Week 51 Reminiscing
Week 51
Hurry, don't be lateI can hardly waitI said to myself when we're oldWe'll go dancing in the darkWalking through the parkAnd reminiscing
Gerards Birthday party
Greethilda reminiscing
Refuge Cove - a thought for a 75 year old
Workshed
Cricket sleepless nights
Cold but enjoyable
Up early (as usual) but no cricket. Last night was brother in law Gerard's birthday party - always a fun evening. They live close by in our village, so Janny rode her bike and I drove the car so I could retire early if needed - and drinking not an issue.
Gerard had bought a pinball machine to "while away the winter months". It was fun and reminded me that I had bought a second hand one about 40 years ago when I was living at St. Kilda Fire Station. I managed to top score in my first game...haha. Personal Computers were just starting then - I had a Commodore 64. The typists were still doing the Fire Protection Reports on typewriters...my, how things have changed.
Anyway, I was sitting next to Greethilda (Janny's youngest sister) and somehow or other I found myself reminiscing over some old stuff that she probably hadn't known or heard before...
eg, that I can still remember when my father died (about 70 years ago).
and that he met my Mum when he was barracked at Caulfield Race Course at the start of WWII.
And that I used to go to the horse races as an (underage) teenager - Caulfield was my favourite.
There seemed to be a lot more - I must have been mixing my Dutch and English quite a bit - even though I wasn't drinking...
Then Greethilda asked if she could share something with me - that she had been thinking about since my 75th Birthday Party.
We used to have a boat called Refuge Cove - around the year 2001 - affordable as a result of us housing refugees. The name struck a nerve with Greethilda partly because of what it meant but also because it "sounds so nice" compared to the the Dutch rough translation of "veilige inham".
And Refuge Cove had a special meaning for me as I had sailed there a couple of times on my boat Palermo - a boat or walking are the only ways of getting there...
Now, the point of Greethilda mentioning it now, more than 20 years later is that she had reflected on me turning 75 and wanted to say that she liked the idea of how we provide a "Refuge Cove" of sorts here at the Care Farm - the kids and the Day Activity Clients, the apartment dwellers in need of housing and not least of all a safe place for Tjeerd, my volunteer helper...(It was Greethilda who had first asked if we could find a place for this "young chap from the village" who had also been one of her primary school students).
Perhaps epiphany gets thrown about too readily these days but I really did have a "sudden, profound realization or moment of insight, often leading to a breakthrough understanding".
That is to say that I was very moved at the thought and also the idea that my life with Janny has been my very own Refuge Cove experience - a really safe place after the stormy waters of my First Life.
Again a reminder that I write this weekly reach out to my kids - I told Greethilda that I now have something to write about on Sunday morning!
Speaking in Dutch is really quite difficult for me - especially for emotional or deep subjects, but Greethilda is good with English, so I was able to muddle through.
I play Wordfeud with Janny's Mum and we do the weekly Cryptic Crossword - Renny also got Bananagrams for her birthday - so I had to play that in Dutch as well...
But as Greethilda said, she thinks some words definitely sound better in English - Refuge Cove being just one example - and Legacy was another - she suggested that the idea of Refuge Cove at De Twa Buken could well be my "Legacy". (apart from my kids and grandkids).
We also talked about the meaning of reminiscing - hence the reference. There didn't seem to be a translation that quite hit the "feeling". I remembered the song and looked it up.
Around the (Winter) Farm
We're very much in holiday mode - Janny exclaims now and then "ah how good is this - just doing nothing!".
We had Ben home and so we did some serious Christmas cooking - including Beef Wellington for Janny's Mum as well.
Ben went to Amsterdam for the weekend but will be back again tomorrow so that he can pack for his next trip - a month in Bangkok! He is trying to do some more modelling there - the last time he had quite an experience working for a Thai Princess.
He then heads off to India for a friends wedding. He'll miss seeing Glen, Nicole Lily and Jaz when they visit here in february.
We have to go to Groningen a few times this week - so we'll meet Ben at the train station up there.
Time to sharpen my chisels...
More Snow Houses
It's more of a challenge making the jigs so that they all turn out the same
Janny sold this winter deer but I first had to attach some antlers...
Janny has also been learning a lot about 3D printing... from YouTube. These are pretty ingenious the way they print with moving parts...
Into winter now...
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