I am From

Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee

Calls back the lovely April of her prime.
~William Shakespeare

Today is my mother's birthday.  She is away visiting her sister who is also celebrating her birthday today.  My aunty is 80 years old, she is 13 years my mother's elder.  Knowing they are celebrating getting older makes me reflect and think about where I am headed and where I am from. 

I recently read this post of Kellie's on Don't Look Now!  I thought it was lovely that she was from a similar place to me but never thought I'd write my own poem.  Then, at times unsuspecting, the poem sprouted and before I knew it my poetic juices were flowing and I had my own history penned.   So if you think you cannot, you will not, I encourage you to let go and see what might flow.  It is actually quite cathartic.  If you do write your own "I'm From" poem please let me know so I can join you in learning more about where you're from.  If you follow the links from Kellie's poem you will find the original from whence it came.

So here's a sneak peak of some of me.

I’m From

I’m from tireless pioneers, hard-working farmers and long dusty trails. From blacksoil plains, deceptive mirages and vast, tree-studded horizons.  From small country town, regional farming community and “townie vs cockie” the former is me!  From Mehi River, Gwydir River, where rivers meet. 

I’m from maternal ancestors trekking across seas, across lands; from England to South Australia, into northern New South Wales, up to central Queensland.  From sheep grazing, wheat farming then cotton as well. Corrugated iron sheds, blue-topped cotton modules, and seasonal “snowy” cotton lined roads.  From worshipping in a country church built by relatives of friends.

I’m from aesthetic beauty: flowers in the garden, arranged in vases, floral shows as well.  From cakes carefully decorated by my mother’s own hand, from embroidery, crochet, sewing, handmade.  Fixing loose threads on my clothing, “not the good scissors!”, stashes of fabric, buttons, binding and ribbons.  Always dressing well to go out.  From Sylvia’s fabrics, pattern hunting and fabric matching.

Paternally from Denmark to Australia, right into Queensland, freezing to heat.  From food production, apple orchards, vegetable growing and home baking.

From awkwardness, confusion; leadership and faith.  From silliness and laughter with my treasured brother and sister.   From independence and competence, achievement and success.

From “hugs and kisses”, “hugs and kisses” among siblings at the end of car journeys, upon arrival at our holiday destination, the “Uh-oh better go to bed” and “I wear my sunglasses at night, to keep my panties on tight” fun play with siblings.

Photo found at  www.Redbubble.com

I’m from the bright yellow daffodil, pretty pink poppy and rich red rose, the calm Carbeen tree, breezy Belah and the beloved, guarded unique Leopard Tree.

From the smoking besa block incinerator in the backyard, the besa block “barby”, begrudged family trips to the dump.

From oranges, mandarins and almonds in the garden, lawns always watered through hot summer months.

From home-sewn school uniform and Dad-knitted navy cardigan, from tights keeping legs warm from pesky, shivery Jack Frost on our front lawn

From Sunday roast dinners and baked beans on toast, salad plate lunches, toast fingers with soup.  From Potatoes La Jolla, Herbed Chicken pieces from “promite, not vegemite” or “vegemite not promite” sandwiches in lunchboxes.

Piano lessons during lunchtime, then through swimming lessons in high school. Piano duets in my best friend’s Mum’s bedroom on weekend retreats from boarding school.  Boarding school challenges, fun and successes.  Singing and singing, and singing some more, “Yes, Jesus loves me”, Christmas carols and rhymes.  Renaissance polyphonies, madrigals, and contemporary and sacred choral works.

I'm from sharing my music, from teaching tiny littlies, imparting my intuition and knowledge to the families I meet.  From meeting my beloved and sharing in our union, from bearing two treasured, precious daughters who now ofttimes lead me in my journey.

And now I am me, here today, returned to the start, growing veges and living down south in South Australia from whence my ancestors came, living and loving creatively, following my Creator.

Farm photos courtesy of my brother and sister-in-law. 

Koala Viewing in the Adelaide Hills

Look at what we saw while enjoying the playground in Hahndorf.

A very agile little koala.

Climbing around his tree...

Sitting in a favourite posi...

Before jumping onto the next tree.  Quite a sight to see, unexpected and one we probably would have missed if it wasn't for our baby, little Eee, calling out "birdie, birdie" and pointing at the Magpies who were somewhat disturbed by this little fellow's antics.

(apologies for the sideways video. I keep forgetting you can't rotate video on my camera.)

Ess was thinking "will he climb all the way to the top or will he get scared?" she tells me.

