The circle of life

Fred and Alice Lindstrom at Rosewater a1950

It's been amazing putting together the pieces of my grandmothers family history.  Its been great hearing the old stories and looking at the old photos of my grandmother and her sisters as young women.  They were all such beautiful girls, and just natural stunners the lot of them.  They must have had so much fun too. 

In 1995 I started writing notes while my Nanna Jenkins talked about her past. A lot of it focused on the Mayo family who lived at Port Augusta and also past Hawker in a hut along the Wonaka Creek.  I loved listening to these old stories and staring into the old photos in her album.  I wrote like mad.  Took it all in, as much as I could.  I formed some sort of connection with the past into the present.

At the time I decided to send a questionnaire to Nanna's brothers and sister so they could write me old stories and I could compile a family history of sorts with information about their own children.  I few of them responded, the old reliables but the ones who may have a little secret or two, or just weren't really interested didn't.  

I still kept listening to my Nanna throughout time, and loved every minute of it. 

Then when I had my first son Charlie in 2007, I thought it might be a good chance to do some family history research.   I met up with Nanna's nephew Ray Hayward because Nanna's eldest sister Eva had a lot of history collected throughout the years.  She kept close ties with the Port Augusta family too.  Too bad I hadn't asked her more questions before she had died in 2004 around about the time of the bad Tsunami. 

Lindstrom Girls a1940

So from Ray, I took down first names, some second ones too.  Then started looking in the phone book for relatives and put an add in the Port Augusta paper asking for Mayo descendants to contact me. I did a few calls who were relatives so they were able to help me put the pieces of the puzzle together.  These were more distant relatives, probably 3rd and 4th cousins.  So that's where more self discovery began. 

I travelled all over the state visiting people, helped to organise a big group to the Wonaka Creek hut for a bbq reunion, reunited long lost relatives, uncovered hidden hushes, and identified people in old photos, and most important made new friends.  Throughout these travels I was blessed to be given the Mayo family bible more than 130 years old.  I collected information for more than 700 people in my database and thousands of old photos and stories. 

Since then I have started compiling the Lindstrom family book, who are my closest relatives in the Mayo family.  The book is dedicated to the memory of Fred and Alice Lindstrom. It will start with an early history about the Mayo family at Wonaka Creek.  There's a lot of information about the family written by a local reporter.  Also, some more information about the Lindstroms, Fred and Alice's life story and that of their children, photos and descendant charts.  There will be an descendant index at the back and a gallery.  I'm going to have it professionally bound and printed.

Lindstrom family picnic at Blackwood a1945

I've been talking with all of the cousins who are also very excited and most of them have now provided me with a lot of things to make a beautiful keepsake.  So hopefully I will have something to give to my Nanna Jenkins and Auntie Betty in the next few months.  My Nanna will be 93 years old in December 2010.  She's in a nursing home now, and her memory is fading.  This is so important to me, to treasure her memory and that of her beautiful parents and siblings.  They were just amazing people.  It sad to think there are only the two of them left. 

They've been passing away over the past 20 years or so.  They were all lovely.  Sometimes I wish I had more time with them.  It was lucky to know such wonderful people and hearing their stories though.  Sad to see them go but unfortunately that is the circle of life.

The Lindstrom family a1980

Some beautiful writing about Mothers

My cousin Kathryn (she is a gorgeous girl) sent me the below beautiful writing about Mothers.  I don't know who the author is but I value what has been said.  They have touched my heart and brought a smile to my face especially when I reflect upon my own life experiences.  Please enjoy.  xx


Mothers

Real Mothers don't eat quiche

They don't have time to make it


Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils

Are probably in the sandbox


Real Mothers often have sticky floors

Filthy ovens and happy kids

Real Mothers know that dried play dough

Doesn't come out of carpets


Real Mothers don't want to know what

The vacuum just sucked up


Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'

And get their answer when a little

Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'


Real Mothers know that a child's growth

Is not measured by height or years or grade...

It is marked by the progression of Mummy to Mum to Mother.....



The Images of Mother


4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mummy can do anything!


8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mum knows a lot! A whole lot!


12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't know everything!


14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn't have a clue.
.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mum? She's so five minutes ago.


18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!


35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mum's opinion.


45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mum would have thought about it?


65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mum.


