A quick beach walk with Nigella, where taken up in the moment I decided to leap over the creek. Convinced of my athletic prowess I ran and jumped. Sadly I didn’t quite make it, landed in the water and somehow ended up rolling over and landing on my back? Apparently graceless, according to Rob. It was funny though. I then dared him to do better, his leap was just as unsuccessful and he ended up with water and sand splattered up his legs. Nigella disowned us, how embarrassing!
A drive north, punctuated by a stop at Oatlands for bread (Apple, walnut and fruit loaf and rye) and coffee, a little wander along to look at the antique shops. The Fruit bread torn into chunks and devoured as we drove along in the car.
A belated birthday dinner for Rob’s mother of perfect winter oysters with sparkling, sticky maple pork ribs with rice and sautéed cavolo nero from our garden. Dessert was a date and dark chocolate meringue cake with cream. Sticky and delicious, but light at the same time.
I picked a bucket of slightly frozen cumquats from the tree in the early morning sun to take back home to make cumquat marmalade.
The drive back home through Evandale and Nile is much prettier than the highway. We pretended to ourselves that we would not stop again for Companion bakery bread on the way home. I did smirk slightly and was secretly relieved as Rob slowed down and ducked into Oatlands again. Oatlands is looking pretty smart at the moment, new shops, renovations, new mill. For once a Tasmanian township that hasn’t been bastardised with modern buildings (well at least on their main road anyway!) In the warmth of the bakery we decided to eat steak pies and drink more coffee. We got a country batard loaf and I was quite firm with Rob that it could stay in the back where it wouldn’t disappear!
On the way back we decided to bypass the whole Brighton bypass debacle and went through Colebrook and Campania. It was nice to have the time to chat about our garden. Rob and I talked about our most favourite fruits, the ones that are hard to buy, or are prohibitively expensive. Now the orchard at the block already has 33 trees that include apples, pears, plums, apricots, almonds, mulberries, pomegranates (optimistic I know), cherries, a peach, a nectarine and a fig. Plants are our thing really, so we’d like to be a bit more serious about producing four of our favourites. We decided upon in no particular order: cumquats, quinces, raspberries and rhubarb (not technically a fruit but close enough!) Maybe we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves, but it’s nice to dream.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Legacy
Two years ago tomorrow my grandmother passed away.
Well that’s not quite true, my grandmother, or Nagu (or Gran in Hungarian), suffered from dementia. The symptoms had been coming on slowly for years, so in a way she left us years before that day. Nagu had always lived very closely to our family. My mother and father bought a block of land and built their home two doors up from my mother's family home. Nagu continued to live in her house for awhile, but eventually moved into the flat attached to the back of my parents house. So we saw her every day, she cared for us, fed us, played with us and usually went everywhere we did! I guess because of this closeness, we didn't notice the little things for quite some time.
It has probably taken us the two years since her death to forget what dementia had done to her. To strip away the symptoms of memory loss, the vagueness, the change in her personality, the regression to childhood, the loss of communication as she forgot English and reverted to speaking in Hungarian, the inability to look after herself anymore.
In the last year of her life Nagu had to go and live in a home. This was a particularly heart breaking time for our family, as she still retained enough of her memory to know that she didn’t want to be there. As she’d had a tendency to wander at night, she was effectively in the lock down high security section of the nursing home, unfortunately her mobility rapidly deteriorated once in the home so this classification was meaningless, she wasn’t going anywhere! But this meant that the others in her section weren’t capable of social interaction, usually heavily sedated they sat around staring. Every time we visited she’d ask if we would take her home. I could keep it together during the visit, but would normally cry in the car on the way home.
This is a cruel, slow disease, one without dignity.
The last time I went to see her there, I knew it would in all likelihood be the last time I saw her. She wasn’t well. She had loved our dog Nigella, and it was wonderful that the home let her come with us to visit. Nigella nuzzled her hand, and whined in a funny way, Nagu smiled. Rob and I sat in her room whilst the nurse spoon fed her some lunch, but she wasn’t eating very well, she didn’t want to finish it. Afterwards I held her hand. It was cold and so small. My grandmother was always a tease; I remember she pretended to tickle my hand and smiled at me. In that moment there was a flicker of the old Nagu. She was tired and wanted to sleep. We said goodbye and told her that we loved her. Turning to leave, I got to the door, but walked back and kissed her one more time.
