My wish is that......

you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends,

 with much love and laughter, as we did here,

and that 2012 is filled with peace, health and happiness.

This year I hope to greet each day with fresh eyes
and to remember the quote:

We do not stop playing because we grow old; 

we grow old because we stop playing.

Christmas and New Year, with two family birthdays in the same week, have filled my thoughts and time in a most lovely way and I have found that I have lost my momentum here. I feel that I am not ready to return to my blog but I am sure that I will be hovering in the background!


Note: The above quote has been credited to both George Bernard Shaw and Benjamin Franklin.

Christmas Greetings Then and Now

This card, dated 11 November 1916, was sent to my grandfather when he was serving overseas during the First World War. The message on the card seems inappropriate considering where he was and what he was experiencing; the friend that sent the card was aware of this as written on the back was: Wishing you as good a Christmas as possible. 

I have just found this newspaper article in PapersPast  - part of a letter from my grandfather to his mother:

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 43, Issue 133074, 18 October 1917, Page 5

The Christmas the New Zealand Camel Corps received the parcel would have been Christmas 1916, the same year that the card above was sent to him. I do hope that the appeals made by the men of the Camel Corp were successful.

==============

The message on the card above is my now wish for you:

A very happy Christmas-tide! --

I send my wish anew,

That long bright hours all pleasure-filled

Make glad the time for you:

And may the year that lies ahead

Hold happiness in store,

And bless you more abundantly

Than any year before 

Happy Christmas

Happy holiday season to you all.

Visit Sepia Saturday for more images from times gone by

Play time

With so much shopping and cooking
still to be done

I took time off to be with
my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter

and I loved every minute of it.

Oh yes, I had so much fun, but now, where are my lists...

Dad's dinghy

A memory - triggered by this image supplied by Tess for Magpie Tales.


We - Husband, our two young children and I - were holidaying on Waiheke Island, an island in the Hauraki Gulf, a forty minute ferry ride away, and back then also a life-style away, from downtown Auckland. We left our car at home, bused to Auckland then took the ferry over to the island. Leaving the car at home was an adventure, it meant a holiday where we would walk everywhere apart from the occasional island bus ride. We had been there for a few days when my parents sailed over in their catamaran to visit us.

Mum and Dad moored at Blackpool and we had spent an afternoon with them when they invited the children to stay the night; this was very exciting for our kids as they liked nothing more than to snuggle up on the narrow berths, with Nana and Grandad sleeping nearby, feeling the rise and fall of the boat as it moved with the sea, and to hear the creaks and groans of the yacht and the clanking of the ropes and metal fittings on the masts. For Husband and I the kids staying the night with Nana and Grandad meant we had to go back to our cottage to get overnight things for them.

As we climbed into the dinghy to row ashore Dad told us that we would need to leave the dinghy high up on the beach as the tide was turning and, being a very shallow beach, the sea would come a long way in. We were dragging the old heavy wooden dinghy up the beach when Husband decided that we had pulled it far enough. I tried to explain to him that Dad wanted us to take it further up the beach than that, but no, Husband said that the sea would never come up that far and the dinghy could be quite safely left there. So off we set to get the children's things. It took us quite a while to walk up and over the hill to our cottage in Oneroa on the other side of the island, gather a few things together, then back to Blackpool.

Unknown to us, about half an hour after we had left, Mum and Dad were enjoying a cup of tea and our children were exploring the tiny cabin and deciding which bunk they would sleep in when Dad noticed his dinghy floating past them, seemingly on it's way out to sea. There was a mad scramble as Mum and Dad had to up anchor and chase after the dinghy; when they caught up with it Dad had to jump overboard and swim to the dinghy (luckily the oars were still in it) get in and row to shore then pull the dinghy way up the beach to where we should have left it. This left Mum and the children on the yacht; Mum had to maneuver the yacht around and take it as close to shore as she could, being very careful not to become grounded in the shallow waters, so Dad could swim out and climb back on board. They then took the catamaran out to deeper water where it was safe to moor. Dad, not being a strong swimmer, was quite exhausted after this and collapsed on his bunk to try and get his breath back.

