A curious fact is dad placed a piece of rock by the home water tank. It had had been picked up nearby. We kids were advised that this was a fragment of a meteorite.
Dad spoke with gratitude that, whilst he was three, his grandad Fred took him on his shoulders outside in the early morning to watching Haley's Comet go by. This was his biggest memory of his grandad Fred that he had. Such was a symbiosis- a rub off for Seth, his grandson. Dad found the cosmic world out there incredulous.
Dad kept to few words. He drove safely, dressed for each occasion. Cut his toast in eighths with a knife for his honey on top.
He showed me how to scramble eggs and make an omelet. He taught me how to catch eels with raw meat, string and a long stick at the back of the woolshed dm.
He would hang and smoke these. He ordered oranges from Gisborne by crate. He could peel any apple in one peel. He bought oysters from Foveaux Straight by crate.
He danced the quickstep and the waltz with me. One day when I was ten, I had my first fall. I was on one of the station horse, getting used to trop to canter. Whenever heading back to the woolshed, the horses, any of them, got the smell of some oats to eat upon the return. I took off, but slipped and fell with a thump. Then, lying there, I heard dad's footsteps and stress and concern as he ran to kneel beside me. I recognized the beauty of his love with that wash of gratitude that can occur.
Dad spoke with gratitude that, whilst he was three, his grandad Fred took him on his shoulders outside in the early morning to watching Haley's Comet go by. This was his biggest memory of his grandad Fred that he had. Such was a symbiosis- a rub off for Seth, his grandson. Dad found the cosmic world out there incredulous.
Dad kept to few words. He drove safely, dressed for each occasion. Cut his toast in eighths with a knife for his honey on top.
He showed me how to scramble eggs and make an omelet. He taught me how to catch eels with raw meat, string and a long stick at the back of the woolshed dm.
He would hang and smoke these. He ordered oranges from Gisborne by crate. He could peel any apple in one peel. He bought oysters from Foveaux Straight by crate.
He danced the quickstep and the waltz with me. One day when I was ten, I had my first fall. I was on one of the station horse, getting used to trop to canter. Whenever heading back to the woolshed, the horses, any of them, got the smell of some oats to eat upon the return. I took off, but slipped and fell with a thump. Then, lying there, I heard dad's footsteps and stress and concern as he ran to kneel beside me. I recognized the beauty of his love with that wash of gratitude that can occur.
The most 'affective sound ' of my childhood was to hear the clunk of the iron hook on the farm gate by the woolshed. This happened at five pm. This was when dad gave the signal that he was walking home from work. I would leap up, run down the hill, hop over the style and trot up the gravel road to greet him and walk home with him.
Lucky and me. 1960
I did have my own 12 hand pony at the appropriate time. Lucky was a lease for two years, thanks to Dad and Aunt Pris encouraging Nana to buy me a saddle.