Two days later Nagu fell asleep with her son watching her, her breathing slowed and she left us.
Last week my parents were talking to me about the piano. It had belonged to my grandparents; I remember asking Nagu to play for us, and being delighted as she sang along to the music. When we were in primary school all five grandchildren took up piano lessons and the piano moved into our house. It has stayed there ever since, untouched for the last 10 years. My parents said they didn’t know what to do with it. They believed nobody wanted it. The words couldn’t come out quickly enough, “but it was Nagu’s we can’t get rid of it!” They looked surprised; I haven’t played since I was 15, I told them I’d love to have it. Mum admitted to feeling relief, as she didn’t want to get rid of it really!
So I have my legacy from Nagu. Not sure where it’s going to fit one day in the hut, but to me it provides a perfect memory of Nagu, before dementia took her away.
Well that’s not quite true, my grandmother, or Nagu (or Gran in Hungarian), suffered from dementia. The symptoms had been coming on slowly for years, so in a way she left us years before that day. Nagu had always lived very closely to our family. My mother and father bought a block of land and built their home two doors up from my mother's family home. Nagu continued to live in her house for awhile, but eventually moved into the flat attached to the back of my parents house. So we saw her every day, she cared for us, fed us, played with us and usually went everywhere we did! I guess because of this closeness, we didn't notice the little things for quite some time.
It has probably taken us the two years since her death to forget what dementia had done to her. To strip away the symptoms of memory loss, the vagueness, the change in her personality, the regression to childhood, the loss of communication as she forgot English and reverted to speaking in Hungarian, the inability to look after herself anymore.
In the last year of her life Nagu had to go and live in a home. This was a particularly heart breaking time for our family, as she still retained enough of her memory to know that she didn’t want to be there. As she’d had a tendency to wander at night, she was effectively in the lock down high security section of the nursing home, unfortunately her mobility rapidly deteriorated once in the home so this classification was meaningless, she wasn’t going anywhere! But this meant that the others in her section weren’t capable of social interaction, usually heavily sedated they sat around staring. Every time we visited she’d ask if we would take her home. I could keep it together during the visit, but would normally cry in the car on the way home.
This is a cruel, slow disease, one without dignity.
The last time I went to see her there, I knew it would in all likelihood be the last time I saw her. She wasn’t well. She had loved our dog Nigella, and it was wonderful that the home let her come with us to visit. Nigella nuzzled her hand, and whined in a funny way, Nagu smiled. Rob and I sat in her room whilst the nurse spoon fed her some lunch, but she wasn’t eating very well, she didn’t want to finish it. Afterwards I held her hand. It was cold and so small. My grandmother was always a tease; I remember she pretended to tickle my hand and smiled at me. In that moment there was a flicker of the old Nagu. She was tired and wanted to sleep. We said goodbye and told her that we loved her. Turning to leave, I got to the door, but walked back and kissed her one more time.
Two days later Nagu fell asleep with her son watching her, her breathing slowed and she left us.
Last week my parents were talking to me about the piano. It had belonged to my grandparents; I remember asking Nagu to play for us, and being delighted as she sang along to the music. When we were in primary school all five grandchildren took up piano lessons and the piano moved into our house. It has stayed there ever since, untouched for the last 10 years. My parents said they didn’t know what to do with it. They believed nobody wanted it. The words couldn’t come out quickly enough, “but it was Nagu’s we can’t get rid of it!” They looked surprised; I haven’t played since I was 15, I told them I’d love to have it. Mum admitted to feeling relief, as she didn’t want to get rid of it really!
So I have my legacy from Nagu. Not sure where it’s going to fit one day in the hut, but to me it provides a perfect memory of Nagu, before dementia took her away.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A crazy running dog
I was wandering through my pictures and found this series of shots. We had headed down to the block to check on the progress of our driveway. Nigella thought it was great, she could leap off the piles of soil and turf and run across the drive at full speed. It was hilarious.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Faking it
I'm cheating winter.
I bought some lily bulbs that were cold treated.
The poor things think it's summer.
This is a LA lilium called Royal Sunset.
I love the outrageous colour, like a fruit sorbet.
They have been flowering for weeks now,
They have been flowering for weeks now,
somehow they make me feel warmer even though it's chilly outside.
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