The beauty of a woman

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,

Because that is the doorway to her heart,

The place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,

But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she

Shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Nothing beats a cup of tea with Nanna



Nanna and Owen September 2010

Nothing beats a cup of tea with my Nanna. 

I've just returned from my bi-annual visit with my Nanna Jenkins at Mount Gambier in the south-east.  Nanna has been in a nursing home for nearly two years.  I don't stay at her place anymore.  We used to have such good times at her place.  We would always sleep in the bed together at a night time and enjoy the days. 

At the nursing home we just sat around enjoying the moment.  She loved playing with the boys.  Charlie went straight for the lolly tin, so we ate at least half that during our first visit.  The lollies were a real hit. 

Spending time in Nanna's room

I tried to see her everyday. Its a bit harder with the boys, so by the time I had got them and myself ready I could only be there for an hour or two and one day I spent the whole day with her.  I enjoyed just hanging out with my Nanna, chatting and drinking cups of tea. 

Nanna's short term memory has deteriorated but she still remembers who I am and other close relatives too, although she gets the boys names mixed up a bit but that doesn't matter. Every now and then she asks me if her husband Tom is there.  This time I responded with a no and then changed the subject that her son Tom will be at a party tomorrow for Zac's eleventh birthday.  I often change the subject now when she asks who is living and who is dead out of her family because she mourns each time she is reminded about a death especially her sisters.  I always remind her that they had such good times and are all so lovely.

Charlie giving love to Owen


Nanna gave Owen a little teddy bear that had a green and white scarf and matching hat.  It was really cute.  She enjoys giving things to the boys especially lollies and teddys.

Nanna has made close friends with the other ladies in her area.  Their names are Dawn, Jean, and Jessie.  There was a new lady Irene that arrived on a day I was there.  I think they are lovely and we all talked together in the sitting room.  There were some other ladies there but they seemed to be sticking to themselves. 



Jessie

We also spent some time with Mary Dermody who is related to Auntie Marie.  She is lovely and was happy to play with the boys.  Mary Dermody was a Hayes, and  her brother was Jack Hayes Auntie Marie's Dad.  Mary's daughter is her only child a red head Jeanene. 



Mary Dermody playing botchi


I shared some bakers delight bread and dried fruit as a treat as they can't get out from the nursing home very often.  An old man came walking along, so I offered him some fruit too.  He took the biggest handful you could imagine and it was great to see him enjoy the fruit and try fit it all in his mouth in one go! 




Charlie playing botchi

 

On the Tuesday all of the oldies were gathered in the activities hall to play bocchi.  It's a game where there are two teams the red and the blue.  The aim is to throw their ball at a white ball and whatever team has a ball closest to the white ball is the winner.  They are pretty good at it and they all enjoy this activity.  It even gets a bit competitive but they laugh a lot too.  When we first arrived the lady who works at the nursing home asked me to introduce the children.  They were all so thrilled to see the boys.  Then the lady took baby Owen around to each of them.  It was like show and tell.  It was amazing to see the happiness the two children gave them.  Charlie played bocchi too. 

Botchi in the activities room

On the last day we had a little party in Nanna's room with some yummy food, ginger ale and lemonade, some bakers delight bread and dark chocolate coated ginger.  I wouldn't be surprised if Nanna didn't eat her lunch after that.  We sat around talking and playing with the boys.

My Nanna and I are very good friends.  I said that to her and she agreed that we were good mates and that she had raised us since we were little ones.  I think that has definitely strengthened our bond. When Dale and I were growing up she often had us at her place.  The little things have stuck in my mind like cuddles and laughs, hot baths and fresh hot water in a jug to rinse the soap out of our hair, cheese on toast, sausage rolls, the big lolly tin, cream puffs, hot milk before bed, cuddles, card games, fruit trees, playing in the garden and more.  She was a lovely Nanna to us when we were kids.  I'm so glad we are great friends now and she now knows my two boys. 

It was wonderful to spend time with my Nanna at her nursing home and I'm so happy that she is happy and cheerful, and cracking jokes at every opportunity.  She is lovely and I love her dearly.  I'm trying to cherish every moment.

The walking history tour of North Terrace, Adelaide

This may actually sound sad, but I realised the other day how little I know about my own city and history. 

This week Charlie, Diana, Owen and myself caught a train from Seacliff to the city.  On days that Diana has Charlie they often catch the train into town just for fun.  I wanted to experience his experience I'd heard about so frequently even the part where he goes "toot toot" all the way into town.  I hadn't caught a train in many years and it was so easy just walking from Diana's house on Maitland Terrace to the train station.  Also, I wanted to see "The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize" being exhibited at the SA Museum.