The whole time Husband and I were away I worried out loud about the dinghy only to be told by Husband that all would be well. When we got back to Blackpool we found the dinghy safe and sound, high above the waterline, and Husband shot me the most exaggerated I-told-you-so look.

Elizabeth

"What a happy woman I am living in a garden..."

"I felt so absolutely happy, and blest, and thankful,

and grateful, that I really cannot describe it.

My days seemed to melt away in a dream of pink and purple haze."

"The first part of that time of blessesness was the most perfect,  for I had 

not a thought of anything but the peace and beauty all round me."

"...my spring happiness bears no resemblance to my summer or autumn happiness,

though it is more intense, and there were days last winter when I danced for sheer joy

out in my frost-bound garden in spite of my years and children."

"...for with people dropping in at all hours and wanting to talk to you, how are you 

to get on with your life, I should like to know, and read your books, 

and dream your dreams to your satisfaction?"

"...so I took it out with me into the garden, because the dullest book takes on 

a certain saving grace if read out of doors, just as bread and butter, 

devoid of charm in the drawing-room, is ambrosia eaten under a tree."

I have just re-read Elizabeth and Her German Garden,
one of my favourite books.

The photos were taken in my little garden; how I wish my garden was like Elizabeth's.

Handsome stranger

he silently sauntered in

a tall dark handsome stranger

he just walked in 

while I was home alone

he looked around

went from room to room

stretched out and made him at home

he even had a hug with my daughter

when she arrived to stay the night

- then he went

as silently as he arrived

the tall dark handsome stranger

Sandwiched

sandwiched between

monotony and blandness

 filling her mind with

 coloured dreams

Above is my altered version of Lunch by George Tooker
supplied by Tess for Magpie Tales

Catnapping

My daughter's cat Peanut resting up

after his busy day of

eating, grooming himself, sleeping,

more eating, more grooming...

it's hard work being a cat.

Peanut has grown so much since my

post about Kitten Wisdom.

Stained by life

don't see me as I am now

sitting in mean street

dumped and discarded

stained by life

rather see me as I once was

filled with promise

plush with hope

- and valued

the homeless man

Photo supplied by Tess for Magpie Tales

Gone fishing

Alan's theme photo for Sepia Saturday offers so many subjects to work with and I have chosen fish and fishing for my subject this week.

In the late 1950's my aunt and uncle moved from the Waikato to up north to manage a farm near Broadwood in Northland and during the May school holidays when the cows were dry and Dad was free to leave the farm we set off to visit them. According to Google Earth this trip would take about 6 hours now but when you factor in that our car at the time was an ancient hunchbacked Vanguard and the rough metal roads of the 50's it is understandable why it took so much longer. Also, the car was loaded with five of us kids crammed together on the tiny back seat and Mum, Dad and baby sister, then six months old and travelling in a carrycot, in the front, plus all of our holiday gear. It was a horrendous drive that took all day and, being the start of winter, the sun set early and we were still travelling when it was completely dark. Mum and Dad couldn't find my aunt and uncle's place in the darkness (it was our first visit to their place) so we had to sleep in the car, all eight of us, only to find come morning that we had stopped at the entrance to their driveway!

The highlight of our visit there for Dad and my two older brothers was a trip to Mitimiti Beach with my uncle where they had a day of fishing. Being mere girls my sisters and I had to stay at the farm with Mum and my aunt and young cousins.

Here Dad is trying his luck with one of my brothers looking on

and here is the proof that the day was successful. My older brother and sister 

are holding the fish with my younger sister and cousin and aunt in front.

I remember how tasty these fish were after they had been hung in the chimney above the open fire and slowly smoked, I remember it very well as my older siblings and I couldn't resist sampling the fish while they were still being smoked and my aunt being very cross with us!

