Window on Wednesday

this picture was taken a couple of years in Montague, Cape, South Africa…on holiday with the new love of my life who is now my husband….

….very fond memories….

Space vs. Home?

….reading Jude’s post on space has got me thinking about home…an elusive space for me…

I think I was born a nomad..I was always on the move when I was young… even when I wasn't..in my youth I travelled in my mind, through books and documentary programs…my feet itched as my mind wandered to destinations beyond my reach…but life, as I chose it, kept me chained to a home…

 

…this is where my wanderlust began in 1968…the garden was expansive….. and….. we had a swimming pool…my imagination ran riot…I also learned to ride a bicycle in this garden (beyond the house we had half an acre of ground)…for the first time we had animals…two dogs…Lassie (an Alsatian) and Twinkle (a Pointer)….i watched this house grow from the ground…to me this was “our dream home”….how wrong could a family be…….my mother left this house….without so much as a goodbye…my life was turned upside-down…my father burned all my childhood memories on the “heap” at the far end of the garden…saving an envelope filled with guilt memories which he sent to my grandmother (my mother’s mother)….at least that’s what I think…because years later going through old photographs in my mothers new house with her new family…i came across this and other pictures…i took them and for a long time brooded over them….looking for “the dream home” that she shattered on the day she left….

…but looking at the house then and now (by courtesy of Google earth)…life moves on and looking at this has made me realise….it is about flipping time i did too….sometimes one needs to see it in pictures….I'm that kind of person….

this is not home…this is not my home space….

(mmm something just occurred to me…my father made security gates for the house and once they were erected i remember a conversation he had with a fellow neighbour in the local supermarket…the neighbour had commented that our house now looked like “Fort Knox”….i wonder what he would make of all the barbed wire on the gate and fence today)

My visit home…

 
One of my favourite little birds …crested barbet…he matches the colours of the leaves so well…truly beautiful..
Arriving back in the country of my birth was such an emotional experience…smells, sounds, the familiar embraced me warmly. I observed many changes…mostly good…I was encouraged by what I saw…
Meeting up with friends and family listening to their views on the direction the country is heading was mostly positive…
It was good to be home…it was great to spend quality time with my Son and his lovely girlfriend…lovely memories have been stored in my treasure chest to be visited on the not so good days…
Looking forward to our next visit some time in the not too distant future…

thank you Grace for giving me the nudge….

Mail bag treasure….

this little treasure was mailed to me from my mother….it belonged to my great Grandfather Pop…my mother did not tell me where he bought the card or when…but….

…I’m guessing he bought it in France sometime in the early 1900’s perhaps on a holiday or maybe even during the 1st World War….

…my great Grandfather Pop was very fond of his sister who lived in Ireland…this card was bought for her…and she was a very special lady because she looked after Pop’s 6 children when their mother…his wife…was committed to a mental institution….

He never posted this card…

Remembering my New Granny - 23rd December 1913 - August 1990

Christina - Smith - Mrs Mac

I met my New Granny for the first time at the age of four....she lived in Natal when we lived in Johannesburg...because of some family differences (there were always differences in our family at one time or another) our meeting was delayed. I remember my NG's house was filled with animals of none sort or another...her house always smelled of fresh lavender...my NG's favourite herb...when she died, my father and I found brown paper packets full of lavender, stuffed in amongst her underware, sheets and blankets.. I remember opening her fridge and smelling toffee...she gave me a houshold tip..."I always sprinkle a few drops of vanilla essence on the wipe down cloth after I have cleaned the fridge...that's what makes it smell like toffee!"

My NG always looked her best even when she was feeling her worst, she never grumbled about anything (though she had plenty to grumble about) and I never heard say anything bad about anyone. Her hands were always busy with something, be it knitting, sewing or gardening. When she wasn't doing any of that she was reading...she was never bored and I was never bored when I visited with her.

Happy Birthday Gran...in my heart always...

It's December....again!!

There are many reasons why December is a great month....
I was born in this month...
My granny was born in this month..her birthday, when she was here on this earth, was the day after mine..
Then there's Christmas day...a very different kind of day for me now...
Another year is almost at an end...a sign of new beginnings...new things to come...new adventures to experience...

As the years pass I seem to spend more time thinking back to when I was really young..when we lived in a flat on Sunny Ridge....when we used to have a real Christmas tree with pine needles that pricked my hands when placing decorations on it....when my father left a glass of milk and a plate of biscuits under the tree on Christmas eve for Father Christmas...when I was so excited I could not sleep...when I waited impatiently for my old granny and grampa to arrive on Christmas morning....I can hear her now as she came into the kitchen from the car on  the drive ...."come on chummy" that was her name for my grampa....he would be following her laden with bags filled with gifts and cake tins one of which had the Christmas cake in it...poor old grampa how he managed all the parcels is still a mystery...everything seemed to be so easy in those days...

This we will spend a very quiet Christmas together, my dearly beloved and I...it will be good for our souls...no mad rushing here and there getting caught up in the madness of the silly season...