When we arrived at the train station in the city I was immediately reminded of my Nanna Jenkins who worked an the Railway tearooms as a young girl.  We walked past the donut shop that a friend is constantly talking about and then up the ramp onto North Terrace.

That's when I realised how little I knew about my own city. 

We stopped to look at Parliament house where you can go watch politicians in the House of Assembly and can do tours to learn about the history of parliament house, and how parliament works. 

The South African War Memorial Adelaide

We saw a statue commemorating the South African War otherwise known as the Boar War from 1899 to 1902 and in memory of those who fell.  I'd seen that statue a thousand times on my way into town to collect some lunch but never had a close up.  It's a beautiful big statue of a soldier on his horse and has a plaque explaining its purposes and the names of soldiers who died at the war.  After doing some reading I found that at the time people were dedicated to their Queen and the Empire so it was South Australian's way of contributing towards the Empire.  Its been there since 1904 and is made of bronze.

We stopped to look at the gentlemans' house on North Terrace.  Its been there for the prestigious society men since the beginning of Adelaide.  It still stands there today for that purpose and apparently you can do tours. 

Then we stopped to look at the many plaques on the footpath remembering great South Australians like Sir Henry Ayers (business man, banker and parliamentarian) 1821 - 1897, Sir Richard Baker (lawyer, pastoralist, and parliamentarian) 1841 -1911, Robert Barr Smith (business man and philanthropist) 1824 - 1915, Jean Lady Bonython (community work for women and children) 1891 - 1977, Sir Donald Bradman (cricketer and businessman) and many more.  There are a lot of places named after these people like Ayers house, the Barr Smith Library, Bonython Park and Sir Donald Bradman Drive. 

 The most interesting plaque for me was David Frederich Dallwitz (Jazz musician and artist) born 1911 and has only just recently passed away in 2003.  I knew this because the Dallwitz family are friends with the Penhall family.  Jamie is friends with Nick Dallwitz the grandson of David Dallwitz who has passed his legacy to his children and grandchildren who are amazing talented artists and musicians to this day.  I've been to his old house at Seacliff which is wall to wall from ground to ceiling of the families amazing paintings.  I like the idea of having paintings on the walls like that.  The old house is like a rabbit warren, with many rooms and parts to the house upstairs and downstairs where the who family lived.  I've seen David Dallwitz's paintings which are incredible.  Some of them stand 6 feet high from floor to ceiling.  His whole life was dedicated to art, teaching and exhibiting his work, and he is represented in the Australian National Gallery, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Bank, and the University of South Australia.

Mary Lee

Another was a statue standing out the front of the Governor's house was of Mary Lee  1921 -1829 who devoted her life to the improvement of social and political conditions for those who suffered the most, in particular those that affected women.  She also was a major influence in gaining the right for women to vote on 18 December 1894 and the first in the world to be able to stand for parliament.

Matthew Flinders 1774 to 1814

There was a statue of Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age and probably most famous for his exploration of the Australian coastline and promoting the use of the word Australia.  He was considered an important explorer of Australia and has a number of landmarks named after him in South Australia include the include the Flinders mountain range and Flinders Ranges National Park, Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island, Flinders University, Flinders Medical Centre, the suburb Flinders Park and Flinders Street in Adelaide. The statue is made of bronze.

Spirit of Compassion

We stopped to look at the National War Memorial commemorating those who served in the First World War. Opened in 1931, the memorial is located on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue.  Memorial services are held at the site throughout the year, with major services on both Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November).  Inside the memorial are the names of soldiers who fought and died in WWI.  Diana has seen Sandor Stolz's name before, I had a look but couldn't find it.  On the outside of the memorial is the Spirit of Compassion as a winged spirit of womanhood holding the body of a dead soldier, and a the Fountain of Compassion. 

Spirit of Duty

On other side of the monument facing North Terrace is the Spirit of Duty with three people a girl, a student and a farmer that represent the abandonment of the symbols of their craft and unprepared for the war to come.

Venus

In Prince Henry Gardens the statue of Venus Adelaide's very first statue, and a copy in Carrara marble of Canova's Statue. The pedestal of Sicilian and Kapunda marble.