Staying with fishing but jumping forward fifty years Husband and I were holidaying in Northland and went to Karikari Beach one afternoon where Husband was surfcasting and I spent the time catching the beauty of the beach with my camera. We were still there as the sun set and the colours were just magic.

Husband was still fishing when the sun went down.  

I don't know if it was the magic of the moment or not but Husband changed into a...

cartoon character!

Visit Sepia Saturday for more photos and stories.

Imaginary Visit To Autumn's Garden

Something we have never grown in our Jeweler's Garden is aubergines. I am not sure why not, apart from the fact that we really do not have enough room. For the last few days though I have had an aubergine sitting on my benchtop looking so beautiful in all it's purples.

The reason why it has been sitting there for days is that I have just started an online painting class with Laure Ferlita called Imaginary Visit To Autumn's Garden. Taking this class during a blustery spring will make it all the more interesting. For our first lesson the subject has been an aubergine. It's not so easy to get all the purples down on to paper I found!

After being looked at closely, painted and photographed what happened to my aubergine?

 I roasted it and it is now a very tasty baba ganouch.

A jeweler's garden

We have a very small garden -
I call it a jeweler's garden

as it really looks as though it would only have
enough room for18 carrots (carats)

but it is surprising just what we do
grow in such a small space...

our strawberries are ripening and are full of juice and sweetness

beans are up and running, the first flowers have appeared

and our many tomato plants are doing much the same

we have:

 rhubarb

capsicums

spring onions

chillies 

silverbeet

rocket

marjoram

rosemary

parsley

thyme

mint

lemon balm

and sage

the cucumber is sending out runners

and forming flowers

and it won't be long until we are eating courgettes

we have lettuce year round

and beetroot too

we also have: 

lemons

limes

mandarins

and the feijoa bushes are full of flower

and the promise of a lovely crop in autumn

All this in a very small space.

And the carrots?

Well we have eaten them.

If you tickle the earth with a hoe she laughs a harvest.

~ Douglas Jerrold

how long will it be

Photo supplied by Tess for Magpie Tales

they lay together

in tender embrace

him whispering

softly to her...

'how long

will it be

'til this 

photo shoot ends

my back

is beginning

to suffer'

I am not a storyteller or poet but this image made me smile hence my entry here. 

Visit Magpie Tales for some wonderful tales and verse. 

Sweet spring

our first strawberries of the season 

sweet and full of flavour

An outing to the beach

This week on Sepia Saturday Allen's chosen illustration features this

 scene with beautiful people and a beautiful car.

My photo shows a car from another era, another style of dress, and a happy family outing.

Here we are at the beach: Mum and Dad, four of us children, one of my two younger sisters in the pram, and Grandad. I am standing in front of my father. Looking at our faces, I would say that it was a bright sunny day; it also looks as though it was breezy. I am told that we were at Maraetai Beach, Auckland, although the beach cannot be seen in this photo. I think my grandmother must have taken the photo, Dad was usually our  family photographer.

My uncle tells me that this car was a 1937 DX Vauxhall Light Six and that it had sophisticated hydraulic front suspension. Dad had this car for many years.

This photo can't be dated by the car as it was taken in the mid 1950's. Years ago, when I was in Norway, I was asked what happened to old cars in New Zealand and I said that we drive them!

My parents loved going out and about exploring. Our car used to be full to overflowing with children (all six of us) and all the things we needed. The car would be especially full when we were off on one of our wonderful holidays when we would also have our bedding, as we used to stay in the most basic of cabins, as well as everything else we needed for a holiday such as clothes and food things. I have such wonderful memories of these holidays, usually during the winter when the cows were dry, off we would go to places unknown, us children sitting high on the seats on piles of blankets. Our holidays were just magic.

Go to Sepia Saturday to read more posts of times gone by.