a complete house.
• During that time, she also used the few $$ we had to buy animals.  It was pretty funny, because she would first bring them to our home in the suburbs to keep an eye on them, then on the weekend she would take them over to the farm in the pickup.  Imagine a goat in your neighbor's yard for a week.  I think it would be quite the attraction, wouldn't it? Us kids? We were MORTIFIED!  Now think about an ox, the early cry of a rooster, many, many, rabbits.  Of course there were chicks.  Thank goodness the pigs never made it to the house!
• And yes, she did want to try making sausages - after alll, we had raised the pigs for a reason.  Let's just say, I'm glad it was just the one time.
• We got a riding lawn mower to cut the grass in the orchard.  It was fun... We were able to 'drive' even though we had no licenses!
• Another of her projects?  There was an unfinished home two houses away from ours.  Someone had run out of money building it.  She decided that she wanted to finish that house and that we could live in it.  She helped with the demolition of parts herself, wielding the sledgehammer along with the workers.  We eventually lived in that home.
• My father had an extended illness, which really put a financial strain on us.  My mother helped out by catering events.  That was fun, she made lots of savory pies and cakes.  If you can imagine, little faces staring at the untouchable, little hands eventually given the opportunity to taste that which little noses had been smelling.  Yum!
• My mom has always been about the kids.  She loved kids and when my son was born, she stayed with us for a few months while I learned how to care for an infant.

More recently, my mom's "bees" are actual.  They're still making honey.  She tends her garden, and it produces much fruit.  There are times, however, when no honey is produced, and the bees are not working together.  This makes me sad.

And yes, I think that I can safely say that I, Handmade Penguin, a name I call myself and my creative ventures and website, am a product of not only my Father, the Happy Tomato, but also my mother, for whom I must find a name.

I am glad that I realize this now, when I can celebrate the living.