Next a statue of King Edward VII King and Emperor 1901 - 1910 and his mother was Queen Victoria.  Hewas King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India. He was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was renamed the House of Windsor by his son, George V.  Before his accession to the throne, Edward held the title of Prince of Wales and was heir apparent to the throne for longer than anyone else in history.  During the long widowhood of his mother, Queen Victoria, he was largely excluded from political power and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite.

Robert Burns 1759 to 1796

And what city wouldn't have its own Robert Burns statue which stands out front of our State Library.  Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply He was was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide.

Then to the SA Museum to see the Waterhouse Natural history art prize.  Now that was incredible to see too.

It was such a lot to take in such a short walk. Actually I feel a little ashamed that I don't know more but I suppose I can't remember being taught about this at school or by my parents and life goes by.  The only history I really know well is that of family.  Looking at the positives, this little walk has given me a motivation to learn more.  There are some tours available, so will look into that and I'm sure some friends will be interested too.

Owen's first word is "Car"

Charlie and Owen playing trains August 2010

First thing this morning Charlie, Owen and I were sitting on the bed.  I was getting ready to feed Owen some milk when he looked up at me with a big smile and said "car".  I screamed "his first word is car Charlie, his first word is car" and Charlie was very impressed.

Charlie loves playing with his cars and trains, and they are a very important part of his life.  Charlie has been making a real effort to introduce and make them Owen friends too.  It's so cute seeing them play cars and trains together.  Charlie grabs a car or train to tell Owen all about it, the colour and type, its name and shows him different jumps and driving techniques with the occassional car engine and train toot noise.  Owen is always very attentive to his big brothers car advice and has a big smile on his face.
  

So listen all, write it down in the books, on the calendar, and let all the friends and relatives know. Owens first word is car!

Owen is five months now.  He's no longer that little new born baby, who was all floppy and totally relied on me for everything.  I mean he still relies on me for everything but he is different now. 

Owen is controlling his body by rolling around on the floor, lifting his arms and legs, grabbing hold of things like his feet, rolling over onto his stomach and lifting his head, straightening his arms to hold his body off the ground, and moving his bum in the air nearly into Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog).  Owen is blowing rasberries, smiling and talking the baby talk constantly and is a very happy little baby.  No signs of teeth yet but they will come.

Charlie and Owen are spending a lot of time playing together.  Charlie usually tells me "Mummy go away" so he can play with Owen. I try not to feel left out.  It's incredible they are only little but already asking for some privacy from their parents.  It also makes me wonder if Owen will learn things more quickly from his big brother like pulling everything out of my bedroom cupboard, and off the benches. They are going to be into everything.  I will remain calm, take a few deep breaths and leave the room.  So fun times ahead! 

It is so fabulous to see these changes taking place.  I am so blessed.

And by the way did I tell you, Owen must be one of the smartest babies I know because the word car at five months is amazing!

Art workshop with Cat Leonard

Last Monday Tania, Renae, Sarah, Sandi and me met at Cat Leonard's house for a painting workshop.  The aim of the session was to create a painting similar to Cat Leonard's style. 

Cat's style to me is contemporary pop art illustration.  I'm not sure how she would explain her style and I should have asked her but it has a lot of beautiful bright colours and free thick confident strokes.  Cat's house has beautiful bright paintings all over the walls and she does a lot of portraits of famous people like Johnny Depp, Jimi Hendrix, Ned Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Nick Cave.   My favourite painting was of Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas.  I was lucky enough to be given a photo copy of the painting.  Thanks Cat!

To prepare for the day we chose a portrait photo that had a lot of contrast in the light and dark colours.  I decided to paint a portrait of my cousin Tehlia Lauerman who is absolutely stunning.  I had decided to move away from doing my kids, because I do lots of things for them, so wanted something for me. 

The night before I prepared by background on the 40 cm by 40 cm square canvas.  I added gold, green, pink and blue metallic paints and using a tissue made a swirling design.  The next day at the workshop I drew a grid on the photo and translated that as a chalk grid onto the canvas.  Using the grid and a charcoal stick I drew the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, nose, and an outline of the face and hair.

I started by painting the eyes, eyebrows and mouth using thinker black strokes.  I applied the white paint for the eyes and teeth.  The side of the face, cheekbones and chin were accentuated by a black area of hair, and the remainder of hair was applied using a fan brush with purple, gold and black coloured paints in long confident strokes.