I feel for Australia's koalas.  There is talk they may become extinct due to the cancer-causing virus when is prevalent in the koala population particularly on the east coast.  This added to the great urban sprawl gives them little hope.  However koalas on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, are found to be free of the virus.  This sounds very promising yet koalas are not native to the island and it is overpopulated.  There have been calls to cull the koala population on KI, due to the fact that the riverine habitat was becoming defoliated.  There was consideration of relocating koalas.  Discussions last year show that some have been relocated to the South East and that the problem is prevalent and the issues of sterilization, relocation and culling are still needing consideration.

A resident of Hahndorf told me that the koalas had been quite active there. I was surprised to see one in the town and wondered if he was one who had been relocated from KI??  He was adorable for us to view and I felt privileged knowing that it is not a common occurrence to see one of these furry friends outside a zoo and let alone one that is so active.

 

Of course being out and about in the Hills we could not resist some cherries.  These will be our last of this season.  On our last visit there was hustle and bustle in the processing of cherries.  Today there was only a saleslady with a few last boxes :(

...and strawberry picking in Hahndorf, which was actually the impetus for our trip.

Christmas Cherries

This special feeling towards fruit, its glory and abundance, is I would say universal...  We respond to cherry orchards and strawberry fields with a delight that a cabbage patch or even an elegant vegetable garden cannot provoke.  ~ Jane Grigson

 

One of the things I love about where we live is that it is merely a hop, skip and a jump to the Adelaide Hills. In less than 30 minutes we arrived at the cherry farm we intended to visit.  We were not disappointed as we stocked up on cherries to enjoy in this time of festive preparation (and of course with Pa who was visiting from Brisbane).  South Australia is certainly the place for fresh fruit and the Hills show an abundance of cherries and strawberries, apricots and plums this season and apples and pears etc. during winter.

We were very happy, as for the price of 1kg in the markets we carried 3.5 kgs home to be devoured.  Those working in the shed and picking in the orchard were not so happy however as the cherries were not in very good form.  The day before we had had very heavy and consistent rains.  The only real rains we have seen this year - the December rainfall this year is already over the average (and that was the only time of rain - we have returned to sunshine!). This is wonderful for many but for others it has seen the destruction of their crops which have been wiped out by the rain.

We bought both seconds and first grade cherries.  The seconds cherries had split skins as you can clearly see above but the fruit is still so juicy and sweet and succulent.  They just don't look so marvellous.  Last year's seconds were in much better form than this year.  It is such a shame as the farmers won't get the price they need for this fruit.

Still much of the fruit, even in the bag of seconds, is really quite nice in appearance and certainly edible.  Nothing was thrown out!  These fingers of my Generous Gentleman often visited his lips during the great cherry sort which followed our trip to the orchard.

Cherries speak Christmas to most of us here in Australia as the season is so short.  I don't remember a Christmas table that didn't contain a beautiful glass bowl full of cherries.  Ours will this year also.  It may also contain some Mini Black Forest Gateau if I find the time to bake these also...

Pavlova Magic

"In 1929, Herbert Sachse, the chef of the Hotel Esplanade in Perth, Western Australia, created the dessert Pavlova to celebrate the visit of Anna Pavlova to Australia. This dessert later became Australia's national dessert." http://www.centrew.com/quote/authordisplay.php?Id=166

"This was made by a Chef to give to a famous Ballerina who visited Australia as he wanted something as light and dainty as her."

I'm not sure how much "light and dainty" there is about my Generous Gentleman, or whether he could be considered a "ballerina" (except perhaps when he is washing dishes for me!), but this is what I whipped up for him recently upon request.  We also had lots of freshly picked strawberries from Beerenberg Farm, Hahndorf, which needed to be used in as many ways we could think of.  We have eaten lots of fresh strawberries, lots on the top of pavlova and also lots as Strawbet, a favourite dessert of Ess's which we make with our Extraction Juicer using pure strawberries - yes strawberry sorbet with no sugar.  It is absolutely delicious and yet another "miracle" produced by my wonderful Generous Gentleman.

The Pavlova was magic!  I was very pleased.  Despite it being Australian and my husband's passion for them, they are not something I make often.  In fact this may be my first - or my second.  To be honest I simply can't remember the last time I made a pavlova. They can be temperamental.  You want them to have a crispy outer shell and nice marshmallow centre.  So to a recipe in his "Essential Dessert Cookbook" I went and proceeded to beat away as follows.

I placed 4 egg whites in a large, very clean and dry glass bowl with a pinch of salt.  I let them reach room temperature and then beat slowly till they were a frothy foam.  The speed was gradually increased until the bubbles in the foam became small and evenly sized.  1 cup sugar was added gradually and beaten until it dissolved.