For the shaded areas on the face, around the nose, and cheek I used the green and purple coloured paints with a little medium to get some definition and bring the facial features out of the canvas.  The mouth and eyes were touched up with a little paint to give more detail eg pink colour to the mouth and white reflection in the eyes.

Cat had provided me with instructions as I put the picture together.  She was so calm and helpful.  She managed to work her way around the group to help everyone too.  It was just the right size group for her tuition.  Little Owen was a pure angel and Cat would help me by holding him when he was a little unsettled. He fed twice, sleep and watched us girls paint.  We had a break in the middle of the day to have lunch. Everyone brought a different plate to share.  We all had a nice cold beer too.

At first I felt critical of my work but the next day realised how good it actually was.  My cousin Tehlia and her sister Aleasha loved it too.

Sarah Gold did a blue Harriet (her daughter), Tania did Ashleigh (her daughter), Renae did Jai (her son), me did Tehlia (my cousin) and Sandi did the scary looking drag queen out of Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Everyones paintings were really awesome.  Well done girls and most important thanks to Cat who so fantastic.  I hope I can do another workshop with Cat Leonard.

Superwoman snow expedition

A view of Mt Hotham from Ettamogah Lodge

Having dinner with the girls last night was a good chance to reminisce about old times.  The old snow trips came up in conversation, and we were screaming in laughter about the funny things that happened on these fabulous holidays.

So it would have been at least 10 years or more since Sarah Dixon and I snowboarded together. 

The whole trip was a hit. We would usually do a convoy of cars and a mini van with 18 friends and stay at the Ettamogah Lodge right on the Davenport trail in the Mt Hotham snowfields.  It was actually quite a good place to stay, cheap and very well located right in the middle of Hotham. 

We would get up every day to have a big meal, and then snowboard down the Davenport Access trail down to the Village lift. The day was spent snowboarding, and after falling over a number of times, eating, and drinking. At night in groups of six people we would cook a shared meal and talk. After that we would go out for drinks at the Hotham pub or just go to sleep because we were so tired. In between all this we would hang out at the lodge, build snowmen and make snow angels.

Sarah and I spent the whole trip together because we were about the same level at snowboarding so we could keep up with each other and have a good laugh.  If you couldn't keep up with the others then you would probably all meet up again at the Hotham pub or cafe for hot chocolates and beers around lunch time. 

Sarah and I will never forget the fun times we had.  We followed each other around the different snowboarding courses, falling over a number of times, and laughing our heads off and enjoying delicious hot chocolates at the bottom of Slalom Gully at the Snake Gully Hut.  We were actually not too bad at snowboarding especially considering we were so new to the sport, in fact Sarah was fantastic considering it was her first year. 

I'm not sure why we thought we were so good because when we talk about what happened we were actually really terrible at it.  For instance,  at the Play Ground trail Sarah had over turned a sharp bend in the trail and disappeared over the edge of a steep hill.  Brenton and I went to see if she was okay and there she was down the side a steep hill trying to climb back up using her hands but the snow keep giving way and she would end up sliding further down the hill.  In the end she had to take off her snowboard and use it with both hands to climb back up to the top. 

Another time when negotiating the same part of the Play Ground trail, around that same bend Sarah had fallen over to stop herself going down the same steep slope.  At this point I was at the bottom of the hill waiting for her.  I watched her as she got back up and then accidentally let go of her snowboard. It came catapulting straight down the steep hill towards a cliff.  I had to  move really quickly, like you do with a snowboard strapped to your foot, and launch myself like 'superwoman' onto Sarah's snowboard to stop it going over the edge.  When we think about it now it was so funny, and we always cracked up laughing.

On the last day, Sarah and I were determined to make the most of the fresh powder available on Blue Ribbon.  Despite feeling very tired from the previous five days snowboarding we still attempted to do the trail but found ourselves falling over a number of times, getting stuck in the soft snow and in between the small trees.  We didn't know if we were going to laugh or cry.

So throughout the years, Sarah and I have been reminiscing about the funny little things that happened on our snowboarding trip.   We always laugh about Sarah's sliding down the side of the mountain, and her accidentally letting go of her snowobard to watch as it went sliding down the hill and then me having to save it from the cliff by doing a big jump just like superwoman.

So I feel lucky to have these wonderful memories and something that has bonded our friendship. 

Great times and great friends.