Using a metal spoon 2 tsp cornflour and 1 teaspoon white vinegar were folded in to make the desired marshmallow centre.  The mixture was smoothed onto a baking tray lined with paper to 1" high.  The baking in a warm oven 160degC lasted an hour until it was pale cream and crisp on the outside.  Mmm.  

It rose while baking but sadly sank on cooling. I believe this is normal and evidence of the lovely meringue centre.  Can anyone correct me on this?

Nevertheless, the pav was devoured and deliciously enjoyed by my Generous Gentleman and little Eee. Curiously Ess was not so fond of it - we cannot work out why. Perhaps she does not like the flavour of the egg whites.  She and I don't fare too well with eggs and I could concur with her that it is not MY favourite dessert.  Still I really enjoyed the fruit and the crispy shell.

Yet we dedicated this to our Generous Gentleman in honour of his birthday - yes it is never too late to celebrate.  His was mid-winter while he was away and we never really did get to celebrate properly as the house returned to a state of new order on his return.  He loved it - over and over. I was very impressed when he offered some to our guest as well.  That's self-sacrifice for you.  The meringue will last for ages so I only prepared half at first.  I don't think he wanted it to last at all.

It looks somewhat Christmassy, perhaps I'll revisit it then.   But onto my Christmas cake next - possibly the world's best Christmas cake containing dark chocolate, apricot nectar and some sweet sherry.  Oh yes and some fruit as well :)

Hmm so at the moment I am a Naturalist!

Maybe this relates to the fact that I am loving my gardening at the moment and, yes, I am "caring for, taming and interacting with animals" :) Oh how I love them so. (Most of you will know that we don't own any pets!)

Inspired by Michelle I recently took a little quiz at HelloQuizzy.com. Here are my results:

Your result for Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test...

Naturalistic

"This area has to do with nature, nurturing and relating information to one's natural surroundings. Those with it are said to have greater sensitivity to nature and their place within it, the ability to nurture and grow things, and greater ease in caring for, taming and interacting with animals. They may also be able to discern changes in weather or similar fluctuations in their natural surroundings. They are also good at recognizing and classifying different species.

'Naturalists' learn best when the subject involves collecting and analyzing, or is closely related to something prominent in nature; they also don't enjoy learning unfamiliar or seemingly useless subjects with little or no connections to nature. It is advised that naturalistic learners would learn more through being outside or in a kinesthetic way.

Careers which suit those with this intelligence include scientists, naturalists, conservationists, gardeners and farmers." (Wikipedia)

Take Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test at HelloQuizzy

Have some fun with it!

The End of an Age

How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you - you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences - like rags and shreds of your very life. ~Katherine Mansfield

This week saw the sale of the family farm.

It seems like the end of an age to me. It has been around with us, part of us for as long as I have known, of course, and for many years longer. It has been in my mother's ownership for over 30 years and her family purchased it over 50 years before that. Add that up and it's almost half of Australia's history as a country. It has been the place which was our section of our Australia. The place my ancestors pioneered in the region producing wool, wheat, barley, cotton and more. It was the place my mother grew up. The place she learned to cook, sew and garden, to ride horses. The place she took us back to with her Mum to enjoy lamingtons together on family picnics. Granny always made lamingtons for us to enjoy at Roydon. The place where I remember many fun moments with my family and friends: riding in the tractor, riding on the sulky, learning to drive the car when I was a young teenager, cooking pan-fried scones, camping out, picnics with my Granny, shearing in the shed and observing the many workers.

It was the place I found my little lamb, Bimbo, when I was about 10 years old. She was an orphan lamb whom I chased and chased and chased around the shearing shed, trying to catch her. Lucky for me, but possibly somewhat unlucky for her, she got caught in the fence. It was rather easy for me to "catch" her then. I pulled her out of the fence, showed Dad and we let her rest in the Landrover until we took her back to our home in town. I loved her, doted on her. Unfortunately she died after catching Tetanus after she was bitten by a dog while staying with a friend as we holidayed. This stayed with me for many years. I think I felt it wouldn't have happened if we hadn't left her. Maybe it gave me a very early sense of what responsibility for our loved ones means.

So now that place I am attached to has moved into new ownership. My Mum is pleased that the new owners are the old neighbours. They are happy for us to visit the old homestead whenever we like. I wonder how it will feel next time I do that. I imagine that sense of it being mine, of having been my place, of it being that part of the country my ancestors chose, will not be gone.

Photos courtesy of my brother and sister-in-law! Thankyou.